96.
Berlin, June 16th, 1845.
I avail myself of the few moments allotted me before going to the railroad station, dear friend, to thank you heartily for your characteristic biography of “Hans von Held.” I have read but one half of it, and that immediately after having read your “Life of Bluecher.” It is, therefore, but natural that I was filled with admiration. How fortunate you are in coloring all the details of military life in the one, and in describing the civil efforts of a people struggling for liberty, in the other book. The fatalistic word “fortunate,” however, is out of place here, because the secret of such successes lies in the clearness of intellect and the intensity of your feelings. The whole world, as it is at present, is reflected in your “Held.” Zerboni’s letter on the bloody tragedy in the streets of Breslau, is as eloquently written as it is heart-rending. Such things, however, can’t deter our dull, fanatical, white-livered Polignacs. They will attempt to confirm the first deed of violence and brutality by subsequent ones more systematically devised—and all this under the reign of such a King! I am very angry and deeply affected.
A. v. Humboldt.
Monday Morning.
As I shall have no time for reading during my hasty journey, I have left the instructive book for a few days to Buelow’s, at Tegel.
97.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, Thursday, September 4th, 1845.
I avail myself of the first moments of my return from Potsdam to joyfully congratulate you on the good effect of the waters on your health. On account of the domestic misfortunes of my family, my participation in the dull and rain-spoiled Court festivities at Bruehl and Stolzenfels was a hard trial for me. I will acquaint Madame von Buelow to-morrow with your hearty sympathy. Buelow’s recovery progresses rapidly. Except some weakness of memory, which, however, does not appear for whole days, no change of mind is perceptible; relaxation, however, retirement, and tranquillity of mind are still necessary. Always conscious of what he owes to his character he resigns. You know, my noble friend, that he demanded his dismissal when Itzstein was violently expelled from Prussia. Public affairs are now in a much worse condition. Buelow’s retirement from office is a sad event; but the current of affairs in Northern Germany is too strong to be arrested by the effort of one individual.
Please inform Professor Fichte that although I am already an unworthy Doctor of Philosophy, I will gratefully accept anything which may be offered me from Wurtemberg’s high-spirited Universities.
Yours affectionately,
A. v. Humboldt.
I enclose to your safe-keeping a beautiful letter of Prince Metternich, on whom I had called on the Johannisberg; a letter from Lord Stanley, the Minister; and two letters from Jules Janin and Spontini; also a book for the Countess of Stolberg.
98.
METTERNICH TO HUMBOLDT.
Vienna, June 21st, 1845.
My dear Baron:
Enclosed you will find my vote for the future colleague. I expect that you will not look for my assistance beyond the sphere of my principles; but my principles are so strongly influenced by a recommendation from you, that the request and the grant are but one. I have perused your Kosmos and have treated it as is my habit with rich collections. The impression made on me by the work will be best described by the avowal that it caused in my mind two conflicting, or if you like better, two mutually neutralizing sentiments—one of satisfaction at knowing so much, and one of regret at my great ignorance. These sentiments, however, sink into nothingness when compared with the admiration of that knowledge which alone can have enabled you to accomplish that gigantic enterprise. Knowledge alone, however, would not suffice—and hence I am led to acknowledge the full merit of the author—his great power of representation and his method! You have applied and dignified in your work the old word discipline, in its relation to science. Would to God, that the true meaning of this word could, in political society, also recover its eternal rights. If my own impressions are of but little value, it is different with those of the men of science. Their judgment is overflowing with admiration, and I agree with them in the conviction, that you alone of all living men could achieve the task, and that the word Kosmos is the true and appropriate title of your work.
I told you, that I have perused the first volume of your work, I am now studying it, and I wish to thank you for the really delightful hours, which you have opened to me. I call all these hours delightful which I can snatch from the uninviting field of political disturbances, and devote to the natural sciences.
Accept, dear Humboldt, the renewed assurance of my sincere and well-known consideration.
Metternich.
99.
JULES JANIN TO HUMBOLDT.
Star Hotel at Bonn,
Sunday Evening, August 10th, 1845.
Dear Sir,—I beg and entreat you to do an impossible thing for me. You are the kindest friend of the literary men of my country, and you have always been the most indulgent of men to me. Please listen, therefore, to my request. I left Paris a week ago for the express purpose of transmitting to the “Journal des Débats” a faithful record of the journey of her Majesty the Queen of England along the banks of the Rhine. Before leaving, I had the honor of paying my respects to the King at Neuilly, and of securing his approval of my design. Monsieur Guizot also strongly encouraged me by saying, that hospitality required that an honest and conscientious writer should follow the royal party, and faithfully chronicle these wonderful rambles, which are now interesting and delighting the whole of Europe.
Monsieur Guizot gave me, at the same time, letters of introduction and instructions, of which I am proud. The letters are all honorable to me, and my instructions are worthy of the man who gave them.
Now, dear sir, assist me. What I wish is, not a presentation to his Majesty, your King, but an admission into the royal circle. Unobserved by all, I myself shall see everything, and thus be able to fulfil the mission with which I have been honored.
You see that it is the imperious passion, the passion of a feuilletonist, which actuates me. It is true I have no title. But, if one be necessary, you can say that I am the Lieutenant-Colonel of a Legion (militia), that I shall appear in a brilliant uniform; and further, that it is but proper that the writers whom the King invites to his table, and whom he so greatly honors on so momentous an occasion, should furnish a report of its chief features, as an authority to which future historians of the time may refer.
I am writing, dear sir, under the best auspices—under the auspices of Mr. Meyerbeer. You will make him very happy, I am sure, and with him the whole “Journal des Débats,” which is so much devoted to you, and, in addition, your very humble servant, myself.
I shall await with great impatience, but with the most perfect submission, your kind reply.
I am sure that, in any event, you will have done all that you honorably could do, to secure me this favor.
Please accept, Monsieur le Baron, the humble homage of my devotion and of my profound respect.
Jules Janin.
100.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Potsdam, 26th of September, 1845.
(To his dear friend, the Privy Councillor von Varnhagen.)
Kings and Republics.
Por lo que desio la conversacion de los Reyes desio la conversacion de ellos dentro de los limites permitidos. Un grave consejero dixò al Rey Don Phelipe II., viendo que iva en diversas ocasiones al poder absoluto: Señor, reconoced á Dios en la tierra como en el cielo, por que ne se cause de las monarquías, suave govierno si los Reyes suavemente usan de él.—Cartas de Antonio Perez, p. 545.
At the time of the insurrection of the Netherlands there had already been raised the question, “Whether the Kings were going off.” I translate the passage from Antonio Perez for you. He says: It is because I desire the preservation of monarchs that I advise them to remain in the limits prescribed for them. A wise Counsellor said to the King Philip II., being aware of his tendency to absolute power: “Sire, recognise the supremacy of God on earth as well as in Heaven, so that God may not become tired of monarchies—a very excellent sort of government, if it be used with moderation.”
El Dios de cielo es delicado mucho en suffrir compañero en ninguna cosa y se pica del abuso del poder humano. Si Dios se causa de las monarchias, dara otra forma al mundo.
The God of Heaven is very jealous about admitting a co-partner in anything whatsoever: He is offended by every abuse of human power. Should God once be tired of monarchies, he will give another form to the political world.
A. Humboldt.
101.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Potsdam, October 2d, 1845.
The curious little note containing the prophecy “that God would become tired of kings,” was lying for many days on my desk, awaiting my delivering it to you, in person, my dearest friend. Whenever anything worth reading falls into my hands during the late hours of my solitary study in the chateau here, I always think of you. As I have hitherto been prevented by my efforts to arrange the manner of Buelow’s discharge from calling on you, I have thought best to send you, dear friend, the little sheet, under envelope. My reason for quoting this prophecy is, the general state of public affairs, which provokes my highest indignation. Every day discloses something worse. The future looks gloomy and menacing, the greatest carelessness prevails.
I have just returned from Tegel, where the Buelows would be very happy to see you. They beg especially that you will gratify them next winter by frequent calls at their town residence.
In the “Westminster Review” a certain Dr. Cross says, the style of Kosmos is lengthened, and very indifferent; the frequent reflection on sentiment was deemed very superfluous by English savans—such a book did not contain any thing new. Then follows the denunciation of Atheism, although “creation” and the “created world” are never lost sight of in the book. And did I not, only eight months ago, in the French translation, say, in the plainest terms:—It is this necessity of things, this occult but permanent connexion, this periodical return in the progress, development of formation, phenomena, and events, which constitute Nature submissive to a controlling power. Physics, as the name itself implies, can only deduce the phenomena of the physical world from the properties of matter; the highest aim of experimental science is therefore to ascend to the existence of the laws, and progressively to generalise the same. Whatever lies beyond is no object for physical demonstration, it belongs to another order of more elevated speculations. Immanuel Kant, one of the few philosophers whom no one has yet accused of impiety, has, with rare sagacity, indicated the limits of physical explanation in his renowned Essai sur la Théorie et la Construction des Cieux. Koenigsberg, 1755.
The conduct of the aldermen is very praiseworthy. It is a pleasure, and a miracle at the same time, to encounter such a degree of public spirit among men differing so much in intellect and culture of mind. It is hatred concentrated against the same object, but it only appears so on the outside.
I confess that I am wrong to have not yet answered so excellent a man as the author of “The Religious Poetry of the Jews in Spain.” I first wanted to read the book, and the terror of having reached the age of seventy-six years on the 14th of September, has plunged me so deeply in my “Kosmos,” that duties otherwise sacred to me have been neglected. I shall call personally on Mr. Sachs, and beg you to excuse me to him in advance; as to justifying myself, that is out of the question.
Most respectfully, yours,
A. v. Humboldt.
The sketch on Hormayr, which, in a political view, stops very singularly at 1808, is very interesting. What a mass of writings! one hundred and fifty volumes.
102.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, October 2d, 1845.
I would not like, my dear friend, that a friend of Thiers, whom he has warmly recommended to me, should leave Berlin without having had the pleasure of seeing you. Mr. Thomas, one of the editors of the “Revue des deux Mondes,” is the author of a most remarkable work on the ancient provincial constitutions of France, compiled from archives. I recommend him to your indulgence.
Yours, in great haste,
A. v. Humboldt.
103.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, Nov. 30th, 1845.
All gifts, tendered through a hand like yours, are of double value to me, my dear friend. I have immediately replied to that high-gifted lady, the Countess. You are quite right in saying that her beautiful poetry evinces an admirable familiarity of the mind with the subject.
I deem it more delicate to write to Baron Hormayr rather than to his lady. May I beg to enclose my little note, provided you approve its form? I have long had a predilection for this liberal-minded man. His literary activity is astounding. I shall have the pleasure of calling on Mr. Sachs to-day. I shall also present his book to the King myself; this is, however, a time in which no impression is permanent. All things dissolve into mere visions, which will, however, reappear, ominous and deformed, by being joined to old fancies. I am much afraid of the consequence produced by incentives, from which I had hoped to produce happier results. How has it happened that Kosmos is so popular beyond expectation? It seems to me that it must be attributed to the imagination of the reader, which invests it with additional features, or to the pliability of our (German) language which renders it so easy to describe every object intelligibly, and to picture it in words.
I will come and thank you, my generous friend, for the light you have thrown on the moral and intellectual merits of Voltaire.[[42]] Your revelations are delightful; but “Duncker-Freitag,” the recruiting officer, the sentinel, and the humorously excited suspicion of what was attempted at night with Madame Denis, are and will always produce an uneasiness.
With old attachment, yours,
A. v. Ht.
Sunday.
I shall not forget Mr. Breul the merchant. Minister Buelow was very sorry that you missed him. You will be very agreeable to him and Lady Buelow any evening from half-past seven to nine o’clock.
104.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN
Thursday, January 15th, 1846.
Mr. Milnes, and what he may have said of the King, “who showed him no personal civilities,” interest me but little; but it will afford me great joy if my earnest intercession for Prutz be at last useful to him. This miserable trifle is the only thing that I can secure in my position. I shall die, however, in the conscientious belief, that to my last moment I never abandoned one devoted to the same principles as myself. Your approbation is highly valuable to me, my dear friend!
The “Quarterly Review” says I had a prolix style, and am never able to write one page of “vivid expression.”
With faithful attachment, yours,
A. v. Humboldt.
Please excuse, like a philosopher, the writing on this mutilated sheet. I am in such a hurry that I have mistaken the address.
105.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, January 25th, 1846.
After an official feeding, at court, of the “knights of the peace,” whose unworthy chancellor I am—after some sorrowful hours at Buelow’s, whose state becomes every day more precarious—after a ball at the Chateau, from which I am just returned, I cannot seek repose without sending you my preliminary thanks for your ecclesiastical gifts. I am delighted at the review of a poetical period, the precursor of a nobler one—or, to speak more correctly, of one more pregnant with life. I will, however, turn away from the long “Ode of Grief,” from “The Blue and the Black Eyes,” from “Besser’s Merry Wig,” and recur with new pleasure to your “Zinzendorf.” This is a grand, well-executed life-sketch, a figure towering above all other things, which, in a different direction, attract the interest of our time. Your “Zinzendorf” was also constantly admired by my brother. How much the interest is enhanced by all that we see or rather expect to see! But where, among the intellectual “glaciers” of the present time, are those who could compare themselves with Zinzendorf, Lavater, and Stilling?...
Most gratefully yours,
A. Humboldt.
Saturday Night.
I told Ranke to-day, very frankly, how much I was disgusted at what he presumptuously did at a meeting of the Academy, when I was not present, against Preuss, a much nobler character than he is. Have you not received yet the journals, in which I am immoderately praised and reproved (“North-British Review” and “Quarterly Review”)? In Germany, my prose is frequently blamed as being too poetical; but the “Quarterly Review” finds it languishing, lifeless, and “not a vivid description.” How differently different nations feel!
106.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, February 7th, 1846.
Yesterday afternoon poor Buelow was released from his sufferings. Thursday night, at eleven o’clock, on going to bed, he fell lifeless into the arms of his servant. An apoplexy! He closed his eyes never to open them again. In the morning a hundred and forty pulses were counted; bleeding had no effect. His end was, as lately his life was, unconscious. The family is deeply affected; the event, however, is beneficial. His excellent wife would have been sacrificed. Next Tuesday morning we will carry him, without pageantry, to Tegel, and bury him under the column of the “Statue of Hope.” Under the pressure of business, caused by this event, and in the midst of letters which I have still to write to Guizot, Metternich, and Aberdeen, I can only briefly reply to the heartfelt letter of Madame von Arnim. I have but little hope, that the old folks now reigning at Weimar will appoint either Prutz or Fallersleben. I had formerly thought of Guhrauer, for whom you will also have some predilection to be sure. You know how happy I would have been if Prutz were appointed. I am not personally acquainted with Fallersleben. The whole passage, however, in the “Wochenstube,”[[43]] alluding to the King and to me, must be changed. It is based on a false rumor. I never have shown the book to the King, and I never applied to the King to quash the indictment, as he is always rather irritated against Prutz, on account of the old cousin from Kulmbach.[[44]] It was Minister Bodelschwingh who showed it to the King. On this Minister Prutz had personally made a very favorable impression, which it was easy to improve. Prutz had applied to have the indictment quashed, and besides he would hardly have been found guilty on all the counts. It was thought advisable, as he made the first advances to the Government, not to rebut him. The passage “that our King should be asked,” must also be discarded, as it would give offence to the Grand-Duchess, who likes to show her independence of Prussia at every opportunity. So she protected, not long ago, the Chancellor Mueller, when the Court of Weimar was diplomatically reproached for allowing a journal here prohibited to be read in a reading-room at Weimar. The Court of Weimar replied with dignity. But that Prutz or Fallersleben could be appointed seems highly improbable to me. Credat Judæus Apella. Excuse to-day my confused writing, dear friend!
Yours,
A. v. Ht.
Saturday.
107.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, Feb. 20th, 1846.
Do you guess, my dear friend, who sent me this strange article? Do you guess anything from the seal and the name on the envelope, “M.?” Is that the author, and to what journal may the article belong? Profound, of enlarged political views, it certainly is not. The passage on p. 8 is underscored by the author himself, and it contains a contradiction! Prussia is to have unity in an American confederacy. His remarks, p. 3, on Frederick II. and on his works, and on “Kant a guillotine,” p. 5, are as Minister Thiele would write them. I am indignant at both. The author knows all the news, all the names, all the gossip, of the “Eckensheher,”[[45]] and is touched by the liberalism of Bodelschwingh, p. 14, who still defends every day the expulsion of the Baden Representatives. He does not dare to name Eichhorn with censure. The last line only is grand and fine.
With unalterable devotion,
Yours,
A. v. Humboldt.
Friday.
108.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, March 29th, 1846.
I have only time to tell you, that I shall certainly be in Sans Souci from June to September, and to thank you, noble friend, from my heart, for the kind manner in which you allude to the Agamemnon of my brother. To choose maliciously 16 verses out of 1700!! I once complained that they would not perform the drama in a royal palace in my brother’s translation! As the Staats Zeitung is seen every evening by the King, they thought it well to malign the production there. The very next day I answered in the Spenersche Zeitung mildly, because the well-informed but unpoetical Dr. Franz is now seeking an increase of his pension. I myself took care that the King did not see my answer; at least, he did not talk to me about it. Send back the little sheet. I am at work, not without success, I believe, at the Kosmos, but in a sad mood respecting the public cause. Your news from England is very interesting.
With the most cordial friendship,
Yours,
A. v. Humboldt.
Sunday.
109.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, March 30th, 1846.
I send you again some autographs of little import, ten in number, of Villemain, Bessel, Victor Hugo, Rueckert (of whom you have plenty of autographs), Manzoni (full of praise for me, but in bad style), Thiers, Widow of Lucien Bonaparte, three billets de matin of the Duchesse d’Orleans. I add to these fugitive sheets a letter from me to the King, which I beseech and implore you not to show to any one, and to send back to-morrow, because I might have use for it. You shall have the letter afterwards. It sometimes happens that the King, instead of a billet de matin, writes his answer on my letter. This happened yesterday. The ministers who would gladly permit the “Turnen,[[46]]” throw suspicion on Prof. Massmann, whom the King likes very much, and whom he wants to keep here. My letter will show you at least, that I openly say, how the tide of evil is bearing down all things before it, and how we are depriving ourselves of the means of action.
With my old attachment, yours,
A. v. Humboldt.
110.
HUMBOLDT TO FRIEDRICH WILHELM IV.
As early as eight o’clock this morning I sent to the Koethener Strasse, to have an interview with Professor Massmann, after the confiding communications of your Majesty, concerning the decision of his situation. He has just gone, leaving me again with an excellent impression of his solidity, clear perceptions, and enthusiastic vigor for influencing our youth (the indelible, primæval, self-restoring institution of mankind). To be afraid of every enthusiastic energy is to take from the life of a State its nourishing, preserving power. Professor M. did not see Minister von Bodelschwingh for two years, but the Minister then treated him very kindly, and Massmann desires very much, without intruding, to give a candid answer to every question. In view of the noble and frank character of Minister von Bodelschwingh I have great hopes of the result of such a conversation, and therefore I have to beg of your Majesty, most submissively, to communicate to me, whether, according to the orders of your Majesty, the Minister will send for Professor M., or whether he may go to the Minister on his own account, not called for, but animated by some words of your Majesty. I wonder how it could be forgotten how much Massmann has done for the poetry of the Hohenstaufen times, and how talented a lecturer he was at the University. I find praised in Gervinus Geschichte der Deutschen Litteratur: Massmann’s Denkmaeler Deutscher Sprache, 1828; his Gedichte des Zwoelften Jahrhunderts, his Legenden and Ritterliche Poesie. How could a man be dangerous to youth whom the King of Bavaria appointed for the education of his princes, and by whom above all others the Crown-Prince declares himself to have been animated with the love of culture and intellectual freedom, and the true appreciation of his impending kingly duties? We live not in a sad, but in an earnest time. All action and energy are paralysed, if backbiting is permitted to deprive us of our most useful men. Enthusiastically attached to your person, to the splendor of your reign, and to the glory of our country, it makes me sad to see the most noble purposes in danger of being misunderstood. No doubt there are very honorable men who, from pure love of your Majesty, would like to see me also under the column at Tegel, or at least on the other side of the Rhine.
In grateful submission,
Your Royal Majesty’s most faithful
Humboldt.
Berlin, March 29, 1846.
The King wrote on the fly-leaf:
My warmest thanks, dearest Humboldt. M. Bodelschwingh will send for Massmann.
In all haste, as ever.
Your faithful
F. W.
Alexander v. Humboldt, Present.
111.
BESSEL TO HUMBOLDT.
Koenigsberg, Feb. 12th, 1846.
I hear with great regret that your Excellency has to mourn the loss of Herr von Buelow. Although I had not the pleasure of knowing the late Baron personally, I was not unacquainted with the true affection of the uncle for his nephew, and I heard frequent mention of the enthusiastic manner in which it was reciprocated. Moreover, I knew his repute as that of a noble, talented, clear-sighted man. Would that I could indite words of consolation, such as I heard them, at the time of my great loss!—but it is not given to every one to speak them. That time heals our bleeding wounds, the wounds which at first seemed mortal, I myself have experienced; that death after a short suffering is preferable to death after a long one, is a truth which impresses itself often on my mind!
The chancellor, Herr von Wegnern, communicated to me on the 27th ult. the letter which he received from your Excellency. This letter contains the first news I received since Nov. 7th, of last year, respecting the portrait by which our most gracious monarch intended to gratify a poor invalid: that your letter was extremely gratifying and consoling to me, is natural. It created the first ray of hope; it has unceasingly occupied me; it even gave rise to some kind of superstition, and I attributed my good health the whole month of December to the vivid hopes it had raised. This prospect of the restoration of my health, I thought, gave me hope of being able to indulge for a longer period in the pleasure which the dear picture of the “most highly revered one, affords me. I, however, do not indulge in the hope of this restoration,” since I find my own experience as frequently opposed to as in harmony with that of others, and the result of my reflections on this obscure subject, is simply this, that it is one of the innumerable questions, which are beyond the veil that separates us both from the great secrets of our own nature, and from those which nature in general interposes between first causes and perceptible phenomena. I did, however, excuse the rising superstition by recalling the indisputable truth, that vivid agreeable effects on the mind or soul react upon the body; but why did the reaction not endure in my case? Be this as it may, it is a fact that the portrait of the King always moved before my eyes during my restless nights; I hoped every day would bring me news of it. I perfectly understand that a care for the well-being of millions of subjects, equally dear to the heart of the monarch, rules the ruler himself and compels him to abandon, under the pressure of the moment, the arrangement of a succession of innumerable interests centring in him; I also fully understand that the King, although he is no more unmindful of the honors he intends bestowing than of those he has already awarded, has not been able to fix the exact moment of conferring the intended benefit upon me. I also know beyond all doubt, that I am standing upon a mine which may at any time explode, and that to-day has no power over to-morrow. I have, therefore, thought best to conceal entirely within my own breast the hope of possessing the dearest of pictures, and to betray nothing, even to my wife and daughters, until further news of the actual approach of the hoped-for object shall render me as secure in the certainty as the case permits. I have the utmost horror against the propagation of anything the truth of which maybe subjected to doubts by succeeding events; knowing from sad experience that it may not be sustained by the next moment, for which falsehood and misrepresentation are greedily lying in wait. I fear that the premature spreading of such news, moreover, may imply a sort of coercion (sit venia verbo) on the King. These reflections imposed profound silence on me. But when the letter of your Excellency to Herr von Wegnern spread the news without my co-operation, and when the realization of my hopes seemed near, this compulsory silence terminated, and I actually revelled in the idea of its possession. Next day, the 28th of January, I put down on paper the testamentary provision, which disposes of the picture after my death. I consider it the common property of our country, not only on account of its fundamental object, that of alleviating the sufferings of the sick man, but also for other reasons. I therefore do not leave it to my family; but in consequence of long and careful considerations, up to January 27th, to my native town of Minden, so that the highest military and civil functionaries of the province, together with the Mayor of the town, may decide further on the place and manner of its keeping. Moreover, on the 28th of January, I entered upon the execution of other plans relative to the fulfilment of my hopes, which entertained me in various ways during these last months. In order to receive the portrait of the “most highly revered” in a becoming manner, it is necessary to put the place where I shall keep it into the best state at my command. I have, therefore, condemned the present furniture and ornaments of my two rooms, and ordered new ones, as luxurious and tasteful (for a professor, of course) as I could decide upon. The directions for their manufacture were sent immediately, and with the opening of the navigation in spring I shall have everything I want. I shall blame no one who thinks me foolish in prosecuting plans for embellishing my residence at a moment when my leaving it for ever seems so highly probable. But if I delayed, the prospect of the arrival of the royal portrait would depress, instead of elevating me joyfully, as it does now, above much suffering. If I enjoy the sight of the picture even one day only, I shall pass through a fleeting, indeed, but beautiful “frontier scenery”—from this life into the other! One thing yet I shall add before I cease annoying your Excellency, by narrating the consequences following the invaluable expected gift of the most high Master. Mr. Chancellor von Wegnern has asked Professor Simson to express to me his wish to insert a notice of the picture in the papers. But I opposed it, partly for reasons stated above, and partly because such a notice would certainly be more appropriate after the receipt of the picture. In case I should be unable to write any more after its arrival, Simson knows what are to be the contents of the notice according to my wish.
Could I but once behold the fine appearance now presented of the comet of Biela! At our place, on the 11th of January, Wichmann could observe nothing, perhaps, or probably on account of the little clearness of the sky at that time; but on the 15th he saw distinctly both heads of the comet. On the following day he described to me orally what he had seen; but I did not get a clear idea of it, and was, on the contrary, of opinion, that what he called a second head of the comet, is an accumulation of nebulæ, as other comets too had shown at a greater or smaller distance from the real head. I asked of him to make for me, when it appeared again, a diagram of it, as accurate as possible. The state of the sky and the position of the comet, which was often very low, delayed the making of a diagram and measurement till the 26th of January. Since that time the second head of the comet has been traced as faithfully as possible. Our observations are the earliest of those known; since, they have directed their attention to it everywhere, and have measured it; there will become known, in spite of the bad season, a fine series of observations, which may, as I hope, permit us to draw reliable conclusions. As now developed, forces of polarity, I believe, must be recognised in it. The further developments will, I hope, enable us to advance beyond superficial conjectures like these.
The observations of the new planet can be made here so excellently by the heliometer, which is quite invaluable for this purpose, that their accuracy far surpasses that of the best meridian observations; of course its greatest usefulness will only be attained when the stars of comparison are equally well determined in their position. To this determination, then, the power of the meridian observations is directed about the planet itself. Dr. Busch, following my counsel, does not trouble himself. I have also requested Encke and Schuhmacher to assist in determining the positions of the stars. The former has already received from here a series of excellent observations, as a foundation for his calculation of the orbit, and he will soon receive the continuation of them. It is very fortunate that I have arranged my extensive investigations on the exact reduction of observations by my heliometer, and that these are published in the first volume of my “Astronomische Untersuchungen.” Without them, Wichmann would be unable to reduce them with exactness, as I can do nothing now, and the observations of the planet would thereby lose much of their interest, which exists only in the first period of observation, and therefore only when the observations are calculated immediately. I hope, that by proceeding on this basis, Encke’s calculations will acquire certainty, which will prove itself up to a few seconds at the reappearance of the planet.
At last an end of this!
In accustomed reverence to the end of life,
Your Excellency’s most obedient
F. W. Bessel.
Note by Humboldt.—The last letter but one which I received from the great and noble man.
112.
VICTOR HUGO TO HUMBOLDT.
March 20th, 1845.
You have been kind enough, my Lord Baron, and illustrious colleague, to promise your acceptance of a copy of “Notre Dame de Paris,” and the further good office of offering it in my name to your august Sovereign, my sympathy with and admiration for whom are well known to you. To “Notre Dame de Paris” I add my solemn discourse before the Academy. It would make me happy to think that it gave you a little pleasure to receive this mark of my high and profound regard.
Yours,
Victor Hugo.
113.
FRIEDRICH RUECKERT TO HUMBOLDT.
Berlin, March, 1846.
I had the misfortune of twice missing your Excellency when I called to give you my thanks for your great kindness, and at the same time to bid you a hearty farewell, as to-morrow I hasten to my rustic solitude. May God grant you many felicitous hours for the happy completion of your great work, for which I now am more heartily anxious than for any work of my own. For it is the monument of honor for Germany, her representative work before the nations of Europe; and I, as a German, feel proud that you did not write it in French. I would also ask your leave to introduce to you my eldest son, who is private tutor at the university of Jena; now, he may try his luck himself with you, as bearer of this letter. Finally, I beg of you that you will speak in my behalf with their Majesties, whom it was not my fortune to see this winter. May I yet be permitted to work something worthy of their approbation and of yours; but may you also be persuaded that it is not for me to appear in person before the public of the capital, but to shape my thoughts in the solitude and quiet of rural life, whither I am now permitted to withdraw, grateful for the highest favor of his Majesty, and with the purest reverence for you.
Rueckert.
114.
ALEXANDER MANZONI TO HUMBOLDT.
(FROM THE FRENCH.)
Milan, Dec. 6th, 1844.
Monsieur le Baron:
I would not have hesitated to express my confidence in an august and perfect goodness; but, instead of a becoming confidence, it would have been an unpardonable presumption on my part to have dared to foresee under what ingeniously amiable form this goodness would deign to manifest itself. I have thus a second time acquired the precious right (I had almost been made to forget that it is a sacred duty), to beg your Excellency to lay at the feet of your noble sovereign the humble tribute of a gratitude which has become, if possible, more lively and more grateful. And at the risk of appearing indiscreet, I cannot refrain from availing myself of this opportunity to renew the respectful homage of the devotion which, as a dweller on this earth, and under this title, nihil humani a me alienum putans, I have long entertained. This homage would cease to be pure, and would thus lose its unique value if it involved the slightest sacrifice of my Catholic conscience, that is to say, of that which is the soul of my conscience. But, thank God, such is not the case; for, amid the character and the sign of the high destiny which I salute from afar, with a respectful joy, it is my privilege to admire and to love the development of the most excellent work of justice, which is the liberty of doing good.
My admiration for you, M. le Baron, if even it did not content itself with being the simple echo of so great a reputation, ought not to surprise you; for if, as I am daily told, there is not a learned man who has not something to learn from you, there are few unlearned men whom you have not taught something. In this connexion, and at the risk of abusing your indulgence, I cannot conceal from you my hope to have a memento of Humboldt—a memento less precious, no doubt, than those which I owe to his good-will, but which will also have its value. My fellow-citizen, Count Alexander Lito Modignani, in a journey made by him, entirely under your guidance, in North America, sought out, in the mountain of Quindia, the magnificent Ceroxylus at the season of the ripeness of their fruit, possessed himself of one, and was kind enough, on his return, to divide with me the seeds he gathered from it. Planted last spring, not one has yet sprung up; but on visiting them lately, I found them entirely sound, and in two of them a trace of vegetation was perceptible at the base. I should be happy, and even a little proud, to possess a memento, and that, I believe, a very rare one, of a people at once ancient and new, whom you have subjected to the victorious sway of science.
It is with the most profound respect, and, permit me to add, with that affection always so naturally entertained for a great man, and which it gives such pleasure to express, that I have the honor to be your Excellency’s most humble and most obedient servant,
Alexander Manzoni.
Note by Humboldt.—Written to A. Humboldt on the occasion of a refusal to accept the class of peace of the order pour le merite. I had been commissioned to write to him, that it was not to interfere with his liberty in any degree, that he was never to wear the cross, but that a name so great and so beautiful as his must needs continue to grace the list of the knights.
115.
THIERS TO HUMBOLDT.
(FROM THE FRENCH.)
Paris, August, 1845.
Sir,—I take the liberty of introducing a young Frenchman, full of talents, of acquirements, and of thirst for knowledge. He desires to become acquainted with Germany, and Berlin in particular. I thought I could not direct him better than to the illustrious who does the honors of Berlin to strangers. Permit me to recommend him in a very special manner. Mr. Thomas is my particular friend, and the friend of all your friends of Paris. Be pleased to receive in advance all my thanks for the reception you will kindly accord him, and to receive the assurance of my attachment and of my high consideration.
A. Thiers.
116.
THE PRINCESS OF CANINO, LUCIEN BONAPARTE’S WIDOW, TO HUMBOLDT.
Paris, May, 1845.
I send you, M. le Baron, a copy of my refutation of M. Thiers, in regard to the passages of that historian which assail the memory of my husband. The esteem which you bore him, as well as that of your dear brother and your estimable sister-in-law, both, to me, of sweet and noble memory, leads me to hope that you will receive with interest this token of all the sentiments I possess for you, M. le Baron, and in which I beg you to believe me. Yours affectionately,
The Princess of Canino,
Widow Bonaparte Lucien.
117.
DUCHESS HELENE D’ORLEANS TO HUMBOLDT.
Tuileries, Feb. 12th, 1845.
I will not longer hold the treasure intrusted to my keeping, which was a source of great joy to me. Receive once more my sincerest thanks for this communication, and let me hope soon to find new material for thanks. You see, selfishness is unpardonably predominant in my character.
Your Excellency’s affectionate
Helene.
118.
DUCHESS HELENE D’ORLEANS TO HUMBOLDT.
Neuilly, May 12th, 1845.
Your Excellency must suffer me often to claim your services; but to-day I come to ask something great of you. I wish for myself and for my cousin of Weimar the instructive pleasure of visiting Versailles in your society; our plan is to go there on Thursday. For the evening, the King invites you for dinner and theatre in Trianon. If you have the courage to share our altered pilgrimage, I invite your Excellency to be here in Neuilly, Thursday, half-past 11, to accompany us on our journey. But if other occupations should prevent you from going, I ask an open confession.
I beg your Excellency to receive the expression of my sincerest esteem,
Helene.
119.
DUCHESS HELENE D’ORLEANS TO HUMBOLDT.
Winter of 1845.
I had not the satisfaction to bid adieu to your Excellency, and to repeat to you my thanks for your excellent work; permit me to do it now in writing, whilst I send to you the lines for my beloved cousin, and receive once more the expression of the most heartfelt wish to greet again your Excellency, after a short interval, on French soil.
With most sincere esteem, your Excellency’s affectionate
Helene.
120.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Potsdam, April 22d, 1846.
It has afforded me a great relief being permitted to read before you, and while very much of the warm and friendly praises expressed by you are of course to be ascribed to the kindness of heart which prompts you to give pleasure to an old man, still there is a large margin for the unalloyed gratification of my love of approbation. The main object of my efforts is that of composition in the precise sense of the word, the command of large masses of matter compounded with care and with an accurate knowledge of details. The management of our beautiful, pliant, harmonious, and drastic tongue is but a secondary consideration. I shall certainly find an opportunity of availing myself of your excellent advice for Flemming and Mad. de Sevigné. Seneca also, though I consider him a little bombastic (Quaest. natur.) I have taken home with me for perusal.
Now for the special purpose of these lines. The King said to me on going to bed yesterday, “Let Bettina know that she may make her mind easy in regard to the leading person.[[47]] No one ever thought of giving him up to the Russians.” “You should write her to that effect yourself,” said I. “Yes, I hope to do so,” was the answer. He spoke very kindly of Bettina.
With my old attachment, yours,
A. v. Humboldt.
Wednesday.
How sad is this eighth attack upon the King! Strange that ministers and cabinet councillors are never shot at! Such events are the more unpleasant, the more the probabilities or improbabilities of their recurrence baffle all attempts at calculation.
121.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Potsdam, May 18th, 1846.
I send you, dear friend, to be added to your collection, a very remarkable letter from Prince Metternich, with a semi-theological conclusion, full of mind and rhetorical fervor, with a slight dread of pantheism at the close of the letter.
With unaltered friendship, yours,
A. v. Humboldt.
122.
METTERNICH TO HUMBOLDT.
(From the French.)
Vienna, May 10, 1846.
My dear Baron—Inclosed is my vote.[[48]] I give it in good conscience, and absolve you from the crime of that electioneering to which the world is addicted. The King and his Chancellor are the sound appreciators of scientific merit, and I know how to designate the place which belongs to me in the avenue of science, and which, to my great regret, is far from the sanctuary.
What I have just told you, my dear Baron, is neither gasconade nor an excess of modesty; it is the unvarnished history of my life. You do not know this history, and I will relate it to you in a few words.
At the age at which life takes its direction, I contracted an inclination for the exact and natural sciences which I would permit myself to describe as irresistible, and a disgust for practical life which I would call unconquerable, if I had not overcome both this disgust and this inclination. It is fate that disposes of individuals, and their qualities as well as their defects decide upon their careers. Fate has separated me from the object of my choice, and has thrust me upon the road I should not have chosen. Once started, I submitted without losing sight of the goal of my wishes, and the result was that what I should have wished to regard as the aim of my life has become only the solace of it. The King has set the mark of a learned man upon me. I know to whom this is to be attributed. If it is a question of the heart, the King is not mistaken.
What you tell me of the forthcoming second volume of Cosmos, makes me look forward to the study of it with impatience; you are not to be read, you must be studied, and the place of a pupil suits me exactly. No one is more called upon than I am to do justice to your remark relative to the influence exercised by Christianity on the natural sciences,[[49]] as upon mankind in general and hence upon all science, for that remark has long since dawned upon my mind. It is correct in all respects, and its generating cause is simple as are all other truths, those which are, as well as those which are not understood, for the latter circumstance has no effect on the substance of a truth. Error leads to error, as truth is the guide to truth. As long as the mind remained in error in the sphere of thought which is the most elevated of all those attainable by the human mind, this deplorable state of things could not fail to react upon every quarter of the moral compass upon all intellectual and social questions, and to oppose to their development in the right direction, an insurmountable obstacle. The good news once told, the position could not but change. It was not by bestowing divine honor on effects that they could be traced to the fountain head of truth; the investigation continued to be confined to the abstract speculations of the philosophers, and to the rhapsodies of poets. The cause once laid bare, the hearts of men were comforted, and their minds opened to conviction. Nevertheless, the latter still remained for a long time shrouded in the mists of pagan scepticism, until at last scholastic philosophy was unhorsed by experimental science. Do you admit the force of my reasoning? If you do, I have no doubt you will share my fears that true scientific progress is in danger of being checked by too ambitious spirits, who desire to rise from the effects to the cause, and who finding the approach cut off by the impassable barriers which God has set upon human intelligence, and finding themselves unable to advance, roll back upon themselves, and relapse into the stupidity of paganism, in seeking the cause in the effect!
The world, my dear Baron, is in a dangerous position. The social body is in fermentation. You would do me a great favor if you could teach me the nature of this fermentation, whether it is spirituous, acid, or putrid? I greatly fear that the verdict will be for the last-named of these kinds, and it is not I who could teach you that these products are hardly beneficial.
Be pleased to accept the thanks of my household for your friendly memento, and the assurance of the continuance of my old attachment.
Metternich.
123.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, May 30th, 1846.
Perhaps, my dear friend, it will not be without some interest to you to possess a copy of the poem of the Crown-Prince of Bavaria. The language is less crude than that of Walhalla; and some passages show a good deal of feeling, if but little poetical fervor.
Yours,
A. v. Humboldt.
Saturday.
124.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Potsdam, November 14th, 1846.
What a splendid reception, my dear friend, have you given the fifth volume of my brother! Pardon me if, in the excessive bustle of the last few days upon the cold “historic hill,” I have not written some commendatory remarks. I also deplore the omissions to which you are kind enough to make me attentive. Perhaps they could be supplied in the next volume. It was supposed that the letters must be printed in the form in which my brother had prepared them for publication, and in which they were offered for sale. I believe no nation on earth can produce an instance of such a life devoted exclusively to the increase of the wealth of ideas! How inexpressibly I rejoice in the mere prospect of once more beholding a master-piece of your accurate, life-like, and withal delicate representations of social and diplomatic occurrences!
With unalterable attachment,
Your grateful
A. Humboldt.
While it was not entirely wise in a monarch who is great in history to have yielded, under the influence of the atmosphere of Versailles, to the temptation of offsetting the memory of the barricades with a spectacle à la Louis XIV., throwing great difficulties in the way of the successor, and attaining nothing of value, the conduct of Palmerston, and of Albert and Victoria, on the other hand, is likewise clumsily ill-mannered. Meantime, the sober Americans are establishing a universal empire in the West, which already threatens the trade of China.
My MS. “On the Textile Fabrics of the Ancients,” pp. 106 and 113, appears also to have been lost among the papers of the lamented Wolf. The effect of the religious music, particularly on p. 323, contains much that is finely expressed.
In the year 1846 we find the following remark in Varnhagen’s diary: “The conversation turned upon the capacity of one of the younger princes, which was declared to be inferior. Humboldt was of a different opinion. ‘I do not agree with you,’ he said; ‘the young prince spoke to me the other day, finding me in waiting in the apartments of his mother, and asked, “Who are you?” “Humboldt is my name,” said I. “And what are you?” “A chamberlain to his Majesty the King.” “Is that all?” said the prince, curtly, turning on his heel. Is not that a proof of intelligence?’”
125.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, November 28th, 1846.
I do not answer to-day, my dear friend, in regard to your splendid Memoirs. How everything succeeds in your hands! To-day I recommend you an able Frenchman, M. Galuski, who knows Germany better than we do, the author of an essay on A. W. Schlegel. He will stay but a few days. Preserve the autograph of Barante.[[50]]
A. v. Humboldt.
Saturday.
126.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, December 6th, 1846.
There will be perhaps some delay, my dear friend, in your receiving the “Cinq jours de Berlin,” in which I am spoken of by the Berliners (who are introduced as speaking themselves), as a tolerably pleasant tattler, but in which I am alluded to rather unkindly, as to my moral character. If all my speeches lack consistency, I apprehend for the durability of the system of the world, the Kosmos. Mr. Barrière will probably have called on you the sixth day, and you will have suggested all that to him. The paper contains some excellent things, Cracoviana, about the vote of Prussia and Mr. de Kanitz.
I send you for your autograph collection a flattering letter of Mignet, and a letter of mine, written in 1801, at Carthagena, in South America, at a turning point in my life, and addressed to “Citizen” Baudin, who, on board of the Perron, made a voyage round the world. This letter was written at a time when probably people in Europe had ceased to be addressed any more as “citizens.” Baudin, instead of doubling Cape Horn, and receiving me at Lima, went round the Cape of Good Hope to Australia.
Your old friend,
A. v. Humboldt.
Sunday.
I inclose an excellent letter of my brother to Koerner, which will be published in the sixth volume; but you must return this copy.
127.
MIGNET TO HUMBOLDT.
Paris, July 1st, 1846.
Dear Baron, and most illustrious Colleague:
You will easily understand how happy and flattered I was at hearing, that the book “Antonio Perez and Philip II.” has interested you and obtained approval so distinguished as that of your King. The applause of a Prince, of so great genius and learning, who ranks among the most acute and most infallible of literary critics, could not be otherwise than of the greatest value to me. To make the book which was honored with this august approbation worthier of it, may I ask you, my dear and most illustrious colleague, to offer the work in the new form, more complete and more elaborate, which I have just given to it, to your sovereign? This is a respectful act of homage, which the King of Prussia, by the expression of his kind satisfaction, has encouraged me to render, and for which your goodness to me will obtain, I am very sure, a gracious reception.
I take also the liberty of sending to you, for your own library, a copy of this new edition. Documents, hitherto unknown and very curious, which have enabled me to exhibit the designs of Don John of Austria, the murder of Escovedo, and the disgrace of Perez, in their true light, make the first edition imperfect.
But I must hasten to speak of the first volume of Kosmos, which you sent me, and in which you have so admirably shown, if I may use one of your beautiful sentences, “the order of the universe and the magnificence of the order.” I read the book with the greatest pleasure and advantage. It is an exposition, full of the most absorbing grandeur, of the phenomena and laws of the universe, from those nebulous distances whence light comes to us only after a journey of two millions of years, to the revolutions which preceded the actual organization of our planet, and which enabled men to be born, to live, and to reign on its surface. To paint this great picture in its teeming variety and majestic harmony, one needs to be master, like yourself, of all sciences, to love nature earnestly, and to have studied her under every aspect. In addition he must unite a vivid imagination to an accurate and profound judgment. Finish quickly this charming work, for your own glory and for our instruction.
Accept, dear Baron, the assurance of my gratitude, my admiration, and my affectionate devotion.
Mignet.
128.
HUMBOLDT TO BAUDIN.
Carthagena, April 12, 1801.
Citizen!
When I embraced you for the last time in Helvetius Street, in Paris, on the eve of my departure for Africa and the East Indies, I had but a feeble hope of seeing you again, and of sailing under your orders. You have been told, no doubt, by our common friends, C. C. Jussieu, Desfontaines ... how the Barbaresques have prevented my departure for Egypt, how the King of Spain has given me permission to journey over his vast domains in America and Asia, to gather whatever may be useful to science. Independently, and always at my own expense, my friend Bonpland and I have wandered for two years through the territories lying between the coast, the Orinoco, the Casiquian, the Rio Negro, and the Amazon. Our health has resisted the frightful risks created by the rivers. In the midst of the forests we have talked of you; of our useless visits; on C. Francois, of Neufchatel; of our beguiled hopes. Just as we were starting from Havana for Mexico and the Philippines, the gratifying news reached us that your perseverance had overcome every obstacle. After making our calculations, we felt sure that you would touch at Valparaiso, at Lima, or at Guayaquil. We changed our plans at once, and in spite of the stormy gales of this shore, we started in a little pilot boat to look for you in the South Sea, to try whether by reviving up our old plans, we could join our labors with yours, and sail with you on the South Sea. A long passage of twenty-one days from the Havana to Carthagena, unfortunately hindered us from taking the route of Panama and Guayaquil. We fear that the wind has ceased blowing in the South Sea, and we have decided to continue our journey on land by the way of the River Magdalena, Santa Fe, Popajan, Quito....
I hope we shall arrive in June or early in July at the city of Quito, where I will wait for the news of your arrival at Lima. Have the kindness to write me a line, directed in Spanish, “al Sr. Baron de Humboldt, Quito; casa del Sr. Governador Baron de Carondelet.” In case I should hear nothing from you, my respected friend, I intend to visit Chimborasso, Losca, ... till November, 1801, and to come down in December or January, 1802, with my instruments, to Lima. You will perceive from all this, my revered friend, that the heat of the tropics has not made me sluggish, and that I am afraid of no sacrifice where useful and bold enterprises are to be prosecuted. I have told you now frankly what I want from you. I know that I ask more from you than I can return; it may also be that particular circumstances may prevent your taking us on board of your vessel.... In that case, my letter may embarrass you, the more, perhaps, since you honor me with your friendship. I beg you, therefore, to write to me frankly. I shall always be glad to have seen you once more, and shall never complain of circumstances, which often govern us in spite of ourselves and our wishes. Your frankness will be the highest proof of your regard for me. I should then continue on my route from Lima to Acapulco, Mexico, the Philippines, Surato, Bassora, Palestine, Marseilles. How much I should prefer, however, to make a voyage with you! Mr. Bonpland presents you his respects.
Greetings and unchangeable friendship,
Alexander Humboldt.
Note of Humboldt, written long after.—This letter to Captain Baudin, written on my arrival at Carthagena (from the Havana), was returned to me, Captain Baudin not having touched at Lima.
A. Humboldt.
Berlin, Nov. 1846.
129.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Sunday, Feb. 21st, 1847.
I do not recollect showing you a very beautiful letter of my brother, on the death of Schiller, dated “Rome, 1805.” It was discovered but lately, and will be published in the next volume of his works. I inclose a very amiable letter from Prince Metternich, received this week, also a stiff and unmeaning one from Prince Albert. Prince Metternich has published, at his own cost, a splendid description of his mineralogical collection at Koenigswart, having probably in view his election to the Presidency of the new Academy instead of Kolowrat. At the special request of Prince Albert I left a copy of Kosmos on his desk at Stolzenfels. He had the civility not to thank me. The “blackbird”[[51]] has improved his politeness in the present instance, and besides, he makes me talk of “roving oceans of light” and “sidereal terraces”—a Coburg version of my text, quite English—from Windsor, where terraces abound. In Kosmos I speak once of the “starry carpet,” page 159, in explaining the open spaces between the stars. He presents me a work upon “Mexican Monuments,” a copy of which I myself had purchased two years ago. A splendid edition of Lord Byron would have been in better taste. It is also strange that he does not mention “Queen Victoria.” Possibly my “Book of Nature” is not sufficiently Christian for her Majesty. You see that I am a severe critic of “princely epistles.”
Please return Metternich and Albert soon, as I have not yet replied to them; also Wilhelm’s letter at your leisure—it is the only copy I have. I gave the original to Schlesier, who was very anxious to possess something from my brother’s hand.
With old attachment, yours,
A. v. Humboldt.
130.
METTERNICH TO HUMBOLDT.
Vienna, February, 1847.
My dear Baron:
I will begin this letter by congratulating you upon the new decoration, which the King has lately conferred upon you. The “Eagle” under whose wing—sub umbra alarum—you have executed so much will be a noble decoration on your breast. Suum cuique!
Now to what I wish to say further. You know, that I am no savan and that I have no pretension to be one; but notwithstanding this, you know that I am the friend of science, and in that capacity have furnished the means to some savans of publishing the little work of which I enclose the first copy to you. I hope you will approve of its execution. I think I am at the present the owner of the most complete collection of monuments[[52]] now existing of an epoch of which I cannot pretend to fix the age—and of which the “Gossau” conceals countless numbers. History written by man presents but an insignificant point when compared to that of which nature supplies the material. It was not I who christened one of the Ammonites after me—it is the doing of the editors of the opuscule.—I am, however, quite sure that neither my name nor even that of Ammon was known when my godson was alive.
Thousand sincere homages, my dear Baron,
Metternich.
131.
PRINCE ALBERT TO HUMBOLDT.
Windsor Castle, February 17th, 1847.
My dear Baron:
I have been constantly impressed while gradually reading the first volume of your “Kosmos” with my desire to thank you for the high intellectual enjoyment, its study has afforded me.
I am really unable to give you an authoritative judgment on this excellent work, which I received from your hands, and to atone in some measure for this defect, as well as to give some substantial character to the expression of my thanks, I present you the accompanying work (Catherwood’s Views in Central America). It may serve as an appendix to your own great work on Spanish America, and thus become worthy of your attention. I do not dare to express the intense anxiety with which I look forward to the appearance of the second volume of “Kosmos.” May that Heaven, whose roving oceans of light and sidereal terraces you have so ably described, be pleased to preserve you to your country, to the world, and to “Kosmos” itself, for many years, in undisturbed vigor of mind and body. This is the sincere wish of your
Very devoted,
Albert.
132.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, February 27th, 1847.
Here, at last, is my thankful letter to Carriere, containing three warm recommendations.
You were right in reprimanding me as to my extreme severity against the man of the “sidereal terraces.” I am severe only to the mighty ones of the earth, and this man impressed me very uncomfortably at Stolzenfels: “I know you feel great compassion for the Poles under the Russian sceptre; but, I am sorry to say, the Poles are as little deserving of our sympathy as the Irish.” “Mihi dixit;” and one is the handsome husband of the Queen of Great Britain!
I hasten to Potsdam to-day, in order to bring all the manuscripts here, which have fortunately arrived from Erfurt. Madame von Buelow writes, that they contain a long and very beautiful passage about our Rahel, and flattering things for you.
With old attachment,
A. v. H.
Saturday.
133.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, March 27th, 1847.
I am more deserving than you would believe, dear friend! I am through with the first volume of the “Letters”[[53]] (Therese’s property). I had very little to correct, and only about four pages to suppress, viz. allusions to biscuits, household details, a few sarcasms against Duke Charles of Brunswick (which he would have answered with calumnies as to the lady’s virtue), and more such things. The letters are excellent both in thought and expression. They furnish a picture of a most remarkable life. Their contempt of all worldly happiness or unhappiness beyond the narrow circle of one’s own feelings, this mixture of scriptural and Christian dogmas, of stoical indifference to the affairs of the world, together with so much delicacy and gentleness in a correspondence, continued to the four last days of a life, and written by a trembling hand on ruled paper. The torments of love-sickness, qui n’impatientent, are left untouched, in order not to lessen the impression of that powerful individuality. I repeat, all that I struck out amounts to only five or six lines—all that I suppressed as dull or trivial, would not fill two printed pages. You will, however, see much, very much, in the manuscript stricken out, thus ∽∽∽∽∽∽∽∽ sometimes half pages; this is, however, not mine but the old lady’s doing. This “Daughter of the Pastor of Taubenheim”[[54]] had, perhaps, hysterical fits of prudery now and then. The different ink shows that I am a stranger to these obliterations.
The first volume has a beautiful passage on Therese, and says much in praise of the King of Bavaria. In the second volume a description of Rahel will please you. Of Bettina she speaks less approvingly, as Madame von Buelow told me. I shall try to modify it in this respect. I think the first volume will be ready for delivery next Tuesday, and the second will soon follow. I shall bring it myself, together with notes and facsimiles, all locked in a tin box, which must be shortened. Then you will be in possession of the whole treasure, and I “salvavi animam meam.” The thing will create much provoking but salutary scandal, and will elicit much conflicting criticism.
With sincerest friendship, yours,
A. v. Ht.
Please don’t let the book be printed at Berlin, and have it (if possible) advertised before it is in the trade. My letters to Carriere will have duly reached you, I hope?
On the 30th March, 1847, Varnhagen wrote in his diary:—“Just when I returned home, Humboldt came in and brought a pack of manuscripts—the letters of his brother to Mrs. Diede. Humboldt regards affairs here as desperate, as I do myself. He consoles himself with the belief that the constitution presented, though good for nothing at first, may result beneficially. He expects violence of every description—atrocities committed by the police, popular rage, and military strokes. The King, however, Humboldt thinks, has no misgivings. He is in high spirits, having prepared his opening speech, and no longer minds the 11th of April, and its consequences. He never yet talked with Humboldt on constitutional affairs. As to Michelet, Eichhorn has instigated the King very much; but after all they will not find a reason to dismiss him, although the King would like very much to do it, and the Minister urges him on to it.”
On the 31st March Varnhagen adds: “Humboldt told me but yesterday that the King was firmly believing the restoration of Don Miguel, Don Carlos, the overthrow of the July dynasty, and that he would yet go to Paris, to salute the legitimate king. Also, that he, Humboldt, was deemed a Jacobin, who carried the tri-colored standard in his breeches pocket. As for myself, I was considered a royalist, but the King had prejudices against me. They think it strange that my old friend Canitz should not have enlightened the King on my behalf; that they did not ask my advice, and avail themselves of my services in the present situation. Wittgenstein also has talked in this manner with Humboldt. They forget only one thing: that I neither can nor will—the one and the other, with equal determination.”
The nobility is terribly excited; the change is remarkable; self-esteem is mightily roused. The devil himself could not have invented more efficacious ways of provoking the hostility of this whole class than this monstrous “Herrenstand.”
A Dream.—I saw the King weeping bitterly, and crying: so far it has come. Well, I will resign! May my brother take charge of the whole, and be happier than I was!
March 27th, 1847, Varnhagen wrote the following repartee of Humboldt in his diary: “Humboldt recited, good-humoredly, that a certain Mr. Massow, in the Assembly, had characterized liberalism as a felony. He, Humboldt, was therefore a twofold felon, as Minister Bodelschwingh considered literary men felonious.”
On the 11th July, 1847, Varnhagen observes: “This morning Humboldt came in quite unexpectedly. He is in good health and spirits, and denies having been really sick. He says that the King lives in a whirlpool of pleasure, that he is often extravagantly gay; thinks no longer of the Chamber, except when reminded of it, when he becomes immediately grave and sullen. The ministers, however, are full of anger—Savigny and Eichhorn particularly so. Foremost, however, is Bodelschwingh, who is always exciting the King to strong measures. Canitz acts this time in a conciliatory and compromising spirit. Bodelschwingh cannot bear being deprived of the imaginary triumph of his visionary premiership by the Chambers. Humboldt is engaged on the final sheets of his second volume. He is going to Paris next September.”