Letter to Jenny Marx, September 17, 1878

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Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 17 September 1878


First published, in the language of the original (German), in Annali, an. 1, Milano 1958
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45
Keywords : Letter, Jenny von Westphalen


MARX TO JENNY MARX[1]

IN MALVERN

[London,] 17 September 1878

Dear Jenny,

As arranged on my departure,[2] herewith POST OFFICE ORDER for ÂŁ3. If, in view of the change in circumstances, it shouldn't be enough, let me know immediately.

After my return I suffered from a very severe headache; however, that has got better since I received a reassuring letter about Johnny from dear Jennychen; and your good news today—still continuing, I trust—was balm to me.

I shall not say very much about the goings-on at No. 122 Regent's Park Road, since Tussy is YOUR REGULAR CHRONICLER in that sphere and I mustn't skim off the cream. But I can't resist telling you about one episode which, in its originality, is reminiscent at one and the same time of Balzac and Paul de Kock. When Tussy, MRS Renshaw and Pumps (she has now been KNIGHTED; Engels will be calling her Pumpsia from now on) were sorting out the dead woman's odds and ends, MRS Renshaw found, amongst other things, a small packet of letters (ABOUT eight, six of which were from members of the Marx FAMILY, two from Williams—Ramsgate) and made as if to hand them to MR Chitty, who was present at the operation. No,' said he, 'burn them! I need not see her Letters. I know she was unable to deceive me. Could Figaro (I mean the real one of Beaumarchais) have trouvĂ© cela[3]? As MRS Renshaw remarked later to Tussy: Of course, as he had to write her letters, and to read to her the letters she received, he might feel quite sure that these letters contained no secrets for him—but they might do so, for her.

Together with this letter I am today sending you The Daily News and The Standard, on account of the telegrams about the German Reichstag.[4] Bebel WAS EVIDENTLY THE ONLY SPEAKER IMPOSING; the government spokesmen—Stolberg and Eulenburg—deplorable beyond words; Bamberger true to his motto 'We are but dogs!'[5]; Reichensperger—the Rhenish bourgeois under the thumb of the Catholic Party of the Centre. Even lickspittle Reuter doesn't think this first performance much of a success!

I hope that you and Jennychen will get a little better during this week; keep on going for drives, ensemble,[6] WIND, WEATHER AND THE HEALTH OF THE CHILD[7] PERMITTING; should this not be possible for once, you yourself should never miss a drive; but I hope the little lad WILL BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE and hence, too, his sorely tried mama. Best wishes to Jennychen and a kiss for Johnny.

Adio.

Your

Moor

  1. ↑ An excerpt from this letter was published in English for the first time in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979.
  2. ↑ Between 4 and 14 September 1878 Marx stayed with his wife, his daughter Jenny and his grandson Jean in Malvern.
  3. ↑ thought that up (an allusion to Figaro's words from Beaumarchais' La folle journĂ©e, ou le mariage de Figaro, Act V, Scene 8: 'Ah, Figaro, pends-toi; tu n'as pas devinĂ© celui lĂ !')
  4. ↑ On 17 September 1878, The Daily News and The Standard carried reports from Reuters and their own correspondents covering the 16 September session of the German Reichstag, at which Stolberg-Wernigerode, Reichensperger, Helldorf-Bedroe, Bebel, Eulenburg and Bamberger took the floor.
  5. ↑ 'We are but dogs!' ('Hunde sind wir ja doch!'). This is how, according to August Bebel, the German democratic political writer Luis Bamberger described the treatment which the National Liberals received from Bismarck.
  6. ↑ together
  7. ↑ Jean Longuet
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