Letter to Karl Marx, April 22, 1858

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 22 April 1858


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXII, Moscow 1929
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 40


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 22 April 1858

Dear Moor,

I wrote to your wife last week and the following day sent an article on Lucknow[1] and also Guardians (or cuttings, I don't remember exactly). I hope everything arrived safely. 2 more Guardians go off today. Russell's report in Tuesday's Times[2] did not have the makings of an article, but I'm saving it up until the arrival of the next mail; this is sure to bring the last part of the Lucknow story, when the whole thing can be polished off all at one go—with, I hope, the help of Campbell's despatches as well. Meanwhile I have thrown myself into 'Cavalry' again—shall leave open bits of the historical section for the present until I can unearth the relevant sources, and shall get on with the tactical side. The article will probably take up 10 or 12 of my long double pages, and maybe more.

The affaire Bernard[3] will greatly mortify Monsieur Bonaparte and make quite an impression on the refugee crapauds in London. James' speech, by the way, was feeble and décousu[4] and as usual old Campbell's summing up went against the PRISONER. The old donkey is vexed at losing the chance of an interesting legal case when he could have presided over 15 other judges.

The revelations made by Cavour and La Marmora[5] about their relations with Cavaignac and the latter's fear of Austria[6] will be of interest to the républicains purs. The more that comes to light about the National's period of supremacy, the more pitiful it seems.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ F. Engels, 'The Fall of Lucknow'.
  2. ↑ [W. H. Russell,] 'The Capture of Lucknow', The Times, No. 22972, 20 April 1858.
  3. ↑ Surgeon Simon Bernard, a Frenchman living in London, was tried as an accomplice in Felice Orsini's attempt on the life of Napoleon HI (manufacture of bombs and so on). The trial took place in London from 12 to 17 April 1858. Bernard was acquitted by the Central Criminal Court on 17 April.—307, 309
  4. ↑ disjointed
  5. ↑ C. B. Cavour's speech of 16 April 1858 in the Chamber of Representatives of the Kingdom of Piedmont, The Times, No. 22973, 21 April 1858; A. F. La Marmora's speech of 17 April 1858 in the Chamber of Representatives of the Kingdom of Piedmont, The Times, No. 22974, 22 April 1858.
  6. ↑ In April 1858 the Chamber of Representatives of the Kingdom of Piedmont discussed a conspiracy bill. Introduced at the request of Napoleon Ill's government, it envisaged measures against attempts on the life of foreign monarchs. During the debate on 16 and 17 April, Prime Minister Cavour and General La Marmora recalled the summer 1848 events and exposed the policy of the bourgeois republican general Cavaignac, then head of the executive in France, who refused to support revolutionary Italy in her struggle against Austria.—309