WEITLING AND MARX 121für Deutschland spoke highly of his services to the common man
in Europe and expressed confidence that in the free atmosphere of
America he would be able to do even more for the benefit of man
kind. Scherzer published a Nachruf ("farewell") in his Muse¬
stunden und Schweisstropfen, issued in Paris, which is further evi
dence of Weitling's reputation at the time:
Freund lebe wohl, jetzt wo das Licht der Sonne
Dich frei umstrahlt dort in der neuen Welt,
Dort werde dir das Glück, das Heil, die Wonne,
Und bleibe stets ein Kämpfer und ein Held.
Lass dich durch nichts, sei's wass es will, umstricken,
Betrete ruhig deine neue Bahn,
Und das Bewusstsein wird dich stets beglücken,
Was du fur's Wohl der Menschheit hast getan.^27On his arrival in the land of liberty and opportunity, Weitling
learned to his dismay that the Volkstribun was in bankruptcy and
had just suspended publication. Poor but undaunted, as usual,
Weitling promptly started to agitate for his principles in the
United States. He received a little financial support from the
Sozialreform Verein, which had helped bring him to America; and
he raised additional dollars from the sale of his books, including a
third edition of the Evangelium which he had printed in New
York on credit. He traveled about to make contacts among the
German workers, and the expenses for these journeys were prob
ably met locally. On July 5 he addressed a national festival of
German-Americans in Philadelphia at Lippincott's Woods, "on
2nd Street three miles north of Vine Street." The celebration,
marked by singing, dancing, speeches, and good German food,
was a completely happy one until sixty rowdies from the Rich
mond and Kensington districts started a fight and had to be driven
off by force.^28
(^27) Quoted in Barnikol, Klassifikation des Universums von Wilhelm Weitling,
50.
(^28) C. F. Huch, "Die Deutschen in Philadelphia urns Jahre 1847," Mitteilungen
des Deutschen Pionier-Vereins von Philadelphia, XVII (1910), 13-21.