202.
VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.
BERLIN, _April 7th, 1857_.
Your Excellency’s kind and very much desired communications I forwarded
in haste to —— that is to say, the substance of it. It is to be hoped
that —— will start immediately, but I expect first to receive an answer
from him, and as I do not believe that in the short time the Grand Duke
has left him, he can make the détour by way of Berlin, it will be best
for him to receive the letter of introduction in Weimar.
The Grand Duke insists upon discretion, and justly so! It is convenient
for him, and delicate and sparing for the other party. —— has acted
correctly in this respect up to the present time. I am very anxious to
see the end of the matter; taking for granted that there was a good
relation present in the germ. Success would give me extraordinary
satisfaction.
The present you make me of the letter of the Grand Duke delights me very
much. Not only the end is in good taste and fine, but the whole style
has agreeable turns; and above all, the reverence for your Excellency
expresses itself in a manner, the heartfelt sincerity of which cannot be
misunderstood.
For some days I have been living entirely in recollections of past times
and relations. The correspondence between Gentz and Adam Mueller, just
now published by Cotta, keeps me spellbound, and I must contemplate the
whole series of those experiences in my reviving recollection.
I have known both men early and intimately, and have had much
intercourse with them, personally, of a friendly character, in measures
generally an adversary. The superiority of Gentz over the younger
friend, whom he greatly overvalued, never was doubtful to me, and is
here confirmed anew; only at last when the murder of Kotzebue deranges
and stupifies the mind, the force of terror drives the statesman, who
formerly was fond of clearness, into the gloomy nebulous strata, to
which the frightened friend had retreated long before. This
correspondence is certainly unique in its kind. The transactions,
disquisitions, mutual influences, inclinations, and feuds are invested
with dramatic interest. In Adam Mueller, by-the-by, is contained the
complete germ of the “Kreuz Zeitungs” party, though in ideal elevation,
still without contact with the real world, and therefore without
offensive vulgarities.
Your Excellency kindly promised me a few lines on Franz Baader; may I
remind you of them in the most modest manner, and with the remark, that
really a few lines only would suffice for the purpose?
In most faithful reverence and most grateful submission, immutably your
Excellency’s most obedient