| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 15 March 1860 |
ENGELS TO FERDINAND LASSALLE
IN BERLIN
Manchester, 15 March[1] 1860
Dear Lassalle,
Very many thanks for the trouble you have been to with Duncker in connection with my pamphlet.[2] I would have agreed to the arrangement of my being named had not another publisher[3] accepted it in the meantime (when this reaches you, the thing will probably be out) and were I not determined that the 'author of Po and Rhine' should first carve out a place for himself in military literature before making his official entry (i.e. on the title page) as a civilian before the lieutenants. When you say that you would be sure to convince us and hence believe it would be in our own interests not to commit ourselves by name to the views we have held so far in regard to the Italian business, your argument is, no doubt, of crucial value subjectively speaking; similarly we can assure you that we are just as sure of our ability to convince you, the more so since our views are based on a careful study of diplomatic material which, at least on certain points, is available in pretty complete form to the public in London, as it surely is not to the public in Berlin (where, indeed, it does not for the most part exist at all).
Marx got your letter the day before yesterday and will be answering it.[4] In the meantime I enclose the Knight of the Noble Consciousness? previously forgotten.'
Apropos. A few days ago we got a letter from Nothjung. After his release, the poor devil was declared to have forfeited his right of domicile in Mülheim 'by reason of his many-year-long ab- sence' (H!),[7] and has been forbidden to show his face within five miles of Cologne. He has become a photographer in Breslau[8] where, after a great deal of trouble, he has obtained a resident's permit. Now he has got to pay an entry fee, a household fee, and umpteen others such as are only to be found in a Prussian dictionary. This, as you can imagine, the poor chap is in no position to do after his long spell in prison which, to make matters worse, has rendered him homeless (in what sort of country can such things happen!) and so odious are the laws still obtaining there that he cannot exist unless he gets all this business settled. Mightn't it be possible to do something for him over there? Such a thing would have been unheard of in the Rhine Province before 1848, and even the bourgeois who helped to impose such shocking laws on us ought to help poor devils of this kind. Homeless because of a many-year-long absence in a Prussian fortress—just try telling that to an Englishman! His address is P. Nothjung, Photographer, Zwingergasse No. 7, in the Baths. With the connections you have in Breslau, it should be easy for you to do something for him. Our ex-tailor, by the way, seems to have acquired quite a tidy education at his fortress-university, and writes quite civilised letters.
Just now I'm writing trivia about the reorganisation of the army in Prussia and have offered these to Duncker.
Tout à vous'[9]
F. Engels
Before I forget. Marx has written to red Wolff,[10] of whom, however, we haven't heard for years. In the meantime Vogt, accompanied by the homme entretenu and SWINDLER Klapka, has been to dine with Plon-Plon yet again.
I have re-opened this letter, having closed it without putting in the Knight, in order to tell you that we are unable to find the only copy of the thing that's still up here in Manchester. Someone must have pinched it. Marx has still got some in London and is writing to ask that some oi them be sent up here forthwith, whereupon we shall immediately send you one.
You would greatly oblige me if you could send me, by return of mail and unstamped, a few numbers of the Volks-Zeitung and the National-Zeitung in which the army's constitution is discussed, and also one or two little pamphlets that have appeared over there on the subject—all of them together in one wrapper. Otherwise, it takes ages for me to get the things over here, and I shouldn't see the newspapers at all.