It’s almost wholly outside their line of business. But I hardly imagine that Steinthal, etc., have connections of the sort in London. If any recommendations are to be had, you can trust me to get them. I shall be seeing Borchardt within the next few days. Au bout du compte, what can a brute of this kind find to tax us with? Mark my word, it will be just as pauvre as Tellering’s smear. If he goes as far as that, I shall tell the scandal-loving American public what the Besançon Company used to talk about when Willich and the formosus pastor Corydon Rauf were not present. We shall hear of assassination attempts, etc., the Schramm affair will be glamorously tricked out, and such chimeras will be evoked as will cause us to stare at one another in amazement, not having the faintest idea what the man is actually talking about at worst he will tell the story about Marx and Engels arriving drunk one evening at Great Windmill Street ( vide Kinkel in Cincinnati, coram Huzelio). The chivalrous one has promised vastly more than he can fulfil. You'll find, by the way, that it won’t be so bad after all. The more resolutely we tackle it the better. It is obvious that we shall have to see this dirty business through to the bitter end. If only Willich had the discernment to discover this! But irritation and due reflection will, I trust, give him a little more insight. ![]() So subtly - far more subtly and deftly than himself. The chivalrous one will have been surprised to find among the uncouth agents, a fellow who is so dashing, so adroit, so aggressive by nature and yet so unassumingly noble in his bearing, and who returns thrust for thrust a tempo. How splendid, the sentence about ‘revolutionary agencies’ being ‘a swindle’ off which, according to Willich, he lives. How well it becomes him thus to ape the worthy citizen of benevolent mien who nevertheless betrays the cloven hoof at every turn. Never a clumsy turn of phrase, not a trace of gêne or embarrassment. For lightness of style, this surpasses everything that Cluss has ever written. In every line we hear the chuckle of l'homme supérieur who, through ‘personal contact’ with Willich, has, as it were, become physically conscious of his superiority. ![]() Cluss’ statement, on the other hand, pleases me enormously. Nevertheless, the man has done his best, the story about Hentze, the ‘comrade-in-arms’, and the influence of others on Hirsch’s pen is nicely fashioned his incredible style and his composure, regarded over there as impassibility, will appeal to the philistines, and his performance can, on the whole, be regarded as satisfactory. As usual, papa Weydemeyer is too long-winded, very seldom makes a point, then promptly blunts it with his style, and unfolds his well-known lack of verve with rare composure. You will have received both Weydemeyer’s and Cluss’ anti-Willich statements in the Criminal Zeitung, i.e. I had intended to write to you by the first post today, but was detained at the office until 8 o'clock. Marx-Engels Correspondence 1853 Engels To Marxįirst published: in full in MEGA, Berlin, 1929.
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