Letter to Friedrich Engels, November 13, 1860

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MARX TO ENGELS

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 13 November 1860

Dear Engels,

From your letter, I see that you are yourself in straitened circumstances. Nevertheless, not having anything pawnable left, I must ask you to send me the £5 you promised, and to do so, if possible, in the course of this week. Next Saturday (17 November), I have to pay Hirschfeld £25 against bills and haven't yet got together quite enough money.

The book (12 sheets, 24 in terms of normal printed pages) will be ready next week. Because of the Supreme Tribunal's verdict, I have had to completely rewrite the bit about the lawsuit, originally only a few pages long. It will now run to about 1 printed sheet. The whole of the last sheet in brevier (appendices). I haven't sent you the individual sheets because, in this case, as in any other, it would have detracted from the general EFFECT of the work. I shall send you 6 copies, 1 for you, 1 for Lupus, 1 for Gumpert, 1 for Borchardt, 1 for Heckscher, and 1 for Charley.

Your question concerning Lommel's pamphlet, about which you had heard no more 'and which was where the money went' seems to imply some sort of reproach. D'abord, even if it hasn't yielded a centime, I could not have written 'Agency', the most important chapter in the personal attack upon Vogt, without the help of Lommel. In reply to my various CROSS-EXAMINATIONS, the man had to write at least 40 letters. Add to which, he let me have his anti-Vogt statement, originally intended for the Allgemeine Zeitung. I cannot see that people who are complete strangers to our party are under any obligation to work for us gratis. Besides, Petsch told me yesterday that he had sold 2 or 3 pounds' worth and would anyhow get rid of the rest—if not already sold out (he has just readvertised them in Germany) — in the UNITED STATES and Australia.

As soon as you have read the book, you will abandon the view that it could have been placed in Germany (by 1880, maybe) through the offices of Siebel whose connections are solely literary. I've heard from Siebel.

I have given way to you over the title and (yesterday) inserted Herr Vogt. My wife was absolutely against this and intent on Dâ-Dâ Vogt, remarking most learnedly that, even in the case of Greek tragedy, the title and content would often seem at first glance to be unconnected.

I don't know whether you have seen Kolatschek's Stimmen der Zeit. The article 'Juchheisten' (in which our friend Lassalle comes off badly) does in fact contain some information (although that jackass Kolatschek overlooks this), which sheds light on Vogt's reason for selling himself to Bonaparte. At the beginning of 1858 a joint-stock company, 'La Cimentaire', a dubious type of loan bank, was founded in Geneva. Besides the managing director, who was never named, there was Vogt, co-director. By the end of 1858, the directors had consumed the entire capital. Bankruptcy. The MANAGING DIRECTOR was locked up. Criminal proceedings were to follow. From the National Council in Berne, Vogt rushed to Geneva. Fazy quashed the case. The shareholders did not get a single centime.

From those same 'Juchheisten' (why, BY THE BY, does not Kolatschek, having sold himself to the Austrians, call them Juchheiten?) I see that Juchhe! nach Italien! (for I could not bring myself to read the Vogt clique's Demokratische Studien, which Borkheim had put at my disposal), i.e. 'L. Bamberger', banker in Paris, editor of the Mainzer Zeitung in 1848, disgusting cockroach, has presumed to speak of 'communists on half-pay'. Hence I have written a short note about this wiseacre and have included him among Vogt's accomplices, and likewise introduced a few poor jests about the rest of the Juchheisten, L. Simon, Hartmann (the one who told Borkheim in Switzerland that Vogt had done me in), and H. B. Oppenheim.

Salut.

Your

K. M.