50 



sades against the geologists. The Saracens are Leo- 

 pold von Buch (your new convert) and myself. 



A. HT. 



And Sintenis* in Magdeburg, and the Neufchatel 

 Council, "who issued a proclamation against the 

 Deluge," all 1840. Three comets won't suffice. 



I have a letter from the Marquis of Clanricarde, at 

 St. Petersburg, dated 5th March : " No news has been 

 heard for the last four or five weeks, of the expedition 

 to Khiva." " It is purely an attack upon the Khan, 

 whom they propose to dethrone and to put his brother 

 in his place." You see he tries to appear perfectly 

 unconcerned. What an innocent lamblike policy ! 



XLII. 



METTERNICH TO HUMBOLDT. 



Vienne, ce 29 Mars, 1840. 

 Mon cher Baron ! 



mettant point en doute, que Monsieur le Prince 

 Eoyal, auquel j'ai 1'honneur de repondre aujourd'hui, 

 vous donnera connaissance de ma declaration, c'est a 

 ma lettre a S. A. E. que je m'en rapporte. Vous 

 verrez que je me mets a ses ordres, et cela toutefois 

 sous la reserve de mon ignorance archeologique. A 

 cette ignorance vient se joindre celle des attributions 

 de la Presidence. 



Voici en tout cas, ce que je pense d'une position 



* Wilhelm Friedrich Sintenis, a Protestant minister at Magdeburg, a 

 Rationalist, very obnoxious to the ultra-religious party of that city. In con- 

 sequence of a criticism upon a picture which he published in the " Mag- 

 deburg Gazette," he was denounced from the pulpit by his opponents in 

 1840, and the affair made a great noise at the time throughout Prussia. TR. 



