| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 28 October 1852 |
ENGELS TO MARX
IN LONDON
Manchester, 28 October 1852 By the 2nd post
Dear Marx,
Herewith 1 article for Dana—the thing couldn't be broken off at any other point.[1] If I manage to finish the whole lot this evening, I shall take it[2] to the post later. In the meantime this will do so that you may at least have something on time. For that matter, Dana will have to be content with *'U à 4/s of a column for a change, especially if he pays so slowly.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Cologne trial were to last another month. There does not seem to have been a sitting on Monday, maybe because one of the accused or a couple of jurymen were unwell, or because everyone needed two consecutive days of rest. Especially with all the fine witnesses, none of whom can give any evidence. Mr Hentze has really been taken down a peg; Weerth met the gallant man in Hamburg, whereupon he railed against you most frightfully—cela t''''acquitte de toute obligation envers lui'.[3] Moreover, he admitted frankly that, if he was angry, it was for philistine reasons.
So write direct—by REGISTERED LETTER—to one of the lawyers, pointing out that the prosecution has been taken completely out of the hands of Mr Saedt and put into those of Stieber, the police spy who, with the Public Prosecutor's tacit consent, is advancing wholly novel legal theories, namely:
1. that it is a crime if, from abroad, someone morally involved in the trial provides a lawyer with documents and other information for the benefit of the accused, and exposes for what they are the lies of the police told by a fellow like Stieber; that it is likewise a crime to receive such letters;
2. that the police, on the other hand, have the right not only to permit themselves all manner of crimes, but actually to boast openly before the court and the public of:
a) Forced entry and theft—the breaking open of Dietz's bureau and the purloining of the documents therein.
b) Incitement thereto', avowedly by offers of cash; likewise bribery'. c) Theft of documents belonging to the defence, inasmuch as part of your memorandum to the lawyers was excised and detained; I won't even mention their tampering with letters, because after- wards the fellows did at least try to give it a semblance of legality.
d) False testimony and perjury', inasmuch as Mr Stieber deliberate- ly represented the Cologne people as being the accomplices and associates of Cherval, etc., as he himself knew better and subsequently admitted it; notably inasmuch as he stated on oath that a letter sent through the post had not reached Cologne until 19 October, when in fact it was already there on the 15th; inasmuch as he cooked up all those lies about the special courier, etc.
e) Forgery', inasmuch as the alleged minutes were fabricated by the police themselves and submitted as genuine, whereas we were deprived of all means of providing the defence with counter- evidence.
And so on. If the lawyers conduct themselves boldly and adroitly, the case might end, not in a verdict against the Cologne people, but in the arrest of Mr Stieber for perjury and various other Prussian crimes against the godless French Code pénal'.[4]
There was something else I wanted to write to you about but I forgot it completely when I started chatting with Weerth, who has just got home.
I have just heard from him that Mrs Daniels has also been called as a witness for the defence—tant mieux'![5] The minutes will come to a glorious end. And ce pauvre[6] Bermbach would appear to have been unceremoniously bundled into the dock with the rest. What can they want of this poor, innocent devil?
Your
F. E.