Letter to Karl Marx, March 19, 1868

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 19 March 1868


First published abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 42


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 19 March 1868

Dear Moor,

Enclosed £40 in two twenties, which, it is to be hoped, will suffice at least for the most urgent purposes. I had not expected that Löhrchen[1] would be making a honeymoon trip to America. So the wedding is on 8 April, a Wednesday; had it been Friday, Saturday or Monday I could have got away easily.

The things from old Maurer are very nice[2] ; it is really remarkable how much material already exists on these subjects, and how little the professors have been able to make of it.

I shall try to discover the Anglo-Saxon word, but, since no Anglo-Saxon dictionary is available to me here, I shall have to make do with other sources, which are very dubious, in view of the large and peculiar stock of words in Anglo-Saxon. First of all, the correct spelling must be determined. With regard to Wiffa, a question: where is it found, so we might know whether it has Low German or High German sound shifts. If it is High German you should compare Graff's Althochdeutscher Sprachschatz, the Bayerisches Wörterbuch by Schindler or the Swiss dictionary by Stalder. Does it not occur in Grimm's Rechtsalterthümer?[3]

[4] [5]

The accursed business with the ill-fated Schiller Institute here,[6] which Gumpert once pushed me into and then did nothing further, is finally reaching a crisis, and the matter will be decided by Wednesday. During these days I must—étant engagé[7] —make a great effort; I shall therefore scarcely be left with time in this period to write the English article.[8] From the middle of next week onwards I shall have peace, and will press ahead without pause. Regarding this business here, there is every prospect that I—and everything depends upon me—shall bring everything to a happy conclusion despite Borchardt and various other German cliques. Since I have been involved in the business for 4 years, and victory or defeat fall on my head, I simply must.

Since you say nothing about carbuncles, I assume that everything is fading without further issue.

The most conscientious reader of your book[9] here is Sam Moore; he has really worked his way thoroughly through over 600 pages and is grinding indefatigably on.

Best greetings.

Your

F. E.

So, Plon-Plon, according to The Times,[10] should inaugurate the Russian-Prussian-French alliance. This Bonaparte seems to get into a worse position every day. The stupid Prussians are continually making arrests and searching houses in the annexed lands.[11] The proofs[12] and the Dühring[13] will be dispatched today or tomorrow.

  1. ↑ Laura Marx
  2. ↑ See this volume, pp. 547-49.
  3. ↑ J. Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer
  4. ↑ is erected, this sign we call Wiffa
  5. ↑ Ibid., pp. 553-54.
  6. ↑ The Schiller Institute, founded in Manchester in November 1859 in connection with the centenary of Friedrich Schiller's birth, strove to be a German emigre cultural and social centre. Engels was critical of the Institute, noted for its tendency to formalism and pedantry, and he initially kept aloof from it. But when certain changes were introduced into its Rules, he became a member of its Directorate in 1864. Later, as the President of the Institute, Engels devoted much time to it and exercised a considerable influence on its activities.
    In September 1868, while Engels was away from Manchester, the Institute invited Karl Vogt, who was connected with the Bonapartists and was slandering the proletarian revolutionaries, to deliver a lecture. Engels felt that his political reputation would be compromised if he remained President and so he left the Directorate. In April 1870 he was again elected a member of the Directorate of the Schiller Institute, but did not take an active part in it.
  7. ↑ since I have promised
  8. ↑ Engels wrote the review of Volume One of Marx's Capital for The Fortnightly Review much later, in May and June 1868. As can be seen from their subsequent correspondence, Marx and Engels exchanged opinions several times on the content and form of the article.
    In spite of Professor Beesly's request, the review was rejected by the editorial board and has only been preserved in manuscript form (see present edition, Vol. 20).
  9. ↑ the first volume of Capital
  10. ↑ The Times, No. 26074, 17 March 1868, 'Prussia (From our own Correspondent). Berlin, March 14'.
  11. ↑ A reference to the territories annexed by Prussia as a result of its victory in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866 (see Note 365).
  12. ↑ of the first volume of Capital
  13. ↑ E. Dühring, Die Verkleinerer Carey's und die Krisis der Nationalökonomie.