Humboldt's Letters. 225 



that ministers and cabinet councillors are never shot at ! 

 Such events are the more unpleasant, the more the 

 probabilities or improbabilities of their recurrence baffle 

 all attempts at calculation. 



131. 

 HTJMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



POTSDAM, May 18th, 1846. 



I SEND you, dear friend, to be added to your collec- 

 tion, a very remarkable letter from Prince Metternich, 

 with a semi-theological conclusion, full of mind and 

 rhetorical fervor, with a slight dread of pantheism at 

 the close of the letter. 



With unaltered friendship, yours, 



A. V. HUMBOLDT. 



123. 



METTERNICH TO HUMBOLDT. 

 (From the French.) 



VIENNA, May 10, 1846. 



MY DEAR BARON Inclosed is my vote.* I give it in 

 good conscience, and absolve you from the crime of that 



* NOTE BY HUMBOLDT. The Prince voted for Mr. Hermann, of 

 Leipzig. 



10* 



