152 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



him by the Court of St. Petersburg scarcely made more than 

 a momentary impression, since he was in the habit of regard- 

 ing the politeness of sovereigns merely as a gratifying custom. 

 In the masterly address he delivered before the Academy of 

 St. Petersburg on November 28, 1829, in which he urges the 

 establishment of a line of stations for magnetic and meteorolo- 

 gical observations across the territory of Russia from its vast 

 extent peculiarly advantageous for the purpose and suggests 

 the institution of a series of investigations upon the gradual 

 depression of the Caspian Sea and the diminution in the mass 

 of water he concludes, after an allusion to the glorious war 

 with Turkey, in these words : ' But it is unbecoming amid the 

 surroundings of this peaceful assembly, to celebrate the glory 

 of a nation's arms. The illustrious monarch by whom I have 

 been summoned to this country, and who has deigned to smile 

 upon my labours, stands imaged before me in the garb of the 

 genius of peace. From the time of his accession to the throne 

 he has not ceased to encourage by his example all that is 

 true, grand, and noble, extending his protection to science, by 

 which the reasoning faculties are fortified and strengthened, 

 and to literature and the arts, through which are secured the 

 charms and embellishments of life.' There must have been 

 some insincerity in these words, for it is obviously to this speech 

 that he refers in writing to Varnhagen on April 26, 1830, as 

 that ' cri de Petersbourg,' c a farce enacted before the court, 

 the result of two evenings'^hard work an attempt to say that 

 which ought to be said, and to flatter without humiliation.' * 



The cordial feelings entertained towards Humboldt by the 

 Emperor Nicholas experienced a considerable check ivpon his 

 acceptance of a political mission at the court of the new dynasty 

 at Paris, though outwardly the friendly character of this 

 relationship remained unbroken. As a mark of peculiar respect 

 to the Czar, Humboldt was selected by Frederick William to 

 accompany the crown prince in May 1830 on the occasion of his 

 attending the Constitutional Diet at Warsaw, the last that was 

 opened by the emperor in person. The unhappy position of 

 the Poles, and the suppressed agitation of the people, which 



1 De la Koquette, vol. i. p. 308 ; < Briefe an Varnliagen/ p. 7. 



