159.HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
My American connexions having entailed upon me the predilection of the Peace Society, I am molestedby them with many of their writings and tracts. But the last number of the “Herald of Peace” is so remarkable on account of the political movement of the pietistic peace Quakers, that perhaps it will amuse you for one moment, my dear friend, to read for yourself the testimonies. Destroy the sheet!
The missive, at the same time, is intended for a sign oflife, that is, of most intimate and faithful friendship for you in these sad times of weakness and folly. I have disentangled myself from the new “Stahl-Ranke” council, for reasons which are not those of old age; I resigned. I add an unkempt letter of poor Bunsen, which you must keep quite secret, and send it to me, if there is an opportunity, to my Berlin residence. First Heidelberg and afterwards Bonn, constantly vibrating between the perturbating recollections of two archbishops. With the dangerous tendency of the noble man for theological dispute, and for his newly-invented apostolic church, under the firm of Hippolytus, a residence in England, that is to say, in the country between London and Oxford (on account of the books), would be more favorable than Bonn. The Anglican High Church, intolerant though it be, is less inconvenient in afreecountry, than a ministerial church diet in Prussia. Moreover, in the interest of Bunsen’s scientific reputation, I look forward with dread to the impending productions, full of hypotheses on aboriginal nations,Egyptian, Indian, and excavated Assyrian Semitic, as also on the situation of Paradise, for whicha map has been orderedat Kiepert’s. Maps on the creeds of nations can ascend from the ship-fastening myth at the ocean and the Himalaya mountains to the Ararat and to Aramea Kymbotas, even to the Mexican Coxcox, vagaries, not unknown to the Mormon bible. (See Supplement.)
The Weimar fancies are of a more exhilarating kind; controlling the climates by means of crystal palaces, which, at the same time, are taverns, and make superfluous Nicos and Madeira, and demand only a capital of one and a half millions of thalers, an undertaking in the deserted Potsdam town of barracks. And such a device, hatched in the brains of a well-informed man like Froriep.
In faithful friendship, yours,A. Humboldt.
In faithful friendship, yours,A. Humboldt.
In faithful friendship, yours,A. Humboldt.
In faithful friendship, yours,
A. Humboldt.
Potsdam,July 4th, 1854. In the age of crystal palaces.
Potsdam,July 4th, 1854. In the age of crystal palaces.
Potsdam,July 4th, 1854. In the age of crystal palaces.
Potsdam,July 4th, 1854. In the age of crystal palaces.
It was but the other day, in glancing at a letter of Gneisenau’s, of 1818 (in the pointless biography of Stein,[69]p. 262) that I stumbled upon a passage, doubtless long familiar to you: “H. strives again for the centre, but there are wanting to him confidence,esteem,character, and courage.” Sheer personal hatred alone can have moved the vain Gneisenau to speak thus disreputably ofmy brother. I recollect, indeed, to have heard of him, that Gneisenau was hostile to him when he was dismissed. By-the-by, what was said by all parties in those times on political institutions looks to me now, and did so already in the years 1815–1818, as if I was reading a book of the thirteenth century on physical science; fear of provincial estates was alone praiseworthy—c’est de la bouillie pour les chats.
On this letter Varnhagen remarks in his diary, July 5th, 1854:—“I found a long letter from Humboldt, who communicated to me, accompanied by fine remarks, the latest number of the Herald of Peace, a letter of Bunsen—four closely-written quarto pages—and another by Robert Froriep, of Weimar. ‘The missive at the same time is intended for a sign oflife, that is, of most intimate and faithful friendship for you in these sad times of weakness and folly.’ Farther: ‘I disengaged myself from the new “Stahl-Ranke” council, for reasons, which are not those of old age; I resigned.’ Then he speaks of Froriep’s plays of imagination, who wishes to build a crystal palace to control the climate in the ‘deserted town of barracks,’ Potsdam, with a loan of one and a half million of thalers! Finally, he blames Gneisenau’s misjudgment on Wilhelm von Humboldt, pronounced in a letter of 1818, which Pertz communicates in his ‘pointless Biography of Stein;’ and Humboldtrightly condemns the mean misjudgment of his brother.
“The letter of Bunsen is written in a very unconnected manner—Humboldt calls it an ‘unkempt’ one, which characterizes it admirably. Bunsen intends to live for the future in Bonn, but he complains that the university has deteriorated so much, particularly the theological faculty. Dorner and Rothe have been jostled out, and their places are held by the most mediocre and narrow-minded people to be found in all Germany, such as Lange and Steinmeyer; from Hengstenberg’s study, through Gerlach, all bends, he says, to ignorance and darkness, the present gloomy period of the most intellectual king of the century will come to be deplored even more grievously than the age of Woellner; every thing is imbued with the reactionary political character of the squirearchy; hypocrisy andrealinfidelity can grow out of this unholy system, and a most violent reaction must ensue; body-guards and policemen can enforce any political programme as long as it lasts; but the German never submits to the enthralment of the mind, and his curse will pursue through all the centuries those who have attempted it. Thus writes Bunsen! But he writes thus now as a deposed favorite! How was he, and for what did he work before? For the same ignorance and darkness. Quite like Radowitz, who also played the liberal at last!”