I would not have hesitated to express my confidence in an august and
perfect goodness; but, instead of a becoming confidence, it would have
been an unpardonable presumption on my part to have dared to foresee
under what ingeniously amiable form this goodness would deign to
manifest itself. I have thus a second time acquired the precious right
(I had almost been made to forget that it is a sacred duty), to beg your
Excellency to lay at the feet of your noble sovereign the humble tribute
of a gratitude which has become, if possible, more lively and more
grateful. And at the risk of appearing indiscreet, I cannot refrain from
availing myself of this opportunity to renew the respectful homage of
the devotion which, as a dweller on this earth, and under this title,
_nihil humani a me alienum putans_, I have long entertained. This homage
would cease to be pure, and would thus lose its unique value if it
involved the slightest sacrifice of my Catholic conscience, that is to
say, of that which is the soul of my conscience. But, thank God, such is
not the case; for, amid the character and the sign of the high destiny
which I salute from afar, with a respectful joy, it is my privilege to
admire and to love the development of the most excellent work of
justice, which is the liberty of doing good.
My admiration for you, M. le Baron, if even it did not content itself
with being the simple echo of so great a reputation, ought not to
surprise you; for if, as I am daily told, there is not a learned man who
has not something to learn from you, there are few unlearned men whom
you have not taught something. In this connexion, and at the risk of
abusing your indulgence, I cannot conceal from you my hope to have a
memento of Humboldt—a memento less precious, no doubt, than those which
I owe to his good-will, but which will also have its value. My
fellow-citizen, Count Alexander Lito Modignani, in a journey made by
him, entirely under your guidance, in North America, sought out, in the
mountain of Quindia, the magnificent Ceroxylus at the season of the
ripeness of their fruit, possessed himself of one, and was kind enough,
on his return, to divide with me the seeds he gathered from it. Planted
last spring, not one has yet sprung up; but on visiting them lately, I
found them entirely sound, and in two of them a trace of vegetation was
perceptible at the base. I should be happy, and even a little proud, to
possess a memento, and that, I believe, a very rare one, of a people at
once ancient and new, whom you have subjected to the victorious sway of
science.
It is with the most profound respect, and, permit me to add, with that
affection always so naturally entertained for a great man, and which it
gives such pleasure to express, that I have the honor to be your
Excellency’s most humble and most obedient servant,