109.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
BERLIN, _March 30th, 1846_.
I send you again some autographs of little import, ten in number, of
Villemain, Bessel, Victor Hugo, Rueckert (of whom you have plenty of
autographs), Manzoni (full of praise for me, but in bad style), Thiers,
Widow of Lucien Bonaparte, three billets de matin of the Duchesse
d’Orleans. I add to these fugitive sheets a letter from me to the King,
which I beseech and implore you not to show to any one, and to _send
back to-morrow_, because I might have use for it. You shall have the
letter afterwards. It sometimes happens that the King, instead of a
billet de matin, writes his answer on my letter. This happened
yesterday. The ministers who would gladly permit the “Turnen,[46]” throw
suspicion on Prof. Massmann, whom the King likes very much, and whom he
wants to keep here. My letter will show you at least, that I openly say,
how the tide of evil is bearing down all things before it, and how we
are depriving ourselves of the means of action.
With my old attachment, yours,
A. V. HUMBOLDT.
110.
HUMBOLDT TO FRIEDRICH WILHELM IV.
As early as eight o’clock this morning I sent to the Koethener Strasse,
to have an interview with Professor Massmann, after the confiding
communications of your Majesty, concerning the decision of his
situation. He has just gone, leaving me again with an excellent
impression of his solidity, clear perceptions, and enthusiastic vigor
for influencing our youth (the indelible, primæval, self-restoring
institution of mankind). To be afraid of every enthusiastic energy is to
take from the life of a State its nourishing, preserving power.
Professor M. did not see Minister von Bodelschwingh for two years, but
the Minister then treated him very kindly, and Massmann desires very
much, without intruding, to give a candid answer to every question. In
view of the noble and frank character of Minister von Bodelschwingh I
have great hopes of the result of such a conversation, and therefore I
have to beg of your Majesty, most submissively, to communicate to me,
whether, according to the orders of your Majesty, the Minister will send
for Professor M., or whether he may go to the Minister on his own
account, not called for, but animated by some words of your Majesty. I
wonder how it could be forgotten how much Massmann has done for the
poetry of the Hohenstaufen times, and how talented a lecturer he was at
the University. I find praised in Gervinus Geschichte der Deutschen
Litteratur: Massmann’s Denkmaeler Deutscher Sprache, 1828; his Gedichte
des Zwoelften Jahrhunderts, his Legenden and Ritterliche Poesie. How
could a man be dangerous to youth whom the King of Bavaria appointed for
the education of his princes, and by whom above all others the
Crown-Prince declares himself to have been animated with the love of
culture and intellectual freedom, and the true appreciation of his
impending kingly duties? We live not in a sad, but in an earnest time.
All action and energy are paralysed, if backbiting is permitted to
deprive us of our most useful men. Enthusiastically attached to your
person, to the splendor of your reign, and to the glory of our country,
it makes me sad to see the most noble purposes in danger of being
misunderstood. No doubt there are very honorable men who, from pure love
of your Majesty, would like to see me also under the column at Tegel, or
at least on the other side of the Rhine.
In grateful submission,
Your Royal Majesty’s most faithful
HUMBOLDT.
BERLIN, _March 29, 1846_.
_The King wrote on the fly-leaf_:
My warmest thanks, dearest Humboldt. M. Bodelschwingh will send for
Massmann.
In all haste, as ever.
Your faithful
F. W.
ALEXANDER V. HUMBOLDT, Present.
111.
BESSEL TO HUMBOLDT.
KOENIGSBERG, _Feb. 12th, 1846_.
I hear with great regret that your Excellency has to mourn the loss of
Herr von Buelow. Although I had not the pleasure of knowing the late
Baron personally, I was not unacquainted with the true affection of the
uncle for his nephew, and I heard frequent mention of the enthusiastic
manner in which it was reciprocated. Moreover, I knew his repute as that
of a noble, talented, clear-sighted man. Would that I could indite words
of consolation, such as I heard them, at the time of my great loss!—but
it is not given to every one to speak them. That time heals our bleeding
wounds, the wounds which at first seemed mortal, I myself have
experienced; that death after a _short_ suffering is preferable to death
after a _long_ one, is a truth which impresses itself often on my mind!
The chancellor, Herr von Wegnern, communicated to me on the 27th ult.
the letter which he received from your Excellency. This letter contains
the first news I received since Nov. 7th, of last year, respecting the
portrait by which our most gracious monarch intended to gratify a poor
invalid: that your letter was extremely gratifying and consoling to me,
is natural. It created the first ray of hope; it has unceasingly
occupied me; it even gave rise to some kind of superstition, and I
attributed my good health the whole month of December to the vivid hopes
it had raised. This prospect of the restoration of my health, I thought,
gave me hope of being able to indulge for a longer period in the
pleasure which the dear picture of the “most highly revered one, affords
me. I, however, do not indulge in the hope of this restoration,” since I
find my own experience as frequently opposed to as in harmony with that
of others, and the result of my reflections on this obscure subject, is
simply this, that it is one of the innumerable questions, which are
beyond the veil that separates us both from the great secrets of our own
nature, and from those which nature in general interposes between first
causes and perceptible phenomena. I did, however, excuse the rising
superstition by recalling the indisputable truth, that vivid agreeable
effects on the mind or soul react upon the body; but why did the
reaction not endure in my case? Be this as it may, it is a fact that the
portrait of the King always moved before my eyes during my restless
nights; I hoped every day would bring me news of it. I perfectly
understand that a care for the well-being of millions of subjects,
equally dear to the heart of the monarch, rules the ruler himself and
compels him to abandon, under the pressure of the moment, the
arrangement of a succession of innumerable interests centring in him; I
also fully understand that the King, although he is no more unmindful of
the honors he intends bestowing than of those he has already awarded,
has not been able to fix the exact moment of conferring the intended
benefit upon me. I also know beyond all doubt, that I am standing upon a
mine which may at any time explode, and that to-day has no power over
to-morrow. I have, therefore, thought best to conceal entirely within my
own breast the hope of possessing the dearest of pictures, and to betray
nothing, even to my wife and daughters, until further news of the actual
approach of the hoped-for object shall render me as secure in the
certainty as the case permits. I have the utmost horror against the
propagation of anything the truth of which maybe subjected to doubts by
succeeding events; knowing from sad experience that it may not be
sustained by the next moment, for which falsehood and misrepresentation
are greedily lying in wait. I fear that the premature spreading of such
news, moreover, may imply a sort of coercion (sit venia verbo) on the
King. These reflections imposed profound silence on me. But when the
letter of your Excellency to Herr von Wegnern spread the news without my
co-operation, and when the realization of my hopes seemed near, this
compulsory silence terminated, and I actually revelled in the idea of
its possession. Next day, the 28th of January, I put down on paper the
testamentary provision, which disposes of the picture after my death. I
consider it the common property of our country, not only on account of
its fundamental object, that of alleviating the sufferings of the sick
man, but also for other reasons. I therefore do not leave it to my
family; but in consequence of long and careful considerations, up to
January 27th, to my native town of Minden, so that the highest military
and civil functionaries of the province, together with the Mayor of the
town, may decide further on the place and manner of its keeping.
Moreover, on the 28th of January, I entered upon the execution of other
plans relative to the fulfilment of my hopes, which entertained me in
various ways during these last months. In order to receive the portrait
of the “most highly revered” in a becoming manner, it is necessary to
put the place where I shall keep it into the best state at my command. I
have, therefore, condemned the present furniture and ornaments of my two
rooms, and ordered new ones, as luxurious and tasteful (for a professor,
of course) as I could decide upon. The directions for their manufacture
were sent immediately, and with the opening of the navigation in spring
I shall have everything I want. I shall blame no one who thinks me
foolish in prosecuting plans for embellishing my residence at a moment
when my leaving it for ever seems so highly probable. But if I delayed,
the prospect of the arrival of the royal portrait would depress, instead
of elevating me joyfully, as it does now, above much suffering. If I
enjoy the sight of the picture even one day only, I shall pass through a
fleeting, indeed, but beautiful “frontier scenery”—from this life into
the other! One thing yet I shall add before I cease annoying your
Excellency, by narrating the consequences following the invaluable
expected gift of the most high Master. Mr. Chancellor von Wegnern has
asked Professor Simson to express to me his wish to insert a notice of
the picture in the papers. But I opposed it, partly for reasons stated
above, and partly because such a notice would certainly be more
appropriate after the receipt of the picture. In case I should be unable
to write any more after its arrival, Simson knows what are to be the
contents of the notice according to my wish.
Could I but once behold the fine appearance now presented of the comet
of Biela! At our place, on the 11th of January, Wichmann could observe
nothing, perhaps, or probably on account of the little clearness of the
sky at that time; but on the 15th he saw distinctly both heads of the
comet. On the following day he described to me orally what he had seen;
but I did not get a clear idea of it, and was, on the contrary, of
opinion, that what he called a second head of the comet, is an
accumulation of nebulæ, as other comets too had shown at a greater or
smaller distance from the real head. I asked of him to make for me, when
it appeared again, a diagram of it, as accurate as possible. The state
of the sky and the position of the comet, which was often very low,
delayed the making of a diagram and measurement till the 26th of
January. Since that time the second head of the comet has been traced as
faithfully as possible. Our observations are the earliest of those
known; since, they have directed their attention to it everywhere, and
have measured it; there will become known, in spite of the bad season, a
fine series of observations, which may, as I hope, permit us to draw
reliable conclusions. As now developed, forces of polarity, I believe,
must be recognised in it. The further developments will, I hope, enable
us to advance beyond superficial conjectures like these.
The observations of the new planet can be made here so excellently by
the heliometer, which is quite invaluable for this purpose, that their
accuracy far surpasses that of the best meridian observations; of course
its greatest usefulness will only be attained when the stars of
comparison are equally well determined in their position. To this
determination, then, the power of the meridian observations is directed
about the planet itself. Dr. Busch, following my counsel, does not
trouble himself. I have also requested Encke and Schuhmacher to assist
in determining the positions of the stars. The former has already
received from here a series of excellent observations, as a foundation
for his calculation of the orbit, and he will soon receive the
continuation of them. It is very fortunate that I have arranged my
extensive investigations on the exact reduction of observations by my
heliometer, and that these are published in the first volume of my
“Astronomische Untersuchungen.” Without them, Wichmann would be unable
to reduce them with exactness, as I can do nothing now, and the
observations of the planet would thereby lose much of their interest,
which exists only in the first period of observation, and therefore only
when the observations are calculated immediately. I hope, that by
proceeding on this basis, Encke’s calculations will acquire certainty,
which will prove itself up to a few seconds at the reappearance of the
planet.
At last an end of this!
In accustomed reverence to the end of life,
Your Excellency’s most obedient
F. W. BESSEL.
NOTE BY HUMBOLDT.—The last letter but one which I received from the
great and noble man.
112.
VICTOR HUGO TO HUMBOLDT.
_March 20th, 1845._
You have been kind enough, my Lord Baron, and illustrious colleague, to
promise your acceptance of a copy of “Notre Dame de Paris,” and the
further good office of offering it in my name to your august Sovereign,
my sympathy with and admiration for whom are well known to you. To
“Notre Dame de Paris” I add my solemn discourse before the Academy. It
would make me happy to think that it gave you a little pleasure to
receive this mark of my high and profound regard.
Yours,
VICTOR HUGO.
113.
FRIEDRICH RUECKERT TO HUMBOLDT.
BERLIN, _March, 1846_.
I had the misfortune of twice missing your Excellency when I called to
give you my thanks for your great kindness, and at the same time to bid
you a hearty farewell, as to-morrow I hasten to my rustic solitude. May
God grant you many felicitous hours for the happy completion of your
great work, for which I now am more heartily anxious than for any work
of my own. For it is the monument of honor for Germany, her
representative work before the nations of Europe; and I, as a German,
feel proud that you did not write it in French. I would also ask your
leave to introduce to you my eldest son, who is private tutor at the
university of Jena; now, he may try his luck himself with you, as bearer
of this letter. Finally, I beg of you that you will speak in my behalf
with their Majesties, whom it was not my fortune to see this winter. May
I yet be permitted to work something worthy of their approbation and of
yours; but may you also be persuaded that it is not for me to appear in
person before the public of the capital, but to shape my thoughts in the
solitude and quiet of rural life, whither I am now permitted to
withdraw, grateful for the highest favor of his Majesty, and with the
purest reverence for you.