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Marx-Engels Correspondence 1869
Engels To Marx
In London
Source: MECW, Volume 43, p. 362;
First published: abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Berlin, 1931.
Manchester, 24 October 1869
Dear Moor,
My grippe has happily — in the main — been conquered by limiting beer consumption, staying at home in the evening and consuming linseed tea with lemon and honey.
I was happy to discover the Wakefield here in my subscription library — that is to say, in the catalogue, for in reality it was not to be found. They are trying to track it down; I shall write to you about it again. It consists of 2 fat quarto volumes. In fact, I find that quite a number of the things I have here are very useful, particularly for the 1500-1800 period, and some very important, so if Wakefield comes to light and Young can be flushed out, I would need virtually only quite modern things. Sadler is here too.
About the Flerovsky — the name is non-Slav and, in particular, un-Russian, not a single Russian word starts with fl, apart from flangovy, flot, flankirovat, etc. — you will probably need Gaudissart; for although one can learn enough Russian in 3 months to read such a book, you have no time for this at the moment. Let Gaudissart look at it, and if it is worth something, I may be able to read myself to some extent into Russian again with it, as soon as I am finished with Ireland. From Ireland to Russia il n'y a qu'un pas. [it is only one step]
Enclosed envelope of your 2nd letter from Hanover, which shows signs of Prussian attention, though I fail to grasp how the people found the time, since you only posted the letter 10 minutes before the close of post. Between then and the time when the train left, however, they may have found the time for a tête-à-tête.
Irish history shows what a misfortune it is for one nation to subjugate another. All English abominations have their origin in the Irish pale. I still have to bone up on the Cromwellian period, but it appears clear to me that things in England would have taken another turn but for the necessity of military rule in Ireland and creating a new aristocracy.
Your
F. E.