51.
HUMBOLDT TO BETTINA VON ARNIM.
[A copy in Varnhagen’s handwriting.]
SATURDAY, _November 21, 1840_.
How could you doubt, most honored Madam, my being thankful for the news
of the real situation of those noble men, who after so many undeserved
sufferings, and after so long and so shameful a neglect, are at last to
be placed in an independent position. I thought that, to have given them
such a situation in Berlin, three thousand thalers would be a sufficient
salary for both, and with this view I have continued my efforts. The
King has adopted it as a principle never to issue an order in financial
matters on his own account; like all princes, he has no standard by
which to measure the wants of learned men. The superior intellects with
whom we wish to surround ourselves have wants as prosaic as their
inferiors. Whoever wishes to obtain the end must also be willing to
employ the means, and especially in an affair which attracts every eye
and which touches the honor of the country. The minister Eichhorn, upon
whom everything now depends, is happy in the arrival of the two Grimms.
He was formerly on the most friendly terms with Jacob Grimm. I called on
the minister an hour ago in order to support my view of the matter. He
declares that by-and-by he will arrange the affair in the best manner,
but that we must confide in him, and allow him to act without
obstruction.
Receive, gracious Madam, the expression of my veneration and of my
sentiments of gratitude.