250 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



to arouse suspicion of the worst motives, and would be destruc- 

 tive of rights which had been already conceded through the 

 humane enactments of the late king, besides being in direct 

 opposition to the mild government of the present monarch. 

 'Let no fear of injuring me,' the letter concludes, 'prevent 

 you from making use of this communication ; one must above 

 all things have the courage to express one's opinion.' He him- 

 self assisted in disseminating copies of this ' somewhat lame 

 defence of that sadly oppressed race,' in the hope that it might 

 assist the cause by arousing public indignation. 1 The mea- 

 sure did not at that time become law ; but the proposition that 

 was laid before the General Diet in 1847 was drawn up in a 

 spirit scarcely more liberal. Humboldt was grieved t perceive 

 from the turn of affairs how far below the intellectual enlighten- 

 ment of the nation stood the narrow-minded policy of the 

 ministry and, had he dared to say so, even the views of the 

 king. 2 On this point, therefore, he was correct, when on March 

 18, 1843, he complained to Varnhagen that the king had relin- 

 quished none of his projects, and might at any moment again 

 endeavour to carry the measures relating to the Jews, the 

 observance of the Sunday, the consecration of an English bishop, 

 the creation of new peers, &c. 3 Less reluctance, however, was 

 shown by Frederick William to confirm the election of Eeiss, 

 the Jewish physicist, to the Academy in June, 1842 an elec- 

 tion in which Humboldt had zealously exerted his influence 

 both with the Academy and with the king. 4 That Humboldt 

 accorded his friendship without the slightest 'hesitation to 

 various men of distinction of the Jewish persuasion or of Jewish 

 extraction, will from his well-known spirit of liberality and 

 freedom from prejudice be received as a matter of course. As 

 long as these sentiments stood in opposition to the law of the 

 land and the customs of society, he did not hesitate on suitable 

 occasions to assert them with warmth and earnestness. In his 

 youth, as we have seen, he had been thrown into the attractive 



1 See Adolph Kohut's ' Alexander von Humboldt und das J-udenthum * 

 (Leipzig, 1871), pp. 59-60; and Varnhagen's ' Tagebiicher,' vol. ii. p. 59. 



2 ' Briefe an Bunsen,' p. 97. 



8 ' Briefe an Varnhagen,' p. 124, 

 4 Ibid. pp. 119, 122. 



