Humboldt's Letters. 31 1 



set in that direction. He surrendered his former senti- 

 ments so shamefully that his former friend, Kunth, who 

 remained faithful to them, but also wished to avoid 

 committing Stein, burned more than three hundred of 

 Stein's letters, because, as he thought, they would bring 

 nothing but disgrace on the revered man, and would 

 show him in the greatest contradiction with himself. Of 

 the Prince of Prussia, Humboldt said that he had told 

 every one in St. Petersburg, as well as here, that the 

 war would have been avoided if Prussia had from the 

 first acted resolutely. The Emperor Nicholas would 

 have yielded. The imperial family he represented as 

 harmonious, including the Grand Duke Constantme, who 

 did not seem so dangerous to him as usually described. 

 The Emperor's mother used to say they were all mere 

 children, and that she must remain with them in order to 

 keep them together. The war was severely felt, business 

 at a standstill, the country drained of men, the armies 

 not very numerous ; Poland, the Baltic countries, and 

 Finland but weakly garrisoned ; the greater part of 

 their forces was in the Crimea ; the losses immense and 

 irreparable. Gortschakoff reports that the daily com- 

 bats cost him 180-200 men a frightful number for a 

 month ; that Nesselrode contemplates a renewal of 

 negotiations, but before that heavy blows would first be 

 dealt on one side or on the other. Sebastopol itself was 

 by no means considered out of danger. The Prince has 





