PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. XV11 



It may be asked, why did Humboldt specially 

 wish for the publication of the letters sent to my 

 uncle ? 



A plain and distinct answer to this question 

 is given in the letter of December 1841, in which 

 spontaneously granting to my uncle the wholly un- 

 solicited permission to publish the letters after his 

 death, he says : " We only owe truth in this life to 

 such persons as we deeply esteem, therefore it is due 

 to you." The logical counterpart of which is : In 

 death we owe it to all, and first and foremost to our 

 own nation. 



Why did Humboldt wish for this publication at 

 all? 



Read (p. 266) the postscript to the letter of Novem- 

 ber 30th, 1856, where, sending to Varnhagen a notice 

 bearing on his character and political opinions, which 

 he was anxious to have preserved, he says : " What 

 men believe or disbelieve is usually made a matter of 

 discussion only after their death" 



It was, moreover, his wish that his convictions 

 should not be liable to be discussed. He had willed 

 that the picture of his mind should go down to pos- 

 terity pure and unfalsified. 



A giant intellect, so fervently venerated and 

 acknowledged by his nation, that the mere fact of 

 his views being known on certain questions may 

 exert the most powerful and incalculable influence on 

 the people and its progress ; it was that very reason 

 which made him wish that the whole people should 



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