203 



solemn oath. But that the Adventurer allows Universal Suffrage to 

 remain ; that he leans upon the people and practises Socialism, and, 

 above all, that he aspires to an Imperial crown ; this it is which makes 

 them hate him ! Humboldt is of opinion that the establishment of 

 the Provisional Government in the Revolution of February, which 

 immediately met with recognition from all parts of France, was a 

 much greater feat than that now performed by the individual who 

 has virtually been President for the last three years, and who bears 

 the Great Name. I reminded him of the Preparatory Parliament 

 ( Vorparlament), and the Committee of Fifty in Frankfurt-on-the 

 Main. He sees in that readiness to obey, the national desire for 

 Unity and Indivisibility which, with the French, overrules every 

 difference of party. Humboldt states it as an undoubted fact, that 

 Louis Bonaparte is a son of Admiral Yerhuel, and his brother Moray 

 a son of General Flahault, who had lived with both sisters in law, the 

 Queen of Holland, and the Queen of Naples. Of Persigny Fialin de 

 Persigny he speaks with thorough contempt, calling him a coarse, 

 loutish Corporal, who has the presumption to pretend that he has 

 found out something new about the Pyramids. Turning to our own 

 affairs, he deplored the incapacity and wretched inanity of our Mi- 

 nisters ; * he said, the most stupid of all was Raumer, who was a 

 bully to boot ; the King, irritated, angry, and capricious, would fre- 

 quently indulge himself with the excuse, that he could do nothing ; 

 he had to follow the lead of the Ministers ! " 



On 30th January, 1852, Yarnhagen adds: " Humboldt interests 

 himself very warmly for the widow of the philologist, F.,f who had 

 done a great deal of work for him. At Humboldt' s urgent sugges- 

 tion she petitioned the King for a pension, and Humboldt and BockhJ 

 were to sign the application. But F. was a democrat ; not, indeed, 



* The following were the principal Members of the Ministry in 1851 : 

 Baron Manteuffel, Minister-President, and of Foreign Affairs ; Von West- 

 phalen, Interior ; Von Raumer, Public Worship and Education ; Von 

 Bodelschwingh, Finance ; Simons, Justice ; Von der Heydt, Commerce. TK. 



t Franz (?) TR. 



% The distinguished author of " Political Economy of the Athenians," 

 and of the treatise on " Athenian Navigation." TR. 



