--- Title: Marx to the Editor of the Sheffield Free Press, [26 April 1856] (draft) Description: Draft sheet: Marx complains that the proofs of the Story of the Life of Lord Palmerston were not sent to him, and sketches the plan of a publication on the spirit of English diplomacy in the 18th century. Author: Karl Marx Date: 1856-04-26 URL: https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/cartas/originales/1856-04-26%20Marx%20to%20the%20Editor%20of%20the%20Sheffield%20Free%20Press --- *Transcription with doubtful readings: 30 of the 212 words of the final text (14.2 %) are marked as uncertain ([?]) or illegible ([ilegible]), and each of them is explained in a note. Draft of a letter from Karl Marx to the editor of the Sheffield Free Press, [26 April 1856]; the date and addressee are those given for this draft in the list of the MEGA², which we have not been able to consult (the IISG inventory files it under “Sheffield Free Press, The”). Manuscript kept at the IISG, Amsterdam (Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels Papers, inv. C 714, image 2), transcribed from the digital facsimile by the Escuela de marxismo, 2026 (double reading and collation with the image). It is a working sheet: a heading, the draft of the letter, a cancelled passage, loose fragments, a new draft partly under a large ink blot and a note in the margin; the order of the fragments is that of the sheet, and the order of the lines in the new draft is reconstructed. Nothing has been completed from other editions. Diplomatic transcription: spelling and punctuation of the manuscript; underlinings in italics; deletions as ~~text~~; additions above the line or in the margin in their place, with a note; [?] after an uncertain reading, [ilegible] for what cannot be read; [mancha] for words hidden by the ink blot; [signo …] for call signs. [Traducción al español](https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/cartas/1856-04-26%20Marx%20al%20director%20del%20Sheffield%20Free%20Press)* The Spirit of English *diplomacy in the 18th century*[^1] ~~[ilegible]~~ In thanking you for the several[?][^2] ~~[ilegible]~~ you were so kind to ~~have[?]~~ send me, I cannot but regret that you did not think fit to communicate to[^3] me the proof-sheets of the „Story of the Life of Lord Palm." Sentences, historical dates, quotations from Palmerston's speeches – every thing so ~~[ilegible]~~ defaced[?][^4] ~~so~~ disfigured by *errata* ~~so~~ that ~~I think this~~ ~~that it~~. in my opinion, the pamphlet a[?] ~~[ilegible]~~ [ilegible][^5] is[?][^6] ~~[ilegible]~~ not only useless but positively mischievous. [signo T][^7] ~~[ilegible] a few words on[^8]~~ ~~[signo T] As to the value of the whole publication [signo ||] will[?] [ilegible][^9] [ilegible]:~~ ~~will suffice to in [ilegible] I do not follow adopt[^10] the usual mode[?]~~ ~~[signo T] you will see but[^11] of opinion the whole there[?] by general con-~~ ~~Dealing[?] On the contrary [ilegible] limited by comment[?]~~ ~~with facts.~~[^12] and[?][^13] thy[?][^14] theory will be read[?][^15] few[?][^16] In[?][^17] contradistinction to the [mancha] usual ~~[ilegible]~~ manner of historical writers[?][^18] I shall not commence[?][^19] the publication ~~[ilegible] to~~ with general considerations[?][^20] but with facts. The [mancha] chapter will only[^21] ~~[ilegible]~~ ~~contain~~ ~~[ilegible]~~ pure[^22] Dispatches[?][^23] ~~from~~ ~~[ilegible] [ilegible]~~ [ilegible] composed of[^24] belonging to different epochs[^25] ~~extending over the whole~~ of that 18th century ~~English diplomatists [ilegible]~~ ~~[ilegible]~~ without[?] one[?][^26] ~~in order~~ to show up the Russian[?][^27] spirit + the first[^28] of Engl. diplomacy ~~[ilegible] that century~~ ~~[ilegible]~~ [ilegible] the 18th[^29] ~~[ilegible]~~ and[?][^30] to follow some[^31] pamphlets ~~of~~ ~~by[?]~~[^32] belonging to[^33] the great[^34] times of Peter I[?][^35] ~~and will~~ Knowing[?][^36] they[?][^37] ~~shown~~ ~~to~~ the reader familiar[^38] (1)[?][^39] the infamies of Engl. diplomacy, 2[?][^40] with the protest ~~then~~. ~~to~~ France[?][^41] 3[?][^42] Of these Despatches you[?][^43] will ~~we[?] show[?]~~ England compared with Russia ~~to crush[?]~~[^44] ~~Knowing[?] they~~ These[?][^45] Despatches ~~will [ilegible] [ilegible]~~ the[^46] ~~eloquence[?] [ilegible]~~ ~~(although~~ I think not that I have [ilegible][^47] ~~[ilegible] [ilegible]~~ I hope I need not tell you that I am no "commercial" writer and that ~~[ilegible]~~:[^48] [^1]: Heading at the top of the sheet; the underlining runs only under “diplomacy in the 18th century”. Below it, the draft of the letter. The loose figures (accounts in columns, in the centre and on the left of the sheet) are not transcribed. [^2]: s, e, v or u, e, r, a, an ascender and a final curl, six or seven letters: “several” (first reading) or “usual” (second reading). [^3]: “to”: added above the line or in the margin. [^4]: Added above the line, under a curved stroke that links “Palm.” with “errata”: “so … defaced”. The last word (d, e, f with a long descender, a, c, e, d) is uncertain: “defaced” or “misprinted” (first reading). [^5]: Added above the line: a single short letter (“a”, or “in”), a struck-out word, and a word of eight to ten letters with a p and a t that cannot be read (perhaps “present form”, as the first reading had it). [^6]: A stroke with a dot and the curl of an s, small, under the addition. [^7]: The T-shaped sign or bracket at the end of the line recurs at the beginning of two lines of the passage cancelled below: it is a call sign referring to it. [^8]: “[ilegible] a few words on”: added above the line or in the margin. [^9]: “will[?] [ilegible]”: added above the line or in the margin. [^10]: “adopt”: added above the line or in the margin. [^11]: “but”: added above the line or in the margin. [^12]: The whole of this passage, in the centre of the sheet, is cancelled with zigzag strokes; inside it there are also ordinary deletions, and an ink blot partly covers “contrary”. [^13]: Three letters, the first descending below the line (p?). [^14]: t, h, y: three letters, no e visible (“they”, first reading). [^15]: Strokes of r or m, e, a, d with stem and loop. [^16]: Below the line: f with an ascender, e, w. The whole fragment stands alone in the centre of the sheet. [^17]: A short n-shaped stroke before “contradistinction”. From here on, the new draft in the lower half of the sheet, partly under a large ink blot (marked [mancha]); its lines rise steeply to the right, and their order is reconstructed from the slope and the sense. [^18]: “writer” and a final curl (s?); a loose stroke above. [^19]: “commen-” and an ending lost in the ink blot. [^20]: A long thick word without a clear stroke through it: c, o, n … -tion, s; the second reading took it as struck out. [^21]: “only”: added above the line or in the margin. [^22]: “pure”: added above the line or in the margin. [^23]: D, an uncertain second letter, “-spatches”, and a dot: “Dispatches” or “Despatches”. [^24]: Added above the line. Before “composed of” a tall stroke with a loop and an e (“the”?). [^25]: “belonging to different epochs”: added above the line or in the margin. [^26]: Added above the line: “without” (w-i-t-h-o-u-t, with a low stroke) and three short letters, “one”; both uncertain. [^27]: Added above the line: R, u, long s and s, i, a, n; the second reading left it unread. [^28]: Isolated on the left, level with the next line; the cross seems to be a call sign, but it is not clear where it refers to. [^29]: Added above the line, after a struck-out word: a word before “the 18th” that cannot be read. [^30]: Added above a deletion: a short word with the stem of a d. [^31]: “some”: added above the line or in the margin. [^32]: Added and struck out again. [^33]: “belonging to”: added above the line or in the margin. [^34]: “great”: added above the line or in the margin. [^35]: A thick stroke with serifs: “I” (or “II”, second reading). [^36]: A tall stem with a hook (K), strokes and a g with descender: “Knowing” (or “Among”, second reading). [^37]: t-h-e-y with a descender (or “these”, second reading). [^38]: “familiar”: added above the line or in the margin. [^39]: A bracket and a stroke like a 1: number of an enumeration (second reading) or a struck bracket (first reading). A loose “1” stands before “~~to~~ the reader”. [^40]: In the left margin of this column: a sign like a 2 or a “)”. [^41]: F with a loop, r, a, n, c, e: “France”; the first reading had “Russia”, the second “Bronze”. [^42]: A figure with a loop before “Of”. [^43]: y with a descender and “ou”, joined to “will” (first reading “I”; the second took it as struck out). [^44]: Two long oblique strokes cross these last lines; they do not seem to cancel the text. [^45]: A legible word with a curved stroke starting under it, which may be a deletion (the first reading took it as struck out). [^46]: “the”: added above the line or in the margin. [^47]: A blotted word of about five letters, perhaps “great”. These lines stand in the left column, under the ink blot. [^48]: Written vertically in the left margin, to be read from bottom to top; where it belongs in the letter is not marked.