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Special pages :
Letter to Karl Marx, August 8, 1862
First published: in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Stuttgart, 1913.
To Marx in London
Manchester, 8 August 1862
Dear Moor,
In giving you an account of my expenditure, I never remotely intended to deter you from further âsqueezingâ, as you call it. On the contrary, we shall, I think, go on giving each other as much mutual aid as we can, it being quite immaterial so far as the cause is concerned which of us happens to be the âsqueezerâ at the moment and which the âsqueezedâ, roles that are, after all, interchangeable. My only object in drawing up this statement was to demonstrate the impossibility of laying my hands on more than ÂŁ10 just at the moment.
I assume that you promptly requisitioned the ÂŁ15 in cash from Lassalle, or what exactly does âby Januaryâ a mean? That he doesnât want to fork out till then? Now as regards bills, I for my part can perfectly well draw from ÂŁ40 to ÂŁ45 or some 260 to 300 talers on Lassalle, at 3, preferably 4 monthsâ date, provided Borkheim will cash them. I shall also be able to send you another ÂŁ10 in cash if I keep Borkheim waiting till September for the money I owe him for wine. That would make 10 from me, 45 for the bill, 15 Lassalle, total ÂŁ70. But it would mean that I was completely cleaned out for some little while, not that that would really matter, provided it got you out of the mire and enabled little Jenny to go to the seaside. Since Borkheim is constantly having to disburse money on the Continent â and he knows that, come what may, I have got to honour the bill if I donât want my position here to be ruined, thereâs absolutely no reason why you shouldnât go and ask him whether heâs willing to negotiate the thing for us. You can tell him that just now, when times are bad for cotton, I am honour-bound to draw as little money as possible from the firm and hence would sooner adopt this method. You have far less cause to feel ill at ease with him about the affair than I have, so go and see him at once and arrange matters so that I can draw on Monsieur le Baron forthwith.
Lupus arrived on Monday, in the grip of influenza and rheumatism, which confined him to bed for a day, the only one he spent in London. As soon as he felt a little better, he came straight up here. That was why he didnât come and see you. He is now better, but, being in monetibus likewise on his beam ends, came straight to me about the ÂŁ10.
You've absolutely got to pull off another financial coup, otherwise I cannot see how on earth we're going to make up for the loss of the Tribune. Nor are the other New York papers in any kind of a position to take the place of the Tribune so far as you are concerned; but, should a suitable occasion arise, it would do no harm to try, as something might come of it. With 30 sheets, the book will raise at most some ÂŁ70, but how do things stand with Brockhaus? Did you discuss the matter at all with Lassalle? And how much longer will it take?
I have again made contact with the Allgemeine MilitĂ€r-Zeitung and shall see how it goes, though 1 article every 6 weeks is the maximum here. Mightnât you be able, through your mussurus or otherwise, to arrange for me to contribute military articles to an English paper in London? But all this is marginal stuff and, unless we can discover the art of shitting gold, there would hardly seem to be any alternative to your extracting something from your relations by one means or another. RĂ©flĂ©chis-la-dessus.
Shall write to you shortly about Lassalleâs war plans and your theory of rent,; though I must say I'm by no means clear about the existence of âabsoluteâ rent â for, after all, you have to prove it first. I've got frightful piles and canât go on sitting down any longer.
Regards to the family.
Your
F. E.