224 



in these dark times of weakness and unreason.' Moreover : 

 ( From the new Stahl-Ranke Council of State I have freed myself, 

 for reasons with which old age has nothing to do. I have gone 

 out.' Then he speaks of Froriep's phantasmagoria, who would 

 wish to establish in the ' desolate barrack-city ' of Potsdam a 

 Crystal Palace commanding the climate, and to raise for this purpose 

 a loan of 1^ million thalers ! Finally, he lashes Gneisenau's perverse 

 judgment on Wilhelm von Humboldt, expressed in a letter of the 

 year 1818, which Pertz communicates in his 'injudiciously' edited 

 'Life of Stein:' Humboldt justly protests against this vile asper- 

 sion of his brother's character. 



"Bunsen's letter is written in a very rambling fashion. Humboldt 

 calls it 'a crabbed one,' which describes it very accurately. Bunsen 

 intends to live in future at Bonn, but complains of the University 

 having sunk very low, especially as regards the theological faculty. 

 Dorner and Rothe * had been constantly snapped at until they left, 

 and were replaced by the most narrow-minded and insignificant men 

 that could have been got in the whole of Germany, such as Lange 

 and Steinmeyer. FromHengstenberg's library, through Gerlach, all 

 was managed for the spread of ignorance and obscurity ; these dark 

 times of the most intelligent King of the century would be deplored 

 and condemned, much worse than even those of Wollner ;f all bore, 

 besides, the reactionary stamp of the politics of the squirearchy. 

 Hypocrisy only, and real infidelity were fostered by this ruinous 

 system, and the way paved for the fiercest reaction ; with guards 

 and the police one could do anything one liked in politics as long 

 as it lasted ; but the Germans had never borne with enslavement of 

 thought, and their curse followed through centuries all those who 

 had attempted it. Thus writes Bunsen ! But now only as a fallen 

 favourite ! What was he, and how did he act previously to his dis- 

 grace ? He, too, worked for the spread of ignorance, and for the enslave- 

 ment of thought ! In the same way as Radowitz, who likewise in 

 the latter times affected liberal opinions !" 



* Both Professors of Divinity : Dr. Dorner, now at Gottingen ; Dr. Kothe, 

 now at Heidelberg. TR. 



f The times of Friedrich Wilhelm II., the grandfather of the present King. 

 Wollner was a leading member of the Eosicrncians, who were then rampant 

 in Prussia. --Tit. 



