Letter to Karl Marx, August 1, 1860

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 1 August 1860


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 2, Stuttgart, 1913
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 41


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 1 August [1860]
7 Southgate

Dear Moor,

End. £5, F/L 12596 for the expenses. Lupus absolutely insisted on standing £4 of it. So, here we have the celebrated High Court of the Miller of Sanssouci.[1] I should like to know what its decisions and reasoning would have been, had a Prussian official been treated in this way instead of you.

It would be quite useless to set the Supreme Tribunal in motion; but might you not seek an opinion from a FIRST RATE Prussian LAWYER?

Their muddled argument shows quite plainly that the rascals have been manipulated by the Ministry itself. They've no wish for a lawsuit that would create a scandal and might upset the drowsy harmony of universal 'ministerialism'. Moreover, Schleinitz himself would be convicted in the person of the National-Zeitung. Your enclosure returned herewith. But now press on à tout prix[2] with the pamphlet[3] [4] and publishing arrangements! If possible, I shall do something further for you on Garibaldi[5] next week.

You might inquire from the Tribune whether they would like to have a series of 4 or 5 articles on RIFLED FIRE ARMS, INCLUDING ALL THE LATEST IMPROVEMENTS—I won't do the thing on spec.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ A dictum traceable to Jean Stanislas Andrieux's short story 'Le meunier de Sans-Souci', which is based on the tradition about a miller who won a suit in a Berlin court against King Frederick II over his mill, which was to be pulled down to make room for the Sanssouci palace.
  2. ↑ at all costs
  3. ↑ Marx means his letter to Lassalle of 22 November 1859 (see present edition, Vol. 40) criticising the latter's tactics on the question of Germany's and Italy's unification as set forth in Lassalle's pamphlet Der italienische Krieg und die Aufgabe Preußens. Eine Stimme aus der Demokratie (see Note 52).
  4. ↑ K. Marx, Herr Vogt.
  5. ↑ Engels wrote the article 'Garibaldi's Movements'.