It does no good to give all ideas new names or to foist new meanings upon old words—there is always one left in the air; that is, he no more finds the ultimate cause than do the rest of us, only he does not acknowledge it as we do.
What answer does C. give to the question with which the article starts? Is that which used to be called Soul a cause or an effect (that is, a phenomenon)? Does he believe that every cause begets effects, the children of which again become causes? Does he close the circle and regard the last effect as the first cause and vice versa?
He constantly provokes me to contradiction even in details. For instance, he brings Luther forward as a “progressive spirit,” because he substituted the Bible for the Church—belief in authority for belief in authority—! Whither this progress has led, we can see by the sanctimonious frauds with the halo! these Bismarcks with the tiara—!
Pardon, if C. is a favorite with you, but frankness is the first condition of a wholesome correspondence. Even with Villers I used to have frequent controversies.
Your many-sided activity and creative enthusiasm fill me with admiration, like a great drama of nature. Now pray allow yourself the enjoyment of the latter, as I did yesterday in my world’s-end thunderstorm.
Gratefully yours
R. H.
Best regards to your worthy husband.
Here also I introduce a letter which I received from Mirza Schaffy, after I had sent him a review of my novel by Carneri in the feuilleton of the Neue Freie Presse. The Peace Congress which Bodenstedt tells of is the one that took place in Paris in the year 1849, under the presidency of Victor Hugo, when Cobden was present.
Wiesbaden, April 8, ’90