Letter to Friedrich Engels, August 26, 1857

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MARX TO ENGELS

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 26 August 1857

Dear Engels,

Herewith a note for you from Schramm. Drop him a line or two. I don't suppose there's much hope for him now.

Lupus' adventure most amusing. Why not go to Hastings, which is famed for its efficacy in cases like yours. It's the only specific watering-place of the kind in England. The Isle of Man, in so far as I had the pleasure of seeing it in your company—not much of it, to be sure—is remarkable chiefly for its stench.

The situation in regard to Dana is a little awkward. During the acute phase of your illness I thought it inopportune to keep you informed of the details of the affair. It was quite some time ago that Dana sent me the enclosed B list (in which there are only two non-military articles, 'Blum' and 'Bourrienne'). On the same occasion he said that the sooner they got the contributions to the ensuing volumes, the better they would be pleased, while I, for my part, could always receive my fee immediately after sending in the articles. But what was I to do, at a time when the contributions to A could not be sent off, and any failure to respond to so urgent a request—on terms so favourable to myself—would inevitably have aroused suspicion? My only recourse was to refrain for a time from writing to New York, and then do so only at longish intervals—SAY, EVERY FORTNIGHT—so that later on it would still be open to me to tell them with some plausibility that domestic TROUBLES and my own indisposition had made any sort of writing very difficult for me, as the paucity of my contributions to the paper also went to show. To send your B list to Dana in such circumstances would have been QUITE inexpedient and would have placed me in an even more invidious position. In the meantime I had also learned that Major Ripley had become co-editor of the Tribune, so that in case of need Dana had a pis aller for the Cyclopaedia.

WELL, on 24 July I despatched your first pieces. August was nearly upon us and your condition seemed to have deteriorated again. On 11 August another package arrived from you. Instinct warned me that a letter from New York was now imminent and would place me in something of a quandary since your illness meant that it was OUT OF [THE] QUESTION to speed up the work. So in order to leave a loophole for myself, I sent the package off to Dana together with a letter in which I 1. informed him that the BULK of the contributions had gone off on 7 August (to make him think the manuscript had gone astray), at the same time telling him that the tardiness and delay were due to an indisposition which had not yet quite SUBSIDED. I took this step because it covered any eventuality. Thus, when Dana protests (probably at the begin- ning of September) the manuscript for A either will or will not be ready. In the first case, he either will or will not still be able to use it. If the former, nothing will have been lost. If the latter, the blame will be seen to attach to the post office. If not READY at all, then all the more need for him to be hood- winked.

On 17 August I received the enclosed letter from Dana. As regards B, there can now be no question of adding to the list; rather, it must be polished off as quickly as possible. Otherwise we'll have to abandon the whole thing.

As a result my economic position has become completely untenable and even my position on the Tribune has grown precarious.

Be so good as to return the plan of Delhi and write and let me know what you think of the INDIAN AFFAIR.

Your

K. M.