FROM REVOLUTION OF JULY TO DEATH OF THE KING. 175 



during the complications arising between France and the rest 

 of Europe, in consequence of the treaty of the four powers of 

 July 15, 1840. Even in the spring of 1839 the position of 

 France had'appeared to him to be very critical ; it was impos- 

 sible for anyone to estimate the slope of this declivity ; l the 

 premonitory symptoms might at any moment develope them- 

 selves in a crisis, and he viewed it as of the greatest importance 

 that Germany should seek a secure position, and avoid such 

 mistakes as those at Cologne and Hanover. He urged these 

 sentiments strongly upon Metternich. 2 Afterwards, in the 

 autumn of 1840, when the horizon grew dark with the threat- 

 ened conflict, he was decisive in his refusal to go to Paris, from 

 the conviction that it would be undignified either for the king 

 or himself, were Prussia to exhibit any weakness by a want of 

 independence. 3 Again, in the spring of 1841, he wrote to in- 

 quire of Arago whether he would be willing to receive him at 

 Paris, seeing that he and his friend had been pressed into 

 opposite camps by the events of the previous year and the 

 French cry for the Khine frontier. 4 He never relinquished the 

 hope of peace being preserved. In writing to Guizot on 

 November 12, 1840, congratulating him upon his return to 

 office, he says : 5 ' Your first duty to the nation is undoubtedly 

 to arrange for suitable means of defence, but on our side we 

 have never for an instant entertained any hostile intentions. 

 The views of our new sovereign are quite as pacific as those of 

 the late monarch, with whom I was for so long a time on a 

 footing of intimacy. A king, inspired with a love of art and 

 a keen appreciation of intellectual enjoyments, can find no 

 motive for disturbing the foundations of national prosperity. 

 The more our sovereign seeks to identify himself with the 

 interests of Germany, the more does he pledge himself to pro- 

 mote the preservation of peace throughout the world. The 

 German confederation has no other aim than the defence of 



1 De la Roquette, vol. i. p. 382. 

 3 ' Briefe an Varnnagen/ No. 54. 



3 Ibid. No. 48 ; also an unprinted letter to Frau von Wolzogen of 

 January 0, 1841. 



4 ' Briefe an Varnhagen,' No. 50. 



5 De la Roquette, vol. ii. p. 202. 



