Varnhagen narrates in his diary, under date of August 11th, 1855:—“About
1 o’clock Humboldt came, looking well, quite vigorous, in fresh and
lively spirits; when he made a worse impression a short time ago, as
Dirichlet thought, it was the effect of sickness, and is passed now.
First, he spoke of the book of my cousin, which he praised, for which he
thanks him (in a letter). The expression Sorocaba I cannot explain to
him. Humboldt was but recently made a knight of the great Brazilian
order, on account of an arbitration between Brazil and Venezuela,
respecting a large tract of land. ‘Formerly they intended, in Rio de
Janeiro, to arrest me as a dangerous spy, and to send me back to Europe,
the order drawn up for the purpose is still shown there as a curiosity;
now they make me an arbitrator! I, of course, decided for Brazil,
because I wanted the large order; the Republic of Venezuela has none to
confer!’ These words, spoken in the gayest irony, I interrupted with the
exclamation, ‘How times change!’ ‘Yes; the order of arrest, and then the
insignia of the great order!’ ‘Oh, no,’ I replied, ‘I did not think of
this personal affair, but of the historical; formerly the pope was the
general arbitrator!’ Humboldt saw the last volumes of the life of Stein
on my table, and expressed his displeasure on the external arrangement,
the meagreness of the text, and the unsifted character of this book; he
thought that the gold snuff-box, with brilliants, which the King had
already sent to Pertz for these volumes, was entirely too much.
Injustice, crying and mean, perpetrated by Stein against old Prince
Wittgenstein. Pertz, too, he said, was unjust to Wittgenstein. Stein had
not at all been a firm character, no one had changed views and judgments
more easily. (Beyme said the same thing, and adduced instances of it.)
His early liberal ideas on national economy, civil institutions,
commerce, and trades, were a product of the times, which he afterwards
entirely renounced and disputed when the current of opinion set in that
direction. He surrendered his former sentiments so shamefully that his
former friend, Kunth, who remained faithful to them, but also wished to
avoid committing Stein, burned more than three hundred of Stein’s
letters, because, as he thought, they would bring nothing but disgrace
on the revered man, and would show him in the greatest contradiction
with himself. Of the Prince of Prussia, Humboldt said that he had told
every one in St. Petersburg, as well as here, that the war would have
been avoided if Prussia had from the first acted resolutely. The Emperor
Nicholas would have yielded. The imperial family he represented as
harmonious, including the Grand Duke Constantine, who did not seem so
dangerous to him as usually described. The Emperor’s mother used to say
they were all mere children, and that she must remain with them in order
to keep them together. The war was severely felt, business at a
standstill, the country drained of men, the armies not very numerous;
Poland, the Baltic countries, and Finland but weakly garrisoned; the
greater part of their forces was in the Crimea; the losses immense and
irreparable. Gortschakoff reports that the daily combats cost him
180–200 men—a frightful number for a month; that Nesselrode contemplates
a renewal of negotiations, but before that heavy blows would first be
dealt on one side or on the other. Sebastopol itself was by no means
considered out of danger. The Prince has gone from here to Erdmannsdorf
to the King; thence he hastens on to Baden. The King has
Lieutenant-General von Gerlach, with him in Erdmannsdorf, among others,
also Radowitz, in case he is not ‘already tired of him, as happens so
easily.’ Humboldt talks of Radowitz decidedly as of a Jesuit, calls him
Ignatius, mocks him, and jests on him a long time. ‘The great destinies
of Italy’ leave the King very indifferent; but a colored pane of glass,
a quaint device on an old monument, a family name, enlist his greatest
interest, occupy, and amuse him; and for such trifles Radowitz was the
right man! The same is the case with Bunsen, with whom the King
corresponds on theological and patristic curiosities. He has asked him
to write articles in the papers against the Bishop of Mainz; but Bunsen
makes the condition to be allowed to refer in his articles to the
command of the King, since otherwise they would possess neither
influence nor effect. Humboldt thinks Bunsen would not resist a call
hither, even if it was not official, but only a personal one by the
King. The Duke of Coburg-Gotha desires an enlargement of his territory
and a higher title—that of a ‘King of Ostphalia’ is already proposed.
The King jestingly calls him by that title already. He counts upon
England and France, and willingly flatters and accommodates Bonaparte,
who would meet with little difficulty in being the recognised Protector
of a new Rhenish Confederation. So much for Germany and Teutonism. It is
betrayed most assiduously by its sworn defenders. Finally, Humboldt
added: ‘When a man has the misfortune to be compelled to live among such
wretches as this Gerlach, Raumer, and the rest who have crept into this
Court.’... He went from me to the Koethener Strasse to look at a
picture, and left me much excited. I could not keep in mind and write
down one-tenth of all he said.”
Varnhagen adds, on the 12th of August, Humboldt said of the situation of
Prussia, it reminded him of a trial he once heard in Paris; the lawyer
had to ask damages for a box on the ear, and had exclaimed triumphantly
at the close: “Au fond nous n’avons pas reçu le soufflet, nous n’avons
eu que le geste!”
169.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
BERLIN, _January 13th, 1856_.
Smile, dear friend (you are fully justified!) at the strange lines of
Princess Lieven, and at my troublesome inquiry. Madame de Quitzow, who
has not written to me for twenty-five years, wants to know, whether the
Emperor Paul, in the epoch of his political insanity, had made the
proposition through Kotzebue, that the ministers for foreign affairs
should measure swords personally instead of the armies. I was at that
time (1799 and 1800) in the deltas of South America, and was entirely
ignorant of the anecdote which the Russian Princess now, as it appears
to me, so occidental in her predilections, desires to corroborate. The
obscure researches I have made would seem to lead to the result that the
duel was to be waged not by the ministers but by the monarchs
themselves. I pray you, noble friend, to write me a few lines on what
your excellent memory supplies, and still more I pray you to tell me
consoling words about your health at the return of the injurious cold
weather. Bunsen writes me that he expects a fourth edition of his
letters. Does the great reading demand for this excellent or rather
useful book indicate that the German public is less chloroformed against
action than we had supposed? _Dubito._ The German landlord of a (dicunt)
very dirty hotel, which glories in my name in California for many
years—beside a more cleanly one of “Jenny Lind,”—sends me German
California papers from time to time. In a discourse on the moral and
intellectual state of the English, the French, and the Germans, the
editor recently said: “We Germans are a nation of thinkers, deeply
occupied with the world of ideas, we also have the _great advantage_
before the members of other nations who live here, that we care little
or not at all about civil or political affairs.” Thus we boast on the
shores of the Pacific, buy the “Zeichen der Zeit,” but hardly 5 per cent
of us go to the primary elections. It is inconvenient, we think. With
old love and reverence,
Yours,
A. V. HUMBOLDT.
Was not the young Tyrolese very amiable poet Adolf Pichler (properly
speaking a geologist by trade) with you? I do not believe in peace
during this quite ... or at least uncomfortable humiliating ... ...[77]
year, though certainly in useless diplomatic transactions.
NOTE BY VARNHAGEN.—In the third line stands “Madame de Quitzow,”
clearly a mistake instead of “Madame de Lieven.” What may have been
the reason that that name, here entirely without meaning, should
have protruded itself, cannot be guessed.
LATER NOTE BY VARNHAGEN.—The Princess Lieven is closely connected with
the late Minister Guizot, they even say secretly married to him.
Guizot, pronounced German easily sounds Quitzow, a well-known name
in the Mark. Humboldt, always inclined to jesting, and particularly
here, may have given her this surname—perhaps current already at the
court—with full intention. [This is quite right.]
170.
THE PRINCESS LIEVEN TO HUMBOLDT.
PARIS, _January 8th, 1856_.
You have not forgotten me, my dear Baron. I know that by two kind
messages which Baron Brockhausen brought me from you. I have charged him
to testify my lively gratitude; but I now prefer to express it myself.
On this occasion, it serves me as the passport to a question which I
take the liberty of addressing you.
Can you, who know everything, remember the following fact? In 1799 or
1800, the Emperor Paul took it into his head to propose a combat on a
tilted field, where England, Russia, Austria, and I know not what other
power, should adjust their differences by the persons of their Prime
Ministers, Pitt, Thugut, etc. The task of drawing up this invitation was
assigned to Kotzebue, and the article inserted in the “Hamburg Gazette.”
This is my very distinct recollection. I have not dreamed any part of
it. Could you complete the tradition? I can meet with no one who
remembers it. I have thought you might be able to sustain my memory, and
I hope so still, for I am suspected of having lost my wits.
Paul I. was not such a fool, after all. Do you not consider the follies
of our time much greater? What a chaos? And for what?...
My dear Baron, I live here in a little intimate circle of old friends,
who are your friends also, and who hold you in affectionate remembrance.
What a pleasure we should have in seeing you here, and together
forgetting the troubles of the hour! O that men and things were worth
more at this day! Is this an old woman’s commission with which I trouble
you?
Adieu, my dear Baron. I ask your recollection and regard, and promise a
bountiful return.
Ever yours,
THE PRINCESS LIEVEN.
171.
VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.
BERLIN, _January 27th, 1856_.
With joyful thanks I profit by your Excellency’s goodness in sending me
the copy of your beautiful response to the deputies of the city of
Berlin. Were it not presumption to praise, where praise has already
become a habit and a superfluity, I should say that the speech is as
full of sterling merit as of noble intention. The brightest passage, to
my mind, is the (I hesitate whether to call it felicitous or masterly)
allusion to the King, in terms so dignified and delicate, so warm and
graceful; and every pure heart must at once acknowledge, that in this
connexion the remark was singularly appropriate and beautiful. In your
Excellency’s last favor, the expression, “Madame de Quitzow,” at first
puzzled me a good deal. But I may boast of having solved the riddle by
the power of the head—as the Jews say, where we speak of cudgelling our
brains—and am constrained to acknowledge that the little sally is not
only a good joke, but proportionably a mild measure of punishment. The
Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar desired to see me; but I found myself chained
down to my rheumatic complaint.
With faithful reverence and most grateful devotion, unalterably your
Excellency’s most obedient,