140.HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Potsdam,October 31st, 1849.
Potsdam,October 31st, 1849.
Potsdam,October 31st, 1849.
Potsdam,October 31st, 1849.
A thousand, thousand thanks for the interpretation, my dear friend. How the political tempests haveravaged even this handwriting, once so fine, or, at least, so distinct. The “beloved courier” I read “beloved cousin,” the Princess of Prussia, who first showed the Duchess the latest “Views.”
A little address delivered by me before the delegates from this city, in which I referred to the views of my brother, a Potsdamer by birth, on a political life which develops itself freely from within, has been printed by the “Spikersche Zeitung,” with numerous typographical errors. Inclosed is my own report, written immediately after delivery. I would have been pleased if the answer had been correctly given in the Constitutional and other truly liberal papers. With my old devotion and friendship,
Yours,A. Ht.
Yours,A. Ht.
Yours,A. Ht.
Yours,
A. Ht.
Wednesday Night.
Wednesday Night.
Wednesday Night.
Wednesday Night.
I cannot, fellow-citizens, more vividly express the profound gratitude I entertain, than by saying, that you have given me as great a pleasure as you have bestowed an unexpected honor. A pleasure such as this shall not be dashed by the question how I can possibly deserve this distinction at the hands of your beautiful city. Youhave worthily shown, not only that you value her material prosperity, but that you are alive to higher interests, and accord sympathy and respect to efforts directed to the advancement of knowledge, the education of the people, and the general culture of mankind. As a reward for a portion of these efforts, to which my long and chequered life has been devoted, I accept with pride your flattering gift. By the favor of two illustrious monarchs it has been my privilege, for twenty-two years, with but little interruption, to live as your townsman, and to find, in scenery beautiful by nature and art, those inspirations indispensable to a life-like portraiture of nature, which aims to display the workings of the powers of the universe. Grateful for this good fortune, I have adorned almost all my later writings with the historic name which has become dear to me, and in the walls of which the year 1767 witnessed the birth of my brother, whose memory lives in the hearts of those who have preserved a sense of the enlarged proportions of a political life which progresses in obedience to laws inherent in the constitution of society.
A. v. Humboldt.
A. v. Humboldt.
A. v. Humboldt.
A. v. Humboldt.
On receipt of the Honorary Citizenship of Potsdam.