A. v. Humboldt.
177.
THE PRUSSIAN MINISTER RESIDENT, VON GEROLT, TO HUMBOLDT.
New York, August 25th, 1856.
My most dear and Honored Patron!
Since my last letter to your Excellency, of the 8th inst., I was made happy by your favor of the 27th of July, from which I learn, with the most sincere regret, of your temporary indisposition. For the information it contains I return your Excellency my most hearty thanks, and hasten to comply with your wish by sending two extracts from papers published here (the “New York Herald” and the “Courrier des Etats Unis”), containing your publication on the subject of slavery in Cuba, as well as the excuse published by Mr. Thrasher, which is, it must be confessed, exceedingly lame.
The affair has excited great attention here, and could not but be welcome to the opponents of slavery, who have made Fremont their candidate.
Some days ago, his German supporters, many thousands in number, held a mass meeting in his support, and honored him with a splendid torchlight procession in the evening.
The slavery question is becoming more alarming from day to day. While the House of Representatives refuse to appropriate moneys for the support of the army, news is daily coming in from Kansas of bloody conflicts between the free-soilers and the slaveholders. It is hoped, however, that after the presidential election (in November), domestic peace will be restored.
The unwholesome climate in Washington has driven me out for a few days, as the heat was intolerable last month, and now the fever and ague begins.
I am going to Albany to-day, to attend the meeting of naturalists to which I have been invited. I expect to meet a number of savans of distinction there, and to report the details to your Excellency hereafter.