MEMOIRS
OF
BARON BUNSEN.
VOL. II,
LONDON : FEINTED BY
BPOTTISWOODK AND co., NEW-STREET BQUABB
AND FAELIAUENT SXEEET
ry Adlard
f ytst^syL*^/
JULY, I860.
A POHTPLAJT, \i\ HOSTING PAINTKD AT BONN.
MEMOIRS
OF
BARON BUNSEN
LATE MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY AND ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY
OP HIS MAJESTY FREDERIC WILLIAM IV. AT THE
COURT OP ST. JAMES.
DRAWN CHIEFLY FROM FAMILY PAPERS BY HIS WIDOW
FKANCES BARONESS BUNSEN.
SECOND EDITION, ABRIDGED AND CORRECTED.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1869.
27<e right of translation is reserved.
,v^
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER XI.
BUNSEN AS PRUSSIAN MINISTER IN LONDON.
Carlton Terrace King of Prussia's Visit to England Reception
at Windsor Opening of Parliament Illness of Bunsen Lord
Stanhope Lambeth Cambridge Death of Arnold Florence
Nightingale Dramatic Representations German ' Hymn Book '
Norwich the Grurneys Drayton Manor Herstmonceaux
Journey to Berlin The German Hospital Reception by the
King Prince of Prussia Emperor of Russia goes to England
Returns to London Tour in England with the Prince of
Prussia Correspondence with Hare
CHAPTER XII.
CONTINUED RESIDENCE IN LONDON.
' Church of the Future 'The Queen's Visit to Germany Bruhl
Stolzenfels Visit to Corbach Death of Mrs. Fry the
Oregon Question Joseph John Gfurney Evangelical Alliance
Cassiobury Windsor Trentham The Prussian Constitu-
tion Felix Mendelssohn Philological Studies The Queen's
Visit to Cambridge Audience of the Queen Dr. Hampden
Woburn Abbey Althorp Lady Louisa Stuart the Neapolitan
Revolution
vi CONTENTS OF
CHAPTER XIII.
AGITATION IN EUROPE.
PAGH
The Revolution of the 24th February Baron Stockmar at Frank-
fort The Rising at Berlin Prince of Prussia arrives at Carlton
Terrace Totteridge Letter to Mr. Reeve on German Progress
Excursion to Germany Conflict between Frankfort and
Berlin Bunsen adheres to the Prussian Side State of Berlin
Returns to England Memoir on Events at Berlin . . 99
CHAPTER XIV.
COEEESPONDENCE.
'Nemesis of Faith' Christology Occasional Memoranda
Relations with Austria Osborne House Prince Albert
Great Exhibition of 1851 Bunsen's Speech The Gorham
Judgment Death of Sir R. Peel Broadlands Danish Affairs
Egyptian Studies 13i>
CHAPTER XV.
COEEESPONDENCE.
Prospects of Germany ' Hippolytus' Protocol of 8th May, 1852
Count Usedom's Narrative Visit to Glasgow Inverary
Affair of Neufchatel The Mosaic Books Mazzini Despond-
ing Views of Germany Funeral of the Duke of Wellington
Letter on Religious Opinions Lord Derby's First Administra-
tion The French Empire Change of ministry Edinburgh
Diploma Crystal Palace Cologne Singers Naval Review
Dedication of 'Hippolytus' Theological Conferences at Berlin
Policy of Russia Menace of War 183
CHAPTER XVI.
EECALL FEOM LONDON INDEPENDENCE.
Bunsen recalled from England Departure from Carlton Terrace
Farewell to his Friends Establishes himself and Family at
Charlottenberg Correspondence from Heidelberg The Im-
maculate Conception State of Germany Bible Work Death
of Archdeacon Hare 205
THE SECOND VOLUME. vii
CHAPTER XVII.
LIFE AT HEIDELBERG.
PAGE
Literary Work Interview with the King 'Signs of the Times'
Fall of Sebastopol ' God in History' 'Biblework' Letter
from Frederica Bremer Journey to Switzerland Visit to
Coppet Scherer Return to Heidelberg Approach of Old Age
Close of the year 1856 241
CHAPTER XVIII.
LAST VISIT TO BERLIN.
Declining Health Neufchatel Article on Luther Energetic
Work Letter to Mr. Harford Letter to the Duchess of Argyll
Visit from Mr. Astor Visit to Berlin Letter from the King
of Prussia The Evangelical Alliance at Berlin . . . 274
CHAPTER XIX.
JOURNEYS TO BERLIN AND SOUTH OF FRANCE.
Elevation of Bunsen to the Peerage Renan Lord Derby's
Administration India Bill Death of Neukomm Bunsen's
Religious Opinions Visit to Baden Affair of Rastadt Bun-
sen's Opinions on Clairvoyance Visit to Berlin The Prince
Regent Bunsen takes his Seat in the Prussian House of Peers
Journey to Geneva and the South of France Cannes Death
of Tocqueville 'The Life of Jesus' Campaign of 1859
Prussia and Austria Sympathy with Italy Irritation in South-
ern Germany Visit to Paris Return to Cannes Commercial
Treaty of France and England . . . . . .311
CHAPTER XX.
THE LAST TEAR OF LIFE NOVEMBER 1859 TO NOVEMBER 1860.
Centenary of Schiller's Birth Bunsen finally leaves Heidelberg
Journey to Paris and Cannes Family Troubles Journey to
Bonn Purchase of a House there Visits from his Children
and their Families His last Birthday, August 25, 1860 In-
crease of Suffering Takes to his Bed, October 28, 1860
Rallies again His Death, November 28, 1860 His Funeral,
December 1, 1860 Closing Remarks 360
INDEX . 403
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
POBTBAIT OF BUNSEN, by Koeting . . . Frontispiece
BUST OF BUNSEN, by Bahnes, 1847 . P*ff* "
RESIDENCE OF BUNSEN AT BONN
OQQ
BUNSEN'S MONUMENT AT BONN '
MEMOIRS
OF
BARON BUNSEN.
CHAPTER XI.
BUNSEN AS PRUSSIAN MINISTER IN LONDON.
OAttLTON TERRACE KING OF PRUSSIA'S VISIT TO ENGLAND RECEPTION
AT WINDSOR OPENING OF PARLIAMENT -ILLNESS OF BUNSEN LORD
STANHOPE LAMBETH CAMBRIDGE DEATH OF ARNOLD FLORENCB
NIGHTINGALE DRAMATIC REPRESENTATIONS GERMAN ' HYMN BOOK*
NORWICH THE GURNEYS DRAYTON MANOR HERSTMONCEAUX
JOURNEY TO BERLIN THE GERMAN HOSPITAL RECEPTION BY THB
KING PRINCE OF PRUSSIA EMPEROR OF RUSSIA GOES TO ENGLAND
RETURNS TO LONDON TOUR IN ENGLAND WITH THE PRINCE OF PRUSSIA
CORRESPONDENCE WITH HARE.
THE concluding days of the year 1841 were marked
by the journey of Bunsen's family to rejoin him.
They were received by Bunsen on the 6th January,
at the Tower Stairs, and conducted to a place of
abode almost appalling in its palace-like effect. That
Bunsen should have engaged the beautiful mansion
of Lord Stuart de Rothesay was well-judged, as the
character of the house tacitly assumed for its oc-
cupant the position which he instinctively felt to
be indispensable, under present circumstances, even
VOL. II. B
2 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1842
though his predecessors had taken up their abode in
very inferior situations.
In giving a picture of Bunsen's life in the begin-
ning of his residence in England, much scruple is
felt in introducing matter irrelevant to Bunsen's inner
life, and to the more serious views, and objects, and
interests of his outward existence : but it was one
of his own maxims, that without the knowledge and
consideration of the surrounding scene and its bound-
ing horizon a just view cannot be taken either of a
man's state of mind or of his course of action. Un-
fortunately, during the entire period of Bunsen's
residence in London his own letters are comparatively
scarce, because he was rarely parted from her to
whom he failed not to furnish a journal of thought
and of action when at a distance. Besides which,
politics having become in England the predominant
occupation of Bunsen, and being necessarily excluded
from these Memoirs (except where contemporary
mention casually occurs in any of the passages ex-
tracted), there is not more but less to be reported of
these maturer years than of those of his first period
of private and public life.
Extracts from Contemporary Letters.
19th January, 1842. Yesterday morning, the 18th,
Bunsen embarked on board the Firebrand to meet and
fetch the King ; but the vessel did not depart by the morning
tide I Lope it did by the evening. George arrived in time
to see his father, who has taken_him with him.
MT. 50] VISIT OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA. 3
Extracts from Contemporary Letters.
On Saturday, the 22nd, I drove to Greenwich, having a
card of invitation to witness the King's landing, at the
Admiral's house (as well as JSTeukomm, who was with me),
through Lord Haddington. Before the King arrived, I had
much pleasure in seeing Lady Stopford and her daughter,
pleasing like all Stopfords that I know, and in being recog-
nised by Lady Bloomfield, the only person not a stranger
to me except Lord and Lady Haddington and Lord West-
moreland. The King's landing and reception were de-
lightful to behold, the sudden appearance of the much-
watched-for steamer, the rapid lowering of the flag with the
Black Eagle, and as rapid hoisting on the light boat in which
the King and his attendants were conveyed to the stairs
leading from the water's edge to the terrace, to which we
all descended to see the entrance, in quick procession, of the
King and Prince Albert, by a lane formed through the solid
mass of life assembled to behold and applaud. He entered
and greeted the Admiral graciously, but declined coming up
to the drawing-room (where refreshments were prepared),
as he was in haste to proceed to Windsor Castle with
Prince Albert. However, being informed that the Prin-
cess Sophia of Gloucester was among the assembled ladies,
he declared that he could not depart without speaking to
her but would not commit the disrespect of appearing
before a lady of the Royal Family in his morning coat ; and
in spite of the assurances of Prince Albert that change of
dress was totally unnecessary, the King's valet received
orders to take out the evening coat, and, thus attired, the
King came upstairs, and in his short but cordial greeting to
the Princess, gave the party farther opportunity of seeing
him, before he proceeded, attended by the whole suite in-
cluding Bunsen, who was invited to Windsor Castle for the
whole time of the King's stay. . . . On Wednesday, the
26th, Bunsen wrote to give the earliest notice that a formal
invitation would be sent to me for Friday, 28th, to stay at
B 2
4 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1842
Windsor Castle till Saturday morning on which Satur-
day the King would be pleased to take luncheon in this
house (4, Carlton Terrace) when such persons would be
invited as would not otherwise be seen by the King at all,
or not as much as he might wish. On Thursday, Bunsen
was at home for an hour or two, in the course of which time
visits took place from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
Bishop of London, whom I was glad to see, but wished gone,
wanting instructions, as I did, as to the invitations I was to
write and send. On the Friday, I was at work till it was
time to drive to the railway, taking up Bunsen by the way
at Sir Robert Peel's, whither he had attended the King,
who had accepted a luncheon there. We were quartered in
the York Tower, the apartment most complete and com-
fortable,* the rooms all grouped together. Proceeding
along the corridor as soon as dressed, we soon met Lord
Delawarr and the Duchess of Buccleuch, and were directed
where to go, that is, to walk to the end of the corridor (a
fairy scene, lights, pictures, busts, and moving figures of
courtiers unknown), and then through one splendid room
after another, till we reached the magnificent ballroom,
where guests were assembled to await the Queen's appear-
ance. Among these guests stood the King himself, punc-
tual to half-past seven. Soon after came Prince Albert, to
whom Lord Delawarr named me : he said, ' You were long
in Rome. I have been in your house at Rome.' We
had not stood long, when two gentlemen, walking in, and
then turning, with profound bows towards the open door,
showed that the Queen was approaching. She came near
at once where I stood; the Duchess of Buccleuch named
me, and she said with a gracious, beaming smile, * I am
* These indications of the truly royal hospitality of Windsor Castle
have been inserted in contradistinction to the well-known recollections
of the correspondent, relating to the order of things in the provisional
royal residence called the Queen's Lodge, in the time of King George
III. and Queen Charlotte, in the years 1784 to 1787.
^ET. 50] THE KING AT CAKLTON TERRACE. 5
pleased to see you ; ' then, after a few moments' speaking
to the King, she took his arm and moved on, ' God save the
Queen ' having begun to sound at the same moment from
the Waterloo Gallery, where the Royal dinner has always
taken place since the King has been here. Lord Hadding-
ton led me to dinner. The scene was such as fairy tales
describe, in magnificence. Nothing was wanting but a
little more youth and beauty among the ladies to make the
spectacle complete : only Miss Cavendish (now Countess
Cawdor) I thought pretty.
As we expected the King in Carlton Terrace, we could not
remain for the ten o'clock breakfast of the ladies in waiting,
but obtained all we wanted in our own rooms, and reached
London by the eight o'clock train. Great was the fatigue,
and greater the anxiety of getting all things ready, and as
far as possible right. In the impossibility of knowing
whether all turned out well or not (for those in the heat and
heart of the engagement know little but what happens close
to themselves) I will hope the best ; and at least I am sure
the object was attained of the King's seeing, as he desired,
many who otherwise could not have had access to him.
After the luncheon the King came up to the drawing-room,
and there was pleased to notice those younger children of
mine who had not before been in his presence, besides two
sons grown up, and by degrees the guests ; among others
(not to name many Germans), Carlyle the historian, Dr.
Arnold from Rugby, and Archdeacon Hare, were brought
up to him by Bunsen. Moscheles having been commissioned
by the King to purchase for him a pianoforte of Erard's, it
had been brought to this house for him to hear, and Mos-
cheles was invited to display its powers. A short movement
was played by Moscheles and Neukomm on pianoforte and
organ, and we wished the King could have heard more of
that ; but the time was short at best for all that had to be
brought into it, and was in part occupied by an audience
granted to two Dutch statesmen, who came unexpectedly.
6 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1842
On Monday, January 31, I was at Stafford House, where
the King accepted an invitation to dinner from the Duke
and Duchess, whose manner of receiving me was in harmony
with their letters, and that is saying all. After the Duchess
had granted me more words and moments, at first entrance,
than I should have deemed it possible for her to spare, she
presented me to the Duchess of Gloucester, by whom I was
greeted as ' the daughter of her old friend ; ' then to Lady
Elizabeth, whom I found charming even beyond the idea
that I had formed of her, as everything really good always
is. I was taken to dinner by Lord John Russell, whom I
found a very agreeable neighbour, in no common way : he
is one of the persons with whom it is possible to get directly
out of the emptiness of phrases. The appearance of the
house was wonderfully beautiful, the staircase in particular,
where a band played all the evening, concluding with a com-
position of Prince Radziwill's, never before performed in
England, as a mark of attention to the King. The Duke of
Sussex invited me to the luncheon he was to give on the
following day to the King. The way to Kensington Palace
was lined by school- children with flags, and a vast crowd of
people. I was received first by the Duke of Sussex himself,
and he took me into the library to the Duchess of Gloucester
and Princess Sophia, who greeted me most kindly, and
made me sit between them ; when afterwards they rose to
speak to somebody else, I took the opportunity of gliding
away and placing myself at a modest distance. Lord
Lansdowne came up to speak to me, and persons without
end there is nothing like standing within the Bude-light
of royalty to make one conspicuous, and sharpen perceptions
and recollections ! At table I sat down between Humboldt
and Lord Palmerston, whom I found very ready to converse.
The Duke's speech to the King was, I hear, accurately given
in the ' Morning Post.' The King, on being asked by the
Duke for the toast, gave ' To the greatest, most illustrious,
and most amiable lady great by her vast dominions, her
JET. 50] THE KINO'S VISIT TO LAMBETH. 7
ancient descent, and most of all by the qualities of her heart
and mind to the health of Queen Victoria !' This was the
sense the words may not be accurate. The moment the
dinner was over a vast silver ewer made its appearance,
which the Duke of Sussex took, and, rising, presented it to
the King, who dipped his napkin in the rose-water, starting
up with a demonstration of horror at being so served, and,
most dexterously taking the ewer from the Duke, offered it
to him in return, after which it was carried round to each
guest. The whole was an animated fete, admirably arranged
the Duke's colossal Highlander adding originality, if not
charm, to the whole, by perambulating the dinner-table at
the close with his deafening bagpipe.
On Wednesday, February 2, the King's visit to Lambeth
was perhaps the most suitable and most agreeable to him
of any that he has yet made. The magnificent building,
the historical recollections, the perfection of style, well
understood, the company so properly chosen bishops and
clergy, and few besides, no ladies but one near relation of
Mrs. Howley and Mrs. Blomfield : everything pleased the
King, and he enjoyed himself, and sat after luncheon was
over, some time, talking to the Archbishop. He took leave
of Lord Ashley most kindly, saying he must come and visit
him at Berlin. At six I got home, and at ten dressed for
the Duchess of Cambridge's, where the King had dined,
and whither he returned after midnight, having enjoyed in
the meantime the * Merry Wives of Windsor,' and a most
heart-cheering reception.
Extracts from Contemporary Letters.
London: Monday, 14th February, 1842.
The complication of Bunsen's illness, following directly
on the King's departure, has only increased the difficulty of
mastering contending elements, and of spending time ac-
cording to any plan, determination, or inclination. He is
all at once better, sooner than I expected, from the degree
8 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1842
of fever and cough : the difficulty will be to prevent his being
again harassed and over-excited, for the late indisposition
had no other cause.
Bunsen to Miss Davenport Bromley.
London (4, Carlton Terrace) : 15th February, 1842.
Imagine that Neukomm has contrived to find ten most
excellent professional performers, Moscheles at their head,
who executed here the other evening the whole music of the
Passion Week and so much to their own delight as well as
ours, that they have offered to repeat the performance on
March 4. It was so like Rome, and like home ! Since that
day I begin to feel at home in our beautiful house.
Extracts from, Contemporary Letters.
22nd February, 1842.
Were it possible to overcome and manage the incon-
gruous mass that presses down one's very soul, how many are
the persons and things, the best and most interesting, to be
found in London ! But one has but one life, and the day
and hour cannot be made to carry double and treble. My
internal ejaculation is daily how long ? when shall I get
out, and get the children out of a place in which I feel not
that we ever can live what can be called life ? And first
and foremost, when can I get Bunsen out ? . . .
We are to go to Lord Bexley's, Foot's Cray Place, in
Kent, on Easter Tuesday ; this was the third invitation, and
I am glad Bunsen has accepted it, because rest and country
air are much needed by him.
Bunsen to Kestner.
[Translation.] London, Downing Street: 13th March, 1842.
I write these lines in the antechamber, while I am wait-
ing, and can thus reply to your dear letter most literally by
return of post. You have heartily scolded me, but still with
jE T . 50] LETTER TO KESTNER. 9
affection, and, according to appearances, yon were in the
right. Your former letter arrived just when the King was
here but with yours came legions of other papers, and when
three weeks ago I began (after a short illness brought on
by over-exertion) to arrange them, I had first, about a hun-
dred letters to the King to reply to, according to his direc-
tions, which I completed only the day before yesterday-
and then, your letter could not be found ! neither by myself
nor my wife. So, in the quiet of to-morrow (Sunday), a new
hunt shall be made.
Thus stands the case I could not answer what I had not
read I could not read what was mislaid : and for the mis-
laying there were ' circonstances attenuantes,' which I beg
you, like the French jury, to take into account, and absolve
me from the extreme penalty. For you have really brought
a regular accusation against me. Believe me, that I never
forget, even when I do not write and may seem not to exert
myself: but where nothing can be done, die vuol che gli
dica ?
I should like to give you an idea of our life. I have again
in this place, as I had in Rome, the most remarkable situa-
tion, and acknowledged the finest, for my dwelling-place : on
the spot where Carlton House, the residence of George IV.,
formerly stood, which was pulled down, 'not to interfere
with a great plan 6f embellishment : ' and thence the name
of Carlton House Terrace. . . . The distances therefore to
the Ministers cost me little time, but the waiting for an in-
terview, even when appointment has been made, costs much.
Matters of business are innumerable here visits and note-
writing are a real distress : and, in one word, the labour to
be accomplished is enormous. . . .
You will imagine that general relations to society
are favourable, when one has started with one's King ! It
was a joy indeed to my German heart to see him receive the
homage of a free nation with such royal grace and dignity,
and his own original supremacy of intelligence. Queen
10 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1842
Victoria is most engaging Prince Albert, amiable and full
of tact as ever. Friend Neukomm leaves us to go to France
the same high-minded, attaching philosopher and man as
ever.
The last week in May, and the first in June formed
a period of respite from the tumult of London life,
and Bunsen with his family breathed once again freely
on the cliffs of Ramsgate, although Bunsen himself
could spare but a small part of that fortnight, the
arrival of a courier from Berlin having soon called
him away from the sunshine, the sea-breezes, and the
green meadows.
Bunsen to Archdeacon Julius Hare. (On the death of
Dr. Arnold.)
London: Sunday morning, 19th June, 1842.
MY DEAE FRIEND, My heart has been with you, as I am
sure yours has been with me-. I returned last night from
Rugby. O, what is the death of a great and good man !
What distraction (humanly) and yet what consolation [
Read the enclosed I add nothing. All who saw him during
the last month were struck by something more than usually
heavenly-minded and awfully unearthly. . . . He has left
the new volume of Sermons just filled ; and it appears that
it contains some of the finest he ever preached. His third
volume of ' Rome ' is completed to the fortieth chapter. An-
other colossal torso of Roman History ! . . . But there is a
still more sacred trust. He wrote in 1838 a book on the
Church, to prove, in his way, the general priesthood of all
Christians, as the doctrine of the Gospel and of the Fathers,
and the groundwork of the Church. The whole may form
a volume of no more than 1 50 pages ; but it is pure gold. It
has formed the groundwork of long debates, as it in part ori-
ginated in serious conversation and correspondence between
us, in many a hallowed hour.
. 60] LINES BY BUNSEN ON DK. AKNOLD. 11
Bunsen on Arnold, 1842.* (Translated by Anna Gurneij, 1852.)
The fight of faith undaunted
Thou to the end hast fought,
Whilst foretaste harsh of evil
Thine own experience brought ;
Thou saw'st the doom impending
That might not pass away,
Hast mark'd the sun rise lurid
Before the carnage day.
II.
Then grew on thee the longing
That lays the storm of life,
In love, in pious trusting,
Thy heart reposed from strife :
How gladly then, our champion,
Didst thou the angel greet,
Sent, to thy home to guide thee,
Thine habitation meet !
m.
And now, the surging tumult
Is still'd beside thy grave,
Whilst thou, a brilliant beacon,
Yet tow'rest o'er the wave :
From seeds in youthful bosoms,
By thee profusely sown,
The germs of holy purpose
And noble deed have grown.
* For the original German lines, see Appendix.
12 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1842
IV.
Apart from earth's wild turmoil
Thou calmly tak'st thy rest,
The worst of sorrows spared thee,
Vouchsafed of joys the best:
The mystery of ages
Unveiled to thy sight,
Each sequence clear before thee
In God's unchanging light.
v.
And we would still be waging
The warfare thou hast waged,
With hope and love and fealty
On Virtue's part engaged :
Eternity before us,
Eternal truth our end,
For this, our life's brief moment
How freely would we spend !
The correspondence of Bunsen with, his Royal
master, should it ever reach the light, would record
the main subjects of interest in this year as well as
in many before and after. From 1842 date the be-
ginnings of many friendly connections, which grew
and strengthened as time wore on ; among which
that with Florence Nightingale claims the first notice.
Bunsen and his family met, and from the first valued
her, 011 a few occasions, when nothing occurred pecu-
liarly to rouse and reveal the soul which subsisted in
her, in the fulness of its energy, or the powers which
only waited for an opportunity to be developed ; but
her calm dignity of deportment, self-conscious with-
out either shyness or presumption, and the few words
indicating deep reflection, just views, and clear per-
JET. 50] FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. 13
ceptions of life and its obligations, and the trifling
acts showing forgetf illness of self and devotedness to
others, were of sufficient force to bring conviction to
the observer, even before it had been proved by all
outward experience, that she was possessed of all that
moral greatness which her subsequent course of action,
suffering, and of influential power, has displayed.
The date cannot easily be ascertained when she first
began to ask the opinion of Bunsen on the ques-
tion which occupied her mind, e What can an indi-
vidual do, towards lifting the load of suffering from
the helpless and the miserable ? ' but a correspond-
ence which yet exists (though not with Bunsen per-
sonally) shows that she had already thought and
observed much with regard to one of those needs of
humanity with which her name has since been con-
nected. The excellent Dr. Sieveking (now physician
to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of
Wales) had spent much of his time, gratuitously, in
attending to, and investigating the condition of, poor-
houses and hospitals ; and in the full consciousness
of one of the awful evils which almost nullifies the
benefit of hospitals, the vice and incompetence of the
usual attendants on the sick, and, on the other hand,
of the large amount of unemployed power among the
female inmates of workhouses he was anxious that
ladies might be induced to combine for the purpose
of giving help on both sides, by the transference of
willing and capable females from the idleness of poor-
houses to a sphere of well-remunerated usefulness.
His reflections were submitted to Florence Nightin-
gale, the result of whose considerations upon them
14 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. J1842
was, that from her acquaintance with the inmates of
poorhouses, not a single individual among them,
however willing to obey a call to another condition,
would be found competent to fulfil the arduous duties
of the hospital without a regular training ; and for
such training a place and persons themselves in-
structed were indispensable. It was owing to Bun-
sen's suggestion, that, long after this date, Florence
Nightingale went to Kaiserswerth, not only to study
the system, but to serve through a practical appren-
ticeship in each and every subdivision of the labours
there performed, previous to her arduous study at
Paris among the ' petites Sceurs de ChariteV
The letters of Bunsen have often borne testimony
to the benefit and the relief he experienced from a
work of the highest art, such as the successful per-
formance of a piece of Shakespeare, in clearing the
mind of care and restoring elasticity to the over-
strained powers ; and he often had opportunity, during
the managership of Mr. Macready, of enjoying that
recreation and adding his meed of applause to the
completeness of the entire arrangements, as well as the
excellence of individual representation for instance,
in the case of Macready's Brutus (as, in later years,
of Lear), in which he felt that the conceptions of
Shakespeare were made more perceptible than the
mere dead letter could render them. More than once
did he enjoy Handel's 'Acis and Galatea,' then brought
out in the full perfection of the combined fine arts, as
each could be brought to bear on the performance.
With the opera stage Bunsen had no patience, and
though he visited it in London, in attendance on the
^T. 50] DRAMATIC REPRESENTATIONS. IT)
Prince of Prussia, even Jenny Lind (although he
entirely felt her power of grace as well as voice)
failed to reconcile him to that form of dramatic re-
presentation against which he peculiarly protested, as
being the betrayal of a good cause and the carica-
ture of a kind of composition which he acknowledged
to be founded in reason, and desired to see revived by
a real master of combined verse and harmony. The
ballet he considered a thing of unmixed evil, and its
highest and most applauded efforts as the exaggera-
tion of ungracefulness ; nor could he refrain from
comments in sorrow and anger on the power of
fashion, which draws the modest and the pure into
the multitude of spectators of a different class.
Often did he wonder, in this respect, at the contra-
dictions in English life : no difference perceived in
the tendency and effect of styles of art conceived in
conditions of mind and with intentions and purposes
the most various : the tinkling strains, addressed
to the sensual side of human consciousness, being
allowed to find their way into houses where c what-
soever things are/ pure and lovely ' are striven after,
and every approach to evil and corruption in other
directions strenuously avoided ; the inmates of which
would in no case enter a theatre, and yet will suffer
in the decoration of their apartments objects utterly
unsuited to their habitual tone of mind and tenour of
life.
Bun sen urged upon Mr. Macready the practica-
bility of bringing out ' Judas Maccabeus ' and other
oratorios of Handel with scenic decoration, and when
he found him not disinclined to adopt the idea, but
16 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1842
only apprehensive that the public would consider such
representation as desecration, Bunsen managed to
gain the sanction of Bishop Blomfield, who raised no
objection to the plan, on the ground that the Macca-
bean history formed part of the Apocryphal books ;
and there actually was a probability of this plan
being executed, had not Mr. Macready soon after re-
signed the managership of the theatre.
When the annual lull came over the rough waves
of London life, Bunsen found his comparative leisure
absorbed, not only by the unceasing succession of
public business, which he still had to encounter alone
(the younger Baron Canitz, then Counsellor of Lega-
tion, having obtained a renewal of leave of absence),
but by the preparation of the second edition of his
' Hymn and Prayer Book,' first published in 1831,
when, the entire edition having been immediately
sold, a reprint was earnestly asked for by the pub-
lisher, Perthes, of Gotha. The account which has
been given of events and avocations since that date
may render the non-compliance of Bunsen with the
friendly demand intelligible, without reconciling the
minds of his friends, and those of the cause, to
the result of the delay, which in a great measure
defeated the end Bunsen had proposed to himself,
and to which he devoted the freshest period of his
life and faculties. The first edition met with so much
favour, that had a second edition in a more popular
form and of diminished size followed upon it, the
matter might have pervaded the public mind, instead
of being confined to the knowledge of a few ; and
Germans might have accepted the evidence brought
JEx. 50] SECOND EDITION OF HIS HYMN BOOK 17
forward to prove their neglect of one of the principal
glories of their nation the possession of the finest
devotional poetry in existence. But the purpose of
republication, which Bunsen unceasingly entertained,
was not effected, because he contemplated a larger
amount of alteration than others deemed necessary,
and therefore put off the commencement of revision,
in the hope of being enabled to look forward to a
time when he might devote to the new edition his
own undivided attention. This was, in the summer of
1842, as far from practicable as it ever had been ; and
Bunsen was obliged to confine himself to the general
arrangement and supervision, leaving a great amount
of detail to the numerous, intelligent, and indefati-
gable assistants, who were his household guests and
inmates during nearly two summer months. It
must be confessed that the omission of many much-
cherished portions of the first edition, and the re-
taining and insertion of much that must be termed
ultra-dogmatical in the second, was not done in the
spirit of Bunsen a spirit thoroughly coinciding with
that of the ' Union,' for which his late Royal master
had earnestly laboured, and in which the members
of the Lutheran and Calvinistic Confessions might
consent to worship and communicate together. The
work in its present form was straightway sent to the
so-called Rauhe Haus, near Hamburg, to be printed
(at the press which formed part of the various esta-
blishments of the admirable reformatory institution
of Wichern) without the name of Bunsen, although
his authorship was no secret. But though Bunsen's
6 Gesang und Gebetbuch ' was formally introduced only
VOL. II. C
18 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1842
at Jerusalem, in Rome, in a congregation at Liver-
pool, at the German Hospital at Dalston, and in
some colonies of Australia, yet the whole of that
immense impression has in process of years been
exhausted. Meanwhile the hope shall be indulged,
that much of what he desired to bring home to the
hearts of his countrymen may yet be, however si-
lently, percolating the mass of the German-speaking
populations, which are spread abroad among the
nations. The work never met with any official notice
or recommendation : and the desire of Bunsen,
earnestly expressed, was well understood, that no
support of authority was in any way to promote its
circulation. The King generously assigned 1500
thalers towards the expenses of printing, or, in other
words, presented to Bunsen copies to the amount of
that sum.
The presence of Lepsius in London, as the guest of
Bunsen (for the sake of a complete examination of
the Egyptian monuments in the British Museum,
previous to the expedition to the East, which he was
about to undertake on Bunsen's recommendation by
the command and at the expense of the Prussian
government), furnished to Bunsen the much desired
opportunity for prosecuting his favourite study, and
for carrying on the complicated system of enquiry
resulting in his work on Egypt. He accomplished
this in the manner most delightful to him, in the
way of a daily conference with one whose zeal in the
common pursuit equalled his own, thus procuring for
himself that complete refreshment which became a
necessity after the long course of unremitting official
Mr. 51] VISIT TO HERSTMONCEAUX. 19
work ; so that lie needed, as little as he desired, to
absent himself during the (so called) dull season,
from his delightful London residence, which entirely
satisfied all his requirements.
If, however, his own health as yet stood the test
of town air, that was not the case with his children,
and it had gradually become clear that, used as they
had been to a purer atmosphere, the confining them
to that of London was out of the question. When,
therefore, his wife departed in the last week of
July to take the family (for the sake of two among
the number) to the baths of Aix in Savoy, Bunsen
combined a search after places in the country with a
long-desired and promised visit to his beloved friend,
Julius Hare, at Herstmonceaux, in Sussex, finding the
desired object where least expected.
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.] London : Sunday morning, 28th August, 1842.
Once more I have a quiet day and hour in which to write
to you. Yesterday at one o'clock Abeken departed, to hasten
over the sea ; the bc-ok he carried with him, our common
work (sixty quarto pages of mine, and an equal number of
his), was not finished till Wednesday evening, the 24th,
being the last labour of the remarkable year of life just
closed on that day. As last year, so was August 25 this
year one of the busiest and most important 'of my life. I
had six political reports to write, among which one was
perhaps the most weighty I ever wrote, with twelve others
of inferior rank, one accompanied by forty samples to
serve for comparison of quality and price between English
and German manufactures a remarkable juxtaposition,
for the possibility of which I am indebted to Sir John
Guest. Thus did the newly-beginning year of life again
c 2
20 MEMOIKS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1842
bring together, distinctly and strangely, the two poles of
the orb of existence in which I am placed; a thread of
connection extending from Zion in politics to the glove and
stocking interest ! Finishing seemed impossible, but yet it
was accomplished. Among the twelve was a report on the
Casa Tarpea (Archaeological Institute, hospital, &c., on the
Capitol) superintended by Braun ; a detailed statement of
the needs and requirements of the undertaking was made
out by Abeken, and accompanied by three separate letters
from myself to the King the proposal and petition signi-
fying payment of all the debts of the house, and an appoint-
ment from January 1, 1843, of a regular ' House-father and
House-mother' (as we call the steward and matron), in
the persons of the organist Schulz and his bride elect, who
would live for and in the daily and hourly management of
all household concerns. This plan (which I fully believe
the King will graciously accept) implies a peculiarly per-
sonal gratification (Angebinde) to myself as the confiden-
tial reply of Schulz, the organist, to Abeken' s private hint
of the project, was that 'the execution of such a design
would make the happiness of two hearts.' You will imagine
how this providential dispensation of blessing comes home
to me personally ! May I ever keep it in thankful memory !
At half-past six all was done ; and at seven we sat down
to a remarkable parting-meal : Abeken to Berlin, Lepsius
with Weidenbusch to Africa, Sydow, Kuhlo, Stip, Maurice,
and Prentiss, the latter departing next day to America,
an admirable man, who has shown me much attachment.
Having in cheerfulness eaten and drank, we removed up-
stairs for singing, as a finale, the ' German Fatherland '
and the ' Song of Blucher,' until the hour, a quarter before
twelve, converted mirth into the solemnity of farewell.
From twelve to one o'clock I wrote the three letters yet
wanting for Abeken (to the King, to the Minister von
Thile, &c.), and let him depart, with heartiest wishes for
every blessing.
JET. 51] RESIDENCE AT HERSTMONCEAUX. 21
I am thankful for all that has been realised, and for all
that might be added to the picture Zion and much be-
sides which could not enter my mind three years ago. To
God be the glory ! I will also thank Him for my being fixed
in the land of the mighty Unicorn, in the wave- encircled
dwelling of the highly -favoured nation. Early on Saturday
I began the revision of the Psalm Book, and read with
Kuhlo in the Hebrew Psalms cxxxi. to cl. . . Here have I
written a long letter, without saying that I have received
your consent, and have engaged Herstmonceaux ! Yet,
what joy did your letter cause me, and how I thank God,
that you do not merely agree, but that you feel as I felt
when I first perceived the possibility ! It seems a dream,
so fabulously desirable is the whole. So by October 25
you will have house and garden at your disposal, sea- air
outside your windows, one of the finest ruins of the middle
ages within a walk, and Hare for our pastor !
Bunsen to Mrs. Waddington.
London: 6th September, 1842.
. . . London : \Qtli October. I must thank you with a line
for your kind and maternal reply to my letter, I cannot
say how thankful I am that you feel satisfied we are right
in going to Herstmonceaux. ... It will do your heart
good to read Hare'^ letter, which I enclose : as well as one
from that excellent man, Dr. Pritchard, to whom I hope
I may have been of use, in causing (through Lord Ashley)
the mind of the Lord Chancellor to be directed towards
him, with reference to a place of importance.
In a letter of 23rd September. Dr. Pritchard has been
named one of the two physicians who are to inspect all the
lunatic asylums in England.
22 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1842
Extract from a Letter of Bunsen's of September 1842.
(Uncertain to whom addressed.)
[Translation.]
.... One thing I must beg of you : cast not away
the yoke of Christ, it is not only ' an easy yoke,' but of
force to raise you above all the sufferings of earth : from
it can no one withdraw unpunished, for the false freedom
of the age is spiritual death. I do not utter this by way of
instruction, but as a profession of faith: by the help of
which, all other things become equal or indifferent.
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.]
Carlton Terrace: Tuesday, 20th September, 1842; 8 a.m.
... I begin my day's work, after a walk on the
terrace with the sun rising, and the lamps expiring around,
under the clearest sky, with a line intended to greet your
arrival on the Belgian coast. You will come, alas ! into the
midst of the equinoctial gales, but the Lord can conduct
you and yours as safely through the waves on the 24th
as on the 1st of September. You will find us well (please
God), your two boys, myself, and the friends. The beauty
and charm of London in August and September belong to
the blessings generally unknown and unacknowledged. A
delicious repose, and yet all the advantages of a well-
arranged social existence, as in the whirling time called ' the
season.'
The days spent at Norwich (Monday we travelled thither
through the night, and Saturday we came back in the day)
were rich in interest. I had taken the liberty of quartering
my two sons at Keswick Hall, with Mr. and Mrs. Hudson
Gurney (as I wrote to you, I had made his acquaintance,
and received an invitation for myself to his country resi-
dence) they were cordially received, and treated (as we
say in Germany) ' as the apple of the eye.' I too was not
Mr. 51] VISIT TO THE BISHOP OF NORWICH. 23
ill off at the Bishop's Palace. Lord Northampton, Lady-
Williams, Miss Trotter, Mrs. Baring, and many other
guests were there. The mode of life of the Stanleys is
dignified and rational. The music was very fine * the
Creation,' Spohr's * Fall of Babylon ' (a musical drama,
called oratorio) and ' Samson.' The text of the latter
had been modified by Mr. Edward Taylor, so as to coincide
with and comprehend that of Milton almost entirely, incor-
porating the newly-introduced portions by interspersing
other Handelian passages, selected from his forgotten works,
whether operas, or small and little-noticed oratorios. Ac-
cording to Mr. Taylor, Handel had adopted a movement
from Palestrina, and worked out a passage of ' Samson '
upon that guiding-thread ; this suggested and gave oc-
casion for the introduction of a hymn, founded upon an in-
expressibly fine conception of Palestrina's. Nobody was
aware of this, and all declared it to be the most striking
part ; the Bishop caused it to be repeated, and the whole
assembly (above 2,000 in number) rose and remained
standing, as during devotional pieces. After this piece, the
greatest effect was produced by a short chorus, which no
one had heard before : and that was, equally from the
Septime, borrowed from Carissimo.
Abeken writes from Berlin that all are satisfied to whom
he was allowed to 'communicate the MS. My proposal as
to the Law of Divorce is vehemently contended against in
the Cabinet Council : and it is believed that this will give
occasion for the King's calling me to Berlin, when I should
be * obliged to come.' Je n'en vois pas la necessite that is,
I see not any possibility of my aiding the good cause the
only gain would be to remove from the King's mind all the
deceptions which he makes to himself about my position at
Berlin, and the yet greater entanglement into which he
would bring me by such a summons. They have in writing
my unchangeable opinion on the subject. Nitzsch, at
Berlin, is entirely agreed in the contents of the MS.
24 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1842
which, was as little expected by, as it has been agreeable to,
the King and to Eichhorn.
Bunsen to his Wife. (Addressed to Herstmonceaux Place.)
[Translation.] Drayton Manor: Tuesday, 20th December, 1842.
I had intended to send you a journal of l Three Days at
Drayton Manor ' about this delicious and important stay
with that truly great man.. I should have remained here
till Friday were it not for the Committee I had sum-
moned. You shall at least have this line to thank you
for your dear letter, and to say that I shall return, D.V.,
on Christmas Eve, expecting the carriage to meet me at
Lewes.
Alas ! dear Lady Denbigh ! she called at our door the
last day of her life her birthday. She died, after her
infant was born, in convulsions caused by pressure on the
brain.
It is grievous not to be able to supply from memory,
out of Bunsen's abundant communications by word of
mouth, the want of the intended 'journal. 9 Many
superior men were among the guests, and the conver-
sation was incomparably interesting. It was Bunsen's
desire and aim to elicit from Sir Robert Peel such
sentences on matters touching the weal or woe of
nations, as he had the peculiar gift of uttering, when
the right question had been asked, in a few words of
weighty import. He said, in reference to the King
of Prussia, c I hope he will be ready to concede to
the wishes of his subjects it is well to make conces-
sions while they yet can be made : many Sovereigns
have had cause to lament having let the hour of con-
cession go by which returns not.' Bunsen observed
upon Sir Eobert Peel's rare power of condensing
JET. 51] VISIT TO SIB KOBEET PEEL. 25
enquiry into a question, the answer to which, if duly-
made, would be voluminous.
The party were among the listeners to a sermon
of the Rev. Hugh Stowell, preached in Tamworth
Church. All joined in astonishment and admiration,
whether matter or manner were considered : but
neither Sir Eobert Peel nor his guests, with the ex-
ception of Bunsen, could bring themselves to believe
that the sermon could be extempore, as they con-
sidered that a composition, so faultless and yet so
forcible, could not have originated but in an hour of
quiet and seclusion, when it must have been carefully
written down and committed to memory. Bunsen
was better acquainted than the rest of the party with
the effect of such practice, it being nearly universal
in Germany, where congregations do not allow of
the reading of a manuscript in the pulpit. He
felt the manner of Stowell to be throughout con-
tradictory of such a supposition, arguing (but in
vain) to convince the parliamentary orators that
could they but attribute to the preachers of Christian
truth as entire a possession of their subject, as
great a warmth of feeling, and as thorough a con-
viction, as they knew by experience to be the stimu-
lus of eloquence in their own case, they would have
no difficulty in crediting the spontaneity of 'd'alta,
facundia inesauribil vena.' Sir Robert Peel insisted
that the position of the man who was called upon to
treat subjects, the highest and holiest not only to
set forth the truth, but persuade others to accept it
was very different from that of one speaking on
worldly interests ; if in Parliament one chances to
26 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1842
use the wrong word, or an insufficient expression, one
may correct it, if one has formed a sentence awk-
wardly, one may correct it in progress of speaking ;
but how should a man be thus at his ease, and not
hesitate when treating of sacred and spiritual things?'
Nothing more can be given as an authentic record of
the conversation in question : but they who knew the
mind of Bunsen will believe that his reply will have
marked to the honoured objector that his attributing
greater anxiety of mind to the preacher could only
apply to him on the supposition of his having but a
limited freedom of utterance, and of a possible con-
sciousness of the boundaries drawn by forms of belief
or theological circumscription; a condition which
would necessitate premeditation and the weighing of
words. But the preacher whose intellect is fraught
with the knowledge, as his heart with the fervour
and reality, of religion, may fearlessly draw from the
depth of his own heart, believing that the Spirit
which ' gave utterance ' will guide that utterance.
The great statesman and Bunsen felt a mutual at-
traction towards each other, and the fact of their so
rarely meeting only proves the incompleteness of this
our human existence, in which even the most active
and well-ordered course of life will be found on retro-
spection to resemble a web, the threads of which we
have been unable to carry on to the end according to
the design proposed. It is highly probable that on
the occasion of this visit at Drayton, some word of
Bunsen's, or certainly his wonderful earnestness of
manner, must have struck the mind of Sir Robert
Peel, and sunk deep into his heart, to emerge again
JET. 51] LETTER TO HIS WIFE. 27
at the hour of death ; for in 1850, when the sufferer
was almost past speaking, he is reported to have
demanded three times that Bunsen should be sum-
moned to his bedside. As the meeting was pre-
vented by the rapid approach of the last moment the
feeling which dictated this most affecting call must
remain a mystery.
It was at this time that when an allusion was made
to hardness of hearing, Sir E. Peel mentioned his
own unceasing inconvenience, not to say suffering,
from a sound in his ears like that of boiling water
which began in consequence of the report of a
fowling-piece, going off unawares close to his head
very early in his life; and from which he had no
respite. When Bunsen commented on the peculiar
hardship attending such an infirmity in the case of
the parliamentary debater, bound not to lose or mis-
conceive a word, Sir Eobert Peel admitted the effort
of keeping up unbroken attention to be severe.
In the calm and solemn brightness of Christmas
days, in family intercourse, with the precious addition
of the society of Archdeacon Hare and of the widow
of the Rev. Augustus Hare, the year 1842 closed to
Bunsen and his family, in their beloved refuge at
Herstmonceaux.
JBunsen to his Wife. (At Herstmonceaux.)
[Translation.] London: Sunday morning, 12th March, 1843.
To me the case stands clear before the mind's eye that
you will outlive me, and be called upon to guide the dear
children further in life ; this thought is firm in my mind
these many years, although not from the very beginning.
The Lord order the event according to His holy will ! But
28 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1843
I will this day make my will ; a short one, for, God be
thanked ! I have little to dispose of, and what I have is
yours ; of that I shall speak no more. But what I have to
say to you, in consciousness of our indestructible bond of
love, is that your letter has caused me to look deeply and
sorrowfully into my own heart. . . The wheel of life whirls
round, and we with it, expecting that the motion will some
day slacken, and that then life may be ordered anew, and
omissions may be made good. But real wisdom consists in
seizing the flying moment, and in pressing upon it the seal
of the eternal and enduring ; that is the great course of
moral endeavour under which life receives its due form,
like the block of marble under the hand of the sculptor.
The eternal and enduring here on earth consists in the
morally-artistic use of time^ This is but another form of
expression for justification by faith. The amount of what
is done, formed, accomplished, matters little so long as it is
done in faith in that which is Unseen and only True. In
this way, sanctification is the highest expression for the
creative completeness of the Spirit's impress. Rightly
understood, all these considerations lead us back to the
consciousness that of ourselves we can do nothing good,
and that self and reference to self, me and mine, are the
spoiling of all, inasmuch as the proper and peculiar work of
God is attributed to one's self; faultiness, therefore sin,
cleaves to all that we do : but in Him, who is without fault,
it will be pardoned in us* We must ever be brought back
to the conviction that nothing but evil comes of our self-
righteousness, thus only may we be kept in the reality of
faith. All urging and hastening helps not : the time of
quiet comes not, except we have it within us. The word
of the Lord must be spoken over the waves of life, that
they may be stayed : but then they are stayed indeed.
Help me to pray, beloved, that this spirit of unselfishness
(Entselbstung) and of tranquillity be granted to me, that I
may perceive what belongs to my peace ; what I can be to
JET. 51] DE. PUSEY. 29
you, and especially what I can do for our beloved children,
and therewith cause them to feel the love that I bear to
them in my heart's depth. Our life in its present torn
condition has many disadvantages, but that is not to be
dwelt upon ; for it has on the other hand great advantages.
So it is also with our frequent separation ; it is a cause of
pain and trial, which implies its being good and wholesome
for us. . . I will not to-day write on other subjects, but
bless you in spirit, as being your gratefully faithful C.
Bunsen to One of his Sons.
[Translation.] London: 3rd July, 1843.
The day before yesterday appeared a work which will
mark an epoch in the Church history of England.*
9th July. In order to seize the connection clearly between
the sermon and the commentary, place before your mind the
simple question of the Reformation Is the Godhead latens
deltas in the consecrated wafer, which by the consecration
is made the present body ? or is the bread and wine simply
nothing, either before or after the prayer of consecration,
except in and with the soul and body of the believing re-
ceiver in which connection it may be termed the symbolical
or substantial body, according to the school that affixes the
term ?
Whosoever maintains the former is a E-omanist, a servant
of the Mass, and is under the obligation to take all conse-
quences.
But that is asserted everywhere in the sermon, just be-
cause without this assumption it is unintelligible. And
why is this assumption at the bottom of the whole ? Be-
cause, instead of the living God and the Eternal Word
whose utterances are spirit and life Dr. Pusey invests the
priesthood, called by him the Church, with a magic power
to give or to retain the blessing ; therefore to create the
body and to offer the sacrifice. This can be said in a
* The well-known sermon by Dr. Pusey.
30 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1844
thousand different ways ; it was also clearly expressed by
Luther, when he wrote the principles of defence to be
maintained in the expected Council : ' The Mass is the
Dragon's tail ;' and it was God's judgment upon the un-
happy Romanic humanity, that the Council in question
confirmed that expression of its prophetic opponent ; for
the words of one of its Decrees are : * Missa est sacrificium
propitiatorium pro vivis et defunctis :' the precise inver-
sion of the death of Christ is the propitiation for all man-
kind.
Bunsen to Ms Wife.
[Translation.] London: Saturday, 3rd February, 1844.
This has bee a an eventful day. The King has sent for me
to come to Berlin ' for some months, to talk over with him
many subjects ;' so Biilow writes, and desires my answer
to fix how soon I can contemplate availing myself of this
leave of absence.
I shall write that I wish * to await here the decision to
be obtained at Constantinople by Sir Stratford Canning
(about Jerusalem), and to sign the treaty with Venezuela,
unless His Majesty commands my immediate departure.'
I do not think he designs to place me in the Ministry. I
do not believe the King can do it. I am still very unpopu-
lar. He might follow another old plan, that of dividing the
Ministry, and giving me the department of Public Instruc-
tion, the only thing 1 could not refuse.
This is a sad stroke through all calculations, and the
separation from you is more sad to me than ever it was.
But still, there is that in me which would either rush into
the cannon's mouth, or fight in peace the battles of our
country or the Church, rather than sit still at a time of crisis
like the present. And I feel my blood as youthful as it was
twenty years ago when that chord is touched ; hoping, by
the mercy of God, to act with more calmness and less of
self and of self-confidence.
^ET. 52] DEPARTURE FOR BERLIN. 31
To Archdeacon Julius Hare.
London: Tuesday, 12th March, 1844.
... In the sad days of parting (the King's most
gracious, but wholly unexpected, order having arrived for
my going to Berlin) I must address a few lines to you,
whose image has been continually before my mind since I
left dear, ever dear Herstmonceaux. [After particulars of
his writings, and referring the inscription upon Arnold's
tomb wholly to Hare's correction and decision, he con-
tinues : ] Let me thank you once more for the days of
happiness which your friendship, unwearied kindness, and
ever ready help and advice, procured me at Herstmonceaux.
I look back to those days as to one of the happiest portions
of my life, and I cannot help hoping that Providence will
bring us once more near together, to exchange thoughts
and feelings. . . .
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.]
Brussels: Friday, 15th March, 1844, half- past two.
Twenty-four hours and a half after you and all my friends
had vanished from my sight, I landed well and cheerful at
Antwerp. Never have I had more prosperous seafaring
expeditions than since I have been Envoy to the favourite
of Neptune, the Queen of Great Britain ! The cause is
self-evident. I had begun by making myself at home in
the state cabin, by using the upper hammock as a standing
desk upon which I placed my book, supported on each side
by book bags. When the rain had ceased I walked on
deck : the sea was smooth, but the N.E. wind most pene-
trating.
To the Same.
[Translation.] Cologne : Monday, 18th March, 1844.
(Soft breath of Spring), eight o'clock, A.M.
Already I have plunged into the open sea of the life of
my people, and into the arms of old friends. I left Brussels
32 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1844
early on Saturday, and arrived at seven o'clock in the even-
ing at Cologne, where Helmentag fetched me from the
station. We talked until after two in the morning. On
Sunday Zwirner's assistant showed us everything in the
cathedral ; for the first time I saw the apsis completed,
according to the original plan. Helmentag suggested to
me to visit the Archbishop, and one of the principal patri-
cians of Cologne, the President von Grote. I enquired
whether he believed the attention would be taken in good
part ? He was sure that there need be no doubt ; and
offered to ascertain the suitable time. Then we proceeded
to the Protestant church, full to the very street door ; the
preacher, a true servant of the Gospel. Then I flew by
railway to Bonn, and by one o'clock was on my pilgrimage
to the monument of Xiebuhr, which I beheld with un-
speakable emotion. Then I went to Hollweg, with him
to Brandis, with the latter to Arndt and Mtzsch, whence
Hollweg again fetched me, and he with Brandis accom-
panied me back to Cologne : on my arrival there, I was met
by Helmentag with the intelligence that my announced
visit would be very agreeable to the Archbishop. I drove
to the palace, where I had not set foot since the eventful
day of September 17, 1837 ; and had a conversation of an
hour and a quarter with the coadjutor Archbishop, who
met me in the most friendly manner, and after the first
half hour treated me even confidentially. Having returned
to Helmentag I met the President von Grote, at supper,
and we sat in friendly talk together* till midnight. Now,
in half an hour I shall be on the way to Diisseldorf, passing
by the side of a hospital building, where a fine Roman
mosaic has been excavated, 500 square feet, with the images
of the seven sages and their Grecian names. The kind
President promises to show them to me. We two had
never seen one another before, and we have parted as
friends. The Archbishop requested me to express to the
King his deep respect that will please the dear King !
Mi. 52] GERMAN HOSPITAL IN LONDON. 33
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.] Diisseldorf: Tuesday, 19th March, 1844.
. . . The excellent Count G. looks at the condition of
things as I do, if not more gloomily still. "With the noblest
intentions and the highest gifts, mistakes continually take
place ; and the public mind (which is unjustly embittered)
seizes upon them. Whatever is done is sure to be misin-
terpreted everything that takes place is disapproved, either
because it is really faulty, or because it is not that which is de-
manded, the desideratum being a Representative Assembly
(Reichstdnde). That the King should have accepted the
protectorate of the ' Gustav-Adolph Yerein ' has been matter
of great irritation among the Roman Catholics, who intend
to have an association for the benefit of poor Catholic com-
munities (as the other is for Protestants), which they will
call the Tilly Society (!) They will not accomplish this.
The minister has despatched a letter to the Catholic bishops
defending and explaining the acceptance of the protec-
torate, to obviate groundless suppositions ; which step is
vehemently blamed it is said, ' Qui s'excuse, s' accuse.' If
things look ill here, it is worse in the old provinces, as I am
assured.
One word about Kaiserswerth, which is an admirable
institution, superior /to what I expected. Not before next
year (the autumn of 1845) will Fliedner be able to send
us four or five deaconesses (for the German Hospital in
London).
A short notice must be given of the institution of a
Hospital for Germans in London, here mentioned,
though there is no paper in Buiisen's own handwrit-
ing to notify his discovery of the great need of such
an establishment, or of his own sedulous labour to
bring it into reality. Such statements were no doubt
made in his communications to the King, who granted
VOL. II. D
34 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1844
munificent assistance as soon as it was applied for,
the application not having been made until Bunsen
could represent the undertaking as both existing and
in a state of forwardness, according to his principle
and invariable practice with regard to claims on the
Boyal beneficence.
The existing need of medical and surgical aid for
the very large German population of London was
not owing to any objection or difficulty being made
to the admission of German patients into the London
hospitals, but merely because the hospital room is
(or was, at least) insufficient in that monster city,
even for the wants of its own denizens ; and because
even if that had not been the case, the hardship to a
sufferer and the embarrassment to a medical adviser,
owing to the want of a language in common, called
loudly for a remedy. A subscription was made, to
which not only the more affluent among the German
mercantile class contributed, but to which a great
number of English merchants and manufacturers
(employers of the German working men) gave effi-
cient help ; and the English subscriptions grew year
by year more liberal, as the German establishment
became known as a benefit to the whole neighbour-
hood, advice and medicine being given gratis to any
and every poor applicant, wounds and injuries from
accidents receiving immediate relief, without respect
of persons a help the more prized and acknowledged,
as no English hospital is to be found within a circuit
of several miles around Dalston a cheerful, sunny
village, one of the many about to be swallowed up
by the ever-advancing growth of London. Further
JE T . 52] GIFT OF THE KING'S POETEAIT. 35
details of the German Hospital (the arrangements
and management of which have been much approved
and admired) are not necessary here, where its men-
tion only finds a place as one of the many subjects of
interest which occupied Bunsen's time during the
whole of his residence in London. . . .
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.] Berlin, Hotel de Eussie :
Monday morning, 24 th March, 1844.
Here I am, safely arrived, and received by the King
graciously, and the ministers kindly. So much by way of
a preface. . . .
The King, I find, has adopted the ministerial proposal,
to banish decided improprieties from the practice of Divorce
Courts, and from the list of the fourteen allowable motives
for divorce which now exist : the introduction of a Law of
Divorce founded on gospel principles being for the present
given up, on account of the violent excitement to which it
would give occasion.
To the Same.
[Translation.] Berlin : 27th March, 1844.
.... The King received me the day before yesterday in
his closet, from six o'clock to eight. Imagine ! on coming
from the Queen's apartment into the Gothic hall where I
awaited him, he at once led me up to a portrait of himself,
saying, * Here is the return for the head of Christ ; * it has
been long finishing, I hope you will be pleased with it.'
You can hardly imagine what a splendid gift the King has
made me. It is an enamel, or miniature, a foot and a half
in diameter, on porcelain, of the finest finish ; the frame of
* A head of Christ with the crown of thorns, a much-admired piece of
sculpture by a Belgian artist, Kessels, had been offered by Bunsen to
the King, and graciously accepted, before he came to the throne. A por-
trait was asked for in return.
D 2
36 MEMOIRS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1844
gilt bronze, expressly designed, and in great measure by the
King's own hand, is the result of three years' artistical la-
bour. The elder Sehadow said to me, ' That is indeed a
royal present ! you will be much envied, and intrigued
against.' I answered, ' That was the case already ; such
matters could not be made worse.' . . .
To the Same.
[Translation.] Berlin : 10th April, 1844.
.... The audience granted by the Prince of Prussia was
very important. The Prince spoke with me more than an
hour, and in the first place about England, then on the
great question the Constitution. I told him all that I had
said to the King of facts that I had witnessed. Upon his
question, what my opinion was ? I requested time for con-
sideration, as I had come hither to learn and to hear ; but so
much I could perceive and openly declare, that it would be
impossible longer to govern with Provincial Assemblies
alone ; it was as if the solar system should be furnished
with centrifugal powers only. The Prince stated to me his
own position relative to the great question, and to the King,
with a clearness, precision, self-command, and openness
which delighted me. He is quite his father ; throughout, a
noble-minded Prince of Brandenburg of that house which
has created Prussia.
This audience has created much surprise, and all those
who as yet had avoided taking cognisance of my existence,
are now full of attention and consideration. . . .
To the Same.
[Translation.] Berlin: 21st April, 1844.
Yesterday evening, Tieck's ' Puss in Boots ' was per-
formed admirably, in the concert-hall. The King had
invited 300 persons, chiefly belonging to the learned pro-
fessions. Although the execution was successful beyond
expectation, yet one could not help feeling that the mockery
JET. 52] LECTUKE BEFOKE THE ROYAL COMMISSION. 3 7
of the public is spun out too much ; besides which, the fairy-
tale loses its attraction by the method of treatment. The
merely negative can never furnish a thorough artistic en-
joyment. I enclose the playbill, on which I have marked
the names which are given by the wits of Berlin to each of
the performers they say the piece has long been performed
at court and in the distribution of parts, that of ' Souffleur '
(prompter) is assigned to me. Never mind ! . . .
To the Same.
[Translation.] Berlin: Wednesday, 24th April, 1844.
.... Last Monday evening I gave my lecture before the
Royal Commission,* which lasted an hour, and the com-
ments made upon it two hours and a half ; it ended with a
declaration of entire agreement from all the ten. Indeed,
several members had already pronounced opinions on most
points to the same effect, which they had withdrawn in con-
sequence of an express declaration of disapproval on the
part of the King. I expressed, more especially to Herr von
Rochow, my great pleasure in this happy coincidence of
opinion. It was determined that the printed scheme should
be worked out afresh, to be laid before the King, and that
I should revise it. ...
The King never 'having read the Greek tragedies
in the original, or in a German translation, had only
taken in an idea of them through the systematising-
phrases of his tutor Ancillon, and thus was enraptured,
as with a new and splendid discovery, when Tieck, in
one of his evenings of poetical reading at the palace,
chose for his subject the ( Antigone' of Sophocles, as
translated by Bockh. The delight which the King
experienced, he knew not how to give vent to more
royally than by expressing a desire to see the tragedy
* On the question of granting a constitution in Prussia.
38 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1844
completely performed. Its success, on the Berlin
stage, with the splendid compositions of Mendels-
sohn, was considerable, and yet not such as to silence
the opposition of a critical and gainsaying public,
which, instead of beholding in the performance the
gratification of artistic taste on the part of the King,
was resolved to believe in a design to regulate or
school the general taste by authority. At a later
period, the ' (Edipus at Colonos ' (the choruses by
Taubert) was performed with good effect; and by the
desire of the King, under Bunsen's direction, the
great works of JEschylus (the 'Agamemnon,' the
6 Eumenides,' the ' Choephoroi ') were compressed
by Professor Franz into one piece, called the ' Ores-
teia.' It was hoped that Mendelssohn would have
undertaken the arrangement and musical composition
of the choruses, but after much consideration, for
reasons indicated in the second volume of his pub-
lished correspondence, he was obliged to leave the
royal wish unfulfilled.
Bunsen to Ms Wife.
[Translation.] Palace of Sans Souci, Potsdam :
Whit Sunday, 1844, twelve o'clock.
Here, as at Berlin, all is in the greatest excitement the
courier announcing the Emperor's arrival having come but
two minutes before him. The Emperor had accomplished
the 250 German miles in 106 hours, including the four hours
that he passed before the gate of Berlin (in order not to rouse
the Meyendorfs out of their sleep), changed his dress, drove
to the Greek Russian Church, which was decorated with
fresh flowers and branches for the festival, and all present
on their knees, the mass having begun. The Emperor by a
sign commanded stillness, and knelt close to the entrance,
JET. 52] VISIT OF THE EMPEKOK OF EUSSIA. 39
remaining thus (in his tight uniform) for half an hour, and
then proceeded to his proper seat, before the singing of the
' Te Deum ;' after that, to the railway, and onto Sans Souci.
He is going by Holland to England, where he will remain
eight or ten days, and so you will see him. A grand
presence ! The journey hither, and to England, may be-
come matter of universal history. All is in the hands of
God, and this is the festival of the greatest of miracles !
He is, every inch of him, an Emperor. What courage, to
go for his pleasure into the midst of five hundred Poles, who
have all sworn to kill him ! The King accompanied him
back to Berlin, from whence, early to-morrow, he will pro-
ceed to London by the Hague, and arrive in thirty-six hours ;
sooner probably than this letter can reach you. That would
have been a surprise, if I had brought it myself ! ' Meglio
cosi anzi, molto meglio ! '
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.]
Sans Souci : Whit Monday, 18-44, twelve o'clock.
.... ISTo confidential intercourse has taken place here
between the King and the Emperor of that I am convinced :
it was scarcely possible ; and, besides, they are upon no con-
fidential footing. Were that the case I should now be on
the way to London. The Emperor himself brought the
matter near to me l J'avais cru vous trouver a Londres.
Quand y serez-vous de retour ?' ' J'attends les ordres du Hoi,
Sire.' ' Je peux done me charger de vos commissions pour
Londres ?' A low bow on my part. End of the conver-
sation ; the Emperor moved on ; the King came near ;
Humboldt remarked, as in joke, ' You ought to travel after
the Emperor, and return with him.' ' Yes, indeed/ said
the King, ' that is true !' * But he would not arrive in time,'
observed Humboldt. 'It might be possible, by Hamburg.'
' Bather by Ostend,' rejoined the King. I was silent, for I
saw it was not the King's intention, and could perceive no
40 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1844
use in sucli a journey to and fro ; on the contrary, it would
give rise to erroneous suppositions, as though there were a
great political plan between the two courts, into which I was
to help to induce England to enter ; but that is not the case
the Emperor has indicated no such design* Of course I
should go, had the King given the least sign of a wish to
that effect. I believe he would like it as little as myself.
Ideas or imagination the Emperor has not ; but there is an
inward dignity in him.
I cannot even comprehend how business can be per-
formed as it is here I mean really great and necessary
business. All seem to be gliding quietly down the stream
to the cataracts which are actually before them. The daily
life of the court and of the ministers experiences no inter-
ruption for a single day, as though we lived in the most
commonplace period ; and yet every one says that we are
in a time of crisis ! Non ci capisco niente ! Often am 1
haunted by the spectre of the court and ministry at Paris
in 1788-89 ; but then, I say again, Prussia is not France,
and, above all, Frederic William IY. is not Louis XVI. I
have shown throughout my life, that I am not nervous : I
can sleep in the storm, and be silent in the fire ; but if I
sat at the helm, I should have no peace until a resolution
had been taken, and I could then set about the work resolved
upon. For delay between determination and action is as
intolerable as between betrothal and wedding.
To the Same.
[Translation ] Tuesday in Whitstm-week.
The day that the Emperor was here at dinner, I sat, as
usual, opposite to the King, who addressed me in conver-
sation more even than usual. He began by explaining the
sense of Beethoven's ' Overture' to the ' Coriolanus ' of
Shakespeare, which was performed under the windows of
the dining-room, remarking that the composition designated
all parts of the action, &c. ; his subject led him to speak of
JET. 52] VISIT OF THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. 41
the ' Eumenides,' and I mentioned that I had induced Franz
to make a fresh translation, condensing the three parts into
one whole in three acts by the omission of unnecessary por-
tions. The Emperor enquired what the matter in question
was ; and the King related, shortly and humorously, the
subject of the tragedy, concluding with ' The thing ends
thus : the Furies receive the title of Excellency, and a house
rent free outside the gates, and withdraw, on these condi-
tions, well pleased !' All the allusions contained in this jest
you must get Thile to explain, one allusion, among many
others, is to a set of grumblers who a few days ago were dis-
missed and paid off with the title just mentioned and other
desirable things. The Emperor must have remained as en-
tirely uninformed as before, and have thought his royal
brother-in-law original in his jokes. The rest sat in mute
unconsciousness,* with the exception of clever Meyen-
dorf. . . .
To the Same.
[Translation.] Berlin : 6th June, 1844.
.... Imagine that we have more than twenty great
composers in the style of Palestrina, all Protestant, mostly
Prussians one and all, hitherto, buried in oblivion in
whose works are choruses giving the ancient German choral
melodies in four, five, and six parts, like the Inni of Pale-
strina. Of these I shall place many in the ' Choral Book.'
But how does my heart yearn after other and weightier
reforms ! Could the Church of Christ but be freed from
the stains fixed upon her by unbelief and false belief, by
despotism and anarchy, by aristocratic greediness of gain !
It will not be long before I shall be called a Jacobin, as
before I was reckoned a Jesuit. Never mind ! With God's
help, I may yet attain the end. Next week I am to go to the
King ; this week I requested him to leave free to me. . . .
* That is, unconscious of the analogy between certain passages in the
history of the Emperor's family and in that of Agamemnon.
42 MEMOIES OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1844
[In English.] Berlin : Thursday morning, 13th June.
I have to tell you an important fact, that 1 must be in
London soon after the middle of July. The commercial
discussions are becoming too important to allow of my
being longer detained.
The King has my two Memoirs, and I have announced to
him my last word, which contains the Key, and which I
have shown to nobody else
To the Same. (At Berlin.)
[Translation.]
From Sans Souci : Wednesday, 26th June, 1844.
.... I am still here, and shall probably also be here
to-morrow, and the day after (Friday). I am to have a
solemn audience -the audience
My heart is heavy, yet less so than last Sunday. God
alone can here direct me to do the right thing, and He
alone can give success ! The King is in real earnest
Very gratifying and important to Bun sen was the
favourable change in the sentiments of his Royal
Highness the Prince of Prussia (the present King)
towards him. At the date last mentioned, the Prince
seemed determined upon a journey to St. Petersburg,
but the next letter of Bun sen notifies his having
decided upon visiting England, accepting Bunsen for
his guide : and the favourable opinion, founded on
the personal acquaintance begun in July 1844, ceased
not to be evinced by his Eoyal Highness in innume-
rable proofs of confidence and kindness, as long as
Bunsen lived, and most touchingly after he died.
The medical consultations, with a view to which
Bunsen had summoned his wife to bring her invalid
daughter to Berlin, ended in the recommendation of
JET. 52] BUNSEN'S KETUEN TO ENGLAND. 43
a cold-water treatment, to be undergone at Marien-
berg, near Boppart, on the Rhine ; and Bunsen and
his wife departed in different directions from Berlin
at the same time he to be ready in London for the
Prince's arrival, and she for a temporary banishment,
which prevented her being present to receive his
Royal Highness at the dwelling of the Prussian
Legation, then No. 4, Carlton Terrace.
To the Same.
[Translation.]
London, Carlton Terrace: 24th July, 1844, Wednesday.
.... You have been informed of our prosperous
voyage, and you also know that the Prince of Prussia, in
all probability, will arrive to-day, when he shall have re-
ceived the intelligence of Queen Victoria's safety. He will
therefore find all things here prepared for his reception. I
must consider this as providential.
I have found the public mind with reference to Prussia
much changed ; it is fancied that Prussia and England are
no longer cordial in their relations to each other. I shall
therefore go to-morrow to the Agricultural Dinner at South-
ampton, and make a little speech to my friends, the Eng-
lish farmers
Suns en to his Wife.
[Translation.] London: 7th August, 1844.
.... I am just returned from Windsor Castle, where
all is prepared for the friendly and dignified reception of the
Prince. Prince Albert very happy in the birth of a second
son, the Queen as well or better than ever I
shall to-morrow write and try to induce the King to cause
the oldest obelisk in the world that of Sesortosen (under
whom Joseph was vizier) to be sent to him from the
Fayoum
44 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1844
To the Same.
[Translation.] Badminton (residence of the Duke of Beaufort) :
Friday, 30th August, 1844.
.... At length, on the twelfth day of the journey, a day
of rest in this truly royal country-seat ! We have seen
Edinburgh (the magnificent) and Glasgow (on 24th August,
the day on which Knox founded the Kirk of Scotland), the
Lakes, and Liverpool (before this tour we had been at Ports-
mouth and at Oxford), the splendid seat of Chats worth
(more than royal), Stowe, Warwick Castle (where I thought
of you as well as at Edinburgh), Lowther Castle, Belvoir.
To-morrow to the Queen; on the 4th (September) to Lon-
don ; the Prince will embark on Saturday evening the 7th.
This journey was a refreshment, and a great event. The
Prince of Prussia has taken an affection for England
admires her greatness, which he perceives to be a conse-
quence of her political and religious institutions.
The old relation between the Prince and myself, of 1822,
has been restored ; he it was that broke the ice, and began
to speak upon all the weighty points, even the question of
questions. He listened to my expression of opinion with
composure, entered into all subjects, sometimes assenting ;
that same Prince, who could not endure the King's listen-
ing to me, even during the past month ! To God alone be
praise ! I am always alone with the Prince in the carriage,
with Captain Meynell, who, not understanding German, is
no check upon our conversation.
From the King I have had an admirable letter to-day
here it is :
1 Erdmannsdorf, 20th August, 1844. DEAREST BUNSEN, I
have received your four parcels with the many splendid
letters, and read them all with the greatest interest last
night, until after one A.M.
1 On the subject of the attempt on my life you speak as
a friend and as a Christian ; for which, God reward you !
^T. 53] BUNSEN TO HIS WIFE. 45
He will turn, as it seems, the curse, in the purpose of man,
to abundant, heavenly blessing. So be it !
' I should consider my preservation as a miracle, worthy
to be placed by the side of those recorded in Scripture,
were not I myself the object of it. The ball, fired at the
distance of less than a foot, tore through all my clothing ;
but I experienced not the slightest sensation, and it rolled
off from the breast-bone, powerless into the carriage ! Be
silent, and adore ! is my motto.
' The Obelisk will be lost to me. But may the Arazzi
be mine ! I will give the sum out of my pocket, and into
the bargain the twenty guineas for the cameo of my great-
uncle: Pray settle all at once. God be with you ! F.W.
1 To William all that is cordial and affectionate ! Talk
over with him all things as much as possible politics,
church matters, the arts, Jerusalem in particular. I have
begged him, on his part, to discuss everything unreservedly
with you that will be most useful and very necessary.'
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.]
Carlton Terrace: Thursday morning, 5th September, 1844.
.... I am this day to receive the Raphael- tapestry, and
forward the pieces to the King, I hope before the equinoc-
tial storms. On t^he journey with the Prince of Prussia I
had occasion to see and know fine specimens of human
nature, besides Wellington, Peel, and Aberdeen, with whom T
have really lived, and conversed much and confidentially:
Lady Adeliza Manners, daughter of the Duke of Rutland
(who translated Tholuck's sermons), I saw at Belvoir
Castle; and Lady Westmoreland, with whom I first became
acquainted on this occasion. This flight through the
country will save me half a year of future travelling, both
time and expense, for I have seen much that I had need to
see, and should long since have seen. One friend too have I
gained Stockmar. He will accompany me next Sunday
to Oakhill.
4-6 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1844
To the Same.
[Translation.] ^-;.. London : Monday, 9th September, 1844.
The Prince has departed, and the end has passed off as
happily as the beginning and the middle of the time. The
Prince has heaped all possible kindness upon me, and, as he
is true and sincere, I can thoroughly rejoice therein. He
has not only allowed me to lay before him all important
papers, but has discussed them with me.
Numerous additions might have been made to this
scanty report of the important and prosperous journey
of his Royal Highness to and through England, in
particulars related by Bunsen of conversations with
the distinguished men whom he presented to the
Prince, always endeavouring to lead to topics on
which they might be moved to utter opinions, which
he then reported in German to his Eoyal Highness.
The Duke of Wellington readily replied to questions
on military subjects, and his answers (as was always
the case with every word that fell from him) would
all have been well worth recording ; but only one is
remembered when asked about military regulations :
( I know of none more important than closely to
attend to the comfort of the soldier : let him be well
clothed, sheltered, and fed. How should he fight,
poor fellow ! if he has, besides risking his life, to
struggle with unnecessary hardships ? Also, he
must not, if it can be helped, be exposed to the balls
before lie is fairly in action. One ought to look
sharp after the young officers, and be very indulgent
to the soldier.'
JEx. 53] LETTERS TO JULIUS HARK 47
Bimsen to Archdeacon Julius Hare.
[Translation.] Board of Trade : 4th September, 1844.
I reply to your invaluable letter not till the third day,
and from this place ! that must show you that I have had
as much impediment to writing as I have had desire to
write. May God's richest blessing be upon the great and
important change in prospect ! I call it down, with truly
confident belief that it will be granted to you. I feel as
though a long-desired personal benefit had been conferred
upon myself, when I see that happiness conferred upon
you which I have so often desired for you. I am con-
vinced that your heart's impulse has guided you rightly,
having felt myself drawn from the very beginning of my
acquaintance towards that rare being who has won your
heart, and given you hers. . . In blessing to be blessed,
is the secret of earthly happiness, and an earnest of heaven
and that will be the lot of both of you dear and precious
spirits, in a measure as full and ample as I desire for
you ! . . . .
I have passed through four laborious and unquiet weeks,
but, God be thanked ! not in vain. My being together
with the Prussian heir presumptive, a Prince whom in his
very early years I had known and loved, but whom events
had alienated from toe, lias been the occasion of important
conversations, in the result of which I have all reason to
rejoice.
To the Same.
4, Carlton Terrace : 5th November, 1844 (Gunpowder Treason).
It is too great a happiness to have the privilege of ac-
companying you to the place where so blessed a tie will be
closed for life. I shall meet you with F. at the station, in
time for the two o'clock train. Your arrangement seems
to me excellent, and I hope to join in the Holy Communion
with a blessing on that day, together with you and yours.
48 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [184:4:
I think it certainly wise not only not to enjoin it (which I
should consider wrong) but even not to press it for it
must, as human nature is, soon sink (as it is in all Roman
Catholic countries) into a mere formality, like that of hear-
ing a Mass. I should therefore think it wrong to go further
than your Church has done, when it enjoins the newly
married couple to attend the Holy Communion soon after-
wards ; this, I suppose, is meant at an early occasion with
the congregation to which they belong ; coram ecclesid, in
the proper sense. And this I think the more to be the
right view of the case, as the original contract of marriage,
'coram ecclesid, meant nothing else. But this need not pre-
vent individuals from receiving the sacrament with their
nearest and dearest friends, if they feel it right so to do.
It is the same with the Communion every Sunday. As a
general custom, I should deprecate it, the history of the
Church showing what the consequences are of suffering
it to become a custom or rule. But who will doubt that
many persons find it a comfort and a blessing ? and the
opposite view, in the Roman Catholic Church, where the
popular habit (in Rome and Italy) is the one paschal com-
munion, is, as Calvin so truly says, 'an invention of
Satan.' ....
The article in the ' Times ' on Arnold was very malicious
and insidious. Not venturing to ignore his book, and not
daring to trample him under foot, the Tractarians do after
the method of their brethren the Jesuits, they praise the
schoolmaster, declaring him to have been the greatest that
ever lived, but, of course, nobody ever failed so signally as
a controversialist. ' A splendid boy he was indeed,' as
Moseley says in the insidious review in the ' Christian
Remembrancer.' ' Luther was a great popular writer '
(Volksschriftsteller*), says King Louis of Bavaria, 'only no
theologian.'
JET. 53] ACQUAINTANCE WITH MAX MtJLLER. 49
To the Same.
Oakhill: 27th November, 1844.
I have received, from a highly respected quarter, a very
strong recommendation of a young man of twenty- two years
of age, much thought of by Schelling. He has made him-
self known by a new edition of the ' Hitopadesa ' from the
Sanscrit, and is a general scholar, altogether distinguished.
He desires to live some years in England. . -. He is the
son of the celebrated poet and philologer Wilhelm Miiller
(author of the Griechen-Lieder and Romische Ritornellen'), of
high moral character, and, as far as I know, of serious con-
victions.*
My dear friend, what a turmoil is this in your Church !
As yet is the storm only beginning to whistle : but the idols
of the Tractarians must be blown to the four winds. Were
but your sermon published about ' Unity and Uniformity ! '
I have often told you I was sure there was an anti-
Tractarian fermentation in the bulk of the nation, which
would burst out one of these days. The Tractarians wanted
to impose on the Church (i.e. the Christian people and
their ministers) formularies and rites, not because they
were well inclined towards them, but in spite of their
not liking them. Why ? in order to test the authority of
the Church (i.e. the/ clergy), and in order to bring about
* This is the first indication of an important event in the life of Bun-
sen the acquaintance (which at once became warm friendship) with Dr.
Max Miiller, now Professor of Philology at Oxford ; and his approach is
hailed as the rising of a beneficent luminary on the horizon. The kindred
mind, their sympathy of heart, the unity in highest aspirations, a con-
geniality in principles, a fellowship in the pursuit of favourite objects,
which attracted and bound Bunsen to his young friend, rendered this
connection one of the happiest of his life. Bunsen had always made
advances to meet men of the younger generation, who sought his influ-
ence and were willing to accept what he was always ready to give ; and
those who met his encouraging approach in the consciousness of close
alliance in spirit, may congratulate themselves on having exercised a
soothing power over his latter years.
VOL. II. E
50 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1844
that sham sanctifi cation which in the blindness of their
hearts they oppose to justification by faith. It is quite
natural that under such circumstances forms should be
rejected as forms, with the Rubrics (out of which you can
make anything) and without them. But this is still but a
very preliminary step : the deep-seated forces in opposition
must in their turn come up in sight, and then people will
see that there is no power but in Christ, the living Son of
God, and in the faith which grasps the Divine grace, in
which, as our atmosphere, we live, with that awful free-will
by which we can choose to die rather than to live, by re-
fusing to inhale it. Arnold's words will become every year
anore prophetical.
Bunsen to One of his Sons.
[Translation.] London: llth December, 1844.
. . . The criticism of the historical school endangers
not faith, but, on the contrary, is calculated to strengthen
and confirm it. We do not in the least give up prophecy,
but consider it as specifically different from divination
and subtle combination : we place prophecy in its true light,
by proving it to be based in every instance on historical
facts.
Prophecy is essentially not the foretelling of an external
event as such, that is, with indication of name and time : it
is rather the perception of the divine and eternal element
in the palpable facts of the present. There is no single in-
stance of actual foretelling of the future with its details
(names of persons and specification of years) and where-
fore ? that would be dealing with mere externals, and at the
same time an encroachment on the freedom of God and man.
Equally certain is it that not all prophecies are fulfilled :
the prayers and the sins of men must retain their power :
and both are frequently expressly taken into account. Who-
ever thus believes in the Prophets believes in them essen-
tially as the Apostles did, and the Fathers of the Church,
JEx. 53] LETTER TO ONE OF HIS SONS. 51
Augustine and Luther at their head ; only the language is
not the same our mode of expression is a more exalted one,
but can confer salvation as little as any other.
I know nothing more grand than the succession of the
Prophets, contemplated in this spirit. Throughout all good
and evil fortune, hemmed in by all individual and national
trammels and limitations, ever to have kept the kingdom
of God, the reign of the True, the Right, the Good, in view,
and to have interpreted all things by that standard ! all
this forms a spectacle without example in history, and,
without taking into account the support of Divine grace,
incomprehensible.
F. 2
52 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1845
CHAPTEE XII.
CONTINUED RESIDENCE IN LONDON.
'CHURCH OF THE FUTURE' THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO GERMANY BRUHL
'- STOLZENFELS VISIT TO CORBACH DEATH OF MRS. FRY THE OREGON
QUESTION JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE CASSIO-
BURY WINDSOR TRENTHAM THE PRUSSIAN CONSTITUTION FELIX
MENDELSSOHN PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO CAM-
BRIDGE AUDIENCE OF THE QUEEN DR. HAMPDEN WOBURN ABBEY
ALTHORP LADY LOUISA STUART THE NEAPOLITAN REVOLUTION.
THE following letter was addressed by Bunsen to one
of his sons, then on a visit to Corbach, his own birth-
place, in the Principality of Waldeck. After giving
directions for the erection of a monument to his
parents in the cemetery of his town, he proceeds :
[Translation.] London: llth March, 1845.
Be sure to see my friend, Syndic Wolrad Schumacher, at
Arolsen ; he was the best-beloved of my youth in the school-
years, and I have never ceased to be attached to him with
all the peculiar tenderness of youthful feelings. Make a
point of visiting Louise Cramer, with whom I was confirmed
an old maid, living in poverty. Remember me to
Frederica Wigand, a Bunsen by birth, my cousin and play-
fellow, now a widow and a grandmother. Visit the school-
masters. I should like to contribute to the Strube Fund.*
Tell Curtze that I shall send my works for the school
library. Greet the thatched roof under which your father
was born, and where he lived for seventeen years ; the
* A foundation towards assisting needy scholars at the Corbach Latin
Schools, in commemoration of Dr. Strube, fora long time one of its most
meritorious masters.
JET. 53] LETTERS TO SIEVEKING AND MRS. FRY. 53
Eisenberg, on which, he often sat in waking dreams ; and
pray in the church of the old town, for yourself and us, and
for the cherishing light and warmth needed by the whole
country !
To the Syndic Sieveking, in Hamburg.
[Translation.] London: Thursday, 10th April, 1 845.
. . . The first part (of ' The Church of the Future ') was
added after the entire work had been written. I felt the
need of clearly stating beforehand the idea which the work
was intended to unfold, in its deepest roots and in its most
extensive ramifications, shortly and yet fully. I am quite
aware that I have thereby rushed into a new danger, but I
could not do otherwise. I chiefly apprehend having given
the ill-disposed a pretext for considering me a semi- Pela-
gian, a contemner of the sacraments, or denier of the Son,
a perverter of the doctrine of justification, and therefore a
crypto- Catholic theosophist, heretic, and enthusiast, deser-
ving of all condemnation. 1 have written it because I felt
compelled in conscience to do so. Again, however, I think
that many a German reader will understand me all the
better, for (as Reck says) 'a thorough German cannot
convey the soup to his mouth without the spoon of meta-
physics ! ' . . .
Bunsen to Mrs. Fry.
4, Carlton Terrace: 17th May, 1845.
... I can assure yon I never passed a more quiet and
truly satisfactory evening in London than the last, in the
Queen's house, in the midst of the excitement of the season.
I think this is a circumstance for which one ought to be
thankful. It has much reminded me of hours that I have
spent at Berlin and Sans Souci with the King and the
Queen and the Princess William ; and, I am thankful to add,
with the Princess of Prussia, mother of the future King.
It is a striking and consoling and instructive proof, that
54 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1845
what is called tlie world, the great world, is not neces-
sarily worldly in itself, but only by that inward worldliness
which, as rebellion against the spirit, creeps into the cot-
tage as well as into the palace, and against which no
outward form is any protection. Forms and rules may
prevent the outbreak of wrong, but cannot regenerate
right, and may quench the spirit, and poison inward
truth. . . .
Bunsen to Kestner. (In Rome.)
[Translation.]
Oakhill (near London) : Monday, 30th June, 1845.
My dear old heart's friend, this day closes the twenty-
eighth year of the happiest married life ; and this day it
was given me to write to the beloved bride-elect of my dear
Ernest the first letter, as to a daughter ; and now do I ap-
proach my desk again to announce to you this family event.
You were always fond of my Ernest. Elizabeth Gurney is
the same that he saw five years ago at Berlin, with her
father and aunt, when the latter, Mrs. Fry, visited Ger-
many.
In my letters to Mr. Gladstone, I have maintained the
lawfulness and the apostolic character of the German Pro-
testant Church. You will find the style changed in this
work, bolder and more free ; I hope also easier to under-
stand. It is my endeavour to write as I speak ; and I try
to exercise both writing and speaking as an art. Frances
writes to my dictation : she enters quite into my ideas, which
is a great enjoyment to me.
To act as a statesman at the helm, in the fatherland, I
consider not to be in the least my calling : what I believe
to be my calling is to be mounted high before the mast, to
observe what land, what breakers, what signs of coming
storm, there may be, and then to announce them to the wise
and practical steersman. It is the same to me whether my
own nation shall know in my lifetime or after my death how
faithfully I have taken to heart its weal and woe, be it in
JET. 53] VISIT OF QUEEN VICTOKIA TO GERMANY. 55
Church or State, and borne it on my heart as my nearest
interest as long as life lasted. I give up the point of mak-
ing myself understood in the present generation. Here, I
consider myself to be upon the right spot : I seek to pre-
serve peace and unity, and to remove dissatisfaction, wher-
ever it is possible. And then I learn daily in this country
much from life itself. Therein consists English greatness ;
in art and science we have still the advantage. The true
poetry and philosophy of England is in life, and not in the
abstract consciousness of that same life. I was never a
better German than since I have lived in England Of
Rome I think as of another planet, with all the longing of
recollection, without the faintest wish ever again to breathe
its atmosphere.
In August Bunsen was summoned by the King to
Stolzenfels, on the occasion of the visit of Her Majesty
Queen Yictoria and Prince Albert to Germany.
Suns en to his Wife.
[Translation.]
Aachen: Monday morning, 10th August, 1845.
. . . After a fine passage, a night's rest, and an agreeable
evening with the 4 ear Arnims, I arrived happily at the
old friend's house (Brandis' at Bonn), and, not having
found other orders, I proceeded at three o'clock to Briihl,
where the King was expected, and whither he came at
four, to go on after an hour's rest on the way to Aachen, to
meet Queen Victoria at the frontier. I hastened to join
the King on leaving the train, which stops, as you know, just
before the Palace. The King called to me from the
carriage, saying, * Well, Bunsen, have you received my
letter ?' On my replying in the negative, he said, * What
a pity ! ' Hardly had we entered the Palace, when he
embraced me in presence of the whole group of attendants,
and said, ' My letter was intended to have met you on your
entrance into Cologne, to take you by surprise, and give
56 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1845
you the first greeting as Wir'klicJier Geheimer Rath (Privy
Councillor of the First Class) ; they believed you would
have arrived with the Queen, and so, I now street you here.'
The Prince of Prussia congratulated me, and the whole
Court echoed the * Excellency.'
I drove on with the King (the Queen remaining in the
Palace of Briihl) through Cologne to Aachen, where the
King alighted at the house of the President von Wedel,
and held a great reception ; an hour afterwards to supper,
which proved dinner to me, and was very welcome. Then
appeared a procession of torches, with singing, and accla-
mations animated and general. To-day at ten o'clock the
King proceeds to the frontier. . . .
The Prince of Prussia sends kind congratulations to
Ernest ; the King wishes all joy to him and you and
me ; and he commented (in the railway-carriage) in his ani-
mated manner upon the desirable circumstances of such
a connection, * to have Mrs. Fry for an aunt, and the
excellent grand Samuel Gurney for a father-in-law ! ' He
added, ' The first free hour we have, we will write a letter
to Mrs. Fry ; I shall give you my thoughts in German, and
you shall put them at once into English.'
I had of course got into one of the carriages of the suite,
when the King, who was in the central carriage reserved
for him, with the Prince of Prussia and the Ministers of
State and General Thile, called to me to get in, saying,
' Bunsen will fill the whole carriage with English comfort-
ableness, which does me good.'. . . .
Humboldt is here, greatly depressed by the tragical
failure of Billow's health, at the moment when he might
have had a brilliant close to his political life. Canitz and
Iladowitz are to arrive to-morrow. I believe the King's
object is to bring us three together ; we have never yet
had such an opportunity. I was to have been lodged in
the same house with Billow in the village of Briihl, but am
now to have Arnim for my companion.
^Ex. 53] LETTERS TO HIS WIFE. 57
.... When I am once more at home, I shall remain
with you. I cannot perform the charioteer- duty together
with those who desire to put on the drag, in the apprehension
that they are rushing down a steep, when I want to put on
leaders to proceed up the ascent, slowly but safely ! Fill
up for yourself the details of this image ; with all my pon-
dering, I can find no better.
To the Same.
[Translation.] Schloss Stolzenfels :
Friday afternoon, 15th August, 1845.
.... Prince Metternich informs me, ' that he has occu-
pied himself for three weeks almost exclusively with me
and my pursuits : the great work on Egypt has attracted
his most particular attention ; this book, and " Cosmos,"
and a few similar great productions, give him comfort in the
midst of the follies of the day.' I expressed to him the
hope that I might succeed in rendering the two remaining
volumes more worthy the attention of such a statesman :
and that I desired to dedicate my life to researches con-
nected with the ancient world
To the Same.
[Translation.] / At ' Brandis-ruhe,' Bonn :
Tuesday morning, 19th August, 1845.
.... After tea and after eight o'clock, the King sent
me word that I must come to Sans Souci ; there he would
be on the 28th, and there he should have leisure ; and the
same he repeated by word of mouth early yesterday morning
as he went off towards Frankfort.
.... My stay (at Berlin) will certainly not be a long
one ; the King's heart is like that of a brother towards me,
but our ways diverge. The die is cast, and he reads in my
countenance that I deplore the throw. He too fulfils his
fate, and we with him.
I return ten years older, but unbroken in spirit of life,
58 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1845
and in the faith, which God has given me, and which may-
He preserve to me ! My heart longs after the invisible
world and its eternal centre after the secrets of the human
mind, their products and results ; but in humble conviction
that no mortal can attain to the knowledge, otherwise than
as in a mirror or image. Latria, patria, atria* Church,
State, wedlock; to those will I bear witness, if God will
grant me life and strength as hitherto ; and whatever the
turn of fate may be, thus will I walk on through the path
of life, to its end, by your side ! with upward gaze towards
Him. For that do I constantly pray, best beloved ! . . .
To the Same.
[Translation.] Corbach : 25th August, 1845.
An unhoped-for day of rest has been granted me, in the
place of my birth, on my birthday. I came with the l Snail-
post ' (Schnell-post) from Elberfeld yesterday, and arrived,
at two on Sunday morning, at Arolsen, whence, after some
pleasant sleep, I proceeded at seven o'clock, accompanied
by my ever- beloved friend of boyhood, Schumacher, towards
Corbach, entering the old town of my fathers, with my
sister Helen and her husband (who had driven to meet me),
at nine. I had only reckoned upon staying over Sunday ;
but my birthday anniversary just following, I thought that
to remain was indicated if any day is a man's own, besides
his death day, it surely is his birthday ! This morning my
first walk was to the graves of my dear parents. I had
visited the spot after church with my sister and Siebert ;
this time I went alone, and the half-hour spent there will, I
hope, not have been without its due impression upon me.
This day will be passed in the company of my sister (besides
necessary letter writing), in visits, and in a pilgrimage to
the Eisenberg, a hill from whence I have often, alone or
with Schumacher (but the first time of all with my father),
* The ancient motto of the Port family (of Ham, Staffordshire), to
which Buasen's mother-in-law belonged.
JET. 54] VISITS HIS BIRTHPLACE. 59
watched the sun rising on a Sunday morning. I have had
a welcome from the Burgomaster, and a deputation from
the Gymnasium, the speaker being the Kector Weigel, whom
I reckoned among my teachers. To-morrow I drive to Cassel
with my sister I am to arrive at one, and go on directly
to Gottingen, where Liicke and Reck expect me. On
Thursday to Halle ; on Saturday, 30th, in good time at
Berlin. When I have had the audience in Sans Souci, I
depart forthwith.
To the Same.
[Translation.] Brunswick: Thursday, 28th August, 1845.
MY DEAREST, . . . You have had my report as far as
the pilgrimage to the Eisenberg, the Sinai of my boyish
years. We went through the flourishing plain (Dr. Curtze,
the headmaster of the school, and Duncker, accompanying
us) to the height crowned with wood, where, at the very top,
are the ruins of the old castle of the Counts of Waldeck.
Somewhat lower are the fine remains of an ancient forest,
and a square mound artificially flattened and planted with
oaks (the rest is beech), surrounded by a ditch, outside of
which is a broad level which once a year serves the gay
world of Corbach for a summer dancing- floor under the
shade of trees and in full view of the town and of the sur-
rounding hills. This place is called the Prince's seat, also
the King's seat and no one knows why or wherefore.
Thence did I behold my original native soil spread before
me no longer as formerly, in the glow of the dawn, in the
first rays of the sun, but in the calm light of declining day ;
and the eye glided past the tower of Waldeck over a
number of villages and small towns to the height of Cassel,
the unknown object of childish gaze and conjecture. My
entire life lay before me between aspiration and striving,
from 1805 to 1845 forty years (a number not mythical, as
in the patriarchal labyrinth), full of connected recollections.
It was hard to break from the scene, and retrace my way
60 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [184.)
in the last rays of the sun through the corn-lands standing
thick with golden sheaves !
For the evening a surprise had been contrived for me.
In Waldeck, as elsewhere, singing associations have been
formed the vocal Bound Table being the method by which
the voice of Vetter Michel * breathes forth his deceived hopes,
and keeps up his courage, although not his confidence, for
the future. I had observed at eight o'clock an unusual
movement and a low hum round the house, and at nine the
whole society appeared with lanterns and music-books at
their head Herr von Hadeln, a much respected magistrate,
one of the men of 1813, who had shed his blood at Ligny and
Waterloo. They sang German songs, and last of all, the
' German Fatherland.' Then came a deputation, and Herr
von Hadeln made me a short and hearty speech alluding
to the German hospitals in Rome and in London. (He
is a man of small income, of which more than half is
given to the poor.) I answered, also from my heart, and
begged the whole company to come in. There I saw many
a good countenance, and shook hands with one and all,
reminding them of our proverb, * God forsakes no Wai-
decker ' and of its connection with that other, still wider
saying, ' God forsakes no German.'
With Herr von Hadeln I conversed till late at night : he
has both head and heart in the right place, and therefore
both ache !
After a short rest I drove at five o'clock in the morning
towards Cassel, breakfasting with Schumacher at Arolsen
by the way. Everywhere do I find the same condition of
mind : the same highly developed intelligence, the same
honest striving in the greater part of the nation in too
many exasperation, depression in all. From the Rhine to
the Spree, one feeling, one speech ! the officials being not
less excited than the rest.
* Vf.tter Michel serves to designate the German people as John Bull
does in England.
JSx. 54] DEATH OF MRS. FRY. 61
Near Magdeburg I met Humboldt, with, whom I drove as
far as Kothen, learning much that was remarkable. He
perfectly understands and approves my intention of leaving
immediately.
(Finished at Berlin.) All friends absent, except Pertz,
Lachmann, and the faithful E/ostell. I am to see Bockh
to-day. As soon as the King arrives I am to be announced
for audience of leave.
The weather is heavenly ; the harvest on the whole good ;
the heat Italian.
Monday, \st September. The King did not arrive till this
morning early, and goes on Friday morning to Stettin to
meet the Empress. I have had a long audience of the
Prince of Prussia. I have taken a place to-day on the
steamer from Hamburg, for Thursday morning, the 4th.
Deo gratias ! All right !
Contemporary Notice.
21st October, 1845.
Alas for the loss of dear Mrs. Fry ! She fell down in-
sensible, on Sunday the 12th, and expired early the next
morning, was heard to utter words in prayer once, but
otherwise she gave no sign of consciousness. It is believed
that the dropsy which was gaining ground upon her and
threatened lingering pain, suddenly affected the brain,
and thus terminated at once a life which had been a con-
tinual preparation for death. The consciousness of an
irreparable privation is blended with much thankfulness for
her having been spared lengthened suffering and gradual
decay, and having had much comfort to brighten her
last half year, in seeing her youngest son happily married,
and having rejoiced hardly less in the marriage of Ernest
with her niece Elizabeth Gurney. All had been arranged
for our seeing her at Ramsgate on the 1st of October, but
a Ministerial Conference was fixed by Lord Aberdeen for
the 2nd, and thus we could not go ; and a succession of
62 MEMOIRS OP BARON BUNSEN. [1845
appointments on public business ever since has never left
Bunsen the necessary interval of three days ; thus it could
not be, and we regret in vain. She had a great pleasure
in the King's having written to her with his own hand
last month. Her funeral took place yesterday, and we
could not attend, because Bunsen was confined to his bed.
Contemporary Notice in a Letter to a Son.
Oakhill: Saturday, 25th October, 1845.
Your father's illness has passed off entirely [he had caught
cold at Windsor], and he is better than before the attack,
in full activity of labour, and enjoying the critical emen-
dation of the text of Ignatius, and the proofs elicited of
systematic falsification for the sake of procuring something
like divine honours for the hierarchy. I suppose you have
been told before of the Syriac MS. purchased lately for the
British Museum from an Egyptian convent and published by
Dr. Cureton, which contains the original text of the Epistles
of Ignatius long suspected of having been interpolated
without any possibility of proof. Your father will publish
the corrected text with a German translation, accompanied
by a commentary, in a series of letters of his own addressed
to Neander.
Contemporary Notice to a Son on the Continent.
Northrepps (Norfolk): 14th November, 1845.
By a beautiful drive through Enfield and Cheshunt, we
reached the railway at Broxbourne, and proceeded to Nor-
wich and Earlham, experiencing the kindest reception from
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph John Gurney. Earlham is the image
of a home of peace, intelligence, activity in all good, and
refinement in happiness ; gladly should we have stayed
longer, but your father had only a few days to spare, and we
had so many kind friends to see that we were bound to
hurry on. The simple Bible reading with which the day
^T. 54] THE OREGON QUESTION. 63
begins in Mr. Gtirney's house, short and earnest, accom-
panied by deeply thought comments, will, I trust, not easily
be forgotten. He took us to see Norwich, and Mr. Hudson
Gurney at Keswick, one day, and the next accompanied us
half way to this place. . . . We are received and cherished
in this good county of Norfolk with a fulness of kindness
and of considerate attention to all possible wants and
wishes far beyond what I can describe. You will believe
that we were struck with admiration of Anna Gurney !
The victory of the mind over suffering never surely was
more complete ; for the countenance does not retain a
trace of the conflict, beaming, as it does, with fnlness of
benevolence and intelligence. Her linguistic talent is a
matter of wonder, rising in proportion as it is examined
into by those who are competent
The Oregon question is become a tale of other times,
and it may be beyond the power of readers at the
present time to conceive with what force it throbbed
through all minds devoted to that which concerns the
weal or woe of nations. Bunsen was much occupied in
speaking, writing, and seeking a way out of the com-
plication of claims and interests in this matter, until,
by the wisdom an/i moderation of the Governments
on each side of the Atlantic, the chaos was subdued
into order, and the beautiful and promising' colony
of British Columbia was the unexpected result. The
two honoured brothers, Joseph and Samuel Gurney,
were urgent with the members of the Society of
Friends in the United States to exert their influence
in the cause of peace; and when arbitration was
contemplated as the only means of preventing war,
the idea was for a time entertained (and by Lord
Aberdeen not discouraged) of suggesting a reference
64 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1845
to the respected chief magistrate of Hamburg, the
Syndic Sieveking, in case there should be a difficulty
in the choice of a crowned head.
Bunsen to Archdeacon Hare.
Oakhill : Monday evening, 8th December, 1845.
At last Ignatius is getting ready ! Of my seven epistles
to Neander (the three have grown into seven, as the seven of
Ignatius have shrunk into three) only one remains to be
written, for which the preparations are made. It will be a
snug volume in quarto of about thirty sheets, and I hope it
will please you. But me it cannot please, until I have laid
it before you, and improved it by your remarks, and enriched
it by help of your books. Next week I could free myself
from town. Can you receive me ?
To the Same.
Oakhill, 31st December, 1845.
... In these concluding hours of a year which has been
full of blessings to me, I feel the want of conversing with you,
at least in writing, and of dwelling upon some of the hap-
piest hours which were spent under your hospitable roof.
They have been a real refreshment to me, and I hope will
be a lasting benefit. I delight to reflect upon all the affec-
tion, and charity, and piety, and thought, which I there
beheld, and pray that your happiness may be long pre-
served. I thank you for all the affection you bear to me ;
of which I had a new proof on my arrival here, where I
found your and your dear wife's corrections of my letter to
Gladstone, which make me say exactly what I wished, but
had failed to express exactly.
Contemporary Notice.
Oakhill : 12th January, 1846.
Inscriptions in the arrow-headed (cuneiform) character,
a short time since considered hopelessly sealed, have been
Mi. 54] LETTER TO HIS SON AND DAUGHTER. 65
read, and wonderfully confirm statements of Herodotus with
reference to Darius Hystaspes. With what renewed interest
we shall behold the ancient Persian bas-reliefs in the
British Museum ! But, apropos of these, I must mention
that Bunsen saw three days ago, at Sir Robert Peel's, just
unpacked, two specimens of the sculptures of Nineveh, pre-
sented to him by Sir Stratford Canning, to whom they had
been sent by the consul at Mosul. A male and female head
of exquisite execution, and without a particle of barbarism
except the conventional mode of representing the eye in full
front, while the faces are in profile. The French Govern-
ment are expending large sums for the removal of masses of
sculpture from the same tract,
Bunsen to a Son and Daughter-in-law, staying at Rome.
Oakhill : 16th April, 1846.
How often in spirit do I fly over to my beloved Rome,
and to the house of the dear friend* who has received
you with such affection to the Capitol, to the chapel and
the hospital !
, We have passed the quiet and holy week in such quiet as
could be had in London. Our dear child went through her
preparation for Confirmation by the venerable Steinkopf,
in deep seriousness and concentration of mind ; and on Palm
Sunday, in the name of herself and her companions, pro-
nounced composedly her profession of faith. On Easter
Sunday we partook with her of the Holy Communion. It
was on Easter Monday that I peculiarly thought of you in
the beloved chapel on the Capitol. Through all this course
of serious thought, I had a very anxious affair to fight out,
relating to the noble-minded Gobat, named by the King as
the Bishop of Jerusalem, which has drawn upon him much
* Kestner, the Hanoverian Minister Resident, who had found an apart-
ment for the travellers under the same roof with himself, and in every
way cherished them.
VOL. II. P
66 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1846
envy ; and, moreover, I have had something to complete in
my MS. of the two volumes of ' Ignatius,' which are to be
sent off to the press to-morrow.
Bunsen to One of Ms Sons.
[Translation.] London : Thursday morning, 30th April, 1846.
(32 years after the taking of Paris.)
. . . The more I reflect upon the present time and the
future, upon my own generation and yours, and upon the
laceration and dismemberment of intellectual and popular
life among Germans, the more do I groan in spirit over hu-
man folly. Wherefore labour to be possessed of the key of
all knowledge, only to open therewith syllables and letters
and trifles of antiquity ? or else, whether consciously or un-
consciously, to prove that nothing is likely to be discovered
which could remunerate the labour of opening or forcing
the lock ? Who has a right to break down, unless he pos-
sesses will and the power to build up again ? No man
has a calling to deal with History, who is not clear in his
own mind as to Religion, the social system, and that of the
State ; and how should he become so without having studied
theology and law ? Between reality of knowledge and pre-
tension to it, careful discrimination is essential, which, how-
ever, is not difficult to a German philologer, who might as
easily interpret the Bible and the Pandects, as Theociitus
and Eustathius, and far more easily than the Ramayana and
Menu ; but first of all, he must have learnt to interpret
Homer, Plato, and Thucydides.
Take hold of the thing with spirit, my beloved son, and
drive out of your head all useless self-contemplation ; in its
place let your mind dwell on reality, the God-created object
of intellectual contemplation. Leave alphabets and stones
to others, from whom you may learn their just interpre-
tation, and plunge into the history of the revelation of God
in humanity, the centre of which is the Bible, and its
outward inclosure the Pandects. The antiquated magic
JET. 54] LETTER TO ONE OF HIS SONS. 67
spells, by which historical revelation was to be conjured up,
are broken, or at least powerless ; not certainly because their
object has ceased to exist, but because spells more potent
have become visible on the mental horizon, in consequence
of the more rapid revolution of the intellectual universe.
In like manner is the Roman law system verging to its de-
cline, to make room for a more perfect edifice.
Religion is to the Christian, in the nearest sense (not as
with the Jew, the Hindoo, the Arabian), that which enters
into his flesh and blood ; just because it is the religion of
humanity, and not a part of nationality. In other words one
might say : therefore shall Christianity pervade both nation
and state, the ooiov shall unfold out of the itpov ; not as
with the Jews, by direct revelation and tradition, but as
by the Ionian mind, popularly worked out from the .God-
given essentially human feeling. That is what I should call
a regenerate nationality ! But there are, alas ! mere shadows
of Christianity in the world ! such is the Book of Common
Prayer to the Englishman, and the General Assembly to the
Scotchman.
It is said that a Jesuit pupil has this advantage over the
disciple of Deism, that revelation is of real worth to him.
That is distorting the fact, Neither of them, neither the
believer in authority nor the believer in an abstract God,
take into consideration historical revelation. But inas-
much as inward subjective religion is a moral conviction,
and therefore a belief in reason and self- responsibility, the
follower of Kant has an incomparably firmer hold on the
truth of life than the scholar of Loyola. If the latter be ac-
tually believing, then he is a converted Christian ; and of
such I am not here speaking. But the person or the people,
proceeding from that school, as natural men (not as born
again in the Spirit of God), are the first to sink into unbelief
of Christianity, and that all the more easily if they are of in-
telligent mind and refined cultivation ; for as all was to them
^authority, not inward consciousness, nor revelation, evidenced
F2
68 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1846
"by competent testimony, they cannot avoid becoming aware
of the deceit and hollowness of their foundation. But the
Deist, under the same conditions of moral energy and in-
tellectual activity, although on the domain of the natural
man, is drawn into a struggle, which brings Christianity
essentially near to him. Compare the history of Germany
and of Spain since 1780.
I am resolved to encounter the school of Tubingen, to the
full extent of their exertions ; in order to tear asunder the
veil of romance in which they have enwrapped the history of
the two first centuries with their web of self-delusion. . . .
Bunsen to Us Wife. (At Wildlad.)
[Translation.] Carlton Terrace: Monday, 13th July, 1846.
You will have heard of the two great days the Con-
secration of Gobat on Sunday, the 5th, with the Bishop
of Calcutta's memorable sermon ; and the dinner-party
(extemporised) on Monday, the 6th, with all the speeches
and after-dinner songs from the ' Messiah/ The excellent
Gobat left us on Thursday for Antwerp ; the day before
we had got through all business matters satisfactorily.
Friday and Saturday were very lazy days. Saturday
evening I felt the spirit of composition and thought, which
had sadly left me, to be returning, and next morning I
rose soon after five and worked at Letter VI. (to Neander)
successfully. After five in the afternoon I walked with
Meyer and Reumont to Kensington. To bed by ten, and
this morning I went on where I had left off. I hope to
read the whole letter this week to Hare, whose volumes
are real treasures of thought and erudition. He arid Mrs.
Hare were among those most inspirited by that Monday
dinner, when the Spirit fell upon us, including the Primate
of the Church of England
I have succeeded as to Lord Westmoreland's remaining
at Berlin.
JET. 55] LETTER TO SIEVEKING. 69
The Bishop and Elders of the Moravian Brethren, on
June 25, in their meeting at Berthelsdorf, have decreed to
present to me through Latrobe a copy of the new edition of
Zinzendorf s poems. I prize the gift higher than ten acade-
mical honours or orders.
To the Same.
[Translation.] London: 23rd July, 1846.
.... My life here is full of important and varied in-
terest. With the new Ministry I am on a very good foot-
ing. Palmerston is like an old friend : he in the palace
like a brother. The Queen's half brother, Prince Leiningen,
lias also shown me much confidence : there is a new and
popular spirit arising among these mediatised peers of the
empire a proof of the resistless impulse of the German
nation towards unity and freedom. The Synod shows an
excellent temper, good intentions, just appreciation of time
and measure. Theiner has declared against the so-called
* friends of light ' and Ronge. . . .
To the Syndic Sievelcing, in Hamburg.
[Translation.] London: 8th September, 1846.
.... I hail, witlj you, the emigration of our countrymen
to North America (the land of the Anglo-Saxons and of
our own kindred), towards the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf
of Mexico. I have daily the map before me, and contem-
plate the Bio Bravo del Norte, of which I take possession
from Santa Fe and San Felipe, and then the two Califor-
riias* and the fine desert land between North California and
* Whenever the curiosities of Bunsen's diplomatic life in London see
the light of publicity, his plan of accepting the offer made by the rulers
of Mexico in 1842, to purchase California for the King of Prussia will be
reckoned among the most original. Humboldt dissuaded His Majesty,
and the matter was dropped. The Prussian Envoy at Washington,
Baron Koniie, on the other hand, warmly applauded the project. ' The
70 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1846
the Rio del Nbrte as the connecting tract ; and then I
draw a line southwards, if possible to the 25th degree
(instead of the 42nd), as my boundary on the Pacific,
and I feel the joy of the human race that God shouJd
have granted to it the length and breadth of the earth.
' Canada is not worth keeping long,' is becoming here
more and more the general feeling.
Contemporary Notice.
Saturday : 29th August, 1846.
We had reason to be very thankful on Bunsen's birthday
for all attendant circumstances it was a very cheerful day.
Archdeacon Hare and his wife dined with us, and a charade
was represented very cleverly in the evening, contrived be-
tween Lepsius and Henry, and worked at by all in the
course of that afternoon only, for the preceding evening the
plan had not been decided upon, and all the morning of
the 25th, from ten till after two, was passed at one of the
meetings in Exeter Hall. - They acted the word ' grand-
father ' (Grossvater), in allusion to the birth a few days
since of the first grandchild. This was symbolised by
Herodotus, the Father of History, the nine books of whose
work are designated by the names of the Nine Muses, per-
sonated by nine veiled figures ; on each veil the name of
the Muse was pinned. When the names had been duly
observed, the veils dropped, and disclosed figures (in grace-
ful drapery) portraying the various works of their own
father Frances, very picturesque in Grecian folds, formed
time has come,' he said in a letter to Bunsen, ' when we ought to take a
grand and independent attitude. For this we must be united, and we must
possess a fleet and colonies. Your idea of purchasing California is ex-
cellent. I never ventured to express such far-stretching desires. But
I pointed out in 1837 already, when reporting upon the condition of Ger-
man emigrants here, that Mexico would perhaps resolve upon ceding a
portion of California. Your plan of purchasing the whole is better in
every respect.'
JET. 55] LETTER TO STOCKMAR. 71
by a red shawl, with a ' Basilica' on her head, like a mural
crown, and another in her hand ; Emilia was robed as
Roma with the Seven Hills as a diadem (alluding to the
work on ' Roman topography ') ; Mary, as the ' Church of
the Future,' with a transparent veil and a mirror in her
hand ; Theodora, with a lyre, veiled, held the ' Hymn
Book ;' Lepsia (as we call Madame Lepsius) was ' Jerusa-
lem,' in mourning robes and a mural crown; Lepsius
himself, as an Egyptian statue, stiffly wrapped, with a high
cap, represented the work on Egypt ; Meyer bore aloft the
work on * Ignatius,' hiding behind the rest, to indicate its
not ~being yet come out ; Henry bore the * Roman Liturgy '
(that used in the Chapel of Palazzo Caffarelli); and Reu-
mont, dressed as a Cabinet courier, carried a load of des-
patches.
The Princess of Prussia arrived yesterday (28th), and
we are to dine with her at the Queen Dowager's to-
morrow.
Bunsen to Baron Stockmar.
[Translation.] 4, Carllon Terrace : 7th October, 1846.
.... I have been reading in the * Pictorial History of
England ' (Macfarlane's), which Arnold considered the
best for the eighteenth century, the Anglo-European rela-
tion of the period from 1688 to 1720. So ho! So ho!
King William for ever ! My admiration for him rises the
more I become acquainted with the immeasurable wicked-
ness of the English nobility, the deep corruption of Parlia-
ment and all officials, the indolence and selfishness of the
entire nation at that time. Pray read William's secret
letters on the Spanish concerns and the French alliance,
vol. iv. part 1, pp. 88 to 110. They were written for
this year 1846. I shall not rest until I have penetrated to
the very bottom of the thing before I open my mouth
again.
72 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEK [1846
Contemporary Notice.
14th May, 1846.
At the annual dinner of the Literary Fund last night, at
which Bunsen took the chair, the Bishop of Lincoln (Dr.
Kaye), in proposing Bunsen's health, made, of course, a
great eulogy upon him, and wound up by observing that it
might be presumption in him to dwell upon this or that
point, but that he must be allowed to bear testimony to his
being ' one of the ablest divines of the day,' which is a
sharp stroke against the Puseyites, who are very angry
with Bunsen for his letter to Gladstone, and for having
caused the appointment of Gobat as Bishop of Jerusalem.
They accuse him of heresy on account of the work on
Egypt, in the last number of the * English Review : ' for
which condemnation he must be consoled by the favourable
tone of the ' Edinburgh Review,' of the ' Journal des
Savans,' the * Prospective Review,' and others, and above
all by a good conscience. It is unusual for a foreigner to
have been invited to preside at an English anniversary
dinner like that of yesterday evening. Bunsen would have
felt bound to decline the distinction, if he had not regarded
it as a compliment to his King and country, and to the
diplomatic body in general.
Extract from a Letter of *24<th June, 1846.
I am ever thinking of the words of Peel, in September,
1841 ' Let the King remember that decker's having
slighted Mirabeau brought on the French Revolution.'
Bunsen to Tiis Wife.
[Translation.]
Windsor Castle: Monday (early), 9th November, 1846.
... I have excellent news to give you ! Prince Albert
informed me yesterday evening of his intention of appoint-
ing Meyer as his librarian and private secretary, in the
JET. 55] LETTERS TO STOCKMAR AND SIEVEKING. 73
place of Dr. Pretorius, who does not return, owing to his
\yife's ill health. Thus has Providence helped our excellent
friend, for which we have reason to be truly thankful. I
have suggested that Meyer should have a leave of absence
occasionally, that he may in Ireland and Scotland study the
remains of Celtic antiquity, as he has done already in the
matter of the Welsh manuscripts,
Bunsen to Baron Stockmar.
[Translation.] 4, Carlton Terrace : llth November, 1846.
It is the more welcome to me to have matter of business
to communicate to you which obliges me to write ; for the
' fair days in Aranjuez ' still exercise their influence, and
the habit of exchange of ideas draws me in spirit often back
to the proud towers of Windsor.
The bomb has burst over Cracow. Not even the idea of
giving to it the character of a free imperial city (which
according to the despatch was offered for consideration)
has been reckoned possible.
A certain Montesquieu said once, that the principle of a
certain form of government was ' la peur.' We have made
such progress in principle that ' la peur de la peur ' is
become the principle of modern rulers.
To the Syndic Sieveking at Hamburg.
[Translation.] London : 24th November, 1846.
... I must lament with you over a new source of grief,
although you know it too well. What a calamity, what a
misery, is this Cracow business, this nefarious breach of
treaties, this political madness in two out of the three
Powers ! Three months I wrote a warning officially ; on
the 15th October, confidentially, I reiterated the warning,
in the most solemn manner. All in vain ! Oh ! how can
weakness be warped to aid in purposes which will bring
about evil more than malice itself ! . . . .
The enclosure explains the wishes of the society. An
74 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1846
attempt to collect the wandering sheep of Germany out of
this London abyss is the matter in question : and we have
need of itinerant messengers of faith. The City Mission
employs 200 such among the natives in London, who are
folly occupied ; but they mostly belong to the class of Scrip-
ture-readers or colporteurs. What we more especially
need would be one of the brethren trained by Wichern. He
would, of course, receive a competent salary, &c. Wintzer
conducts the Young Men's Association, which he and Kind
(now gone back to Switzerland) together founded. The
Association flourishes : but Wintzer has not leisure for
exploring the east end, where by far the greater number
of German mechanics are employed.
Bunsen to Mrs. Waddington.
Windsor Castle : the last day of the year 1846.
... I have passed some happy and important days
again in this beautiful palace, often turning my eyes
towards the spot below the castle where you used to live. . . .
When at Trentham, I saw the fine portrait of that great
and good man Sir Bevil Granville in armour, with his long
and beautiful hair; the Duke showed it to me, and reminded
me of the link between the two families, himself being
seventh and my wife being sixth in descent from the common
ancestor.
To return to Windsor Castle (whence I just perceive
the dawn of this last day of the year, looking towards the
Long Walk), the Queen is a wife and a mother as happy as
the happiest in her dominions, and no one can be more care-
ful of her charges. She often speaks to me of the great task
before her and the Prince, in the education of the Royal
children, and particularly of the Prince of Wales and the
Princess Royal. She brought them all into the corridor the
day before yesterday, to shake hands with me. ... I hope
and trust I shall remain here ; my position is all I could
ever desire, and better than ever ; and at home I sincerely
JEx. 55] LETTEK TO SAMUEL GUKNEY. 75
believe that I could accomplish nothing worth the sacrifice
of happiness and life. But I hope I place all, with single-
ness of purpose and sincerity of heart, in the hands of the
Almighty, ready to live and to die for the King and the
fatherland, whenever and wherever it may be required !
Bunsen to Mr. Samuel Gurney.
Carlton Terrace : 6th January, 1847.
... I revered and loved Joseph John Gurney as an elder
brother. There was in him a union of Christian temper and
deep piety with rare intelligence and fine acquirements.
"For many years I had loved and valued that combination of
qualities ; but the days spent in his house, last November
twelvemonth, and the transactions and conversations which
were the consequence of our intercourse at that time, treat-
ing of the question of peace with the United States, brought
us so much more closely together, that I have had the
greatest longing ever since to enjoy his elevating and cheer*
ful presence another time with greater leisure. This wish
has not been granted by Almighty wisdom ; but lie is enjoy-
ing the happiness of those who behold God, before whose
countenance he walked through the dark vale of life, and
whose word and spirit were his guide in his writings, in his
preaching, in his c6nversation, in his actions. We shall
never see his like again on earth ; we must look up to Him
in whom all redeemed spirits live and are united together !
Your brother's memory will live also on earth, in his family,
in the Society of Friends, among thousands of Christians of
all tongues and creeds. He found the key which opens all
the secrets of faith, and he spoke the language which opens
all hearts love. And there was with him a living witness
of the Spirit, a certain majesty of Christian gentleness and
truth, which struck even persons who were not in the habit
of seeing him. I shall not easily forget, how Sir Robert
Peel and Lord Aberdeen spoke to me of the impression he
had made upon them, when presenting the peace-petition.
76 MEMOIKS OF BAEON BUNSEK [1847
wliicli had such a blessed effect. I should desire the privi-
lege of being present at the funeral, but that I am ordered,
on account of a relapse into influenza, to keep to the house.
Bunsen to Baron Stockmar.
[Translation.] London: 8th February, 1847.
The Constitution is made : as I said, it has appeared on
the anniversary of the late King's summons to his people,
February 3, 1813.
It is much better than the original design.
The foundation is laid for a House of Peers.
The right of petition is not infringed upon : and that is
the new point gained, which was not promised by Frederick
William III.
So far, so good. Pray come soon to your faithful,
BUNSEN.
To the Syndic SieveMng, at Hamburg.
[Translation.] London : 16th March, 1847.
Again I close my post- work to-day with a few lines to you,
for my refreshment and invigoration.
I have not yet replied to your declaration, ' that for the
alliance of England you would give up the German Naviga-
tion Act.' That would I not. Either England will abrogate
her own, and then we are not affected ; or she will maintain
it, and then ours is the only possible means of bringing
about moderation and fairness. The wish of the Government
is to do away with the antiquated ordinance ; but first there
must be a new Parliament, and the friends of Government
will be rigorously catechised on the hustings. John Bull
is an egotist ; we must not take it ill of him (for others are
equally so, only not so openly), but we must not allow him
to indulge in this egotism ! I tell him so plainly, with a
shake of the hand, but seriously and decisively ; and he
does not take it ill of me, but remains on the best terms.
The prohibition of the ' Weser-Zeitung ' ought to be re-
' JET,' 55] LETTER TO STOCKMAR. 77
moved ; but I cannot write again to Berlin on the subject
the security in which they remain there is appalling to me.
I have surely told you already, that Peel wrote to me an
admirable letter of twenty-two pages in quarto on the sub-
ject of the Constitution, in answer to a letter of mine with
questions.* He is of opinion that the Government may be
able to maintain the Constitution, if only sincere in desiring
its due development, and prepared in mind for that develop-
ment. That is here the general conservative opinion ; the
French assertion, ' que ce sera une constituante ou la revo-
lution,' finds no more response than the Orleanistic animo-
sity in the ' Debats.' . . .
Bunsen to Baron StocJcmar.
[Translation.] Thursday in Passion Week, 1847.
It would be very popular, and indeed meritorious, if the
Prince would undertake to bring Shakespeare again on the
stage, where he hardly ever appears now. In Drury Lane,
where once Garrick and Mrs. Siddons reanimated his crea-
tions, elephants and horses are now performing ! Macready
would be the man. The aristocracy has never done anything
for Shakespeare, which would have been so easy. If the
Queen would be present at a Shakespearian performance,
the entire aristocracy would flock thither the first day, fol-
lowed by John Bull on the second.
The * Times ' have placed couriers between the east and
west railway (Hanover and Cologne) and ordered special
trains, to receive the King's speech before all other papers.
I told the sub-editor that the King would never read a
speech, but speak it as the Spirit should move him at the
moment. He fancied that I might perhaps already have the
speech in my pocket, or at least should receive it on the day
of the opening of the Chamber. On Thursday, for the
second edition, he expects to receive it.
* This letter has been sought for in vain. It must have been trans-
mitted to the King.
78 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1847
Suns en to his Wife.
Herstmonceaux Rectory: 9th April, 1847.
I have been thinking much of you here, where every step
brings back to me the memory of past days and years, happy
times, happy above all through you ! I feel that I am grow-
ing old, for when this afternoon I walked by the side of our
former house and the Castle (both in equal desolation now)
I was overcome by my feelings, and could scarcely repress
my tears. I was therefore doubly happy to have a letter
from you to-day. Now for the various messages ! The first
is from the assembled primroses, daffodils, and violets which
I met on my way all greeting you tenderly ; they looked
so happy on their stems that I had not the courage to
gather one for you. The second from Mrs. Augustus Hare,
to let you know that she is coming to London to-morrow.
The third message is from Lady Herschel, who wishes that
tickets could be secured for her to hear the third rehearsal
of * Elijah.' She is very amiable, and her eldest daughter a
musical genius. I hope you have seen Mendelssohn, and
given him my love.
Now I must dress it is fifteen minutes past the dinner
hour. Your own, BUNSEN.
We have Egyptianised the whole day !
Bunsen, with his wife and the whole family, accom-
panied by Prince Lowenstein, Prussian Secretary of
Legation, who was the ( best man ' on the occasion,
went to Stoke Park on April 14, in order to be present
at the marriage of his eldest son, Henry, to Mary
Louisa Harford-Battersby, which was celebrated on
April 15, by Dr. Monk, Bishop of Gloucester and
Bristol, previous to Henry Bunsen's institution to the
vicarage of Lilleshall in Shropshire, to which he had
been presented by the Duke of Sutherland.
JET. 55] LETTER TO MRS. WADDINGTON. 79
Bunsen to Mrs. Waddington.
Carlton Terrace: 23rd April, 1847.
MY DEAR MOTHER, I appear before you this day with
my first English book, the first translation of a book of mine
into English. When I was writing it, I often wished you
might one day read it, and now that it is before the world I
have somewhat of the feeling of aversion by appearing in
disguise before one by whom I should wish to be seen as
I am, eye to eye. The translation is faithful, without being
slavish ; I have myself rewritten some passages in English,
and yet when I read it I feel it is not I who speak. Some
parts sound harsher, some tamer ; almost all seem to me less
clear and not flowing. The worst English is my own letter
to Gladstone ; there is no style in it, but I wrote it one morn-
ing, and sent it off almost before the ink was dry. Such as
it is, the work contains some thoughts and hints, which will
give matter for people to consider. Some of my historical
statements will be attacked, and I shall reply to such attacks
by my volume on Ignatius. I find only a part of the seven
epistles attributed to him to be genuine, the rest interpolated
or absolutely forged. But before the work on Ignatius (now
printing) reaches England, I intend to appear before the
English public with' an Introduction to my work on Egypt,
entirely written by myself, instead of that prefixed to the
German edition. Three translations were attempted of
that, but I was obliged to declare against all, and to tell my
own tale. I well remember what you once told me (and I
was struck by the acuteness of the remark), that you could
not help smiling, in reading what I had written in French,
at my assuming a French character. Indeed, it is very true,
that one identifies oneself to a certain degree with the nation
whose language one is writing ; and in writing French I am
conscious of taking certain airs and allures which I should
forego if writing German. But in English I have more
80 MEMOIES OF EAEON BUNSEN. [1847
courage I shall leave out all that is metaphysical, but ex-
patiate more on what I can make tangible to my dear and
worthy friend, John Bull, or rather to his ladies, for he him-
self has given up reading books, and even sets his ladies to
write what he would have written. Therefore, my dear
mother, bear patiently with all Germanisms in this book,
and you shall soon see me quite a steady, sober, arguing
Englishman, in opening Egypt to the English public. In
reading this translation you must retranslate into German
which you know by intuition, through Madame de Stael. . . .
Contemporary Notice.
1st May, 1847.
On Thursday afternoon, 29th April, we had the pleasure
of a visit from Mendelssohn, who, having no evening to
spare, came to luncheon, and afterwards gave us some
magnificent music : he not only played himself, but kindly
accompanied Ernest in singing, whose voice sounded better
than ever.
Thursday, 6th May. We walked to Sir Robert Inglis's
to breakfast, in so warm a sunshine that I could hardly bear
the shawl which the morning before I had found not warm
enough. A large party of men, mixed, as is the good cus-
tom there ; Lord Arundel and the Bishop of London, Lord
'Glenelg and Lord Charles Russell, Mr. Lyons and Mr.
Stafford O'Brien, Mr. Richard Cavendish and Mr. Fos-
ter. . . . Afterwards we saw Lord Ellesmere's pictures, with
Mendelssohn to whom Lord Ellesmere offered, through
Bunsen, to show them ' himself. Yesterday Mendelssohn
again played to us in the afternoon, and we had a small
number of persons, who considered themselves very happy
'to share the enjoyment. . . . Mendelssohn accompanied
Ernest in his own composition, ' Auf Fliigeln des Gesanges,'
and it was observed that he took the measure much
slower than it is usually performed. He did not stay long,
and departed in much emotion.
JEi. 55] MENDELSSOHN AT CAKLTON TERRACE. 81
This was a last meeting with, that being of rare
gifts and rare moral excellence, whose whole nature
seemed pervaded by a sense of beauty and loveliness to
which he could give utterance as few have ever been
able to do. The tidings of his sudden death, in the
month of November following, were a severe blow to
Bunsen. He was much beloved by him, and his
progress had been watched over and rejoiced in by
Bunsen almost as though he had belonged to him by
ties of blood.
It may not seem irrelevant to the mention of
Mendelssohn to add a * contemporary notice ' from
the recollections of a son present on that last and
memorable occasion. The last song accompanied by
Mendelssohn was selected by himself from his Ora-
torio of 6 St. Paul,' saying, ' We will have this for a
close !' It was the grand composition to the words,
' Be thou faithful unto death' (Sei getreu bis in den
Tod) and having played the last note, he started up
and precipitately left the room and the house, ex-
claiming to those who followed him, ' I cannot take
leave! God bless you all!' It is not known what
cause produced this unusual sense of the solemnity
of parting ; but whether or not he may have been
possessed with some foreboding, he was certainly
about to be met on his return home by the tidings of
his beloved sister's sudden death, the gifted Fanny
Mendelssohn Bartholdy, wife of Professor Hensel a
loss most peculiarly afflicting to him.
It was on this last occasion of Mendelssohn's pre-
sence in London, that he was requested to conduct
the execution of the Oratorio of ' St. Paul,' when the
VOL. II. G
82 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1847
Queen and Prince Albert had promised their presence
at Exeter Hall. It is well remembered how striking
was the effect of his reception by the orchestra, filled
with musicians unusual in amount of numbers and
of talent, who, as he entered, struck up the air of
triumph, c See the Conquering Hero comes !' after
which, on Her Majesty's entrance, ' God save the
Queen' was given with thrilling effect. The Oratorio
had (and has) but the one imperfection (shared with
the * Elijah ') of over-tasking hum an powers of taking
in the abundance of musical meaning half the piece
would be quite enough for thorough enjoyment.
Later, in the last month of this year, the ' Elijah '
was finely performed at Exeter Hall, the whole or-
chestra and most of the audience being in mourning
for the death of Mendelssohn. On this occasion the
rare powers of Jenny Lind called forth the full effect
of the soprano passages, so grand in the last act.
Bunsen to One of his Sons.
[Translation.] London : Sunday, 9th May, 1847.
.... For me, God ordained from earliest childhood a
rigorous training, through poverty and distress ; I was
compelled to fight my way through the world, bearing
nothing with me but my own inward consciousness, and
the firm determination to live for my ideal aim, disregard-
ing all else as insignificant.
Suns en to Mr. Graff, the Missionary.
4, Carlton Terrace: 3rd June, 1847.
.... Although I hope soon to have the pleasure of
seeing you again, I cannot refrain from expressing my
thanks for the papers entrusted to me, and my gratification
at their contents.
^E T . 55] LITEKAKY ADVICE TO HIS SON. 83
Your observations on languages show that you have ap-
plied true philosophy to the most original and primitive
province of the human mind. Your memoir on the con-
nection of such linguistic- philological studies with the la-
bour of a missionary, treats of a most important subject,
which has occupied my mind for many years, and a clear
understanding of which seems to me the indispensable con-
dition of further progress in our missionary work. We
have been long enough behind the Romanists in this
respect, and we seem to have lost sight of the great and
divine type held out to us, in this respect too, by the out-
pouring of the Spirit. For the first fruit of that Spirit
was the sanctification of the native tongues, hitherto only
used for the purposes of common life, into hallowed organs
for praising the * great things of God.' . . .
Bunsen to a Son.
London : 1st July, 1847.
(30th anniversary of the wedding-day Eome and Frascati.)
I write to you to-day, because I cannot help it ; having in
fact more to do than the day can bear.
First, I must give vent to some thoughts, occasioned
by your last letter. You are reading by way of study,
and Thiers for refreshment. You will, however, find in
not a single idea fruitful or capable of being so ; for
the man has none, although a good politician : and in Thiers
you will find nothing but the newest appearance of his-
torical sophistry, and the most deceptive form of deep-
seated immorality. Why not take Mebuhr's lectures upon
ancient history, as a subject for study ; and then, the same
again as refreshment ? There you may decipher the great
man in every line. Thiers will do for you to read when you
are fifty years of age, and an invalid. But it is good also
to recognise in the time of Napoleon its proper calling and
purpose.
84 MEMOIRS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1847
Bunsen to his Wife.
Osborne House : Monday, 19th July, 1847.
Here I am, well and quiet, just as if taken away from a
seething cauldron, or awakened from a bad dream. The
journey and the passage over the beautiful sea, and then a
good walk which your good Queen took us, did me a vast
deal of good. We arrived at Portsmouth in two hours, saw
the Victory (Lord Nelson's ship), going thither in a boat j
then got on the Fairy, and passed the splendid fleet quite
near, greeted by all ships with the royal salute, the men
drawn up, and the band playing alternately the English and
Prussian national melodies. Prince Albert was awaiting
Prince Waldemar on the shore, and conveyed us all in a
sort of char-a-banc. We drove between rows of laurel and
myrtle, as in Italy, and on arriving found that the Queen
herself had come towards us on the lawn, but had not been
perceived by the party ! for which omission I was made re-
sponsible as being the only one wearing spectacles ! Now,
my dearest, forgive me all my fretting, and impatience, and
crossness, and all other things unamiable of the latter days.
Something may be laid to the account of indisposition ; but
the greater part of it I must take seriously to myself, and
so I hope I do. The night's result, when I awoke, was
this and you know all good thoughts come overnight,
I shall write (I think) to the King, stating that I need one
year's leave of absence. So did Esterhazy so did Bjorn-
stierna regularly. ... I must and will go away from
London ; but I will take advice as to the manner. I have
steered my life's bark hitherto alone with my God, in all
the great emergencies of my course ; and thus I will do to
my end, whenever the price of my life is at stake. I never
weighed secondary considerations, and always found I was
right. This is my night's thought. We shall see how it
will bear the scrutiny of the day. But I will not withhold
it from you.
JET. 55] LETTEE TO A SON. 85
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Osborne House : 22nd July, 1847, five a.m.
The news of Sieveking's death struck me unawares, in
spite of mournful anticipation, on my return, the evening of
the 7th, from the Cambridge Installation solemnity. To
Cambridge I had gone with an ever- strengthening feeling
of oppression owing to the present course of life. During
many months already have I been aware that it was
crushing and disturbing me mentally, at the same time
threatening me with ruin in outward circumstances.
The attempt to carry on the life of Herstmonceaux and
Oakhill the life of Tusculum and the Hubel has proved
in London on trial altogether unsuccessful. Advancing age,
accumulation of intellectual labour, increase of official, but
yet more of social claims all these together render the
combination of diplomatic duties with the serene and pro-
ductive service of the Muses impossible ; but without this
I cannot live.
I am losing the power of tension which made it possible
for me to work incessantly from five in the morning, and
turn to account every moment gained from interruption.
At the same time the aim of my varied researches stands
clearer and truer before my eyes than ever. This is, there-
fore, a Tantalus-existence, such as can only end in death,
bodily or mental.
Thus I felt and thought, when, on the 5th, obeying the
Queen's summons, I went to Cambridge with your incom-
parable mother, after having shortly before passed a few
days at Oxford, and had spoken there in the Ethnological
Section of the British Association, to my own satisfaction,
and with considerable approbation. Both in my public and
my private capacity, those three days were a time of great
distinction to me.
In the solemnity at Cambridge there was much that was
heart- stirring and grand ; the expression of homage from
86 MEMOIKS OP BAKON BUNSEN. [1847
a free nation to their Queen ; the glorious weather ; the
beauty of the Colleges and Halls ; the number of celebrated
and agreeable men, not only from England itself, but also
from many parts of Europe ; lastly, a spirit of unity among
the thousands collected both in the open air and in the
University buildings. Yet, with all that, I was oppressed
by the feeling of the want of intellectual life. I felt that
what is more especially vital in myself is here little under-
stood ; that I and those around me are tending towards
different aims; and that in the long run we may find
ourselves on widely diverging lines. The immeasurable
humbug in many, if not in all, the customs and ceremonies
of the University, in so far as it affects the life of the
spirit, vexed, disturbed, tormented me. Eor Englishmen
there is in all a meaning, as a part of their political exist-
ence, connecting the present with splendid recollections of
the past ; but what is it to a German ?
Thus I returned home ; with the prospect of another
fortnight's waiting upon the kind-hearted Prince Walde-
mar. The first letter I opened on my return home told
me of the death of Sieveking. That evening passed amid
manifold reflections.
When I awoke next morning a means of escape presented
itself before me, which I had not before perceived. . . .
On that morning, Bonn appeared before me ; and after
contemplating that image for half-an-hour, I declared to
your mother, (who was up and dressing) my determination
to give up London and diplomatic life, and retire to Bonn.
Without a moment's hesitation she replied, ' That would
be ideally desirable.' But other difficulties remained. On
Saturday evening, the 7th, therefore, I found myself again
between the four dark prison-walls !
That evening and Sunday morning belong to the darkest
times of my life. When I rose in the morning I found that
you dear mother had placed close by my bedside the Hymn
Book, open at Paul Gerhard's hymn c Commit thy ways
MT. 56] ARKIVAL OF PEINCE WALDEMAK. 87
unto the Lord,' which. I thoroughly felt all through. I
went to Steinkopf s church, and came out much tranquil-
lised. A quarter of an hour afterwards, I was obliged to
be at the railway station, to accompany Prince Waldemar
hither.
With a heated head and overclouded spirit I accom-
plished the journey. The spectacle of the sea refreshed
me. The noble fleet at Spithead saluted the royal flag
of Prussia with far-echoing thunder; the musical bands
of the five vessels of the line, as we glided past, played
alternately * God save the Queen ' and the ' Landesvater '
(which I had introduced in England in 1842), and the
whole did me good. Seeing Prince Albert and the Queen
in their beautiful tranquillity, in the isle of the south,
overlooking the sea, rejoiced me. I am heartily devoted
to them both, and they showed me all their accustomed
kindness.
I considered my plan yesterday, calmly and clearly, and
I write it to you as it now stands before me. Now enter
thoroughly into what I am about to write, make the con-
dition of things entirely clear to yourself, and then read on.
[The particulars follow of a plan, never executed, of a
removal from London to Bonn.]
/
Buns en to One of his Sons.
[Translation.] London: 7th November, 1847.
It is Sunday, and your birthday is in itself ever a festival
to me ; so in spirit I must pass half an hour with you.
This present anniversary is a day of trial to you ; may
God grant you the blessed influences of His Spirit, that you
may be enabled to be thankful even for that ! Or, to
express the same wish philosophically, may the Spirit
which organised the eternal moral order of the universe
which is the reality and perfection of reason, become so
powerful in you that your proper self may not be prostrated
by sorrow and discouragement ! Every fatality is as the
88 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1847
marble to the sculptor he cannot out of any and every
block form a Zeus or a Mercury, but a divine image he
may certainly achieve ; and for that purpose it was given
to him as a moral problem
Contemporary Notice.
20th November, 18*7.
We shall have Mr. Brooke (the Rajah of Borneo) to
dinner, and many others ; Lady Baffles comes to meet him.
22nd November. The review in the ' Quarterly ' of Cap-
tain Keppel's ' Journal of H.M.S. Dido ' is written by Lord
Ellesmere. The account is most interesting of all that Mr.
Brooke undertook and executed for the benefit of the
people of Borneo, following out the notions of Sir Stamford
Baffles, formed so many years earlier, and which had not
been acted upon by any Government An attempt
proved unavailing to-day to be present at a meeting re-
lating to the Mission to Borneo ; the crowd overflowed
from the large Hanover Square Booms, and it is only
to be hoped that the subscriptions may be in proportion
to the zeal displayed in listening to and cheering Mr.
Brooke.
To Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.
[Translation.] London : Sunday, 20th November, 1847.
(Last Sunday in the Church Year.)
. . . The present day brings to mind afresh the solemn
intelligence which you communicated to me a year ago,
and with it the feeling of the debt I owe you ; together
with the consciousness of undisturbed affection and friend-
ship faithfully preserved in my heart. Whatever letter I
do not answer at the very moment, alas ! falls directly into
the mass of things heaped up and put by to the hoped-for
time of alleviation of my burden of official and social
avocations. But we have indeed all mourned with you,
and at the same time hailed the grace given to you to re-
^Ex. 56] LETTEK TO JULIUS SCHNORR. 89
ceive the heavy blow as a child of God from the hand of a
Father.
This day brings many precious dead to our remem-
brance ; and last of all, my truly -beloved Felix Mendelssohn.
Within our family circle we have lost Elizabeth Fry, who
by Ernest's marriage had become his aunt. On the other
hand, the house-circle has been widened : Ernest's Eliza-
beth, the beloved of all, has made me grandfather to a fine
boy. Henry's dear wife is also a real daughter to us, and
Henry is as happy as man can be with a Christian con-
gregation, in a beautiful county of England, enjoying and
spreading around him that fulness of blessing which
makes the position of a country clergyman in England
unique of its kind. We old ones are in good health, and
in our accustomed cheerfulness. I have lately published
the newly- discovered ancient Ignatius, with some letters of
my own to accompany it ; and I have desired the Rauhe
Haus to send you a copy. Other things are in hand. The
critical state of the Evangelical Church in the fatherland
urges me to declarations : I am not satisfied with the
manner in which the King's ideas of Church and State
have been carried out. Freedom and Love have I inscribed
upon my banner, against the heads of parties, each and
severally.
... I cannot give up the wish to receive you in this house,
and to see the magnificent cartoons of Raphael with you.
The journey is so easy ! You would find here many who
admire your works. Now forgive your old friend his long
negligence in writing, and accept, with all yours, from us
all the heartiest greeting !
The following transaction referred to a private
letter of the King, addressed to Queen Victoria,
which it was his desire that Bunsen should deliver
in a private audience to Her Majesty : at the same
time Bunsen was informed by a letter from the King
90 MEMOIKS OF BAKON BTJNSEN. [1847
to himself, that the subject of the communication
was political, relating to Neufchatel. Bunsen having
requested instructions from Prince Albert received
in reply an invitation, in the name of the Queen, to
come immediately to Osborne House, in company
with Lord Palmerston (to whom Her Majesty's invi-
tation was simultaneously despatched), that the let-
ter might be read without infringement of constitu-
tional rules. This statement will account for the
emotion with which Bunsen announces having safely
steered between conflicting difficulties.
Suns en to Ms Wife.
Osborne House : Sunday, 5th December, 1847.
MY BELOVED, G-od be thanked! All right! Better
than could be hoped ! I delivered my letter last night, in
private audience, to Her Majesty, not speechless, but
without a speech after eight, before dinner.
I had desired Lord Palmerston to tell me what he wished
me to do. As an abstract Whig, he said, ' It was unheard-
of, quite unusual, that a foreign Sovereign should write to
the Sovereign of England on politics.' ' But,' said I, ' you
praised the Queen and Prince Albert for their excellent
letter on politics to the Queen of Portugal.' ' Yes, but that
was between relations.' ' And this between friends. But
you are informed of the arrival, and of the contents of the
letter, and will learn all that is in it. I shall, in handing
over the letter to the Queen, say nothing but a few compli-
mentary phrases, and plead the King's cause in the way
the Queen will direct, in your presence, the next day. Will
that do ?' ' Perfectly,' he replied. And so I did. The
Queen read the letter before dinner, and came down ten
minutes before nine. After dinner, Prince Albert told me
that the Queen and he had had Lord Palmerston with them
JET. 56] VISITS THE QUEEN AT OSBORNE. 91
before dinner (from six to eight), and that we should to-
morrow settle the answer. In the morning, the Prince
translated the political part of the letter into English, and
then discussed with Lord Palmerston the heads of an
answer. Then I was called in to see the letter, and plead
the King's cause, for which I was quite prepared. . . .
If the ground swell was strong in the mind of Bun-
sen during this occasion of experiencing the accus-
tomed kindness of the Queen and Prince Albert at
Osborne, his return from thence in company with
Lord Palmerston was attended by serious com-
motion of the elements without. In the boat which
brought them to the shore Lord Palmerston was
requested to take the helm, as it would seem, to
enable all hands to help in rowing through the un-
usually rough sea. Bunsen observed, that he had not
been before aware of the necessary connection he
now observed between steering the vessel of the State
and steering a common boat whereto Lord Palmer-
ston answered, ' Oh ! one learns boating at Cam-
bridge, even though one may have learnt nothing
better.' They landed in safety, but the train was
gone. Lord Palmerston declared that he must return
to London on pressing business, and must have a
special train. The railway officials protested that the
risk of collision was too great for them to undertake.
Lord Palmerston insisted, ' On my responsibility,
then ! ' and thus enforced compliance, although every
one trembled but himself. The special train shot past
station after station, and arrived in London without
causing or receiving damage, the Directors refusing
all payment from Lord Palmerston, as having trans-
92 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1847
gressed all rules in order to comply with, his desire,
and considering themselves overpaid by the happy
result and their own escape from serious blame.
Contemporary Notice.
22nd December, 1847.
A Puseyite clergyman said to a friend who informed us,
' You know whom we tave to thank for Dr. Hampden's
appointment ? It is all Bunsen's doing ; he prevailed upon
the Queen to lay her commands upon Lord John.'
The fact is, that Dr. Hampden is as much unknown
among us as a person can be, who has been brought before
the public. At Oxford Bun sen saw him once, among many
other people, but had neither conversation nor correspond-
ence with him in short, no acquaintance, and he had
been inclined to think Dr. Arnold too violent in his defence
in the ' Edinburgh Review ' of 1838. But now he has set
about examining his books, and as far as he has proceeded, he
has so greatly approved the contents, that he may perhaps
end where he was supposed to have begun, by becoming
his partisan.
Suns en to his Wife. (In Monmouthshire, whither she had
been summoned in consequence of her Mother's illness.)
Woburn Abbey : Wednesday, 29th December, 1847.
The day after to-morrow I may hope to find in Carlton
Terrace an account of your dear mother. The Duchess in-
sisted most graciously on my staying till Monday, but as the
Prince goes to Windsor on Friday, I could make it clear to
her that I must be in town at the end of the year. Certainly
one has not known England, if one has not seen this mag-
nificent seat of the Russells ; for although less sumptuous
in architecture, furniture, and gardens than Chatsworth,
and less mignon than Trentham, it is the most royal residence
that I have seen in this country, as a whole establishment.
JET. 56] VISIT TO WOBURN ABBEY. 93
The house is in an immense square, the old monastic form,
with a portico on each side. There is a tea-room, where
the Duchess is to be found from five o'clock to half-past,
and where you may refresh yourself on arriving (as I did) :
it is ornamented with a fine collection of bronzes, a splendid
genealogical tree, and the silver spade with which the
present Duke turned up the first sod on the track marked
for the neighbouring railway, with the wheelbarrow used
on the occasion. The agricultural element pervades the
greater part of the decorations. . . .
The morning is spent in the magnificent library, a wide
gallery divided into four compartments, the middle one
occupying two- thirds of the length: there the company
meet, or occupy themselves separately. The Duchess sent
a golden key, with directions to Stafford O'Brien to conduct
me to the gallery of statues, a detached building in the
midst of a garden, like the Braccio Nuovo ; a beautiful hall,
wide and long, with statues antique and modern ; the Lante
Vase (from the Villa of Hadrian) and the Sarcophagus of
Ephesus form the principal ornaments, with a splendid
mosaic from Rome, which occupies the centre. At the two
extremities are flights of steps, each conducting to an exedra,
or sort of temple : in the one are the Graces of Canova,
which I did not worship ; but the other, the Temple of
Liberty, the sanctuary of the Whigs, interested me much.
The present Duke's predecessor had the heads of the friends
Fox and Grey modelled, and executed in marble, and he
planned the temple ; when dying, he disclosed the secret of
his intentions to his brother, who executed the idea faith-
fully. Opposite the entrance is the colossal bust of Charles
Fox, with verses on the pedestal written by Georgiana,
Duchess of Devonshire. On each side there are two busts
of smaller dimensions Lord Grey's is the only very fine
head ; a certain Fitzpatrick looks like a satire upon a sena-
torial countenance. I admire and relish the idea, so well
suiting the residence of the head of that illustrious family
94 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1847
of Russell, with, the martyr and his angelic wife among
them. . . .
To the Same.
Woburn Abbey : 31st December, 1847.
My dearest love will receive these lines, whether in this
year or the next, with the blessings of thankful love ! My
heart is always with you, and though I cannot say that I do
not miss you hourly, I must in truth declare myself glad to
know you are where you ought to be. Your dear letter
reached me a minute after I had sent my last, and com-
forted me by the enclosure in your dear mother's hand ; I
trust I may find equally good intelligence to-morrow at home,
whither I shall fight my way through all the kindnesses of
the Duchess and the further temptation to stay longer from
Lord and Lady John's affectionate manner and agreeable
conversation.
Yesterday was a day of satisfaction for the house of
Russell, the news having arrived of Dr. Hampden's election.
Lord John had been much vexed in the latter days by the
unreasonableness of the people he had to deal with but
yesterday at three o'clock, when we were collected in ex-
pectation and talking against time, in came little Johnny,*
escorted by his aunt-like sister, and stationed himself at the
entrance of the library, distinctly proclaiming, like a herald,
' Dr. Hampden, a Bishop ! ' We cheered him, and some
one asked him whether he liked Dr. H. ' I don't mind
(was his answer), for I don't know him.' His father came
in afterwards, radiant with satisfaction. After dinner I sug-
gested as a toast ' The Chapter of Hereford,' adding sotto
vooe to Lord John, ' and he who has managed them.'
Milnes and Stafford gave * The Dean,' in opposition, and
we were just divided, like the Chapter, two against fifteen.
Lord John took all very kindly ; he talked politics all the
* Now Viscount Amberley, M.P.
JET. 56] THE EUSSELL FAMILY. 95
evening, unreservedly, about France, Spain, and Portugal.
What I admired in him most is his unvaried simplicity, and
the absence not only of all boasting, but even of exultation,
with the greatest openness. Lady John copies papers for
her husband, and is a very strong Presbyterian and anti-
Tractarian. She has invited herself to come to see us at
Carlton Terrace when you return, and hear our children
play and sing: the fame of which house-music has been
spread afar, particularly by Lady de Clifford, who says she
always comes out on the terrace when told that music is
going on, especially to hear the singing of the tenor. . . .
To the Same.
4, Carlton Terrace: Slst December, 1847.
Under other circumstances I certainly should have re-
mained till Monday at Woburn, as I was indeed very much
pressed to do. The decision of the Hampden affair made
the time yet more interesting. You will see in a few days
an excellent letter of Lord John's, an answer to an address
of the clergy of Bedfordshire in favour of Hampden. He
hafl. waited for such an opportunity in order to speak fully
his own mind on the subject. Yesterday I went with Lord
John to the Gallery of Sculpture and the Temple ; then he
played at tennis with Stafford O'Brien, and on returning to
the house was met by the Duke, with copies of the letter
to the clergy and other papers, which he, the Duke, had
been revising for him. It is the Duke's glory to help his
brother, in whatever way he can. . . .
. . . Nowhere is hospitality practised on so grand a
scale, or at least nowhere grander, than at Woburn Abbey ;
every room is the perfection of all credible and incredible
comforts for the guest all meals in inconceivable perfection
of arrangement. The Duchess enacts visibly the Queen and
Duchess, and invisibly (in the intervals, by her directions)
the supreme Maitresse d'Hotel. The Dowager Duchess
assists her with much tact. The day after my arrival a
96 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
banquet was given, with a display of all the wonderful silver
services, gifts of Louis XV. to Duke John : the other days
all was more simple. I have reflected much on the posi-
tion of a Duke of Bedford or of Sutherland in the nineteenth
century, and do not think it could be essentially more than
what the present representatives make of it. The charm
here is the historical and political standing of the House
of Russell. The house is evidently the work of the first
Duke, and then of Duke John, who made the Peace of Paris.
I find all that was good in it was his merit, against Bute
and Egremont ; still Lord John justly blames him for
having consented to keeping the transaction secret from
Frederick the Great.
My plans are these, D.Y., 4th January, to Althorp ; 8th,
to Castle Ashby; llth, to Peel : then home, and one or two
days at Broadlands, with Palmerston, who returns to town
on the 20th, as do the Russells, who want to see Prince
Lowenstein at Richmond Lodge before that date. The
grief of the House is the abstraction of the Marquis of
Tavistock, who writes daily most intelligent papers on po-
litical subjects, but will not live at Woburn, nor take any
part in active life.
On the whole, I would not be the Duke of Bedford for all
his income, if I was to lead his life but for one year.
To the Same.
Althorp: Thursday, 6th January, 1848.
I have been very lazy here, and that ever since I had
your precious letter ! The fact is, I have so much here to say,
and to do, that I scarcely have time to limp out for an hour,
and then I must rest till dinner time. Be not uneasy about
me, it is nothing but flying rheumatism, one day in one
leg, another in the other, with toothache, sometimes to the
left, sometimes the right. The library is unique : so is the
gallery for family portraits, and originals of illustrious men,
Montaigne, Arnauld, also Sacharissa and her husband, who
JET. 56] THE NEAPOLITAN REVOLUTION. 97
resided here. Van de Weyer and I live in the library.
Host and hostess very kind and agreeable. To-morrow
George and I go to Lord Northampton's, Tuesday to Peel's,
from whence home on the 15th, and not stir a step, unless
I must.
Carlton Terrace : Friday, 7th January. Here I am, my
dearest ; my last evening and night were so uncomfortable
from the pains I mentioned, that I resolved to cut short
the proposed visits. Whether or not I go to Peel must
depend upon the pain ; but what I can say already is, that
I feel verycomfortable here, at my desk, in my room, in our
dear house, with the good faces around me.
Sattwday, 8th January. I read last night Bancroft, with
increasing admiration. What a glorious and interesting
history has he given to his nation, of the centuries before the
Independence. The third volume is a masterpiece ; after
having displayed all the plans and decrees of the monarchs
of Europe from 1741 to 1748, he brings in 'the son of a
widow, gaining his livelihood by surveying land in remote
and uninhabited districts George Washington.'
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.] 4, Carlton Terrace : 3rd February, 1848.
This is a grand day for politics ! I can hardly keep my
pen in order. The King of Naples has proclaimed, on
Saturday last, January 29th, for his whole kingdom, the
Constitution of Lord William Bentinck, given in 1812 to
Sicily. O the Nemesis !
This rather crude, but not democratic, copy of the British
Constitution, was given in spite of Caroline (who fled under
execrations), and of Ferdinand, who abdicated. Francesco
sanctioned it.
Then Napoleon fell, and Castlereagh disowned the work of
Bentinck. The Constitution was abolished. Ferdinand pro-
mised a Charte, a la Louis XVIII ; we know the scheme of
it, it was never even finished, far less introduced.
VOL. II. H
98 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN.
In 1815, the King, instead of all Constitutions, after
a preamble, confirmed the ' privileges granted to the
Sicilians,' and gave an Edict of Administration, a la mode
de V Empire.
In 1820, that reaction produced a revolution, which was
put down by force in 1821.
Then a quarter of a century, twenty- six years, absolutist
misgovernment, which we have seen !
And now, up to January 12, the Sicilians would have
been satisfied, as well as the Neapolitans, with reforms a la
Pio Nono. January 12 was to be the day of decision. All
was prepared for the outbreak ; no publication appeared ;
the people set to work ; Palermo was bombarded forty-eight
hours, but resisted. The King's heart sank, and he yielded.
One eminent characteristic of this King is his fear an heir-
loom from father and grandfather.
The consequences may be immense incalculable. Lega
Italiana the Pope driven to secularise his government ;
Sardinia and Tuscany to give a Constitution ! I am afraid
that the waves set in motion by this event may be too
boisterous for the frail Italian vessel. May Grod lead them
to wisdom !
Bust of Bunsen, by Behnes.
CHAPTER XIII.
AGITATION IN EUROPE.
THE REVOLUTION OF THE >24TH FEBRUARY BARON STOCKMAR AT
FRANKFORT THE RISING AT BERLIN PRIXCE OF PRUSSIA ARRIVES AT
CARLTON TERRACE TOTTERIDGE LETTER TO MR. REEVE ON GERMAN
PROGRESS EXCURSION TO GERMANY CONFLICT BETWEEN FRANKFORT
AND BERLIN BUNSEN ADHERES TO THE PRUSSIAN SIDE STATE OF
BERLIN RETURNS TO ENGLAND MEMOIR ON EVENTS AT BERLIN.
THIS narrative of the life of Bunsen has now been
brought down to the time when the French Ee volution
of February 24, 1848, changed the aspect of Europe,
gave the signal of a general convulsion, and power-
fully affected the lives and opinions of all those who
were called upon to take any part in the momentous
series of events which ensued.
H 2
100 MEMOIRS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1848
Bunsen's deep interest in them, especially as they
concerned the future welfare of Germany, is fully
expressed in his correspondence from this date.
Contemporary Notice.
Carlton Terrace : Monday, 28th February, 1848.
. . . We are all awe-struck and melancholy at this
terrible state of things in France ; and how is such a mob
government to go on without war to employ the idle and
flagitious hands demanding mischief P
On Saturday evening we were rejoiced to see our friend
Max Miiller arrive from Paris safe and sound. He had gone
there a fortnight before to examine a manuscript, and
found himself caught in the midst of a revolution. He went
about the streets, and saw all he could, and got away on
Thursday night by climbing over three different barricades
in the direction of the railway to Havre, which, close to the
station, had been broken up, but further on was in a con-
dition to be used. The description he gives of the Pande-
monium in the streets, the aspect of the savages, the wanton
firing of shots aimed at quiet spectators, sometimes by
mere boys (one of whom was heard to boast, ' J'en ai tue
trois ! '), brings very close to us, as it were, scenes from
which we believed ourselves separated by a long course of
years. It is said that robbery is not to be apprehended, but
destruction is the object.
On Saturday, Bunsen dined with Sir Robert Peel, and
went afterwards to Lady Palmers ton's. I wanted to be
told what people said what people expected. He an-
swered : ' Everybody is stunned.' ... It would seem as if
the Ministerial difficulties would be much helped by the
wars,' and rumours of wars ;' people will feel that if the
money had been spent it must be made up for somewhere,
and in contemplation of a French debordement the idea of
national defences being put in repair will not seem un-
reasonable.
^Sx. 56] THE EISING AT BERLIN. 101
Buti sen to Usedom.
[Translation.]
London : on the 22nd day after the Second Deluge,
15th March, 1848.
MY DEAR FRIEND, Your arrival and that of Stockmar
in Frankfort, as it were on the same day, has been the
fulfilment of two of my unceasingly cherished wishes of two
months' standing. Stockmar is one of the first politicians
of Germany and of Europe the disciple of Stein staff-
surgeon to the 5th corps d'armee, and superintendent
of the military hospital in Worms preceptor of Prince
Albert the friend and private adviser of Prince Leopold,
afterwards King of the Belgians finally, the confidential
friend both of Lord Melbourne and of Sir Robert Peel :
that is the man who now represents Coburg at Frank-
fort, to advocate which measure I earnestly advised,
and Prince Albert as urgently entreated, Stockmar himself
to undertake that position. Pray go to him directly : after
an hour's intercourse you will part as friends. So much for
the present. I love Stockmar sincerely, and he loves me.
I have no secret from him.
Day and night I repeat : Only unity with one accord,
within three weeks at most. . . .
No one in England any longer believes in our future.
Contemporary Notice.
Thursday, 23rd March.
. . . From the papers as much may be known as we
know of the awful scenes at Berlin. The result the break-
ing up of the Ministry, and the King's awakening con-
sciousness of the realities and necessities of things, in which
he could not bring himself to believe, when for years so
many and various faithful servants have tried to obtain a
hearing for their statements rouses Bunsen's sanguine
nature to hope for the future. The choice of Ministers is
on the whole that which it was to be hoped the King would
102 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
have made, at the close of the Diet (Vereinigte Landtag)
last summer, they being the individuals who commanded
the confidence of that popular assembly. But now that
they have been set a-going they have an immense work to
do, and if they had been at it for the last eight months, the
whole insurrection might have been prevented. The sha-
dow of this event came beforehand, in the shape of a report
from Paris of the King's having abdicated, which many
people believed in London the day before yesterday, and
there was almost need of an extra servant to take in all the
notes and visitors and enquiries at the door. Several of the
notes contained kind offers of hospitality, if the King was
coming to England houses in town and country placed at
his disposal. But everybody was answered that the King
had certainly not deserted his post, ivould certainly not
sneak away ; and that has proved to be a fact. I cannot
get the awful scene from before my mind's eye, when the
slain were carried in solemn procession before the windows
of the King's Palace within the very court-yard ; the
bearers singing a hymn usual at funerals : calling upon the
King, who not only appeared at the window, but came
down, uncovering his head at sight of the funeral procession
spoke to the people, was cheered, and, after a pause, all
sung the hymn of thanksgiving (for promises received)
which you have heard my children sing. People and King
are made of different stuff to those of Paris !
Bunsen to StocJcmar.
[Translation.] London: Saturday evening, 25th March, 1848.
A solemn seriousness ought now to fill the heart of every
German: for without that, without self-conquest and self-
control, we fall into the hands of Nemesis.
On the morning of March 27, at eight o'clock, his
Royal Highness tlie Prince of Prussia arrived at
No. 4, Carlton Terrace, unannounced, and causing as
MT. 56] PRINCE OF PRUSSIA. AT CARLTON TERRACE. 103
much surprise as if, on reading the notice in the
papers two days before his having retired from. Berlin,
the possibility of his directing his course towards
England had not occurred to the mind of Bunsen.
The Prince was pleased to accept the proposal to
make a speedy arrangement of rooms for his resi-
dence in the abode of the Prussian Legation. Some
members of the family were at once quartered with
friends, to make room for part of his Royal Highness's
suite; Ernest Bunsen, with his wife and child,
having been received under the hospitable roof of
Mr. and Mrs. Hudson Gurney, in St. James's Square
therefore, so close at hand, as to enable Ernest to
assist his father in daily attendance upon his Royal
Highness, and in ordering things, as well as circum-
stances allowed, to lessen the inconvenience of such
a provisional mode of life to the honoured guest.
Prince Lowenstein remained the only inmate of the
house being Counsellor of Legation. Extracts from
letters, written during the period following this event,
will furnish a slight sketch of the external circum-
stances at a time of great commotion and excitement,
almost to distraction, in Bunsen's life ; a time me-
morable in the annals of Prussia by the close and
appreciating study which the heir presumptive to her
Crown applied to the working of the British Consti-
tution.
The dignity, the manly cheerfulness, the gracious
kindness, the constant regard for others' convenience,
which marked from first to last the Prince's demean-
our, demand all the testimony that words can give,
and the whole of the details remain deeply imprinted
104 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
on grateful hearts. It was indeed with, zeal, the result
of cordial devotedness, that Bunsen and each member
of his family made their best efforts in his service ;
but the manner in which services were acknowledged
and accepted as ' kindness,' which were but the fulfil-
ment of bounden duty, will not be forgotten, while
life is granted to the writer of these lines.
Contemporary Notice.
Carlton Terrace : Wednesday, 29th March, 1848.
... I think all the business of accommodating the Prince
has been got well through ; and if on the one hand one has
trouble, on the other one is saved trouble, for of course no
visitors are let in, and thus we can remain quiet. One great
business on Monday was making out the list of persons to
be sent to, and put off as we had made invitations for a
series of Tuesday evenings. This day the Prince will dine
with the Duke of Cambridge ; we were to have dined at
Lansdowne House, but that was put off on account of the
Cambridge House dinner, and at last Bunsen will not attend
the Prince thither, for he is not well, having been obliged
to stay late in bed these three mornings with a feverish
cold ; and thus we cannot go to Devonshire House either.
The Prince came to breakfast with us all at ten o'clock, and
was very amiable. F. had fetched an armchair, and placed
it in the centre of one side of the table ; but the Prince put
it away himself and took another, saying, ' One ought to be
humble now, for thrones are shaking ; ' then I sat on one
side of him, and he desired Frances to take her place on the
other. He related everything that came to his knowledge
of the late awful transactions.
One longs to perceive in what manner a bridge can be
constructed for his return home. He expresses much con-
cern and scruple about the trouble he occasions ; but now
the arrangement has been made possible, it is infinitely pre-
ferable that he should be here, where we can watch over
JET. 56] PKINCE OF PKUSSIA AT CARLTON TERRACE. 105
everything and know what is wanted, rather than his having
to hire a place of abode ; and it is also much fitter for him
to stay here than anywhere else. I have had a walk in the
park, while Ernest attended on the Prince at his luncheon.
The Prince reminds me much of his father the late King, in
the expression of truth and kindliness in his face.
. . . We have had our prospect again for the last week
the park and the Abbey becoming visible after three months'
fog.
Contemporary Notice.
Carlton Terrace: 4th April, 1848.
Friday, 7th April. Our great dinner party went off well.
I am glad to feel sure that all was successful, and looked as
well as we wished it should, to show all respect to our good
Prince, who was cense to receive the guests himself the
house of the Prussian Legation being, in the first place, his
residence. The Duke of Cambridge had an inflammation
in his foot, and was forbidden by Keate to move, so he was
obliged to send an excuse, and I am sure we regretted his
unfailing goodnature and animation ; but the Duchess was
very gracious, and has always much conversation. Before
the guests had retired I learnt that my poor son Charles had
arrived, having made a desperate effort to break away from
Naumburg, without' awaiting the end of his rheumatic fever,
so stiffened in his limbs as to need being helped like a child.
Not till all had departed could I go and welcome him, and
was shocked at the sight. He had received most benevolent
help from a Danish gentleman, with whom he crossed over
the sea, and who saw him safe into the conveyance which
brought him from the steamer. This proved to be a well
known political writer, against whom Bunsen had been
bound in duty to defend his King and the acts of Prussia in
no mild manner. No one was ever more incapable than
Bunsen of blending personal with political animosity ; and
assuredly in the case of the political antagonist in ques-
tion (as a man entirely unknown to him) no such feelings
106 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
existed. But it was with one of the many pangs attending
this period of political feud that Bunsen had to discover in
the kind and helpful fellow-traveller of his invalid son, to
whose truly Danish goodnature he paid a heartfelt tribute
of gratitude, the keen opponent whom he had keenly met in
the battlefield of opinion.*
Contemporary Notice.
Carlton Terrace : 10th April, 1848.
I had a walk before breakfast with T round the park
this beautiful day, which, God grant, may close unstained
with bloodshed ! Nothing was to be remarked but a few
more policemen, and not so many passers-by as usual. At
breakfast, the Prince's aides-de-camp expressed surprise that
I should have ventured out. I declared the impossibility
on my part of believing that any disturbance would take
place. On Saturday evening we had all been at Lady Pal-
merston's, when Bunsen approached the Duke of Welling-
ton, saying, ' Your Grace will take us all in charge, and
London too, on Monday, the 10th ?' (This day being that
of the expected Chartist disturbance, on the occasion of
presenting to Parliament the monster petition.) The Duke
answered, * Yes, we have taken our measures ; but not a
soldier nor a piece of artillery shall you see, unless in actual
need. Should the force of law the mounted or unmounted
police be overpowered or in danger, then the troops shall
advance then is their time. But it is not fair on either
side to call them in to do the work of police the military
must not be confounded with the police, nor merged in the
police.' These were his words, as well as I can give them
at second-hand; and grand are the maxims of political
wisdom they imply.
* The Danish gentleman's name was Orla Lehmann.
JET. 56] THE 'LAND CREDIT' SYSTEM. 107
Extract of a Letter to Bunsen, from Serr von Sclion, formerly
Prussian Minister of State, dated Koniysberg, April 15, 1848.
[Translation.]
Your letter proves that England, however exclaimed
against on the Continent as ultra Conservative, is, according
to the order of the universe, in continual and steady progress.
Hail to the example, for all States !
According to your desire, I send the outline of our land
credit system ; and, in my opinion, such an institution might
well be formed in Ireland, if the principle of our establish-
ment should be sanctioned by Act of Parliament. There
is, indeed, as yet no mortgage- system in Ireland ; but with
respect to the general guarantee, an Act of Parliament might
supply that want, by declaring all Irish landed properties
to be liable for the mortgage debts of each individual estate.
For, with respect to the debts upon individual estates, the
Quarter Sessions might take the place of our Mortgage Com-
missioners, in keeping a register of estates indebted to the
land credit system, in which the debt of the estate would
be specified, primo loco. The English mind would find the
chief difficulty in allowing the Land Credit Association to
act independently in collecting the interest themselves in
the shortest way, without judicial authority ; but I suppose
there the Sheriff might enter as an intermediate authority.
The institution might, in my opinion, be of great use, more
especially for Ireland, if managed with prudence.
Contemporary Notice.
Monday morning : 30th April ; Tottericlge.
How we have enjoyed being here since Saturday afternoon
I cannot describe. We were out for hours after returning
from church, sitting and sauntering and reading in the
charming garden, and in the finest weather. ... I am glad
to have waked early this morning, thus being enabled to
write ; for as soon as we have breakfasted, I must drive to
108 MEMOIES OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1848
town directly, and plunge into the turmoil going to the
Queen's Ball in the evening.
Totteridge : 2nd May. Yesterday, after disposing of much
business, we were surprised by the appearance of Ernest and
his father, Count Pourtales, and Harry Arnim (nephew of
our friends sent over as courier), who came to stay all night,
and have left us this morning. Bunsen, having been, alas !
quite ill, had excused 'himself from Lady Douglas's, where
the Prince was to dine and thus took a few hours' leave
of absence. I trust he may go on better again. I think
him grown a year older during these two months of violent
excitement and no quiet. Oh how thankful I am for this
Totteridge ! Could I but describe the groups of fine trees,
the turf and terrace- walks ! I should like to know its his-
tory. In one room hangs a plan of the estate (now belong-
ing to Dr. Lee, the owner of Hartwell Hall in Buckingham-
shire), where it is said to have belonged (about a century
ago) to Viscount Bateman. The present meadows formed a
park with many deer in it till about twenty years ago.
Bunsen to Henry Reeve, Esq. (On the Draft of a Constitution
for the German Confederacy.)
[Translation.]
Saturday morning : 6th May, 1848, half-past seven o'clock.
With heart and mind thus prepared, you have taken the
Draft and its great object into consideration ; you have
conceived both in their relative import to the world's
history ; you render justice to both, and yet you have not
attained to a belief in our future.
What is with you essentially opposed to this is your
rigorously conservative view as to the origin of the present
Constitutional movement. You say poetically, * The truly
animating principle comes from above the shades of Endor
rise out of the abyss.'
Let me follow up this idea, in order to convince you that
our struggle for freedom has rightly originated that is
vEr. 56] LETTER ON GERMAN PROGRESS. 109
from the Spirit descendit coelo. Was not its beginning
indeed from above, in the minds of the great thinkers,
who, from Lessing and Kant down to Schelling and Hegel,
have, in conflict with the materialism of the past century
and the mechanism of the present, proved both the reality
and essentiality of reason, and the independence and free-
dom of moral consciousness, and have thereby roused the
nation to enthusiasm for the ideal of true liberty ? And
did not poetry and the fine arts take the same way ?
What is the signification of Gothe in the world's history,
if not that he had a clear intuition of those truths, and the
art of giving them due utterance ? Wherein consists the
indestructible charm of Schiller's poetry, but that he has
sung as hymns to the supernal, supernatural, those de-
ductions of philosophy ?
Now to proceed to the time of our deepest depression,
and of our highest elevation, from 1807 to 1813. That
which now would and should and must enter into life, was
then generated, in the midst of woe and misery, in blood
and in prayer, but also in belief in that ideal, to the true
recognition and realising of which the feeling of an exist-
ing fatherland and of popular freedom is indispensable.
Truly prophetical (as the truth must always be) are the
words of Schenken ; dorf in 1813, ' Freiheit, die ich meine/
&c., and ' Wie mir deine Freuden winken,' &c. And also
Arndt with his grand rhapsody, 'Was ist des Deutschen
Vaterland ? ' and Korner's melodies of death, and Eiickert's
songs, brilliant and penetrating as steel ! All that may
sound to the foreigner as mere poetic feeling : but to us,
who then pronounced the vows of early youth, it was a
most holy and real earnest, the utterance of overflowing
hearts. And thus it remained to us ; and our children
learned from us to repeat the vow ; and when we lay twenty-
five years long in heavy bondage, when the very freedom
of speech was suppressed, then through all suffering the
spirit of liberty took refuge in the sanctuary of knowledge ;
110 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
but, not as was the case with our fathers, to expatiate in
untried regions and seek freedom only in contemplation
and speculation, but to fetch down the highest blessings of
common life, as the poets of the former generation had in
a vision beheld them, and as Scharnhorst and Stein and
Niebuhr and Wilhelm von Humboldt had grasped them in
will and wish. Then was the younger generation in-
structed by persecuted men, that liberty is ancient and
tyranny modern, and that to liberty alone belongs that
legitimacy which unsound politicians have used as a weapon
for her destruction. Then it was that English empiricism,
French abstractions, and the feeble imitation of both in
the new Constitutions of Southern Germany, were com-
pared with history and with the true ideal and a higher
standing point was aimed at and gained for all. Thus
did the year 1840 find us ; but the hopes which that
year brought were not finally realised. King and people
(as Beekerath finely expressed it in the year 1844) spoke
wholly different languages, and lived in different centuries.
The path became dark, and when the lightning and storm
had ceased, the old state of things had vanished. Since
then, seventy-three days have passed, and we are living,
and the Draft of a Constitution was accomplished before
seventy of those days had elapsed.
Descendit coeio, if ever that could be said of a popular
movement named in history in the humble form which is
ever assigned to the Divine, revealed in humanity. Dragged
in the mire by knaves, hung round with bells by the weak-
minded, schooled by the ignorant, the work of liberty has
not been crushed by any class of enemies. As a heavenly
birth she is making her way through foaming waves, and,
in the power of the Spirit, she has lifted her foot out of
the depths, to place it upon the rock of law and right
a position well earned by her forty years' wandering
through the desert, amid the raging of nations, the vain
fears and imaginations of Princes, the scorn and mistrust
Mr. 56.] LETTER TO USEDOM. Ill
of France and of England, actual insurrection, and latent
anarchy.
Descendit ccelo. Our Draft of a Constitution, the first-
fruit of German political energy, is not a ' Declaration des
Droits de l'Homme ; ' it is not one of the numerous tran-
scripts of the parchment Magna Charta upon continental
blotting-paper ; it is not the aping of the American or
even of the Belgian constitution ; it is as peculiar as the
nation to which it offers a form. A nation ! rather, many
nations: no nation, and yet a nation! and, so may it
please the Almighty, a great and a free nation ! not one of
yesterday, but of a thousand years of fame and of suffering.
I cannot claim from you the enthusiasm I feel for the
work which is the weighty subject-matter of the Draft in
question : but I crave belief in it from you, for the very
same reason that you, the true disciple of Burke, demand
confidence in your own political faith.
I am ready to give up to you the Committee of Fifty, and
the seventeen 'men of trust,' and the entire Diet: but
though the Fifty, and both assemblies of Seventeen were
blown to the winds like the free corps of Herwegh and
Hecker, yet the rock around which they collected will
remain, that is, Germany and the German people, even
though humbled and torn in pieces for a thousand years, to
many a mockery, to all an enigma !
Bunsen to Usedom.
[Translation.] London: 17th May, 1848.
. . . Peel said to me three weeks ago : ' Let not Germany
attempt to speak a word in European politics for six weeks
not till you are constituted. You speak in the feeling of
a future in which we do not believe.'
Thus, we must with honour, but quickly, close the Schles-
wig affair : that is, here on this spot, by means of a protocol,
conclude an armistice.
112 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
Contemporary Notice.
Carlton Terrace: Wednesday, 31st Ma}-, 1848.
... As I was rising at six, Bunsen informed me that
the courier, who had arrived late the night before, -had
decided the Prince to start immediately. Therefore I re-
mained over breakfast-time to take leave. The Prince spoke
most kindly and touchingly * thanking for kindness re-
ceived' and saying that 'in no other place or country
could he have passed so well the period of distress and
anxiety which he had gone through, as here, having so much
to interest and occupy his mind both, in the country and in
the nation.' . . . After witnessing the departure of the Prince
of Prussia, Bunsen came here [Totteridge] late on Sunday
night, the 28th, and on Monday took his share with us of
the luxury of sun and air, and rest and quiet, after walking
with me in the morning (a rare treat to go out in the very
glory and perfection of the day, and such a day !) to High
Wood, to fetch Lady Raffles. We sat on the dry turf, under
the shadow of those lofty firs, the pride of Totteridge. On
Monday evening, we all returned to town, and to cares and
bustle.
Bunsen to Mrs. Waddington.
Carlton Terrace : 1st July, 1848.
MY DEAR MOTHER, I should long since have written to
give you a sign of life, from the midst of this Second Deluge,
if I had not believed you had intelligence sufficient to con-
vince you that we were still above water. But on the morn-
ing of this anniversary, I must address a line to her, whose
dear, kind image is always before me on the recurrence of
that blessed day which made your Fanny mine, without
tearing her away from your heart. Who would not be thank-
ful? and I hope I feel so more than ever in this fateful
year. In the midst of the crushing of thrones, administra-
tions, and favourites in Germany, in the abeyance of all
JEx. 56] REFLECTIONS ON GERMANY IN 1848. 113
authority, in the birth-pangs of a nation of forty- five mil-
lions, I not only have not been crushed, but I have received
proofs of confidence more than ever, not only from successive
Governments in my own country, but also from the nation
at large. If I am thankful for all this, I am still more so for
being conscious of perfect tranquillity of mind (which is
God's own gift), in looking to the future for myself and all
mine, and for my dear country. It is not the tranquillity of
apathy, but of conviction that all will be right in the end,
in Germany, because country and nation are sound in heart,
but only in the end.
My beloved King is in the position of one who, not having
acted at his own time and opportunity, when present, is
now obliged to see the nation act for him. . . . With all the
facts that support my hopes, it is too possible that, as long
as I live, I may not see the great work of regeneration com-
plete : but at least I have seen its beginning, such as I
looked forward to with all the friends of my youth, and with
all my honoured elders Stein, Mebuhr, Gneisenau, and
others thirty- four years ago, when it ought to have been
accomplished, and when it could have been done in peace.
In this country, the cause I have at heart has to encounter
two great enemies : first, a commercial jealousy of one
united Germany ; and secondly, that apathy which is the
offspring of egotism and the parent of ignorance. I have
unspeakable satisfaction in saying this openly, when I hear
radotage about Germany. . . . The English press has done
but too much to make the name of England an object of
hatred. Fortunately, it must be the interest of both coun-
tries to stand well together; and we can dispense with
English sympathies. As to myself, although all delusions
have been destroyed as to the politics of England, I shall
never cease to be attached to it, and never forget the kind-
ness I have received, and am receiving, from so many per-
sons in this country, or cease to be grateful for the practical
understanding of life which I owe entirely to my stay in it ;
VOL. ii. I
114 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
and the blessings, above all, which, through my connection
with an English family, through your and Fanny's kindness
and affection, have become my portion !
And so I end as I began, with the assurance of being your
truly grateful and attached son, of thirty-one years' stand-
ing. BUNSEN.
To the Same.
Carlton Terrace : 4th July, 1848.
My heart is too much moved by one of the kindest and
most loving letters I ever was blessed with, not to yield to
the impulse of responding to it immediately, hoping, how-
ever, that you will never think of sending me any answer
except from time to time the single words, ' My dear son,*
* Your affectionate mother.' How these words penetrate to
the inmost of my heart ! I was afraid of having worried
you with details of opinion, but I wrote what was uppermost
in my mind, hoping on that account to be forgiven. How
kind in you to take so encouraging an interest in all I have
communicated to you ! . . .
I send for your kind acceptance a copy of my ' Egypt/ in
English, out of which your daughter, when she arrives, will
read to you some passages containing thoughts which may
interest you. ... a
Bunsen to Stockmar,
[Translation.] London: 15th July, 1848.
Gothe says : 'What man wishes in youth becomes his
portion in age.' My case is yet better : what I wished for
Prussia will (it is to be hoped) be fulfilled for Germany.
You need not be told that the articles of the ' Deutsche Zeit-
ung ' concerning yourself, are written as out of my very
heart. May you but feel the courage to accept such a great
and high proposal ! I hear from various sides that you are
the person in view for the German Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. You should have seen the look of Lord P. when I
JEx. 56] LETTEES TO HIS WIFE. 115
told Mm the news, as a diplomatic report. * That would be
a happy choice indeed ! He is one of the best political
heads I have ever met with.'
. . . The- Queen ;and the Prince maintain an admirable
position: it is a true pleasure to me to observe how the
Prince becomes more and more known for what he is.
Belgium is here, too, looked upon as a pattern country, and
King Leopold highly honoured.
There is no difficulty to be anticipated here, in the recog-
nition of the German Empire when once it shall exist.
Bunsen to his Wife. (After receiving a call to Berlin.)
[Translation.] 25th July, 1848.
. . . Beust writes to Kielmansegge, that the post is to
be offered to me, which Kamphausen has refused that of
Minister of Foreign Affairs for the German Empire. Who
knows whether there be any truth in this ?
Whoever now accepts the post will leap into the abyss
of Curtius. It may be a duty so to do ; but, oh ! not fruit-
lessly. . . .
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.]
Cologne : Sunday morning, half-past six ; 30th July, 1848.
Here I am, sitting with my three sons, the glorious bells
of the cathedral ringing in the thanksgiving for Germany's
Reichsverweser, or Administrator of the Empire (the ca-
thedral itself is to be ready for opening on August 14, 1848,
the first time since August 14, 1248) ; all soldiers with the
citizens going about in their gold, black, and red cockades.
When I alighted here, I saw George with Helmentag. He
brought me a message from the old Oracle * Accept. I have
declared that I will accept the Premiership, if you take the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.' Thile writes the same. But
at Berlin they are not at all desirous I should. . . .
12
116 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
Contemporary Letter.
30th July, 1848.
.... After you had departed on Friday evening, Lord
Ashley came in, direct from the chair of a meeting about
the Ragged Schools. Nine young people, seven boys and
two girls, who had distinguished themselves by good con-
duct, were to embark for Australia next day, and Lord Ash-
ley was going to Deptford to see them off. He believes that
serious measures will be taken to help off the young genera-
tion of these helpless ones to another soil. The night before,
he had been at the meeting which the 270 thieves had en-
treated him to give them : he and Jackson, the distinguished
City Missionary, and the thieves constituted the assembly.
The unhappy men were quiet, respectful, and thankful,
communicating particulars of their wretchedness, represent-
ing that they would do any work, submit to any labour,
but that, without character as they were, no possibility
existed for them of access to the overstocked labour-market.
Lord Ashley promised them another meeting, after he should
have had an interval in which to consider and consult as to
a plan for helping them. The greater part were individually
known to Jackson he had talked to them, read to them ;
but it was not his suggestion that they should apply to Lord
Ashley they thought of it, and consulted him on the sub-
ject. When this communication was finished with reference
to the criminal population of London and their miseries,
Dr. Sieveking stated that he knew of a sphere of wretched-
ness yet more affecting that of industrious, respectable
tradespeople and mechanics, people who had never begged,
or committed any offence against society, who yet knew not
which way to turn for employment and means of subsistence.
He had a district in the parish of St. Pancras, where it
would seem that much was done for the poor; but the
families whom he attended as a physician had more need of
nourishment than of medicine : and the distress was not to
JET. 56] OFFERED MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 117
be described of seeing want and privation which had not
been incurred by any misconduct. . . .
This passage, like many other c contemporary no-
tices,' is inserted to mark some images in surrounding
scenes, through which the track of Bunsen's life
was laid, which excited in him intense interest and
sympathy, but as to many of which no written words
of his own are to be found. With respect to the con-
ditions of misery here indicated, much was done in al-
leviation : and the many prayers which accompanied
the efforts of Christian charity, in well-conceived
and zealously-effected plans, have been heard and
answered even though ' the poor cease not from the
land,' and, wherever man is found, evil of every kind
remains to be striven against.
Letter to Archdeacon Hare.
2nd August, 1848.
DEAR FRIEND, Bunsen charged me, on the morning of his
last day at home, to write and express his regret not to have
had time to take leave of you, and explain the circumstances
attending his departure.
A letter arrived on Tuesday, the 25th July, to signify offi-
cially the commands of the King, that Bunsen should come
immediately to Berlin, * for a few days' consultation,' at
the same time letters from more quarters than one, and pub-
lic report even in newspapers, declared the intention to be
to offer him the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the 'German
Empire.' Still, of this nothing has been communicated offi-
cially. I shall not attempt to describe the complication of
feelings called forth by the suspense of the crisis, nor how I
dread his being dragged into the Maelstrom. I can only bear
witness to his determination not to accept any apparent dig-
nity, unless the power essential to usefulness, and suitable
118 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
instruments, should be granted with it : and he continued
of opinion that he was more likely to be able to serve his
country at his post in England than anywhere else. He was
expected at Berlin on the 26th, the day when the Archduke
John was to be there, the meeting of course was impossible,
as the summons reached him only the day before.
The Queen and Prince Albert desired to have seen him at
Osborne House before his departure, and he did not feel at
liberty to delay another day. He lost no more time in set-
ting out than, could be avoided, but he had promised to be
present at the German dinner in celebration of the appoint-
ment of the Archduke as Reichsverweser, and in honour of
German unity, which took place on Thursday, the 27th July.
Bunsen embarked on Friday night, the 28th.
The renewal of hostilities in Schleswig will prove Bunsen
to be right, in a way he will deeply regret. After he had
been authorised to treat through the mediation of England
( which his own personal weight with the Ministry here was
chiefly instrumental in obtaining, for they frowned on the
whole concern and were unwilling to have anything to do
with it), and when, through that powerful mediation, favour-
able and possible terms were made out, to establish the prin-
ciple upon which preliminaries of peace might have rested,
Bunsen refusing to consent to an armistice till that should
be settled, suddenly did the Government at Berlin, as if
forgetting what had been authorised to be transacted in
London, arrange an armistice, without settling prelimina-
ries ; thus causing the withdrawal of England's mediation.
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.] Berlin: Thursday, 3rd August, 1848.
This day (as the papers mention the Frankfort offer) I
have delivered to the Minister von Auerswald my written
declaration: 'That, in the present condition of conflict
between Berlin and Frankfort, I should never think of sepa-
&T. 56] PKUSSIA AGAINST FRANKFORT. 119
rating my fate from that of Prussia; whether or not an
offer to that effect should ever be made to me.'
I saw the beloved King yesterday, and passed four im-
portant hours with him, experiencing all his former undis-
turbed confidence.
AH the rest by word of mouth.
I shall not return by way of Frankfort. All Prussia is
in a great state of irritation against Frankfort, as one man.
The affair was not well managed from the beginning.
I shall reward myself this evening with Gothe's ' Iphi-
genia,' and Beethoven's ' Adagio,' in the theatre.
God be with you, and all our precious ones !
Bunsen to Stockmar. (At Frankfort.)
[Translation.] Berlin : 4th August, 1848.
G. will have communicated to you the motives which
have dictated my resolution; on that subject there will
hardly be any difference of opinion between us, for no spring
of action can be suffered to enter into contention with
honour and duty.
I find a conflict existing, apparently not to be reconciled.
I must consider Berlin, in several points, to be in the right.
I perceive the impossibility for Prussia to act otherwise
than is demanded by the truly spontaneous and natural
popular feeling ; and how can I then be doubtful what I
have to do, having served Prussia thirty years, having
interwoven my own interests most closely with its good or
ill fortunes, being bound to the King by every tie of grati-
tude and affection ? Still I feel the need of opening my
heart entirely to you upon the thing itself.
Now, my deeply-honoured friend, for our meeting again
in London ! I do not intend to go through Frankfort ; it
could be of no use, and, besides, I believe that as soon as
Billow shall have come back with the reply, it would be
well for me to be in London without loss of time ; things
120 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
do not stand well with us there since the refusal of the
ratification.
Continue to me your affection and friendship, so infinitely
precious to me !
Suns en to his Wife.
[Translation.] Berlin: Monday, 7th August, 1848.
My stay was of pressing necessity, and I cannot be
thankful enough for the impression that my presence here
has made. That the King's former affection towards me has
flowed forth afresh notwithstanding all obstacles, and that
his confidence in me has been, if possible, more unlimited
than ever must be mentioned first ; but I believe I have
also found favour with the Ministers, to all of whom I was
a stranger, and to the greater part of them an object of sus-
picion ; and from the public in general no unfavourable
voice has reached me.
I believe I have not been useless here, as to several points
of our public life ; but the place for my remaining in is not
Berlin, and still less Frankfort, as yet. The men of weight
there have decided upon a course in which I could not go
with them even were I not withheld by their opposition to
Berlin. . . .
My thoughts upon the condition of things here I shall
write down at Totteridge, as soon as I have the longed-for
happiness of being with you again, all you beloved beings !
I only add further that everything went off quietly yester-
day, when the Clubs and the Trades had arranged a so-
called German festival procession to the Kreuzberg, with
German banners and songs of German unity while 4,000
peasants from Teltow, in the country, with Prussian banners
and a cross borne before them, advanced towards the same
point from the other side but, happily, the latter were by
two hours the earliest, had made their speeches, and sung
their songs, and drawn off, before the first mentioned arrived,
to go through similar evolutions. All went off quietly.
JET. 57] LETTER TO ARCHDEACON HARE. 121
The street riots here have decidedly no significance
further than the evil effect of increasing by practice the
lawlessness of the rabble of all sorts, and the boys more
particularly. The spirit of agitation rules the town. . . .
12th August. The Frankfort people are in the wrong. I
set my conscience and common sense against them all, being
at the same time their best friend, and convinced that they
will repent not having followed my way. Too late, perhaps !
but yet I hope the best. . . .
Bunsen to Archdeacon Hare.
4, Carlton Terrace: 9th November, 1848.
MY DEAR FKIEND, I have .been long silent, but you never
will have doubted that my soul is continually with you, as I
know, to my inexpressible comfort, that yours is with me.
But I suppose, that there was little correspondence in the
time of the Deluge, at least between those who were aware
it was a Deluge. I feel that I have entered into a new period
of life. I have given up all private concerns, all studies and
researches of my own, and live entirely for the present poli-
tical emergencies of my country, to stand or to fall by and
with it. Ete oluvoQ apiaroQ (II. xii. 243). Hector's creed
is mine. In this spirit I have written a small volume of
about fifteen sheet& print, * Deutschland's Vergangenheit
und Zukunft.' It consists of three parts, as an introduction,
two chapters
"Wohin gelit Europa ? (whither tends Europe ?)
Wohin geht Deutschland ? (whither tends Germany ?)
Then twelve chapters on the past, to prove that the Germans
have ever been one nation, and that a federal one, and to
explain why their constitution was not completed and per-
fected before. The last part contains a political analysis of
the principles according to which the Federal Constitution
of the United States may be applied to Germany. Of course
I agree with Gagern that the German Empire cannot now
122 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1848
include the Austrian provinces, but that the two Empires,
Germany proper and Austro- Germany, may be connected
by a compact of eternal peace and unity (Bundesverwcundt) .
Bunsen to his Wife. (At Totteridge.)
London: 28th November, 1848.
. . . All accounts from Berlin are good, as far as they go ;
the revulsion strong and general in favour of the King. The
Silesian country has offered two millions cities like Mag-
deburg (even) have offered to pay their taxes at once, be-
forehand, for 1849. I enclose an admirable letter from the
leader of the moderate Liberals (Harkort, a Westphalian)
addressed to the workpeople. . . .
To the Same.
[Translation.]
London: Saturday morning, early, 9th December, 1848.
God be thanked ! the Constitution which the King has
given (octroyee) is not the old project, but a much-improved
one ; and has much of that which I desire. I thank you for
your letter. To have your approbation and agreement in all
that I do is my highest reward, and therefore my pleasure
in your expressions has been indescribable.
Now the news the Emperor of Austria has abdicated in
favour of his nephew.
The King has dissolved the Assembly, dismissed Man-
teuffel, retained Brandenburg as President, and in the other
Ministerial posts has placed men of Liberal principles. The
Constitution is octroyee, to be in future discussed. Prussia
saved, and Germany too !
Contemporary Notice, from the Diary of a Daughter.
Totteridge Park: Monday, llth December, 1848.
My dearest father and Baron Stockmar arrived in the
afternoon, when we had almost given them up, and joined
JEr. 57] SUMMONED TO BERLIN. 123
ns in walking on the terrace. They talked of the Prussian
Constitution, of which my father promised later to give us
a full account. I wish I could put down in detail all they
said about it ; on the whole they were well satisfied, but
Stockmar insisted that there was much in the old project
which ought not to have slipped into the Constitution. One
article led to a discussion upon the abolition of the punish-
ment of death ; Stockmar said he was for limiting the appli-
cation of it as much as possible, but quite against its total
abolition even in political crimes, which, as he said, are often
more serious in their consequences than any private offence.
His reasons for this were, first, that he thought private re-
venge, for the prevention of which the severity of law was
enacted, could not be prevented without it ; and, secondly,
that on the masses fear of death would exert a preventive
influence impossible in the case of any other punishment. A
French statesman having been named, whom my father was
willing to consider an * honest man,' even though disapprov-
ing his conduct, Stockmar said, ' Much understanding is
required to be an honest man in public affairs, understand-
ing is necessary for a man to know whether he actually is
honest or not ; a man may wind round and round in a laby-
rinth of action for twenty-five years, supposing himself to
be honest ; and no^ be so at last.'
At the commencement of 1849 Bunsen was again
summoned to Berlin, to be consulted on the relations
between Prussia and the Germanic Body, in which he
took a lively and unceasing interest. There can be no
doubt that the 'great work' to which he refers was to
induce the King to accept the Imperial Crown of the
new German Empire. Bunsen was ardently favour-
able to this measure, which the King finally refused
to adopt.
124 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849.
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.] Hotel des Princes, Berlin : 12th January, 1849.
I am doing well, having remained in bed till noon, fasting
upon barley-water. Last night I returned from the Palace
at nine o'clock, voiceless, after four hours' incessant discus-
sion. The King's reception of me was most kind and hearty.
I enclose his letter, which met me at Potsdam. As soon as
we were closeted, I said to the King, I was sure he could
not believe I had meant what he at first supposed, by the
words of my letter. 'A kiss,' said the King; 'it is all
right ' and a hearty kiss was my ' yes.'
I reserve all further particulars till my return. I feel
almost certain that I shall depart the 19th or 20th for
Frankfort, and be with you the first week of February.
There is nothing now for me to do here. The 22nd Feb-
bruary may change the face of affairs about Easter. In
the meantime bene vixit, qui bene latuit.
; I met Count Brandenburg, the Prime Minister, at the
King's nothing could be more kind than his reception of
me : and all he said was in my way of thinking. I must
make quarantine to-day and to-morrow, to recover the shock
of this most severe journey. This laying-up is quite a God-
send, otherwise I should be talking myself to death. Abeken
keeps me au courant of what passes. Lepsius, Gelzer, Holl-
weg, Pertz, Gerhard, are talking to me which is a great
treat. I do not believe I shall write to you again from
Berlin, but Charles will, who is very helpful.
To the Same.
[Translation.]
Frankfort: Hotel de Russie : Saturday, 26th January, 1849.
.... At length I feel my heart to be free to write to you.
When I am in grief, I am like a horse, enduring in silence :
and that has been my condition until a week ago, when,
after two weeks of distress and anxiety, such as I never ex-
perienced before, the King suddenly conceded all that I had
JET. r>7] LETTEK TO HIS WIFE. 125
been up to that moment craving and supplicating for in vain.
In three minutes all was concluded, which it had seemed as
if months, and even revolutions, might be required to effect.
(The details you shall hear when we shall be again united -
I hope, at the latest, in a fortnight.) As soon as this victory
was accomplished, I resolved for once to take my fate into
my own hands : and proposed immediately to go to Frank-
fort, whither at the same time the official Declaration was
despatched. The ostensible reason of my going was * to con-
fer in the matter of the Schleswig-Holstein instructions,'
and then receive at Berlin the definitive instruction. But I
was also empowered to speak openly to Gagern what I
should deem necessary in order to bring the great work to an
end, with God's gracious help, and not conceal, what the
King had said to his Ministers and friends, ' that in the main
point he held one and the same opinion with me.'
Wherefore I arrived, after a journey of adventures, on
Thursday evening, the 24th, at this place, yet too late to go
to Kamphausen, who had invited a numerous party to meet
me : yesterday I talked the whole over with him : he looks
upon me as his political friend.
Then I went to Gagern, and we were soon united in
opinion as to the main point : to-day all has been arranged
in detail. I have said nothing yet of Lord Cowley, who
is the first of English diplomatists. He is as German as
myself, and is most helpful to Gagern with the best advice.
He is penetrated with the conviction, that if we do not
succeed in carrying through the work within three weeks,
a terrible revolution may ensue, and is even now at the door.
He received me at a splendid banquet, after which Banks
and I remained with him till late at night.
Now, do you say with me, ' Lord, I am not worthy of the
mercies Thou hast shown unto me ! ' Not that we are yet at
the goal ! on the contrary, the conflict begins now in earnest,
and we may all perish in it but that is in the hands of God.
I care no more for the rest of life, if only that great object is
126 MEMOIRS OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1849
attained : such a fatherland is worth any sacrifice. It goes
hard with me to break off from here : and yet I suppose my
return is necessary for the work of peace. Could I so ar-
range things as that a written communication were sufficient
without first coming myself, I should remain in Germany
until the decision. The 15th February is known to be fixed
for the breaking out of a Republican Revolution in Germany
with fire and bloodshed. Yet not a hair will fall from our
heads without the will of God, and I fear nothing.
I think, at the latest, I shall go to Berlin on Thursday
next, the 31st.*
Two extracts from a Memoir by Bunsen, on the
subject of his journey to Berlin and Frankfort in the
months of January and February, 1849, and of subse-
quent events finished in June of the same year
may be inserted in this place, as an indication of the
severe suffering- to which his feelings, both as a Ger-
man and as a devoted friend of his King, were exposed
during those days, and, in fact, almost to the end of
his days on earth.
First Extract.
[Translation.]
I departed from Frankfort, February 10th, in joyful
thankfulness for the success of my negotiations, for all the
kindness I had found, and for the consolation and confirma-
tion of belief, which I had obtained as a provision against
the awful future, in the heart of the German nation. Never
had I been possessed with a clearer intuition of the fact that
Germany is one country, and that Germans have the desti-
nation, the means, the strength, and the courage, to become
the first nation of Europe.
* The answer to this letter, dated 1st February, contained an exhor-.
tation to Bunsen, rather ' to remain a few weeks longer, to carry through
by influence what only influence could accomplish.'
<ZBT. 57] MEMOIR OF EVENTS AT BERLIN. 127
On Sunday morning, 1 1th February, at half-past seven, I
was again at Berlin. I wrote directly a report to the King,
that I might not later have to write one in greater detail.
With respect to the Schleswig affair, I said that the King's
peaceable intentions and proposals had met with a willing
and cheerful acceptance. As to Germany, I stated five pro-
positions as decided : the hereditary principle ; the revision
of the Constitution, yet without adjournment ; the necessity
that Prussia should declare herself, in the spirit of the Cir-
cular note of 23rd January, ready to take the lead (without
Austria) in the Federal movement, at the same time leaving
it to every other member to enter into it or not ; lastly,
urging that the lever of Frankfort should not be broken.
When I now read through the four pages of this letter, and
contemplate the course of the last two months, my heavy
heart is yet more weighed down.
The King answered me instantaneously and in haste, the
same day, that of all that he would do nothing ; the course
entered upon was a wrong done to Austria ; he would have
nothing to do with such an abominable line of politics, but
would leave that to the Ministry (at Frankfort) : whenever
the personal question should be addressed to him, then would
he reply as one of the Hohenzollerns, and thus live and die
as an honest man. '
Very soon after I received from the Ministers the commen-
tary to this utterance. As soon as I had left Berlin for
Frankfort the King had veered round at once ; a secret cor-
respondence was carried on by himself with Olmiitz ; the
necessity of the existence of the Chambers, and of an under-
standing with them, was no longer taken into account ; the
King would not give up politics ; on the contrary, he would
begin now really to direct them, and that alone. I was glad
to have already announced to the King my departure for
Wednesday. I was received with kindness. The King read
to me his letter to Prince Albert, of which I was to be the
bearer, in which he said, ' He had never repented in such a
128 MEMOIES OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1849
degree of any step as of that which. I had advised him to
ta've, desiring that he, the Prince, should hear from myself
what I had to say on the subject.'
The King communicated to me further the artful letter of
the King of Wiirtemberg, who was now entirely won over
by Austria. I was to observe from that how all the world
was against Prussia.
On the same evening I wrote to Kamphausen, to whom,
with Vincke and Gagern, I had given the right hand of fel-
lowship in faithful adherence to the German cause, entreat-
ing that Berlin be considered the centre of gravity in Grer-
man affairs, and that he and the other Prussian deputies
would hasten hither to the opening of the Chambers. I
wrote also to Vincke. I took leave of the King after he rose
from the dinner table ; towards the end he became as affec-
tionate as he used to be formerly, and touched no more on
painful points. He dwelt upon the comfort he had in des-
perate moments experienced in faith and prayer, assuring
me that even in the night between the 19th and 20th of
March the last year he had been wholly without fear or
anxiety for his life.
[The 'great misunderstanding' of the night of the 19th
March, 1848, remains a secret. An aide-de-camp (whose
name no one knows) brought an order, in the King's name,;
'that the troops should withdraw,' instead of which the
King had commanded ' that the troops should withdraw
towards the palace.' This enigma nobody could or would
solve to me ; but General N. assured me that at twelve
o'clock on that night, the King was resolved to retreat out
of the town with the troops, and to invest it ; then began
a state of wavering, until all was too late !]
I left the King with tears, silently and with a heavy heart,
Wednesday, 14th February. That evening, I was at Lord
Westmoreland's dinner-party ; having had in the morning an
animated scene with Meyendorf, to whom I communicated
the main points of the Memorandum. He endeavoured to
^ET. 57] MEMOIR OF EVENTS AT BERLIN. 129
intimidate me. 'You know that you have never before
spoken of Norway as an example of the form of federation
you have let yourself be talked over to that in Frankfort ;
but that is a state of war ! I am working against you ; my
position is inimical, <fcc.' I rejoined, with entire composure,
' I request you to refrain from that high tone, which makes
no impression upon me. I could also speak peremptorily,
but it were better we should confer tranquilly. You know
well, that I used those same words to you, " the relation of
Norway to Sweden must form the standard, "before my de-
parture from this place to Frankfort ; but, moreover, you
must know better than I do, that Count Nesselrode, in a
despatch to Budberg, expressed approbation of the "form
of Norway ." ' He thereupon softened (whether ashamed or
not) into a tone of conciliation, and closed with honeyed
words.
Thus passed the last day at Berlin ; but the evening
brought me yet an hour of refreshment with the Prince and
Princess of Prussia. The arrogance of Austria had irritated
the Prince.
I saw Pertz ; and then hastened, late as it was, to the
beloved Lepsius, with whom I met some young and Ger-
man-minded friends, from two of whom (one from Niirn-
berg, one from Bam/berg) I obtained many useful notes
towards my ' Essay on the Constitution.' We drank
together to the well-being of Germany, and parted at ten
o'clock, when Abeken accompanied me to the railway.
At eleven o'clock in the morning of Saturday, 17th Feb-
ruary, I reached Carlton Terrace, after a delightful journey
through the moonlight and the early morning- sunshine of
spring, from Dover.
I announced myself to Lord Palmerston, one day sooner
than I had promised to return ; and then drove with my
beloved ones to our favourite Totteridge.
As I had quitted Frankfort with the longing desire to be
enabled, there in the centre of German life, to live and act,
VOL. II. K
130 MEMOIKS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1849
so did I quit Berlin with a physical repugnance against the
thought either of living or dying there. A general con-
sciousness of dissatisfaction had come over me already in
1845, which in 1848 strengthened into disgust, and now
were moral indignation, dejection, and grief fixed perma-
nently in my heart. More than ever did I feel myself a
foreigner in the chief city of my fatherland, repelled even
in the very dwelling-house of my King. The antechamber
countenances recalled to my mind the condition of 1806 ;
there was no free spirit, no fresh and unshackled heart, no
human sympathies among all those human forms there
seated or gliding about. (An enumeration follows.) Lastly,
X., .... now the organ of Meyendorf for communication
with the King, by means of whom the King was plied every
morning with all the bits of intelligence that could be
found likely to irritate and displease him, at one time,
the rudeness of the Frankfort orators, at another, the so-
called insurrectional plans and utterances of Gagern ;
again, the complaints of princes, of noblemen, and of the
well-disposed, who felt themselves oppressed (no matter
where they were), even mixing suggestions relative to the
highest politics. Through this channel the Emperor of
Russia transmitted menaces to the King, by word of mouth
and in writing ; and thus were formed within the King's
inner Closet notions, plans, convictions, against which the
Ministers vainly contended, and secret correspondences,
which overruled politics and ruined diplomacy. Already
in 1848 I had discovered traces of this system of by-play,
and suffered from it ; the malicious letter of Lady to
Frau von Meyendorf came in this manner to the knowledge
of the King ; but now I had penetrated further behind the
scene, and could see and feel the destructive effects of the
political agitation ceaselessly carried on. Of the Court in
general the only positive characteristic among many nega-
tions, was that of enmity to the popular cause. Hum-
boldt's presence was a consolation, as well as here and
JET. 57] MEMOIR OF EVENTS AT BERLIN. 131
there a man of worth in office, known to me from former
times. The hatred of the official body, and of the party of
nobles, as such, which had persecuted me now during full
twenty years, came upon me in yet coarser distinctness
than ever, as well as their incapacity and the narrowness of
their views, which the exasperation of 1848 had but more
strongly brought to view. To Count Brandenburg I was
drawn by his inartificial kindness, and his manly devoted-
ness to the King ; but his entire previous course of action
was a censure upon mine, as mine was upon his. The
general impression made by countenances all around was
that of choking from suppressed rage. A real statesman
was nowhere to be seen ; and what could such an one have
attempted at Charlottenburg, in the present state of things ?
The King was resolved to direct all politics by himself
alone ; he would have a Dictatorship by the side of the
Constitution, and yet be considered a liberal constitutional
Sovereign ; whereas he regarded the constitutional system
to be one of deceit and falsehood. The faithfulness, the
discipline, and the bravery of the army, being the object of
his just pride, he reckoned upon being able to unloose the
political knot at last by means of the military ; for his noble
heart was corroded by habitual exasperation from the event
of the 19th and 21st March, 1848, which was more and
more transferred to Frankfort. Often did more liberal
thoughts and feelings emerge from the flood ; but the
surrounding influences and the secret communications
from Olmiitz and Munich allowed not of their permanence.
However much I struggled against the thought, I could
not be blind to the fact, that the noble King was preparing for
himself and the country a dark and difficult future, which
seemed inevitable ; humanly speaking, no help to be within
reach, at least as long as the King remained in Charlotten-
burg and Berlin. He might have been compliant with a
German Ministry of high intelligence, high station, and
European reputation ; but never with one merely COTTI-
ER
132 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849
posed of Prussian, Brandenburgian, Pomeranian, and Saxon
materials. The idea that subjects, and those such as he
felt to be inferior to himself both in abilities and experience,
should direct his politics, should in any degree hinder his
acting as he pleased, was intolerable to him. What in
earlier days, and even still in 1848, had appeared accidental
and transitory with him, now assumed a fixed and fateful
character ; and what was to my feeling the most painful, was
that I could not perceive the same high and truly royal
consciousness of right as existed formerly ; also that his
energy in action bore no proportion to his resolute bear-
ing and declaration of will ; that there were moments in
which he might be said to sink exhausted, rather than
to yield to argument ! after which giving way his inward
wrath was kindled. I felt myself ever bound to him by
affection and gratitude, but the bond of souls was torn
asunder, the hope that I had founded upon him had been a
delusion ; a nearer relation to him in the Ministry of the
State had become impossible, or must have closed in an
absolute breach.
All around I was aware of disesteem, mistrust, hatred,
indignation, directed against the King, by which my heart
was irritated as much as wounded ; he occasionally spoke
of abdication, and the idea that the act was, or might
become necessary, was in the heart of thousands. And
this in the case of a sovereign so rarely gifted, so noble
minded, towering so far above his fellows ; born to be
the beloved of his people, the jewel and ornament of the
age!
Thus did I leave Berlin, resolved never willingly to
return thither; which feeling has been more and more
confirmed. The four months which have since elapsed
have only formed one course of mental suffering, anxiety,
grief, pain, and vexation, with few glimpses of light ; and
I must call them the most distressful and afflicting of my
life.
Mt. 57] MEMOIE OF EVENTS AT BERLIN. 133
Secotid Extract.
[Translation.]
That which I regretted so deeply in Frankfort, that the
measure I had earnestly recommended before my journey
thither had not been put in force at the right time namely,
the exclusion of the Austrian members from the debates
upon a Constitution which, since the declaration of their
government at Kremsier, they could in no wise accept
soon revealed itself as the essential occasion of ruin to the
work which had so far proceeded. The Prussian Govern-
ments would not advance resolutely and firmly in the
direction of the 23rd January ; the directions despatched to
Kamphausen were good, but received no subsequent sup-
port ; the twenty- eight Governments acceded, in mere
mistrust of Prussia, or were induced later, by the delay of
Prussia in declaring herself, to act upon private and indi-
vidual views. They decided for the second reading, in spite
of all opposing considerations : and why ? because all confi-
dence in Prussia had vanished, and fear was in every heart.
The representations made were not attended to ; and Gagern
was under the necessity of yielding much to the Left, in
order to obtain the passing of any proposition. The posi-
tion of Kamphausen Became a difficult one, which difficulty
was further aggravated by the appearance of the arrogant
and inimical declaration of Austria. Some members deter-
mined to carry the question by storm ; but the hereditary
imperial dignity (Erbkaiserthmn) for Prussia fell through.
At length the question of chief ruler (Oberhaupt) was in all
form debated, and but a small majority declared for it, as
the Austrian members (all but three or four) voted in the
opposition.
Up to this time I had not resumed my correspondence
with the King ; I could not muster spirit to do so. The
Prussian Chambers began well, but afterwards they did
not keep up to their first standard. The entrance of Count
134 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849
Arnim into the Ministry was an indication how entirely
the politics of the King guided all. Billow became the
victim of his own consistency ; his resignation was, perhaps,
unavoidable, but the choice of Count Arnim, the man of
Metternich, the man of Cracow, would have seemed im-
possible, save to those who knew that the King was his
own Minister of Foreign Affairs, and only desired a passive
instrument, which should be agreeable to Austria.
On the 14th the King wrote to me, that Gagern was deter-
mined upon war with Denmark, but he (the King) would
not make that war ; that Welcker intended to have him
(the King) proclaimed Emperor, but that he would not ac-
cept the crown of shame. According to these declarations
I was desired to speak and act. I received this letter on the
30th, and the day after had intelligence of the vote for an
Emperor (290 assenting, and 248 members withholding
their votes), and could not further continue silent, but
urged his acceptance, quoting the saying, that ' acceptance
is the end of the beginning, but rejection the beginning of the
end.' (This was dated the morning of the 31st March.) The
evening of that day I received a letter of the 27th, in which
the King suggested * that I should as soon as possible break
off the connection with Frankfort, as I could not act accord-
ing to opposite instructions.' On the 26th I had received
from Berlin the most incredible directions in the Danish
matter, by which (but an error of the transcriber was after-
wards recognised) I should have been called upon to act as
much against my instructions as my convictions, and yet
upon my own responsibility. The King's counsel, therefore,
came to hand at the right moment, and I wrote back the
same evening, that I should the next day lay down my office
as German Plenipotentiary ; at the same time announcing
to the King that he must dismiss me, if the Danish line of
politics of Count Arnim was to be adhered to ; for I could
not sign the protocol which had been laid before me. I
!T. 57] MEMOIR OF EVENTS AT BERLIN. 135
was thoroughly disgusted with my position and all the trans-
actions.
This communication of mine arrived on the evening of the
day on which the King had received the Frankfort deputies.
Thus came round the precious season of Passion Week.
On Good Friday the King wrote to me that ' I must, for
God's sake, justify myself; if I had indeed said what Lord
Palmerston attributed to me, that I could receive no com-
mands from Berlin in the Danish negotiation, I must per-
ceive what he would be obliged to do.' This was a severe
trial ! I replied to the letter (which revealed the utter con-
fusion of the King's perceptions as to the nature of the
negotiation, as one carried on by the Central Power), on the
12th April, with a documentary statement of the history of
the plenipotentiary office in question.
Two days later I received the King's Easter letter, in
which was no mention whatever of the accusation ; but the
King entered kindly, and with tolerable composure, into the
reasons for which he neither could, nor ought to, act in the
matter of the Imperial Crown according to my counsel.
At the same time the Circular of the Ministry upon the
subject of the King's decision and reply came to hand ; of
which I sent a translation to Lord Palmerston, Lord John
Russell, and Sir Robert Peel, and transmitted to the King
the highly intelligent reply of the latter, in my answer of
the 17th of April. He expressed himself as 'fully aware
that great objections lay against acceptance ; but that re-
fusal might bring yet greater dangers, by the delay to be
apprehended in accomplishing a final arrangement. The
King, however, had given a strong proof of an unambitious
disposition.' I entered no further into the subject of the
King's decision, as that could have led to nothing; but
argued that nothing further remained, but, in the spirit of
the Constitution, to call a Revision-Parliament, together
with those Governments which were willing to unite. In
136 MEMOIRS OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1849
conclusion, I addressed myself to the King's conscience as to
his expressions regarding the cause of Schleswig-Holstein,
and implored him not to incur blame therein.
Meanwhile the Congress of Princes was opened, under the
presidency of Badowitz. I had always insisted that Rado-
witz would remain faithful to his former professions, and to
the sentiments he had expressed on the occasion of the voting
for the choice of an Emperor ; no one else, however, would
believe it ; but as for a successful result with the King, I
had my doubts as well. Those were sad weeks ! Anarchy,
civil war, insurrection, on all sides ! But excess of distress
brought at last a solution, as the Prussian army showed it-
self to be unbroken, while other thrones were shaken or
hurled down. The King's appeal of the 15th May was a ray
of light, which I joyfully hailed as such ; but the time was
gone for words to be effective !
The intelligence of the settlement with Hanover and Sax-
ony arrived on the morning of Whit Sunday (27th May),
not altogether unexpected by me ; for all things indicated
that result. The first sure intelligence I received was on the
day of the Queen's Drawing Room, on the 31st, from the
Hanoverian Minister ; and I mentioned it to the Queen her-
self, who, however, the next day (1st June, at the concert
at Court), expressed herself as still incredulous, and full of
distressed anticipations for Germany. At length, on the
2nd June, the document of the Constitution arrived. Stock-
mar and I recognised in it a sincere acknowledgment of
the tendency of the German endeavours, and a pledge of a
final and happy solution ; but the intrigues of Austria,
Bavaria, and of the Archduke John at Frankfort (to gain
time for other purposes), continued inactivity. I expressed
to the King my joyful congratulation, but also my appre-
hensions and suggestions as to the law of elections, and the
transition from dictatorship to constitutional rule : having
previously communicated to him a letter, written in his name
to Peel, in justification of the King's line of proceeding. I
JET. 57] CHANGE OF EESIDENCE. 137
also wrote to him again, on the 5th June, after the confer-
ences of Gotha, and the betrayal on the part of the Kings
of Hanover and Saxony.
An event which in the beginning of March, had not
been anticipated, the removal of the Prussian Lega-
tion from No. 4 to No. 9, Carlton Terrace, took place
in the third week of the month, when within two
days all our possessions were cleared out of one house
into the other, passing over the terrace so as to be as
little as possible within public observation : and the
family retreated to Totteridge before the night follow-
ing the last of those days. Seven remarkable years
had been past in the beautiful abode of Lord and
Lady Stuart de Rothesay : but however much it had
been deservedly valued, the gain in acquiring the
house of Mr. Alexander was incontestable, both as to
space, and amount of light, and also in the better
arrangement of rooms. A severe indisposition resulted
to Bunsen from exposure to the March winds when
superintending upon the terrace part of the work of
removal for the youthful period was now past in
which he could show himself proof against shocks to
body and mind ; and three days' rest in bed sufficed
not to remove the cough, with which he felt obliged
to go to a dinner-party at Lord Palmerston's, on
Wednesday, the 28th, and to the Drawing Room on
the 29th (marked in a contemporary letter as the first
rainy Court-day observed during seven years), to avoid
exciting a supposition of keeping out of sight from
diplomatic reasons. The present period answered to
that of the year before which followed the visit of his
Royal Highness the Prince of Prussia, when Bunsen
138 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849
was also seriously indisposed, in a manner now be-
coming distressingly frequent. But activity in ofncial
correspondence, far from having relaxed, seemed
rather to increase in feverish excitement in pro-
portion as the grounds of hope of any happy result
diminished more and more.
Mr. 57] FROUDE'S ' NEMESIS OF FAITH.' 139
CHAPTEE XIY.
CORRESPONDENCE.
' NEMESIS OF FAITH ' FROUDE CHRISTOLOGY OCCASIONAL MEMORANDA
RELATIONS WITH AUSTRIA OSBORNE HOUSE PRINCE ALBERT GREAT
EXHIBITION OF 1851 BUNSEN's SPEECH THE GORHAM JUDGMENT
DEATH OF SIR R. PEEL BROADLANDS DANISH AFFAIRS EGYPTIAN
STUDIES.
Bimsen to Max Miiller.
[Translation.] . Carlton Terrace: 22nd April, 1849.
YESTERDAY evening, and night, and this morning early, I
have been reading Fronde's ' Nemesis of Faith,' and am so
moved by it that I must write you a few lines. I cannot
describe the power of attraction exercised upon me by this
deeply- searching, noble spirit : I feel the tragic nature of
his position, and long have I foreseen that such tragical com-
binations await the souls of men in this island-world.
Arnold and Carlyle, 'each in his own way, had seen this long
before me. In the general world, no one can understand
such a state of mind, except so far as to be enabled to mis-
construe it.
In the shortcoming of the English mind in judging of
this book, its great alienation from the philosophy of Art is
revealed. This book is not comprehended as a work of Art,
claiming as such due proportions and relative significance
of parts ; otherwise many individuals would at least have
been moved to a more sparing judgment upon it, and in the
first place they would take in the import of the title.
This book shows the fatal result of the renunciation of
the Church-system of belief. The subject of the tale simply
140 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849
experiences moral annihilation ; but the object of his affec-
tion, whose mind he had been the means of unsettling in her
faith, burst through the boundaries which humanity has
placed and the moral order of the world imposes : they
perish both, each at odds with self, with God, and with,
human society : only for him there yet remains room for
further development. Then the curtain falls that is right,
according to artistic rule of composition ; true and necessary
according to the views of those who hold the faith of the
Church of England ; and, from a theological point of view,
no other solution could be expected from the book than that
which it has given.
But here the author has disclosed the inward disease, the
fearful hollowness, the spiritual death, of the nation's philo-
sophical and theological forms, with resistless eloquence ;
and, like the Jews of old, they will exclaim, ' That man is a
criminal ! stone him ! '
I wish you could let him know how deeply I feel for him,
without ever having seen him ; and how I desire to admon-
ish him to accept and endure this fatality, as, in the nature
of things, he must surely have anticipated it ; and as he has
pointed out and defended the freedom of the spirit, so must
he now (and I believe he will) show in himself, and make
manifest to the world, the courage, active in deed, cheerful
in power, of that free spirit.
Bunsen to Lucke.
[Translation.] London: Christmas, 1847.
(Sent off 25th April, 1 849.)
With you I long to confer upon Christology. Our points
of view cannot, I apprehend, be very far apart. And I
am convinced also that the rigorously rational line of argu-
ment (from Lessing and Kant to Schleiermacher, in what
may be considered the essence of his historical belief)
claims its place, not in our Universities only, but also in
the life of our congregations. If indeed no honest formula
JET. 57] CHRISTOLOGY. 141
of real concord should be possible between that view and
the other, as historically fixed in our Churches, then the
world will have but the alternative of becoming either
unchristian or Roman Catholic. But the one is as un-
worthy an anticipation as the other. My own personal
endeavours have ever tended, and now more than ever,
towards three points :
1. To bridge over that divergence for the life of the
congregation, not by means of formularies constructed by
speculative ratiocination by so-called dogmas, but by the
living act of worship ; in which (subjectively) all religion
takes its rise. Upon this point I can render honest account,
historically and speculatively ; yet I hold back until God
shall show me that it is time, and my conscience shall tell
me that I have made all parts clear to myself. But I learn
daily so much at least as to perceive how little I know.
2. To bring into full acknowledgment the Christian
element, first, theoretically, then, in the State, by pro-
moting the development of political freedom.
3. And lastly, in the Church (i. e. congregation, com-
munity of believers), by perfecting the diaconate, Chris-
tian socialism, or the system of mutual ministration.
To the faithful and conscious following up, however
feebly, of these three points, I find, after forty * years of
learning and of wandering,' now on the verge of my six-
tieth year, the unity of my life : and I am strengthened by
clinging to it in the midst of conflicting currents, the dis-
turbances and interruptions of my outward calling, and
the commotions of the inner man, as Antaeus by the em-
brace of his mother earth. This has been my ruling con-
sciousness since 1841, and to this, the closer acquaintance
with the Church of England, and with the decidedly
erroneous direction which she has taken since 1843, has
materially contributed, certainly not less than my critical
examination of the original sources of Christianity. The
hierarchical tendency now prevailing is untenable.
142 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849
From these words you will already gather my dissent
from the policy of the Eichhorn Ministry ; that is, from
the present mode of carrying out an originally just idea of
our piously-minded King, who however, since 1843, has
veered as much to the right hand as I myself to the left.
He is influenced by consideration of the destructive energy
which he attributes to unbelief in positive Christianity, as
taught in the churches, to enact limiting ordinances in
the domain of conscience. I have done my utmost by the
strongest statement of objections to clear the law of 30th
March from the stains which render it a mere * Edict of
Toleration ; ' and glad should I have been, could I have
converted it into a ' law establishing religious and con-
fessional freedom.' But I could not attain my object ; and
now the mode of execution is wrong too.
The wretched spectacle of a wholly lifeless Church and
theological system, as well as a clear consciousness of the
necessary and salutary consequences of critical enquiry,
has brought me to oppose more strenuously than ever all
government of the Church by the State, and to advance
by all means in my power a purified faith. In my opinion,
the King has fallen into two essential errors, in spite of
my faithful and persevering warnings : first, His Majesty
did not accept the saving formulary of Ordination, pro-
posed by the General Synod of 1846 ; far less did he
introduce into all provinces the Synodal system. Then, he
has renewed, on the contrary, the old system (long since
untenable) of consistorial administration, and endeavoured
to govern with it. I cannot discern how the King should
get clear of the consequences of these errors as long as he
lives. To turn again into the right way is, humanly speak-
ing, under given circumstances, impossible. I scarcely need
assure you that, for my own part, I have long arrived at the
conviction that my calling cannot be in this direction.
My 'Church of the Future ' and 'Ignatius ' have both
been written under an irresistible pressure from within ;
JET. 57] CHRISTOLOGY. 143
but also with, self- congratulation on the opportunity given
me of rendering any mistake on the part of the King with
regard to my views impossible. The Ministry of Public
Instruction is also not to be thought of for me, in the
present direction of the King's Government. The more,
therefore, do I endeavour to fight for the cause on literary
ground. ' Marcion,' and 'Hegesippus,' and the 'Tables,'
are as good as finished, but ' Egypt ' demands two years
more, and, until that time is over, I shall think much,
but work little, on the domain of Christian doctrine and
history.
And, here, Christology claims attention in the first place.
I start from this axiom : that Christology, as taught in the
Churches, cannot be brought in union with the right inter-
pretation of Scripture, with the historical views, the specu-
lative thought, and the moral consciousness, of the time
we live in. Therefore, I am somewhat angered at the
second edition of Dorner, and do not agree with Mtzsch in
his dogmatic writings.
The question I desire to put to you is the following :
.Does the doctrine of the Logos, as still understood by
Origen, in connection with the theory of identity, as founded
by Schelling, but without losing the conception of per-
sonality, open a way of reconciliation with the ultimate
results of that criticism of which Schleiermacher, in his
character as Exegete, is an embodiment ?
I placed this very question before Tholuck in August last
year, and he admitted to me that he had arrived at the
same point ; here, alone, he believed, was the solution to
be sought for. We must reduce the difference to that
between the infinite and the finite, i.e. infinitum in finito,
the Eternal in time.
At the first attempt to carry through that view, I am
encountered by the Gorgon-head of Pelagianism, which
Nitzsch held before me in all its terrors when we first con-
ferred upon my theory of self-sacrifice. My axiom, ' Christ
144 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [-1849
is deified by His unique and unapproached sanctity,' they
denounce as heretical. And yet this, and no less, is asserted
by Luther's greatest teacher, the godly author of the
' Theologia Germanica.' To me it is quite clear that the
entire theological doctrine of Grace, as opposed to free
agency, is a theological error and confusion ; as incorrect
as its opposite, but not a whit more true.
Schleiermacher's celebrated passages in arts. 13 and 93
to 98 are not, to my mind, founded in fact. His reference
to John iii. 10, for /uovoyev/'/e as Christ's own expression, is,
to say the least, not quite clear. The above-named passages
appeared essential to him for his argument. But that
cannot make them true for me from the historical point of
view. And speculatively also they are not, I believe, esta-
blished. I can only agree with Schleiermacher's art. g.g.,
in so far as the writer separates the necessary basis of
belief from the two facts there mentioned.
For this reason, I consider the Schleiermacher school in
that respect not of a durable but a transitory nature. Just
as little do I perceive help in Hes^el, less still in his Tu-
bingen followers. Finally, Schelling's last attempts will
not bear examination, full as they are of splendid flashes of
discovery, which, however, cannot be denied to Hegel either.
Thus then it might appear as though enlightening en-
quiry had not yet advanced since the days of Lessing and
Kant (' Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts,' and * Religion
innerhalb der Granzen der reinen Vernunft ') ; but all that
lives in me stubbornly resists such a conclusion, though
I am conscious of standing on the basis of those two
great men.
The self-consciousness of Christ must not be assailed. But
the question is (a question which Schleiermacher too sug-
gests but discards), whether that self-consciousness could
otherwise declare itself than within the general conditions
of humanity, i.e. according to nationality and personality.
And a second question is this, whether, in order to believe
JEx. 57] CHRISTOLOGY. 145
in Him as a Redeemer, we must nevertheless acknowledge
that for that self-consciousness it was indispensable to be ut-
tered as of a prototype, i.e. self-beginning (jselbstanfanglicli),
for otherwise, Christ cannot be considered as First Cause ?
The Father alone is free from the limitations of the tem-
porary and transitory. The Son 'was in the form of a
servant,' as long as His appearance on earth lasted. But
is it less Divine, to reveal the essential nature of God in
the purest, most universally intelligible form of human
reality, than in a (supposed) supernatural mode of appear-
ance ? That which under the one supposition is attributed
to the appearance, the other acknowledges as existing in
the eternal cause of the appearance. Why may not both
suppositions subsist together ? We have not now to deal
with scoffers like Voltaire, or with negations like those
of the Encyclopaedists and Materialists : but with a serious
philosophy of the mind, and a critically-founded, positive
system ; and, in great part, with minds honest and serious,
who accept and honour the Scripture. Need we be im-
peded by the falsely so-called Apostles' Creed, or the pre-
eminence therein given to the mythical deposit of the deep
impression produced by the Divine revelation in Christ,
which has become predominant in the Churches ? Must
this so be, and can it thus remain ? Why should not faith
in the Divine revelation be true and vigorous when it
assumes that man is the highest exponent of that Divine
revelation given to us mortals ?
It was my intention only to write to you a few words to
shadow forth what I desire to discuss with you, by word of
mouth, after our thirty years' separation. I hope what I
have said will not frighten you from complying with my
invitation to come and see us.
(Conclusion, dated London, 26th April, 1849.) I cannot
send off my letter written sixteen months ago, without a
sign of life and an explanation. I let the letter lie, in the
wish thoroughly to prove in my own mind the view therein
VOL. II. L
146 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849
stated. The year 1848 drove the vessel of my life into
storms and tempests, and I was shaken inwardly as well as
outwardly by the violent swaying of the billows : but this
present Easter I have granted myself a few days of contem-
plation, and the result has been to find the system con-
solidated into a part of myself, and living with my own
life.
Christology can never be rightly established, without a
due development of the wholly neglected doctrine of the
Spirit. For the Spirit of God is the power which reveals
and realises God in the community of believers, constituting
the mystery of spiritual unity which through successive
generations is preserved in the multitude of individual
souls.
To the whole period from Origen to Luther I feel an
utter stranger. After Origen the Church- system, not the
congregational but the hierarchical, was finally established,
in opposition to that of Moses, as a new Law, and went on
growing and developing itself up to the time of Luther. The
new birth, however, is slow and difficult. Christ must and
will become living flesh and blood nationally, as He did
humanly as He is becoming in the community of believers.
Universal priesthood, instead of the former exclusive order ;
works of love instead of professions of faith ; belief in God
within us (i. e. Christ), with such awe and humility as can
alone preserve Him to our souls ; that is the Religion and
Church of the future. All besides must fall, and is already
spiritually annihilated. The Bible remains as the conse-
crated centre of the world's history, from the standing-
point of the individual consciousness of God.
In England everything, except the moral principle in
the form of the fear of God, is deathlike. Thought itself is
crudely rationalistic ; public worship in general lifeless ;
the vivifying spirit startles like a spectre. The fall may be
terrific, like that of ancient Rome ; see my ' Egypt,' vol. i.,
the chapter on the Learning of the Romans.
JEr. 57] OCCASIONAL MEMOEANDA. 147
With us, the theological reaction will pass away like the
political, and the anti- theological revolution like her daugh-
ter the Red Republic. We are still the chosen people of
God, the Christian Hellenes. I live my intellectual life in
my native country.
Occasional Memoranda, in Bunsen's handwriting.
[Translation.] July, 1849.
. . . Meanwhile, English conditions and the politics of
Great Britain did not give me much occupation. Ireland
alone reminded the English that they had a point of mor-
tality. All that is false, corrupt, decaying, decrepid, over-
done in their whole social system, they feel but as something
artificial, confused, inconvenient, without such a sense of
inherent evil as should rouse them to a thorough change.
To speak with the English on foreign politics, is
only worth while on the Roman question. All were agreed
that France has cheated not only England, Austria, Naples,
the Pope, and the Romans, but also herself. On the sub-
ject of Germany the Tories were inimical, the Whigs apathe-
tic, the Radicals alone reasonable. Only with Peel could
I speak on the subject quite openly and with confidence.
In the course of the day, I regularly saw Stockmar once,
if not twice ; we lived in German politics, as to which
he, as usual, saw all things in the present in still darker
colours than I did myself both, however, agreeing in our
faith in the great future of the fatherland. The greatness
of events had banished from the mind of each of us all re-
serve ancj. misgiving, and each lay open and plain before the
other. Our compulsory inactivity was the hardest to bear
for both ; at length he departed on the 3rd for Germany.
In my mind the resolution was more than ever confirmed,
to remain at my post as long as duty (i.e. opportunity of
being of use) should retain me : but, as soon as an outlet
should present itself, to consecrate the yet remaining days
and years to enquiry and reflection upon the highest
L 2
148 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849
things. Meanwhile, I determined to live now as much as
possible in the country, at Totteridge.
The projected Design of a Union with Austria.
Even after the events of 1848 and my own experience in
1849, it was to me as a thunder-clap in a clear sky to find
on Friday, 20th July, in the Cologne paper, the intelligence
that Prussia had made to Austria a proposal of Union, in 15
Articles according to which the two empires (Germany
and Austria) should have one and the same diplomacy,
therefore one line of politics, one political government, and
one Federal Court, consisting of four plenipotentiaries, under
the presidency of Austria, to decide upon peace and war.
Only one thing seemed incredible, that Austria should not
at once have accepted the proposal. But this may be thus
explained : first, by the boundless arrogance of Schwarzeii-
berg ; secondly, by his consciousness of what Austria in-
tends, as soon as Hungary shall be subdued that is, to re-
nounce all the mummery of Constitutionalism which has
without doubt long been agreed upon in confidential con-
ference with Russia ; besides which, the design is in itself
impracticable. Austria, with her own complications of
States and of policy, can represent no German interests in
foreign affairs ; it might as well be decidedly pronounced,
that * Austria should direct the politics and diplomacy of
both empires, as she long has done.'
An hour later, at one o'clock, in a conference with Pal-
merston, I represented to him the thing as credible, saying,
' That is the result of your policy you would not have a
German Federal State, and thus you drive us to throw our-
selves into the arms of Austria, therefore into those of Rus-
sia ; an empire of seventy millions will, at least, suffice to
command consideration for us, and the rest will come of
itself. To myself, of course, this turn of things is very
painful, for if the project of a Union does not succeed,
there will be endless confusion and internal conflicts ; while,
Mr. 57] EELATIONS WITH AUSTKIA. 149
if it succeeds, yon and France will turn your enmity against
us as the world's chief anarchy ; in either case, Germany
loses her proper national course of politics that of a solely
defensive Federal State, for which her nature, language,
and history have long been preparing her. But the re-
establishment of the old connection of States is impossible ;
and, equally so, the subsistence of the several German
States in single independence : wherefore nothing remains
to us (as the world has conspired against the German
Federal State) but fusion with Austria. See what will
come of this ! Officially I know nothing, but I believe in
the thing as announced by the newspapers. We may be
obliged to guarantee to Austria all her possessions, inclu-
sive of Lombardy and Venice, and of course of Hungary.'
Palmerston endeavoured first to treat the matter as absurd
and impossible, but I would not allow him thus to dismiss
it, and at last he said, ' Well, the tendency towards a Ger-
man Union was laudable, only it appeared merely good as a
plaything ; could it be realised, it would be beneficial, and it
would entirely suit the policy of this country. But the
plan to erect such a monster of an empire is another thing.
That would be a public nuisance. And what a policy for
Germany to guarantee to Austria the possession of Italy !
It would produce a hostile position of England and France
against it, it would be a renewal of the Holy Alliance,
only in a more practical and formidable form. That is im-
possible.' I requested that he would keep in mind what I
had told him.
That same Friday afternoon, 20th July, I took oppor-
tunity, when Drouyn de 1'Huys paid me his visit on
assuming his post, to state to him academicamente the whole
matter. He apprehended quickly all that I detailed, and
gave me in return his concise and correct French formulary
at once :
' Le retablissement de Fancienne confederation est impos-
sible : les jEtats ne sauraient se maintenir dans leur isole-
150 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849
ment. Le projet de Francfort, tel qu'il a ete repris et
remodele a Berlin, donne a I'Allemagne la consistence ne-
cessaire, sans Ini donner une force ou tendance aggressive :
elle tient la balance vis-a-vis de FAutriche et de la Russie.
Si ce projet ne se realise pas, a cause de la jalousie et de
1' amour propre dynastique, il y aura ou la republique ou
1'asservissement sous 1'Autriche. La republique remuerait
1'Europe : la monarchie de 70 millions reproduirait les in-
convenients de celle de Charles V et du Traite de la Saiiite
Alliance.'
He said further, that when he first became minister,
they had confined themselves to a close observation of the
German movement ; but they were disturbed and brought
to anxious consideration by the aggressive demeanour of
Germany in every corner, in Schleswig and in Limburg
speeches had been heard treating of the recovery of Alsatia
and of the Baltic provinces. A German Federal State, as
I had described it, would cause no serious danger to France,
and would therefore bring about no inimical feeling. He
abominated the thought of the union of all Germany with
Austria.
For refreshment after this long day's work, I visited,
at six o'clock, my truly esteemed colleague Bancroft, who
agreed in my view of things, and communicated to me
the President's instructions on the subject. The American
diplomacy outruns the English by far. Already, on the
22nd March, Squier, as secret negotiator, was on his way
towards Leon, from whence to proceed to Nicaragua, to
protest against the giving up of toll.
Osborne House.
The melancholy intelligence and gloomy prospects, under
which I left London on the 25th July, were but too well
confirmed by what I learnt at Osborne House, and by the
letters which followed me thither. On the 26th, I had
just time, after reading what the post had brought, to
^Ex. 57] THE ROYAL FAMILY AT OSBORNE. 151
despatch a letter written by Prince Albert to the Prince of
Prussia, together with a letter of my own to his Royal
Highness. Prince Albert had encouraged me to send his
letter by the common post ; he had no objection to its
being known, wherever the packet might by the way be
opened, how he condemned the acts and the persons by
whom Germany was betrayed, as he had written his
opinion to the Prince of Prussia. And why should it not
be a matter of indifference to me, that whether on this or
that side of the sea, my convictions should be read ? It is
long since my ships have all been burnt, and that I have
given counsel to friend and foe, without consideration of
consequences to myself! I shall maintain my post here
as long as I can, as a fortress of freedom ; but I shall not
withhold a word of warning, in order to keep off the
attacks that menace me, nor shall I go forth to meet them.
All that I long after is beyond these trammels ; leisure
for reflection on the Divine which subsists in things human ;
and for writing, if God enables me to do so. I live as one
lamed ; the pinions that might have furthered my progress
are bound, yet not broken.
Sir James Stephen is to become Professor of Modern His-
tory at Cambridge. He intends to lecture upon French
History, and therewith to connect the general history of
European civilisation. I observed to Prince Albert, that
Stephen probably came to this determination from the
desire to make Guizot's work on the civilisation of France
and of Europe a foundation for his lectures ; but that pur-
pose was ill judged, for the great epochs in art and science
in the modern world belong to the Italians and the
Germans, and not to the French. Yet much may be said
for Guizot's opinion, that the French have exercised so
powerful an influence over the world ; they form the
medium between the practical English and the theoretical
German. They have always best understood how to coin
the gold of intelligence and bring it into circulation. But
their influence is diminishing.
1-52 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849
The important thing would be, that Stephen should
make of the Professorship of History a life-calling ; that he
should live at Cambridge, and unceasingly labour to in-
fluence the cultivation of mind in the youth of the Univer-
sity, by a well carried out course of historical instruction,
not only by aphoristic, dilettante lectures although even
such will constitute a step in advance. Stephen is said to
be evangelical in principle, but not fanatical or narrow-
minded, as is proved by his articles on Wilberforce and
Hannah More.
The Prince observed, when I had stated to him the
theory of Guizot as to the relative position of the three
nationalities to each other and to the world, that the
danger of the French was in licentiousness ; the English-
man's besetting sin was selfishness ; that of the German,
self-conceit. Every German knows all and everything
better than all others.
I remarked to the Prince, that the single-action (JEin-
spannigkeii) of the German was probably the consequence
of our imperfect political condition, the want of centrali-
sation ; that individualising in things intellectual was a
feature of character in the German, as federalism in things
political. But were there a sufficient central power opposed
firmly to this tendency, that would be just the requisite
condition of the highest and most beneficial civilisation.
England and France have a great advantage, in that each,
by the joint operation of the most distinguished intellec-
tual faculties to be found in each nation, can produce, and
represent on every given occasion, the very best within its
separate capacity ; whereby the measure is given of what
is attainable in that country the standard is not only
elevated but kept high.
During the autumn of this year two days were
spent at Fox How with Mrs. Arnold, wonderfully
supported both in body and mind ; Mr. and Mrs.
JEr. 58] THE AFKICAN EXPEDITION. 153
Wordsworth were found well in health in their
eightieth year, but utterly broken in spirit by the loss
of their daughter, Mrs. Guillenan, two years before.
The weather, unusually rainy during this expedition,
allowed an interval in which to take a glimpse of
some of the ' scenes in strong remembrance set,' to
which all had, in the year 1839, been introduced by
Dr. Arnold himself. On Saturday, 29th September,
the party left Fox How, and reached in the afternoon
Wootton Hall, in Staffordshire, from whence, two
days later, Bunsen returned to London.
Bunsen to his Wife. (At Llanover.)
Carlton Terrace : Wednesday, 14th November, 1849.
I am here, awaiting my African travellers, not yet ar-
rived. Richardson finds he must start to-morrow, as the
caravan for the Soudan leaves Ghat (a place already very
deep in the desert) on February 2nd. Mrs. Richardson ac-
companies him to Tripoli, where she awaits his return.
Fairbairn is coming to-day to take his Berlin Commis-
sioners in hand. Government has in a very handsome
despatch thanked me for the plan and the mission of the
two engineers. Stockmar arrived here on Monday, stayed
all yesterday to have a good talk with me ; will come again
this morning, and goes to Windsor in the afternoon.
Bunsen to Mrs. Waddington*
Carlton Terrace : Wednesday morning, 14th November, 1849.
MY DEAREST MOTHER, I cannot begin my day's work
before I have thanked you for your ever dear and precious
words of love and affection ! Dum spiro amo is the motto,
I think, of one of your seals, but certainly it is that of your
heart. You may believe me that I feel it ; and that I do
* This letter was the last ever written to her ; two months later she
had received the death-stroke.
154 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1849
so more and more, every time that I see yourself or your
words. And love is the seal which God's Spirit requires to
find upon our souls ; as one of the wisest and most pious of
the Fathers (Clemens of Alexandria) says in explaining the
saying of St. John to the same purpose, adding ' The Spirit
is Truth.' I wish all those who consider themselves be-
lievers would really believe in this word, and then certainly
the result must be love to God and their neighbour. All
our German speculation has at last come to this : that what
the human heart believes in faith, but cannot prove to be
true is true ; and that love is the infallible exponent of
faith in life. I believe also this to be at the bottom of
what the Saviour has said of the sin against the Holy
Ghost. There is no belief possible in Christ, without be-
lieving in the Spirit.
I am moved to write in this strain, because, although I
am now in town for diplomatic business, my mind is full of
the last three and a half happy days at Totteridge. I
have at last come to the point, which I have been striving
to obtain since 1817 'the Life of Christ ; ' and although
I must begin by clearing the porch and outer hall of the
temple, obstructed by the theologians still more than by
the philosophers, yet do I perceive the breath of life pro-
ceeding from the temple and its sanctuary. My dearest F.
and M. have assisted me so well, that we have already cut
out and pasted together, in the true chronological order,
more than one-third of the four Gospels : I directing, M.
finding the passage and cutting it out with her neat fingers,
and F. receiving and registering all the pieces, and, after
examination, finally pasting each in its proper place. When
we tested our work on Tuesday morning, not one verse was
found missing or misplaced. When I return, I hope to go
on in the same manner, pasting in the evenings, and writing
the outlines of the explanatory book during the day. When
I have done, I shall go to Herstmonceaux, to read all to
Hare.
2Er. 58] THE NEW PRUSSIAN CONSTITUTION. 155
And now, my dear mother, I will harness myself, as Car-
lyle says, for the day's work.
Ever your grateful and affectionate son,
BUNSEN.
Bunsen to his Wife. (At Llanover.)
Saturday, 24tn November, 1849.
The expedition to Central Africa is settled. We are on
the eve of great discoveries in Eastern Africa. Kilimand-
jaro has been touched by travellers' hands it is a moun-
tain like Chimborazo, an extinct volcano, 22,000 feet high.
The sources of the Mle must be on the western slope,
whither Redmann is gone.
Bunsen to Archdeacon Hare.
London: 10th January, 1850.
. . . Meanwhile there has been a most lamentable
working upon the King's mind, by the united Russian or
Absolutist party and the Pietists. The latter have
affected his conscience, saying that the Constitution was
godless, destructive of the holy union between Church and
State, that it had unchristianised Prussia, &c. Were this
sheer bigotry, I could tolerate it as error of conviction, but
there is at the bottom a great amount of low and short-
sighted interest of caste. The Constitution stipulates that
the nobles of the ancient provinces shall in future pay the
land-tax like all others.
The King's conscience, I believe, is now righted ; but
the secret is out : the King will hardly recover his place in
public estimation, although Vetter Michel is of a forgiving
disposition. Fortunately, it is considered as what it is
weakness, not faithlessness ; false scrupulosity, not word-
breaking. At all events, the King freely gave the Consti-
tution, 5th December, 1848, and it is now rather amended
in the sense of moderation. The King receives the law
back better for him than he gave it.
156 MEMOIKS OF BARON EUNSEN. [1850
Buns en to Baron Stockmar.
[Translation.] Carlton Terrace : 17th January, 1850.
.... I remain silent owing to grief, which yon will
understand. Still I do believe in the possibility of an
understanding between the Crown and a majority in the
Chamber.
I have received a most kind letter from the King. He
desired, as he says, to write me a long letter, expressly to
communicate congratulations with his original heartiness
upon the engagement of my daughter Mary. Much love,
but no politics, in the letter.
Bunsen to his Wife. (At Llanover, after the death of her
mother on the 18th January.)
[Translation.] London: February, 1850.
... At Berlin all is right although I have not yet read
the King's ' last OWN speech,' as he called it I believe,
after all, it would have been better that he had not made
it ; but one must take him as he is, and he has to try to
reconcile the 6th February, 1850, with the 3rd February,
1847. Still everybody seems to be satisfied and pleased.
The ceremony* was very solemn the King affected to
tears all the bells rung, and 201 guns were fired, as he
pronounced the sacred engagement.
A passage has been found by Gr., showing that Milton
was one of those who had called in question the authenti-
city of the letter of Ignatius.
Bunsen to Baron Stockmar.
[Translation.] London : Tuesday morning, 5th February, 1850.
Last Saturday I buried a beloved mother, and I return
from her grave (which her poor neighbours did not quit
* Viz., of the King's taking the solemn oath on the Prussian Consti-
tution.
JET. 58] INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION OF 1851. 157
till they had filled it in with, soil by single handfuls, that
not the smallest stone might fall upon her coffin), to the
bridal house from the house of death. Thus does the
circling course of life reveal itself to our eyes.
Buns en to Archdeacon Hare.
London : 20th February, 1850.
You suppose I am going away from this country ! I never
dreamt of going never was I more bound to London and
England than at the present moment. Prussia is in the
haven, as to herself ; but the German Union, or ' United
States of Germany,' are yet to be born, and at this eleventh
hour all the powers of evil double their efforts to prevent
this great European birth, or rather this beginning of re-
generation. But, ' portae inferi non praevalebunt contra
earn ! ' All the powers of the Continent are against us,
and traitors are in the camp. The Princes are wavering,
more or less, now that the hour of danger is past. Still
they are bound, by their popular parliaments, finances, and
necessities, and cannot shake these off, as many do their
words and engagements.
A meeting was held on the 21st February, 1850,
in Willis's Rooms^ on the proposed Great Industrial
Exhibition of 1851, at which, after speeches made by
Lord Carlisle, M. Van de Weyer, Mr. Abbott Law-
rence, and the Bishop of London, Bunsen moved, in
the following terms, the fourth resolution, expressive
of the hope that all foreign nations would cordially
promote the endeavour of England to carry out an
undertaking in which all nations have an interest :
GENTLEMEN, I believe this earnest hope is well founded ;
I trust you will express it unanimously on this day, and I
am sure the echo will come to you from all parts of the
world, and the chorus of the response of nations will speak
158 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1850
as harmoniously and as forcibly in reply. You have a right
to expect from me the reason for anticipating with so
much confidence such a result. My confidence is founded
upon a general principle, in the truth of which I firmly
believe, and to which all I have heard to-day from the noble
Earl and my right reverend friend gives a powerful confirm-
ation.
This principle is 'Appeal frankly to the reason and
goodwill of mankind, and mankind will answer you accord-
ingly.' Reason and goodwill are, thank God !. as deeply-
rooted in the human heart as the instinct of self-preserva-
tion and self-interest.
"Whoever proposes what is based upon those eternal
motives will find an echo in the human breast. Now, it is
easy to prove, and it must be clear to every foreign observer
who has followed attentively the origin and progress of
this great national movement, that the plan proposed is
not useful to you alone, but to everybody, and that it is as
reasonable and noble as it is calculated to promote your
material interests. It addresses itself to the best feelings,
as well as to the general interest of other civilised nations.
The Earl of Carlisle has proclaimed, and your applause has
sanctioned, the great principle, the admission is universal,
the undertaking English ; the Exhibition is international,
the subscription national.
This is a noble principle, and the only one worthy of the
object and of yourselves. The response will be a corre-
sponding one. The world, which has been your guest, will
ask you to be theirs in their turn. You intend to admit,
free of duty, all products of foreign industry to the Ex-
hibition, as far as they are destined for this purpose only ;
the same will be done to you in the future Exhibitions on
the Continent of Europe and in the United States of
America. ... I rejoice to see your first houses everywhere
the first in promoting this great national object. This
spirit of true liberality does not surprise me. During a
JET. 58] SPEECH ON PKOPOSED EXHIBITION OF 1851. 159
stay at Birmingham and Manchester I had the opportunity
of seeing with admiration how soon and how thoroughly
all local and class interests gave way to patriotic and
liberal feelings. ... It was quite right that you should
take the lead in a proposal which must form an epoch in
the history of modern commerce and industry. Some
years ago, Prussia gave the first example of an exhibition
of all branches of industry for the whole of Germany,
whether they belonged to the Prussian Customs' Union or
not. What Prussia has done for Germany, you are doing
for the world. God bless you for it ! It were very natural
that you should entertain the anticipation of showing by
such a general exhibition your own superiority; but the
noble Earl has said, and I have heard it stated by other
English authorities, that you think yourselves you may be
beaten by foreigners in some branches of industry. . . .
But, whatever the result of international competition for
pre-eminence may be, I am sure of two things first, that
you will not fail to turn into triumph every defeat, if there
be such, by your redoubled efforts to improve upon what
you see others have done, and thus give a good example to
others to do the same with similar energy and perseverance.
Secondly, I am sure that you will prove yourselves superior
in applying to general usefulness, and thus improving and
diffusing over all classes of society and over all quarters
of the world, the benefit of whatever may be invented by
others. . . .
Your vast undertaking has also a political, and a still
higher, I may say, a humanitary character, and these
features will not be the last to be acknowledged and hailed
by the other nations, and secure their zealous co-operation.
All epochs and eras in history have their peculiar signs
and symbols ; there are, I am sure, many present here who
recollect the Congresses of Princes of former periods.
They began by assemblies of mighty emperors for ambitious
purposes, and prospective warlike expeditions ; then, after
160 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1850
the peace had been secured, followed more peaceful Con-
gresses of Princes for the preservation of the same ; they
did not produce, however, the desired effect, nor were
people much satisfied with their results. Now, the symbols
of a new era are peaceful associations for intellectual pur-
poses and general improvements ; lately, we have had
Congresses for the improvement of prisons, and for peace
itself. All nations want peace, but peace, like all other
heavenly gifts, must be nursed and cherished sedulously,
reverently, incessantly. Peaceful meetings of nations for
practical purposes and social improvements are the natural
signs, indeed, the necessary pledges, of peaceable dispositions
among the mighty nations of the earth ; and there was the
other day a clause adopted in a city meeting which bears
immediately upon this question the only machines and
instruments to be excluded from this Universal Exhibition
are to be those of destruction. I remember it was a striking
circumstance, that when that general German Exhibition to
which I have alluded took place in 1844, the Prussian
Government, in looking out for the best public building to
be selected for that Exhibition, chose the celebrated Arsenal
at Berlin. Thus, this magnificent building was emptied
for that purpose, and the products of peaceful industry
became, for months at least, the inmates of the storehouse
and very sanctuary of war. But the principle you have
lately sanctioned holds out a lasting protest against war
and strife ; you have by that act expressed that the arts of
destruction ought not to be encouraged by national exhi-
bitions and prizes. I am not over sanguine in my expecta-
tions ; there is, and always will be, a mighty counteracting
power of passions and evil desires, but there is a rational
hope of gradual progress. ... It is my firm belief that
every good thing will be done whenever it can be done ;
and it can be done whenever the conviction becomes general
among good and wise men that it ought to be done. I
therefore would urge upon you to believe firmly in these
^ET. 58] SPEECH ON PROPOSED EXHIBITION OF 1851. 161
principles, and to act boldly up to them ; and be assured
beforehand of the grateful acknowledgment and sympathy
of all nations. They all want peace, and their immense
majority strive and yearn no less for order in liberty than
for liberty in order. The whole spirit of the undertaking
calls our thoughts to something which appears to be even
higher than what is generally called political relations ; it
may, under Divine Providence, become a signal progress in
the great cause of humanity, of civilisation, and, therefore,
of Christianity. Do you not think it a sign of the times
that the Consort of the Queen of this mighty empire should
have been the first to conceive, and the most zealous to
promote, this Universal Meeting of civilised nations in
this marvellous metropolis ; that the Queen herself should
come forward with her mighty word and bright example ;
that this idea and proposal should be taken up so energeti-
cally throughout this mighty empire as a great national
cause ; that the dignitaries of the Church should vie with
the statesman, the nobleman with the manufacturer, and
the artisan and operative with the master, in supporting
this great national and social question, as a good work for
everybody ; that all nations should be ready to hear the
announcement with joy and sympathy and honest rivalry
only two years aftey one of the greatest, most extensive,
and deepest commotions in European society arose, and
when the waves of that modern deluge have not yet sub-
sided? I see already with my mind's eye hundreds of
thousands of the most ingenious and enlightened classes of
all civilised nations assembled, first here, in this ark of
social order during the late deluge, and on this rock of
true liberty ; and later, at Paris and in the other capitals,
on this and on the other side of the Atlantic. I see the
visitors admiring not only the cattle show, and the imple-
ments for agriculture, and the whole phalanx of the ma-
chinery of industry, but also the master-pieces of genius
and taste. I behold mentally the wise and good men of
VOL. II. M
162 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1850
all nations successively meeting in assemblies more elevated
in object than those of the Olympic Games, and exchanging
with each other wise thoughts and fruitful speculations.
And do you not see with me how the walls of separation
(unfortunately, still more or less connected with nationality)
must fall down, not only before the trumpets of general
industry and rivalry, but from the irresistible force of
common feelings of brotherhood, of a consciousness that
every nation in its day has to run the same glorious race of
a truly ennobling progress of the leavening the things of
this world with something higher, and freer, and nobler,
and everlasting ? Do you see how prejudices and evil
feelings, still separating nations from nations, and brethren
from brethren, will disappear before such an effusion of
light and community like spectres and demons of night ?
Go on then, gentlemen take the lead in this noble
career Europe and the civilised world has its eyes upon
you; you have undertaken a work of astounding magni-
tude, carry it out in that noble spirit in which it has been
conceived. Fulfil the prophetic words of your poet ! * Go
on ; give out the word of friendship and peace to all nations
and the good men and good women of all nations will
say, Amen ! and the angels in heaven will say, Amen !
Bunsen to his Son Henry.
London, Foreign Office : 8th March, 1850, four o'clock.
I am this moment come from the Privy Council, and have
heard the most remarkable judgment pronounced, which
* A passage from Pope had been quoted by Lord Carlisle at the close
of his speech :
' The time shall come, when, free as seas or wind,
Unbounded Thames shall now for all mankind ;
Whole nations enter with each swelling tide,
And seas but join the regions they divide :
Earth's distant ends our glories shall behold,
And the new world launch forth to meet the old.'
MT. 58] JUDGMENT ON THE GOKHAM CASE. 163
since the Reformation and the civil wars has ever been given
in this country on a great point of faith. The judgment of
the Lower Court is reversed ; Mr. Gorham's opinions not
being heretical according to the Church of England, he has a
right to be inducted. The contrary opinion would be against
the clear principles of the Church of England, and danger-
ous to all subjects of Her Majesty, both for their spiritual
and temporal interests. The Articles were to be taken as
the doctrinal expression of the Church; the Liturgy as the
devotional expression. The Burial Service would alone
suffice to prove that the expressions of a Liturgy ought to
be interpreted with restrictions, not unconditionally. The
judgment goes besides through the Baptismal Service itself,
and abstaining from all theological opinions, comes on legal
ground to the decision.
It is remarkable, that, as stated in the Exordium, the two
Archbishops fully agree with this judgment, the Bishop of
London not (though he sat with them to hear the appeal).
I can guess his difficulty ; he would not give up, what he
once brought forward, that Rubrics and Liturgy also were
to be used to find out the doctrine of the Church. My ex-
cellent and truly venerable friend does not see that Rubrics
and Liturgy may be used to relax and take off the edges of
doctrinal formularies, but not to make them more strict and
cutting. There is the mistake. In the latter sense I always
have stood up for a Liturgy : but, God knows, never in the
other sense. Besides, people ought to consider that the
Rubrics and Liturgy were never intended to be a regulafidei,
but only a rule of discipline, for good order.
Well, my dear Henry, this is an important day for your
Church. May God bless it ! I sat on the Privy Council
seats, behind the right side of the Judges, along with Dr.
Wiseman ! Going out I met first W. Goode (the protagon-
ist of the Evangelicals), with whom I shook hands, and who
was blissful : then my way was stopped in the lobby by two
persons and who were they ? Archdeacon Wilberforce and
11 2
164 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1850
Hope. They drooped their heads, and after some silence,
going on and I following them, Archdeacon W. said, * Well,
at least there is no mistake about it.' In which I heartily
concur. B. has already announced (in a sermon) that he will
go out. Son voyage !
The month, of April, 1850, was marked to Bunsen
and his family by an event rejoiced in at the time, and
ever after dwelt upon with, earnest satisfaction the
marriage of his third daughter Mary to Mr. John B.
Harford, of Stoke, near Bristol, on April 4 : on which
occasion it was found possible to collect all the ten
children, five sons and five daughters, for the second
time, the first having been at the time of the mar-
riage of his son Ernest. A third such meeting was
not to take place ; the difference of age between the
eldest and youngest being nineteen years, they never
were all assembled in childhood under the parental
roof, although each, and all first saw the light in the
same place, on the Capitol at Rome. A very serious
illness followed this gratification of Bunsen's hopes
and wishes : and lie was for many days confined to
bed by bronchitis and a gastric affection, for his entire
recovery from which much time was required, even
after he had returned to his accustomed activity.
This was the description of disorder to which, he from
henceforth was perpetually subject, preceding and
accompanying the attacks of suffocation, which proved
the gradual steps, in accelerated progression, of the
mortal affection of the heart with which he struggled
for ten years longer.
JET. 58] DEATH OF SIR ROBERT PEEL. 165
Extract from Daughters' Diaries.
Tuesday, 2nd July. My father dined with Mr. Hudson
Gurney, to meet Anna Gurney. In the evening Lady
Waldegrave's splendid ball was overcast, and in a measure
broken up, by the melancholy news of Sir Robert Peel's
death at half-past eleven o'clock. We went home, and so
did many people. Ever since Sir Robert Peel has been con-
sidered in danger, a crowd has besieged the entrance of his
house, and a bulletin was from time to time read aloud by a
policeman. The deep and silent grief of all classes is most
affecting.
3rd July. The all-absorbing subject of interest has been
collecting and hearing everything that can be known about
Sir Robert Peel ; the newspapers give an interesting sum-
mary of his life, and some of them were edged with black
out of respect for him. The Queen's grief is excessive : she
is in a constant flood of tears, and with the greatest difficulty
could be prevailed upon to hold the Levee, which, having
been fixed for this day, could not be put off. Many expres-
sions of hers are quoted, showing her full sense of the loss
she herself and the country have sustained : ' I have lost,
not merely a friend, but a father.'
Bunsen to Baron Stoekmar.
[Translation,] London: 17th July, 1850.
The loss of Peel can never be supplied. The Queen and
the Prince have shown, on the occasion of this calamity,
their own high standing in human nature. Altogether,
what a treasure of sincerity, truth, and noble feeling is there
in this royal pair ! What a blessing for the country ! A
great impression has been made upon the Prince of Prussia
by such a degree of mourning for a public servant.
166 MEMOIKS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1850
Suns en to Archdeacon Hare.
9, Carlton Terrrace: Tuesday, 31st July, 1850.
I intend to depart Thursday morning for Antwerp, to be
at Bonn on Saturday early. I Lave leave of absence for the
month, of August.
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.]
Monday, 5th August, 1850, Antwerp, Hotel de St.-Antoine.
Here we have landed, after the most ideally beautiful pas-
sage. The porpoises came dancing on the waves to meet us
at the Nore, and at the North. Foreland shoals of mackerel ;
then a glorious sunset over the moving lake, and after that,
what a night ! All round the vessel a phosphorescence like
the Mediterranean, and the stars as it were obtruding them-
selves on my naked eye. I have been on deck all day ; at
half-past ten lay down on a sofa and slept quietly till near
five o'clock, when I went on deck, and found myself in the
Scheldt, with a sand-bank around, and no vessels. What a
change from the last time of looking out ! But the sky was
more blue, and the sun hotter. Then we landed. We are
three minutes' walk from the cathedral, and I intend to stay
here, instead of proceeding to iron Liege. Nothing is want-
ing but the one thing, wanted every hour, and that is your
dear self, with the group around you. If I am not strangely
mistaken, I may bestow myself as a birthday present on
the 25th.
Bunsen to his Wife,
[Translation.] Bonn: Thursday, 15th August, 1850.
Lepsius came back last night, two days earlier than his
promise. We have worked all morning, and shall have done
on Saturday. On Sunday I go to wait upon the Princess of
Prussia, and sleep at Cologne. The King expects me at Ber-
lin, so Abeken writes, and Lepsius tells me. To avert such
a calamity, I must be off before my four weeks are over. I
Mf. 59] FIRST SYMPTOMS OF DANGEROUS ILLNESS. 167
shall, therefore, send off my letter from Cologne ; when the
King receives it, I shall be on my way to London ; whither
I shall return on the 24th straight.
Bun sen executed his purpose, and was restored to
his family on August 24th, pleased to hear that a plan
had been made to spend his birthday (the 25th) in an
afternoon expedition to see Hatfield, to be met by
Lady Raffles and some young friends of his daugh-
ters the whole forming a numerous and cheerful
party, not one of whom could have anticipated the
cloud which was to overcast the whole, in the disco-
very, then first made, of Bunsen's inability to walk
even a short distance, from oppression on the chest.
At Bonn he had first made the melancholy experience
of this new infirmity, which he comforted himself
with regarding as transitory, and had refrained from
mentioning in his letters ; nor could he yet make
clear to himself that his physical existence was threat-
ened, and his bodily powers no longer what they had
been. With frequent resting, and much discomfort,
he accomplished the round of the sights at Hatfield
and of part of the park with the rest : but he had not
been three days at home before the ever-increasing
suffocation became complicated with a gastric disorder,
from which, after many days, the strenuous regimen,
imposed by the treatment of Dr. Curie, restored him
to comfort and comparative health. But he was or-
dered to take a bare quantity of indispensable food,
with strict regard to diet, as to the quality and
number of meals. Dr. Curie did not utter the sen-
tence, implied in the term ' disorder of the heart ; '
168 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1850
but his advice coincided with, that of Sir Henry Hol-
land two years later, who was the first person to give
the true name to this breaking-up of health and ease.
This disorder was critical in more ways than one ; for
Bunsen had returned from his journey with the full
determination at once to take leave of absence for a
year, preparatory to a final resignation of his post
and of diplomatic life ; and his wife at his desire had
commenced preparations for a family-removal, when,
the illness intervening, the plan was indefinitely post-
poned.
Bunsen to One of his Sons.
[Translation.]
London : Wednesday morning, 25th September, 1850.
I have undertaken an immense work about the Chinese
Dictionary, but it certainly will not be like the labour of
Sisyphus. The ripened fruit is already there ; the gold lies
revealed in daylight whether the shaft be a productive one
or not, leading into the heart of the world's history, the
event alone can show. I have extracted 130 out of the 400
roots, and already worked out 70 of the number. Thereby
it has become highly probable tome, that for each of the 400
roots the * hieroglyph ' is yet to be found ; Reniusat says,
he believes there exist 200 such, but I find many besides,
which he seems to have overlooked. It is most natural, that
there should have been as many hieroglyphs as words
otherwise the one-half must have consisted of compound
hieroglyphics. Such there are for instance, Sun and Eye
together = Light. But each root must have been connected
originally with a simple symbol. The system of writing was
consolidated about 2950 years before Christ. The dryness
of the work is relieved by the enjoyment of the na/ive poetry
of the original language in transmitting significations.
2Er. 59] LETTER TO PLATNER. 169
Bunsen to Plainer (Saxon Charge d' Affaires at Rome).
[Translation.] London : 30th September, 1850.
It was very kind in you to send me a few lines by our
friend Emil Braun, with an account of yourself. More espe-
cially do I rejoice to perceive that you are not only in health
and strength at your advanced time of life, but that you re-
tain that freshness and freedom of spirit, without which life
is not life, and old age becomes a torment and chastisement.
I learn from your communications that you, like myself, have
steered again into the haven of free speculation and science,
out of which we both sailed in youth into the open sea of
present struggle and action. I have been led back into that
harbour of refuge by enquiry and thought, and the course of
life and its experiences ; and I thank God, that I have not,
either as a thinker or as a believer, suffered shipwreck, or
bartered my liberty for any form whatsoever.
I too have studied Giordano Bruno in late years with
peculiar interest and deep sympathy ; the recent occasion
having been the translation of Schelling's Dialogue, Bruno,
by that truly uncommon woman, the Marchesa Florenzi
Waddington, into the most exquisite Italian, with admirable
intelligence and comprehension, which she requested me
to examine critically with her ; and I did so the more readily,
as her work had been one not of vanity, but of benevolence
towards an Italian philosopher, Mamiani, eighty years of
age, who, unacquainted with German, longed to read the
work of Schelling in his own fine language.
The work of Bartolmes of Strasburg (which received
the prize in 1847), ' Sur la Vie et les Ecrits de Giordano
Bruno,' gave me a second occasion of becoming more
nearly acquainted with that strange, erratic, comet-like
spirit, marked by genius, but a Neapolitan ; whose life was
but a fiery fragment. But, indeed, all that is of man is no
more than a fragment ! Even Schelling finds it impossible
170 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1850
to come to a close ; his great work is not likely to appear
till after his death, for he will be applying the file to the
last moment. I can never cease to regret his having over-
loaded himself with philosophical-historical matter, so tbat
the ballast became too massive for the fire-ship I read his
earlier works with increasing admiration. . . .
For political information, I refer you to Braun ; and only
assure you, with the frankness of an old friend, that you
commit an anachronism in considering Kings and Princes
(since 1848) as the leaders in German politics.
Das gewaltige Schicksal,
Meinen Herrn und Deinen.
* Events and mighty Fate My Lord and Thine ' (as the
divine Gothe says) are driving on the German national
movement, which, after a short triumph of dynastic selfish-
ness or blindness, will annihilate all the powers of evil which
have been arrayed against it. We are already well ad-
vanced in Germany, although but in the first act of our con-
stitutional development. The storm is over, and has cleared
the atmosphere. . . .
Bunsen to Friend Kestner, in his Museo-Kestneriano, Roma.
[Translation.] London: 30th September, 1850, morning.
.... It was sad that our intention of meeting on the
Rhine came to nothing. If you can but come here in 1851,
I hope it will be either late (end of July) or early (end of
April), for between those dates I shall have no quiet : and
you must live nowhere but with us. I have a real need to
have a thorough intercourse, and a fresh weaving- in of life,
with you. . . .
.... We have read latterly in the evenings your
' Romische Studien ' with great pleasure, the images of
Roman life and of your own life are refreshing. I hope this
valuable little book will make its way, at this time of poli-
tical evolution and provocation, in spite of the mental
confusion and narrowness which result therefrom.
^Ex. 59] LETTER TO ONE OF HIS SONS. 171
What joy has been reflected, in our house, by the beam-
ing countenance of our Mary, returned from her wedding
tour, Braun can tell you.
To yourself I wish a continuance of life untroubled in your
chosen country of the arts, for I am convinced that you can
only live at Rome ; but all the more should you pay visits
to the friends ultra monies, in Germany and England.
My wife will write herself. How often we miss that re-
flex of all grace and goodness, our mother, gone to her home !
And Christiana, too, is also gone, before her. . . .
Bunsen to One of his Sons.
[Translation.] Windsor Castle: 4th January, 1851.
Soon comes the tempest of the World's Exhibition and
migration of nations perhaps also of politics now slum-
bering in our disgrace. My duty is of course to hold out
until the end of the Exhibition, but then with all caution to
endeavour after the execution of the plan of removal, which
the hand of God so decidedly defeated last year as I can
now perceive, according to the eternal wisdom of His
fatherly Providence. I meditate going in August on leave
of absence with your mother to Bonn, with purpose to re-
turn only to take final leave. All this I shall talk over
with you when you' come in February of course the plan
is not to be spoken of ; the Ministry would be too happy to
send me away, but the King supports me faithfully and
powerfully. My recall was demanded by Austria and pro-
posed by ManteufFel. You know the reasons which make
it a duty on my part not readily to yield to my adversaries
this important post.
Bunsen to Baron Stockmar.
[Translation.] London: Monday, 6th January, 1851.
The only thing important in a despatch received from
Berlin to-day, the first sign of life from that quarter since
1st November of last year, is that, to judge from the
172 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1851
expressions made use of, the London Protocol at least is not
to be signed.
The days passed at Windsor have greatly refreshed and
strengthened me ; and I shall never forget your friendship
then shown to me.
Bunsen having been very generally supposed to
have suggested the idea of the first Great Industrial
Exhibition which in such various ways engrossed
attention during the year 1851, it is necessary to
insist upon the fact of his having had no other con-
nection with the project, than by taking a strong
interest in its accomplishment, and working with all
the zeal and energy of his character in favour of the
design of Prince Albert, and in defence of it. That
it did not originate with him, is a simple fact ; but it
may also be said that the idea was not of the kind
native to his mind, to which the whole mass of
interests connected with trade and the perfecting
of objects of industry was foreign, and which could
only enter upon the entire subject historically and
statistically. Bunsen admired the royal grasp of
mind in Prince Albert, which led to a conception
productive of such beneficial and lasting effects, and
perceived from the first, that the results could hardly
fail to tend to that friendly amalgamation of nations
in the pursuit of arts and objects of peace, towards
which all his own efforts and wishes tended. The
variety and virulence of objection made to a proposal
for a comparative view of the products of various
countries and of the results of industry of all nations,
with a view to stimulate talent and to offer examples
^ET. 59] OPINIONS ON THE EXHIBITION. 173
on all hands however rational and natural it may
seem to be, now that the complete success of Prince
Albert's design has created an insatiable desire of
such Exhibitions would seem incredible, were it not
sufficiently fixed in the memory of the contemporaries
whose patience was tried by it ; and Bunsen and his
family were peculiarly exposed to the brunt of animad-
version on the supposed absurdities of the plan, and
the dangers and inconveniences anticipated, from the
general attribution of the blame to him as being its
originator. The greater part of the Corps Diploma-
tique made open show of the ill-humour felt and ex-
pressed by their respective Courts ; the sentiments
of which prevailed over the mind of the King of
Prussia to such an extent, that in the first instance
his permission was refused to the Prince and Princess
of Prussia to accept the invitation of Queen Victoria,
and was finally granted rather in consideration of the
decided wish of the Prince to make the proposed visit,
than in consequence of the arguments and the evi-
dence which Bunsen forcibly brought before His Ma-
jesty, to prove the tales of conspiracy which in conti-
nental courts were received as credible to be wholly
fictitious.
A nation which reads newspapers is capable of being
acted upon by opinion, and of acting in unison as one
man ; and certainly, from whatever cause, the opening
of the Exhibition of the 1st of May, 1851, was a de-
cided success the weather was perfect, and the
general good humour, as well as the demeanour and
behaviour of the countless multitudes, proved that
the English public resolved to do all honour to them-
174 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1851
selves, and the day, and the cause of popular in-
terests, as well as to the Queen and to her Govern-
ment.
Bvnsen to Baron StocJcmar.
[Translation.] London: 18th January, 1851.
. . . The unmeasured expressions in the letters of X. and
Y. and Z., as well as the utterances of L. and G. and other
friends that have heen reported to me from Berlin, and,
at the same time, the assertions in a letter of Humboldt's,
subdued in language by eighty-two years of age and by
Court life, yet in another way exciting, have brought my
heart, already agitated by parting from Radowitz, into such
a commotion and dashing of waves, that I find it doubly
tranquillising to address to you a few lines, and seek in
contemplation of you, of your patriotism, of your friendship,
and of your steadiness of political judgment, to moderate
the inward storm, and in some degree to lighten the
burden that weighs upon me. It is hard indeed, in such a
time, to be the servant of a King, and not a free man.
But I am where God placed me. . . . Every man who is
above fifty years old bears his history upon his own back.
It is of no use to endeavour to make men other than they
are : but where evil does not rule as a principle, and the
Divine spark is not quite extinguished, much can be accom-
plished, if the just complement can be found.
May God be with you, and the God-favoured Royal pair
with whom you dwell !
With a faithful, much saddened, but not desponding
heart, BUNSEN.
To the Same.
[Translation.] London: Thursday morning, 18th March, 1851.
Kiinzel wishes to give a characteristic sketch of Peel
and that is what you alone can write, or dictate. Pray do
it. Life is short, and your words will remain. I refer
MT. 59] CORRESPONDENCE WITH STOCKMAR. 175
you to-day, mean while, to your own letter (sent, I think, to
the ' Deutsche Zeitung ') on the subject of the cavillers
against Peel in Germany, in the autumn of 1850. You
once devoted much time to Guizot, and I rejoice that you
can now place Peel on a German pillar of honour, that
would be a work far more rewarding the effort, and for
Germans more instructive, and more especially consoling.
One of my dearest and best friends, Lachmann, has died
in his fifty-eighth year, at Berlin. I am much grieved by
this loss. Tieck too is dead.
. . . The Tories are still spreading the alarm of plague,
famine, insurrection, &c. &c., as likely to be the effect of
the Exhibition. Mundus insanit. I am in ' Egypt.'
To the Same.
[Translation.] 26th April, 1851,
. . . The Prince of Prussia is to arrive in the afternoon
of the 29th. ... I am finishing the fourth volume of
' Egypt ' for the press, having in the latter months re-
touched the second and third for the English edition. The
results are still more decisive than I had expected. The
history of nations can, approximately, be carried on up to
9,000 years before our time ; the history of the dream-
period, in which language and mythology arose, extends to
between 15,000 and 20,000 years; and all this in the
development of the race of our blood-relations. But our
chronology extends with astronomical certainty to above
3,600 years before Christ.
Old President Schon has written me an admirable letter ;
he is, in his eighty- seventh year, still full of hope for Ger-
many and Prussia, and for the victory of what is right and
good, and of the spirit and intelligence of the nation, just as
when he wrote the letters to Stein in 1812 and 1813, which I
hope you will have read in the * Life of Stein,' vol. iii. B. , . .
176 MEMOIRS OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1851
Bunsen to Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.
[Translation.] London : 28th April, 1851.
I rejoice to see in your case that misfortune and trial
better reveal what is in the man, than good fortune ; and
that you maintain equanimity in the one case as well as in
the other. Who could have believed, dear friend, that
there had been in Germany so much wickedness and faith-
lessness ? Still we sing the Magnificat, out of which, in
the indignation of your honest heart, you quote a suitable
verse. I fear these times will deprive many a man of faith
in the Divine government of the world short-sighted
though they be. Pray read with me the seventy-third
Psalm, as I have translated it.
Do you know, dear friend, that I think you ought to
come to London during the Exhibition ? My proposal is,
that you should alight here, No. 9, Carlton Terrace, where
your room is ready for you. The sooner you come, the
better says the mistress of the house, with best greeting.
Surely, you will come ?
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] April, 1851.
Tell your excellent B that he should not take it ill
of Germans, that they give him as an Israelite the hind-
most place : that will not be of long continuance ; it is ever
more becoming clear to me, in beholding the Jewish dis-
pensation from the stand-point of universal history, that
whoever will not give up the world's history in despair,
must assume in his own soul the future fact of the Chris-
tianising, Hellenising, Germanising, of the Jewish system ;
and say to himself, as a son of Israel, that he is thus brought
nearer to Abraham than he was before. Such sons of
Israel must, therefore, help the sons of Japhet to Hellenise
Christianity, to raise it to the idea of entire humanity ; in
other words, to found the true Hero-worship with the one
IE?. 59] OPENING OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 177
true Dionysos-Osiris at its head. That sounds absurd, but
is yet true !
Extract from a Daughter's Letter.
Carlton Terrace: 3rd May, 1851.
.... I hope you will have heard something of my
mother's impression of the splendid opening of the Exhibi-
tion on Thursday, the 1st and I wish you could hear how
my father speaks about it -he was so happy that all had
turned out so well, that in the evening after E. and G. had
sung many favourite pieces of Handel and Mendelssohn
and Neukomm, he asked us all to join in a few verses of
' Sei Lob und Ehr dem hochsten Gut ' as the only appro-
priate expression of his feelings of thankfulness and entire
satisfaction. He looks upon this Exhibition as most im-
portant also in a political point of view, in honouring the
interests of the people at large, by an assemblage of the
people, attended and countenanced and sympathised in by
royalty and nobility; not as in former times, a costly
gathering of and for kings and princes and grandees alone,
with attendants and spectators.
Swmen to Max Muller.
[Translation.] Carlton Terrace : seven a.m., 15th May, 1851.
(Olymp. ii. 1, by German chronology.)
I must after all take my early hour for writing to you,
instead of writing or preparing a chapter for my fifth book
on ' Egypt ; ' for I foresee that the day's flood, beginning
with breakfast-time, will not have ebbed till after midnight :
and I must utter to you two sorts of things : first, my
thanks and congratulations for the plan of your lectures.
You have considered the Epos in its full significance as to
universal history, and for the first time brought it in con-
nection with the earliest time of the epic nations, and their
original consciousness of language. That has given me in-
expressible pleasure, and revived in me the longing after your
VOL. II. N
178 MEMOIRS OF BAEON BUNSEK [1851
presence, and of being enabled to read to you some chapters,
the writing of which has been an exquisite delight to me.
I undertook the restoration of the time of the patriarchs,
in the belief of their reality, and by the method I have
followed all through : and the greatness of the result has
astonished me. Having finished this section, I felt the
courage to add to the Preface composed last Easter, an In-
troduction, entitled * History and Method of the Contem-
plation of the History of Humanity : ' and have thus
reverted, as by a stroke of magic, to the last Paradise of my
innermost consciousness of life ; my prescient grasp of
future discovery having been in the solemn nights from
1812 to 1813 consecrated into a vow ; and the statement
thereof having been written at Berlin, to ask the con-
firmation of Niebuhr in the last weeks of my German (as
distinguished from my cosmopolite) life January, 1816.
What I wrote down in 1816 now comes full and fresh be-
fore my mind, after thirty-five years : my Indian voyage is
become an Egyptian voyage, and the life- voyage tends to-
wards its close. But having, since 1816, sought the form
and the occasion for seizing that original idea of youth, as
a fixed point of aim, having devoted to it the life of life,
thought, research, inquiry : having, in the narrow valleys
of active duty and of individual investigation, lost sight of
the glorious prospects from sunny summits (except in single
moments of rapturous vision) now, at length, has the
flood of Egyptian inquiry, after a quarter of a century, lifted
me once again upon the Ararat from whence I had descended
into the conflict of existence. I only intended to give a
summary view of the mode of treating the world's history :
and to my astonishment something different has come out,
at which I start back amazed, but gaze with rapture, and
devote myself with all my heart's youthful glow.
I believe I have to acknowledge a part of my happiness
as procured to me by enemies and opponents ; for what the
newspaper says is true, not only the Prussian Camarilla and
JEx. 59] LETTER TO MAX MULLER. 179
her instruments in the Ministry, but those higher powers
which seek to strangle in their embrace both Prussia and
Germany, have demanded of the King my recall ; but as yet
he has supported me with the faithfulness of a friend, as well
as of a King. Such attacks rouse in me at once both rage
and courage : and since on the day of receiving the intelli-
gence of our thorough defeat (20th November, 1850), I de-
termined to complete my Egyptian work, God has graciously
imparted to me such courage abundantly. Never have I
worked with such a satisfactory result, since that time
when, besieged on the Capitol by the Pope, and left to my
fate by Berlin from the 6th January to Easter Sunday,
1838, I first designed the five books on Egypt. . . .
I have still something to suggest about the ' Mbel-
ungen.' Your admirable letter ripened in my mind a
thought which often has shot through it, that the slightly
veiled historical foundations of the poem, as well as its
most ancient nationalities, have never been sufficiently ex-
amined into and brought into evidence. Grimm does not
care for what is historical, further than his own * Begin-
nings of Nations' are concerned: and my deceased Lachmann
was always disinclined to concern himself with it. When
I wrote for Chateaubriand (in 1825) that short essay in
French which he printed in his ' Melanges,' I read through
all that had been published on the point which most nearly
concerned me, and was surprised at the scantiness of matter
collected ; and since that time I have not heard of any
further enquiry on the subject. Yet how can one believe
that the notices of Giinther and the Burgundians in the
poems, should stand alone and single of their kind ? To
me it is clear, for example, that the myth which brings
Attila and the great Theodoric of the Visigoths together as
contemporaries, has its historical root in the fact, that
Theodoric King of the Visigoths fell in the critical battle of
Chalons, 451, contending against Attila, while his son
Thorismund, rallying the forces to revenge the death of his
N 2
180 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEK [1851
father, by a last effort overcame the Barbarians, and proved
himself the victor: whereupon the Franks drove the Huns
across the Rhine. Hence it is that Attila is connected with
the great King of the Ostrogoths (who lived forty years
later), and with the royal house of the Visigoths, and their
kingdom itself with all which nevertheless Attila could
have had nothing to do. By neglecting such scattered
particulars, one falls at last into the Gorres- Grimm- twilight,
in which not only everything is everything, but everything
becomes nothing. Etzel is to the perceptions of Grimm not
Attila, but a ' raillery of tradition,' allowing of no certain
conclusion. I find, on the contrary, that wherever the in-
strument is not wanting to point out and prove the process
of fermentation and decomposition in the historical materials,
out of which (by a mode perfectly analogous to the process
of originating language in the first period of man) the epic-
tradition organically proceeds, the genius of epic poetry,
when its due time is come, interposes its grasp, with an
historical consciousness of destiny ; as does the tragic poet
at a later period. If you should have time, pray follow up
this track. . . .
The Exhibition is and will remain the most poetical
event of our time, and one deserving a place in the world's
history. Les Anglais ont fait de la poesie sans s'en douter,
as M. Jourdain was found to have made prose. As soon as
you can, come to see the Exhibition and us !
Extract from a Letter of a Daughter.
9, Carlton Terrace : 25th August, 1851.
I should like to procure you a glimpse of our usual lun-
cheon and tea-table, which (particularly the latter) is gene-
rally surrounded by an average number of from twenty to
twenty-six guests, very various and distinct from each other.
First, you would see Wichern, from Hamburg, with his
tall commanding figure, and his fine, mild, but yet decided
and energetic countenance, and his deep bass is always
^ET. 60] LETTEK TO HIS WIFE. 181
heard pervading all other voices. Then (usually sitting
next him) Bernays, from Bonn, forms the strangest possible
contrast, with his small, quicksilver figure, and black-
bearded, restless, clever face. Then Lieber, from America,
with his fixed, melancholy, sentimental look, joining never-
theless in conversation with great zest and interest, always
mixing in strange outlandish compliments. Next to him,
Waagen, with his inexhaustible fund of good humour and
anecdote, always for the benefit of every one within reach of
listening. Then Gerhard, with his benevolent expression,
ready either for serious or learned talk, or for any joke or
fun that may be going on ; and his wife, with her never-
failing, mild cheerfulness and interest in everything, without
any fuss or fidgeting, thus giving only pleasure in daily in-
tercourse and no trouble. These are the inmates of the
house, to which you must suppose in addition a regular
supply of unexpected guests drop in at every meal. Yester-
day, Pastor Krummacher came with two daughters to make
a call ; and while we detained his daughters here, he joined
Wichern and several others to inspect some Ragged Schools.
They returned about eight o'clock, when the home set were
just ready to rise from table, so room could be made for
the five who entered. . . .
/
Bunsen to his Wife.
St. Leonard's: 4th September, 1851.
I must tell you myself how happy I am, and how well !
The strengthening effect of the sea air is not to be described.
I have only to take care not to be too much excited ; for I
should prefer never to sleep, but work on, except when lying
stretched out on the beach, as I feel no fatigue. It is here
most enjoyable ! E. and E. have arranged everything in
perfection. Else von Arnim is lovely ; the Prince and Prin-
cess of Wied most amiable ; the brother of the Princess,
Prince Nicholas of Nassau, is the handsomest prince I
have seen. What luxury, in this security, not to be inter-
182 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. 851
rupted ! You are wanting to us but we are glad of the
reason why. . . .
Bunsen to One of his Sons.
[Translation.] 1st November, 1851.
I am decidedly against your being modelled into a Govern-
ment official. In the future condition of things, a young man
of ability must only enter the public service when he is in-
dependent, and can resign when he sees cause. The bureau-
cracy of the Prussian State will be in future looked upon
as servitude ; wherefore, then, should you not strive to be
first a free man, and then a candidate for office ? The case
may be different with philologers, theologians, judges, and
luminaries of science.
2 3rd! December. Louis Napoleon asserts, that he, as well
as the first Napoleon, desires liberty in legality. But of
what does his system consist ? Solely of rule from above,
without any degree of spontaneous activity below. The Na-
poleonic system is more despotic than that of Nero. The
modern police centralisation is a machine of oppression, un-
known to the ancients, from which the Restoration and
Louis Philippe had also to suffer, through their own fault.
The parliamentary system, without municipal and provincial
freedom, is an absurdity.
~L2th February. Beware of separating politics from right
and rectitude ! not because ' honesty is the best policy '
(which may be very falsely interpreted), but because poli-
tical action rightly signifies nothing but the application of
moral reason to public concerns and relations.
. 60] CORRESPONDENCE WITH STOCKMAR. 183
CHAPTER XV.
CORRESPONDENCE.
PROSPECTS OF GERMANY ' HIPPOLYTUS ' PROTOCOL OF 8TH MAY, 1852
COUNT USEDOM'S NARRATIVE VISIT TO GLASGOW ENVBRARY AFFAIR
OF NEUFCHATEL THE MOSAIC BOOKS MAZZINI DESPONDING VIEWS
OF GERMANY FUNERAL OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON LETTER ON
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS LORD DERBY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION THE
FRENCH EMPIRE CHANGE OF MINISTRY EDINBURGH riPLOMA
CRYSTAL PALACE COLOGNE SINGERS NAVAL REVIEW DEDICATION OF
'HIPPOLYTUS' THEOLOGICAL CONFERENCES AT BERLIN POLICY OF
RUSSIA MENACE OF WAR.
Bunsen to Baron Stoclcmar.
[Translation.] London: New Year, 1852.
JOT and well-being in the great and threatening year 1852,
be to my dear friend Stockmar ! shall be my first greeting
in the ' sacred hour of prime.' I believe in God and in Ger-
many, and then also in the vital powers of the principles of
the English Constitution ; and nobody rejoices more than I
do in the grand and high reality (single in its kind, however,
since King William of Orange) of the Royal Pair on the
throne of Great Britain. If England and Germany remain
united, what can the power of evil effect ? You and I feel
alike in protesting against the principle of death in praetorian
imperialism, and in democratic police centralisation. And,
lastly, we are agreed in the resolve to exert all the strength
that is in us, to the end that neither superstition nor in-
fidelity, neither priestcraft nor atheism, shall rule over the
people.
That for this purpose life from above may be granted by
MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1852
guidance of which the iron rule of the dark despot, Self,*
may be broken through, and the reality of freedom evolved,
and, besides, that we and all who are dear and precious to
us may be preserved in health, is the wish uttered, in
fulness of heart, to a dear friend, by
BUNSEN.
To the Same.
-[Translation.] Sunday morning : 18th January, 1852.
As I was on the way to your door in the Palace yester-
day morning, I saw the Prince hastening in the same direc-
tion, and therefore I withdrew without having told you how
much the living with you in these latter days has refreshed
me. You will feel that, when you consider that I am under
no illusion as to the condition of things at Berlin, and in the
whole of Europe : of which you will be yet more aware when
you read what the spirit has moved me to say as to the con-
fusion and destitution of the spiritual condition in the whole
of Europe. It was with a solemn consciousness that I paced
up and down, before breakfast (at Windsor Castle), in the
fine corridor, and beheld the sunshine with the clearest blue
sky above the towers and turrets : meditating upon the happi-
ness that dwells within those walls, founded in reason and in-
tegrity and love a pattern of the well-ordered and inwardly
vigorous and flourishing life that spreads all around, even to
the extremities of the great island. And further off" did I
hear the roaring of the storm that sweeps now over the Con-
tinent, and threatens our ever-beloved fatherland. And in
that fatherland dwells also a noble people, a great people,
full of grand recollections and of the germs of future life
and a King, whose energies are so high and noble : and yet
all causes are dragging us within the compass of the whirl-
wind of confusion and destruction ! A blessing upon those
walls, and the life within and around them. It is a conso-
* ' Das Ich, der dunkele Despot.' See Riickert's translation of King
Jelal-ed-Din Rumi's lines.
JET. 60] CORRESPONDENCE WITH STOCKMAR. 185
lation that such a spot should exist on earth ; and I am
thankful to have seen it, and for all the goodness and kind-
ness I have there experienced.
To the Same.
[Translation.] 20th January, 1852.
.... X. related to him, that when he was envoy at
Vienna, Schwarzenberg sent for him one day, and said
* The President offers, through Persigny (in exchange for
the Rhine frontier and Belgium) to Prussia, Hanover and
Oldenburg ; to Austria, Moldavia and Wallachia ; to Russia,
Constantinople.' The Emperor Nicholas said the same to
Lamoriciere. They both shrugged their shoulders.
The younger Jerome communicated the following words
of the President addressed to himself: 'La chute de
Palmerston est le coup le plus grave que j'aie reu : c'etait
le seul ami sincere que j'avais : tant qu'il etait Ministre,
FAngleterre n'avait point d'allies.'
Friday, 23rd January. I have read, and considered, the
highly instructive picture of that journey of May, 1851 :
and my result is :
Many are the rogues ;
Few the men of honour ;
And prophets there are none.
It is a comfort to think that an immoral and untrue
nation may be yet worse off than one believing in truth an r J
moral responsibility. We possess, indeed, no saving states-
men, but we have prophets : therefore, we have a future in
store.
Suns en to Archdeacon Hare.
Hatchford : 22nd March, 1852.
... I am afraid that, when you come to see the Index
of my * Hippolytus,' you will say, with a smile, that I have
crammed into it an Universal and Church History, cum qui-
busdam aliis. Still you will find, that I have done justice
186 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1852
to the title within the smallest compass possible. When
I come to the review of 1500 years' Constitution of the
Church, I resisted the temptation, or rather the claim of
the subject, and entered not into what has passed between
Hippolytus and our modern times. But when I attempted
to slur over in a similar manner the 1500 years between
the Christian sacrifice of believers at Borne, under Severus
and Alexander, and our poor Ecclesia pressa in that same
'faithful city' on the Capitol when I was living there, sub
Pio, Leone, et Gregorio, the spirit stood in the way, and
stopped me. Thus I have gone patiently through old
papers and still older thoughts (from 1817 to 1840), and
have given documents and results of the Greek, Gallican,
African, and Roman Churches, and placed your own History
of the Sacrifice from 1549 to 1764 (Scotch Communion
Service) in the frame of Universal History, with chapter and
verse, and all that in eighty pages and thirty notes. . . .
On the 8th May, 1852,. the fatal Protocol was
signed, authorising a change in the law of succession
to the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein ; against
which Bunsen had constantly protested, and to which
at last he affixed his signature, not, however, till he
had received the King's express command to do so.
That it would have been more in character for Bun-
sen to have resigned his post, and retired altogether
from public life, instead of submitting to become the
instrument of an act of which he felt the injustice
and anticipated the danger, became clear even to his
own family, and may be conjectured to have been so
to himself, when the transactions had been viewed
from a distance of time. But this is only uttered as
conjecture, for a question on the subject would have
seemed to imply reproach, and therefore no inquiry
JET. 60] COUNT USEDOM'S NAKKATIVE. 187
was addressed to him ; the less so, as he always pur-
posed to write himself the history of his official life,
and had promised to begin with the latter portion,
and proceed backwards. As an authentic statement
of particulars, a letter from Count Usedom shall be
transcribed, as coming from a person most thoroughly
acquainted with the entire subject, and who knew
and comprehended the mind and character of Bun-
sen, as could only be the case with a friend of many
years' standing, with a man of his intelligence and
candour.
Count Usedom to George von Bunsen.*
[Translation.] Turin : 23rd August, 1864.
MY DEAR GEORGE BUNSEN, You wish to know what my
recollection is of the part taken by your father in the
London Treaty of May 1852, and of the negotiations which
preceded its signature. To do justice to his memory in
this matter is a duty imposed upon me by a friendship of
many years' standing, with which Buns en honoured me :
but, separated as I am from my papers, and relying there-
fore on my memory alone, I shall perhaps but imperfectly
perform this duty. /
Your letter to the * Times ' of the 18th July already
raises the main question, 1 mean Mr. Layard's assertion
of the existence of a Berlin Protocol of 4th July, 1850, and
of a secret article in which Prussia promised to support the
Danish wishes with respect to an alteration in the Law of
Succession in the Duchies. You have pointed out how
improbable such a secret promise on the part of Prussia
must appear ; and I shall now offer a few additional proofs
in support of your assertion.
First of all, two days before that date that is, 2nd July,
* Published in the ' Times 9 of 1st September, 1864. The original ap-
peared in the ' Kolnische Zeitung?
188 MEMOIKS OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1852
1 850 the Peace of Berlin "had been signed, by order of the
King, and with, the entire concurrence of Schleinitz and the
whole Cabinet, a treaty, as you may remember, negotiated
and concluded by myself. In it the status quo ante bellum
was rigidly upheld by Germany. Moreover, a memoir,
which I delivered at the time of signature, expressly de-
clared that term to signify the legal status, as created by
the decree of the Federal Diet, of September 16, 1846.
Now this decree had, in opposition to the Letters Patent of
King Christian VIII., secured the entire ancient State
rights of Schleswig-Holstein, and especially as regards
the succession to its sovereignty, and Denmark was made
at the time to acknowledge those rights. To promise
an alteration would have contradicted and stultified this
memoir ; and who can suppose such a change of views to
have taken place within the space of two days ?
It is true that the Treaty of Peace, dated 2nd July, 1850,
was accompanied by an executive Protocol, and also by a
so-called ' secret article,' in which Prussia promised to take
part in future negotiations upon the question of succession
in Schleswig-Holstein ; but this was all. Attempts have
been made to interpret this article as a promise on the part
of Prussia to assist in altering that succession in a Danish
sense, the more so as such an assistance was given two
years later ; but, in reality, the meaning was exactly the
reverse. The Danish Plenipotentiaries certainly had at the
beginning of the Conferences proposed a wording which
would have stipulated for such a promise on the part of
Prussia. This being in contradiction to our preserving
intact the German and Schleswig-Holstein claim to the status
of 1846, the Danish proposal met with a refusal, and the
message was rescinded. The article as finally agreed to was
quite unobjectionable : for, with or without it, Prussia, as a
great Power, could never have stood aloof from European
deliberations such as those, and I repeat nothing was deter-
mined as to the tendency of her participation in them.
^ET. 60] COUNT USEDOM'S NAEEATIVE. 189
After this authentic statement, the only interpretation to be
given to that secret article would be this that Prussia
would not side with Denmark in the coming conferences
that is, not support the Danish scheme of succession. I have
never heard of any secret article but this.
On the contrary, I am convinced that Prussia considered
herself perfectly free as regards the question of succession
during the first months of the ensuing year. The following
circumstance (to which I should not refer were it not already
well known) may serve as a proof. In February 1851,
Count Sponneck brought to Berlin the Danish proposals re-
garding the succession, still framed in rather general terms.
His late Majesty of Prussia, of his own accord, but officially,
demanded my opinion upon them. Besides giving this, I
ventured to address a private letter to the King, which has
since, in a manner unknown to me, found its way into pub-
licity. It went to show, that the so-called integrity of
Denmark was as yet neither a right nor a fact, but merely
a wish, which Prussia had no interest in fulfilling. Now, if
Mr. Layard were right in asserting that Prussia had already
secretly bound herself, how could the King of Prussia have
demanded an opinion upon a subject which was settled
already eight months before ?
There would be ; no motive for saying a word with re-
ference to the observations of Mr. Layard, if there were
nothing farther to point out in them but a slight error in
the date and meaning of the secret article really extant, for
a British Under- Secretary of State has more to do than to
learn by heart dates and details fourteen years old. But
Mr. Layard told his ' curious secret history ' for the express
purpose of explaining Prussia's supposed obligations from
a Protocol of 4th July, 1850. If this is allowed to stand,
the charge against Prussia as having played a double game,
and a corresponding charge against your father, would still
remain in force. But we ought to know this 'history ' to
be genuine before we can draw conclusions from it. Until
190 MEMOIRS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1852
the above counter-proofs are shaken, it may be considered
as not belonging to history, but as a piquant myth, one of
those calligraphic flourishes, not rare in politics, which
overlay and spoil ' Clio's neat handwriting.'
You are aware that many adversaries of the London
Treaty who were friends of your father, would have pre-
ferred not seeing his name appended to a document to which
his approval was wanting. It is said that he ought rather
to have left the service, or have substituted a charge
d'affaires ad hoc. But, in 1852, the resolution of Prussia
being unalterably fixed, could anybody seriously wish a
statesman of his calibre to quit the service of his country on
such a ground as this ? As for a substitution of a charge
d'affaires, such a mode has always appeared to me a poor sub-
terfuge, for, according to the traditions of every Govern-
ment, a plenipotentiary who has unflinchingly and for years
declared his own separate convictions will be considered to
have fulfilled his duty. In the end the command of his
Cabinet will be paramount. It is then a question not of
opinion, but of service.
But what is of more importance to me than these con-
siderations, a saying of your father's came to my knowledge
during those days of 1852, which I have reason to believe to
be authentic. It was to this effect, ' That he would affix his
signature in order not to render still more heavy the sacri-
fice which the King, his master, had to make. There was
in Frederick William IV., and forming one of his chief
characteristics, an unchangeable human benevolence, and a
genuine sympathy of heart. As a politician, the King in
1852 delivered up the Duchies to their fate : humanly, this
resolve cost him a hard struggle ; for I doubt His Majesty's
having trusted the well-meant prediction of a Dane who was
plenipotentiary in 1850, to the effect that ' the Danish re-
storation would be the beginning of a reign of love. ' Bun sen,
by withholding the signature from the treaty, might have
offered a specious satisfaction to his private feelings.
JET. 60] COUNT USEDOM'S NAERATIVE. 191
Viewed in its relation to the King's act, it would still have
been but a demonstration and a reproof. Who would blame
him for abstaining ?
In your father's judgment (this I can testify), the London
Treaty, whether signed by him or not, would but have re-
mained what it ever was, a ' Pragmatic Sanction, 'raised up
artificially by parties unconcerned in the matter, against
the rights, the interests, and the wishes of those really con-
cerned in short, against the nature of things. To render
such an attempt possible, that powerful bias was necessary
which then predominated in the Cabinets of Europe, and
which was turned to a most favourable issue by Danish skill
an issue which was as unwisely made use of in the years
that followed, as it had been skilfully gained. Few people
can now imagine what evil times those were for the Duchies
and their friends. So late even as 1860, when in conse-
quence of the Crimean and Italian wars much was changed
in European politics, every mention of German rights in
regard to Schleswig was sure to call forth a general outcry
of indignation against the disturbers of peace.
It is to be regretted that Bunsen did not live to see the
year 1864, which has so signally verified his view of the
London Treaty. This ' Pragmatic Sanction,' erected, like
the Ice Palace on the Neva, in contempt of the laws of
nature, has melted away before the irresistible force of
things as they are. The Duchies, delivered at last from
their long struggle for existence, will now be permitted to
turn to higher things. To behold such a result would have
been a joy of joys to your father.
I am, &c. USEDOM.
The retrospect of the summer months of 1852 pre-
sents a wilderness of objects and of interests of the
most varied kinds, from which, the numerous family
broke away in various divisions and directions in
August. Bunsen himself, with his wife and youngest
192 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1852
daughter, paid a visit of three days to Sir Harry and
Lady Yerney, at Claydon, from whence he proceeded
to his eldest son at Lilleshall, in Shropshire, and went
on with his youngest (Theodore) to the Duke and
Duchess of Argyll, at Inverary, spending a day on
the road at Sir Archibald Alison's, Fossil House, near
Glasgow. At Tnverary the kindness of the Duke and
Duchess, and the manifold interests surrounding them
might well have tempted him to a longer stay ; but
one of Bunsen's peculiarities, constantly increasing
upon him every year, was that of being restless when
absent from his own room, his own writing-place, and,
particularly, from the living accompaniments of home;
so that he never without resistance was detained away
from them, even in the most attractive society. This
will account for the small amount of time spent in
country visits during his twelve years and a half in
England, where so much agreeable hospitality always
awaited his acceptance. On the present occasion he
was fairly shut out of his own abode, and thus made
time for a short visit to Lord Ellesmere at Worsley,
and to the Bishop of Manchester, on returning south
to his son's dwelling at Lilleshall, where he rejoined
his wife and youngest daughter, and was met by
Lepsius ; so that he had a congenial group around him
for the celebration of his birthday, the 25th August.
Bunsen to Liicke.
[Translation.] Lilleshall: 13th August, 1852.
I have just completed ' Sippolyius und seine Zeit,' after
thirteen mouths' hard work, both in English and in German.
To the German edition I have prefixed a Preface, armed at
all points, for the Governments and the nation. One of my
practical objects was, and is, to stir up the English out of
^Ex. 60] COMPLETION OF ' HIPPOLYTUS.' 193
their spiritual slumber and materialistic tendencies, before
tlie great conflict of minds, and perhaps of nations begins ;
and so far my book ('Hippolytus') is a contest for Germany,
for our only indestructible and peculiar property, I mean
inward religious instinct and freedom of spirit. My English
friends were at first alarmed on my account, at the matter
I addressed to their countrymen : but I know the English
nation better than they do, and have more Christian courage,
because my convictions are stronger than theirs. When,
after a life of serious enquiry, one has reached one's sixtieth
year, one must have attained to convictions instead of
opinions, and also to the courage necessary for expressing
them ; even to the pretension of being wiser than the ' raw
recruits' of the rising generation. In my 'Life of Jesus,' I
consider His single personality as purely and truly Divine,
because purely and truly human in appearance, in earthly
reality. With us, the new generation is partly infidel, partly
bigoted. There is a want of the courage and enthusiasm
necessary for carrying out the great task of our age. . . .
Bunsen to his Wife.
Inverary Castle : early on Tuesday, 17th August. Here
I am, having had a rainy voyage, after which a carriage at
the waiting-place brought me to the Castle, where the Duke
and Duchess received me with that hearty friendship which
they have so invariably shown me. After an hour the
weather cleared, and the open carriage was ordered for a
drive in the indescribably beautiful Glenary, the mountain
stream Ary flowing through it, and giving name to the
residence (mouth of the Ary) : it has many waterfalls, one
considerable, and very picturesque. On our return the
Duke conducted me to the beautiful room intended for me,
next the reception-room of the Duchess, where I am lodged
as in a royal residence, with the fine arm of the sea, and the
nobly wooded hills before me. At seven o'clock the pibroch
greeted me before my window (a summons to dinner), which
sounds very much better here than in a London Palace ! . . .
VOL. II. O
194 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1852
To the Same.
London: 1st September, 1852.
I can well feel with you the pain of revisiting places
hallowed by the presence of your incomparable mother, for
the first time since her death. She is in my thoughts on
the occasion of every event in our family, more particularly
when anything joyous renews the desire of communicating
with her ready sympathy. Who ever felt with us as she
did ? with what tenderness did she not follow us through
every change and variety of life, she, to whom our union
was, humanly speaking, owing ! So then, as we have been
allowed the rare happiness of living for a quarter of a cen-
tury in the enjoyment of her love and of her loveliness, let
us, beloved, continue in that same consciousness to the end
of our term of life.
I send a letter from a remarkable American, Rev. Dr. H.,
of Mobile, in Alabama ; who has in a learned work main-
tained the literal, historical exactness of the book of Gene-
sis, but, having finished and published it, and afterwards
studjang books of research and criticism, such as mine and
Lepsius's, he declared to his congregation (Presbyterian)
that he felt compelled to examine personally our doubts and
ourselves, and Egypt. Upon which, they granted him leave
of absence, and also money for his travelling expenses. The
first of his wishes, a personal conference with me and
Lepsius, he has at once obtained. I invited him, and read
to him the discourse of ' Hippolytus' upon inspiration ;
whereupon he said, ' The whole must be literally true, or I
can believe nothing .' Then the spirit came over me to say
to him, that I felt him to be a Christian brother in my very
heart : but, according to his system, he was an enemy and
not a friend of Moses a Mahomedan, or a Rabbi and
that he would only find peace and faith again, by following
out the system of research which with Germans had pro-
ceeded from faith, from the belief in Christianity as a reality
Mr. 61] TENDENCY OF JUDAIC BELIEF. 195
of truth, and therefore capable of making head against the
power of doubt and error. 'I must see myself,' he replied ;
' pray send me the book of " Hippolytus" to the Pyramids,
whither I am going. If I am in the wrong, I give up my
place. What should I preach to my people ? May God
help me !' I cannot express how deeply I was affected by
this man's expressions. L. was apprehensive, that if com-
pelled to give up his Judaic belief, he would lose his senses.
But I am of opinion that an Anglo-American, once having
entered upon research, will go through with it, and be saved ;
otherwise, indeed, his brains will turn : for that view of
things (the Judaic) tends to madness. . . .
Contemporary Notices from Diaries.
3 1st October, 1852.
The conversation at dinner was most interesting; it turned
on the years 1813-15, in the last of which years my father
was at Berlin for the first time. It was striking to witness
the almost Spartan simplicity of life at Court and in the
highest society, which contrasted greatly with the luxury
which he observed on returning after twelve years to Berlin.
Whilst in the interval at Rome he had been accustomed to
speak, with Mebuhr and the Germans there, the language
of 1818-15, he found in Germany the tone altogether
changed, and he seemed to be speaking in an unknown
tongue. The table of the King (Frederick William III.)
was the only one that retained its plainness, and when, on
occasion of some royal visitor, a grander dinner had been
prepared, the King commented upon it as ' fit for a Privy
Councillor.' . . .
Thursday, \\tli November. At breakfast, my father took
occasion of the mention of a meeting last nighfc, at which
Kossuth and Mazzini had spoken, to say that no one had so
much endangered the cause of Constitutional Government
in Italy by his fanaticism as Mazzini had done whom he
yet believed to be honest, though too much blinded to per-
o 2
196 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1852
ceive the consequences which must necessarily flow from his
acts. The murder of Rossi, for instance, which was perpe-
trated by Mazzini's friends, was as tragical an event, under
its peculiar circumstances, as that of Julius Csesar. But yet
Mazzini had (he said) more head and better practical quali-
ties than Kossuth, who was a mere talker, though an ex-
traordinarily-gifted one. My father went on in a very serious
tone of contemplation ; he had often felt, but not trusted
himself to pronounce, his bitter conviction, that our time
would turn out to be one of those periods in history which
seem to lie under a curse, which can be traced in many in-
stances in past ages, when every effort after truth among
nations, and after a higher life nationally, is blighted, and
when it requires a firm faith to believe that out of such a
hopeless state, the good, the right, and the true can ever
come out victorious. As to Germany, he said it was well,
and a blessing, that the present generation did and could
still hope ; but a man who had lived sixty years could only
despair if there was hope only for this world. The cause
of Germany he believed now to be lost for many generations
to come ; in 1848 it was not yet lost but it was lost in March
1849, by the manner in which the imperial crown was
offered to Frederick William IV., and the manner in which
he refused it, instead of accepting it upon his own conditions.
For the present, the only course for a lover of his country to
pursue was to protect and hold fast what Prussia has ; and in
one way Prussia was certainly better off than before, as she
possesses a Constitutional Government to which the Kins:
Jr o
has sworn and he will keep his oath he and his successors
being honest men. . . .
Bunsen to a Lady.
London: 13th November, 1852.
You poured out to me yesterday in a solemn moment the
very depth of your Christian heart, and gave me thus a proof
of affection and confidence, deeply affecting to me.
You feel the wrath of God, the All Just, more than the
JET. 61] TO A LADY ON HER RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS. 197
love of God ; and, if I understand you rightly, that is a con-
sequence of the natural re-action of your heart and your
reason against the one-sided formularies of theology: a
re-action through which we, the free children of our time,
are all bound to pass. You cannot find satisfaction either
in the Calvinistic or the Evangelical formulary for the doc^
trine of Justification and Reconciliation : your conscience
tells you (as every other Christian) of sin, and of the union
with God interrupted through sin ; and your reason, in ter-
ror, draws the conclusion, that every sin goes on in endless
succession producing evil (a concatenation which you can
feel no right to suppose broken off), and calling for punish-
ment from the eternal justice of God, as you qualify the
moral order of the universe ; and with this conception you
connect the idea (perhaps without having made it quite clear
to yourself) that this punishment, be it now or hereafter, in
this or in another life, will prove an expiation of the sin.
Your mind receives not the satisfaction of Christ, which, in
the form in which it has been presented to you, is made re-
pugnant to your reason.
I beg you not to be offended if I have misunderstood you ;
but this appears to me the unavoidable logical consequence
of your communication to me of yesterday.
My conviction is, that faith in Christ is essentially no
other than the solution of this enigma which has oppressed
the heart of humanity for so many thousand years. The
mere looking up to Christ, as pattern and prototype, is as far
from being Christianity as even Religion, in any degree
any more than gazing out of the swamp into which one has
fallen, up towards another standing safe and high on the
bank, can prove the means of being drawn out of the swamp ;
and the attempt, in the strength of Self (that is, of the crea-
ture contemplating itself apart from God), to escape out of
the swamp, is not in the slightest degree less irrational than
the well-known assertion of Miinchausen, that in a similar
condition he pulled himself out by grasping his own pigtail.
But that is not your religion : you believe in Christ, you
198 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1852
lead a life of brotherly love for the brethren of Christ, and
in His name ; but the bridge which must be built between
your conscience and the decisions of reason as to the eternal
consequences of evil, and the Redeemer, you cannot with
your own reason construct. In other words, you cannot feel
that in that consciousness of sin, and the self-condemnation
therein comprehended, the transfusion of faith and penitence,
lies the reality of redemption : which is the solution of the
enigma, the being loosened from the curse of the law (that
is, of conscience) : from the * illusion of sin,' as Novalis says.
It is as if one in immediate danger of suffocation should
wake up in the free air of Heaven, and yet doubt the saving
quality of the atmosphere by which he is renovated, because
he can neither see nor grasp it.
Into this spiritual air of heaven has Jesus brought us, not
only by His having declared God as Eternal love, but essen-
tially yet more as having proved the fact of redemption by
His perfect and all-sufficient self-sacrifice, completed for the
entire human race. Nothing is thereby altered in God's
eternal nature, for that is love ; but in our consciousness of
Him, as the centre of our life, the end and object, fraught
with blessing, of all longing, as Him ' in whom we live, and
move, and have our being.'
This consciousness and that of our moral responsibility
make out, whether evangelically or philosophically con-
sidered, the eternal, universal, and one only safe foundation
of the doctrine of justification, as well as that of our eternal
blessedness, of eternal life (John xvii. 3), in which we may
live, even now, if we do not exclude ourselves. But the way
thither lies in eating the body and drinking the blood of
Christ (John vi.), that is, in merging our own selfishness
in a course of life, adopting and taking in His Divine self-
devotedness in love to the brethren, in progressive self-re-
nunciation.
Tell me, whether I have misunderstood you, or whether
you agree with me. Faithfully yours, BUNSKN.
^ET. 61] MONTALEMBEET'S BOOK. 199
Bunsen to Baron Stockman.
[Translation.] Wednesday, 15th December, 1852.
I hope to receive a word from you on the subject of the
idea of an Anglo-Prussian alliance with Belgium and Hol-
land. My view of the matter is, let Prussia form its
alliance with those two Powers, after having by wise modera-
tion, and by the Customs Union (Zollverein), regained its
position in Germany : and then, not before, let the question
be asked of England. Allora sard altra cosa !
I send you a little excursion into the domain of the time
between 1813 and 1839, on the occasion of a new edition of
Niebuhr's 'Life and Letters.'
To the Same.
[Translation.] London: 17th January, 1853.
With many thanks I return to you Montalembert's book.
It is very eloquent, but yet the most embarrassed work of
an embarrassed man. The key to it lies in chapters six
and seven, and what follows. The heart of the mystery
is his vexation that his own clergy have so shamelessly
adhered to the despotism which he detests, which has
crushed him, and scoffs at him. But so it is ; no love of
freedom without love of the fatherland, and the Catholic
clergy has no fatherland, first because it can have no le-
gitimate offspring, but also because the rights of all other
classes, all fellow-citizens, become obnoxious as such to
it, or to its master the Pope, as soon as the practice of
thinking gains a head.
The first chapters are full of untruths : I had begun to
mark them with a pencil, but the number is too great.
Bunsen to Agricola (President of the Consistory of Gotha).
[Translation.] London : 3rd March, 1853.
I have interred Germany, as in Good Friday's tomb
sure in hope of that Easter morning of resurrection, which,
however, I shall not see.
200 MEMOIKS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1853
To a Son.
[Translation.] 22nd March, 1853.
The whole German system of study is irrational, because
no bridge is contrived between theory and practice ; and
antiquarian research in separate branches of knowledge is
substituted for the universal interests of humanity.
Extracts from Diaries.
Saturday, ISth June. My father having been invited
to see the Crystal Palace in its still unfinished state,
we packed ourselves a carriage full to accompany him.
After passing Dulwich the country prospect became charm-
ing, and soon we perceived the new building on a wooded
height. Mr. Phillips, Mr. Layard, and Mr. Owen Jones
guided us and a large party over this wonderful construc-
tion, which promises to realise Aladdin's Palace. From
the galleries the view is beautiful, and was evidently en-
joyed by the eighty singers from Cologne, who had been
brought over by Mr. Mitchell. By degrees all visitors had
collected (400 or 500) in a comparatively small corner of
the galleries, when suddenly the eighty began to sing ;
and grandly did their voices sound, electrifying the work-
people of all tongues and nations, who ceased hammering,
and joined in a loud hurrah as soon as the first song ended.
After the second song, the dinner bell summoned the
thousands from their various places of work, and they were
like a swarm of bees passing along all ladders and stairs
and corridors ; when the eighty sounded forth * God save
the Queen ! ' each and all remained standing, hat in hand, on
whatever spot they had reached, till at the end they burst
into another loud hurrah ! It was a heart- stirring scene. . . .
Wednesday, 6th July. My father read at breakfast the
Emperor Nicholas's manifesto, which accuses the Porte of
violation of faith, and declares a crusade and holy war !
My father said, even the aggression of Napoleon against
Spain was hardly so devoid of pretext as this act, which
Mi. 61] MOSUL NINEVEH. 201
lie considered to be a wanton rushing upon destruction on
the part of the Emperor. When my father went into his
library with me after breakfast, he could not refrain from
beginning over again about this extraordinary event, of
which he spoke with great emotion, as though he felt woes
to be at hand. . . .
Thursdaij, 21s July. Mr. Layard ^at breakfast, with
Captain Jones, who has been twenty-six years in the East,
and sixteen of them in Mesopotamia. He brought with
him plans made by himself of Mosul, and the site of
Nineveh, where he has measured the ground almost by
inches, and felt so perfectly at home, that in the great
wilderness of London he is quite strange and solitary.
His plans and explanations enable one to form a conception
of these ancient cities, which was difficult so long as one
remained confounded by the modern notion of a town as
consisting of a heap of stones, more or less well arranged,
with street crammed close to street, and scarcely room for
the air to circulate, far less for fields, trees, and cultivation.
It is plain that we are to think of Nineveh, Babylon,
Ecbatana, as inclosures, with walls well fortified and capable
of defence, including a space more like a small province
than a town, in which herds of cattle and flocks of sheep
could be contained ; and fed, in which were trees for shade,
and space for cultivation ; the buildings being in groups,
well separated, as the ruins testify. The fortified inclosure
was at the least a security against the incursions of nomad
tribes, such as will not have failed to harass even the
greatest empires of antiquity, until the Romans interposed
their thorough-going system of absolute rule. . . .
Bunsen to his Wife. (In London.)
Bedford Hotel, Brighton: 24th July, 1853.
I arrived safely, met Ernest at the station, and had a
good walk with liim and a short drive, before we entered
these doors. I went early to bed, it being bitterly cold,
202 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1853
on account, of course, of the dog days. This morning I
drank in as much sea air as my lungs could receive. After
breakfast set to work, and so successfully that I finished
the whole article of Marcion to my satisfaction, before
dinner. It is now near seven, and I have done all that I
required of myself, and sit down to prepare Justin Martyr
with Hernias and th.e Ebionites in the foreground of the pic-
ture. Tuesday, I hope to do Polycarp, and then I have only
to jump over Irenaeus to reach my own dear Hippolytus.
La campagna e la quiete that is the main thing, but
the sea-air is also something. The dear children bear me
about on their hands.
You will be surprised at all that I have accomplished
here. . . .
Bunsen to Ills Wife. (At Llanover.*)
London: 10th October, 1853.
[Bunsen had been urgently invited to be present at the
Cwmreiggyddion, and had consented to look over the prize
essays and give his award.]
/ cannot come war has been eventually announced to
Russia if she does not say formally what she wanted the
other Powers to say that is, the contrary of what she has
said. I have conferences daily telegrams and despatches
twice ! My award is being copied.
Bunsen to Count Usedom.
[Translation.] London : 8th December, 1853.
First of all, as to my coming to Berlin. I am in a course
of regimen, with a view to becoming free from chronic suf-
fering. I am unequal to more than a very small amount of
walking or other exercise, and yet exercise is an absolute
condition of amendment. What here keeps me in tolerable
health is, 1, regular diet : 2, frequent but short walks (on
the terrace or adjoining park) ; and, 3, the mildness of
the climate, which allows of these frequent daily walks.
^Ex. 62] CLOSE OF THE YEAE 1853. 203
For these rules of life, all things are here arranged. At
Berlin, I could not lead the life I ought. Sir Henry
Holland is of opinion, that by the month of April I may
be better.
In the second place, who should carry on the diplomatic
relations ? I see Clarendon almost daily ; he receives me in
the early part of the morning in his own house. In the
afternoon, I may read at the Foreign Office whatever I
wish to see. With Aberdeen I have les petites entrees ; also
to Prince Albert when in London, regularly towards eleven
o'clock in the morning, towards six in the afternoon, pri-
vately, and between times by means of writing. I am in-
formed of everything. Walewski, who is a power, com-
municates with me personally with the greatest readiness ;
so also Musurus and Buchanan. Only with Colloredo and
Brunnow would a substitute do as well as myself, but an
influence with the Cabinet and Ministry no one can obtain
without length of time. I believe that I possess all the in-
fluence which, with our politics, is possible.
Bunsen to Baron Stockmar.
[Translation.] London: Sylvester evening, 1853.
To you and yours be blessing, salvation, and happiness,
in the approaching new year ! ' Would he were here !'
is the close of Sir G. Cooper's letter enclosing that which
I hereby forward. ' Would he were here !' resounds to me
from all parts and various strata of the Palace. ' Would
he were here !' is daily in my heart, and often on my lips.
The winter is, as to cold, that of 1812 : will the spring
turn out for Prussia and Germany that of 1813 ? I must
hope so, since Pourtales is come, who, as I neither could
nor would go to Berlin, was, on my proposal, sent to me,
and was a true Christmas present. At that earlier date,
was a war of liberation : and now, what will it be ? Pour-
tales is in the highest spirits, as well as Usedom. The for-
mer will return to Berlin in a week. The Prince (Albert)
204 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1854
sees me as often as I desire to confer with him : he is more
energetic, but also more grave than ever.
A destiny is in the course of evolution ; a fatality ripen-
ing to its fulfilment. The wings of Nemesis are beating
audibly : IS Europe ne deviendra pas Cosaque.
Aberdeen will not maintain himself much longer ; it is
his unpopularity which has made Palmerston the most
powerful man in England, and the favourite of the people :
he (Aberdeen) has learnt nothing since 1815 in foreign
politics, except that he perceives, post factum, that he was
in the wrong, because the world is no longer what in 1815
it was made to be ! God preserve our fatherland, the ever
dear and great !
Extracts from Diaries (continued).
1st January, 1854. Before the close of the old year, we
had already received the long-expected intelligence of the
death of dear General Radowitz, on Christmas Day ! We
have the privilege of remembering many most interesting
days during his stay with us three years ago, the impres-
sion of which will not easily wear away. The conversation
at breakfast turned upon Radowitz, of whom, bred up as he
was at a Jesuit school, it might be said that his whole turn
of mind was based upon what the head of a Jesuit school
at Vienna had declared to my father to be the basis of their
system of education Religion (in their sense, i.e. the in-
flexible binding rule) and Mathematics. . . .
Sunday, 5th February. My father said that the Emperor,
when he was in England in 1844, already uttered the
sentiments of which many versions have since been made :
' II y a dans mon Cabinet deux opinions sur la Turquie :
1'une, qu'elle est mourante ; 1'autre, qu'elle est morte la
derniere est la mienne. II serait ainsi bien que nous nous
entendions sur la maniere de faire ses funerailles.'
Tuesday, 7th February. At breakfast my father read Lord
Clarendon's declaration in the House last night, that negoti-
ations were broken off and relations suspended with Russia.
JET. 62] RECALL FROM ENGLAND. 205
CHAPTEE XVI.
RECALL FROM LONDON INDEPENDENCE.
BUNSEN RECALLED FROM ENGLAND DEPARTURE FROM CARLTON TERRACE
FAREWELL TO HIS FRIENDS ESTABLISHES HIMSELF AND FAMILY AT
CHARLOTTENBERG CORRESPONDENCE FROM HEIDELBERG THE IMMACU-
LATE CONCEPTION STATE OF GERMANY BIBLE WORK DEATH OF ARCH-
DEACON HARE.
Extracts from Diaries (continued).
ON the llth April, 1854, the first telegraphic announcement
was made in the ' Times ' of my father's being recalled from
his post in London, he himself not having received any
notification of the fact, nor did he receive it officially for
long after, although aware that the King had accepted his
resignation, sent in the first week in April. The time of
suspense and uncertainty was painful, but the kindly
feeling towards my father and all of us, evinced in thou-
sands of enquiries, notes, and letters of regret, when once
the fact became known, was most gratifying. The feelings
must be left out of the question with which we worked at
despoiling our beautiful dwelling of the signs of our own
especial life in it : yet when at last the great work was
accomplished, it was with thankfulness that we left those
desolate rooms, filled as they were with associations and
recollections of an important period of life, abounding in joy
and sorrow and were glad to find a temporary home under
the friendly roof of beloved ones in Abbey Lodge, Regent's
Park.
206 MEMOIES OE BARON BUNSEN. [1854
Contemporary Notice, by a Daughter-in-Law, in a Letter.
23rd April, 1854.
. . . The girls, no doubt, have written to you about their
departure. The house to me never appeared more attractive
than it did that afternoon, and it seemed hard to look on
those beautiful rooms probably for the last time. But they
seemed only quietly contented, and no one would have sus-
pected the state of the case, except from my father's words
when I went to him in his library, when he embraced me
tenderly, and said, 'Prom this moment I feel that I belong
to my children ; from this moment I am my own master.'
He really has seemed to me a changed man the last week.
What deeply interesting conversations he has had here with
me, telling of his early life and strong governing impres-
sions ! and how he has again and again retraced his steps up
to this point, telling me how he has often and often endea-
voured to take the collar off, and give up public affairs, but
never could do so before : and how, in 1849, he thought his
way was clear, when ' God threw him upon a bed of sick-
ness,' and again he had to resume his labours as the
opportunity was past. And now this is the first time he
could leave ; and he added solemnly, ' My whole life would
have been a lie to myself if I did not run away the first mo-
ment I could.' They had hardly left the house before a
letter from Prince Albert came. I will send you a copy of
the translation of it to-day or to-morrow.
Bunsen's resignation of his post of honour and
of labour in England, the cause, attendant circum-
stances, and immediate occasion, form a wide subject,
belonging not only to the political crisis of the
moment, but to a previous condition of things, of
long duration, such as can only be explained and
placed in full light when the future historian shall
be allowed the examination of, and the liberty of ex-
JET. 62] HIS EECALL FEOM ENGLAND. 207
tracting from, the vast amount of papers in his own
handwriting, or written from his dictation, which
exist in the Archives of the Prussian Government
at Berlin, or in London. The hand which here
attempts to preserve the reflection of his image, as
it appears in his own utterance of thoughts and
opinions to private friends, is wholly incompetent to
undertake such a history of his entire political life as
would prove an effectual defence and justification
against many a bitter accusation ; but if success is
granted to the endeavour to show him such as they
who best and most closely had contemplated him
knew him to be, the result must be to prove that he
was incapable of any intention or action inconsistent
with his integrity and his devotedness to the good
of his King and country, as he understood it.
It is not for the writer of these lines to examine
or determine where, and how far, Bunsen was en-
tangled in errors of judgment; and therefore the
question whether he would not have done better to
resign his post previous to the signature of the Danish
Protocol of Lond6n, in 1852, must be left, with many
other questions, to the decision of others. That the
resignation, at last tendered in April 1854, had not
been much earlier determined upon, may be referred
to the causes which made the final departure from
England so indescribably painful. Nothing but the
total impossibility of carrying on his diplomatic
transactions with due regard to that unity of purpose
and character essential to his conception of public
duty could have brought him to the pitch of resolu-
tion necessary for resigning, not indeed the show and
208 MEMOIKS OF BAKON BUNSEK [1854
importance of a high station (entailing labour and
loss of time which were every year felt to be more
oppressive), but the vivid succession of animated in-
terests, moral, religious, political, intellectual, which
made his daily existence one course of imbibing ideas,
of taking in at will successive draughts of universal
life, in nations or in nature, while resident on that
spot of earth which he loved to call the world's
metropolis. This universality of energy (all powers
being with him ever living), and his inexhaustible
stock of animal spirits, enabled him to meet the
demands made upon him, by every variety of matter,
to a degree which most persons would find it difficult
to keep pace with, even in fancy ; and the friction in
every direction, which would have been wearing and
overstraining to minds in general, furnished his with
exactly the desired degree of stimulus, weariness
never being the result of any amount of mental exer-
cise, but only the consequence of uncongenial or vex-
atious occupation. Thus, for some time after his
resignation had been sent in and accepted, he was far
from having taken in the possibility or necessity of
immediately withdrawing from the scene of a sojourn,
in most respects so preferable to any other that could
be imagined for him ; and not till after he had fully
considered the question of private life in England,
from every possible point of view, did his mind become
resigned to the fact, that his immediate withdrawal
from the scene of the activity of years was essential
to complete his retirement from all connection with
public affairs. The vision which had floated before
him so long, of finally settling at Bonn, as Mebuhr
JEr. 62] EESOLVES TO LEAVE ENGLAND. 209
had done, and, like him, by means of public lectures,
acting upon the rising generation of his country-
men, might have seemed on the point of being realised ;
but he desired to delay the actual fixing of his resi-
dence in the Prussian dominions, until the influences
at that time paramount at Court and in the Ministry
should have somewhat changed in character. As he
desired to live exclusively for his family, for literary
research, and for contemplation, the prospect was
galling to his feelings that, by living in Prussia, he
would unavoidably be drawn into participation in the
strife of political parties, which both his physical
condition, and, still more, his personal relation to the
King, seemed imperatively to forbid. Among Ger-
man towns out of Prussia Heidelberg offered the
greatest amount of desirable circumstances, and was
soon decided upon, after a transient longing after the
shores of the Mediterranean, which caused Mce to be
contemplated; but the idea was dismissed, as the
neighbourhood of an University with its public
library was an indispensable requisite in the choice of
a place of abode. ' The resignation having been des-
patched to Berlin in April, Bunsen and his wife went
to spend the short pause, while awaiting the reply and
acceptance, at High Wood, beyond Harrow, with
the faithful friend of many years, Lady Baffles, with
her to reflect aloud, to look beyond, before, and around
them, and in the beneficent stillness of the country
and the spring, to collect fresh strength and spirit for
days and weeks of trying transition. The royal license
to depart having arrived, no longer delay was allowed
to intervene but such as was indispensable for the last
VOL. II. P
210 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1854
arrangements. The painful resolution was made and
executed, to part with multiplied memorials of past
periods of animated existence, in the form of pictures,
engravings, and other objects of art, and even with
the greater portion of a library, more precious to
Bunsen than all the rest. This he had at first de-
termined to pack up and remove with him, until con-
vinced on trial that the mass would be too great for
any house that he would be likely in future to occupy,
and a selection was made, which, however bulky,
might well have been larger, since many works were
subsequently required and purchased a second time.
This difficulty once over, Bunsen was prevailed upon
to leave the distasteful occupation of breaking up the
complicated structure of domestic life which he and
his family had enjoyed, to those whose labour and
sense of repugnance was lessened and lightened by
the consciousness that he was spared all that he could
be relieved from by accepting the kind hospitality of
Mr. and Mrs. Wagner, at St. Leonard's. There, in
the enjoyment of sea air and of the most soothing
and gratifying attentions, he employed the leisure
needed for the last finishing of various works, for
which the printing press was, as it were, waiting.
Extracts from a few letters will mark not only the
individual occupations of the time, but also the
fulness of vigour with which he had struggled, and
gradually overcome, the trials of the crisis. He re-
turned invigorated and refreshed to London, where
the house of his son Ernest, in the Regent's Park,
afforded him a welcome and delightful abode during
the short remaining time in which his presence was
J&T. 62] PROPOSES TO SETTLE AT CHARLOTTENBERG. 211
indispensable for consigning to the press his com-
prehensive work, ' Christianity and Mankind,' into
which his second edition of ( Hippolytus ' had imper-
ceptibly grown. Mournful was the day of attending
for the last time Divine worship at the German
Church of the Savoy ; after which, in the vestry, the
venerable Steinkopf (fifty years officiating minister
there) read an address of thanks for benefits received,
which drew many a tear, the rather because it was
not exaggerated, but abundantly deserved ; for Bunseii
had been indeed an effectual friend to the German
inhabitants of London, collectively and individually.
It would be a needless filling up of space to enumer-
ate the persons, or the acts of kindness, which crowded
round Bunsen, to deepen and strengthen the impres-
sion of the sentiments of affection and approbation of
his English friends ; but the heart-warming effect,
which was the object of such demonstration, was fully
attained ; only the name of Samuel Gurney, as fore-
most in kindly offices, and who lived less than three
years after this, shall be uttered with the richly merited,
'Hail! and farewell!'
On the 10th June, Bunsen saw his wife and daugh-
ters safe on board the steamer which conveyed them
to Rotterdam, whence they pursued their way up
the Rhine, to take possession of Charlottenberg, near
Heidelberg, which had been sought out for them by
their faithful friend Meyer, then a resident at Heidel-
berg. The day of departure was that of the opening
of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, the gradual pro-
gress of which they had watched during repeated
visits ; but its completion coincided with a period to
P 2
212 MEMOIRS OP BARON BUNSEN. [1854
them too solemn and mournful to admit of even the
inclination to witness the celebration. The Steam
Navigation Company would not accept payment for
the transmission of the family and their bulky effects,
nor would the porters of St. Katherine's Docks allow
of remuneration for the very considerable labour of
conveying the latter on board, offering such labour as
a token of much-prized respect. Bunsen remained
with his son in the Regent's Park as many days longer
as were indispensable for delivering the whole of his
work to the press. Friends continued to collect about
him, and it was difficult to convince many of them
that his remaining longer in England (at least for the
period that might be required for complying with in-
vitations to lengthened visits in the country) was for
many reasons out of the question ; the principal rea-
son always being that Bunsen could never be happy,
for a continuance, but in a home of his own ; and
after the breaking up of the home of years no time
was to be lost in constructing another. At length the
two busy and exciting weeks which formed the close
of the important thirteen years of his life in England
came to an end ; and the presence of his son George
on his journey smoothed over the effort of his depar-
ture. On the way up the Rhine the travellers stopped
at Neu Wied, to visit the Prince and Princess of Wied,
at their lovely country residence, Monrepos. They
had but just returned themselves from Paris, where a
residence of nearly a year had been blessed to them
by the restoration of health to the Princess by the
hands of Count Szapary. Bunsen was overpowered
by paternal joy at the sight of his second daughter
JET. 62] LETTEK TO MBS. SCHWABE. 213
Emilia, restored like the Princess to health and
strength, by the same persevering endeavours, under
the kind auspices of the Princess, who, in the begin-
ning of the winter, had urged the having recourse to
the same source of help that had, under the blessing
of God, proved effectual in her own case.
Letter to Mrs. Schwabe.
[Translation.] Carlton Terrace : 2nd May, 1854.
So much kindness cannot be resisted ! I accept your affec-
tionate invitation to pay a visit to your charming abode in
Wales, with, pleasure and thankfulness but at a time when
you yourself will be there in case that should be in summer
or autumn. At present, and to the end of June, my pre-
sence in the neighbourhood of London is indispensable ; but
in July I hope to be able to dispose of myself. We shall
hardly be able to fix ourselves in our new abode before the
New Year. Between this time and then lie gloomy months
for Prussia and Germany and the whole world. My resolu-
tion is taken I shall not again enter into public life, but
devote the years yet remaining to me to reflection upon the
great objects of eternal significance, to which, from earliest
youth, I had consecrated my soul. Only, to depart from
England is a thought intolerable to me, as though all heart-
strings must be cut through. I write not to you about my
retiring from office : generally speaking, it was as the
' Times ' indicated. The dear King is entangled in a web.
The Queen, Prince Albert, Lord Clarendon, Lord John
Russell have all expressed their approbation of my pro-
ceeding in the most satisfactory manner.
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] 1st May, 1854.
You know how I struggled, almost desperately, to retire
from public employment in 1850. Now the cord is broken,
and the bird is free, the Lord be praised !
214 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1854
Extracts from Daughter's Letters.
Saturday, May, 1854.
.... Last Sunday was a never-to-be-forgotten Whit
iSunday : my father and mother and all of us went to the
Savoy Church for the last time, and we stayed all together
at the Holy Communion, after which we were asked to go
into the vestry, where clergy and supeiintendents desired
leave to present an address to my father. Dear old Stein-
kopf was too unwell to read the address which he had written
most warmly and affectionately, and it was read aloud by
Schoell : the vestry was as full as it could hold of persons
who had remained on purpose to be present. Then my
father spoke a few words in answer, most beautifully
very different from his manner of speaking in English ; and
giving such excellent parting advice as to the duty of all
Germans in England, never to forget the fatherland, but to
remain in spiritual communion with it, besides giving all the
material aid in the power of every one severally. Half, at
least, of those present were in tears ; and the affectionate
words and manner of each, as we all shook hands, were
most affecting. The German Hospital Committee desire
also to present an address, which they will bring on Thurs-
day. Yesterday as we were to dine at Mr. Gurney's to take
leave, we passed by Dalston, to the joy of all the inmates,
particularly of the matron, who feels that she is losing a
support and protection often experienced, in the departure
of my father and also of Frances.
Extract of a Letter from a Son in London to Ms Brother
in the Country.
8th May, 1854.
The letter of the Prince of Prussia was followed by one
from the Princess equally warm, and, in fact, affectionate.
Prince Albert has been most warm in his expressions, in his
own name and that of Queen Victoria. You will be de-
lighted to read these letters, with those of many a real
JET. 62] LETTER TO MRS. SCHWABE. 215
friend. Lord John Russell's is a fine document. Lord
Aberdeen kept my father two hours, and parted from him
with tears in his eyes. ' I was instrumental in fixing you
here, thirteen years ago, and indeed I do not regret it I
cannot take leave of you.' Lord Palmerston speaks as quite
indignant at this break-up, and shows all the kindness
he can.
We felt it a great blessing to drive to church yesterday,
for my father, as it were, to take leave. He was very
happy, in a solemn temper. You would have been glad to
have been present, when, during the last part of the hymn,
he bowed down his fine head, leaning it on both his hands,
and prayed silently, an abundant flow of tears rushing from
his eyes. Nothing could be more mild and heavenly than
his spirit all the day open, bright, and generous to all
whom he met.
Bunsen to Mrs. Schwabe.
[Translation.] St. Leonard ; s-on-Sea : 12th May, 1854.
Your valued second letter has hit upon the very crisis of
our life ; we must give up England, and we are about to
remove to Germany, and to Heidelberg. To-morrow I shall
learn whether the house there must be taken from the 24th.
Should this be the ; case, we should be obliged to set out
about the 18th.
Thus the fair prospect of Glyn Garth falls to pieces !
This removal is the will of God for us : and as soon as we
had perceived that, we ,have as fully entered into it as
though it had been from the first our own will.*
* The friendship which connected Mrs. Salis Schwabe with Bunsen
and his wife was recent in date, but not the less real. Through a
common friend, of high value to all, they had been for some years ac-
quainted, and were further drawn together by sympathy in the deep
affliction of Mrs. Schwabe for the death of her excellent husband, two
years before the present date. On this occasion, Mrs. Schwabe's invita-
tion and offer of such thorough-going hospitality as consisted in placing
her beautiful residence of Glyn Garth, in North Wales, at the sole dis-
216 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [185?
Letter from a Daughter -in-Low.
May, 1854.
Your father came up from St. Leonard's on Tuesday
that evening they had a few friends to take leave. On
Wednesday he meant to have returned to St. Leonard's
early, as he had accredited Count Henckel as Charge
d' Affaires the day before : but he was long with Prince
Albert, so that when I went thither at three o'clock, he
was only then leaving ; I was so glad to be there, to be
present at that closing scene. He was in the library with
your mother, E. and G. : he looked full of deepest thoughts.
. . . But how desolate it all looked ! That beautiful room
stripped of every book, ornament, and picture, and he only
standing there waiting to be off ! Then the brougham was
announced. He said but few words we followed him into
the hall, full of piled-up boxes the men-servants all stand-
ing there. He said a few words to our mother, gave a few
parting injunctions to Ernest, without a muscle of his face
moving, and got into his carriage. I cannot tell you what
we all felt. Our hearts were in our mouths, and yet no
one spoke a word but himself. I got in to accompany him
I could not bear his going alone ; and what an interesting
drive we had ! He talked so beautifully and touchingly of
everything, especially of his visit to Prince Albert, saying
he had referred him to his translation of the 73rd Psalm,
as the best description of the present time. So we got to
the station, where he took leave of the old coachman ; and
then we paced up and down. He talked about us all, and
all that his children were to him, now more than ever.
And then he departed : and I returned to Carlton Terrace
to talk to G. about business, and carry away my usual
daily cargo of things set apart for you and Mary and
ourselves. . . .
posal of the Bunsens for as long as they might be inclined to inhabit it,
claimed the return of cordial consciousness of sympathy, which caused
Bunsen to keep up a frequent correspondence with her to his life's end.
JT. 62] HIS 'PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION.' 217
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.] 77, Marina, St. Leonard's: 12th May, 1854.
I arrived here prosperously, and was received at the
station by Emily and a servant, to my great refreshment.
I came on foot hither, where the excellent master of the
house met me, followed by Mrs. Wagner, with the hearty
kindness peculiar to himself he having been cured of an
indisposition, and called out of bed by yesterday's success-
ful election of Mr. North. After the ' substantial tea,' the
two good girls played Beethoven and other things, and
then I went (quite well) to bed, and rose early this morning.
Before six I was writing at my ' Conclusion ' for the press,
which I hope to finish before noon. My feeling is that I
may be suddenly called back to town. Everything is ready
for whatever may come, and whenever it comes. . . .
\4dli May. I still feel the pressure of care . . . the
Lord will certainly help ; one must do one's own part, and
then have patience. Till now, the way has been beyond
hope made plain to us first, pointed out, and then traced
and made smooth. What a beautiful letter, high-minded
and affectionate, John Harford has written ! God be thanked
for so many precious hearts full of love that surround us !
My close on the /' Philosophy of Religion ' has given me
much trouble, but I am pleased with it at last. It consists
of sixty pages (about forty in print), much compressed,
intelligible, and without circumlocution. I hope to read it
to you on Friday printed. . . ,
Thursday evening, \Qth May. A-lthough I have the whole
day been composing and writing in English, and matter
from* my soul's innermost yet am I moved now to close
the working day with a few German words to you, best
beloved ! I have had a true foretaste of the blessedness of
a free and tranquil existence, to which the Lord will
conduct us, through the midst of storms as to outward
things, in the mild light of His grace and His peace,
218 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1854
according to our heart's best longings, granting our most
urgent prayer. And this has been granted to me before
the bitter cup was wholly drunk out, and the fight fought
out, the distress ended and even during separation from
you, and from the dear and valued beings whom God has
granted to us. I do not say in a strange land, for such is
this land not to me, but rather a second fatherland. But
the longing after the land of my fathers breaks out from
time to time and strengthens me for the parting, not with
splendour and dignity of station for these are oppressive
to me but from the love and attachment which wind
round my heart their thousand bands. May it be thus
with us both when the hour of death approaches ! . . .
To Archdeacon Julius Hare.
77, Marina, St. Leonard's-on-Sea : 22nd May, 1854.
MY DEAREST FRIEND, I cannot be with you to-morrow
bodily, but I shall be with you in soul and spirit on that
auspicious day, which crowns so many noble and pious
wishes, and hopes, and prayers, and sacrifices. God be
thanked that you will see to-morrow that beautiful spot
consecrated for ever to God's service, on the outskirts of
that population among whom you and yours have grown
and lived.
I am awaiting in this refreshing sea air and quiet the
arrival of the letters of recall, the delivery of which to
your noble and blessed Queen will be the last act of an
official life of thirty-six years. My opponents have exactly
been the instruments to help me to this harbour, towards
which I long tended. My ties to England have been more
closely knit together in this crisis than ever before, and
will only be loosened by the last breath of my life. We
hope to embark in time to be present at Matilda's Con-
firmation, which will fix our departure for the 1.8th June,
that day of Belle Alliance on which I landed thirteen
years ago as the King's envoy.
JET. 62] COKRESPONDENCE WITH HIS WIFE. 219
At Heidelberg I shall find five out of the eight German
theologians with whom I can agree. ...
To the Same.
London: 2nd June, 1854.
We may yet hope for the happiness of seeing you here ;
as to our leaving town, even for a day, it is impossible.
Yes, my dear friend, I have sold all that in future will
not be of use, or of essential use, for our living at a German
University town, where you can have all books of reference
sent to your own house, and I have kept of my museum
only the head of Christ in marble, and the copy of the
head in the Transfiguration, and (besides gifts, which of
course we keep) my prints of the Old School collected in
Italy. As to books, I have kept all classics, theology,
philosophy, and history, which is all I want in future.
We are staying with Ernest, at Abbey Lodge, Regent's
Park, and from Tuesday next we shall be at leisure to
live to ourselves and our friends. Let me know when you
arrive and where you are to be found. With indescribable
longing to see you, ever your affectionate friend BUNSEN.
Bunsen to Ms Wife. (At Heidelberg.)
[Translation.] / Abbey Lodge: Monday, 12th June. 1854.
Only one line a sign of life and love. I have had a
delightful day with Max Miiller, who told me the result of
the Turner Essay, which I had no time to read ; Trevelyan
was also there, and Jowett, all full of kindness. I feel
quite overwhelmed by so much affection ; may I once leave
the world, as now I leave England, with love all around,
but yet going willingly !
To-day I shall be with Hare ; to-morrow, Stanley ; Wednes-
day, the Thatched House ; Thursday, Gladstone comes to
breakfast; Friday, leave taking. The Prince and the
Queen always most kind. All things prepared for de-
parture. Harford has given me a copy of the ceiling of
220 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1854
the Sixtine Chapel. Yesterday we had a terrible storm,
but you will have been safe in port before that.
Friday, 16th June. This, beloved, has been a serious day,
the last (seemingly at least) in England : besides which,
until two days ago, it seemed to me impossible that I could
accomplish all, even though thirty men of Spottiswoode's
printing establishment work day and night, and yet more
impossible did Rowan and Spottiswoode deem it that I
should keep pace with so many hands. In addition, my
Japhetic translation of John vi. and xvii. was still due,
and some of my xxx. Theses were not done to my mind.
Lastly, I found that the Preface to ' Egypt ' ii. had still
need of a notice of two new works, which I had hardly
read. God be thanked, all this is finished, half an hour
ago. Brandis and G. helped faithfully. This morning the
last words, for the Thesis and some other chapters, came
from my pen. Thus is my last English work completed,
and has grown out of an occasional into a permanent work ;
for the thoughts laid down in it will long outlive me, and
perhaps here or in the United States will find a fruitful
soil, sooner than in Germany, distracted as it is, without
nerve for action.
As Brandis is finishing the examination of the ' Chrono-
logical Tables,' I may freely turn my eyes and mind towards
my German fatherland. Never in my life have I felt more
conscious of the Divine support and blessing ! and I hope
that consciousness will keep me in humility as in faith.
In the evening of that Friday, 16th June, several
of Bunsen's most intimate friends had been invited
to dinner at Abbey Lodge, among whom were Hare
and Maurice. The former addressed a few parting
words to him, who was never again to grace that
table, that house, that country, with his presence.
The impressive address, spoken with deep emotion
and listened to with no common sympathy, called
JET. 62] FAREWELL ADDKESS TO HIS JFKIENDS. 221
forth, a farewell from Bunsen to the country and
to the relations and friends he was about to leave.
What England had been to him before he had
even seen her, what lasting impressions had been
produced in him, on his first visit in 1839 as a pri-
vate individual, as well "as ever since during the
thirteen years of his official residence in this country;
what precious links had, under Providence, been
formed, in the land which gave birth to his wife ;
how he trusted that his children's children's children
would be enabled to maintain the happy relations
which dearly connected him, more especially with Ger-
many, Italy, and England, but also with France ;
these were the leading topics of his parting address.
The next morning, Saturday, 17th June, he left
England for Heidelberg, accompanied by his son
George.
Bunsen to Ms Daughter-in-Law. (Sent early to her room,
before they had met, on the last morning.)
Abbey Lodge: Saturday morning, 17th June, 1854 ; nine o'clock.
I hope in this rainy weather you will not venture out, and
I must in one line give you my blessing, and a father's
thanks, for being what you are, an angel of love and kind-
ness. You know not what you have done and been for me,
in these weeks passed under your hospitable and blessed
roof. May God bless you for it, here and eternally !
Love and kindest regards to your children, and the whole
house of Gurney.
I leave England, as I hope and wish to leave this world
loving and beloved, but willing and cheerful.
Think of me on Wednesday. My blessing again on your
children, and the dear baby in particular Ever your affec-
tionate father BUNSEN.
'222 MEMOIKS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1854
Bunsen reached Mannheim on June 22nd, at night,
and was met by his wife and two daughters early on
the morning of the 23rd, when they were all present
at the Confirmation of the youngest, performed by
the truly reverend pastor, Winterwerber, at the Edu-
cational Institute (then presided over by Fraiilein
Amalia Jung), where Matilda Bunsen had been placed
the preceding year. This introduction of his daugh-
ter, with a large number of her contemporaries and
fellow-pupils, into the period of self-dependence, in
itself solemn and affecting, was rendered more im-
pressive by the earnestness with which the honoured
teacher reiterated the convictions which he had long
laboured to fix in the minds of his scholars ; and it
was hea^t- warming and soothing for Bunsen to re-
enter through this celebration of a Christian solemn-
ity, upon which he set a peculiar value the life of his
native country. After this, a short remaining railway
journey brought him to the habitation, which had not
been definitely engaged till after he should have seen
it and acquiesced in the opinion of its being, not only
the only house in Heidelberg that could have suited
him, but also the spot which more especially com-
bined the multiplied beauties of the valley of the
Neckar. His image, as he stood leaning over the
balustrade of the terrace of Charlottenberg, entranced
by the prospect, which was gilded by the fulness of
sunshine upon the full development of vegetation, and
embalmed by the scent of orange-flowers and roses in
the garden forgetting that his wife and the lady who
owned the house were waiting to show him the rooms
will remain while memory lasts in the mind of the
JET. 62] CHAKLOTTENBEKG. 223
former. It was a great boon to have such a place as
Charlottenberg provided for Bunsen's latter years ;
and his enjoyment of it was constant and unfailing
each year, as long as the fine season lasted, that
is, the period of long days and mild temperature.
During the other half of the year, the reign of death
in vegetation and of discomfort to all animated
nature, which made the Continental winter a time
of habitual bodily suffering to him, could not be
laid to the account of that habitation. Had circum-
stances allowed of his spending the winter months
regularly on the southern coast of France, or even
on that of England, to be invigorated by sea-air
against the influence of damp and cold, his life might
possibly have been protracted ; but the regret must
be checked by the consideration that the satisfaction
of life for him consisted in the execution of his various
works, which could not be carried on exceptionally,
nor at a distance from materials of reference, such as
could be furnished only by the public library of an
University.
Bunsen found at Heidelberg a few intimate friends,
and was warmly greeted by many newer ones, besides
which, during the summer and autumn, an unfailing
current of travellers of all nations furnished him with
opportunities of constant social intercourse with
former or with fresh acquaintances. The pleasure of
such social meetings will be present to the minds of
many persons, as well as that of the writer of these
lines. Were but the practice of making notes of
conversations more common, much of general interest
might have been preserved from that time.
224 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1854
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 28th June, 1854.
My books are placed far more within reach, and arranged
more according to inclination, than was possible in London.
Your mother and sisters have done wonders, and the rooms
look so home-like that one cannot admit the possibility of
ever quitting them. The lower apartment, the terrace
and its prospect, are enjoyable even in rainy weather, but
in sunshine ideally beautiful. I feel cause to thank God
daily for being here ; for I experience almost tangibly that
I have need of all my time and all my powers, to carry out
the task laid upon me by the fifth volume of * Egypt.' I
am, once for all, a German, placing before me the ideal
problem as being capable of solution, because that solution
is an intellectual necessity ; and at the same time I am an
Englishman, who refers to history all questions concerning
reality.
To the Same.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg: July, 1854.
I thank God that I am here first, because, as things are,
I could remain with satisfaction nowhere else, in no other
town, or house ; secondly, because Heidelberg and Charlot-
tenberg are the best of their kind, and both indescribably
beautiful. But I miss John Bull, the sea, the ' Times ' in
the morning, and, besides, some dozens of individual fellow-
creatures.
To the Same.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg: 27th July, 1854.
I have chosen a form of representation in the work on
Egypt which will give all facts collected into one focus. In
the Preface I mean to set forth the results of the whole, for
antiquarian research and for the philosophy of the human
race, in mere 'household words.' My Dedication to Schel-
Mr. 62] THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 225
ling pleases others, and myself too. That to Champollion
may turn out well also : it is a sort of legend.
To the Same.
[Translation.] 22nd August.
The plans of the Camarilla are becoming more extrava-
gant than ever. Being disappointed by Auerswald, one of
them has conceived the design of preparing an alliance be-
tween Prussia, Russia, and France ; of course, against Eng-
land and Austria Haugwitz outdone !
In a letter, dated Michaelmas 1854, Bunsen
observes, on the subject of the dogma about to be
proclaimed by the Pope as binding on the conscience
of all Catholics, that all that Protestants could do,
would be to point out to reasonable Catholics to what
a point they are being led by the Pope. At the same
time he declares his conviction, that no good influ-
ence can be exerted by Protestants upon Catholics,
until they shall have achieved a right to speak with
authority upon experience, by constituting and re-
presenting real communities in home, Church, and
State.
Referring to a communication from the late Arch-
bishop of Canterbury upon the subject of the Imma-
culate Conception, he contrasts the truly Christian
sentiments of the Patriarch of the Anglo-Saxons with
those of the Patriarch of Alexandria, the persecutor
of Nestorius, who, in an address to the Fathers of the
Council of Ephesus, used these words : ' By the mo-
ther of God the tempter is overcome, and fallen man
is raised to Heaven.' *
* It was in this same Council of Ephesus that the dogma of the Im-
maculate Conception of Mary was first introduced and approred, which
the present Pope, in 1854, added to the Creed of the Koman Church.
VOL. II. Q
226 MEMO IKS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1854
Bunsen to Luclce.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 24th August, 1854.
The woes and wrongs of my beloved fatherland in gene-
ral, of the condition of the Church and of religious instruc-
tion in particular, weigh more heavily upon nay heart than
I could at a distance have believed possible. Not to be op-
pressed in spirit by the spectacle requires a great effort of
philosophical reflection. I shall keep away from the
Kirchentag (general meeting of German Protestants), at
least until the men who design to make it an instrument of
their separatist will shall have been excluded from the com-
mittee. The first object ought to be, to support the Union
against their system of violence and persecution ; the feeble
basis of confederacy is not even accepted by them in sin-
cerity. But what should be expected from those who pro-
pose as law the Lutheran. Liturgy for infant baptism, with
Exorcism and Regeneration ? I shall not go to that meet-
ing, but other levers will not be wanting to drive out the
evil spirit, not by Beelzebub, but by the Word of the Lord ;
to which work I feel, as you do, a fresh spring of youthful
courage.
A Fragment entitled ' From 25th August, 1849, to 24<th Au-
gust, 1854, Five Years' Withdrawal from Service,' but
broken off after the introductory sentences here translated.
* Should this not succeed, then will it be time to descend
into the grave, or at least to quit public life.'
With these words I closed five years ago my political con-
templations. Now, at the entrance of my sixty- fourth year,
I find myself removed from the banks of the Thames to
those of the Neckar, and from public life to the tranquillity
of domestic and literary retirement.
That long-foreseen moment came before the mind's eye
with unmistakable reality and death-like solemnity in No-
vember 1850. How I then formed the determination to re-
Mf. 63] LETTER TO A SON. 227
tire, as soon as an opportunity for so doing should offer, with-
out neglect of duty towards fatherland or family ; how mean-
while I resumed my work long since begun and laid aside,
and betook myself to new research ; how at the same time
I prepared the mind of the King, through Radowitz, for my
resolution ; how in 1851 I went to Bonn, to take cognisance
of the harbour in which I desired to find refuge ; how on
the very eve of asking leave of absence and permission to
resign, I was suddenly detained by serious illness, and how
the near approach of winter rendered removal impossible ;
how in the beginning of 1852 I resolved to maintain the
post as long as possible, which my political opponents pro-
jected to occupy with one of their own number ; how I
suffered the infliction of poor Marcus Niebuhr's sad mission,
which caused the last delusions as to the purposes of the
Court with respect to the Constitution to vanish from my
miud ; how finally I entered upon the Eastern question with
the ever-increasing consciousness of fulfilling a destiny, and
the firm resolution to hazard all in the endeavour after a
dignified position for Prussia in the impending struggle :
all that I shall another time state in all detail, with reference
to events and to my political correspondence. But now I
shall only tell of my retirement, and of the events which
immediately led thereto. . . .
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 7th October, 1854.
My work gets on well. By the side of it I have arranged
with Miss Winkworth the publication of twenty-six sermons
of Tauler's from Advent to Pentecost, with his life. The
trial of skill has proved successful ; she has hit the right
tone.
The Baltic is a Russian sea, and the King of Denmark
keeper of the gate. That must be thrown open, and the
union of Calmar re-established. Instead of the Protocol
of the Danish succession, the present dynasty should be
Q2
228 MEMOIES OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1854
suffered to die out. The dynasties must be consolidated,
like the debts of a state after a bankruptcy.
Schloss Monrepos: 26th October. To-morrow I go to
Gottingen. I seek my place in the fatherland, and feel that
I shall find it ; the minds come nearer to me, and I to
them, . . .
Bunsen to his Wife. (At Charlottenberg.)
From Schloss Monrepos : Monday, 16th October, 1854.
All right ! I am in full sail, and I hope with due thank-
fulness to our edacious God.
Heavy, dreadful times are coming for Prussia and Ger-
many, happy he who is independent ! . . .
Gottingen, 22nd October. My stay here is most gratifying
and important to me. My old friends, Reck included, are
all I could wish ; Ewald and the other new luminaries have
received me with the greatest kindness and esteem.
Bunsen to a Son, on hi* Engagement.
[Translation.] Gottingen: 23rd October, 1854.
You know already how joyfully I hailed the first intel-
ligence of your hopes, from all that you told me of your
beloved, and also of your own state of mind. I distin-
guished the hand of the Lord clearly in this contingency.
All true, genuine love, that love which is ' stronger than
death,' which is of force to surmount victoriously all life's
changes and chances, begins with the consciousness of un-
worthiness in relation to God, who had conducted us to re-
ceive this pledge of His eternal love, as well as in relation
to the beloved object ; and more especially must this be the
feeling of the man, whose heart after storms and rough
waves has found the haven of repose, and who for the
first time thoroughly feels what it is to be permitted to call
a pure and noble female heart his own. That feeling I had,
when first on the evening of the 31st May, on the sacred
spot in the Colosseum, and then next morning in the pater-
JET. 63] LETTER TO A SON ON HIS ENGAGEMENT. 229
nal house, your beloved mother uttered to me the solemn
vow. Do you hold fast that feeling ! for it is the voice of
God that called it forth ; it is the pulsation of eternal life
within us so often crushed by the load of outward things,
and kept down by the world's pressure. This feeling is
destined to expand more and more into pure thankfulness,
to render our whole life a thank-offering, through ever in-
creasing self-renunciation : It is the sole safe pledge of
duration in the joy of love. Most men, and even most
poets, suppose the beginning of love to be its culminating
point : but whoever has really loved, and discriminated the
nature of love (which among poets, only Plato, Dante,
Shakespeare, and Gothe have done), will smile at such an
error.
That love, on the other hand, which is but self-idolatry,
therefore the opposite to real love in the innermost being,
soon smoulders away self- consumed : for self- adoration can
only subsist in the light of the accelerated process of decay
and dissolution.
And now, dearest, look once back with me npon your
(Lelir-und Wanderjahre) years of learning and wandering.
Do you not see, and feel, and touch the fact, that all you
have gone through was necessary, to enable you to find your
true happiness ? / Look ever up to God, and hold fast by the
invisible, the alone true, that your faith may be preserved.
My stay at Gottingen has been so heart- cheering that
I daily think over and contemplate it with more solemn
earnestness. It is now just forty-five years since I came
here, with my courageous father's blessing, and the letter
to Professor Bunsen, who was to introduce me to Heyne ;
it will soon be thirty- nine years since I quitted the * Georgia
Augusta' for ever, and it is twenty- six years and a half
since I saw Liicke on my hurried passage from Berlin to
Rome (April, 1828) for the last time. What lies not be-
tween those dates ! Yet I still know every house, and still
find cordial esteem and affection flowing in upon me from
230 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1854
all sides, from grey-haired men of science, and from those
of later date, never seen before ; Liicke and even Reck are
quite as of old ; Liicke and myself have been led in different
ways to the same convictions : only as to the means of bring-
ing them into general acceptation, we stand not on the same
ground. As to these considerations, I feel that I have been
raised above many of my German contemporaries : England
has made me a practical man in this also : but all will reach
the same point within the next ten or twenty years, and
events may precipitate the result. All wish to proceed from
knowledge into life ; all are more or less conscious of com-
munity, and feel that our place of union must be the
Christian people organised (Gemeinde). But most, and the
best hearts, are dispirited. I preach to them freshness of
courage, and trust in German knowledge, the plant from
whence will proceed the future, sown by the Spirit and by
faith in reality, in the midst of the present materialistic and
confused age. Their minds advance to meet me. I feel
that I stand higher with my nation than when I was in
high place and lived among foreigners : and I have no-
where been more aware of it than here. And I sit with in-
describable pleasure at the feet of the great masters of
science, and the admirable men of learning in this town of
the Muses, to ask questions and receive information ; this
applies more especially to Ewald, also to Bitter and Her-
mann, indeed to all theologians of the ' Georgia Augusta.'
Without explaining my plan to anyone but Liicke, I have
brought all to feel that nothing is so necessary to the
community of Christians as a Bible such as is by me pro-
posed. Only by starting from the standpoint of Universal
History can one persuade the German people to return to
Bible-reading, as the food of life, and as a habit of life : and
that is what thousands of hearts pine after. . . .
His return from Gottingen was just before the set-
ting in of a severe winter, and the gloom and confine-
JET. 63] HIS 'BIBELWEKK.' 231
ment of that season were only too severely felt, in-
creasing the oppression of spirit caused by the reports
of the Crimean campaign. But the following extracts
from letters will prove satisfactorily, that, as on every
previous occasion, Bunsen was raised above the present
scene by intellectual and spiritual interests, and by
labours for the benefit of the intelligent in Christian
society.
Bunsen to Mrs. Sehwabe.
[Translation.] Charlotteuberg : 19th November, 1854.
I am very desirous to show yon how agreeable our
dwelling here is, and how we enjoy and profit by the hap-
piness of qniet and peace, and I hope also by the leisnre
here granted. Not, only have I, thank God ! brought my
work on Egypt nearly into readiness for printing, but I am
busied with the thought of another work, which, more than
any one yet undertaken, occupies and animates me, the
execution of which is in closest connection with the ' Life of
Jesus,' and, in fact, as a preparation to it indispensable. . . .
To the Same.
[Translation.] J' Charlottenberg: 24th November, 1854.
Each day I feel more convinced, that if my work is in-
deed accomplished, much false belief and much unbelief -will
come to an end. For the foundation of the general view
with which I look at the Bible, and can explain it from be-
ginning to end, as an Unity in Spirit, an eternal declara-
tion of ' tidings of joy to man,' the voice of God in the
world's history, can be so clearly carried through, that all
factitious systems based upon false views or the misunder-
standing of theologians cannot stand against it. On the
other hand, the earnest- minded among the Christian na-
tions will more than ever recognise in the Bible their own
book ; and in learning to understand the Scripture as the
232 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1854
* world's mirror ' (as Gothe says), will experience the
strengthening of their faith in Christ. Now, on the con-
trary, nine -tenths of the Bible are a closed volume, to the
one part of mankind venerable and sacred because unintel-
ligible ; to the other, for that same reason, dead, or even
repulsive. Here the explanation of every single passage is
not the question ; with regard to many of them, different
scholars would give different verbal explanations. The
main matter is the foundation laid for the view of the
whole, in all its bearings ; and that, once obtained, admits
of no break being the universal-historical development of
the consciousness of God in humanity, which in Christ has
its personal centre. The magnificence of the Old Testa-
ment, when once one can understand it, is unique of its
kind. I have begun to arrange the prophecies of the Seer
of the new Jerusalem, and to write them in order ; he lived
in the Babylonian exile, and, towards the end of it, after
the death of Nebuchadnezzar, preached and exhorted to the
return from the death-doomed Babylon ; and I consider
him to have been no other than Baruch. These prophecies
are contained in disguise as a beginning of the Book of
Jeremiah (chap. ii. xxi.) and in that of Isaiah (chap. xi.
xxvi.), and also in two passages of the real book of Isaiah
(chap, xiii., xiv., and xxi., 1 10). Reading these in con-
nection, and placing one's own soul in the midst of that
period so full of terrible judgments, and yet of hope, one
is admonished to recognise the eternal laws of God in the
ordering of the course of the world, even in our own time,
and in our own days ; and one perceives that a similar mode
of world- contemplation may rightly belong to other and
various dispensations.
In Berlin it is reported that the King has named me to
a peerage for life, with remainder to my son Ernest, sup^
posing he purchases property and lives in Prussia. I know
nothing of this.
MT. 63] CLOSE OF THE YEAE 1854. 233
Bunsen to One of his Sons.
[Translation,] Heidelberg : last evening of the year 1854.
The melodious bells of all the churches are ringing out
the old year in the church a full and devout congregation
have been singing, with trombone accompaniment, 'Nun
danket Alle Gott ! ' and your mother and I have said to-
gether with tearful eyes, ' Praise the Lord, for He is gra-
cious, and His mercy endureth for ever ! Who maketh the
lame to walk, and the blind to see ! What is man that
Thou so regardest him, or the son of man that Thou so
visitest him ? '
Lord ! I am not worthy of the goodness and mercy
which Thou hast shown me ! What a year this has been !
how dark was everything when the old year was hastening
to its close ! Once a gleam of hope appeared, but who
would trust it ? and immediately after the sky darkened
altogether.
And where was a way to be found for us to escape from
the slavery of life, and out of the ruin of all political
hopes ? Yet now, here we are sitting in happy rest and
peace, in the German fatherland, surrounded by love and
respect far and near. Emilia restored to activity, G. hap-
pily married, your dear wife and children all well ; and I
(please God) entrusted with a work which fills my whole
soul a work far too vast for me ever to grasp it as a
whole ; but the most glorious guide from time to eternity,
and, if my heart's desire be blessed, from the present to
the future.
Darkness indeed reigns without, but tempests from the
Lord are stirring and coruscating through the earth's at-
mosphere. The Lord is coming to judgment : He will
judge the people with equity. The old order of things is
judged : forty years of peace have not improved it it is
falling to pieces ; but everywhere, visible to the eye of
faith, nations are coming forth out of dynasties, the con-
234 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1854
gregation out of hierarchy : and voices of thunder utter in
all languages the cry after truth, light, liberty ! Among
those voices are blended those of madmen ; but who has
driven them mad ? and of infidels ; but who has driven
them to despair of God's moral government of the world ?
I have bid adieu to politics, except in quarters where I
may confess my faith, and utter my detestation as well as
my affection.
But in Church matters, I have spoken the word by which
I hope to abide, and with which I hope to die
I go from the Jews to the Gentiles,
From the Church to the congregation,
And I leave the dead to bury their dead.
Bunsen to Julius ScJmorr von Carolsfeld.
[Translation.]
Charlottenberg, near Heidelberg : 31st December, 1854.
The year, my beloved friend, shall not close without my
having written the letter long due and long intended. You
know in general what has befallen me : writing on that
subject would be too lengthy. Let it be enough to say, I
could not with a good conscience remain to forward the
measures which I did not approve, and I thank God for my
recovered freedom. I think you have confidence enough in
me to believe that I feel incomparably happier in my retire-
ment and leisure in the quiet vineyard, opposite to the
walls of the ancient castle, close to the rushing Neckar,
than in Carlton Terrace and in the diplomatic uniform. I
have purposely avoided going into Prussia, and have de-
clined very kind and gracious invitations to visit Berlin.
The Spirit has moved me, and friends have encouraged
me also, to the idea of a Bible for the People : we shall see
what comes of it. * The ' Life of Jesus ' is prepared. I have
closed my work in England with seven volumes : hence-
forward I write only in German. . . .
Of the continuation of your Bible illustrations I have
^T.63] LAST LETTER TO ARCHDEACON HARE. 235
received proofs full of life and spirit, by your kind direc-
tions.
Dusch and I have a plan to induce our valued Rehbenitz
to visit us next summer.
Do you keep up a fresh spirit in the midst of the judg-
ments which are falling upon the world ; and in the midst
of a fateful blindness, continue believing, and hoping in
freedom and strength ! (See Isaiah xlviii., last verse.)
God grant us all His peace in the new year, and no other !
The year 1855 was marked at its. very beginning
by the death of one of Bunsen's most beloved and
valued friends, Archdeacon Julius Hare. A close
intimacy began with their earliest acquaintance, in
Rome, January 1833, and had been interwoven with
the web of his life ever since. A letter from one of
his sons, dated London, 25th January, thus commu-
nicates the event :
Julius Hare, the high-minded affectionate friend, was not
mistaken, when, under the arbour in this very garden, he
declared to you (in June last), l No, my dear Bunsen, we
shall not meet again we have parted this day.' Since
Tuesday, the 23rd/, at seven o'clock, he has been no longer
among the living on this earth.
A correspondence was kept up between the friends,
unfailing though not frequent, and Bunsen's letters
f carefully and tenderly preserved, and oh ! how
prized ! ' were restored with these words, by the
honoured widow, now, alas ! no more amongst us.
The very last of the series may be in part introduced
here, as conveying a picture of the multiplicity of ob-
jects in common, and of the degree of sympathy,
between the friends :
236 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1854
Charlottenberg, Heidelberg : 10th September, 1854.
MY DEAREST FRIEND, God be thanked that you are
better ! I hope that these lines will greet you in my stead
on your birthday, and thank you for the kind inspiriting
lines which greeted me from you on mine. The conscious-
ness of communion in the mind must compensate for the
absence of bodily presence ; and well may it do so after a
friendship of a quarter of a century ! I never was so much
satisfied with my work in seven volumes, as when I read
from your hand that you liked its being dedicated to you.
Of nobody have I thought so much, in composing it, as of
you, without whom the first edition, and thus the whole
undertaking, would never have existed.
I cannot help believing that the results of my mytholo-
gical researches, confined as they must be to the Theogonic
and Cosmogonic sphere, will be more surprising even than
those of the linguistic. Ancient ASIA is the mother of all
religious speculation, as in Egypt, so in Hellas, and in
Italy. I myself had no idea in what degree all is true that
I have said about it in the Introduction to ' Egypt.' The
very names T often, and the ideas throughout, the same.
The first verses in St. John are the sober recapitulation of
the centre of God- Consciousness, from which the mytholo-
gical Epos of mankind has started ! The Old Testament
stands upon the basis of the most ancient consciousness of
the Semitic tribes, still more wonderful by what it keeps
out of sight, than by what it displays of the relation of God
and the universe. I believe I have found a method to
make the proof conclusive for my purpose.
No words can give an idea of the beauty of this place, or
of the delight which we take in it. As Gothe says (in a
letter of 1797), ' Heidelberg is ideally beautiful.' And
our Charlottenberg is its centre and gem. I never in my
life enjoyed nature so much. 1 have had here, besides
Tocqueville and Layard, Laboulaye and the Vicomte de
Rouge, who has decyphered a * blue book ' about the history
JET. 63] BUNSEN TO A SON ON AECHDEACON HAKE. 237
of the seventeenth dynasty, and the transactions of Amos,
predecessor with Apeps, the Shepherd- King. I expect Lep-
sius, Gerhard, Abeken, Dietrich, and Susannah Winkworth
in the course of this month ; and G. and E. next month.
. . . Rothe and I have much comfort in
When will you come and see us ?
And thus was a relation closed, more inward and
intimate than any of the kind still remaining to Bun-
sen. This had been a friendship f without cataract
or break,' which had flowed on in an ever-increasing
current of sympathy and mutual estimation from its
first commencement ; for the cutting-off of which by
death no compensation could be made during the re-
mainder of the survivor's life, but which after all be-
longed not to the temporal, and was ever of the kind
which c reacheth even unto life eternal.'
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.]
Charlottenberg : Sunday morning, January, 1855.
My lines to Mrs. Julius Hare must have been on the way
from London to Herstmonceaux, when you were among
those who paid the last honours to the earthly remains of
one of the most pure and noble-minded, as well as the most
learned men, I have ever known ; and these will find you on
your return from the house of mourning. I thank you
cordially for the quick determination to represent me and
our whole family on that day of solemnity ! I have written
to the widow as to a sister, on all that must now occupy her
mind ; and also about the publication of the ' Charges,' and
the biography, which she should write herself, with mono-
graphies by all his friends. I have offered myself to con-
tribute 'Julius Hare at Rome in 1832 and 1833.' How
lamentable, that his library, that collection unique of its
238 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1855
kind, the work of a life of intellectual activity, should in all
probability be scattered about, or even sent to America !
It ought to be purchased for Trinity College or "Durham
University ; for, alas ! there is no modern renewal of the
class of rich and noble landed proprietors, who look upon a
classical library as a necessary ornament of their residences,
and would think themselves fortunate in the acquisition of
such a treasure. . . .
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.]
Charlottenberg : Saturday morning, 20th January, 1855.
Till the end of February, I shall master my impatience
to see you again. You will find me changed. My work
does not oppress me ; on the contrary, it elevates me ; but
just in the same measure as I am elevated in spirit, I feel
my earthly burden. For the first time I am conscious that
the object before me is everything, and that I myself am
nothing and nought. My courage increases, however, with
every step in advance. I find so very much more than I
ever anticipated, in confirmation of that intuitive view of
the world's life by which I have been consciously guided
since 1812. All must become History. The ' People's Bible'
manifests itself bodily a corrected translation, with parallel
passages, and comprehensive explanations of the sense and
its connection, below the text to the exclusion of all sys-
tems. That is what my inmost feeling demands ; the Scrip-
ture stands equally high above the genuine as above the
fallacious systems of men. Belief in the truth of Scrip-
ture, of the Word of God in the Bible, and activity of
Christian love in the congregation, these are the only real
basis of the Christian community. Theology abounds in sys-
tems arising from different conceptions of the same thing :
so also do Philosophy and History ; but, closely and indul-
gently looked at, all such systems complete one another,
and even their errors may be harmless in effect, if regarded
only as a scaffolding and as steps by which every one mounts
jET. 63] THE ' PEOPLE'S BIBLE.'. 239
and makes entrance as he can, without mistaking them for
the building itself. The Rationalists are in the right as to
what they intend, but their opponents have brought much
more moral earnestness to the enquiry, and thereby have
furthered the deeper comprehension. The Spirit in the
congregation of believers levels, adjusts, unites the whole
into a divine harmony.
Let us but have the one single objective reality that we
possess the Scripture clearly before us, as represented
by the nature and spirit of history, as a fact of the human
mind, precise and positive as any fact of the material world,
and the lever is given by which difficulties may be removed.
That lever was wanting to the founders of the Society of
Friends, as may well be understood ; but in spirit they de-
sired nothing else ; and their system, spiritually discerned,
is right in all its negative part, while their positive part
consists in their works of love to man.
I had never anticipated that, for the re-establishment of
the Bible as a book, so much had to be done, nor that it
could, from the German standpoint, be done so easily. . . .
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 4th March, 1855.
Here in this climate one has, literally speaking, cellular
imprisonment for three months, with permission to per-
ambulate the prison garden, wrapped in fur, as often as
snow or wind shall happen to be moderate ; from society
one is altogether cut off in the long evenings. As to myself,
I have passed through this winter in better health than for
many years ; but much longer I could not have borne the
limitation of exercise in the fresh air to half an hour daily.
In a southern winter I could work far better and easier
than in this daily struggle for life and breath, whether
beside the stove or outside the house.
A detailed plan follows, for passing the next win-
240 MEM01ES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1855
ter at Palermo ; but in July of this same year (1855)
began the anxious and sedulous enquiry and search
after a regularly appointed learned assistant the
establishment of whom made remaining at home a
necessity.
. 63] BARON PAUL VON HAHN. 241
CHAPTEE XVII.
LIFE AT HEIDELBEEG.
LITERARY WORK INTERVIEW WITH THE KING ' SIGNS OF THE TIMES ^
FALL OF SEBASTOPOL 'GOD IN HISTORY ' ' BIBELWERK ' LETTER
FROM FHEDERICA BREMER JOURNEY TO SWITZERLAND VISIT TO
COPPET SCHERER RETURN TO HEIDELBERG APPROACH OF OLD AGE
CLOSE OF THE YEAR 1856.
THE year 1855 was distinguished by many circum-
stances and occurrences which brightened the life of
Bunsen. First may be named his having passed the
winter months without actual illness, for the first time
during several years, although the chronic state of dis-
order which began while he was at Bonn in the au-
tumn of 1850 made itself felt, as ever, by fits of
suffocation, attributed to various causes with equal
inaccuracy, and which did not admit of remedy or
prevention. Next, mention must be made of the
genial early spring, which brought temperature and
sunshine in March, admitting of the possibility of
sitting out in the garden, and cheering minds that
yet clove with affection to the recollections of the
South, with visions and promises as to climate, which
the Cisalpine world could not realise. To the short
period of this exceptional garden life is to be re-
ferred the much-enjoyed renewal of ancient inter-
course and never-forgotten friendship with Baron von
Hahn (of Karland) and his admired wife (nee De
VOL. II. R
242 MEMOIRS OF BARON BtTNSEK [1855
Graimberg), the reappearance of whose well-remem-
bered faces, after twenty years' separation, are asso-
ciated in memory with that bright and inspiring
scene. The first interview, and the beginning of
friendship, with the Baroness Clara Boris von tlxkiill,
belong to the same date and the same surrounding
objects. This spring was further brightened to Bun-
sen by the visit of his son George and his bride, over
whose happy marriage the parents had rejoiced at a
distance at the close of the preceding year. Be-
fore their visit ended, the engagement of Theodora,
the fourth daughter, to Augustus Baron von Ungern-
Sternberg, was cheerfully consented to, as promising
that reality of union and happiness in married life
which proved, indeed, the blessed result of the con-
nection too soon to be severed by death ! They
consented the more readily to this marriage as, the
bridegroom being in an office under the Government
of Baden and resident at Heidelberg, the separation
was softened and seemed not absolute. The wedding
took place on September 12, Bunsen having made a
journey northwards just before, and another just
after, of which the subjoined extracts from his letters
give an account. He was occupied with intense in-
terest on the work entitled ' Signs of the Times,'
which was published in the autumn, and proceeded
rapidly to a third edition. A translation was ad-
mirably executed by Miss Winkworth, and printed in
England ; but the work would seem to have been too
Continental to excite general attention in England,
although it might be said that the evils against which
the author contends are of all times and all countries,
JET. 63] PROBABLE AGE OF THE HUMAN RACE. 243
only less impeded in their action on the Continent
than in England.
The spring was succeeded by a chilly and rainy
summer, after which a peculiarly beautiful month of
September heightened the charm of the Heidelberg
valley, and a succession of friends of various nations,
flowing in unbroken though ever-changing current
over the garden-terrace and adjoining parlour of
Charlottenberg, gave occasion to an amount of social
cheerfulness and animated intercourse, which is
looked back upon thankfully by the survivors, who
felt the beneficial effect thus produced in refreshing
and resting the mind of Bunsen. Could but the
echoes of those hills restore the sounds they received.
Bunsen to Agricola.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg, Heidelberg : 31st May, 1855.
Your letter, dear friend, has called back to my mind
many an hour spent by us together at Gottingen, in philo-
sophising upon things of the mind and of the universe.
Each year and each day do I more absolutely find there the
central point of thought and of research, and ever do I feel
more strongly that neither thought nor research alone can.
satisfy and further us, but only the combination of both.
Alas ! the German feels compelled to dig so deep under
the earth's surface after his object, that he sooner finds his
grave than the way to return to the surface ; and thus,
instead of a house, he constructs only the subterraneous
portion of one ; or his building, if so far advanced, remains
short of gable and roof ; the gable being the forehead and
glory of the house, as the roof is its security.
By means of Egypt, and the researches into language
and history connected with it (including the Old Testament) ,
I have gained a solid foundation for the philosophy of the
R 2
244 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1855
history of the human mind which till now has been wanting
to all. I can now prove, not only that the race of man can-
not be older than 25,000 years, nor younger than 20,000,
but also that but one course of civilisation, and but one race
of men, has existed, with which all others of Asia and of
Europe can be proved to be related by blood ; finally, that
in all but one reason and one moral consciousness is revealed,
by which the Kosmos of the mind's universe is constructed.
Bunsen to Mrs. Schwabe.
[Translation.] 25th June, 1855.
The Jubilee of Boniface (who as missionary to the Fries-
landers suffered martyrdom in 755) has furn'shed occasion
for an extravagant demonstration of hierarchical arrogance.
In the last place, simultaneously with that, has the well-
known Professor Stahl at Berlin a member of the Eccle-
siastical Upper Council, in a speech made publicly, and
since printed, on the subject of ' Christian Toleration ' so
openly preached intolerance and persecution, that it seems
to me impossible for a Protestant who possesses voice and
pen to keep silence.
I called upon all my friends, one after another: no one had
time or inclination. Courage is wanting all are sunk into
listlessness and disgust. Therefore it only remained to set
myself to work, and I have written ' Five Boniface-Letters
upon Intolerance and Persecution,' which are going next
week to the press at Leipzig, to appear in July. I believe I
have been successful in the letters, and that the work will
excite much attention. I have had much to read on the
subject, to be armed against the hail of attacks that will be
made upon me by Jesuits and Protestant zealots. You
know that God has before now granted me the courage of
faith, and that He will not refuse it to me on this occa-
sion. . . .
MT. 63] JOWETT ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 245
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.]
Charlottenberg : Thursday morning, early, 6th July, 1855.
They say that after amputation one always tries to touch
the lost limb, and continues conscious of pain in it. Thus
it is with me since your departure. I look out of the win-
dow after the boat to cross the Neckar take up my stick to
walk towards it, or make it clear to my mind what question
I had to ask as soon as you should come in, accompanied
by dear Emma's face. But then I awake from the dream
yet thanking God that you and she should have stayed so
long with us, and that though we part, your journey is to a
homestead, country, and country people.
I have made myself acquainted with that Divine work,
the ' Heliand ' i.e. early Saxon paraphrase in verse of the
Gospel-history and doctrine wonderfully free from the
corruptions of Borne.
To the Same*
[Translation.] Charlottenberg: 12th July, 1855.
Jowett's publication of the Epistles of St. Paul is a great
event his commentary capital and honest, with truly ori-
ginal dissertations. He is the right man. There is so much
work spared me. ; It will form an epoch : it is a masterly
work, of great freedom of judgment, and of Christian wis-
dom : the text of Lachmann appealed to the English
translation well-revised there are paraphrases and philo-
logical explanations also excellent treatises. I am over-
joyed. . . .
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation,]
Collentz : 6th September. I arrived here yesterday, and
was so very kindly received by the honoured Princess that
I could not resist the suggestion to remain till to-day at noon.
Therefore I shall travel and arrive with E., sleeping at
246 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1855
Mainz, to be with, you on Saturday. Prince Frederick
William started yesterday for Ostend, and thereby hangs a
tale of an excursion to a fairy residence in a beloved
island, in consequence of a kind invitation, accepted and
consented to by the King ! Of course all in deepest secrecy ;
but this morning I read it in the ' Kreuz Zeitung ' a secret
at Berlin ! . . .
I send you Astor's letter to read. It has deeply affected
me. I had for many years wished for a renewal of our old
acquaintance. I had bestowed much love upon him, and he
had considered and acknowledged me as his guide. He now
writes with real friendship. I shall answer him as soon as
I am again at Heidelberg, using ' D-u, 1 as of old.
To Marburg Bunsen was summoned in September
1855, by the wish of the King's First Chaplain,
Dr. Hofmann, whose influence sufficiently prevailed,
against other powerful influences, to induce the King
to command Bunsen to come to the railway station at
that place on the day and at the hour when His
Majesty intended to rest and dine there in the
manner called incognito, that is, not with the entire
Court and suite. The mind of Hofmann was strongly
set upon a plan which he considered to be nearly
matured in the royal mind, of making important
changes in ecclesiastical arrangements and practices
relative to parochial appointments and management,
so as to relieve Protestant congregations from a great
amount of existing trammels ; and his hopes were
sanguine as to the effect of the voice and mind of
Bunsen in realising this project. Bunsen's letter to
his wife notifies his arrival at Marburg.
JET. 64] AEEIVAL AT MAKBUKG. 247
Marburg, in the Bitter, opposite the Church of St. Elizabeth :
[Translation.] Tuesday morning, six o'clock.
Here I am, beloved ! actually at Marburg on the day,
or thereabouts, on which, 46 years ago, I left the little
town, to try my strength in and upon the world ; opposite
to me, that dear church, in which I had preached a sermon
two months before. Hofmann arrived at the same time
with myself (last night) Roes tell fetched me from the sta-
tion. Hofmann announced himself as coming to me this
morning early. I have sent him the copy intended for
him of my second volume of the ' Signs of the Times.'
The King is coming through this place on Thursday, alone
in strict incognito; his suite (except the Queen) preceding
him. He is to sleep at Frankfort. All is uncertain, but if
he will see me, so be it.
Bunsen made, as usual, the best out of the circum-
stances; but the meeting was a painful one. He
found the King aged and altered, and, few as were the
persons present, they succeeded in preventing the
King's speaking to Bunsen, except in the presence of
others, and the intentions of Hofmann and of Bun-
sen remained no nearer their fulfilment than before.
The hours of 'waiting at Marburg were, however,
agreeably spent by Bunsen in walks and excursions
in his former haunts, in the country round the pic-
turesque town and its fine churches, in the society
of his two chosen friends ; and he ever after referred
with pleasure to this revival of recollections and this
retrospection, and exulted in the amount of distance
and of ascent that he had been able to accomplish in
walking; the tone of triumph in overcoming in-
creasing infirmity denoting clearly as well as affect-
ingly his perception of the decline of his bodily
powers.
248 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1855
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] 23rd September, 1855.
.... I am just returned from a trying journey [that to
Marburg]. My ' Signs of the Times ' are out of my hands !
two small volumes, which have given me much pain, in
contemplation of the misery and of the danger of the
present time, but also great consolation. I hope that I
have succeeded in rising above the flood of the personal, the
accidental, the transitory, and in lifting myself out of vexa-
tion and grief, and all that draws the mind downwards, into
the contemplation of things higher than that which shall
come to an end. Had I not already written the book from
inward impulse, not to be resisted, to declare the truth, I
should have been compelled four weeks later to have written
it, partly in self-justification, and partly to answer the
demands made upon me. It is not merely one hornet's
nest, but three that I have roused : the Ultramontanes, the
Confessionalists of the old Lutheran party, and the Despotic
party. But I have not written from personal motives, from
passion and hatred but indeed from love of the truth, of
my country, and of humanity.
As soon as I had finished the first correction of the printed
sheets, I hastened to my friends on the Rhine, to read them
to Arndt and others, and to search out and observe many
more recent facts. Then came the wedding of Theodora
with August von Ungern-Sternberg, and immediately after-
wards a private meeting at Marburg, where I also saw the
King on his passage. On the 1st October, I shall return to
the old beloved work 'Egypt,' and afterwards to the
' People's Bible,' alone and without interruption. By that
time I hope to have here the young scholar whom I need as
my assistant. Brockhaus has made me an offer to publish
this work. Meanwhile, Troy has fallen I mean Sebas-
topol.
JET. 64] . LETTER TO ANNA GUENEY. 249!
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.]
Charlottenberg : Sunday morning, early, 7th October, 1855.
You know that Magdeburg wishes to elect me. The
burgomaster, Herr Hasselbach (highly respected, but per-
sonally unknown to me), has written me a preliminary letter,
in the name of the town having so remarkable a history as
that of Magdeburg, over whose gate stand the words
* Verbum Dei manet in ceternum.' I have reason to believe
that my ' Signs of the Times ' have done this. God knows
what it costs me to refrain from flying to the place of com-
bat ! To be, or not to be is the matter in hand.
Hcec hactenus : all is in the hands of God ; meanwhile my
heart swells with grateful joy, when I perceive that I am be-
loved by my fellow-countrymen, and have gained a place in
the heart of the German people. Everything now seems to
me a thousand times more easy.
Bunsen to Anna Gurney.
Charlottenberg, near Heidelberg : 19th October, 1855.
Your excellent idea of making a beginning of an Idioticum
(or collections o idioms) in Norfolk (which I wonder does
not already exist) has given Dr. M. and myself great plea-
sure, and we intend returning the copy to you with our re-
marks, and the note for which we collect materials. The
most worthy of discussion seems to me to be Meyer's obser-
vation respecting Seal, which he proposes to derive from
sigil, Anglo-Saxon for sun time compare Saul, Gothic Sol f
Hel, ijXioc, Jal, also the Anglo-Saxon Rune for Sol.
Why don't you come to see us in this charming and
charmed place ? Ever your faithful friend, BUNSEN.
250 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1855
Sunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.]
Burg Rheindorf, near Bonn : 27th November, 1855.
Yesterday yon will have received intelligence from G., and
will therefore know how I was detained a whole day on the
journey, and that I did not arrive till Sunday, in time, how-
ever, for the christening and the dinner. You cannot fancy
how pleasing and enjoyable all is in this place. Arndt was
never so youthful as after the second glass of Tokay at the
christening- dinner. On board the steamers I accomplished
an incredible quantity of work ; here completed, in writing,
the * God- Consciousness.' * I shall bring the first volume
with me, ready for printing, and thus secure the appearance
of the whole, please God, in May, 1856. I read aloud to G.
and Emilia, morning and afternoon, to our common satisfac-
tion. Yesterday I walked without stopping for an hour and
a half, over the fine fields with G. and Hartstein. Ever and
ever do I think of you and all the dear and beloved ones in
Charlottenberg.
The object of this journey was to be present at the
baptism of George's first-born at Burg- Rheindorf,
near Bonn ; after which Bunsen went to Neu Wied,
to witness the consecration of a hospital for the sick,
just established by the Princess of Wied; and a
letter dated Neu Wied, 5th December, speaks, in
terms which, however strong, were not exaggerated, of
the great enjoyment of the day's intercourse with the
Princess and her excellent and high-minded consort.
[Translation.]
Whenever it may be that I return home, be assured that
* These were the beginnings of Bunsen's work, Gott inder Geschichte
(' God in History'), now translated into English by Miss Winkworth
(Longmans, 1868;.
JET. 64] GOD IN HISTORY; 251
I long to be there, with you and all the dear ones with Avhom
God has so richly blessed us ; although, or more literally,
just because I have been so well off, on this winter-expedi-
tion down the Rhine, I have no time or inclination to write
to you all that I had so much rather relate ! But it has
been a fine and fruitful time, at Rheindorf and at Bonn.
It is a soothing sensation that I experience, to be acknow-
ledged by the Christian community as their representative
and speaker in the most sacred concerns ; and this fact has
been from almost all sides declared to me in the most dis-
tinct and satisfactory manner. The intercourse I have had
with G. and with Brandis has greatly incited me to com-
position ; aiid the new book has received its final modelling,
is as much as possible compressed and circumscribed, and
many a sharp point and hook has grown out of it, by which,
to catch and fasten itself on the present state of things and
on individual minds.
Bunsen reached home after a journey which was
rendered disagreeable by the failure of the steamer
(owing to lowness of the water and thickness of the
fog on the Rhine), obliging belated travellers, like
himself, to have recourse to the diligence, which,
under all circumstances tedious, was doubly so upon
roads blocked by a fresh fall of snow. He was
thus kept on the road through the night in much
bodily inconvenience from the position and the cold,
and shared fully the general experience of the need
of that complete railway communication which is
happily now in existence along the whole length of
the Rhine. His state of health was not calculated
to resist any shock, and he was seriously indisposed
after reaching home, with an obstinate catarrh and
cough. During the days in which he was detained in
bed, the novel e Soil und Haben, 9 by Freitag, was read
252 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1855
aloud. Of the interest which, it had for him he gave
evidence later by the Preface to the English transla-
tion 'Debit and Credit/ published by Mr. Constable, of
Edinburgh, at whose request the Preface was written.
Bunsen to Mrs. ScJiwabe.
[Translation.] Christmas Day, 1855.
How shall I describe to you my astonishment, I might say
my pleasure in sadness, when, on entering yesterday evening
at six o'clock the room closed throughout the day, then bril-
liant with the Christmas tree, I was greeted by the soft
organ tones to which I was accustomed on the Capitol, and
afterwards in Carlton Terrace, sounding forth from a hidden
corner the ' Pastorale ' of Handel and then the German
4 Chorale,' to which the voices of twenty children and many
others, those of Frances and Theodore and Sternberg pre-
vailing, intoned the Hymn itself ! I could not help thinking,
in the midst of these pleasing sounds, of the fine organ en-
joyed so many years, left behind in England with so many
other treasures. But when I turned to ask whence came
the organ now heard ? to whom belonging ? of whom bor-
rowed ? Frances met me with the card containing your
name and kind greeting, and then the pleasure became as
complete as the surprise. For the orgue expressif was our
own, and it was your present your Christmas gift ! After
the greater part of those present had retired, we again en-
joyed the organ and Theodora's playing, full of soul and feel-
ing to no one more delightful and surprising than to her
husband. Then we had ' He shall feed His flock' of Handel,
sung by Theodora.
In the early days of this year (1855) it has been
seen that Bunsen busied himself with a plan of Bible-
readings, systematically grouped, intended to intro-
duce the reader to a better knowledge of the Sacred
2Ex. 64] HIS LIFE AT CHARLOTTENBERG. 253
Writings. This with him was no new matter, as he
had already in Borne considered the subject, and at
the Hubel, in Switzerland, in 1840-41, had made
out a Calendar of Lessons after the manner of that
in the English Common Prayer Book, which he had
always admired, as to the idea, without entirely ap-
proving the selection. That the completion of this
design should have been put off (till that date, which
he was not to see, of the publication of his last volume
of the ' BibelwerJc ') is matter of deep regret, as such
a guiding thread would probably have been found
more useful to the mass of those who stand in need
of a pioneer through the Scriptures, than any of his
more voluminous works. Possibly some paper may
yet be found in which his own words may better
explain the cause of delay than this present conjec-
tural attempt ; but in all probability his sense of the
imperfection of existing translations, more especially
those of the Hebrew Scriptures, caused his disincli-
nation to make use of them, feeling, as he did, that
to be possessed of a renovated rendering of the text,
such as he could put his hand and seal to, was only
a question of time, as to which it was the habit of his
mind to grasp the whole, and leap to the conclusion
considering that as actually done which his mind and
hand had clutched. The contrast was remarkable
(and probably uncommon in the annals of eminently
intellectual men) between the hastiness and impati-
ence to seize the end and hold fast the whole, and
that intense conscientiousness and laborious patience
of working out every detail of linguistic intricacy or
critical commentary, which those who observed, and
254 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1855
yet more those who worked with, him, had occasion to
note.
The arrival of Dr. Kamphausen, in October 1855,
as Bunsen's fellow-labourer and linguistic secretary
in the Old Testament translation, marks the begin-
ning of a period of peculiarly unvaried and unbroken
labour, when the two were daily in close conference
from nine o'clock in the morning till twelve, nomin-
ally, but in fact they rarely parted until the summons
to dinner, at one o'clock, had been more than once
made. Bunsen was always up early, after his wont,
but busied with anything rather than Hebrew cri-
ticism, to which he therefore went fresh after break-
fast ; and the last half hour before his early dinner
was assigned to a walk on the garden terrace above
the Neckar. After dinner, he played at bowls in the
garden with his son Theodore, as long as weather and
season allowed ; for he was well aware that such still-
ness after meals as might end in sleep must absolutely
be avoided, and hard it was duly to diversify for him
the unemployed time, after newspapers had been des-
patched, until he allowed himself again to work, after
an interval of at least three hours after dinner. This
time of pause was one in which conversable visitors
were particularly welcome for the influx of a foreign
element was more efficient to change the habitual
current of thought than the everyday household
supply. But the experience of winter proved that the
luxury of being entirely in the country, as was the
case at Charlottenberg, entailed considerable privation
as to society ' when skies were dark, and ways were
miry.' What in the fine season was a most attractive
JET. 64] HIS LIFE AT CHAELOTTENEERO. 255
walk or drive, entered not in winter within the com-
pass of Heidelberg custom or estimate of possibility.
The draught of wind experienced in crossing the
bridge is encountered, proverbially, ' at the risk of life,'
and seldom was a meeting for conversation found
possible without express invitation which natur-
ally belonged to the evening, and was an exceptional
occurrence; the more so, as the winter of 1855-56
was inclement. It was not often that Bunsen could
venture to accept the kind invitations for the evening
of his Heidelberg friends, on account of the custom-
ary late supper, between nine and eleven o'clock, at
all times unsuited to his habits, and at present, in his
already shaken condition of body, inadmissible ; and
thus the progress of time, which changes so much,
was powerless to modify the nature of things, render-*
ing the dark half of the year, in his present situation,
strongly and undesirably contrasted with the cease-
less animation of existence in London where, what-
ever the topic of interest which at the moment
occupied him, he had but to stretch out a hand in
the direction of the right person, to obtain the
desired answer to every enquiry. Often did he re-
mark upon the rapid circling of life in a great capi-
tal (London, Paris, Berlin), compared to the more
sluggish movement of the current in places distant
from the centre.
Bunsen to Ms Wife. (The day after her departure, on a
visit to Tier son George, at Rheindorf, near Bonn.)
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : Tuesday, 22nd April, 1856.
An affectionate good-morning to my heart's beloved ! It
256 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1856
was a fine day, that on which she travelled away. I placed
myself at once at my desk (half- past four in the morning),
and sought after the enigma of the Indian Chronology. In
the afternoon, I had found it, and early this morning I have
written it down. . . .
To the Same.
[Translation.]
Cliarlottenberg : Saturday morning, eleven o'clock, 26th April, 1856.
I am just returned from the Castle, whither I went at
eight o'clock with T , to the great Mohl breakfast, of
twenty-four guests, in fine weather, by the Carmelite
ascent, turning to the right, trees full of nightingales, the
air full of a shower of blossoms, the sky full of rain-bearing
clouds, the Hardt Mountains seemingly close at hand.
27th April. I have had a capital letter from Dr. Haug,
who will undertake the translation and explanation of the
great Zend- Document, ' The Wanderings of the Indians ; '
just that which in 1812 was one of my principal points in
the plan of the projected Indian campaign ; and now, in-
stead of my having perished in the trenches (as I un-
doubtedly should have done), God has granted me the
opportunity to assist in raising the treasure, and to be
enabled to enter the fortress ! Deo soli gloria ! I send to-
day an extract of my ' Indian Chronology ' to Max
Miiller, that he may correct my exercise, and then we will
compare it with his result, which I had begged him to send
me by the 1st May.
I am deep in the Vedas (with Lassen), and learn in-
credibly. Lassen is the man ; but from my standpoint one
can go further than he does. So much muut be finished
directly, before the Alpine tour.
"What must be, will be. All right !
JET. 64] JOACHIM NEUKOMM. 257
Bunsen to Mrs. Schwabe.
[Translation.] 28th May, 1 856.
To express my serious conviction I have considered
throughout life as my duty, even before Kings and Princes.
Hatred and ill-will are both foreign to me God is my wit-
ness. If I am misconstrued, I must bear it ; I am prepared
to endure the consequences. Without entire sincerity, no
friendship can be maintained, and least of all, Christian
friendship. . . .
It was a pity that you did not come yesterday evening.
We had some very animated conversation (Dr. Fischer was
also there) on Swedenborg, Jacob Bohme, Schelling, and
many others.
Wth June. The arrival of the great violinist, Joachim,
and the presence of Neukomm, have caused us a succession
of musical enjoyments, most thoroughly delighted in.
I am ever busy with the file on my Egyptian work, but
it will go off in four days. The ' God- Consciousness ' pro-
ceeds rapidly, and I have great joy in it. My wife will
probably remain at home, but Theodore and I shall cer-
tainly join you in Switzerland.
Our minds have been engrossed by the solemn and
sublime spectacle of the decline of Samuel Gurney. He
was yesterday still a/live (at Paris), but he is daily and
hourly fading away, in full clearness of mind and conscious-
ness of death : no complaint, no sigh, only looks and some-
times single words of love and thankfulness towards God,
and the beloved ones who surround his bed of death day
and night. Is not that the bliss of heaven yet on earth,
that is, in the heart ?
To the Same.
[Translation.]
Charlottenberg : Sunday, 29th June, quarter past five in the morning.
(Jubilee of the Reformation in the Palatinate.)
Through and above the sounds of all the church bells
and the gurgling of the Neckar, the trumpet tones from
VOL. II. S
258 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1856
the tower of the Holy- Ghost Church rise to my balcony
with the soaring hymn, 'Bin feste Burg iat unser Gott'
(' God is our stronghold firm and sure '), and I hasten to
tell you how beautifully the festival has opened, with the
finest summer morning, after days of sultry thunder-
weather. Let us hail the glad omen with thankful joy !
Throughout adverse contingencies, that heart of the
world, the dear, noble German fatherland, moves forward,
and particularly this much-favoured Palatinate, towards a
happier future. Peace and freedom are secured, and unity
will follow, if only we place God before us as our aim. The
town was already yesterday in festival trim ; every place
hanging full of verdure, arid triumphal arches of foliage
were raised as by magic before each place of worship ; and
at eight o'clock sounded forth from every tower the hymn
of sacred freedom, the psalm of God-trusting faith. "We
were all in the garden to hear it. Later, the exquisite
tones of Joachim, pouring forth the highest poetry of com-
position, delighted us till late in the night. . . .
That thought of Jesus transfused into his congregation,
which combines the memorial-festival with the self-sacrifice
of thankful love, is so grand, so exalted, that no form, and
no want of form, can spoil it to the candid and devoted
heart ; and yet has human absurdity converted the central
point of unity into a focus of unholy strife, and a cause of
the deepest division ; and has occasioned a confusion, which
1517 revealed, but did not resolve. So will we thankfully
greet the union which incloses in peace the congregations
here ; and feel to be ourselves united in spirit with all those
who seek God in Christ, and humanity in Christ.
Bunsen to Klingemann.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 21st June, 1856.
Many as have been the sorrowful events that I have
known in life, few have gone so deeply to my heart as that
which has befallen you, my valued friend ! I know how
JET. 64] LETTER TO MR. COBDEN. 259
you and your honoured wife feel the loss ; and I always
prized and delighted in the child which has been taken
from you, with peculiar feelings of affection and satisfac-
tion, from his first appearance. Now, that loveliness and
those hopes are yours no longer ! But I take comfort in
the belief that from the depths of your grief you will behold
the height of consolation, and that your heart being open
to all that is noble and good, you will apprehend how that
which alone is true, and beautiful, and good is contained and
inclosed in the Eternal. The beautiful and the good, having
become consciousness in a human soul, cannot perish,
even though they pass through the birth-throes of death ;
whereas its fuller expansion on earth might have been
menaced by much suffering and difficulty, from which it
may have been the purpose of the Eternal Wisdom of Love
to grant an escape by death. And, finally, love, like all
that is true, finds its chiefest blessing in itself, and in
the memorial, which remembrance builds to the early de-
parted. . . .
To Richard Golden, Esq., M.P.
Charlottenberg : 4th July, 1856.
The Memoir* you have read was never intended for
publication, but was destined as a sketch, and to give ma-
terials for such an European treatise as I thought ought to
be written in English, French, and German, and might
really solve the problem proposed by the Peace Congress.
For, to speak frankly, now that the authors of the two
Memoirs have received their prize, they were each a failure ;
both insufficient and unpractical. The study of their con-
tents, the discussions, verbal and written, with the best
authorities on this field which I could find in Germany,
combined with my own diplomatic experience, had matured
in my mind a plan, the outlines of which I had frequently
discussed with English statesmen. I am thankful to see
* The Memoir was drawn up by Bunsen for the Peace Society.
8 2
260 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1856
that a great step has been made in the right direction,
through the principle advocated by Lord Clarendon, whom,
as well as Lord Palmerston, I knew always to be favourable
to the two leading features arbitration and. non-intervention.
Politically, however, we have gained nothing. Poland and
Italy, the two envenomed wounds of Europe, have been left
as they were, and, moreover, Italy has become, more than
ever, the unavoidable object of the next war resolved upon
by Louis Napoleon, and which may serve for pacification.
On the whole, therefore, I consider the standpoint chosen
or the Memoir the same as in 1 854. The introductory re-
marks give the real results of the essays. As to the details,
they were merely given as materials for a discussion ; and
all I meant to effect by them was, that the objections raised
against the plans hitherto proposed might be removed by a
plan of the nature of that which I had brought forward.
Nothing is truer than what you say, that details often mar
the whole discussion ; the opponents attach themselves to
these in order to discredit the whole. On the other hand,
there are many statesmen who will not listen to anything
when there are no positive points to give a practical defini-
tion of the scheme, and who, however, are fair enough to
understand such details as a mere indication of the possible
solutions which would offer themselves after having gone
into committee. . . .
The marriage of our Prince with the Princess Royal is
the only star in the dark night of the future.
The miseries caused by the tyranny of the Danes in the
Buchies are heartrending, and a shame to Palmerston.
The Introduction by Bunsen to the Translation of
Gaird's Sermon, on c Religion in Daily Life,' proved
more effectual than any of his larger works in making
him known and acceptable to the great mass of his
countrymen in the north, of Germany, and is believed
to have contributed largely towards the enthusiastic
^Ex. 64] LETTER FROM FREDERICA BREMER. 261
reception from the public at Berlin, which so deeply
affected him in September 1857, when invited by the
King to the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance.
Letter to Bunsen from Frederica Bremer.
[In the original English of the writer.]
Heidelberg, 6th June, 1856.
In the high North, in the capital of Sweden, two or three
friends have this past winter often met to read and medi-
tate your late works, * Outlines of Universal History,' *
and ' Signs of the Times ; ' and I cannot tell with what
earnest appreciation, what delighted joy. These persons
have been an Englishwoman of genius, married to a Swede
Mrs. Louisa Norderling (born Drummond Hay) the
pastor of the French Reformed Church at Stockholm, P.
Trollet (an eleve of Vinet), and she who writes to you, and
whom you have kindly favoured with the name of friend.
She, who has been your most grateful and delighted reader
of the three, has undertaken to thank you in their name,
and to forward to you their grateful respects. Many and
many a time during the past winter have I, in the joy of
my heart over these your noble and inspiring words, wanted
to write to you and tell you our feelings, but I was checked
by uncertainty where a letter would find you ; and later,
when I knew that your home was Charlottenberg, near-
Heidelberg, then I decided that I would go myself, and be
the bearer of our respects, and of those of many more
Swedes (statesmen and men of science), to you. And now
I am here, on the way to Lausanne, tarrying only a moment
in order to see you, to bless you for the good you have done
me and many in my land, and are still doing. Yea, blessed
are you to have been able to bring the brightest gems of
philosophy, such as only the German mind can dig out, to
the light and to the general mind, in a clear, simple, and
* The title of the third and fourth volumes of Bunsen's work ' Chris-
tianity and Mankind-
262 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1856
practical way, such as only the English mind can accom-
plish ; blessed in the rare harmony of your organisation-
which enables you to see both the diversity and the unity
of things of this world, and those of a divine necessity,
ruling and. developing them for the highest good, to do jus-
tice at once to God and man. . . .
A journey to Switzerland was commenced on the
1st August: and some passages from Bunsen's letters
to his wife (who had declined belonging to the travel-
ling party, on account of the expected confinement of
her daughter, the Baroness Ungern-Sternberg) will
give an idea of the pleasure he enjoyed in the society
of Madame de Stael and her friends, at the Chateau
de Coppet, and the earnest endeavours he made to
take in all besides on the way that might have been
refreshing to mind and body, had but the vigour and
elasticity of youth been present to counterbalance the
evil influences of exposure to heat, and of irregularity
in meals. The retrospect of this journey and of
this year is painfully affecting, because it proved to
be the period from whence to date decay and decline.
From the succession of illnesses which followed upon
the disturbance of the whole constitution, which took
place after leaving Coppet, he, in fact, never recovered,
although the soundness of his system enabled him to
struggle hard and long against it. The undertaking
was altogether an imprudence, founded on a calcula-
tion of powers past, and not of those still existing.
Bunsen gave way to the kind invitation of Mrs.
Schwabe to join her on a tour in Switzerland; his own
temptation to a journey being the opportunity for
social meetings and intellectual intercourse, to be
JET. 64] HIS VISIT TO SWITZEELAND. 2G3
afforded by Coppet and Geneva, and, farther, the
consciousness that his own habits of intense and
continual application of mind and thought to engros-
sing and absorbing subjects required a compulsory in-
terruption, such as could only be produced by change
of place ; and he considered too little, or rather not
at all, that, accustomed as he had been for a number
of years to every ' appliance and means to boot ' for
the comfort and ease of travelling, it was not now,
in his impaired state of health, that he could be fit
to endure the miseries of the (now obsolete) Swiss
diligence in the Dog-days.
Bunsen to Ms Wife.
[Translation.]
Coppet: 3rd August, 1856, half-past five o'clock, A.M.
From the few lines which our good friend contrived to
write from Basle, you will have known that the indissoluble
portion of our bodies arrived there at eight o'clock (1st
August) not as a caput mortuum, but quick and fresh, to
recover yet more thoroughly on a charming balcony, not on
but over the Rhine ; and in the best hope of getting
through, did we enter upon the Sweating-valley for so I
must in future call that crevice or hollow of the Jura, of
which a portion from Moustier (that is, Minister) is termed
the Minister- Thai. From Moustier, the descent to Biel is
unique of its kind in beauty. At every stage we were
called upon to change our Beiwagen, or supplementary
coach, and to await, in the sun or in a stifling room, the
appearance of its successor. At length, in despair, we
sought and obtained the coupe of the carriage first in rank,
in which two persons would have had close quarters, but
which, we were informed, was reckoned at ' trois personnes '
the third being balanced rather than joisted in between the
two first occupants . The body of the conveyance contained
264 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1856
twenty-nine. At eight o'clock, at Biel, we rowed round
the lake, in the last rays of the setting sun : Theodore
sung * Es fangt schon an zu dammern ' after which we
had tea with its accompaniments, and went out star-gazing
until half-past ten. Yesterday we proceeded over the
surface of three lakes in succession, conveyed by two
vessels, and a beginning of railway, with a ' Black Hole of
Calcutta ' as Salle d'attente provisoire. By five o'clock we
arrived in sight of Coppet and of Madame de Stael, who
awaited us, and conducted Mrs. Schwabe on foot into
the Chateau, while her carriage took charge of me (a very
wise arrangement, owing, I believe, to a suggestion of
yours) hereupon the full current of conversation set in
uninterrupted (except by the necessary toilet) until half
post ten o'clock. Anna Vernet was there, and Edmond de
Pressense ; Broglie could not arrive so soon. At six this
morning I await Pressense, who must depart at seven. On
the steamer yesterday I observed a portmanteau with ' E.
Scherer, Geneve,' marked upon it ; a Genevese to whom I
spoke assured me it could not possibly be the celebrated an-
tagonist of Gaussen ; but I had observed a face which might
have been Scherer' s, and I insisted upon the fact being
ascertained. Soon he was brought up to me the man
was Scherer. Thereupon followed a long conversation, in
which I endeavoured to dissipate his doubts of the genu-
ineness of the Gospel of St. John, and I am not without
hopes. We are to meet again at Geneva, whither I mean
to go the day after to-morrow. I wish to spend there
three days.
Eight o'clock. Now only the steamer is arrived and
Pressense has departed. Here it is delightful. I feel strong
and as fall of life as ever. I hope to write much here ; the
first Chapter of the Second Book (of ' Gott in der Geschichte')
announces itself as demanding new birth. I have pro-
mised myself not to travel between ten o'clock and three
until cooler weather comes : and thus I shall have time to
J&r. 64] THE JUNGFRAU. 265
write. I shall not go out of Geneva, except to Chamounix.
Theodore manages everything for me. How often do I
think of you all ! and that you should not be here seems
incredible. Well ! in less than three weeks I shall be with
you again ! and with all my pockets full of admirable
historical anecdotes, too good to write.
A succession of hastily-scrawled letters give parti-
culars of hours (instead of the intended days) passed
at Geneva interviews and interesting discussions
with Scherer a visit to M. Tronchin at La Prairie a
journey to Chamounix, and a continual struggle
throughout the time against ever-recurring attacks of
illness, with unflagging cheerfulness, and the determi-
nation to make the best of a journey which had been
undertaken in expectation of refreshment to mind and
body.
[Translation.]
Interlaken : Hotel zur Jungfrau, 1.5th August. Before me
lies the turf-flat upon which this village is built, the finely-
modelled green hills forming two halves of an amphi-
theatre, which just in the centre draw back to constitute a
frame for the Ju/ngfrau, which in the purest splendour
rises in front. ! that you were here, with your ever
warm heart for the magnificence of creation, your keenly-
discerning eye, and artist-like hand, and I with you as my
Priestess, to gaze into the sanctuary ! But altogether, kind
and affectionate and amiable as is all that surrounds me, you
are yet ever wanting to me everywhere, and those dear girls
who are with you ! The drive from Vevay across the moun-
tains (Bulle, Chateau d'CEx, and through the Simmenthal),
is the finest of its kind. That is the real Switzerland, the
pasture-land of the Alps, with cheerful, well-fed, well-
clothed freemen as inhabitants (and handsomer than any I
have seen in this country, except in the Haslithal) the
266 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1856
effect is indescribable of the green slopes alternating with
portions of fir- forest, stretching to the hill- tops, below,
rushing streams above, the blue sky ! But we are indeed
making a journey as it were through the Abruzzi, supposing
any human being ever thought of making one there in the
dog-days. 25 Reaumur in the inns from 27 to 30 on the
road in the sun 45 and yet better everywhere than
close to the lake. Here, in a cool room, with the glorious
prospect, and a German band playing below, all is forgotten.
Friday, the 22nd, to Basle, and Saturday to be with you,
please God.
The return home was effected as intended but,
alas ! the frequent recoveries so hopefully announced
in Bunsen's letters did not hold good ; and although
he took food on his arrival with the ' first relish * (as
he said) 'that he had experienced for many a day,' there
was no help but he must pay the whole penalty of
over-exertion : and the first fortnight at home was
spent more in bed than out of it, under various and
equally exhausting sufferings.
\4ith September. The following prayers were com-
posed and used by Bunsen, on the occasion of the first
of several family meetings with his son Ernest and
his daughter-in-law Elizabeth, for edification in the
study of the Gospels :
[Translation.]
(1 John i.) God, Heavenly Father, who hast reunited
us here, after a long separation and many painful experi-
ences, and assembled us in this hour for the contemplation
of Thy Holy Word, grant us Thy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus,
who will ever be ' in the midst,' when ' two or three are
gathered together in His name.' Amen.
Yea, Lord, Heavenly Father ! we have gazed upon the
JEx. 65] EFFECTS OF HIS SWISS TOUE. 267
Word of Life, which once appeared as man and the Son of
Man on this earth. Not ' with hands have we handled it,'
but with the eyes of the Spirit we behold it in the contem-
plation of Thy Word. We behold it in the world's history,
ever since the appearing of the Eternal Word in the form
of a servant. We behold it in the judgments which have
passed over the earth, from the destruction of Jerusalem
and the fall of Rome even to our own days. But, above
all, we behold it in our own hearts, in the acknowledgment
of our nothingness as of ourselves, and of the consciousness
of our eternal union with Thee, who art Love eternal. To
that end, grant us Thy Spirit, that He may lead us, not to
self-chosen works, but to showing forth our faith each in
his proper calling, after the way that Thou appointest to
every one : not in the blindness of zeal, but in the lowliness
of love to the brethren as Thy children, and in remembrance
of Him who gave His life in love, to the furtherance of Thy
kingdom.
Thy kingdom come : Thy will be done, as in heaven, so
also on earth ! Amen.
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.]
Charlottenberg : Tuesday, 16th September, 1856.
My much-beloved ! again I place myself (although with
somewhat swollen ankles) at my dear standing- desk, to
thank you for your letter, after having been able to work
from six to eight o'clock sitting, by means of a writing-
arrangement of your mother's invention, completing a nice
additional chapter to the close of the Egyptian volume.
My supporters will not bear their heavy burden without
intermission, as formerly ; and the whole house, and house-
physician together, insist upon their having rest. So there
is no help for the admission, that I set out upon the journey
into Switzerland yet fresh in life, and have returned an
aged man, more on three legs than on two. However I am
otherwise well, and since the day before yesterday have
been able to write, that is, to compose.
268 MEMOIES OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1856
To the Same.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 5th November, 1856. ''
(Die auspicate, pro die auspicatissimo.)
These lines shall greet you on your birthday with your
father's fullest blessing. To have had you here renewed
and heightened the joy of thinking of you, and was a re-
petition and strengthening of the impressions, which I
received and retain from the time of being with you in
Burg Rheindorf, of your life and household happiness.
You have a good soil and foundation in every respect ; and
the harvest-prospect will in no way deceive your anticipa-
tions, if you continue true to yourself and to the resolves of
your childhood and youth. To which end., may God give
His blessing, on that solemn festival day !
Now you shall hear much that will please you, relating
to myself. First, I have never worked better. When I
had finished the Egyptian volume and the first of ' God-
Consciousness,' I had to make a resolution, and I determined
that the latter work should be printed between this and
Easter; and thereupon began Book V. I had in the
Preface (the fourth that I have written, and which I have
at last approved of) so completely plunged again into my
speculative views and the fundamental idea of the work,
that I was driven by irresistible longing towards philosophy ;
and I followed the impulse, because only when thus urged
can I create anything in the domain of speculation. It has
succeeded. I have studied through Leibnitz and Lessing
afresh, and have so amplified my two articles of 1850
(leaving that which was written untouched) that they may
enable any uncultivated mind to pass judgment upon the
achievements of those heroes with respect to a philosophical
comprehension of universal history ; and of what they have
left to be done. I begin with an exposition of their reason-
ing, supported by suitable extracts ; the ' Education of the
Human Race ' I give entire, merely leaving out what is
JET. 65] PEOSECUTION OF HIS STUDIES. 269
purely historical, and what is unfounded ( 23 to 82),
adding besides the two Sibylline leaves upon the Trinity
and the Metempsychosis, which Guhrauer has so happily
brought into speculative connection with the ' Education of
the Human Race.' Then follows the criticism there was
still much to be done ! To-morrow I go to Herder, and
then to Kant : as to the former I had scarcely anything to
add, and not much about the latter. Kuno Fischer, with
his great amount of reading, is a ready helper to me : he is
now writing his work on Kant.
I shall be able, according to agreement, to give Yol. III.
to the press on the 1st January ; meanwhile, I work through
Book IV., to be completed by the middle of January, in
which lies the fate of the work, and the position of your
father in the Christian world : last of all, Book III., the
Hellenic, for the recreation of the natural Hellene in me.
My life is divided into two parts. From nine to twelve
the Bible thus is the wheel ever turning. Haug no
longer works with us together : he prepares by himself
Numbers and Deuteronomy, finishing them up to be read
for my revision and final arrangement. Kamphausen also
prepares alone Joshua and Judges : both will have finished
in January, and then I give them the four Books of Samuel
and the Kings, so that by Easter the second volume of the
Old Testament text will have been prepared, as far as Isaiah
and Jeremiah, which close the volume : in these I have
myself done all the preparatory work, and I let no one else
touch them. Now, however, comes the principal matter.
By Easter I shall have worked through the Pentateuch,
and the Introduction, and written the ' God- Consciousness'
(I hope even sooner) : thus I shall have the hours free
before nine and after twelve, for I am busy with the philo-
logical part of the ' Bibelwerk ' only in the three hoars
from nine to twelve. The time and strength thus remain-
ing shall be devoted to the ' First Part of the New Testa-
ment,' the Gospels. This was your proposal last year,
270 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1856
and thus you shall have it announced this day, as a birth-
day-gift from yourself to yourself !
Without the * Grod-Consciousness ' as a precursor, I
should be at a loss to give my thoughts full utterance ; but
the two works together will clear up one another.
Bunsen to Mrs. Schwabe.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 12th November, 1856.
I can now again work with the same ease as before that
Swiss journey, and my work gives me vast pleasure.
22nd November. To-day I have finished those last
sheets of the work of twenty-four years' pain (* The
Exodus '), which yet I love so much ! and also * Leviticus.'
Pray read the admirable 25th chapter, about the Year of
Jubilee. What a grand view of the State as a congregation
of brothers ! That was indeed only to be carried out in a
real community, to which the Jews could not attain : they
fell asunder into clans, and became the prey of strangers,
and were afterwards enslaved by priests and kings. The
Maccabees brought reality into the communal system, when
they had made Judah free : and it would seem to have sub-
sisted thus even to the time of Josephus.
If one learns through the Old Testament to understand
better the New, how much more the Old through the New !
I rejoice in your spirited sympathy, as well as in that of
our wise friend Neukomm.
8th December. The imperfection of translations hitherto
made becomes more and more clear to me. The celebrated
proverbial utterance, the dying profession of the Jew (Deu-
teronomy vi. 4) ' Hear, Israel ! the Lord thy God is one
Lord ' should be rendered, ' Hear, Israel ! the Eternal is
our God, the Eternal alone.' The sense is very different,
and the true meaning goes higher and deeper than that of
the common and. wrong translation. . . .
~L2th December. D.'s expressions of his feelings with
respect to death are very touching. He would make the
^Ex. 65] CLOSE OF THE YEAR 1856. 271
explanation of them easier to himself, if he reflected that
the soul in itself shrinks not from death, because conscious
of that being the necessary birth into higher life. Well
did Jellaleddin Rumi say, 'Truly life shuddereth before
death.' But in the soul the divine principle is as really
existing as the natural; as the poet best of all says,
Through God do the human spirits stand in connection with
one another, not otherwise : and there (in God) only as
spiritual existences.
Apparitions in the common sense I consider an utter
absurdity: but that one spirit in the great and eventful
moments of the inner life (for instance, at the moment of
expiring) may gaze in upon another, is a certain fact.
That is the Scotch second sight. An anecdote in Niebuhr's
life of his father (the traveller) is remarkable. These
things take place most commonly in the unspiritual con-
dition of mere nature, for instance, in dreams or somnambu-
lism ; but what is possible in the state of nature must be
so also further and higher.
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] 22nd December, 1856.
The King has most graciously accepted my book, de-
livered by Humboldt (* God in History,' vol. i.), but added,
' Is there no letter for me with it ? ' I shall therefore write
to him to-day, referring to my letter in print. . . .
Besides this work, I have earnestly considered the burn-
ing question of Neufchatel ; and by an extraordinary con-
currence of circumstances, I seem called upon to quit my
absolute retirement from political concerns of the moment
God be thanked ! it would seem that my efforts in
various quarters have not been quite without effect. It is
terrible to think of a war for a mere point of honour, as
a possibility in our times ; but I hold firmly the belief
that it will not come to a war, and that the matter will
be arranged in the way that I at first proposed. Lord
272 MEMOIRS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1856
Palmerston at the beginning did harm by inconsiderate
positiveness of language, and by underrating the import-
ance and seriousness of the affair.
When I overlook the past year, with its joys and suffer-
ings, its bright and dark passages, my mind rests with true
enjoyment on the days in Switzerland. The latter half of
the journey was disturbed by bodily indisposition; and
then followed my illness and loss of time in consequence ;
but now all this has retreated into the background, and
the impression of grand and splendid nature which we
passed through in friendly intercourse recovers its full and
enduring force. I feel that I have entirely recovered from
my illness, but I have entered upon old age. Tranquil
uniformity and sameness of life and diet are necessary to
me : in this quiet course I feel well, and in mind as fresh
as ever. Wisdom consists (as Koheleth says for King
Solomon) in knowing that there is a time for all things ;
but he would not seem to have considered that, as every
age has its privations, so also even old age has its peculiar
enjoyments, or, at least, might have them. Experience
and memory are great treasures, belonging to old age. . . .
Imagine that my married children have united in making
me a great surprise against the New Year by the valuable
present of a billiard-table ! Up to the day when it came
and was put up, I played daily at bowls in the garden with
Theodore, (who had, without saying anything, meanwhile
arranged the whole), but since then it has become too cold
for bowls ; and thus the substitute has arrived exactly at
the right time. You know, that for almost forty years
without exception we have, alone in our home-circle, sat
up to await the year's beginning, with choral- singing and
other solemn music, and in serious conversation with pauses
between. This time we shall also do so, but without the
dear Sternbergs (as Theodora has the influenza), but they
will be with us in spirit, and you also : is it not so ? Now
farewell, dear friend, and receive my heart's thanks for all
JET. 65] THE NEW YEAR. 2/3
the kindness and friendship which you have shown me in
this departing year ! God bless you, and your house so
rich in blessings, abundantly in the new year ! To all,
including the all-beloved Neukomm, my heartiest greetings.
Ist January, 1857. Again, all hail and blessing for the
new year ! I shall begin the working-day with * In the
beginning God created heaven and earth.' O might I be
found worthy yet, ere the departure of this year, to write
' In the beginning was the Word ! ' I fully purpose doing
this ; but may God's will be done, by us, or in spite of UB !
VOL. II.
274 MEM01ES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1857
CHAPTEE XVIII.
LAST VISIT TO BERLIN.
DECLINING HEALTH NEUFCHATEL AETICLE ON LUTHER ENERGETIC
WORK LETTER TO MR. HARFORD LETTER TO THE DUCHESS OF
ARGYLL VISIT FROM MR. ASTOR VISIT TO BERLIN LETTER FROM
THE KING OF PRUSSIA THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE AT BERLIN.
THE notice taken by Bunsen of his bodily condition,
in the extracts of letters that have been given, is
marked by an increasing desire to make the best of it,
and believe it as much a state of convalescence as he
desired and needed that it should be ; but the period
of irretrievable disorder had arrived, through which
only energy such as his could have effected the amount
of work which he still accomplished. After seemingly
getting rid of the combination of catarrh and gastric
affection which he brought with him from the journey
into Switzerland, being many times ' well again ' and
at his desk, and then disabled afresh, yet struggling
on to keep his assistants at work (now two in number,
for Dr. Haug was engaged in addition to Dr. Kamp-
hausen), even when his own work of free composition,
or of writing his commentary to the Bible, was neces-
sarily suspended he was, in January 1857, seized
with lumbago, an evil previously experienced at
Borne, Munich, and in London. In these cases, how-
ever, it was dismissed with comparative ease : in
Rome, by the use of leeches : in London, by that of
Mr. 65] HIS DECLINING HEALTH. 275
vapour-baths. But this time the suffering was as
obstinate as it was intense ; and he had first to learn
what was implied by sleepless nights, thus first tast-
ing the cup of bitterness which he was to drink to
the very dregs in his last illness. Cupping and blis-
tering (under the friendly direction of Professor
Chelius) proved unavailing to diminish pain, but
probably helped to originate that swelling of the legs,
at first, and for two years more, very slight, which so
miserably increased in the last six months of life.
The attack of lumbago at length wore itself out ; but
not till the month of May had brought a steady tem-
perature was he restored to ease and comfort. The
baths of Wildbad, in August, removed the last sensa-
tion of pain and weakness in the legs ; and among all
the sufferings that awaited him later, the torment of
lumbago never returned. The engagement of his son
Charles (Secretary of Legation at Turin) had been a
happy event of the last summer ; and after long de-
tention at his post of duty by the illness of his Chief,
Count Brassier de S. Simon, Charles obtained at last
in January the necessary leave of absence, to receive
the hand of Mary Isabel, daughter of Mr. Thomas
Waddington, of S. Leger near Rouen, at Paris, where
the venerated friend of both families, the Pasteur
Yalette, with the eloquence of truth and love, solemn-
ised their life-union. The young couple travelled to
their own home at Turin, by way of Bonn and Heidel-
berg, in which latter place their visit proved most
cheering to the suffering father, who, on their first
arrival, was entirely confined to his bed, but became
better able to enjoy their company before they were
T 2
276 MEMOIRS OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1857
bound to proceed on their journey. To behold a fourth
marriage among his sons, and the establishment of
family happiness in the case of this much-prized and
highly-deserving son, removed by circumstances fur-
ther than any other from the habits and comforts of
either of his home-countries, was matter of devout
thankfulness to Bunsen, who was radiant in satisfac-
tion at the providential granting of this very earnest
wish of his heart.
During these months of confinement to his library,
the pleasure he took in two canary-birds, which de-
lighted to leave their cage and fly about, is strongly
impressed on the memory of those who hailed his
capacity of relaxation of mind. A cocoa-nut chalice,
chased in silver (the gift of Lord Shaffcesbury and
other friends in 1842, in memorial of the Jerusalem
Bishopric), always stood ready filled with fresh water,
on a table before a mirror ; and there he enjoyed see-
ing the birds perch and drink, and to watch their
surprise at their own reflection.
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] 8th January, 1857.
History must pass judgment upon every man, after his
day's work has been completed, that is, after his death ; but
most certainly Cobden has proved himself, even to the con-
temporary world, upright and high-minded as a man, a
statesman, and a citizen, with a rare union of insight with
force of will. I have been for a long time greatly taken up
with the affair of Neufchatel. Write to your inquiring
friend : the King was, in the opinion of Bunsen, perfectly
right to demand, as preliminary to a direct negotiation,
that Switzerland should abstain from sitting in judgment
.Ex. 65] THE NEUFCHATEL AFFAIR. 277
upon those whose conduct was justified, not only in his and
their own eyes, but also in those of the Five Powers who
signed with him the Protocol of 1852. But Bunsen knows,
that as early as October the King had resolved to give up
the sovereignty of Neufchatel, and acknowledge its inde-
pendence. It is scarcely to be presumed that the Emperor
undertook to act as mediator without knowing this, as well
as Bunsen and many other persons, the Prince of Prussia
included : it remains therefore to be explained why the Em-
peror would not guarantee to Switzerland in his name, that
after that conciliatory act on the part of Prussia, negotiations
would be opened, on the basis of the independence of Neuf-
chatel. That he refused to do so is a fact. The article in
the ' Moniteur ' was insulting to Switzerland, and reproached
the Swiss, not for having refused to do what was right to-
wards the Sovereign Prince of Neufchatel, but towards him,
the Emperor. A different language, and acting in common
with England, would have brought on the solution now 4 at-
tained a month earlier. Nothing is required but the neces-
sity of self-limitation, which is the beginning of wisdom.
18th January. Since yesterday, I have been critically
going through the translation of Caird's sermon for the
second edition, with Frances. Brockhaus writes that the
first edition is as / good as sold, and he wishes to print
another of 1000 copies. I am very happy thus to help in
your work of Christian charity. At the same time, Messrs.
Black, in Edinburgh, have asked me to write the article on
Luther for the new edition of the ' Encyclopaedia Britan-
nica.' This honourable commission to represent our great
German hero to another body of Christians, and in their
own language, cannot be declined. I have therefore con-
sented to do so, and have set about the work.
278 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] 8th February, 1857.
I stand again, for the first time quite without pain, at
my dear desk, in the sunshine. Hundreds are skating
within my view. The canary-birds have been transferred to
my room, and they enjoy with me the sun and prospect.
That was a bad fit of sciatica ! I have lost fourteen entire
working days, at least, for my compositions ; of those for
Bible-conferences I have lost only six. In the sleepless
nights (to me a hitherto unknown condition) I was able to
meditate much : and thus, amid various (useless) tortures,
such as cupping, for instance, and various (effectual)
homoeopathic remedies, the time of recovery has arrived.
To-morrow, please God, I begin work again.
Monday morning, 9th February. I have had the first good
night, and have been able to work a little at my desk. As
soon as the cold gives way, I shall use a steam-bath. My
two young people (Charles and his bride) rejoice my heart
daily and hourly by the sight of their happiness and their
animation. This evening, they go to a * Museum ' ball, with
the Steinbergs, Theodore, and Matilda.
242/i February. At twelve our dear children will depart.
It is a truly valuable and richly- constituted heart with which
we have made acquaintance ; and we have new cause for
thankfulness in God's blessing. I have suffered much during
the whole of this time from the sharp pain of the sciatica
having gone down into my leg ; but it is better, God be
thanked ! and I have had to work hard, to make amends for
time lost for next Friday the Cabinet- Courier of the Eng-
lish Embassy at Frankfort departs, by whom I must send
my Luther MS. (eighty closely- written quarto pages) to
Edinburgh. Love to the incomparable Neukomm !
JET. 65] HIS WORK ON LUTHER. 279
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] 5th March, 1857.
I can to-day communicate to you, in confidence, a secret.
The book I am preparing will be called
LUTHER ;
An Historical and Autobiographical Picture,
in Four Volumes.
First volume. Historical representation.
Second volume. Luther in his letters, confessions, recol-
lections, and occasional outpourings.
Third volume. Luther in his reformation-declarations and
writings.
Fourth volume. Luther in his Biblical sentences, writings,
and hymns.
You see that the three last volumes consist of Luther's
own words, but placed together to give an image of him,
and accompanied by the necessary explanations and com-
ments. All extracts and collections hitherto made are not
to the purpose ; they give no image, cannot be read as a
whole, and are even in part unintelligible.
The first volume is my own historical representation, a
life description from the point of view of universal history.
It will be in four books :
I. The period of preparation and of arming, 1483 to
1517, the first thirty-four years of life. Seven chapters.
II. The period of progressive action, October 31, 1517, to
the end of 1524. Twelve chapters.
III. The period of suffering, and of executing learned
works, 1525, till death, 1546. Twelve chapters.
IV. Luther, a picture of character, in his various rela-
tions as a Reformer, as a writer, as a preacher, and, lastly,
as a man. Eight chapters.
Now I will tell you how I came upon this, and how I
have seemingly with such inconceivable quickness made
the whole clear to myself.
280 MEMOIKS OF BABON BUNSEN. [1857
The originating cause was Black's proposal to write the
article in the ' Encyclopaedia.' But I had long known that
no life of Luther existed, any more, or even still less, than
a collection of his voluminous writings (88 volumes in 8vo.),
calculated to communicate the spirit of this man, unique of
his kind, and to be generally attractive. This want I had
felt in the working out of the fourth book of ' God in
History,' in which Luther is, of course, after the Apostles,
the most prominent character. It was not clear to me how
I should be able to resolve the undertaking within the
limits of that book. With respect to Christ, I could refer
to my * Life of Jesus,' as soon to appear ; but for the life of
Luther, not even the materials lie within the reach of the
reading public.
That was reason enough for my being glad and willing
to write the article for the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' and
during the work the plan for executing the whole became
clear to me. What decided me to the undertaking was
that I should be enabled to bring forward in the course of
this work, in a more acceptable and penetrating manner, the
thoughts and considerations prepared for the continuation
of the 'Signs of the Times.' There is nothing of what I
want to say that might not be, in the most striking man-
ner, connected with the representation of Luther and his
works.
Therefore, I shall not continue the ' Signs of the Times,'
but close them, by a preface of about forty pages intended
for a popular edition.
Now came the necessity of convincing myself that the
work may really succeed ; and, therefore, the same day that
I sent off the article to Black (Friday in the week before
last), did I set about it, to the inexpressible joy of my wife,
who has, from the first, urged me to this work ; and late on
March 3 I had accomplished so much as specimen of the
life-picture that I could present her with the whole design,
and with that first chapter all but the close, on her birth-
JET. 65] LETTER TO ME. HARFORD. 281
day, at breakfast, March 4. Now I go back to ' God in
History ' without interruption, except from the Bible-con-
ferences, from nine to twelve o'clock.
I have, like a true German, expended 50Z. (whereas the
article has brought me in 201.) for the necessary works of
Luther and his biographers and commentators ! Yet with-
out these I could not have achieved anything as it ought
to be done, for the Heidelberg Library does not possess the
last edition of Luther's works. Frances will help me to
search through, and extract, about 86 volumes, in which are
endless single gold grains of sentences, nowhere else to be
found, because the Lutherans neither comprehend nor like
them. She will attack the ' Sermons,' while I shall in time
(in the autumn, 1857) begin the ' Commentary on the
Biblical Writings.' In six months, from the beginning, 1
could get that finished. I shall offer Black the ' first
refusal ' of the work, as * a book for the million ' in England
and the United States. No one knows what Luther essen-
tially was ! The whole shall be a reading book for every,
even the commonest, reading Christian please God ! . . .
Bunsen to John Harford, Esq., ofBlaize Castle.
Charlottenberg : 6th March, 1857.
The day before yesterday your valued gift was put into
my hands, and from that time to this evening hour I have
done little besides reading the two precious volumes.* Let
me tell you, that however much pleasure I anticipated from
them, my expectations have been surpassed. Your work
has transported me back to beloved spots and inspiring
regions ; I have walked under your guidance through those
glorious, although most melancholy, years of Republican
Florence, displaying the aspiring religious mind of Italy,
and the wonderful development of the fine arts, and above
all those two giants of genius and intellect, Michael Angelo
and Raphael. You have prepared the threads out of which
# The Life and Times of Michael Angelo Buonarotti, by Mr. Harford.
282 MEMOIRS OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1857
you weave the narrative so skilfully and yet naturally,
that it reads like a novel. . . .
As to Michael Angelo's patriotism, poetry, and philosophy,
justice was never done to them before ; and still nothing is
truer than your statement. You have proved it convinc-
ingly as to Platonism, by showing that without it you
cannot explain his Canzone and Sonetti. As to his piety,
it was certainly neither old age, nor love of the bright eyes
of Vittoria Colonna, which first inspired him with religious
feelings. Your memoir relating to her is in its proper
place, and your readers will thank you for it. ...
I thank you particularly for having mentioned Valdez ; for
it now seems clear that he was the cause of the conversion
of Vergerio, and of many pious Spaniards. Something in
proof of this has lately been published at Cadiz, and Dr.
Bohmer, of Halle (a friend of Tholuck's and mine), has
discovered where papers of Valdez exist, and is sure of being
able to get at them, if he should ever have the means of
making a three months' residence in Spain. . . .
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] 22nd March, 1857.
There is a great movement among the Evangelicals in
England, of every variety ; an admirable Declaration (by
the Rev. Mr. Birks, of the Church of England, honorary
secretary of the Evangelical Alliance), which might be called
a Manifesto, or (as they call it) Confession of Faith, is said
(by Sir Eardley Culling, who sent it to me printed, but
marked ' Private and Confidential ') to have been accepted
by the Alliance. There is a prospect of its being generally
signed ! but I consider it as too good. If it succeeds, the
narrow party in Germany will be furious ! In every case
the movement is a good one, not only because it will be
attacked by the Pope and others, but good in itself. . . .
22nd April. Rowland Williams has written a highly
remarkable, philosophical, and learned book, ' Christianity
JET. 65] ' CHRISTIANITY AND HINDUISM.' 283
and Hinduism,' being called upon to do so by another un-
common man, Mr. Muir, late of the Bengal Civil Service,
who had offered 5001. for a work which should in an intel-
ligible manner afford the Brahmins and learned Buddhists
a comparison of those two systems of religion with Chris-
tianity. This prize Rowland Williams has gained, by writ-
ing a volume of 500 pages, which cost him ten years'
labour, from 1847 to 1856 ; which volume Muir sent to me
and I received three weeks ago, just as I had worked through
the self-same enquiry. Imagine my surprise, to find, under
the form of a perfectly framed Platonic Dialogue, a repre-
sentation more nearly similar to my own than any other that
has been made in England or Germany !
4ith May. . . . Meanwhile I must endeavour to regain
the good graces of my friends in England. The author of
an article in the ' National Review' is of opinion that he
can give no analysis of my work (' God in History'),
because the texture is ' too loose ;' and he complains of the
' superficiality' of some parts. The writer has read little of
my book, and understood less, or he would have perceived
two things, 1, that I not only know more of the matter
than himself (what he knows is very little), but also more
than the English writers who have treated the subject,
whose works I have known these ten and twenty years, and
recognised in them all that they contain of durable worth ;
2, that I have brought forward no book-learning or detailed
inquiry into subjects on which all men of study in Germany
are agreed. As to the composition of the work, he might
have been clear, had he but noticed the repeated warnings
that I have given in many places, that it pretends not to
treat of the Philosophy of Religion, nor to be a History of
Religion, but of something very different. He evidently
considers the ' developments ' as parts of the individual work
instead of lengthened remarks on the subject matter.
When I brought forward new opinions, I needed to support
them by new proofs ; but wherefore should I prove what is
284 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
well known and admitted ? Had I but given the ' develop-
ments' in small print (which would have been certainly-
more practical), their purpose would have been more dis-
tinct. Ewald, a rigorous judge, and a High- Church oppo-
nent in a theological periodical, commends me as going deep
into the matter the reverse of ' superficial ' ! . . .
All mine greet you, and regret that you cannot see and
enjoy the magnificence of the blossoming trees and flowers
on our hill and on our way to the Castle the chestnut- trees,
the lilacs. My wife and I are reading the ten volumes of
' L'Histoire de ma Vie,' of George Sand a wonderful book,
which has been lent us. That woman has a deep, and, I
think, a true, soul, and she is a disciple of Lamennais, as
well as of Leibnitz, to whom she remains faithful. She is
said to be ugly which is a pity ; but as the Swabian wisely
said, ' Unpleasant it is, but no sin.' The Rajah of Sarawak
(Brooke) has again proved himself a hero, which I always
considered him to be. It is a black sin of those who have
been misled by Hume to attack that man as an enemy.
24ith May. When a Ministry, a Parliament, a Nation,
shows itself ever ready to follow good advice from Cobden,
why should the whole public dissent from his opinion
about Sir J. Brooke, if he really was in the right ? You see
from this, that in public life one must take political cha-
racters as they are ; one may hold different opinions as to
their views, and yet honour them as men, and love them
as human beings. But such a character is not to be con-
verted, and as little can public opinion be changed ; only
God can do that, and Time, which judges all things.
~L2th May. To-day I am brisk and without pain, and have
climbed to the upper terrace, twice resting by the way ; and
in returning I almost ran down the hill. The Russian
baths do me good.
JEr. 65] VISIT OF MR. ASTOR. 285
Bunsen to a Daughter-in-Law.
Charlottenberg : loth May, 1857.
I have entered into the greatest work and undertaking
of my life, and begin to earn the fruits of much labour. I
cannot move, unless forced, before April 1861. The first
free spring shall belong, if it please God, to England ; the
first free winter, to Mentone, or some such place. But the
work to be done in the meantime is very great, although
the hardest is over ; and after Whit Sunday I shall be en-
tering into smooth water, coming into regions where I have
been before. It gives me now indescribable delight to write
the ' Introduction,' in which I show, by copious specimens
and self-evident examples, what is intended, and how much
and how important that is.
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] 16th July, 1857.
The intelligence of the preparation for the closing scene
of our beloved and honoured friend Neukomm is very
solemn it confirms all my former apprehensions.
Dr. Theodore Bunsen has obtained the highest academical
honours -first class which no one had obtained, in the
memory of man, in his branch of study (Political Economy
and History), and, altogether, no one in the whole philoso-
phical faculty for many years in Heidelberg.
Astor and family are to arrive on the 21st August ; he
embarks at New York on the 5th, and travels straight to
Heidelberg. Therefore, we shall go to Wildbad on the
28th of this present month, that I may have completed my
twenty-one baths before the 20th August.
The only MS. of the Latin translation of the Old Testa-
ment by Jerome (of the year 541) which has not been
corrupted, is at Florence, and a collation of it for me is
being made by Dr. Heyse, which is to be completed by
September 15.
Wildbad : 16th August. The bath and the heat of the
286 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
weather have so relaxed me that I find days and weeks pass
as in a dream, and I feel as if I had done something enor-
mous when I have corrected and expedited a sheet of the
1 Bibelwerk ' ! But the bathing has done me good decidedly,
although I can stand it no longer. On Wednesday, the 19th,
we shall set out early homewards, and at four o'clock the
same day Dr. Kamphausen is appointed for a closing con-
ference ; on the 20th he leaves Heidelberg, for a three
weeks' tour of refreshment.
Here it is indescribably beautiful, and should I be obliged
again to go to a bathing place, it should certainly be Wild-
bad. Excursions into the Forest are charming, the air is
of the sort that I enjoy, the baths are most beneficial. We
have met some friends here ; Miss Wynn has just left us.
Eliza Grurney, the American Quaker, widow of John Joseph
Gumey, came here to see us, and we had a very fine and
solemn day in her company. She had been at Berlin, and
was admitted to see the King, to ask and obtain from him
exemption from military service for a Quaker youth.
30th August. I have been expecting Astor daily, and at
last he arrived yesterday evening, at the same time with the
Prince of Wales. Astor's faithful attachment to me, and
the impression we receive of his excellence, give us true
pleasure.
To the Duchess of Argyll.
Heidelberg : 1st July, 1857.
MY DEAR DUCHESS, This is the morning of the fortieth
anniversary of my wedding. Full forty years lie before me
of as unmixed happiness as mortal can bear, passed hand in
hand with one who would have made a paradise to me out
of a desert, and now stands by my side, well and happy in
our quiet and retired, but neither idle nor solitary, life.
We are surrounded, near and far, but all within reach, by
ten children, and, as yet, thirteen grandchildren, all happy ;
together with four daughters-in-law and two sons-in-law,
all united with us as if they were our own children ; all
JET. 65] LETTEE TO THE DUCHESS OF AKGYLL. 287
doing well in life, and attached to each other. Is it not
a day to be thankful for, my dear Duchess ? Nobody
can appreciate that better than yourself, and nobody will
believe more easily than you, that on such a day our heart
is turned towards the Mends whose kindness and affection
have accompanied us through our pilgrimage. Your letter
received last week has heaped fiery coals upon my head ;
still I left them burning there, having firmly resolved
to celebrate my platina wedding (as I call it, being
between the twenty-five years of the silver and the fifty
years of the golden wedding) by beginning the day (it is
now five o'clock) with these words addressed to you. It
was only at seven o'clock last night (when I drove to the
station to receive my Emilia well and strong, and moving
about as freely as any of us) that I finished, as I had pro-
posed, the Introduction to my * Bibelwerk,' to go to the press
to-day, to appear by September 15, as the first of many
volumes. . . . This work, perhaps the greatest, at
all events, the most responsible, literary enterprise of the
age, vowed in 1817, and again (after some preparatory
work) at the time of my great illness in 1821, at Borne,
and since prepared and composed ' in silentio et spe, in
great part, in ever dear England, particularly in 1850,
when I wrote the 'Life of Jesus,' was taken in hand soon
after I had settled dn these beautiful banks of the Neckar,
first together with my ' Egypt,' and the ' Signs of the Times,'
and my book, ' God in History,' and since has occupied my
whole mind and time. Its magnitude overwhelmed me,
when I perceived what it could not help attempting to
be, to such a degree, that I resolved to throw aside for
some months all other thoughts and occupations until
that first volume, with its declaration in front, was
secured. It is only thus that I have sometimes been able
to carry by storm a subject which otherwise would never
have been mastered. Receiving and reading such letters
as yours, my dear Duchess, is the greatest comfort and
288 MEMOIRS OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1857
solace in such a state of mind but answering them is im-
possible. Only since last night could I tell you that the
work is done. I have mastered it by having accomplished
the first volume, for the work has been written backwards,
so as to enable me to word safely and unhesitatingly the
Introductory Address to the Christian People, or, as we call
it in German, die Gemeinde. I have now only to hope to
live (as I think I shall) to Easter 1861, when the last
volume, the 'Life of Jesus and the Eternal Kingdom of
God,' will be out. . . .
It may be said that we (in Germany) have been at this
work (of revising the translation of the Bible) for 87 years,
say 100 ; for in 1770, Michaelis at Gottingen published his
great Translation and Commentary of the Old Testament,
and yet the German nation has still the least correct of all
Bible translations, although marked by the greatest genius,
and in spite of unparalleled exertions made by our men of
learning to effect a revision for the people. But as to
England, it is more than 100 years that you have given up
all really serious exegetical study of the Bible. Jowett's
and Stanley's and Alford's works are, however, excellent
beginnings at least, as far as the New Testament is con-
cerned. I think there are 3,000 passages requiring correc-
tion in Luther's translation, and not more than 1,500 in
the English, Dutch, and French the three best ever yet
made. Still 1,500 is a great deal in a volume where every
word ought to be sacred ! Only such ignorant talkers as
can speak as though a more correct translation would
not of itself open a new light to the Christian world ! No-
body can change the language of our Bibles, nor their
groundwork ; the precious metal requires only rubbing.
To a Son.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 25th August, 1857.
. . . Here do I stand, on my sixty- sixth birthday, once
more (after my return from Wildbad) at my old beautiful
lEi. 66] . AEEIVAL OF ASTOR. 289
desk, in my beautiful Charlottenberg, in the finest summer
weather after having closed, yesterday evening, the re-
vision of my Introduction to the ' Bibelwerk ' expecting
Astor every hour ! What will his visit bring ?
Bunsen was eager to hasten back from Wildbad,
hoping for the promised visit from Astor rather
earlier than it actually took place. The meeting was
most soothing to his feelings, in every respect except
that of being only a meeting, and not such a visit of
days and weeks as would have been a thorough
renewal of intercourse and interchange of thought
and opinion. Mr. Astor had promised his wife and
granddaughter a tour in Germany and Italy, and his
time was narrowly measured out in each resting-
place : but few as were the days granted to Heidel-
berg, they were sufficient to leave an enduring im-
pression of satisfaction as to the lasting character of
the attachment between the long-separated friends
and in the new acquaintance formed with Mrs. Astor,
and the young lady (now Mrs. Winthrop Chanler)
whom it was really tantalising to have seen and con-
versed with only 'during short hours, and then to
part from for life ! although better hopes were at
the time entertained, as Miss Margaret Astor Ward
enjoyed so enthusiastically the manifold objects of
interest offered to her eagerly-grasping mind in
European countries, that she then promised herself
and others to persuade her grandfather to repeat
his journey the very next year.
Soon after the rapid passage of Astor, a visit from
Mr. Monckton Millies, now Lord Houghton (a valued
friend, whenever met in Eome, 1833-35, or in
VOL. n. u
290 MEMOIKS OF BAKON BQNSEN. [1857
London, 1839-54), contributed to the bright and
summer-like character of this portion of Bunsen's
life, when his health was for a time in a condition
of comfort from the joint effect of a steadily warm
season and of the beneficent springs of Wildbad.
And now followed an important event, in a summons,
from the King's own hand, to Berlin, to be present at
the meeting of the Members of the Evangelical Alli-
ance. The possibility of being called to Berlin had
been, with reason, contemplated by Bunsen for the last
year, and the result of his meditations had always
been, that in such a case he would be bound to solicit
permission to decline the call, on the ground of the
pronounced infirmity of his health. But the wording
of this letter so clearly signified that the Royal writer
could not be satisfied without seeing Bunsen again,
could not bear to know that he was absent where the
interests of religion were to be discussed, and, in
short, so completely constituted an appeal from a
friend to a friend, ending with an expression to the
effect of ' You will surely not refuse to be the guest
of an old friend in his own house ! ' that it was
impossible not to yield to the will so affectionately
intimated, although all indication of an especial
purpose to be carried out by the journey was wholly
wanting. Bunsen's presence at the meeting was
but that of a spectator, not belonging to the Evan-
gelical Alliance, of which he would gladly have be-
come a member, had they but been willing to adopt
the ' Confession of Faith ' sent him in March last
and fully approved of by Bunsen (see p. 282). As it
was, he was obliged to decline becoming a member
2Ei. 66] HIS EECEPTION AT SANS SOUCI. 291
of it. He went, therefore, to Berlin ' pour faire acte
de presence : ' with an inward determination not to
leave the opportunity unused, but to ask an audience
for the purpose of bringing before the Royal mind,
with more urgency than ever, the crying evils of the
present police -government in matters of conscience.
The extracts which follow, from the abundant com-
munications which his affection prompted, sufficiently
tell the tale of that consolatory visit which shed an
unhoped for gleam over the close of the remarkable
and unparalleled connection with Frederick William
IV., of precisely thirty years' duration as the two
minds 'met and united' on the 15th October, 1827.
These three weeks at Berlin proved a thoroughly
happy time to Bunsen, in the enjoyment of the society
of friends, and of objects of art and science, besides
the chief gratification of all, the consciousness of
possessing his old place in the affections of the King,
as to whose near-approaching decay of mental powers
he was fortunately spared any feeling of presage.
During those dinner-receptions, described in the fol-
lowing extracts, the King must have been brilliant
in conversation to the full degree observable in his
best years, and his memory for every possible detail
relating to his stay in Eome in 1828 as accurate as
ever, even though instances would occur of his asking
for help when seeking in vain after a name or an
expression wanted to complete the utterance of some-
thing that concerned the present. After the dinner
at Sans Souci an utterance of the King's was often
alluded to and commented upon by Bunsen with
deep emotion. Having risen from table, he stood
u 2
292 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
with Bunsen at the window, looking out upon the
prospect, bathed in the rays of the declining sun,
which were caught and refracted by the innumerable
fountains, amid a wilderness of flowers and orange-
trees, beyond which woods and expanse of water
stretched to the horizon. Bunsen commented upon
the surpassing beauty of the assemblage of objects
before him, and the King replied meditatively,
'Yes, this is beautiful; and this prospect it is to
which I and my Elise (the Queen) cling more fondly
than to any other spot and yet, this too we must
leave ! ' A week later, on the 3rd October, the
mortal stroke fell upon him ! although for three
years longer he was to drag on a wretched body of
death, before it ceased to breathe.
Bunsen was accompanied homewards, on the 4th
October, as far as Frankfort, by his son George, and
there was met by his wife and daughter.
Here follows a translation of the autograph letter
of King Frederick William IY. to Bunsen (the last
ever received from that gracious hand) the tran-
script having been found in a letter from Bunsen to
one of his sons.
.
King Frederick William IV. to Bunsen.
Sans Souci: 5th September, 1857.
MY DEAREST BUNSEN, I express to you my heartiest
thanks for all the great trouble you have undertaken and
carried through with such splendid results (to my honour)
for the Schlagiiitweits. For all this, and for so many
letters, most interesting to me, I am in heavy debt to you :
but time is wanting in a frightful manner to me for answer-
ing you as I ought and desire to do ! I write to you only
JET. 66] THE KING'S LETTER TO BUNSEN. 293
on account of a matter which I have at heart beyond all
expression, and that is jour appearing at Berlin during the
Assembly of the Evangelical Alliance. I wish that, urgently
and longingly, first for the sake of the thing itself, secondly
for the sake of your good name, thirdly for my own sake :
you must once more show yourself outside the limits of
that narrow circle (becoming ever more and more sus-
picious) in which you now exclusively live !
You must inhale fresh air of life the breath of that life
which alone is life, because it is the essential life proceeding
from the one essential source of life. You must inhale this
breath of life, there, where a yet unheard of mass of joyful
confessors will assemble ; there, where it seems almost certain
that a new future will be prepared for the whole Church
and the entire body of the evangelical confessions. You
must, by your appearance alone, stifle the malicious calumny
Avhich, in genuine German (especially North- German),
contractedness of vision is beginning to raise against you,
and to injure the holy cause of the Church. Thousands a,re
watching for your non-appearance, to cast stones at you.
That is what I cannot bear, if you by an error in conduct
give occasion thereto. I conjure you, for the sake of the
Lord's cause, accept my offer, and accept from me, as an
old and faithful friend, that I defray your journey, and
provide you with lodging and sustenance in the Palace at
Berlin, as my own peculiar guest ! My commands have
already been issued to that effect. You have but to lift
your foot, from Charlottenberg to the Railway of Heidel-
berg. That I at the same time hope, by this opportunity,
to confer with you on much important matter, you will not
take ill of me : and now, in the name of Christ to the
work ! Vale !
(Signed) F. W. R.
[Received Monday, 7th September, at three o'clock a.m.]
294 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : Tuesday morning, five o'clock,
8th September, 1857.
. . . That is providential ! After such a letter no friend's
invitation could be declined, and how should I decline that
of the King, made in the name of Christ and of the father-
land, resolved upon, clearly, in affection and faithfulness,
and with such unheard of demonstrations of true friend-
ship ? I had never before been invited to lodge in the
Palace at Berlin, but the King does this to gratify the old,
heavily-laden man; it is also an unequivocal declaration
towards the Court, the Town, the Country, and the World.
"Wherefore I go.
Bunsen' s Letters to his Wife (the first written in English),
from Berlin, 1857.
The Palace at Berlin : Thursday, 10th September, 1857.
Half-past two, afternoon.
All right ! a prosperous and interesting journey : the
night in a great saloon carriage alone, comfortably bedded.
Here all is in attendance : I had only just time to drive
to the Garrison- Church for the meeting, where about twenty
speeches were made, in German and English, just now
over. At four, Merle d'Aubigne is to deliver his great
address. The spirit is very good. Sir E. Buxton is here,
and lots of Americans, Scotch, Australians, Hungarians,
&c. It is a grand movement, indeed, which has been set
a-going. To-morrow, at six, the King receives the whole
body of the Alliance. I am to manage to get permission
for the ladies to have a corner somewhere. I shall not
write to-morrow, but I shall, D.V., be with you in the
middle of October.
[Translation.] The Palace at Berlin at the Apothecary's,
Friday, early, llth September, 1857.
MY DEAREST FANNY AND THEODORE, That was a poetical
entry, my ' joyeuse rentree ' into the Palace yesterday !
^ET. 66] THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE AT BERLIN. 295
Saturday, four o'clock. So things go ! I must break off
the regular history, and relate that George came in to me
at eight o'clock, glowing with light and love ; and that at
twelve the Falmouth telegraph announced that Ernest
will set out Sunday night towards Calais, and hopes to be
here on Tuesday. See, what rich and blessed parents we
are ! literally according to the Psalmist's words. Thanks
be to God !
Yesterday was a great day, not to be forgotten. I dined
with the King at Sans Souci, alone with Humboldt and
the Court, to present the English at the great reception of
the Members of the Evangelical Alliance, at five o'clock.
The King entered the Hall, and came straight up to me,
and instead of (as formerly) giving his hand, embraced me
heartily, and then a second time, saying aloud, 'I thank
you from my heart, dear Bunsen, that you have fulfilled
my request, and come here so quickly God reward you ! '
Afterwards Humboldt told me that the scene had been
observed with great astonishment. Ah ! it is the very
same dear royal countenance, and the same noble over-
flowing heart: the kernel of life is not injured, but the
signs of age are beginning to make their appearance.
At half-past four I was at my post, in the New Palace :
before the long front, and on both sides as far as the steps,
were placed one thousand Members.
I went to reconnoitre, in order to make a due report to
the King, and first on the left wing came upon the twenty-
two Americans, headed by the Envoy, Mr. Wright, of
Indiana. When I addressed him, to offer thanks as a
Prussian and a Christian for his fine speech at the opening,
he took me for the King, and was about to present his
countrymen : but 1 quieted him, and he said, ' Sir, I come
straight from the woods forgive me : but I do love your
good King. I am a Senator, and have been Governor of
Indiana.' I went along the endless row, received a thou-
sand greetings, signs, and squeezes of the hand, and could
assure the King (who was rather anxious) that it would
296 MEMOIKS OF BARON BUNSEN.
all do admirably. Hardly had the King appeared, when
' Lebe hoch ! ' ' Hurrah ! ' ' Eljeii ! ' sounded forth thousand-
fold from Germans, English and Americans, and Magyars.
Mr. Wright made an address full of feeling. The King
was agitated, almost to tears, but controlled himself, first
thanked the Envoy in good English, then turned to the
long line, and said, in German, ' Gentlemen and Christian
friends ! I am deeply moved by this sympathy. I had
not expected so much. I have nothing to answer, except
that my inmost prayer to the Lord is : May we all depart
hence, like the disciples of Christ after the first Pente-
cost ! ' * Amen ! ' resounded from a thousand voices in
front of us : and more softly, behind us, from the many
English ladies, for whom I had obtained the King's per-
mission to be spectators, and whom he had himself gra-
ciously received.
Then I presented to the King, in succession, three Aus-
tralians (natives of Germany), then about eighty English ;
then came the Magyars, then the Belgians, then the Dutch
(among them Cappadosc, a converted Jew), then the Swiss,
(Merle d'Aubigne), then the French (Matt er-Pressense was
there), then those of the German tongue, and the Berlinese
last. All made short and good addresses. At the close
' Lebe liocli ! ' then sudden silence the Germans had
formed a circle, and as the King entered the portal of his
Palace they burst forth with 'JEinfeste Burg ist unser Goti?
The King could not conceal his emotion. I hastened up
to congratulate him. ' God be thanked,' he said, * for this
blessed day ! and what a pleasure that you are here ! ' I
went back (to Berlin) with the whole thousand ; right and
left came one after the other, to wish me joy ; ' God bless
you ! Go on ! Now you soon will come to England again.'
One came up and said, ' 1 am not going to give you my
name ; I am from Glasgow, and I longed to see that face
again ! God's blessing upon you ! ' I must go to the meet-
ing- full as my eyes are with tears. Deo soli gloria !
JET. 66] EXTRACTS FROM HIS JOURNAL. '297
[Translation.] The Palace, Berlin : Monday, 14th September.
(Humboldt's birthday, and entry into his 89th year.)
(Continuation of Journal broken off on Friday, the 25th.)
Arrived at the Palace (on the 10th) . I sent for the Cas-
tellan, who, with the utmost courtliness, conducted me up
the colossal staircase, which leads to the apartments
formerly occupied by Prince William. When apparently
arrived at the summit, ' Now ' (said the consumptive Cas-
tellan), ' please your Excellency, we will rest a little ; for
now begins the ascent.' That was most accurate. At
length, however, we reached a splendid apartment of four
rooms, and in half an hour I had recovered my breath,
dressed, and came down just in time for the opening speech
of Krummacher. My appearance in the royal seat in the
Garrison- Church (whither I was directed) was not unob-
served ; in going out I was greeted by many, and accom-
panied to the royal carriage, which was in waiting. Then
I wrote to announce myself to the King at Sans Souci, and
to give him a first report of the speeches. In the afternoon
again to the meeting, till seven o'clock. The evening I
spent with Lepsius, who "has built himself a fine English
Gothic house. There I was as amongst my children and
grandchildren (five in number), all as fine and blooming
as Horus and Isis 5/ if not more so. Abeken was there too.
The next day (Friday) they both accompanied me to the
museum (of course the Egyptian), where I was hardly ar-
rived when the King's invitation called me to Sans Souci.
The evening after the fine Union Festival at Potsdam
(already described) I also spent with Lepsius. Saturday I
paid my visit to the Minister-President (ManteufFel). I
did not find the Minister of Commerce (Yon der Heydt) at
home, but he came in the evening, and spoke much of the
present political crisis ; he has been ill-used by the Cama-
rilla, and has offered his resignation. T prophesied to him
that he would remain what he is, and obtain the victory.
Then came Sunday the Prince of Prussia had arrived,
298 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
and I, having three quarters of an hour before church-time,
announced myself at his door ; he kept me until within
fifteen minutes of his train. He will stay here till the 25th
or 26th, therefore as long as myself. I dined with Lepsius,
where all was kindness and gaiety, and afterwards we
played ' Boccia.' For this evening he has invited half the
world : before that I am to plant an oak tree a memorial
for our grandchildren and theirs. On the way I am to see
Reinhard Bunsen. The Emperor (Nicholas) is arrived,
and stays till Tuesday. To-morrow and the day after, the
six-days' manoeuvre, compressed into two, is to take place.
The whole day the splendid regiments are in motion with
bands before the Palace ; the first company breaks off from
the rest, to fetch colours and the Eagle, with which in
quickest march it bursts out of the Palace-gate, saluted by
the remainder of the regiment. A grand spectacle ! which
begins at half-past six in the morning, and fails not to call
me out of bed ; a row of acacias hides me, but I can see
everything. (The acacias, limes, and chestnut trees are
blossoming for the second time ; they are selling cherries
of the second crop.) To-day, as usual, between eight and
ten I receive visits whoever comes is welcome. At ten
to the Museum, where Olfers showed me first of all, admir-
ably placed, what I had purchased or had proposed for
purchase. To-morrow I go to the Egyptian Museum. I
await (to go to Lepsius at six) my faithful George, who
from morning till night watches over ine.
T'liesday, \ltli September. In coming out after the close
of the Evangelical Alliance I received your letter. What a
fulness of joy and blessing in all that you tell me, and,
above all, in your love ! Yesterday Ernest and George took
much trouble about a silly intermezzo. Krummacher of
Duisburg (the brother of the well-known Krummacher),
vice-president of the Berlin Committee, in a large evening
assembly blamed Merle d'Aubigne for the offence he had
given to the faithful, in publicly embracing me, I being a
Rationalist and Romanist, &c. Merle made an apology,
JET. 66] EXTRACTS FROM HIS JOURNAL. 299
assuring the company that he abominated my errors, &<\
Schlottman (late at Constantinople) made a suitable reply ;
but the irritation was so great, that the Chief Burgomaster
of Berlin, Krausnik, and Schenkel, of Heidelberg, were
called upon to compose an address, to which 800 signatures
were at once offered ; Schenkel, however, with much tact
kept back the demonstration. I said merely, that Merle
ought to make an explanation in the newspaper. Never
mind !
To-day was the close ; God be thanked ! all in peace.
The Prince of Prussia stayed also to the end, and came
afterwards to me (I was with Ernest in the royal seat),
and took my hand in sight of the assembly, and spoke to
me for five minutes. As I went out, there stood ladies
and men on both sides of the way, bowing and greeting me.
I was much moved and abashed when Ernest made me
observe this.
To-morrow I dine with the Minister Yon der Heydt, to
whom I prophesied his triumph, which yesterday splendidly
took place. I planted, at the request of Lepsius, a young
oak in his beautiful garden. I held the tree, while the
earth was thrown over its vigorous roots, in the cradle of
soil prepared for its reception. Then a motto was de-
manded (without which the tree would not grow, accord-
ing to German fanc^), and I said, in giving the name :
Oak ! I plant thee grow in beauty ;
Straight and firm and vigorous stand !
Bunsen is the name I give thee
Flourish in the German land !
For the House of Lepsius blooming,
Through the storm grow fair and free !
And a shelter in the noon-day
To his children's children be !
George then planted a Weymouth pine ; motto, Wonne-
mutli ('Joyful courage '). To-day Ernest will plant his (a
Thorn of Christ) on the way to the train homewards.
300 MEMOIRS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1857
[Translation.]
The Miller's House, Sans Souci (dwelling of the late Count
Stolberg) : Wednesday, early, 23rd September.
The last day was grand and fine, not to be forgotten. I
had an audience, ' a beautifully calm and yet troubled
hour' (as the King afterwards termed it), from a quarter
past one till three o'clock. The statement I had to make I
had written down in the morning, between nine and eleven
o'clock, that there might be a minute of what had been
proposed and debated. The King was quite as in former
times, in the best sense all his former openness and his
own peculiar animation. I had brought everything into
clear and distinct form, and such were also his replies : we
understand each other fully. We had just finished, when
three o'clock, his dinner-hour, struck.
To-day the General Superintendent Hofmann is to be
here : and I shall not, till after the dinner, be finally dis-
missed.
To-morrow I wind up everything ; George accompanies
me to Frankfort. He pleased the King greatly. On Fri-
day the Emperor and Empress (of Russia) are to arrive.
I, however, set out at seven o'clock in the morning on my
journey home.
You can form no idea of the beauty of these gardens ; the
system of sprinkling showers of water upon them (as from
the rose of a watering-pot) keeps everything in freshness
of verdure and growth. When one ascends the nearly-
finished buildings on the hills, to the highest landing-place
in the tower, 100 feet above the level ground, one is asto-
nished by the prospect ; a fruitful plain with gardens,
dwellings, churches, lakes, on the one side, and on the other,
behind elevations of ground, the wide-spread city of Berlin.
The sand is fast disappearing. What best pleases me is
the Church of Peace, in memory of the time from 1848 to
1850, with the inscription, ' Christ is our Peace.' It is San
Clemente in every particular, with the atrium all full of
Mr. 66] CHARLOTTENHOF. 301
meaning and in good taste; an arcade goes all round, with
views, between the columns, of the mirror of water, with
splendid groups of trees (which you would directly draw)
two side buildings join on, the one the abode of the
Princess Alexandrine, the other the dwelling of the pastor
with the school-house. In a recess is a Pieta by Rietschl,
the finest I know ; the mother is kneeling over the body of
the Lord, which is the principal figure ; the light falls on
the countenance, divine in death.
In the Pompeian. house of Charlottenhof is a beautiful
group by the late Henschen of Cassel a maiden bearing
water, and a youth who would willingly help her under her
burden. The Castellan has named them Hermann and
Dorothea.
To-morro\v I shall go again into the Picture-gallery, and
the gallery of Casts. You are right in saying, we need
from time to time the refreshment of the sight of works
of art. Next spring you must take me to Nurnberg and
Munich.
[Translation.]
The Palace. Berlin: early, Thursday, 24th September, 1857.
(I have obtained, at my earnest request, a room on the
ground-floor next to the apothecary's ! There was no
other.) You know me, and you know Berlin, and you
will in the first place believe my word, that I had good
reason for writing so positively of my departure even this
morning ; and now again to announce, that I shall remain
at least this week ! So it is. The King had understood
(from a letter of mine, in which there was nothing of the
sort) that I wished to be gone and he met me on Monday
with the question, * Will you indeed leave us already ? ' I
replied, ' If your Majesty has no further commands for me
yes.' Whereupon, when the King after dinner dismissed
me, he added that ' it would give him great pleasure to find
me still here on his return on Friday.' Therefore I made
my visits of leave-taking : and at Grdben's in the evening
302 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
(whither I had received a kind invitation) he said to me,
the King had charged him with a message to me, that ' if my
business was not too pressing, he wished I should await his
return, for that he must speak to me.' I answered Groben
with an explanation ; and observed to him that the King
had not yet granted me an audience. ' That he will do,'
replied Groben, 'on Saturday or Sunday; at any rate,
when the Grand Duchess Maria is gone.'
I have been well all the time, and enjoying the number of
fine and grand works, and the company of men of art and
science, which I have so long been without, and from which
I had been almost weaned. George is delighted that I give
way to this impulse of the spirit. The friends outdo each
other in kindness. Employment I have, more than I can
master, in the Library ; most of the Museum has yet to be
seen, and many distinguished men are yet to be visited. I
have been to see Marcus Niebuhr in a ruined condition of
nerves ; he has a chronic low fever. Abeken's kindness is
indescribable ; the house of Lepsius is of all spots here the
one I like best. He and I have worked much together, and
I think to the profit of both.
[Translation.]
The Palace, Berlin : Sunday morning, seven o'clock,
27th September, 1857-
To-day, beloved, I was to have been with you, at latest :
and as that is refused to me, I must make myself amends
by sending you, to-day as yesterday, and henceforth daily,
a greeting in writing, short or long, clear or unintelligible,
but always true and warm. Yesterday I have indeed
spoken with the King for the first time ; and the requested
audience is to take place on Tuesday, the day after to-
morrow. It is possible, but not probable, that that audience
will be the last ; but, if not, certainly the last but one ; and
I shall go away before the arrival of the Emperor, on the
2nd October.
JET. 66] THE GEIMMS BEKKER ABEKEN. 303
The dinner party at Charlottenberg had been arranged by
the King himself, the Queen not having yefc returned from
Saxony. Humboldt and Groben sat at each side of him,
opposite to him myself, with Abeken on the right and
George on the left : the remainder were the aides-de-camp ;
next to George was the son of the late Minister Count Stol-
berg. When the dinner was over, then came the great
moment. The King went into the recess of a window, and
let Groben relate something to him then he came towards
me, and (following good advice) I seized the initiative, and
reminded His Majesty that I had petitioned for one audience.
' I have every day thought of it,' he said ; ' but it was never
possible.' 'Perhaps to-day?' I enquired. 'Yes, truly,' said
he, ' were it not that I must go with the Queen to the jubi-
lee of an old actor, who to-day makes his last appearance.
But it might be on Tuesday, at Sans Souci.' ' Might it
take place before dinner ?' I enquired. ' That would be
best,' said he ; ' we will try to make it possible.' With a
few words I now indicated the subjects I desired to treat
and thus the ice was broken ; I had an important pre-
paratory audience in the window recess. The King's
heart met mine again ; and I think I now comprehend how
things stand. Thus did six o'clock come upon us, when I
with George drove to the Grimms and Bekker who dwell
on the same floor. Bekker, was at first not visible ; and
at Grimm's I succeeded in evoking the soul of the house,
the wife ; she is full of life, and life-giving, though advanced
in years. She told me that she had made Bekker not only
speak, but laugh. He had once said, ' This is the first time
I have spoken these three years.' Soon the group divided,
and she talked to George, while I drew close to the two
brothers, and we entered upon our favourite learned dis-
cussions. That was a pleasure ! With the Grimms one
is ever grasping into a copious treasure-store. Presently we
came to Luther, and the translation of the Bible and
probably we should still be sitting there, had not Bekker
304 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
let me know that he was come home. His wife (showing
her Spanish blood) keeps as handsome as ever ; the son has
grown up finely, and studies law at Greifswalde. Bekker
himself has recovered the heavy loss of the savings of his
life, and works again with spirit ; his conversation dwelt
upon you, and your never-to-be-forgotten mother. Nine
o'clock struck, and I drove with George to Yon der Heydt's.
We passed an agreeable evening there. You will receive
the ' Kladderadatsch,' and understand the allusions. Mer-
lin and Christian Josias, parodied from Gothe's Faust, is
witty. Arthur Stanley is here, and we must catch him to
take him with us to Lepsius. I work daily in the Library
which is a great pleasure. Altogether, it would be de-
lightful to live at Berlin, if one could only pass the winter
in Italy, and the summer in the country ; not otherwise, and
therefore not at all ! I fail not to take rest, and let them
take care of me.
[Translation.]
The Palace, Berlin : Monday, 28th September, 1857.
Three o'clock, afternoon.
My intercourse with you to-day takes place later than
usual ! Yesterday, I had a fine afternoon : with Lepsius I
worked (after we had been to church) two hours before
dinner at Egyptian chronology, after which we had a cheer-
ful meal, Arthur Stanley (who was delightful) being of the
party, and also Abeken. Then we went to Strauss, and
later to the admirable Hofmann : then to Olfers, till half-
past ten. To-day, Bokh has brought me the diploma as an
actual Member of the Academy, on the strength of which I
may give lectures in every Prussian University. In the
Library I worked for two hours : then went to the ex-
cellent Nitsch. . . . All things are ready for my journey
on Friday. To-morrow is the decisive day. I made my
solemn determination yesterday in church, absolutely to
give over into the hands of God whether I should now act in
the great concern or not. ' If it be good, so let it be ; if
yI<T. 66] AUDIENCE OF THE KING. 305
not, tear Thou the web ! ' What I have to say what I
can offer to do, and what not I know ; but whether it be
God's will that now, under the present ruling circumstances
and persons, the great work should be undertaken, that
God alone knows, and He will show me the way. I re-
main in reflection and doubt.
My travelling plan remains as before. Saturday early,
9.40, at Frankfort, there to rest, and see Schopenhauer, the
Stadler Museum, the Ariadne, and the Maine. Could you
not come to meet me at Frankfort, and we could see all
this together ? Now I commend you to God ! . . .
[Translation.]
The Palace, Berlin : Tuesday, early, quarter past seven,
Michaelmas-day, 1857.
The day is come ! I am invited to Sans Souci, to come
by the twelve o'clock train, because His Majesty wishes to
speak to me before dinner. There is much to be considered
yet ; from eight to nine, Trendelenburg will be with me for
that purpose. I can therefore only give you a sign of life,
beloved ! I go to my work fresh, and firm in heart to my
Sunday's vow. . . .
Extract from a letter of the same day, from George Bunsen.
MY DEAEEST MOTHER, One must give over one's hopes
and fears into the Almighty's hands, and just rest there.
One of two things may be feared, either that my father
should be entangled again in the belief that something
will be done ; or else, that he should break off in a manner
which would leave a sting. The former fear is counte-
nanced by the general experience of all who have entered
that magic circle ; the latter apprehension springs with me
from observing the independence of mind and hatred of in-
coherence which are now predominant. My dear father is
now sketching out what he wishes to say to the King ; it
has all been well matured in thought and conversation.
Of course, latitude is left as regards the main point, viz.
VOL. II. x
306 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
the Constitution of the Church, there to say and do what
the spirit bids at the moment. Truly glad I am of all these
days having intervened ; they have given time for the
weighty consideration, does he really mean to do it ?
On my dear father's health I say nothing that can sur-
prise you when I speak of his constant difficulty in walking,
and of the evil consequences in this respect of every meal,
especially dinner. His general appearance is to me that of
mental fatigue ; and I would fain hope that this stay at
Berlin, in spite of its many excitements, may have acted as
a rest to the over-strained mind. He certainly needs and
seeks physical rest a great deal more than he used to do this
summer. His disposition is invariably cheerful and kind.
Bunsen to his Wife.
[Translation.]
The Palace, Berlin: Thursday, early, 1st October, 1857.
The anchor is lifted, my beloved, and the vessel of my
life is directed longingly to you and Charlottenberg.
The King yesterday afternoon, after a long and affec-
tionate embrace, dismissed me in the most gracious manner.
This whole day, however, is devoted to his affairs. To-
morrow, at seven in the morning, we steam off towards
Leipzig ; tha rest remains as settled. We shall arrive at
Frankfort just at the time of Olympia's wedding. God bless
the dear child !
I part from the King and from Berlin as I wish and pray
to depart' from this earth as on the calm still evening of
a long beautiful summer's day.
This day we have a leave-taking dinner at Abeken's, the
loving and amiable friend. I think he will come to pay us
a visit. . . .
Leave-taking from Berlin.
[Translation.]
The Palace, Berlin : Friday morning, five o'clock,
2nd October, 1857.
Praised be Thou, Eternal God, the God of faithfulness and
truth, Thou that art All-merciful and All- wise, that Thou
JEr. 66] FAREWELL TO BERLIN. 307
liast stifled the struggle of my heart, and quenched its bit-
terness : that Thou hast led nie hither against my will ; and
that Thou hast wrought great things, contrary to expecta-
tion, and beyond all wish. Thy congregation in Christ will
be planted amid this people, that general freedom may
flourish on the consecrated soil; this Royal House and
this nation will be reconciled. ' Christ is our peace,' in
truth. The period of Thy kingdom, as the kingdom of the
Spirit, of love, and of freedom, will come near, and Thy
everlasting Gospel will be preached through all the earth.
' The yoke of the oppressor is broken, and Thy eye of love
shines into all lands. Hallelujah ! '
My tent Thou wilt place for me near my children, in the
country of my choice, where my bones may rest beside those
of Mebuhr should it be Thy will that Thy work should
prosper by my hands.
But do Thou, Lord, remain my succour and defence,
and Thy will alone be done, to Thy glory, and to the for-
warding of Thy holy kingdom, Thou that livest in eternity !
Amen!
Present position of the matter.
[Translation.]
The Palace, Berlin: Friday morning, 2nd October, 1857.
1. The foundation is laid the bridge is constructed the
seed is sown the spur is applied. But no more.
2. That which has been proposed can alone become reality
under an unalterable and firm will and rule.
3. This must now be worked out, agreed upon, and con-
sidered with the heir to the throne.
4. Meanwhile, will Easter, 1858, come round ?
5. The beginning of execution must be made in 1858 in
the Rhine province, or at least prepared there. There alone
is the rod of Aaron which has blossomed.
6. Before hand is laid on the work, each article must be
paragraphed.
7. (Concerns persons to be placed in office.) . . .
x <>
308 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
8. I must undertake no office, but seek a firm place in the
Rhine-land, cum otio et dignitate, compatible with the Bible-
work.
9. If it be God's will that this now be accomplished, this
is the way His will be done !
The notes made by Bunsen on the subjects treated
and on the observations tittered by the King, during
that remarkable interview of two hours which he ob-
tained on the last day of September 1857, shall be
withheld, as not essential to the purpose of conveying
an image of his life and character ; as neither com-
municating a new feature of the singular relation
subsisting between those two men, nor materially
strengthening impressions already given. The two
extracts, just given, of devotional effusion and of
sober reflection, will show that Bunsen had not re-
linquished his life's habit of hoping, and yet that he
had, at the same time, an instinctive perception that
the measure upon which he had set his heart the
independent self-government of Evangelical commu-
nities was not intended to be granted by the King,
although he might, in affectionate indulgence to the
convictions of Bunsen, refrain from summing up de-
cisively the result of the sentiments which he suffered
to transpire.
Two subjects, apparently distinct, had been em-
phatically commended to Bunsen's conscientious con-
templation by the King, not only often and urgently
in earlier years, but with peculiar energy on the
repeated though short occasions of conference during
this last occasion of cordial intercourse the proper
style of architecture for the national and metropolitan
JET. 66] INTERVIEW WITH THE PEINCE OF PRUSSIA. 309
church, so long a favourite design with the King, and
the form of government for the community of living
intelligence, or the Church in the spiritual sense.
These two subjects Bunsen, in his own commentary
upon the King's expressed intentions, studiously in-
terwove into one arguing that a congregation con-
stituted on a free and rational, and therefore Christian,
system, would itself expand into the form best suited
to its public worship, and, unshackled by any archi-
tectural forms merely traditional, would assemble
from all sides to meet round the central altar-table,
or table of communion, there to offer the one only
sacrifice of the Christian his reasonable soul and
free will when partaking of the symbols commemo-
rative of the death and of the ever-living presence of
Christ.
Bunsen having returned home after this period of
deep interest, on the 3rd October (the very day of the
King's mortal seizure, which was not publicly known
till later), had not long rested from the manifold
fatigues and excitement of the three weeks at Berlin,
when he was called upon to set out towards Coblentz
on 31st October.
The reasons which caused this interview at Coblentz
with their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess
of Prussia to be desired and commanded, belong to
that under or rather upper current of thought and
labour, which accompanied, broke into, and overruled
Bunsen's literary occupations after his retirement from
public business. The high interest and gratification,
as well as distinction, of being invited for the purpose
of confidential conversation with the present King
310 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
and Queen of Prussia, whether at Baden or Coblentz,
occurred in the course of every year spent at Heidel-
berg : but the last-mentioned journey and visit at the
Palace of Coblentz, at a time and season so inconve-
nient, are probably fco be explained by the desire of
the Prince of Prussia to be informed in detail of the
subject-matter of Bunsen's last important intercourse
with the King at Berlin. The foregoing extracts,
insignificant in themselves, are inserted for the pur-
pose of completing the picture of a life so full of
variety of strain on the mental faculties. The inter-
ruption of literary labours seriously retarded the pub-
lication of a large portion, long since nearly ready, of
each of the works in hand ; but interruption more
serious resulted from the large proportion of days of
illness in the following winter. The lengthening out
of a fine autumn continued the possibility of air and
exercise, so as to carry Bunsen in a tolerable state of
health and in full activity of occupation through De-
cember and into the new year ; but the winter severity
of January laid him low with one of the too well-
known attacks of gastric disorders and harassing
cough, which hung upon him until relief was brought
by the warm air of spring. It will be seen in the
extracts of letters, that visions of removal to the
coast of the Mediterranean cheered the days of dark-
ness; and by the end of March, the long-desired
commencement of the publication of the 'Bibelwerk '
brought with it the means, which were essential, to
allow of his indulging in a journey to the South and
in a six months' residence there, without giving Up
Charlottenberg.
JEr. 66] REMARKS ON AFFAIRS AT BERLIN. oil
CHAPTEE XIX.
JOUKNEYS TO BERLIN AND SOUTH OF FRANCE.
V
ELEVATION OF BUNSEN TO THE PEERAGE RENAN LORD DERBY S AD-
MINISTRATION INDIA BILL DEATH OF NEUKOMM BUNSEN' S RELIGIOUS
OPINIONS VISIT TO BADEN AFFAIR OF RASTADT BUNSEN's OPINIONS
ON CLAIRVOYANCE VISIT TO BERLIN THE PRINCE REGENT BUNSEN
TAKES HIS SEAT IN THE PRUSSIAN HOUSE OF PEERS JOURNEY TO
GENEVA AND THE SOUTH OF FRANCE CANNES DEATH OF TOCQUE-
VILLE 'THE LIFE OF JESUS' CAMPAIGN OF 1859 PRUSSIA AND AUS-
TRIA SYMPATHY WITH ITALY IRRITATION IN SOUTHERN GERMANY
VISIT TO PARIS RETURN TO CANNES COMMERCIAL TREATY OF FRANCE
AND ENGLAND.
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.]
Charlottenberg : Wednesday, 7th October, 1857.
I HAD only just placed my books and papers in order, and
had seb my own work and that of my expectant fellow-
labourers a-going, when your much longed-for letter came to
hand ; and thus I re|)ly at the moment.
First, be assured, that among all things good and desirable
that the journey has brought me, your cherishing love and
cheerful devotedness to me, even in the midst of your own
sorrow, has formed the culminating point of brightness
during the whole of this late remarkable portion of my life.
Your faithful affection is the strong arm upon which I lean
and find support, now and in future : for which, may God's
richest blessing attend you !
My general impression with respect to the condition of
things is
1st No singleness of purpose, and therefore no clearness.
2nd No chance of success, except by miracle.
312 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1857
To these observations belongs ' Never mind ! ' in English,
and ' Sursum corda ' in a Christian sense ; and both, with
God's help, can my heart furnish.
At the moment of writing the above, Bunsen was
not aware of the serious character of the attack from
which Frederick William IV. never recovered. His
remarks, therefore, apply to a state of affairs which,
in fact, had passed away. It will be remembered that
the real condition of the King was not fully stated at
once to the public after the stroke of the 3rd October.
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] 21st October, 1857.
What a melancholy complication at Berlin ! and how con-
solatory for me, to have seen the King once more in entire
affection and cheerfulness ! No one at Berlin believes in the
possibility of his recovery, or that he can ever again sus-
tain the weight of government. The public amuses itself
with reports as to my future position at Berlin ; but I know
of nothing on the subject, except that I shall never again
accept office. At Berlin I saw almost all my theological
friends and acquaintances, and made many valuable new ac-
quaintances, It would have done your heart good to have
seen how much kindness and respect was shown to me on all
sides, and particularly by the people of Berlin. I am now
again deep in my work the publication of the first volume
of the ' Bibelwerk ' has been retarded one month by my Ber-
lin journey. At Leipzig I saw the first sheets struck off
(stereotyped).
2nd December. The King is physically better, but his
memory returns only occasionally for short intervals ; not
in the most distant manner can they speak to him on busi-
ness ; the cord once snapped cannot be restored. This con-
dition has only so far affected my outward condition, that
the King, without my knowledge, on 3rd October (the very
JET. 66] CLOSE OF THE YEAR 1857. 313
last day of his reigning, arid giving his signature) com-
manded and executed my elevation to the Peerage. The
matter was an object of long negotiation and correspondence,
ever since 1844, when I, in commission from the King, made
out a system as to the increase of the order of nobles. Since
then, I have declined to accept any proposal which should
stand in contradiction to the principles therein set down,
in all essential points answering to the English system.
Again, in 1856, did the King make me a proposal, which
again 1 declined. I have the proofs in hand, that the King,
on the 3rd October, desired to do something, which, accord-
ing to those principles, I could accept, and therefore under
given circumstances must have accepted. But the Minister
with whom the affair rested knew nothing of that. All this
has cost me much writing, and some vexation. . . .
6th December. I rejoice to hear of the high position of
your house of business, because I ever hold in honour the
name of Schwabe, the founder, and because I expected no
less. If I mistake not, England is already well over the
crisis, and its consequences will be beneficial. On the Con-
tinent it is just beginning. What a consolation to perceive
the good feeling between labourers and employers ! and
how changed since 1845 !
The business of the Peerage as regarding myself is at a
stand-still. I cannot refuse, but also I cannot accept, with-
out some security for not being drawn into contradiction
with my own political principles. The King alone could
remove my doubt, and he is not in possession of his faculties !
What a depth of suffering for a man of high intelligence and
of the best intentions !
30th December. We have passed cheerful and tranquil
Christmas-days. What a Christmas- gift of God was the
Relief of Lucknow !
The patent of nobility referre'd to in the preceding
letter was granted by King Frederick William IV. on
the 3rd October, 1857, a few hours before the seizure
314 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1858
which, deprived him of his faculties. Thus, by a re-
markable coincidence, the last act of his reign was
to confer this merited honour and reward upon his
attached Minister and faithful friend. The following
passage occurs in a letter addressed by Bunsen to
Arthur Schopenhauer, in reply to the congratulations
addressed to him on this occasion :
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 13th January, 1858.
I have endured the elevation in rank, as I endured my
birth into the world ; having, however, fought it off, accord-
ing to my long declared principles, in so far as submission
thereto might imply want of respect towards my own proper
condition, which is that of the cultivated middle class ; or
because an absurdity of pretension might be attributed to
myself.
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg: 29th January, 1858.
The course of events is dragging down Napoleon III. He
has thrown himself into the military- clerical-police direc-
tion, and has declared war against 'ideas,' on account of an
abominable attempt at assassination. The whole of France
divided among five commanders, and declared under con-
tinuous martial law, in case of any movement, ipso facto,
without awaiting telegrams ! All so-called impiete to be per-
secuted by the police ! What a curse is annexed to imperial
despotism ! The Emperor's real danger lay not in the at-
tack of the 14th, but in his speech on the 18th. Will no one
in Germany utter the truth ?
31s March. The saying of Schulze Bodmer (which ori-
ginated at Heidelberg) is going the round of Paris :
* L'attentat a parfaitement reussi ; I' Empereur a perdu la teteS
How I rejoice that you courageously start with writing !
That is the only way. Whether the first cast succeeds or
not, it must, if the spirit urges, have its way. Medias in res !
JET. 66] ELEVATION TO THE PEERAGE. 315
One cannot make research to good purpose, without having
first placed a forming hand upon the object.
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] 30th January.
Surely you will have guessed that I have been laid up by
the influenza. I can only to-day write two lines, that you
may not first learn from the newspaper that the King has
made me a Peer of Prussia, with seat in the Upper House
as Baron (Freiherr). This is a triumph of progress in the
English direction. The Court party wanted to make me
pass through a preparatory stage of ordinary noblesse
(JunkertJmm) but I insisted on giving up the whole, or
that a creation should take place, as was done by Queen
Victoria in the case of Macaulay, and that I should be a
member of the House of Lords. This was the King's inten-
tion in October, but his illness made its execution impossible,
until fourteen days ago, when the Prince Regent himself
made some enquiry on the subject. The King interrupted
the Prince with these words, ' Just that, and nothing less,
did I intend ;' and he then went through the whole trans-
action with great clearness, and remembered further that
he had desired to grant my son Ernest (' on account of his
services to the Royal Legation in London') the rank of a
Counsellor of Legation. He showed himself cheerful and
pleased that the thing should now be brought in order by
the Prince.
31s March. The accounts of Neukomm are sad. Pray
send the enclosed lines to him. That dear, high-minded
friend !
Sunday after Easter, April, 1858. I know not for what
treasure I would give up the satisfaction of knowing that
my last proof of friendship the letter of farewell to
Neukomm which an inward voice urged me to write and
send on that day, should, by your kind care and quickness
of despatch, have arrived just in time. It is soothing to
316 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [18,33
tiiink that a dying friend should have departed with the
consciousness of the affection expressed for him, and
perhaps also impressed by the serious and tranquillising
reflections and aspirations after the rest in God, which
accompanied those expressions. The deep and high mean-
ing of those three last words uttered by him will ever
remain in my mind. A fine and rare specimen of humanity
has in him vanished away from among us. Much is
required to work out a real human character cultivation
outward and inward, of the mind and faculties, knowledge
of the world, the understanding of himself and his position ;
but not less to form the real artist. The mere artistical
training is difficult, and the inward still more than the
outward ; and how many of the professors of the art, more
especially of feeling the art of music remain stationary
half-way ! Yet the thorough artist ought to possess a
thoroughly cultivated understanding, he ought to be a
thinker, and a self-conscious human being, which is most
uncommon. Such was he who has just departed ; and
such was Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. And how did
Neukomm, like Grothe, keep up the energy of striving after
further development and acquisition, and. endeavour, even
in his advanced age, to preserve his powers of composition !
and all that he was resulted from his own struggles and
endeavours, and that often amid circumstances of extreme
difficulty. I could fill pages with outpourings of my heart
about this deceased friend.
Bunsen's reply to a Letter from Rudolph W., in Magdeburg
(personally unknown to him), enquiring into his religious
opinions.
[Translation.] Tuesday in Whitsuntide: 25th May, 1858.
DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER, Your call, of the 20th of
last month, went to my heart as how should it not ? but
as I had much to finish before the Festival which did not
admit of delay, I have reserved for a Whitsuntide pleasure
JET. 66] BUNSEN'S EELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 317
the answering of your question as a Christian that is,
sincerely and openly. Yes, my fellow-believer, the Lord
taught me early that I am a sinner, and that only in Christ
I can become well-pleasing to God, and a child of God.
He, the same Lord (as you may read it stated shortly in my
l B-ibelw&rk '), has preserved me by His Spirit in the same
path, and given me strength to search His Word, in humble,
sincere enquiry. For it is said, ' The truth shall make you
free ;' how then should the enquiry after truth lead those
into error, who, for the glory of God and not for their own,
seek it where it is to be found ? and where that is I have
said, in terms not to be misunderstood, to yourself and all
those who are willing to read before they judge or condemn
me in the 'Address to the Christian Reader,' at the
opening of my book ' God in History,' in the Word of
God, the Bible, as reason and conscience explain it to us,
and the whole history of the world confirms it, as the
' power of God unto salvation to all those that believe.'
That I have not been hasty to address the congregation,
you will see from that short history of my guidance in the
beginning of the ' Bibelwerk.' That this endeavour of
mine, dedicated to the entire congregation of Christ, and
particularly to that portion of it dwelling in the German
fatherland, with disregard of every other consideration, is
not well-pleasing to those theologians who place their own
or their predecessors' decrees, or the reiteration of the
same, by the side of the Bible (therefore, in fact, above
the Bible), must not surprise you, anymore than it disturbs
my inward peace. Hengstenberg, Leo, Nathusius, and
those who echo their sentiments, are resolved to place the
congregation under the Church ; and protest against every
free utterance, even while complaining of the folly and
absurdity by which the free Word of God is placed in
shackles (as by the ancient Scribes and Pharisees), and
the light of the Spirit which ' will guide into all truth,'
and ' searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God,' is
3] 8 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1858
' hidden under a bushel.' Every true history of the Bible-
translation is a heavy accusation and conviction of such
theologians ; for who but these, not the disciples of Luther,
but of Lutheranism, have obscured the Bible of Luther, and
hindered the completion of the work begun in the Spirit of
God by that great and holy man, in the spirit in which he
began it, for the service of the Lord's congregation ? If
the facts I have stated in this matter are not true, let them
be disproved ; but just because that cannot be done, railing
accusations are being multiplied, where there is nobody to
answer them. . . .
Those who preach the curse and wrath of God against
sin, are in the right ; but if they do not at the same time
preach the love of God, the eternal love of God in Christ,
with which He has loved us all from the beginning if
they preach not that the Spirit makes known the love of
God to all who reckon themselves to be, not much, nor
little, but nothing, and God to be All in All then they
preach not the Gospel, nor the doctrine of the great
Apostle of the heathen, who calls himself the ' chief of
sinners,' although conscious that by the grace of God he
had become a chosen instrument for the work of God. To
this point may the Lord conduct us all, and in this faith
may He preserve us all !
Do you go on faithfully searching the Scriptures, and
He will give you the zeal of the Spirit in your heart, and
preserve it to you to the day of death ; and let no authori-
tative declarations disturb you. In my writings you will
not, I hope, find any such declarations, for I seek to lay
before the congregation the reasons for my assertions, as
they have become clear to me through the labour of forty
years ; and in this I am only doing my duty.
In a few months you will receive the next volume of my
* Bibelwerk ; ' and if you will but go on studying with me,
you will discern in the Law the first burst of that light,
which in the Gospel, in the person of Christ the Son of
God, shone forth in full clearness and brightness.
JET. 66] BUNSEN'S OPINION ON CLAIRVOYANCE. 319
Again thanking you for your confidence, I remain in
Christian affection and esteem, &c., BUNSEN.
Extract from Dr. M'Cosh's work, entitled ''The Supernatural
in relation to the Natural,' 8fc.
.... The last day I passed with him was a Sabbath
a Sabbath indeed : for I never in all my life spent a more
profitable day. In the forenoon I sat with him in the
University Church of Heidelberg, where we had the privi-
lege of listening to a powerful Gospel sermon from Dr.
Schenkel. I spent the afternoon in his house, where he
read to us in German, or in English translations, out of
the fine devotional works of his country, interspersing
remarks of his ow'n, evidently springing from the depths of
his heart, and breathing towards heaven whither, I firmly
believe, he has now been carried.
The living picture contained in the work above-
mentioned is one instance of the kind of memorial so
delightful to surviving affection, and is almost unique
of its kind. The objections made by the excellent
Dr. M'Cosh to opinions uttered by Bunsen shall only
be so far commented upon as to remind the reader
of these lines, that Dr. M'Cosh witnessed the oscilla-
tions of a pendulum, by which it was often borne far
away from the centre of gravity, to which it returned,
and in which it rested: and that she who had
longest watched and witnessed the oscillations, has
most reason to know and mark the fact, and the
point of repose.
On the opinion held by Bunsen as to mesmerism,
Dr. M'Cosh is believed to have misunderstood the
distinction which he endeavoured to mark between
total disbelief in a natural gift of the human animal,
and the over-estimate of the gift which prevails
320 MEMOIRS OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1858
among those who exalt its operations into sublimity
and spirituality : whereas he believed that second
sight, or clairvoyance, was only the product of a
morbid state of body, a disturbance of health or of
the nervous equipoise, and therefore a degraded and
unsound condition. He would not close his eyes to
the evidence of facts which he had had peculiar
opportunity of ascertaining, but only endeavoured to
divest them of the immense amount of deception and
unfounded conjecture and false imaginings, which
encompass the existence of a healing power in the
human system depending on the human will. He
was deeply grateful to the vigorous hand, the firm,
resolve, and untiring perseverance of Count Szapary
in restoring the long-paralysed limbs of his beloved
daughter to full activity and her frame to its natural
health, and thanked God for the good gift granted to
man; protesting against the view which would at-
tribute the work of healing to evil powers. The two
sets of facts (belonging to the magnetic gift, only
because that gift may be the producing cause) one,
the faculty of second sight (whether spontaneous or the
result of magnetism) to perceive transactions far re-
moved in time and space ; the other, the possibility of
healing disturbances in the physical system by the
inherent power of a human hand and will, he held
fast as realities which he had been allowed the means
of recognising as such : and, that being the case, he
felt it to be not irreverent, in his historical investi-
gations of the Bible, to assert the possibility of the
use of powers inherent in man to produce results
often classed with the preternatural : most certainly
^ET. 66] BUNSEN'S OPINION ON CLAIEVOYAXCE. 321
not intending to confound the direct action of the
Holy Spirit (for which he ever so especially con-
tended) with effects of essentially human origin.
This is said in reference to Dr. M'Cosh's observation,
that c Bunsen was apt to connect mesmerism and
clairvoyance with the inspiration of the writers in
the Bible :' where the expression 6 connect ' must be
declined as incorrect.
At so early a date as 1820, Bunsen wrote his
opinion and explanation on this much-engrossing,
but then little argued, subject, to the late Dr. Brandis
(father of his friend, C. A. Brandis, Professor at Bonn),
in the form of a dialogue : requesting his confirma-
tion or rejection of the theory. This dialogue met
with approbation, but was mislaid among the papers
of the correspondent, and has never been found again,
though sought before and since his death. In the
opinion of the only survivor of the few who had cog-
nisance of its contents, the matter was treated con-
vincingly and with much spirit and power, and it is
difficult to believe that the dialogue can have been
destroyed as waste paper by any hands into which it
may have fallen at Copenhagen. The view of the
subject therein unfolded and exemplified agreed
with that which has been just stated. The strong
protest which he never failed to make against the
misuse of magnetism shall only be mentioned in
addition. He considered as misuse all prying into
the unknown for the gratification of idle curiosity,
and all tampering with the nervous system and all
acting upon faculties in a condition of morbid excite-
VOL. II. T
322 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1858
ment, as worse than misuse of a power granted for
good as an actual offence against our fellow-crea-
tures. Thus he only considered the exercise of
the gift to be lawful as a branch of the art of heal-
ing.
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.]
August. The dear King has thought of me at
Tegernsee ! When a photograph was shown him of the
statue of Hippolytus at Rome, of which a cast has been
made for the Museum, lately arrived at Berlin, he said,
' Olfers must have a second cast made for Bunsen, and
have it sent to Bunsen.' I am inexpressibly moved by
this ! The thought can only be his own.
4th September. I look upon the system of persecution by
the Emperor Napoleon against the Protestants of Maubeuge
(which case, alas ! is not an isolated one), and the prohibi-
tion of the sale of the Bible, even among Protestants, as a
sign of an approaching judgment. A solemn promise was
made to Lord Cowley, in 1853, to withdraw both the Or-
dinances. The pretended reason for the persecution in
Maubeuge is, that 'formerly no Protestant worship had
existed there.' This form is a mockery, even among this
class of laws, just in the manner of those in the period pre-
ceding the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Romish
clergy of 1858 demands much more than that of 1680.
The abominations in the inner parts of France, in the
application of ' La loi des suspects,' exceed all belief. A
colporteur in St. Remy, Normandy, was threatened with
Cayenne, because he had visited a sick woman and spoken
words of Christian consolation to her. The only safe advice
to give the man was to escape to England. ' Ma mission
n'est pas encore terminee,' signifies in biblical terms, ' La
coupe de la colere de Dieu n'est pas encore remplie.' There
is a judgment impending ! Bat God only knows the time
^T. 67] VISIT TO BERLIN. 323
and the hour. I say the same of the tyrant of Geneva :
there the clouds ever grow more threatening.
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 16th September, 1858.
I have always found that the entrance through which
I was called upon to penetrate opened spontaneously : it
has never answered to me to press through by force.
Tour visit did my inmost heart good. The proof was
that I wrote that last day, and the day after, the best that
has yet come into my pen upon the ' Consciousness of
God ' in Jesus, and in the Apostles : often before had it
vaguely floated before me in spirit.
Bunsen to kis Wife.
[Translation.]
Hotel d'Angleterre, Berlin: 18th October, 1858.
Here I am, happily arrived, accompanied from St. Eliza-
beth's at Marburg by Lang, the architect of the restoration
in this royal city, favoured by the finest weather and re-
ceived at the station by the two guides of your recent
journey. I entered this best of hotels at ten o'clock, con-
veyed in Lepsius' carriage. We talked over our tea till
midnight ; and when I left the quiet adjoining bed-chamber
this morning at seven, I saw the prospect, from my sitting-
room, of the green square with flowers and a fountain
playing, the river beyond, and above it the new high cupola
of the Palace ; on the left, the bridge with the eight colos-
sal marble groups (the young warrior instructed by Pallas
Athene in the use of arms guided in combat, in attack, in
defence, in victory, in death and the palm of triumph),
and, behind all, that splendid Museum. Before breakfast I
looked over some printed slips relating to the Edda, and
read some of the papers, so well packed and arranged by
my dear Frances then breakfast and conversation with
Stockmar and Usedom. Then I drove to the Prince (all
absent at Babelsberg) ; then a suffocation came on, and I
Y 2
324 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1858
hastened back, and recovered soon, to have a conversation
with Cyril Graham (whom we knew as a boy), and who
will set out to-morrow towards the Hauran, where last year
he discovered eighty-seven cities in good preservation.
Then did I talk long with our admirable friend, Abeken,
and afterwards I was able, with the help of Charles's arm,
to walk, without consciousness of effort, to the Museum
and through all the antiquities and pictures, and back
again.
In the night at Marburg, towards morning, I designed
a great plan for an Academy with an Ethnological Institute,
of which Egyptian lore would form a branch : the whole to
be connected with the German Oriental Society. Lepsius
would work out the particulars a pittance of 20,000
thalers yearly would be sufficient !
To the Same.
[Translation.] Wednesday, early, 20th October, 1858.
(Before the opening of Parliament.)
Soft, rainy weather one knows not whether this day
will clear into sunshine, or whether that will not yet be
granted ; this expresses nearly the condition of the general
temper of mind. No one knows anything, in fact ; but the
feeling is general that the Prince Regent's will is for the
right and the good, and that he will bring it into execution
at the time that he judges right. The confidence of the
nation in the personal character and integrity of the Regent
is indeed the anchor of security within and without and
it is certainly deserved. The two Houses will to-day, at
twelve o'clock, await the Prince in the ' White Hall ' of the
Palace, then separate, to meet each other apart to-morrow ;
and on Monday will be the taking of oaths, after which the
new Ministry will be announced.
JET. 67] MEETING WITH VON DEE HEYDT. 325
To the Same.
[Translation.] Thursday, 21st October, 1858.
I am just returned from the second sitting all passed off
with dignity. So far, so good ! God be thanked ! There
is an elevating effect in the consciousness of an universally-
spread feeling of the sacredness of constitutional forms. The
members of each House are quite at home form groups
and discuss, as the masters in their own domain, until the
President opens the Session. The Prince Regent has
worked with the Ministers, but has seen nobody but the
Prince his son, and the Princess. For to-morrow, Friday,
I am invited to dinner, with Charles. As the dear old
Magician * says, the Prince has displayed the great quality
of silence, and is to be hailed as * William the Silent II.'
as which, I suppose, he will continue. . . .
Friday, 22nd October, three o'clock. My neighbour in the
House to-day was Daniel von der Heydt, a really Christian
spirit, although theological. He did not recognise me at
first, and spoke in commonplace terms ; but presently,
having refreshed his memory of 1825 in Rome, he met me
with warmth, and related to me the death of his wife and
her dying words. She sank under the small-pox ; her death
was pronounced imminent three days before the spirit de-
parted. Her husband asked whether she had any wishes
or requests to express ; she answered, ' No wish the
blessing of God rests upon our children ; as to yourself,
you are I I am you. For our Lord I have no prayer nor
petition, but only praise and thanksgiving.' Then he re-
peated the first verse of a favourite hymn ; she pronounced
the second, he continued with the third ; in the fourth was
the expression, 'The Lord can save,' which she altered
into * The Lord has saved ; ' and thus she proceeded, re-
taining consciousness to the very last, and saying ever and
again, 'I am dead, I live in God.' Not a single complaint
* Baron Stockmar.
326 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1858
was uttered by her. I said to him, ' Those are the utter-
ances not of a soul departing, but of one already entered
into life eternal, yet returning for a moment.' * From all
sides, members, whose names I know not, have come up to
me to express thanks for attentions and kindness shown to
them in one place or other. The expressions of surprise of
those to whom I was a stranger are said to be remarkable :
one had supposed me morose ; another, ivorn-out ; a Pome-
ranian, who spoke to Usedom, had fancied me as ' knackselig '
(done for). ' But,' added he, ' the appearance is not so ; on
the contrary, that of a sunshiny countenance.'
The journey to Berlin, to which the preceding ex-
tracts refer, was considered necessary for the purpose
of Bunsen's taking his seat in the Chamber of Peers.
The last token of kindness towards him, evidenced by
the command to make out a Patent of Peerage, which
was also the last act of Frederick William IV. before
the disabling seizure that ended two years later in
death, had been confirmed and executed in the most
gracious manner by the Prince Eegent ; and not to
have availed himself of the favour, by taking posses-
sion of his seat, would have seemed ungrateful as
the Prince had personally expressed a wish to see
him on the occasion referred to. Bunsen was more-
over to all a/ppearance no less able this year than
he had been the year before, to undertake the
journey. He summoned his son Charles from Turin
to accompany him to Berlin. The interest of the
journey to him was extreme as well as varied ; and it
is impossible to regret his having made the effort, as
the abundance of impressions received, the inspection
* This blessed departure sank deep into Bunsen's mind, and occurred
to him again on his own deathbed.
JET. 67] TAKES HIS SEAT IN HOUSE OF PEERS. 327
in person of a scene of things which so continually
occupied his thoughts, the opportunity of intercourse
with friends, and the renewed sense of the value in
which he was held by those whose sentiments were
prized by him, were all causes of satisfaction and re-
freshment of mind to be thankfully contemplated,
even in a retrospect which brings to mind the
grievous fact, that these autumnal days, this month
of October, were to recur but once more in what
could be reckoned life ! for the October of 1860 found
him in the struggle of dissolution ; and in so short
a term as in reality remained, any expenditure of
time and strength for a purpose alien to that which
had ruled his whole existence might be deplored as a
waste. But neither he nor others could then have
supposed that life so vivid and intense was yet so
nearly expended, even though the attacks of suffo-
cation, always brought on by emotion and the irregu-
larities unavoidable in travelling, were frequent, and
alarming to his companion, unused as he was to the
painful spectacle. The lateness of the meeting of the
Chambers rendered unavoidable the exposure of Bun-
sen to a violent change of temperature in the sudden
setting in of winter, early in November ; and as a
great deal of necessary work for the press remained
to be done after his return home, the long-planned
journey to the South was reserved for the severest
period of the year, when days were shortest and
gloom deepest, instead of its having been, as it would
have been if undertaken during the latter end of a
fine autumn, an expedition of pleasure and refresh-
ment.
328 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1858
In a letter written at the beginning of November,
he mentions that 'Humboldt is seriously ill Schon-
lein, however, still hopes to be able to preserve his
life. I have just received a line from him, written
from his bed. I am to see him at one o'clock.' This
is the notification of the last interview that took place
between Bunsen and the distinguished man to whose
kindness and encouraging appreciation he had felt
himself much indebted during many years of his
earlier life, and whose demonstrations of esteem and
mutual understanding he never would have known or
suspected to be otherwise than genuine, had he not
survived just long enough to witness that unfortunate
publication of letters to Yarnhagen, which has had
such a wide-spread influence in lowering the estima-
tion in which the cultivated society of all nations had
delighted to hold Alexander von Humboldt.
Bunsen's habitual hopefulness of spirit created
for him a vision, very cheering while it lasted, of
the possibility of influencing and persuading the
newly appointed Prussian Government and its much-
honoured Head to begin their administration by such
a disposal of moderate portions of the revenue as might
raise the condition of art and science and classical
lore ; endeavouring to meet the standing objection of
6 want of funds for every avoidable purpose,' by re-
ferring to the high-mindedness of the Sovereign of
the last generation (Frederick William III.), who
created the University of Berlin at a time of most
crushing pressure, by the French occupation of his
dominions. Bunsen's letters contain many passages
indicative of the plans which he delighted to organise.
JET. 67] PLAN FOR AN ACADEMY OF ARTS, ETC. 329
and his friends will not have forgotten the enthusiasm
with which he reckoned on their execution in the
year 1860, so near at hand which would bring the
fifty years' jubilee of the foundation of the University,
and, as he deemed, a new era of prosperity. He had
not given up the hope of success, when, in August
1859, he, for the last time, enjoyed personal inter-
course with the Prince Eegent at Baden. Besides
the endowment desired for the Academy of Arts
and the Academy of Sciences, he was urgent for
the granting of requisite funds for the publication
of the much-needed Polyglot Bible, which he would
have had a Tetraglot, to contain the original versions
in the three ancient languages the Hebrew and
Septuagint (including the Greek New Testament),
and the Yulgate or Latin version of St. Jerome :
to which should be added the German version of
Luther, revised. This publication he would have
superintended himself, and he might be said to have
had all the materials in hand, having at his own
expense caused an admirable collation to be made (by
Dr. Heyse) of the celebrated MS. of the Yulgate
preserved at Florence ; and for the comparatively
mechanical labour further needed, he would have
found competent and zealous assistants. This classi-
cal monument will probably some day come into
being ; and then, let it not be forgotten that, as far as
thought and will could go, Bunsen had framed the
design, worked out all its parts, and indicated all its
details.
330 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1858
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] 12th November, 1858.
I arrived at home (from Berlin) two days ago, after a
journey in a temperature of from 5 deg. to 9 deg. Reaumur
of cold. I witnessed a grand spectacle the change of
Ministry is a change of Government ; men both capable of
office and true to the Constitution are filling the places of
the late Ministers; all are my political, and many nay per-
sonal, friends. I have had the great good fortune of being
acknowledged worthy of a Ministerial post, on the one
hand, and, on the other, of being left at liberty to remain
faithful to what I consider my especial mission and my
higher calling. The Prince Regent showed me from first
to last the kindest and most gracious confidence. . . .
Having accomplished his return to Charlottenberg
under the care of his son Charles, Bunsen had yet
indispensable work to do for the press, which detained
him another month before the journey southwards
could be undertaken ; and not till the 9th December
did the party set out towards Basle, where an agree-
able evening at the house of Professor G-elzer, and
the company of that valued friend during the next
day as far as Biel, helped effectually to keep up that
cheerfulness, so indispensable as a counterpoise to the
unceasing consciousness of bodily discomfort, and the
increasing susceptibility of actual or apprehended an-
noyances, belonging to the harassing disorder which
was making continual and resistless progress. Com-
fortless was the transit, in those days, by help of
two steamers, from Biel to Yverdun, the walk from
the landing-place to the station, the long waiting for
the train, the arrival long after dark at Geneva, the
JET. 67] JOUENEY TO CANNES. 331
ascent of the long staircase at the hotel, all trifles
unnoticed, or converted into causes of mirth, where
health and spirit exist to meet the smaller as well as
the greater rubs of life ; but falling heavily upon an
invalid. It is both aifecting and consolatory to ob-
serve in the ensuing extracts from letters, that he
calls his journey an ' agreeable one ' thus proving
that his judgment had duly weighed all existing
causes of thankfulness, and appreciated on reflection
the degree of success which had attended the watch-
ful care by which evil was warded oif wherever it was
possible. Two days at Geneva were much enjoyed
by all the party in particular, the hours spent among
friends in the house of Mdlle. Yernet Pictet. They
had left Heidelberg under that solid sea of vapour,
spread from one extremity of the horizon to the
other, which cannot be called cloud, as it admits
of no variety of form or thickness, but which
is inseparable from the greater part of the winter
in the central continent of Europe, and which was
found on the present occasion to extend as far as
Orange, south of Lyons, where first the tent broke
into clouds, between which the sun came forth to
renew the face of the earth. When travellers speak of
winter, its storms or splendours are treated of, which
are the rare exception; whereas this total abrogation
of sunshine and of life and beauty is the rule
alluded to here, as unavoidably oppressive and de-
pressing to the traveller, who seemed to imbibe new
life on reaching Marseilles and the sea breezes, with
so many signs of the desired South in evergreens
and in temperature. As at that time the railway
332 MEMOIRS OP BARON BUNSEN. [1859
terminated at Marseilles, four-and-twenty hours of
diligence-conveyance had to be encountered between
that place and Cannes, favoured by the full moon
and fine weather ; but all unpleasantness was cast
into oblivion on being hailed at the entrance of
Cannes by lights and voices which guided the travel-
lers into a house, the Maison Pinchinat, so much
liked from the very first.
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] Cannes: New Year's Day, 1859.
I cannot begin the new year, any more than I could last
night close the old one, without thinking of you, and wish-
ing to give you intelligence of our progress. We have had
, a most prosperous and agreeable journey, beginning with
the 9th December. Arrived at length here at Cannes, we
found ourselves in a lodging on the sea- shore, engaged and
arranged for us (Maison Pinchinat), which at once seemed
to me the best and most beautiful that we could anywhere
obtain. I can only compare the situation to Mola di Gaeta,
and the Villa di Cicerone there ; but in this place, the
mountains that half enclose the bay are much finer. Yet
we judged it right to see Mce before we fixed ; and there
the long- threatened influenza burst out, and kept me im-
prisoned for ten days. Nice is a bad Brighton. We gave
up going to see Mentone, and returned here the day before
yesterday to the former spot to remain here, please God,
till April. . . .
In the course of the following month, Bunsen had
the satisfaction of being allowed to pay a few short
visits to M. de Tocqueville, and would gladly have
gone oftener and stayed longer, but the precarious
state of the invalid (evident to every one but himself)
made it necessary to take extreme precautions against
JEx. 67] HIS LIFE AT CANNES. 333
his being over-fatigued or excited. The conversation
of M. Gustave de Beaumont (the friend and afterwards
the biographer of Tocqueville) often came in to supply
the place to Bunsen of an anticipated interview with
his dying friend, when it happened that the drive to
Montfleuri proved ineffectual. He was of the number
of those present at the funeral, which took place at
Cannes, 20th April.
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Cannes: 3rd January, 1859.
"We are living here in Paradise ; the ancients tell of
the Islands of the Blessed, and they must have had Cannes
in view. Beyond the sea, on the edge of which we dwell,
to behold each day the morning-star and the sun on first
emerging ; again to see the sun disappear in splendour
behind the Siebengebirge (here called Esterel) ; to have a
pier extending 200 yards into the sea, like a petrified vessel,
the lighthouse as its prow ; 12 of Reaumur in the shade ;
our rooms all towards this southern magnificence, and my
study having a terrace on one side, on which I can pace up
and down as often as I desire more air than my open
window admits !
T write, each morning, at the 'Life of Jesus,' as it shall
be printed, God willing. The principal matter is, however,
to carry out boldly the idea which, in 1850, I timidly
touched upon, that the historical Christ has a history only
lasting thirty months, but the spiritual (Christ in the con-
gregation) a history of 1800 years ; and that when you
have exhausted the purely historical, the more general and
spiritual side of the subject demands just acknowledgment.
Thus, after sifting the histories of His birth and parentage,
and, I hope, fully explaining them, the Introduction closes
with ' the eternal (ever-renewed) birth of Christ in the
334 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1859
Soul and in Humanity,' or the Incarnation; which,
hitherto, was treated mystically (that is, without clear per-
ception) or sentimentally ; and which must be brought into
view as a solemn reality from the innermost consciousness
of what constitutes life in Christ, and what is craved by
the universal conscience of the nations of the world
' Christ yesterday, to-day, and for ever.' . . .
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] Cannes: 31st January, 1859.
We are all improving, but till the 20th my wife and I
have both had to contend with the consequences of influ-
enza. Having at last dismissed the enemy, we experience
the full blessing of this incomparable climate, of our ex-
quisite tranquillity, and of sea-prospect from the Maison
Pinchinat. I can already walk quickly for half an hour at
a time without pausing, and I walk out daily three or four
times, or drive to Ernest's Villa Ripere, on a height not far
from Lord Brougham's. Our house is the last of the town,
towards France, or the first of villas ; for most people seem
to be afraid of the close neighbourhood of the sea, which is
immediately under our window, or cannot bear the cease-
less roar or murmur of the waves, which is, after light and
sunshine, to me the greatest of enjoyments. We have ob-
tained this abode comparatively cheap ten rooms, and a
terrace to the south, on which my study opens. Then I
find my work so successful here that I have accomplished
more already than would have been possible in the whole
winter at Heidelberg. I shall try to remain here as long as
possible, therefore, till Easter Tuesday, 26th April. . . .
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Cannes: 5th March, 1859.
We had a delightful day (yesterday). Charles had
arrived the day before. We drove to Napoule (Neapolis),
JET. 67] THE 'LIFE OF JESUS.' 335
and climbed the path among the rocks, in which your
mother and I were not among the last. To-morrow we shall
drive to see the popular festivity an hour's drive from
hence, on the Golfe de Jouan, towards Antibes held on
the first Sunday after the 1st March, the day of Napoleon's
landing from Elba, originating with the people.
My political views are the same as before the Austrian
Government in Italy, and the military occupation and con-
tinual interference in countries not belonging to it, is no
concern of Germany ; and the sooner the abomination ceases
the better for Austria herself. England and Germany are
strong enough to prevent Italy from becoming a province
of France. Palmerston's speech utters serious facts, not
the less true for the ironical form. Vetter Michel* is seized
with madness (by his misconception of the drift of the
belligerents), after a poisoning-process of years, by the
infusion of Austrian and Ultramontane falsehoods. . . .
Extract from a Journal.
Cannes: 5th March, 1859.
We were early fetched from our hotel to breakfast at
the Maison Pinchinat, standing on the very edge of the
beautiful bay. All the party are bright and thankful in
seeing Bunsen so much better, and able to work again and
to enjoy visits from his friends. He took us out on the
balcony overhanging the bright silvery sea, and seemed to
drink in all its beauty ; its calm seemed to be reflected on
his face, which never looked more radiant or more full of
satisfaction. He has his own home-circle around him, and
Ernest and Elizabeth and their children near. He is full
of hope for Italy, repeated passages from Lord Palmerston's
speech, and gave us a little insight into French and Austrian
politics ; he is sure that war must come. . . .
* A nickname for Germans.
336 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEK v [1859
To the Same.
[Translation.] Cannes: Friday, 25th March, 1859.
By the 4th March I had so far finished the ' Life of
Jesus ' that, besides general revision, only a few chapters of
the earlier period of teaching remained to be completed,
for which completion I have need first to see how the ex-
planation of the Gospels shapes itself under my hands, in
order to know what I have still, critically or demonstra-
tively, to treat in the ' Life.' . . .
The thing essential is to hold fast the eternal, which is
beyond the conditions of time. When one has arrived at
the conviction that the Kingdom of God does not begin
beyond this earth, but is to be founded and perfected upon
this earth, as far as the earthly can attain perfection ; then
one enquires, ' Where is Eternity ? ' To which the Gospel
gives the same answer as to the question, ' Where is the
Eternal ? ' viz. Where the bottom of the sea is when
we contemplate its billows and tides, its smooth surface
and breaking waves invisible, and yet necessarily pre-
supposed ! No one ever perceived this more clearly, no
one had a more vivid and enduring present consciousness
of it, than Jesus whether as represented by the Evan-
gelists or by St. John. All this appears clearly to lie
before me. I utter my belief in the notes, courageously
and unreservedly, as the spirit prompts me ; and, on the
whole, I am sure that I have been successful. . . .
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] April, 1859.
Heavy times are coming, as I have long anticipated,
yet I hope nothing will come in the way of my return to
Cannes by November 1. It is a hermit family life that we
lead, not without stimulating and instructive communica-
tion from without.
I5th April. Tocqueville still breathed yesterday evening,
but unconscious, or at least speechless.
JEx. 67]
DEATH OF TOCQUEVILLE.
337
20th April. The steamer from Marseilles is not yet in
sight the faithful Ampere, if he arrives, will be too late
for the funeral solemnity.
30th April. Ampere was informed of the death of
Tocqueville at Marseilles, and arrived here the next day in
time for the funeral. I had replied immediately to his
telegraphic enquiry. He must now have long since reached
Rome again.
Bunsen to .
[Translation.] Cannes: Easter Tuesday, 26th April, 1859.
You ought (as the King said of myself) to come out
once more into the genuine Prussian vital air, and to
confer with friends and the (real) men of the day about
the actual present. The air of the Rhine-valley is im-
pregnated with priestly intrigue and agitation, and en-
grossed by that Austro- Germanic phantom, which in
1848-49 inveigled Gagern and Frankfort and Radowitz
and Germany into the abyss, there to perish.
That Prussia should (by the Peace of Basle) get out of
that madly-undertaken war of political infatuation was felt
as a necessity, by Pitt equally with ourselves ; and that we,
seven years later, in 1805, stood aloof in the hour of con-
flict, was as much the fault of Austrian arrogance and
faithlessness, as of /our own irresolution. But then, a
portion of Germany was actually invaded, whereas now
Germany is not even threatened, but more secure than
ever, under the guardianship and protection of Prussia.
Now we have before us an European question, in short the
essential question which has demanded solution ever since
1832, not to say since 1817 the Papal and Jesuit rule, and
the Austrian tyranny in Italy, against all treaties, not
merely without the sanction of treaties.
Has not every effort been made, on all sides, for thirty-
six years to bring Austria to reason ? Have not all the
faithful and sagacious among European statesmen, including
Canning, foretold to them what now has happened ? .namely,
VOL. II. Z
338 MEMOIBS OF BAEON BUNSEK [1859
that Austria would irresistibly provoke the power of France
(as the history of half a century shows) to dislodge her
from her brutal supremacy over Italy. Has not Austria
slighted all warnings, persecuted and stigmatised all those
diviners of truth, as well as all the moderate and earnest
patriots of Italy. Has she not been continually imposing
on her stronger chains and heavier burdens ? But it is
said, ' Who could think that Austria would be so obstinate ? '
Nay, who could expect any other conduct? Only those
who expect the Pope to become Gallican, Anglican, or
Lutheran ! Should Austria to-morrow evacuate Central
Italy, the day after to-morrow it will be in the hands of the
national party, which is now monarchical, not republican
conservative, not revolutionary. Then the system of that
arrogant House will be struck down, and what more could
be the result, even of an unsuccessful war ?
And now, what cause will be served by the agitation of
these furious foes of France ? 1. That of the Pope and
the Jesuits. 2. That of the prolongation of Austrian
tyranny. Therefore, its tendency is against our essential
life, against Protestantism and confessional freedom, against
Prussia, against the German Federal State ! France and
Russia are opponents of a German Federal State, but the
House of Austria alone is directly antagonistic to Germany
herself. I will not conjure up the shades of Olmiitz and
Dresden, but I must be spared the argument of Basle !
This I utter, as a statesman grown gray, and as one who
has endeavoured to take a lesson from the sufferings of the
period from 1848 to 1850 ; but what I feel most heavy upon
my heart is this : It is the first time that the ruling public
opinion of the moment in Germany contemptibly and piti-
lessly renounces a great and noble cause, rebels against the
providential agency of God in favour of a hardly-tried
people, and that Protestants not only kiss the political but
also the spiritual fetters, and lastly, that the organs of this
public opinion either ignore, or wilfully distort, the reality
JET. 67] THE WAE IN ITALY. 339
of facts. Retribution is infallibly in store for this ; as surely
as the levity of unripe politicians iii 1848 met with its
punishment and more deservedly. Is there no protecting
instinct left against direct falsehood and childish misrepresen-
tation ? Is there no Protestant instinct left, for or against ?
And is this wrath an ebullition of spirit ? Alas ! too many
are actuated by fear alone. ' Germany cannot defend itself
against France but by the aid of Austria,' was written in
the * Edinburgh Review,' of April last. Without Austria!
who herself gave notice, after 1815, that she could and would
no longer defend Germany beyond the Danube and, there-
fore, ridiculed the idea of fortifying Rastadt ! Austria ! who
in 1815 sent not a man to fight in Belgium for the common
cause against Napoleon ! In the policy of France and
Russia may well be comprised the necessity of resisting a
monster of seventy millions horse-power, such as the entire
German Empire ; but the same danger exists not in a Fede-
ral collective State when once released by the Cesarean
operation from the strangling navel-string of the House of
Lorraine. The word uttered at Kremsier is the only solu-
tion.*
Now all has burst forth, all that I had on my mind, not
against you, but against the air of the Rhine, to say nothing
of that of Southern Germany. On this account I must give
up going to the banks' of the Rhine, where I should scandal-
ise others, and be vexed myself. At Heidelberg I could not
remain two days, were it not for necessary work, for I have
no inclination to dispute on first principles with G. and M.
Adli May. This time I shall not enter into the question
* This refers to a remarkable speech by the late Prince Schwartzen-
berg, then Prime Minister, before the Austrian Parliament assembled
at Kremsier, in 1848 : ' Let Austria consolidate herself into one body
politic, let Germany consolidate herself into another, and on the day
when both these processes shall have been completed, let both agree on
a form of good understanding and close union.' Austria and Prince
Schwartzenberg himself soon abandoned this saving thought, with
what results the year 1866 has shown.
Z 2
340 MEMOIRS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1859
which of the many dangers is the most threatening to our
beloved German fatherland my joy is almost too great, I
mean the joy of beholding another nation, at least, and that
the one which Germany and France have oppressed, the one
for 800, and the other for 300 years, rising from prostration,
and brave not in words only but in deeds of arms, going
forth not in the anarchy of despair, but in the legality of
hope and faith in the future, under the visible protection of
Providence, to set free the first-born daughter of Christian
civilisation.
Contemporary Letter to aDaughter-in-Xiaw, ivlio had written to
explain that she could not visit Heidelberg.
Charlottenberg : 26th May, 1859.
I comfort myself that your not coming is providential.
You can form no idea of the discomfort of the state of public
feeling. There is a complex of nonsense brewed together
into a poison, producing intoxication and a cloud over the
intellect, in the case of almost every one you speak to ; only
Herr vonDusch, as an old statesman and diplomatist, upon
whom Bunsen first called, looked upon things in the same
light as himself; as does also Gervinus, who latterly could
hardly venture to go out but in the dusk, lest stones should
have been thrown at him ! The public mind has been worked
upon (certainly by agitators) to such a pitch that Prussian
travellers have been warned to keep out of sight, and not ap-
pear at the table d'hote, lest they should be insulted ! because
Prussia, though well prepared and ready for war, intends
to keep out of it, if she can ; whereas the Southern States
are, in fact, calling upon others to enter into the war which
they presuppose and are endeavouring to kindle, not bc4ng
themselves in any way prepared having neither fortresses
provided, nor regiments equipped. But enough, and too
much ! I tremble at every conversation, lest Bunsen should
not put a guard upon his expressions, and pain those who
are bound by their material interests to Austria. It is fear-
MT. 67] EETUKNS TO CHAELOTTENBERG. 341
fill to discover how many are entangled financially in the
Austrian losses. . . .
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : Whitsuntide, 1859.
We arrived on the 20th May, in the finest sunshine, after
days of heavy rain in Switzerland. In Geneva and Basle I
had conversations both literary and political ; the latter
turned upon the great point which now occupies all heads
and many hearts. On my journey to the South, in the
beginning of December, I had to urge upon the unbelieving,
deep sunk in the slumber of peace, the fact that war in Italy
was at hand ; this time I had to endeavour to persuade the
thoroughly disturbed that peace was near, particularly in
case of Palmerston's return to the Ministry. From the state
of delirium into which the South of Germany is plunged, I
was fortunate in recalling my friends in Switzerland, but
not my friends here ! With the exception of Gervinus and
Schenkel, all desire to rush into a war with France, in order
to help Austria some, however, would rather wait till the
immediate necessity shall have actually appeared. Those
who, with Austria, endeavour to kindle a war, are, a, the
Priests; I, the Dynasties, which prop themselves up by
means of Austria ; c, the holders of Austrian State bonds ;
d, the Ultramontanes of 1848. They may be classed as
reactionary and actionary, Ultramontane and Ultra- Mon-
tague. All that will not signify, if only (as I firmly hope)
Prussia will go forward with the declaration that Ger-
many shall not be dragged into war ! . . .
Bunsen's departure from the beloved South, on the
14th May, 1859, took place in a happy consciousness
of improved health, and with the hope of returning
before the close of the year. The journey by voi-
turier, as far as Aix in Provence (where the railway
could first be joined), was attended by the unwonted
342 MEMOIRS OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1859
spectacle of a succession of French regiments, cheer-
ful, well appointed, and orderly, on their way to the
fields of Magenta and Solferino. Bunsen had followed
the development of events during the last winter
with his accustomed fervour of anticipation, and,
with his usual hopefulness, reckoned upon success
more complete to the Italian cause than was at once
to be granted ; but having gone deeper than most of
his contemporaries into the causes of the abasement
of Italy, and estimating her capacity and her deserts
at a rate not usually admitted among Germans, he
considered that to rejoice in the prospect of her
freedom and independence, and to believe in a high
career of distinction among nations as reserved for
her, were things of course. He was therefore not
prepared for the state of universal feeling against
Italy, and for the frantic enthusiasm in the cause of
Austrian preponderance, which he found first in
Switzerland on his way, and in yet greater intensity
in the South of Germany. It was a new and painful
experience to him to be expatriated in the midst of
his own country, by the necessity of closing up in
silence opinions that glowed with the heart's fire, and
were rooted in the convictions of his life. For few
indeed were those who would attend with patience to
his attempts, by reason and argument, to stem the
current of convictions, the harder to be dealt with, as
not being grounded in any tangible reality of fact,
but resting on catchwords, 'jealousies and fears.'
The prevailing sequence of argument would seem
to have been ' Italy is not an object for which the
French Emperor would pour forth his hundreds of
JET. 67] SYMPATHY WITH ITALY. 343
thousands, therefore it is the conquest of Germany
that he intends; and therefore Germany must rise,
and march to Paris to dictate a peace.' Let it not
be thought that such sentiments or expressions have
been fabricated by subsequent fancy. On the contrary,
every variety of cadence and variation was framed and
reiterated on the tone that sounds through them :
and individuals, whether insignificant or of weight,
who risked ever so mild a dissonance, were subjected,
in Heidelberg and elsewhere, to one form or other of
proscription. The circumstance that Prussians were
at this time not merely railed at, but exposed to insult
when venturing as single travellers into a mixed com-
pany of Southern Germans, is a clue to the origin of
the volcanic explosion of 1859, and perhaps the only
one, until the time shall come for bringing to light
the documentary history of the present day, as has
been done with that of the Seven Years' War * now
known to have been both, roused and kept up by the
universal efforts of the Romanist clergy, bound by
authoritative commands to effect the destruction of
the one only Protestant power of the Continent.
In the extracts given from letters, a few hints may
be observed of the discomfort experienced by Bunsen
in contemplating the state of the public mind. Had
health and life been granted, much on this subject
would have entered into those additional comments
on the ' Signs of the Times,' which he promised him-
self to add to that work on the ' Life of Luther,'
which now only exists in the compressed sketch form-
ing the article in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica-'
* See Wutke, Gesehichte Schlesiens.
344 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1859
This experience of life sunk deep with Bunsen, and
caused a momentary longing for removal to a scene
of different interest and activity. It would seem that
his friends had supposed that when he was in Berlin
in the preceding autumn, he would have applied for
the appointment of Envoy to the Swiss Cantons,
resident at Berne, as a post of repose in his latter
years : it could hardly be offered to him, after the
higher position that he had held, but would have
been granted at his request. During a short absence
of his wife in 1859, at Wildbad, she was surprised by
a letter, stating the prospect as follows :
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : Monday, 25th July, 1859.
A thought having occurred to me, beloved, without seek-
ing it, which was yesterday (Sunday) morning as new as it
will now be to you, I will now talk it over with you, before
I mention it to the children. If nothing should come of
it, there would equally be a reply to the inquiry that we
address to Providence.
May not the moment be come for applying for the Le-
gation in Switzerland for myself? There is no Court, no
representation ! As E/ochow said, ' Cattle and nature, beau-
tiful,' to which we add, ' Country and inhabitants good and
free.' In the German and in the French Switzerland we
have valued friends right and left. The vexed question of
Neufchatel is happily settled ; the Prince will in all sincerity
maintain friendship with the country, whose goodwill is
courted by powerful rivals, with the two Emperors at their
head : the nearest future will not alter this state of things,
but will probably throw more light upon it. I can in
Switzerland continue, and, please God, finish, the work of
my life quite as well as here : indeed, as I have often thought
and said, Switzerland is the proper soil of German tongue
and evangelical spirit for my ' Bibelwerk' and ' God-Con-
JET. 67] SWISS LEGATION THOUGHT OF. 345
sciousness ' to take root in. Professor Schweizer, at Zurich,
Billet, at Geneva, Edgar Quiriet, at Montreux ! In case
of need I could pass the winter at Montreux, instead of at
Cannes ; and to Cannes we should be two days' journey
nearer than from hence. Political concerns would not cost
me more time there than they do here, with writing and
speaking. And here all becomes intolerable ! The hatred
against Prussia is daily growing worse. Gervinus was a
few days ago cast out of the Club, for having spoken in
defence of Prussia ! The Concordat with Rome, and bitter
railings against Prussia, is the order of the day in the
Carlsruhe newspaper. Vexation at all this has made me
restless.
His next letter, dated 30th July, begins as fol-
lows :
[Translation.]
What a comfort and joy, that you accept the idea of
Berne so entirely and so joyfully, new and unprepared as it
came to you ! I have thereupon written to , and his
reply to the confidential communication leaves nothing to
be desired. Now that this has been done, I think no more
of the matter, and I have not the feeling as if anything
would come of it. ...
/
Bunsen to his Wife. {At Wildbad.)
[Translation.] 2nd August, 1859.
My last letter contained significant words which will have
prepared you for what might else be incomprehensible.
Switzerland is given up. I felt that my inward spirit was
never satisfied or tranquillised in the resolution to leave
Germany. Soon after 1 had written to you, it knocked so
loud that I was obliged to hear. 1 cannot, because I ought
not to leave Germany : that would not be to remain on the
height of my determination in 1854. It would be emigra-
tion : for I should never return !
346 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1859
t Here, or at Berlin to close my life that I feel to be my
calling, and for that I feel courage and strength. Should I
have no call, I remain where I am. ' Wo du list, da bleib,'
as Luther says. . . .
The plan of removal was given up, but the rest-
lessness remained, which prompted removal; and
never was the fulness of conscious life and power
more observable in Bunsen or the belief in his own
ability to meet the demands of public interests that
might be confided to him, than in this, the closing
year of actual buoyant life. The position originally
held by Leibnitz at the head of the Academy of
Sciences at Berlin was at one time about to be offered
to him ; but the project remained unexecuted for
want of the funds necessary for a new endowment,
and for placing the institution upon an improved
system. It will be observed that the virulent hatred
against Prussia, existing throughout Germany, is
commented upon in the very same letter which speaks
of the sums disbursed to place the Prussian army on
a war- footing for the defence of the common father-
land against an aggression which was supposed to be
imminent, for which act of patriotism no thanks
were considered due ; on the contrary irritation was
increased by the very spectacle of the power and
preponderance of the one Protestant State, the one
only rival of Austria, to whom the all-pervading, in-
ostensible dictators of public feeling would give the
undivided leadership of Germany. The fact of power
and preponderance alone, without the existence of
injuries to resent, is shown to be quite sufficient
ground for the unsparing national hatred entertained
JEr. 68] VISITS PARLS. 347
by a great proportion of Germans (whether Protes-
tant or Romanist) against England ; but the confes-
sional ground of proscription takes in a far greater
number of minds in Germany than that of jealousy of
greatness. The power and preponderance of Prussia,
less in degree, gives more umbrage in fact than that
of England, by being close at hand, within mea-
surement, and supposed capable of being crushed.
Which consummation may God avert ! and that He
will avert it, let others believe, with as firm a faith
as Bunsen ever held ! *
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Charlottenberg : 23rd October, 1859.
. . . 2nd November. Next winter, if I live, I shall not
leave home ; I suffer too much by being separated from my
library. My departure is fixed, please God, for Friday, the
llth, right through to Paris.
Bunsen to his Wife. (From Paris.)
[Translation.] Paris: 24th November, 1859.
I have just rejoiped over your letter from Basle. I think
you will be soonest found at Charlotte Kestner's, and
therefore shall recommend this letter to her kindness. That
amiable image of our never-to-be-forgotten Kestner com-
bines, as he did, the heart full of loving-kindness with an
ever-lively and fresh intelligence.
I run up and down stairs daily at the Louvre and the
Bibliotheque ; and in the evening am very often occupied in
conversation until eleven o'clock. In the morning, friends
call from nine to twelve o'clock. I am imbibing a new
* All the above passages were written before 1866. The events of
that year have, indeed, confirmed the views and the hopes here ex.-
348 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEJS'. [1859
world, and enjoy speaking to persons who think and know
much. . . . Cobden is here, still laid low by fever : yet it is
believed that the danger of a more serious illness is past.
His sojourn at Paris, and his life altogether, are of the
greatest importance.
My assertions as to the continuance of peace, and the
Emperor's pacific sentiments, met with universal oppo-
sition at first ; but now people begin to find out that I was
right. The weather is incomparable ; sunshine and a mild
temperature.
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.]
Hotel de 1'Univers, Lyons: Sunday, 4th December, 1859.
Last night, having happily arrived, I found, my dear
family arrived before me after a cold journey ; and after a
somewhat lengthened rest, I feel refreshed in the rooms,
which want nothing but the presence of the kind friend
who awaited us here in May last. My head and heart are
so full, that I can write but a few poor lines. I have the
entire fortnight of a whole life-period before me, and I long
for the rest and stillness of my earthly paradise, to be able
to arrange and put in order my impressions before I can
write them down. But first of all 1 must express my thank-
ful affection in return for your inexhaustible kindness and
care upon which my thoughts were for ever dwelling,
during the somewhat too long, but agreeable drive of eleven
hours. . . .
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Cannes: Friday, 9th December, 1859.
In spite of remains of a cold, I am better than I ever
was last year, With all the excitement and fatigue I went
through at Paris, I was yet strengthened and refreshed
there, bodily and mentally. I was received with the
greatest distinction and found all my powers called forth
erijoyably in a congenial circle of independent minds belong-
IE?. 68] CONGENIAL SOCIETY. 349
ing to various parties, who had been drawn to a point of
union by my researches, or felt an attraction towards my-
self ; and I felt on my side an inward experience of that in
which the French are before us, and of that in which we
have the superiority over them ; we, in research, they, in
the power of combining research and its results with the
consciousness of the cultivated classes and the needs of the
present time. They had supposed me personally more of
an anchorite than they found me, and my books more
learned than myself: and what they in reality encountered
proved acceptable from first to last. I lived there as in a
dream ; conversation-hours, from nine o'clock to twelve,
and again from three to five : from twelve to three, sights
and visits : from five to six, sleeping, before the social
campaign from seven to twelve. Speech and thought
became unloosed, which before had seemed bound, in the
society of such men as Mignet, Yillemain, Cousin, Labou-
laye, Renan, Milsand, Saisset, Pressense, Bersier, Parieu,
Michel Chevalier. The last-named insists upon my being
presented to the Emperor (on my supposed return 'by Paris
in May) in order to speak to him of the mode of constitu-
ting self-government in cities. The great work of peace is
quietly progressing between the Emperor and Cobden, and
will have wonderful results ; Cobden makes full use of the
* franc parler ' allowed him ; and he assures me he can only
confirm what both Lord Palmerston and Lord John had
said to him beforehand that there has never been before
upon the French throne a Monarch and Ally so trustworthy
and desirous of peace as Louis Napoleon. Gladstone has
behaved admirably. We shall therefore have peace ! And
Non-intervention ! That is all that is needed by the noble-
minded, brave, wise, and moderate individuals and people
of Italy. The Jesuits and their patrons will not return.
I have contended much with Legitimists and Orleanists,
the spirit was moved in me to utter my convictions of
truth. There is a want of political wisdom among them :
350 MEMOIRS OF BAEON BUNSEN. [1859
they are influenced by hatred and vexation, vexation,
when He does what they dislike, and yet greater, when He
does that which they would have reserved for themselves
to do.
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.]
Cannes: Saturday morning, 10th December, 1859.
Theodore's appointment to the Japanese Expedition re-
moves a weight from my heart. God be thanked ! . . .
He will enter with one leap into the midst of a fine career,
without the senseless, time-killing, ultra-Chinese examina-
tions ; without fagging in the business of provincial Courts
or a government office medmm in rem as if we lived
under a rational system, based upon division of labour,
resting and reckoning upon intellectual cultivation, and
not upon the training of a ' maid of all work.' After the
present fashion our diplomatic body must sink to the
lowest ebb. The fundamental error is supposing that the
State is bound to find a position for every man who has
passed his examination. Here our national infirmity I
mean, poverty is in fault ; but still more the system which
draws off" the strength of the nation into military and
government offices.
Nothing pleases me more than that you should have
resolved thoroughly to study the great practical science of
the century National Economy. Should you fall into the
German sin, of bringing forward matter to which the last
redaction is yet wanting take it not too much to heart.
Other nations consider this the principal point of impor-
tance as I clearly saw more than ever when present at the
meetings of the French Institute. Everyone must learn to
know what his own nature requires ; I never make out the
right redaction in what I write, without having had my
first well- worked draft transcribed, so that I can with ease
read it to myself ; and often does it happen to me to con-
sider that first sketch as the work of the pedant (Pliilister)
jET. 68] THE STUDY OF NATIONAL ECONOMY. 351
in me, and after having made beginning and end clenr to my
mind, I make a new thing of it, writing it out fair, with a
new pen, wholly or in part. To address other minds is an
art that must be learnt and exercised, like every other, in-
cluding elocution, which in our schools ought to be more
practised than singing : the latter is for a few, the former
for all ; the one is an ornament, the other a want and a
necessity.
To judge from my own experience, I should say you
would never enter well into National Economy but by
studying the thing from its very beginning. That truly
great man, the Kepler and Copernicus of the science,
Adam Smith, seems' to me still to be the best guide in that
subject. All subsequent writers, more or less consciously,
base their arguments on Adam Smith, presupposing the
student to be already possessed of his reasonings and results ;
and pass lightly over that, which with him is in the act of
struggling into life. Of these the most thorough -going,
but also the most tiresome, is Stuart Mill. He works out
all speculative questions by the four rules of logic, instead
of employing higher methods ; which to us Germans is in-
tolerable, though it may be a wholesome discipline. The
work of Minghetti is of its kind the most justly constructed
on the basis of universal humanity, because he ranks
National Economy /below the moral-political, without dis-
torting or falsely conceiving (like Atkinson) the fundamental
truths of the science. Among the English Ministers, Pal-
merston and Gladstone understand the thing thoroughly ;
the former was a pupil of the great man.
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] Cannes: 30th December, 1859.
A blessed New Year, and peace, be to our hearts, to the
world, to this deeply diseased and confused humanity ! I
must send these words before I seat myself in the carriage
which is waiting to take us for the rest of this year to Nice,
352 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
where I shall this day and to-morrow visit the Grand
Duchess Stephanie and the Dowager Countess Bernstorff. . .
2nd January, 1860, six o'clock, morning. The manifesto
pamphlet of the Emperor Napoleon is the greatest event of
this century ; for it announces the decisive resolution of the
one man of power of the time, to execute with wisdom at the
right moment what Napoleon I. undertook in the spirit of
conquest and achieved by violence. However, the writing
has its weak parts ; the logical proof goes only so far as to
make out that neither the Pope nor any other can or ought
to reconquer the Bomagna, and that the diplomatic form of
"Walewski is the right one : ' The Pope loses nothing, he
retains all that he really possessed.' . . .
To the Same.
[Translation.] 14th January, 1860.
The day before yesterday I received the noble publication
of Azeglio. Nothing could be better ! I am preaching it up
in Germany, where the lazy spirits will not catch fire ! . . .
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] Cannes: 26th January, 1860.
Early to-day I received, by your kindness, a great piece
of intelligence, for France, for the peace of Europe, for the
freedom of Italy. Cobden is become the first diplomatist of
the world. He has stimulated the Emperor to the boldest
of deeds, to attack the most hateful prejudices, just in that
part of the population where he used to have many friends.
May God bless the work ! . . .
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Cannes: Sunday, 29th January, 1860.
I reckon upon not spending the two next winters in the
South. At this moment, placed upon the Alps, my heart
calls out, ' Italia ! Italia ! ' beholding Rome before my feet.
But, my calling is personal teaching and influencing others.
I feel so greatly revived as not to give up this hope. . . .
JET. 68] THE CONFEKENCES AT ROME IN 1832. 353
I am composing with spirit and success ; if it please God,
I may, in the spring of 1861, be able to give a course of
lectures ' on the Theory and History of the Consciousness
of God,' in the Aula at Bonn.
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] Cannes: 8th February, 1860.
It were to be wished that some Member of Parliament,
interested in the Italian question, should ask for the papers
relating to the European Conferences at Rome on the Reform
of the Papal States in 1832. They have never been laid be-
fore Parliament, and they could not be refused now, whereas
the current negotiations will at present be withheld. And
even if they should be in part communicated, the question
of 1859 cannot be understood without a knowledge of the
proceedings and results of 1832, and of some documents of
Pio Nono (by Rossi), from 1848 to 1850. Lord Palmerston,
as a true statesman, mastering the domain of diplomacy as
no one else does, in Europe, has expressly pointed to those
conferences of 1832, and whoever has read the documents
of that period will subscribe to every word that he has said.
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Cannes: Saturday, llth February, 1860.
.... We have all been touched by your observations.
Yes, indeed ! the Lord brings us to rest, after an agitated
and yet happy life, and after the wanderings of forty years,
not in the desert, but in the early paradise of life, whether
beyond or on this side of the Alps. And now ' is the lot
fallen to us in a fair place ' on the Rhine, on the western
boundary-land of Germany, within a day's journey of Eng-
land among friends and the graves of friends (Niebuhr,
and now again Arndt !) and in an University which has a
high calling. The house prepared for us, a family-house,
spacious and as if contrived on purpose for us, with the
Kiosk looking on the Rhine and the Seven Hills. Yes, my
VOL. ii. A A
354 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [I860
beloved son, how often do I think of my entrance into
Rome on 30th Otcober, 1816 (the festival of the Reforma-
tion), when I had hastened on before the voiturier, on foot
and with a staff crossing the Tiber, not without the con-
sciousness of a Future before me ; and with a cheerful spirit
advancing to the conflict with Rome and with the world,
the deep saying of your inspired grandfather, about 'the
blue sky of God ever above me ' (which you so feelingly
mention) strong on my mind. . . .
I am longing for personal intercourse with the nation,
such as I can only have by assuming the office of an acade-
mical teacher. Laboulaye, in his three remarkable articles
upon Saisset (' Essais de Philosophic religieuse,' 'Journal
des Debate,' 1-5 February), has treated of my position re-
lative to the abstract systems of philosophy from Descartes
and Spinosa down to Schelling and Hegel, as well as to the
empirical endeavours to prove the being of Grod ; and has
made a representation, such as I can, according to my ob-
jects and ideal conceptions, accept as my thought. You
must read those articles ; they are somewhat too indi-
vidually directed against Vacherot ; but in the main points
are just. To me, the theory has been clear before my soul,
ever since January 1816, when I wrote it in that little
book which has ever since accompanied me. But I need to
speak on these subjects ; thereby to find the final, definite
form for the Organon Reale. Soon, I hope, we shall have
at Bonn two Universities for the Polytechnic Institute
must not be placed at Cologne, but at Bonn ! . . .
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] Cannes : Wednesday, 17th February, 1860.
Should a biographical sketch of the life of Neukomni be
made out, I would gladly (in Bonn, that is, in July or
August) give, by way of an appendix, a life-picture of him
according to the impressions of many years of domestic
intercourse with him. . . .
JEr. 68] MR. THOMAS BIRCH. 355
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Cannes: February, 1860.
A matter which I have much at heart concerns Mr,
Birch, who wrote to me on the 25th October of last year,
in answer to the expression of my wishes for him ' It is
just this day sixteen years that I obtained through your
kindness my present post; let me thank you again for
it.' He has an invalid wife must himself watch over the
education of his three younger sons ; and is so worn by
excess of labour as to say, * The work that I have under-
taken for your supplementary volume (which, however,
will appear with both our names) will be the last. I have
no more strength left. I dread change, or even promotion,
because we are all (at the British Museum) nothing but
storekeepers of a national magazine, and the head of the
establishment is only chief storekeeper. All is as it was
settled 100 years ago ; the English nation is too materialistic
to think of men ; things are wanted, and machines for doing
the daily business.' Alas ! this is but too true ; but there
is a better element in the nation, only one must call it
forth by an outcry. Birch is a member of the ' Institut
de France ' (which even Grrote is not yet) ; de Rouge in
his admirable commentary of 1858 upon a Stele in the
Louvre (of Rameses X.) calls Birch ' le maitre,' and
Lepsius declares, that Birch alone was capable of such a
review, as he has made of the 'Book of the Dead.' And
how was that work accomplished ? In the midst of family
cares and sufferings, and laborious, monotonous business
(every Saturday must each individual article of the col-
lections pass under inspection, in order to attest their
being all safe) and of what importance is not this ex-
planation ? ' The Book of the Dead ' is the most ancient
Document of Religion on earth the text being found on
monuments of the eleventh dynasty, about 2,800 years
before Christ, and already at that time held sacred ! and
the sole genuine ancient document of mankind regarding
A A 2
356 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [I860
the development of the consciousness of God in mythology,
which began to unfold towards 11,000 years before Christ,
and which up to about 4,000 or 3,500 years before our era
was evolved amid that race of men. In my ' Preface ' I
have only reckoned up facts, and then declared the results.
Have they not a right at Paris and Berlin to wonder
how such a man can be suffered to wear himself out in
mechanical business ? The means and leisure should long
since have been granted to him to collect the materials
still wanting for a critical collation of all portions of the
' Book of the Dead,' by a journey through France, Italy,
and Germany, in order to accomplish a complete edition.
To the Same.
[Translation.] Cannes: 8th March, 1860.
The malicious diary of Yarnhagen has given sufficient
scandal. I am glad that the suppression of the book was
rescinded ; society ought spontaneously to carry out its
sentence against the woman who published it. As far as I
am concerned, all my letters to Humboldt, and his to me,
might be published ; his are as far as mine from contain-
ing anything disrespectful towards the Royal friend of
each. . . . But you all make too much uproar about the
gossip of Varnhagen ; before twenty years have passed,
very different things will have been revealed. I must, how-
ever, have the book sent to me.
~L6th March. Yarnhagen's outpouring is the revenge of
a * barbarian tamed in courts,' as he styled himself, with
his own signature, in Mrs. Schwabe's album ; systemati-
cally giving way to a malicious spirit, wounded by ill-
usage experienced in 1820, and who hated me because I
had never sought his acquaintance, and because he could
not comprehend me. We never met but at the table of
Prince Augustus. The man was uncongenial to me as an
egotist and a negation ; and men like Niebuhr, Stein,
Schleiermacher, kept aloof from him. But the terrible part
JEi\QS] VARNHAGEN'S 'DIARY.' 357
of the book, to my feeling, is the maxim of Humboldt, pre-
fixed as a motto : ' One owes the truth only to those whom
one deeply esteems.' That is as bad as the worst utter-
ances of Jesuitism. I am of opinion that Varnhagen, and,
through him, Ludmilla Assing, is completely empowered
by Humboldt to publish the whole ; but not, therefore,
justified in doing so while the King is alive. That is in-
human and immoral.
It is very diflicult with dignity and truth to say any-
thing about what concerns myself. It were mean to re-
mark upon trifles : and to declare the whole truth without
exposing the 'King to animadversion is scarcely possible.
The nonsense about the two Archbishops is a proof of Varn-
hagen's half comprehension ; Humboldt must have alluded
to a letter which the King desired me to write to the Arch-
bishop, that is, of Canterbury ; and he must have made at
the same time a witticism upon my always getting into
archiepiscopal complications (Freiburg, Maintz), and thus
the absurdity must have originated. In short, I shall leave
the thing to ripen with me meanwhile I finish * Egypt,'
and then it will be time enough to know what to do. Pray
give a kind message from me to the excellent Lange !
The Ides of March, in the year of salvation 1860, are
come and gone, and never did they bring to humanity a
finer gift than in thfe Scrutinium yesterday closed in Central
Italy, when almost three millions of men have declared that
they will live and die for one united Italy. At the utmost
ten per cent, minority in Tuscany, in Bomagna but one per
cent. The demeanour of all has been dignified, and edify-
ing to contemplate. The peace of the world will be pre-
served, in spite of the spirit of evil. God be thanked ! . . .
Sunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.] Cannes: llth May, 1860.
You know what a hard blow has fallen upon us ! but
here again has the love and providence of God shown itself
helping and saving.
358 MEMOIES OF BAKON BUNSEN. [1860
A fall, utterly without fault or heedlessness, from an ill-
secured wooden flight of steps, which, fell upon her while
lying on a stone staircase, more than twenty feet below,
might have caused death. The consequence must be a
shortening of the limb, but, it may be hoped, not very con-
siderably. Thus our fifth daughter may be again restored
to us, as the second was ! Matilda has shown all the
clearness and strength of mind, resignation and resolution,
which we believed her to be possessed of; and all admire
her. We may hope by the 20th August to be again united
in our home. I have been in a suffering state latterly
much troubled by symptoms which deprive me of nightly
repose. I have received all your kind communications
about Paris, and regret having given you so much trouble
on account of a sojourn there, which now cannot take
place. My wife has been wonderfully supported through
this heavy time. Frances is our helper in all things : we
can hardly comprehend how we are to live without her.
Meanwhile, Emilia, with George, has unpacked and ar-
ranged everything in our new house at Bonn. 1 have, on
account of illness, not been able to finish everything still
much has been sent off. I continue firm in my assertion,
that there will be no war in Europe. Yet the Emperor has
made great mistakes.
Bunsen to a Son.
[Translation.] Monday, 8th May, 1860.
We are borne as on angel's wings by the love and care
of our children. Theodore is as ready as love itself for any
possible sacrifice ; but his embarkation from Trieste is fixed
for the evening of the 26th, and so our days here are
numbered.
I have finished a piece of hard work, which was a weight
on my conscience, a retrospective view of the chronological
system for the period between Moses and Joseph, from the
nineteenth dynasty to the twelfth. That the method I
JEr. 68] EEMARKS ON BIBLE CHRONOLOGY. 359
have pursued is the .best of all as yet tried, and the only
one justifiable, is confirmed to me : and it has also the
recommendation of revealing the real result of the chrono-
logy of Manetho. But for the time of the Hyksos, all con-
trol is wanting, if Manetho is to be our guide. Therefore,
after justifying with new arguments the method which I have
hitherto followed, I declare myself in favour of the simple
restoration of tlie reckoning of Eratosthenes and of Apollodorus.
The Bible-history is hereby touched only so far as regards
the date of Joseph, that is of the entrance into Egypt, and
therefore, also, that of Abraham. The whole frame of
history remains as it is; neither the Asiatic nor the
Egyptian histories are concerned in the alteration, only
the number of years taken away from the period between
Menes and Amos is transferred to the more considerable
period of political development immediately before Menes.
According to this view, the Jews were only eight centuries
and a half in Egypt, from the entrance to the Exodus, of
which 215 years formed the time of servitude, beginning
under Thutmoses II.
The matter of Schleswig-Holstein might have been
brought forward more diplomatically than has been the
case with. reference to the rest of Europe ; the difficulty can
only be met with this syllogism : Holstein belongs to the
German Confederation ; Holstein is connected by privileges
and duties with Schleswig ; Holstein has claimed protection
from the Confederation, wherefore for these privileges also.
RESIDENCE OF BUNSEN AT BONN.
CHAPTEE XX.
THE LAST TEAR OP LIFE. NOVEMBER 1859 TO
NOVEMBER 1860.
CENTENARY OF SCHI LLER's BIRTH BTJNSEN FINALLY LEAVES HEIDELBERG
JOURNEY TO PARIS AND CANNES FAMILY TROUBLES JOURNEY TO
BONN PURCHASE OF A HOUSE THERE VISITS FROM HIS CHILDREN AND
THEIR FAMILIES HIS LAST BIRTHDAY, AUGUST 25, 1860 INCREASE OF
SUFFERING TAKES TO HIS BED, OCTOBER 28, 1860 RALLIES AGAIN
HIS DEATH, NOVEMBER 28, 1860 HIS FUNERAL, DECEMBER ], I860
CLOSING REMARKS.
THE month of November 1859 found Bunsen, as we
have seen, still in Heidelberg, earnestly labouring to
.Er. 68] CENTENARY OF SCHILLER'S BIRTH. 361
finish and send off the promised portion of his ' Bibel-
werJc 9 9 that he might feel free for the journey by Paris
to Cannes, where the experience of the preceding year
had been encouraging as to the effect of sea air and
a southern climate in alleviating his habitual suffer-
ing. He was eager and impatient to be gone, dread-
ing the winter which had set in early and with an
unusual degree of gloom and inclemency ; but he was
also full of solemn emotion at the prospect of leav-
ing the beautiful spot in which he had dwelt many
years, and the cheerful room filled as it were with
his thoughts, in which he had worked with so much
energy and satisfaction. The vision of being ulti-
mately settled at Bonn, and of entering there on a
new course of mental activity and influence over the
young, also occupied him much, although as yet no
suitable house had been found ; but he entertained
no doubt that this difficulty would eventually be re-
moved, and he grasped in idea the home of his own,
which was to be the last he should occupy on earth,
and not far from which was the spot destined for his
grave.
The celebration of the centenary festival of Schiller's
birth was partly witnessed by Bunsen and with pecu-
liar interest, for he had the most truly German heart,
and gloried in every thing and every person who did
honour to Germany. On the morning of that celebra-
tion he drove into Heidelberg to see the procession
of the dignitaries of the University and of the Town-
Corporation, with a portion of the students and all the
trades ; and he heard some of the speeches in the
hall of the University. But this was the last time in
362 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
which he was able to take part in a national demon-
stration. As it was, the agitation caused by his
sympathy with the universal emotion produced much
immediate suffering. That day was, however, singu-
larly bright, and the night cloudless with a full
moon, which showed the shadowy masses of the hills
and the forms of the Castle, the bridge and the church,
while the torches of the students glared along the
streets and were reflected in the Neckar, contrasting
with the Bengal lights which coruscated in front of
the Castle, the whole forming a spectacle not to be
forgotten, as beheld from Bunsen's study at Charlot-
tenberg.
A few days later he issued forth, for the last time,
from the abode of five years, turning back at the door
of his study to gaze around mournfully at the familiar
scene to which he would never return, and then
hastening to the carriage. He suffered much on
the way to the railroad station. On the journey
to Paris, Professor Charles Waddington of Strasburg
(well known as a philosophical writer) performed a
much-valued act of friendship by meeting him at Kehl,
and seeing him safely into the train at Strasburg.
Bunsen reached Paris at five o'clock the next morning,
and was met at the station by his son Ernest, and con-
veyed to a comfortable abode in the Hotel du Louvre.
This arrangement was made in execution of a long-
formed project of visiting Paris, in order at once to
give him an opportunity of conversing with his nu-
merous friends there, and to spare him the comfortless
and depressing spectacle of the breaking up of his
home at Heidelberg, while to his wife and daughters
JET. 68] RETKOSPECT OF HIS STAY AT PARIS. 363
that trial was lessened by his not being there to share
it. After completing their task, they travelled by
Basle and Geneva to Lyons, where Bunsen joined
them in the evening of the 3rd December.
His time at Paris had been divided between his son
Ernest at the Hotel du Louvre and his friend Mrs.
Schwabe at her house. Sometimes, but rarely, he
was able to share in the high gratification afforded
by those well-selected dinner-parties, for which Paris
has been ever celebrated one of which, in the house
of M. and Madame Edouard Laboulaye, and another
with M. and Madame Kosseuw de St. Hilaire, he re-
membered with peculiar pleasure.
Kind friends were always ready to come and see
him on the evenings when he could not leave his room ;
and one such evening remained particularly engraved
011 his memory, when M. Renan discussed at length
with him the matter of a commentary of the c Song
of Solomon,' which he soon after published, and dedi-
cated to Bunsen. The Comtesse de St.-Aulaire, and
the venerable Chanoine Martin de Noirlieu, were
among those whom he more especially rejoiced to
meet again.
The temptation is strong to dwell longer than would
be reasonable upon days so gilded by intellectual and
social enjoyments, that they heightened the feeling of
life and vigour which was ever strong in him, and
enabled him to forget for the moment the progress of
that insidious disease which was gradually laying hold,
of him. The well-known haunts at Cannes were hailed
with pleasure, but not enjoyed as much as the year
before, because the unaccustomed frost of November
364 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
1859 had left its traces upon the vegetation even in
that favoured spot, and the weather was chill and
wintry. The last two days of the year were spent at
Mce, principally for the sake of renewing his inter-
course with the venerable Countess Bernstorif, the
widow of Bunsen's patron and friend at Berlin in the
early years of his diplomatic career. In January 1860
they who loved and watched him were still allowed to
entertain the hope of a possible recovery. During that
month and the greater part of February, besides work-
ing with his usual vigour and zest at the Bible-trans-
lation and commentary and at the last finishing
touches and additions to the English edition of his
work on Egypt, he was able occasionally to take more
exercise in the open air than had for a long time been
possible, and to enjoy much intellectual conversation
with several welcome visitors, among whom were M.
Prosper Merimee, M. Jean Eeynaud, Mrs. Cobden,
and the Marquis and Marquise de Lillers. But among
the most precious and enjoyable recollectioms of this
period was the visit of his son Charles and his wife
from Turin, with their lovely boy, then in flourishing
health, who, however, was only ' lent, not given,' to
his parents.*
In the night of the 25th of February the actual
stroke of approaching death was first experienced in a
more than usually severe attack of suffocation, accom-
panied by pain in the region of the heart, which
differed only in degree, not in kind, from those to
which he had been liable ever since his stay at Stolz-
* He died at Turin, a few months before his grandfather, on 26th June,
I860.
^T. 68] SEVERE ATTACK OF SUFFOCATION. 3G5
eiifels on the Rhine, in August 1 845, on the occasion
of Queen Victoria's visit to King Frederick Wil-
liam IV. The hour of intense suifering which he had
to endure from this last-mentioned attack proved,
one may say, to be the beginning of the end. On
no previous occasion had he supposed himself to be
dying distressing as his condition often was to the
eyes of others, as well as agonising to himself. Now,
however, he did not expect to survive, and uttered
expressions of solemn leave-taking, the names of
children and friends, with prayer for a blessing upon
them, declared his faith in God through Christ,
in broken syllables, gasping for what seemed to be his
last breath.
Not then, however, was he to be released. And
though it would hardly seem possible to conceive,
that, after such an attack as the last, he should have
nattered himself with the vain hope of a final recovery
to health and strength, yet it is certain, that the con-
sciousness of possessing in its fullest vigour the power
to give utterance to, and to condense into written
words, the stored-up treasures of a long life's medita-
tion, led him to hope on for intervals of time, suffi-
ciently free from pain, to enable him to bring his
great work, the ' Bibelwerk,' somewhat nearer its
completion. The requisite preliminary studies had
been made, it remained but to cast the well-prepared
metal. Moreover, he indulged his fancy with a long-
cherished plan of delivering lectures at Bonn, from
which he anticipated a species of relief, instead of
considering it an effort ; and his natural hopefulness
cheered him with the prospect of his exercising even
366 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [I860
greater influence over the minds of his youthful
audience than he had been able to do by his writings
over those of his contemporaries.
A week after the seizure just described, he had,
as usual, risen early, and sent to his wife, while she
was dressing, a large letter, directed in full, as if it
came from a distance, and marked ' By Air-Tele-
graph. 5
Air-Telegram.
[Translation.]
From the Rhine Quay at Bonn : Sunday morning, 4th March, 1860,
one minute past eight.
MY BELOVED FANNY, I arrived here two hours ago, and
hasten to inform you that George has succeeded in pur-
chasing the house for us at the price settled. I shall write
by the commoner medium of communication the parti-
culars to my duplicate self in the land of prose (Philister-
land), the Privy Councillor, I mean, whom I left fast
asleep this morning at five o'clock.
I am sitting here, looking out of the window, in sight of
the Seven Mountains, after having completed my sketch
for a course of public lectures on the history of world-
contemplation (Weltanschauung), from a preliminary plan
made on the 18th of last month, and written out for you.
I send it to you, for the Air-Telegraph conveys even
parcels, as a birthday greeting from that actual and real
young Bunsen, in his character of M.A., who nearly forty-
three years ago courted your love in Rome. I have left
my duplicate self, the Philister, meanwhile with you (he is
become a man of importance a Privy Councillor), and
shall come again in my own proper person, very humbly,
to fetch you as the wife of a Professor of that very Uni-
versity whither, in 1817, I promised to take you.
I send the prospectus beforehand ; in the afternoon, at
four o'clock, I shall retrace my way through the air, and
be ready to give my first lecture before you.
JET. 68] HIS WIFE'S BIRTHDAY. 367
The violet-mothers announce to you, with their sweetest
greeting, that their daughters are still fast asleep, and it is
to be apprehended that they will wake quite pale. But E.
promises to deliver to them such an instructive course of
lectures, that they will soon turn quite ~blue \
All blessing to you, who are my blessing !
Your, CHRISTIAN CARL.
This 4th of March was his wife's birthday, which
he had never failed to greet with a more than ordi-
nary effusion of feeling; and he sought, with an
affecting mixture of joke and earnest, to contrive for
her a birthday pleasure, on the first of those anniver-
saries, during a long course of forty-three years,
which had found her with a weight of sorrow and
apprehension on her mind, feelings which, though
unexpressed, could not but be perceived by him.
The acquisition of a house at Bonn, of an abode of
his own, and the prospect of executing a desire, long
entertained, of giving there a course of lectures to
which he knew his wife had looked forward as a
species of mental activity which would be in itself
inspiriting and a 'relief from the constant work of
composition ; these were both points to dwell upon
with satisfaction, and the attempt at pleasantry in
pointing them out proved his own consciousness of
the need to escape, if possible, from the depression of
the present moment. That day, an unexpected visit
from Count Pietro Guicciardini and the Baron and
Baroness Boris d'Uxkiill from Nice was a peculiarly
welcome stimulus to the depressed spirits of all ; and
a kind invitation to return their visit, by coming over
to the Villa Potocka, on the Cimier-hill above Nice,
368 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
was made and accepted, in the hope of some refresh-
ment from the change. On the 31st March Bunsen
undertook the drive, accompanied by his eldest
daughter, his wife remaining behind with the youngest
and with the beloved grandson, who was so soon to
lead the way through the gate of death, to be followed
by his grandfather. It was the last time that Bunsen
and his wife were separated, even for hours, before
the last earthly parting. The object of obtaining
refreshment from change of air, of scenes, and of
society, was not, alas ! attained he returned with
the same mournful expression of suffering with which
he had gone forth, that expression which the last
portrait taken of him by Eoeting, of Diisseldorf, has
almost too faithfully preserved.
A visit of the youngest son, Theodore, to take leave
of his parents on the way to Trieste, where he was to
join the diplomatic mission of Prussia to Japan and
China, headed by Count Eulenburg, and the return
of his son Charles and daughter-in-law Mary from a
tour to Rome and Naples, were events producing in
some degree the solace and the variety but too much
needed, to help in passing the time, until the north-
ward journey to Bonn could be undertaken without
the risk of too sudden a change of temperature.
During December and January Bunsen was often
making plans for seeing part of his beloved Italy
again on his way home under the present more
hopeful auspices ; and then again he would give up
the greater undertaking, and promise himself the
easier journey round by Paris, where he might renew
the friendly intercourse upon which his mind dwelt
JET. 68] ACCIDENT TO YOUNGEST DAUGHTEE. 369
with so much satisfaction, and be enabled to enjoy
the Louvre again, and to show his wife the paintings
of Ary Scheffer. But since his attack in February
these visions had vanished, and an inward con-
sciousness of incapacity to exert or enjoy himself,
as in times past, must have taken the place of the
sanguine projects in which he had formerly delighted.
And now, on 30th April, Bunsen and his family were
to be reminded, that there may be much to add to
the cup of affliction, even when, to human view, it
may already seem full. The sudden fall of a heavy
staircase upon his youngest daughter, Matilda, in a
moment lamed for life the well-formed, vigorous girl,
and rendered her for a long time helpless and suffer-
ing. Her restoration to independent power of moving,
and the experience that ' sweet are the uses of adver-
sity,' were mercies reserved for a later time, which her
father did not live to witness.* The immediate con-
sequence of this blow was the added trial of a family-
separation, for Matilda could not be moved, and the
father had need to reach his northern home, before a
hotter season should add to the risk and pain of the
journey. The parents, therefore, escorted by their
* Matilda was suddenly removed from the sorrows and joys and the
restless yearnings of this life into everlasting rest, in the month of
February, 1867, at Neuen Dettelsau, near Anspach in Bavaria, where
she had sought and undertaken, but a few weeks before, the most ardu-
ous duties which the calling of a deaconess can offer, and had performed
them humbly, courageously, and efficiently. A bronchial affection had
rapidly grown into an inflammation of the lungs, and death ensued a
death of consciousness and peace, on the third day after she had, un-
willingly, taken to her bed almost as soon as danger had been per-
ceived by the devoted friends who attended her. She expressed herself
thankful for having been permitted to die in such a sphere of activity.
VOL. II. B B
370 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
youngest son, took their departure on the 14th May
from Maison Pinchinat, the dwelling inhabited dur-
ing two successive winters, which they had quitted
just a year before with cheerful anticipations of re-
turning, and now finally quitted with the anguish
of leaving their youngest daughter to lengthened
suffering, and the eldest under a weight of anxious
care. That each would bravely bear up under the
dispensation, and that a blessing would attend it,
they doubted not ; but it was truly a complexity of
afflictions and anxieties in which the travellers set
forth, still escorted by a son, from whom they were
to part four days later, c it must be for years, and it
might be for ever.' At 01 ten in Switzerland, the
place of railway junction, Theodore, after seeing
his parents, with a quick farewell, into the train
starting for Basle, betook himself to that which con-
veyed him by Venice to Trieste, to join at the ap-
pointed moment the expedition to which his father
was thankful he should belong.
This pilgrimage of sorrow had been favoured by a
variety of outward circumstances, for the weather and
temperature were perfect, and the face of the earth
expressed only joy and blessing, presenting fulness
of beauty at the moment, and the gladdening promise
of plenty for the future. The rocky barrier of the
Esterel, between Cannes and Frejus, clothed in ver-
dure with blooming cistus and golden broom, the
varied vegetation and the granite mountains of Pro-
vence, could not but soothe and cheer, contemplated
at leisure, as the party travelled with post-horses
to Toulon. Thence to Basle the railroad was not
JET. 68] HIS STAY AT BADEN-WEILER. 371
quitted, except during the necessary pause at Lyons,
and for a night at Geneva and at Neufchatel. On
arriving at Basle, the 19th May, a few hours after
parting from one son, a telegram was found an-
nouncing that another was expecting his parents at
Baden Baden, where they had hoped to wait upon
the Princess of Prussia on their way to Bonn. But
Bunsen did not feel equal to that exertion and plea-
sure : and Ernest was sent for by telegram to join his
parents at Basle, where his father desired to rest and
to seek relief at the hands of Dr. Jung. The conversa-
tion and personal character of that eminent physician,
however, had a more reviving effect than his medical
treatment. The concluding advice received was that
Bunsen should try the effect of days, or weeks, at
Baden- Weiler, to which beautiful spot he proceeded,
the fourth day after reaching Basle. He had been
there once before, and was willing to anticipate a
renewal of the refreshment then experienced. The
sunshine, the spring-temperature, the rich vegetation,
the abundance of blossom, all these circumstances
combined to grace Bunsen' s return to his native
country. He hailed with delight the many pleasing
characteristics of a German and Protestant village,
more especially the part-singing of a numerous assem-
bly of youths, under a tree after night-fall, guided by
the schoolmaster of the place, who was discovered on
inquiry to be one of those persons of education far
above his condition in life, often found in Germany,
who are not vulgarised by the struggle with each day's
necessities. Bunsen enjoyed the performance, and
yet more did he delight in its origin. One song more
BB2 '
372 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSKN. [I860
especially gave him particular pleasure. It was one
which contained the often-repeated lines : * Wo ist
mein Haus ? Im Himmel ist mein Haus ! ' (' Where is
my home ? In heaven is my home ! ') His kind
notice and encouragement may probably be still re-
membered there. He rode in the oak-woods, drove in
the charming valley, and enjoyed his son's soothing
attention, but after three days he became impatient
to reach his home, feeling, only too well, that what he
wanted was not attainable by means of air and scenery,
and fixing his hope upon the well-known skill and
judgment of Dr. Wolff of Bonn. It was peculiar to
Bunsen to look up to a learned physician with that
reverential confidence, somewhat akin to the deference
usually paid to spiritual advisers a feeling probably
not unlike that with which in his childhood he used
to look up to his teachers. He always respected
authority.
On the 24th May the party reached Mannheim,
where Bunsen was met by his daughter Theodora
with her husband Baron von Ungern-Sternberg. On
the 25th the Rhine steamer conveyed him to Bonn,
taking on board by the way, at INeu Wied, his daugh-
ter-in-law, Elizabeth, and her children ; and in his
own house he was received by his daughter Emilia,
his son George and daughter-in-law Emma, who had
been indefatigable in their preparations for his com-
fort. Thus was the last weary journey completed,
and the last earthly resting-place attained. Gleams
of hope and happiness returned, as Bunsen busied
himself with arranging his books, placing his stand-
ing desks, and at intervals resuming the works of
JEi. 68] MEDICAL OPINION OF HIS HEALTH. 373
his life. On the house arrangements he made neither
comment nor suggestion, quite unlike his wont on
all other occasions of a fresh settlement ; but ex-
pressed satisfaction at seeing that his own portrait
had been placed in a recess, so as to look across
at the c Christ ' of Leonardo da Vinci : ' This is what
I like ! I wish to be thought of as looking to
Christ.'
The daily attendance of Dr. Wolff began the
second evening after his arrival. By means of his
prescriptions an interval of ease from attacks of
oppression was obtained, which lasted almost a fort-
night : but after the llth June all trace of amend-
ment vanished, and the downward way was never
again interrupted.
The opinion given by Dr. Wolff, after a few days'
study of the case, expressed with his accustomed
clearness and sincerity to Bunsen's family, was, that
a disturbance of the functions of the heart existed,
for which the medical art possessed no remedy ; that
alleviation might be possible, but the disorder would
have its course. ' When asked as to his calculation
of the probable duration of life under such circum-
stances, he replied, ( You, and I, and every one of us,
have the germ of our death within us : but the
struggle with life in Bunsen's case may be short or
long : it is impossible to say. God grant it may be
short, and then death will be easy ! '
The struggle, however, was to continue six months
longer, and each several month was marked by in-
creased suffering through the deepening shadow of
death. The beautiful weather which favoured his
374 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
homeward journey ceased on the 25th May, and the
naturally bright festival of Whitsuntide was ushered
in by a chilling storm, which proved the entrance on
a series of ungenial months, frowning in succession,
and suiting but too well with the mournful temper of
the moral atmosphere. However, Bunsen continued
daily his beloved occupation, which ought not to be
called his work, if under the term be understood
effort, for with him writing down the results of the
meditations and researches of years was not labour,
but a pouring out from his fulness. When taking
his daily drive, he was anxious not to omit leaving a
card to signify a visit, at the door of each of the
dignitaries of the University in succession, with a
message to explain his inability to ascend stairs ; and
opportunities of intercourse, when he was able to
receive the visits made in return, were always inter-
esting to him, as they will have been to those who re-
collect the animated flow of intellectual conversation,
which betrayed nothing of the presence of a gnaw-
ing disease. His chief solace at this time was the
presence of sons and daughters ; each of whom in suc-
cession was near him, occupied in constant and varied
offices of love, in their endeavours to soothe the
weary hours of continued want of rest. A true and
unselfish heart had his been at all times towards his
children, and true and unselfish were their hearts
towards him.
In the course of July his portrait was painted by
Professor Eoeting, of Diisseldorf, at the earnest wish
of his son Ernest, which he could not resist, although
the effort of continuing long in the same position
JET. 68] HIS SOEEOWS AND HIS JOYS. 375
increased his sufferings. An attempt was made to
entertain him by reading aloud some of his favourite
passages from the poetry of Gothe ; but an emotion,
only too strong and too marked, was the consequence,
the expression of which unfortunately remains in the
picture. Yet the portrait is an invaluable one, be-
cause a faithful shadow ( of the time, its form and
pressure ; ' and those only who most frequently saw
and most strongly felt the peculiar majesty and
solemnity of his appearance during that last period
passed in the constant close contemplation of death,
can duly estimate the merit of the painting. The
representation is inaccurate only in colour, which is
too much flushed. The contrast is great between this
last likeness and the portrait by Richmond, beaming
with joyous consciousness of intellectual life and
bodily health, executed fourteen years earlier.
Bunsen was deeply conscious of the sorrows which
at this period crowded into this seemingly afflicted
portion of a life which had in its previous course
been so generally prosperous. The calamitous con-
dition of his youngest daughter, and the trial of
care and watching thereby entailed upon his eldest
daughter called forth a constant exertion of his
sympathy. But, above all, he was affected by the
dangerous illness of his son Charles, who at Turin
was attacked by the measles, together with his then
only child, the lovely boy who in high health had
parted from his grandparents at Cannes only six
weeks before his death. On the other hand, a
gleam of satisfaction and devout thankfulness broke
through the habitual gloom, when, in the course of
376 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
the summer, each of his two married daughters ob-
tained the wish of her heart in the birth of a son.
Early in August, he was comforted by the return of
his eldest and youngest daughters from their compul-
sory banishment at Cannes, and he took an animated
interest in securing the opinion of the famous Lan-
genbeck, of Berlin, on his passage through Bonn,
as to the possibility of some amends being made for
the failure of the treatment by the French surgeon.
When, a few weeks later, on the return of Professor
Busch, the opinion of Langenbeck was acted upon,
too late for the desired result, so great was the change
which the progress of disease had wrought upon
Bunsen, that the day and hour when the operation
was to take place had to be kept secret from him, for
fear of causing too great an emotion. And yet he had
taken all his life the most lively interest in surgical
operations, having evidently a taste for that science.
Life was now ebbing away fast, even though his
eagerness to hurry on his 6 BibelwerJc ' never nagged,
any more than the interest he took in passing events.
The arrival of the ' Cologne Gazette,' for instance,
every evening, was looked forward to with impatience,
and even after he had given up reading it himself,
parts of it, and other papers, were read aloud to him
for some time longer.
Bunsen to his Son Henry (shortly before he joined him
at Bonn).
[Translation.] Bonn: 22nd June, 1860.
It must seem as though I had forgotten you ; but your
mother and sisters are my witnesses that it is not so.
Never have I thought of you more often, and with more
JET. 68] HIS LAST FOUK LETTERS. 377
joy, than in these latter months of suffering. I reckon so
fully upon your coming here with wife and children, that
I put off all favourite subjects to the time of personal
intercourse; besides which, I cannot conceal from you that
till very lately writing has cost me a severe effort. God
be thanked ! to-day, yesterday, and the day before, I have
again been able to compose. I took in hand my 'Epilogue'
to the English edition of 'Egypt,' &c. &c. I am now
recovering from the effects of the treatment, which has
shaken me more than the disorder : it was a real poisoning,
against which my digestion rebelled. The nights are more
tolerable, in proportion to the revival of my strength. In
two or three weeks, 'Egypt,' 'Jeremiah,' and 'Ezekiel,'
will be out of my hands, and, please God, you will find me
when you arrive, there, where I hope to spend the rest of
my days, dwelling upon and with Christ the Saviour, not
only spiritually, but also as a writer. I am inexpressibly
affected by the great kindness of the Duchess of Argyll,
that she should remember me in the midst of her own
anxieties. I thank God that those are lessened. But the
Duke must allow himself rest.* The first letter I can write
shall be to her.
Your love to me, in the midst of your beneficent activity,
rejoices my heart. Farewell ! soon to meet.
/
Bunsen to a Friend.
[Translation.]
Bonn : 25th June, 1860, seven o'clock in the morning.
You already know, dear friend, that I have not written
to you, because I could not write at all. The two past
months have been very bad, and I have caused my family
much trouble and anxiety. Now, however, I am somewhat
better ; I can again sleep a few hours, without being com-
pelled to rise from a feeling of oppression. God has
ordered all things graciously, and I cannot be thankful
enough for all the consolation, help, and refreshment that
I have found, and daily experience. You know that your
378 MEMOIRS OF BAEON BUNSEN. [I860
kindness and sympathy I reckon as among not the least of
these. . . .
My motto, as I yesterday said to my children, shall be,
' Withdrawal inwards.' All threads with the outward world
are already or will be by degrees cut off : but the threads
which connect heart with heart belong not to the outer
world. From the 1st July I shall read no more political
papers.
To the Same.
[Translation.] 'Bonn: 8th August, 1860.
I cannot let our good Henry's letter go without giving
you the sign of life and affection which on account of
illness I was prevented doing yesterday. The day after
to-morrow, George will bring back to the paternal dwelling,
from Paris, the two hardly-tried and nobly-proved sisters.
Fear not that I work too hard ; alas ! alas ! as long as
the complication of my disorder with a troublesome cough
lasts, I can work only two or three hours in the day. But
I have written to you all this, that you may see that God's
good Spirit has not forsaken me. Henry's presence here
is an hourly blessing.
Bunsen to the Duchess of Argyll.
Bonn: 8th August, 1860.
MY DEAREST DUCHESS, Words of kindest affection, like
those of your last letter, must draw down a blessing.
Thanks ! from my dying soul. Yes, my kindest friend, I
have been supported, and am continually supported, by
that Eternal Love, in which we live and move and have
being, and which manifested itself in Christ Jesus. The
days have been heavy, and the nights dark, but His light
has surrounded and strengthened my soul, and will, I hope
and believe, carry me through the gates of death to behold
His eternal glory.
My suffering is greater than the immediate danger of
JET. 69 j HIS LAST BIRTHDAY. 3/9
my illness, particularly by transitory complications and
aggravations, Still my spirit is not dimmed. I have
carried an English and a German volume through the
press. The printing of the Gospels begins on the 1st
September, and this is the centre of my thoughts more
than ever.
I am surrounded by the tenderest love and care of wife
and children, and enjoy this beautiful place daily, in spite
of the incredibly unseasonable weather.
I daily thank God that I have lived to see Italy free, and
Garibaldi her hero ! Now, twenty- six millions will be able
to believe that God governs the world, and to believe in
Him!
God bless you ! Ever your affectionate friend,
BUNSEN.
The 25th August, his birthday, had been a glad-
some festival for a long series of years; but it was this
time to be celebrated, under the consciousness of all
present, that it must be the last in which it would be
permitted to them to behold him ; that a prolonga-
tion of his life was scarcely possible, and under such
circumstances not to be desired by those who most
loved him. /
A visit to the garden-pavilion made a refreshing and
cheering impression upon him. The four portraits,
accomplished by the masterly hands of Professors
Sohn and Roeting, of Diisseldorf, had arrived, and
were hung up, surrounded by all that fulness of
tasteful decoration with green branches and wreaths
of fresh flowers which is so peculiarly understood in
Germany ; his own portrait was hung by itself at the
one extremity of the room, at the other were the
portrait of his wife and those of Ernest and his wife,
380 MEMOIKS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
one on each side. That they should be all four
finished to adorn his birthday he had not anticipated ;
and this pleasing surprise, together with the prepa-
ration for the family dinner party, which Ernest and
his wife were making in that same cheerful garden-
pavilion, contributed to cause a soothing emotion.
One of his daughters remembers his melting into
tears after looking for a time at the portrait of her
mother when it so happened that no one but her-
self stood near him. Throughout the morning his
whole being gave the impression of a continued
struggle to command the multitude of thoughts and
feelings which crowded upon him : but a short slum-
ber somewhat restored him before he was fetched to
dinner at one o'clock.
It was determined to avoid as much as possible
causing agitation of mind to the beloved object of the
day's celebration. Henry, his eldest son, by his well-
chosen and impressive words, gave utterance only too
fully to the mournful consciousness of the entire com-
pany, referring, as he did, to the Scriptural words of
the family motto, ' In silentio et spe ' (from Isaiah xxx.
15), which appeared to be particularly appropriate on
that solemn occasion, and closing with the benediction
of the Old Testament, The Eternal bless thee and
keep thee the Eternal make His face to shine upon
thee the Eternal lift up the light of his countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace, now and evermore.'
While these hallowed words of blessing were uttered,
he to whom they were addressed had taken off the
black velvet cap from his head, and sat bowing for-
wards with folded hands.
JET. 60] HIS LAST BIETHDAY. 381
When after a time he rose to speak, the ever fresh
spirit could only by slow degrees cast off the body's
shackles, the depressing effect of suffering and emo-
tion, in order to expand into native youthfulness.
' My beloved children and friends,' he began, ' I
know one thing clearly and certainly, that if in the
counsel of God it is good for me, this will not be my
last birthday celebration : and also, that if God calls
me, I shall joyfully obey the summons and depart this
life.' In allusion to the ornaments on the cake which
was placed before him, containing the names of
parents, children, and allied families, and in front of
all the inscription, ' Bunsen Waddington, Rome,
1817,' he spoke of the sojourn in the Eternal City by
the side of his wife, in connection with those inesti-
mable friends Niebuhr, Brandis, and others, one of
whom (Gerhard) was present, surrounded by a me-
morial of a mighty past, and borne up by hopes of a
better and purer future. In an agitated epoch had
he left Rome twenty-three years ago, with a heavy
heart, and yet with the feeling which he had ex-
pressed to his wife, on issuing forth from the door on
that memorable morning of departure, ' With God's
help we will build another Capitol ! ' And thus it
was ! After a bright period of greeting English
friends (1838-9), and a short residence at the foot of
the Alps, which had furthered and advanced many of
his pursuits and researches, a new Capitol was con-
structed in free England for him (1841), and enjoyed
for twelve years and a half. How graciously had
God conducted him during this whole time !
During this speech, the emotion of all present had
382 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
been with difficulty repressed, such was the peculiar
emphasis, as well as the deep meaning expressed ; but
when the speaker closed with a warm utterance of
thankfulness and blessing towards all, collectively
and individually, the feeling was that the hearts of
all hearers, as well as his own, must burst. But soon
his countenance and speech brightened into renewed
joyousness.
After a lengthened pause, during which a con-
tinued flow of conversation was kept up, Bunsen,
raising his voice, addressed another of his sons as
follows : ' Dear Ernest, in such times, it were im-
possible to disregard politics. We are all devoted in
heart to our country, and bound in love and loyalty
to the King and our dear Regent, and need no
peculiar call to arouse that consciousness; but in
another direction I am urged to demand of you to
join me in wishing joy and prosperity to Italy and
to Garibaldi ! ' And he rose from his seat, and con-
tinued, ' We all, dear Gerhard, who have known and
loved Italy, have from of old anticipated and fore-
seen the return to life of that blessed country, no
matter whether in our own time, or in fifty or in a
hundred years ; and now we are actually beholding it
in progress, with our astonished eyes, under the
mighty shield of God ! Italy, the cradle of our
modern civilisation, of our intellectual advancement,
is free. The day has dawned, in which the most in-
telligent, the most creative nation of Europe, for
centuries degraded and oppressed, the sport of foreign
Powers, and torn asunder by the violence of contend-
ing parties, celebrates its own resurrection, strong in
^Ex. 69] ITALY AND GARIBALDI.
self-sacrifice, in valour, and (what is highest of all) in
moderation. The Hero has arisen to set his country
free from thraldom, at once a hero without stain, and
a highly gifted military commander. Garibaldi founds
his hopes not alone on the sword, or even on negoti-
ation, but upon the moral and spiritual resurrection
of the entire nation. This remarkable man wrote
not long since, " The best of allies that you can pro-
cure for us is the Bible, which will bring us the
reality of freedom." Rather than he should be
tempted to undertake the least thing inconsistent
with the glorious task of saving his country, may his
great life find an honoured end !'
The spirits of all present rose in proportion to
the evident improvement (however momentary) in
Bunsen's own state. One by one the absent were
mentioned, who were sure to be present in spirit and
in sympathy; and the joyous grandfather himself
proposed with fervour the health of the infant, John
Charles Harford, who in England was to receive
baptism on this festival-day. The universal con-
sciousness of family love and devout aspiration cast a
warm glow even over the parting with Ernest and
Elizabeth and their children, who, at four o'clock,
started on their way to England.
Though nothing in Bunsen's state of health autho-
rised the hope of his eventual recovery, there were
yet several hours every morning during which he
showed a wonderful capacity for work, and occupied
himself with the critical examination and correc-
tion of his ' Bibelwerk.' Besides conferences with his
assistant, Dr. Kamphausen, on the Old Testament,
384 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
lie was able to go through, the three first Gospels,
with the help of his son Henry, in whose rich
fund of biblical knowledge and scholarship he felt
cordial delight. Several occasions are remembered,
of bright and cheerful conversation with friends
from a distance, the pleasure of whose greeting sus-
pended for the moment the sense of habitual suf-
fering : as, for instance, when Abeken made a short
but inspiriting visit, and joined with him in a dinner
party at Rheindorf (his son George's residence),
on the 4th September, The departure of Henry and
his family on the 14th of that month (returning home
to his parochial duties) made room for his daughter,
Mary Harford, who hastened over (with her husband
and three of her children) as soon as she was able to
travel, that she might once more look into the eyes
of her father and feel the present warmth of his
affection. But the days were come, in which all felt
' there was no pleasure in them.' Meyer, the friend
of long years, stayed for a time, departed and re-
turned, watching for any occasion of usefulness : for
many a day, he was the reader of the Cologne paper,
until even that was too much for the sufferer.
In the beginning of October, a decided change for
the worse took place. On the llth, a visit from
the Princess of Wied was soothing to his feelings,
but everything that used to be unmixed pleasure
was now a painful effort. Still more was this the
case, when the Princess (now the Queen) of Prussia
granted him (on the 15th) her gracious and sympa-
thising presence. How had he, on every previous
occasion of approaching her, enjoyed the intercourse
MT. 69] VISIT OF THE QUEEN OF PRUSSIA. 385
to which he was admitted ! Standing upright at the
top of the stairs, dressed with his peculiar neatness
(and looking cheerful, as if unwilling to inflict pain
even by his looks), he awaited his royal visitor, whom
his wife and Lady Llano ver were conducting up-
stairs. He asked leave to accompany her Royal
Highness into his library, where a short but vivid
conversation ensued on matters near to the : heart
and mind of both speakers. At her own desire
the Princess was led by Bunsen to a neighbouring
room, where Matilda lay ' on her bed, awaiting
the result of Dr. Langenbeck's operation; and he
was able, without any visible effort, to remain during
the visit which her Eoyal Highness then paid to the
rest of the family assembled in the drawing-room.
Two days later, a sudden interval of comparative
ease made it possible for Bunsen to receive a visit
from Mr. R. B. Morier, which gave an opportunity
of expatiating on political subjects, in which the
power and rich stores of his mind astonished the
hearers. This was almost the last of the long and
animated conversations, in which he used to delight
to communicate to others his own rich and glowing
thoughts, and to call forth the thoughts of others.
After the arrival of his son Charles, on the 21st, he was
once more enabled to converse on Italian and other
public affairs, during the greater part of the afternoon.
In the course of that week, he was twice taken to his
favourite garden-pavilion, being carried downstairs
on a seat borne on poles, then wheeled in a chair
the object being to see the cast of the colossal head
VOL. II. C C
386 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
of Jupiter Olympius from the Vatican, which by his
desire had been placed in the pavilion. It had been
ordered from Berlin six weeks before, and he had been
impatient of the delay in its arrival : but now that it
was put up in its proper place, he could scarcely look
at the much -prized object. The second occasion of
being taken thither, on the 24th, he said c it would
be the last time.' Two days later he was taken out
for an airing in an easy carriage. It was then that
he expressed to his son George his last wishes on
various matters touchingly refraining from orders
but desiring that, if possible, his collections (books and
engravings) should not be dispersed, and remarked
that though the outward air was refreshing, the
effort of being brought into and out of the carriage
was too great for him. Accordingly the 26th was
the date of the last drive. On the 28th, the actual
grip of death was upon him for the second time (the
first was 25th February) from morning till night
the gasping and the struggle ceased not. The ex-
perienced eye of Wolff considered the last hour to be
at hand he uttered in a whisper, e This is a fearfully
prolonged death-struggle ! '
On Monday, 22nd October, he made an effort to re-
ceive the farewell visit of the venerable Pastor Wies-
mann, on his removal as Superintendent- General to
Coblentz. The pastor remained some time closeted
with him, and when he left him he expressed himself
very feelingly on the subject of the solemn impressions
which he had received in that interview. Among
other things he said that when he remarked to Bunsen
that after all it was the personal communion with
aiT,69] LAST MONTH OF HIS LIFE. 387
Christ, in life as well as in death, which alone could
bring us peace at last, Bunsen rejoined ' that many
had endeavoured to build all kinds of bridges in order
to reach this goal, but that he had come to the full
conviction that all those bridges must be broken down,
nor should they be trusted to for effectual mediation,
as there was nothing to hold fast by, except the
simple faith in Christ.' Wiesmann then quoted some
short passages of Scripture, the last being, c I can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me '
(Phil. iv. 13). This passage Bunsen seized on with
peculiar animation, and declared emphatically ' how
he had felt the truth contained in these words daily
more and more, and hoped to experience it yet more
fully to the end.'
The Last Month.
To record here some of the words uttered under
the present sense of imminent death is due to the
memory of him, whose reality of opinion and inmost
conviction has been much misunderstood and mis-
construed: but it would seem needless to give an
account of each and every utterance, precious and
consolatory though it might be to surviving love.
A selection has been made, such as will give a true
indication of the mind which had passed into life
eternal even before its release from the poor suffer-
ing body : for even before the critical 28th October
speaking had become at times difficult, articulation
being impeded by the inflamed condition of the throat,
and by the gradual progress of the malady.
But the whole of that 28th October will remain, as
c c 2
388 MEMOIES OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
long as consciousness lasts, impressed upon the minds
of the surviving witnesses. The sufferings were in-
tense, but the spirit remained throughout bright and
clear ; and its utterances, under the increasing con-
viction of the near approach of dissolution, bore but
one character that of looking upwards to God,
through Christ, and of turning to the past as well as
to all around him with love and thankfulness. Many
notes were made of the broken sentences uttered on
the following day, felt to be very incomplete ; yet
they who heard them have resolutely refrained from
allowing themselves to modify, interpret, or connect
the ejaculations, a few of which follow : ' God be
praised/or all ! in eternity Amen.' 'His love is end-
less, spread over all creatures nearest to His own in
Christ. 9 ' Eternal love that is the first, the origin.
Love that wills will that loves.'* His wife repeated
a verse of a German Hymn, c In den Auen jener
Freuden,' to which he responded, ( Amen ! could
I but speak ; could I but give utterance to my
thoughts. ' His wife said, ' God understands you.'
He continued, c I thank Him that He has taught me
to understand Him. But God will yet grant to me
God will give ' (probably meaning the power of
utterance) .
This (often repeated in various broken words) took
place near the close of that terrible day. At one
o'clock in the morning of the 29th, he said, with a
clear and strong voice, e During the last quarter of an
hour a great change has come over my thoughts
not with reference to my immortal soul, not as to
* ' Wollendes Lieben liebendes Wollen ! '
JET. 69] LAST MONTH OF HIS LIFE. 389
Christ, the one only Saviour of my soul but with re-
gard to my body.' For the first time since that sei-
zure on the 25th February, he must have supposed the
moment of departure to be at hand, for after a severe
struggle, about two a.m., he suddenly and distinctly
said, ' My God ! into Thy hands I commend my spirit !
I bless you ally my children. Come, all of you, that
I may declare before you all, that everything of which
I can dispose I leave to your mother's disposal : she
knows all my intentions and wishes. To the Eternal
God, the Almighty, the All-merciful, I commend my
immortal soul. May He bless you all, and all friends !
Blessings upon the fatherland ! our dear fatherland ! '
Having been helped to lie down, he turned his eyes,
with an indescribable expression of affection and a
long-dwelling smile, towards his wife c Most precious
Fanny, my first, my only love ! In you I have loved
that which is eternal. No one knows what you have
been to me. Thanks, a thousand times, for your love ! '
Thereupon he addressed, with, a beaming look, each
of his children present, and named the absent ones,
more especially Theodore, the youngest son. Between
each name he paused, as if in silent prayer for each
individual. He mentioned the wives of each of his
sons, and the husbands of his daughters.
' Prussia, Germany, England, Italy, and her free-
dom, hail ! ' ' The Gospel over the whole world ! may
it rule the world ! ' ' All blessings on the Prince and
Princess of Prussia ! ' ' God bless the Prince and
Princess of Wied ! ' Thanks be to Mebuhr Stein ! '
After a long pause he addressed his servant,
* Thanks, dear Jacob, for all your love and faithful-
390 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
ness, which, you have so constantly shown me ! Be-
main and hold fast by all mine, and they will stand
by you.'
' It is sweet to die I ' he uttered these words with
an unspeakably fine expression of countenance. c It
is sweet to die.! ' ' With all feebleness and imperfec-
tion I have ever lived, striven after, and willed the
best and noblest only. But the best and highest is to
have known Jesus Christ. I depart from this world
without any feeling of uncharitableness towards any
one. No uncharitableness, no ! that is sin ' (speaking
with a kind of inward shuddering) .
On the morning of the 28th, George had tele-
graphed to Ernest in London, that he believed he
might yet see his father in life, if he could come im-
mediately. This seemed to all others to be answering
for too much ; but the summons procured to Ernest
for nearly a month the mournful satisfaction of seeing
and ministering to his father, and receiving his bene-
diction in person. In the course of the 29th, the al-
teration of bright moments with longer times of un-
utterable distress, gasping and struggling for breath,
went on regularly. The sufferer was pleased to be
told that Ernest was expected ; and he continued to
utter ejaculations of farewell and benediction, as be-
fore, interspersed with earnest declarations of his faith
in and through Christ.
On the morning of the 29th, about ten o'clock, after
contending for a long time against confusion, he called
each of the sorrowing party close to him, and gave to
each words of tenderness. Extending both arms to-
wards his wife, he said, ' We shall meet again before
^ET. 69] LAST MONTH OF HIS LIFE. 391
the throne of God. If I have walked towards it, it
was by your help.' Then he said to all, ( Watch well
to keep up activity of life ! Let life be evermore
living ! Forget not the light ! ' ' Good night now
shut the blinds and close my eyes to eternal rest.'
He closed his eyes ; the slumber of an infant came
over him, but the final rest was not yet; and he
awoke soon after, asking after Ernest. Seeing Bran-
dis, he exclaimed, ' Dearest Brandis ! ' adding to the
bystanding family something indistinct, signifying
that they should hold fast by Brandis. An affectionate
greeting to Meyer, with the words, e You stand be-
tween my German and my English world.' One of his
children pointed out to him the bright evening sky,
and he exclaimed, ' Glorious ! love in all ! ' (many
times reiterated) ' God's life the life of God lives
in all ! '
He recognised his son Ernest instantaneously on his
arrival. Late that night he began, clear in thought,
but not in utterance, in English : c May I not say a
word? My strength is going, but among my chil-
dren and friends 'I wish to say a few words. Is it too
hard a thing even to say a parting word to the
world ? It is some time since I have given up fulfilling
any public duties. It is my wish, therefore, to dis-
appear entirely. I die in perfect peace with all men.
I have entirely the feeling of a man who has desired
to live at peace with all men, at the same time to
speak the truth, and to say what he thought. So
likewise, I wish all men, if they think of me, to think
of me with benevolence, as of one who wished and
strove to do good to all. I offer my blessing the
392 MEMOIRS OF BARON" BUNSEN. [1860
blessing of an old man to all who wish to have it.'
e I thank all for their kindness to me.' ' I see
Christ, and I see, through Christ, God.' ' Christ is
seeing us, is creating us. Christ must become all in
all.'
On the 31st October he stretched out his hand,
with a smile, on seeing Lady Llanover, and said,
' God be with you ! I have always felt for you, and
with you, more than you ever knew.'
'Where is mamma? hasten to call her I am
dying, my time is come, and I must have a few words
with her alone. I am quite clear, we are all sinners !
There is only one Christ in God.' Turning round
to those present, he said, ' Have you any doubts ? I
have none.' Then addressing his wife, We only
exist in so far as we are in God ; we are all sinners,
but in God we exist and shall be in life eternal. We
have lived in it, partly, already in so far as we have
lived in God. All the rest is nothing. We only are,
in so far as we exist in love to God. You know
that I love you, but my love to you is far greater
than I could ever tell you. We have loved each
other in God, and in God we shall see one another
again.' Looking fixedly at her, ' We shall meet again,
of that I am sure in the presence of God. I have
assured you of my love is there anything more ?
Do you expect anything more of me ? ' c Christ is
the Son of God, and we are only then His sons if the
Spirit of love which was in Christ is also in us. 3
During the night following the llth November
he was for the last time quite himself, overflowing
with affection in word and look, when, between two
Mi. 69] LAST MONTH OF HIS LIFE. 393
and three o'clock on the morning of the 12th, he took
solemn leave of his wife, with a last kiss, and a flood
of light beaming from his eyes, which ' looked their
last,' for they never had their own full expression
again. He repeated as though he had not made im-
pression enough before, c Love, love we have loved
each other live in the love of God, and we shall be
united again ! In the love of God we shall live on,
for ever and ever ! we shall meet again, I am sure
of that ! Love God is love love eternal ! '
Taking food of any kind had for many days been
impossible ; when the last attempt was made he said
distinctly, ' God sees it is no longer needful for me.'
So frequently had death seemed to be at hand and
the continuance of such a life to be impossible, that
no one supposed the release about to take place,
when it was actually imminent. The 26th and 27th
November were days of misery indescribable ; a degree
of composure, with a mournful gaze and smile, was
only obtained on two occasions, when Emilia played
on the oryue expressif, just beyond the door of the
next room, while Ernest sung several favourite
hymns, ' Jesus, meine Zuversicht ! ' c Wachet auf,
ruft uns die Stimme ! ' ' Jerusalem, du hochgebaute
Stadt ! ' and others.* But only a little while did
this endeavour to tranquillise him prove availing. He
recognised, on the evening of the 27th, Lady Llanover,
who had glided into the room and seated herself
noiselessly at a little distance. He stretched out his
hand to her, ' Very kind, very glad/ were the only
* These will be found incomparably translated by Miss Catherine
Winkworth in that beautiful book, entitled ' Lyra Germanica.'
394 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
words intelligible. Later, he sent for his eldest
daughter, but what he eagerly endeavoured to utter
could not be understood. Possibly the beautiful words
of the Psalmist, ' Oh that I had wings like a dove, for
then would I fly away, and be at rest !' may have been
' the cry of the soul that goeth home.'
The watchers round this bed of death had found
it right and necessary to divide the night-time, and
relieve each other, too many bystanders at once
having plainly a disturbing effect. Emilia remained
by her father's side the first part of the last night,
November 27th to 28th, till relieved by George about
one o'clock in the morning. George retired between
three and four o'clock, when Ernest took his place,
and their mother came in at four o'clock, as had
regularly been the case; the sufferer had plainly
indicated for some time that she should not sit up
late, but in her approach early in the dark morning
hour he was satisfied. Emilia had left the usual
charge to George 6 to let his father feel him near, but
not see him,' as she had remarked that the un-
easiness, which she could not relieve, was increased
when she looked at him. When his wife came in, she
found him with closed eyes, and in perfect repose of
body and limbs ; but the hand, of which she took hold,
answered not to the touch as usual with a strong-
grasp ; there was a continued sound as of clearing of
the throat, but that had been noticed the evening
before, and notified at his last visit to Wolff, who
said, ' That embarrassment of the throat is not sur-
prising, after a cough has lasted so long that may
increase.' Thus everything contributed to prevent
JET. 69] HIS LAST MOMENTS. 395
the idea of the common sign of approaching dissolu-
tion from occurring to her any more than to her sons.
Soon, however, the fact became evident. As the clock
struck five, a loud convulsive cough was followed in-
stantaneously by a sudden stoppage of his breathing,
which till then had been painfully loud. The two
watchers, his wife and son, were going to raise him
higher in his bed, but the head had already dropped
upon her shoulder, and the last breath had fled !
The family party came in haste, and remained some
time round the beloved dead. The eyes continued
closed, the features, however, did not retain a trace
of suffering, the peace was profound : nothing of the
ghastliness of death was there. For two whole days
the remains continued beautiful, as in the most
tranquil sleep : and invaluable was the privilege to
the mourners of being enabled thus long to contem-
plate them, and take in the full conception of the
blessing granted in that life which had just closed.
The immeasurable privation sustained in the death
just witnessed could only be taken in gradually,
during the remainder of the survivors' time on earth.
In the afternoon of December 1st, the oaken coffin,
containing all that was mortal of Bunsen, was con-
veyed to the cemetery at Bonn, in the last rays of
an unclouded sun. His wish was thus fulfilled ; for
on quitting Berlin in 1858 he had remarked to his son
George, ' On such a day as this should I like to be
borne to my grave !'
The sympathy of friends had covered his last
earthly resting-place with wreaths of evergreens and
flowers ; and a large concourse of people from all
396 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [1860
classes were waiting, in silence, to testify by their
presence to the general respect entertained for the
departed.
As the procession of mourners began to move, the
coffin was carried down the staircase by his sons,*
Ernest, Charles, and George, and his son-in-law,
Baron vonUngern-Sternberg, assisted by Drs. Kamp-
hausen and Bleek, who had been Bunsen's fellow-
labourers in the ' Bibelwerk,' and by them it was
borne along the streets of Bonn to the cemetery, some
of the students taking their turn as bearers. The
sounds of a favourite hymn-tune, proceeding from
the same orgue expressif, to which the departed had
been so fond of listening, accompanied the coffin as
it was borne down the staircase, and ceased not till
it had left the house. And then the strain was
taken up by the band of the 7th regiment, or the
King's Hussars, which attended by the orders of their
colonel, Count von der Goltz, and was stationed out-
side the house. The procession was then formed,
the band heading it, and continuing to play on their
wind instruments, all the way, a number of German
hymn tunes which, when once heard, can never be
forgotten thus, not only adding to the solemnity of
the occasion, but also breaking by soothing sounds
the mournful silence of that funeral cortege, which
moved on slowly on foot from the house to the
grave. Next after the band followed a long line
of students, being a deputation from the students
of the University of Bonn, headed by their various
* The eldest son, Henry, was unable, through illness, to be present ;
Theodore, the youngest, was in Japan.
JEx. 69] HIS FUNEEAL. 307
banners, and attending, as a special mark of respect,
in their various costumes. Then came the coffin, and,
last of all, the Mends who were able to attend. There
were no hired officials : no outward trappings of
funeral pomp. The whole was marked throughout
as the work of affection and of friendship it was a
reality, not a ceremonial.
As the procession neared the grave, the boys of the
Protestant School at Bonn, who were stationed round
it, began with their voices the last service. Then
Pastor Wolters spoke a few words of exhortation, di-
recting, with force and feeling, the thoughts of the
bystanders from death to immortality, from the grave
to heaven, from man to God. Another hymn was
sung, and handfuls of earth, thrown into the grave
by each relative and friend as they cast a last look
on the coffin, soon hid from view the earthly remains
now returning as earth to earth, as ashes to ashes,
as dust to dust.
' His soul was joyful in God. Nor was this only
the case in the latter years of his life : he had long
before his death reached that innermost depth of
faith, where all doubts cease and faith is lost in
sight ! He had ever remained unchanged amid the
changes of the time, with that true piety of heart,
which springs from the deepest recesses of a devout
mind, and is for this very reason free from all dog-
matic entanglements and from mere ritual service.'
Such were the concluding remarks on Bunsen, in
an article written by a friend,* and such was the
* Dr. Schenkel, professor at Heidelberg, in the 'Allgemeine kircMiche
Zeitschrift; Elberfeld, 1861.
398 MEMOIRS OF BARON BUNSEN. [I860
close of a life on earth, whose course had been one of
love to man and of aspiration after God. Wherever
his lot had been cast, whether in his native father-
land, or in his beautiful Italy, or in that no less
beloved England, the fatherland of his wife, there
he attracted all with whom he came into contact by
his sympathy and benevolence, by the brilliancy of
his wonderful mind, not less than by the depth of his
genuine humility, loving all and beloved by all,
his beaming countenance reflecting, however imper-
fectly, a soul filled with the love of God. Thus, though
dead to the world, he yet lives, and will continue to
speak to his fellow -men through that heaven-born
spirit, which is the offspring of Him in whom we all
'live and move and have our being,' the Spirit of
Truth and the Spirit of Wisdom, whose outgoings
have been, and will ever continue to be, in Love, and
in Truth, unto all eternity.
In this spirit he now addresses all the readers of this
book, in the words of that exhortation of the Prophet
engraved on the monument which marks his last
earthly resting-place at Bonn :
um> wanbeln tm Stcfyte be
' LET US WALK IN THE LIGHT OP THE ETEKNAL.'
* Isaiah ii. 5.
BUN SEX S MONUMENT AT BONN.
APPENDIX.
2tn Srnolb,*
3>u fjafl mit ung gefdmpfet beS taubeng etf gen
$ur aUe tief empfunben tec bittren Seiben ^rampf :
3)u fa^ft ber SDtenfd^ett nafyen ericfyt unb blut'gen @trett>
-Rlar jlanb oor betnem Tfuge ber Sammer btefer 3ett.
traf bid) jeneS efjneiv ba fttllt ber @rben
lofte fid) in fitebe bag milbe @treiterf)er/
^>elb< alg S5oten/ gefanbt com SSaterlanb/
Sen @ngel/ ber bid) fufyrte in em'ge 4i>eimatf)lanb.
SSerjlummt tft nun am rabe beg 3orn6 unb ^
Gin eud)tti)urm ragjl bu f!tafylenb a
($ fproffet fteil'ger @amen in mandjer jungen
(Sin SSol! Doll eblen toljeg blicft auf &u bir mit Suft.
Su felbft bift ttjeggerudet aug ber SSermtrrung
fd)n?erfte (Seetenteiben fyat bir erfpart ber Sob :
liegt oor bir entpUet bag 9idtt)fel biefer 2SeIt<
nun/ n?ag bu gegtaubet/ con otteg Sid)t er^ellt.
SSir aber rootten fdmpfen/ n>ie bu eg t)orgett>an/
3n ^offnung unb in Siebe/ mit lauben anget^an/
35ie Snjigfett t>or 2(ugen< 2Sat)rt)aftig!eit im @inn/
llnb geben fiir bie SSafyrfyeit bag ?eben miltig fytnl
* Prefixed to vol. ii. of Christianity and Mankind, The translation
of these lines is given at p. 11 of this volume.
VOL. II. D D
INDEX.
ABB
ABEKEN, Ludwig, ii. 19, 304.
jQ. His friendship with Bunsen, i.
29. His recollections of him, 29.
His account of Bunsen in Koine,
286
Aberdeen, Lord, ii. 204
Accorambuoni, Casino, Bunsen's re-
sidence at, i. 87
Acland, Sir Thomas, i. 295, 296, 297
Adelaide, Queen Dowager of Eng-
land, ii. 71
African expedition, the, ii. 153
Agricola, his friendship with Bun-
sen, i. 41
Albert, Prince, ii. 4, 10, 43, 85, 115,
203. His letter to the Prince of
Prussia, 151. His conversation
with Bunsen at Osborne, 152.
His idea of the Great Exhibition,
161
Alertz, Dr., i. 257 ,
Alexander, Rev. Dr., consecrated
Bishop of Jerusalem, i. 373, 374,
383
Alfred of England, Prince, ii. 43
Allegri, his music, i. 124
Altenstein, Herr von, i. 170, 268,
269
Amrhyn, Chancellor, i. 342
Ancillon, i. 176
Anio, falls of the, i. 110
Apostolic Succession, i. 259
Apponyi, Count, i. 139
Archaeological Institute at Rome, i.
214
Argyll, Duke of, ii. 193
Army, Prussian mode of treating
the religious views of the, i. 177
Arnim, Baron Heinrich von, i. 142
BEE
Arnold, Rev. Dr., i. 190, 294, 311,
329 ; ii. 5. His ' Roman History,'
i. 256, 291. Bunsen's letter to
the Bishop of Norwich respecting
him, 334. His death, ii. 10. Bun-
sen's lines on the event, 11
Ashley, Lord, i. 311, 368; ii. 116
Astor, William Backhouse, i. 24, 33,
63, 66, 168; ii. 246, 285. His
visit to Bunsen, 287
' Athenian Law of Inheritance,' Bun-
sen's Essay on the, i. 17, 26
Augustus of Prussia, Prince, i. 149
Austria, proposals of Prussia of a
union with, ii. 148
Azeglio, Massimo d', his work on
the Italian question, ii. 352
BADER, his ' Emancipation of Ca-
tholicism from Rome,' i. 321
Baini, Maestro di Capella, i. 125
Bancroft, Mr., ii. 150. His 'His-
tory,' 97
Bartolomes of Strasburg, ii. 169
Basle, missionary meeting at, i. 352.
The remains of the French bomb
at, 354
Beaulieu, General Charles de, i.
39-40
Beaumont, M. Gustave de, ii. 333
Becker, of Gotha, i. 28, 42
Beethoven, -uncovering of the statue
of, ii. 57
Bekker, ii. 303
Berlin in 1815, i. 60, 61. University
of, 60. Berlin society in 1827, 172,
The rising in 1848, ii. 101. Con-
flict of Frankfort with Berlin, 118
404
INDEX.
BER
Bernays, Dr., ii. 181
Bernstorff, Count, i. 136, 143
Beuggen, reformatory at, i. 355
Bible, Bunsen's study and examina-
tion of the English and German
texts of the, i. 90
Bible readers, Tyrolese, i. 165
Birch, Dr. Samuel, ii. 355
Bischong, Madame de, i. 52
Blaise Castle, i. 295
Bliicher, Prince, i. 59
Bodelschwingh, President von, i. 277
Bombelles, Comte de, i. 331
Bonaparte, Jerome, his rule in West-
phalia, i. 11
Brandenburg, Count, ii. 124
Brandis, Charles, i. 94
Brandis, Dr., i. 59
Brandis, Prof. C. A., i. 37, 64, 94, 108,
121. His ' History of Greek Phi-
losophy,' 40. His family, 41
Breslau, Prince Bishop of, i, 173
Brocken, Johanette Eleonore, mar-
ried to Henrich Christian Bunsen,
i. 5, 15. Her death, 20, 114
Brooke, Sir James, Rajah of Sara-
wak, ii. 187, 284
Bruno, Giordiano, ii. 169
Buckland, Eev. Dr., i. 320
Billow, Herr von, i. 308, 372 ; ii. 56
Bunsen family, escutcheon of the, i.
5
Bunsen, Maria Christiana, i. 4, 45,
47, 55. Her influence over her
young brother, 7, 47. Visits him
in Rome, 144
Bunsen, Charles, i. 128, 268, 333 ;
ii. 105, 275, 375
Bunsen, Emilia, ii. 42
Bunsen, Ernest, i. 268, 333 ; ii. 54,
61
Bunsen, George, i. 329 ; ii. 242,
300
Bunsen, Helene, i. 4
Bunsen, Henrich Christian (Bun-
sen's grandfather), i. 5
Bunsen, Henry, i. 234, 361, 377,
380 ; ii. 78, 89
Bunsen, Henrich Christian (Bun-
sen's father), i. 2, 14. His say-
ings, 3. His character, 3. His
BUN
first wife and children, 4. His
second wife, 4. Birth and bap-
tism of his son, C. C. J. Bunsen,
6. His prayer for his son's wel-
fare, 6. Death of his wife, 20.
His death, 20, 55, 115
BUNSEN, CHRISTIAN CHARLES JOSIAH,
Baron :
His birth and parentage, i. 2-6
His childhood, and early educa-
tion, i. 6-8
Influence of his sister Christiana,
i. 7
Anecdotes of his early life, i. 8
Reads a translation of Shaks-
peare, i. 9
His fondness for books, i. 9, 17
His inability to learn music, i. 9
His confirmation, i. 10
His discourse on hope, i. 1011
Recollections of his schoolfellow,
Schumacher, i. 1 1
Recites Schiller's ' Bell,' i. 16
Goes to Marburg University, i.
21
Removes to Gottmgen, i, 22, 23
- His friends there, i. 29, 30
His motto at Gottingen, and in
later life, i. 17
His essay on the ' Athenian Law
of Inheritance/ i. 17, 26
Commencement of his friendship
with Mr. Astor, i. 24
Accompanies Arthur Schopen-
hauer on a tour, i. 25
Presented to Gothe, i. 25
Goes with Mr. Astor to Dresden
andLeipsig, i. 26
Becomes Doctor of Philosophy, i.
26
His review of the year 1812, i,
27
His character of Heyne, i. 32, 33
His journey with Mr. Astor to
Vienna and the north of Italy,
i. 33
Visits Munich, i. 34
His friendships and studies there,
i. 35, 36
His band of friends there, and
their characters, i. 36, 37, 41
INDEX.
405
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. 3. continued
Schulze's account of Bunsen and
their friends, i. 37, 38
Bunsen' s first interview with
Aug. Kestner, 1, 39
His first political essay, i. 43
Goes to Holland, i. 45
His purchase of Oriental MSS. i.
47
Takes his sister home, i. 55
Returns to Gottingen, i. 56
Eevisits Copenhagen, i. 57
Goes to Berlin, i. 60
- His friends there, i. 60, 61
Silver wedding of his parents, i.
62
Death of his father, i. 62
Visits Mr. Astor in Paris, i. 63,
66
His Persian studies there, i.
66, 67
His proposed journey to America
and India, i. 68
Goes to Florence, i. 69
Meets Alexander von Humboldt,
i. 69
Mistaken for the Emperor Na-
poleon, i. 70
Parts with Mr. Astor, i. 71
His life in Florence, i. 71, 73
- His introduction to Mr. Cath-
cart, i. 72, 75, 77
Relinquishes his expedition to
India, i. 75, 76 '
His opinion of Niebuhr, i. 77
Reaches Rome, i. 77
His life there, i. 79
His views as to free intercourse
between nationalities, i. 80 .
His cosmopolitan sentiments,
i. 82
His introduction to Mr. Wad-
dington and his family, i. 83.
His introduction to his future
wife, i. 83
His correspondence with Mrs.
Waddington, i., 84, 85
His prayer at Frascati, i. 86,
87
His life there, i. 87
His study and examination of
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. J. continued
the German and English trans-
lations of the Bible, i. 90
His translation of the Bible,
i. 91
Removes to the Capitol, i. 91, 92
Celebrates the jubilee of the Re-
formation at his house, i. 92,
93
Suddenly introduced to diplo-
matic employment, i. 93, 94
His answer to Mrs. Waddington
on the necessity of frequenting
society, i. 96
His manner of observing Christ-
mas Eve, i. 98
His remarks on his plan of study,
i. 99, 101
His prayer for blessing on his
work, i. 101
Receives Louis, Crown Prince of
Bavaria, i. 102
His reflections on death, i. 105
His parting from, his friend
Brandis, i. 108
Visits Niebuhr at Tivoli, i. 110
His religious progress, i. 113
His course of life at Rome, i. 113,
114
Death of his father and mother,
i. 114, 115
His investigation of the subject
of liturgies, i. 134, 135
Illness and death of his daughter
Mary, i. 120,122
His wife's illness, i. 123
His own serious illness and re-
covery, i. 123
His regard for the Baron von
Stein, i. 124
His study of ancient music,!. 124
Musical evenings at his house,
i. 126
Birth of his son Charles, i. 128
His collection of hymns, i. 1 78,223,
228
Rewrites Platner's ' Description
of Rome,' i. 128, 129, 170
Goes to Albano with Plainer and
others, i. 132
Brought into personal contact
406
INDEX.
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. J. continued
with the King of Prussia, i.
133
Conducts the King's two sons
over Rome, i. 133
Receives a present from the King,
i. 135
Named by the King Counsellor
of Legation, i. 135
Becomes Charged' Affaires during
Niebuhr's absence, i. 136
His proposed study of the Holy
Scriptures, i. 137
- - His letter to Count Bernstorff, i.
143
His reflections in January, 1824,
i. 147
His friendship with Count von
Radowitz, i. 149
His correspondence withNiebuhr,
i. 150, 158, et seq.
His first mention of Egyptian
studies, i. 153
His study of Egyptian antiqui-
ties, i. 154
His friends in Rome, i. 15
Brings the English State papers
in the Vatican into notice, i. 156
His breakfast parties, i. 159
His friendship with, and contem-
porary notice of, Neukomm the
composer, i. 160, 161
His friendship with Kestner, i.
162
His hymnological publications,
i. 167
His first official visit to Berlin, i.
167
His purchase of a Raphael, i. 167,
169
His arrival in Berlin, i. 170
His visit to the King at Paretz,
i. 171
His visits to his friends, i. 172
His part in the Silesian negotia-
tions, i. 173
Favours of the King and Crown
Prince conferred upon him, i.
174, 182, 183, 189, 235, 245
Receives important papers for
study and comment, i. 176
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. J. continued
Obtains a prolongation of leave
of absence, i. 176
At the Palace, i. 176
Obtains an amelioration of the
treatment of Roman Catholic
Prussian soldiers, i. 178
His reflections on the close of
1827, i. 180
Madame Mendelssohn - Bar-
tholdy's account of him, i. 181
Named Privy Counsellor of Le-
gation, i. 183
Sends his Liturgy to the King, i.
184, 192
Interview with the King on the
subject, i. 187
Superintends the printing of the
Liturgy by order of the King,
i. 188
His first meeting with Dr. Arnold,
i. 190
Receives a gift from the King, i.
195
Leaves Berlin, i. 195
Returns to Rome, i. 196
His bust by Wolff, i. 196, 197
Various portraits and medallions
of him, i. 197, 198
His relations with King Frederick
William III., i. 201
His views on liberty of conscience,
i. 203
His entanglement in the ' De-
scription of Rome,' i. 204-208
His political opinions, i. 209
His friends at Rome, i. 211. 212
Becomes secretary-general to the
Archaeological Institute, i. 215
His Egyptian researches, i. 215
Establishes the Infirmary for
Protestants at Rome, i. 217
Restores the Collegium Preuckia-
num to its founder's intentions,
i. 218
His life at Frascati, i. 221
Returns to Rome, i. 222
His grief at the death of Niebuhr,
i. 225
His letter of condolence to Nie-
buhr's widow, i. 228
INDEX.
407
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. J. continued
-Visits Gregory XVI. at Castel
Gandolfo, i. 230
_ Visited by Sir Walter Scott, i.
231
Draws up the Memorandum of
May 21, 1832, i. 233
Mediates between France and
Rome, i. 234
His journey with his sons to Ber-
lin, i. 245
Keturns to Rome, i. 248
Applies to be removed from Rome,
i. 249
His views on reform and revolu-
tion, i. 253
His ideas of a national univer-
sity, i. 255
His reception by the Pope, i.
257
Cause of the end of his mission
at Rome, i. 259
Goes to Berlin with his third
and fourth sons, i. 266, 268
Pleads for the Catholics in the
Prussian army, i. 270, 271
His request granted by the King,
i. 274, 275
His reception by Prince Metter-
nich, i. 280
His return to Rome, i. 283
His departure from Rome. i. 284
Returns towards Berlin, i. 285,
288
But receives a prohibition at Mu-
nich, i. 289
Takes his first journey to Eng-
land, i. 290
His ' Egyptiaca,' i. 291
His arrival in London, i. 292
Detained through illness, i. 294
His first visit to Rugby, i. 294
His visit to Llanover and the
Cwmreiggyddion, i. 294
His tour of visits among his
friends, i. 295
His stay in London, i. 297
His State papers on the Cologne
question, i. 303
His opinion on the law of divorce,
i. 303
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. J. continued
His review of England and Eng-
lish life, i. 305
His visit to Oxford, i. 307
His first visit to the House of
Commons, i. 309
His speech at the meeting of the
Bible Society, i. 313
Returns to Llanover, i. 318
"Works at the law of divorce, i.
318
His visit to Rugby, i. 318
His speech at the Bible Society
meeting, i. 328
Dines with Lord Palmerston, i.
324
Hears Handel's ' Messiah ' for
the first time, i. 326
Again visits High Wood, i. 326
Degree conferred upon him at
Oxford, i. 327
His visit to Sir Harry Verney, i.
329
And to Dr. Arnold at Fox Howe,
i. 329
Appointed Swiss Minister, i.
330
His policy in Switzerland, i. 331
Again at Oxford, i. 332
Attends the dinner of the Agri-
cultural Society, i. 332
Returns to Llanover, i. 333
His letter to the Bishop of Nor-
wich respecting Dr. Arnold, i.
334
His residence in Switzerland, i.
340
His feelings on leaving England,
i. 339, 340
His friendships in Switzerland, i.
341
His advice to one of his sons, i.
345
His recommendation of Profes-
sor Stahl, i. 351
Goes to the missionary meeting
at Basle, i. 351
His visit to the Bueggen reforma-
tory, i. 355
Summoned to Berlin, i. 363
His mission to England, i. 363
408
INDEX.
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. J. continued
His conversation with Radowitz,
i. 364, 365
His audience of Frederick Wil-
liam IV., i. 366
His arrival in London, i. 371
Reception of his memoir by the
King, i. 374, 375
At Pusey, i. 375
Prepares to retire from public
life, i. 378
Appointed Prussian Minister to
London, i. 379
His predilection for the English
Church, i. 381
His appointment as Prussian
Minister, i. 387
His visit to Windsor Castle, i.388
His qualifications for his new
position, i. 390
At Carlton Terrace, ii. 1
Meets the King of Prussia on his
way to England, ii. 3-5
Receives the King at Carlton.
Terrace, ii. 5
His illness, ii. 7
His lines on the death of Dr. Ar-
nold, ii. 11
His fondness for dramatic repre-
sentations, ii. 14
His dislike of the opera stage, ii.
15
Second edition of his 'Hymn
Book,' ii. 16
Prosecution of his Egyptian Re-
searches, ii. 18
His life in London, ii. 19
Engages Herstmonceaux, ii. 21
His visit to Sir Robert Peel at
Drayton Manor, ii. 24
Summoned by the King to Berlin,
ii. 30
At Brussels, ii. 31
Receives a gift of the King's por-
trait, ii. 35
His lecture on the grant of a
Prussian Constitution, ii. 37
His ' Political Memoirs,' ii. 40
His tour in England with the
Prince of Prussia, ii. 42
Letter from the King, ii. 44
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. J. continued
His ' Church of the Future/ ii. 53
His visit to his birthplace, Cor-
bach, ii. 51, 60
His text and translation of the
Epistles of Ignatius, ii. 62, 64
Marriage of his son Ernest, ii. 61
Attends the Princess of Prussia
in England, ii. 71
Takes the chair at the Literary
Fund dinner, ii. 72
Again at Herstmonceaux, ii. 78
Marriage of his eldest son, ii. 78
His philological studies, ii. 83,
At Osborne House, ii. 85
His reflections on the Cambridge
Installation, ii. 85, 86
His determination to give up
London and diplomatic life, ii.
86
His private audience of the Queen,
ii. 89
His visit to Woburn Abbey, ii. 92
At Althorp, ii.. 96
Receives the Prince of Prussia at
Carlton Terrace, ii. 102
His illness, ii. 104
At Totteridge, ii. 107, 108
His letter to Mr. Reeve on Ger-
man progress, ii. 108
His reflections on Germany at
this period, ii. 113, 115
His English edition of ' Egypt's
Place in Universal History,' ii.
114
Goes to Prussia, ii. 115
His work, ' Deutschland's Ver-
gangenheit und Zukunft,' ii. 121
Again in Berlin, ii. 123
His memoir on events at Berlin,
ii. 126, 127, 137
His letter to Liicke on Christo-
logy, ii. 140
His ' Church of the Future,' ii.
142
His conversations with Lord Pal-
merston and Drouyn de Lhuys
on the affairs of Germany, ii.
148, 150
At Osborne House, ii. 150
INDEX.
409
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. J. continued
His conversations with Prince
Albert, ii. 152
His speech on the proposed Great
Exhibition of 1851, ii. 157
Marriage of his daughter Mary,
ii. 164
His illness, ii. 164
His ' Life of Jesus,' ii. 193, 234,
335, 336
His journey to Germany, ii. 166
His return, ii. 167
First symptoms of his dangerous
illness, ii. 167
His philological studies, ii. 168
At work at his Egypt's Place in
Universal History,' ii. 175
His guests at Carlton Terrace, ii.
181
At St. Leonard's, ii. 181
Publishes his ' Hippolytus and
his Age,' ii. 185
His reflections in 1852, ii. 184
His visit to Scotland, ii. 194
Completion of his 'Hippolytus,'
ii. 192
Eeturns to London, ii. 194
His desponding views of Ger-
many, ii. 196
His letter on religious opinions,
ii. 197
Eecalled from his post in Eng-
land, ii. 205
Proposes to settle at Charlotten-
berg, ii. 211
His work, ' Christianity and Man-
kind,' ii. 211
His audience of the Queen, ii. 216
His ' Philosophy of Religion,' ii.
217
' His farewell address to his
friends, ii. 221
Leaves England, ii. 221
At Charlottenberg, ii. 224
At work at his book on Egypt,
ii. 224
His letter to a son on his engage-
ment, ii. 228
At Gottingen, ii. 229
Eeturns from Charlottenberg, ii.
230
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. J. continued
His 'Bibelwerk,' ii. 234, 238,
252, 253, 270, 281, 312, 361,
383
Named to a peerage for life, ii.
232
His reflections on the close of the
year 1854, ii. 233
His life at Charlottenberg, ii.
234, 241, 254
His last letter to Archdeacon
Hare, ii. 236
Marriage of his daughter Theo-
dora, ii. 242
His ' Signs of the Times,' ii. 242,
248
His calculations of the probable
age of the human race, ii. 244
His ' Five Boniface-Letters,' ii.
244
Goes to Marburg, ii. 246
His 'God in History,' ii. 250,
257, 271
Taken ill, ii. 251
Christmas festivities in 1855, ii.
252
Discovers the enigma of the In-
dian chronology, ii. 256
His letter to Mr. Cobden, ii. 259
His visit to Switzerland, ii. 262
His return home and illness, ii.
266
His prayers, ii. 266
Prosecution of his studies, ii. 268
Eemarks on his Bible translation,
ii. 270
His last visit to Berlin, ii. 274
His declining health, ii. 275
Summoned to Berlin by the King,
ii. 289, 292
His reception at Sans Souci, ii.
291, 303, 305
His leave-taking from Berlin, ii.
306
His interview with the Prince of
Prussia, ii. 309
His remarks on affairs at Berlin,
ii. 311
Attacked by influenza, ii. 315
His expression of his religious
opinions, ii. 316
410
INDEX.
BUN
Bunsen, C. C. J. continued
Dr. M'Cosh's interview with him,
ii. 319
His opinion on clairvoyance, ii.
319
- Visits Berlin, ii. 323
Takes his seat in the House of
Peers, ii. 326
His plan for an Academy of
Sciences, ii. 329
Goes to Geneva and the south of
France, ii. 330
His arrival at Cannes, ii. 332
His life there, ii. 332
Returns to Charlottenberg, ii.
341
His sympathy with Italy, ii. 342
Proposes to apply for the Swiss
legation, ii. 344
His visit to Paris, ii. 347, 348
Returns to Cannes, ii. 348
His remarks on the study of po-
litical economy, ii. 351
His researches in Bible Chrono-
logy, ii. 358
The last year of his life, ii. 360
Retrospect of his stay in Paris,
ii. 363
First stroke of his approaching
death, ii. 364
His last, celebration of his wife's
birthday, ii. 367
His portrait by Roeting, ii. 368
Leaves Cannes, ii. 370
At Basle, ii. 371
His stay at Badenweller, ii. 371
His journey to Bonn, ii. 372
His sorrows and joys, ii. 375
His last four letters, ii. 376
His last birthday, ii. 379
Wishes joy and prosperity to
Italy and Garibaldi, ii. 382
The last month of his life, ii. 387
His death, ii. 395
His funeral, ii. 396
Bunsen, Mary, her illness and death,
i. 120, 121
Bunsen, Mary, ii. 164, 384
Bunsen, Matilda, ii. 222, 358, 369.
Her death, 369
Bunsen, Robert, of Heidelberg, i. 5
COM
Bunsen, town councillor of Arol-
sen, i. 12, 16
Bunsen, Richard, i. 59
Bunsen, Theodore, ii. 285, 350, 368
Bunsen, Theodora, her marriage
with the Baron von Ungern-Stern-
berg, ii. 242
PAFFARELLI, Palazzo,
\J residence at the, i. 91
California, idea of purchasing for
Prussia, ii. 69
Cambridge, Duke of, i. 105
Cambridge Installation, the, ii. 85
Canitz, Baron, the younger, ii. 16
Cappaccini, Monsignor (afterwards
Cardinal), i. 153
Cappellari, Cardinal (afterwards
Gregory XVI., which see), i. 223
Carlyle, Thomas, ii. 5
Cathcart, Mr., i. 72
Champollion le jeune, his ' Systeme
Hieroglyphique,' i. 153, 154
Charlottenhof, the, ii. 301
Chinese writing, ii. 168
Christian VIII., King of Denmark,
i. 127, note
Christianity, remarks on the know-
ledge of, i. 100
Christmas festivities at Gottingen,
i. 27. German Christmas Eve,
98
Christology, Bunsen on, ii. 140
Clairvoyance, Bunsen's opinion on,
ii. 320
Claydon, visit to, i. 329
Clifford, Lord, in Rome, i. 276
Clifford, Mr. William, i. 79
Cobden, Mr. ii. 276. His commer-
cial treaty with France, 352
Coffin, Sir E., ii. 193
Colchester, Lord, in Rome, i. 130
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, i. 305
Collegium Preuckianum at Rome, i.
218
Commons, House of, Bunsen's first
visit to the, i. 309
Communion, the Holy, Bunsen's
views as to the historical treat-
ment of the, i. 137
INDEX.
411
CON
FEE
Consalvi, Cardinal, i. 110, 138. His
death, 151. His last acts, 151
Copenhagen in 1815, i. 68
Cornelius, the artist, i. 78, 102. In
London, 382. Sir Eobert Peel's
opinion of him, 382
Cotta, the pnblisher, i. 205
Cowley, Lord, ii. 125
Cracow, affairs of, in 1846, ii. 73
Cramer, Louise, ii. 52
Crystal Palace, the, ii. 200
Cumberland, Ernest, Duke of, i.
171
Cureton, Eev. Dr., his 'Epistles of
Ignatius,' ii. 62
Curtze, Bunsen's schoolmaster, i. 7
D ALSTON, German Hospital at,
ii. 33
D'Aubigne, Merle, ii. 298
Death, reflections on, i. 105
Denbigh, Lady, her death, ii. 24
Denison, Rev. Dr., Bishop of Salis-
bury, i. 298, 334
Denison, Mrs. Edward, i. 300, 334,
377. Her death, 378
Devotions, family, i. 177
Divorce, Bunsen's treatise on the
law of, i. 303, 318, 321, 330
Drouyn de Lhuys, on the affairs of
Germany in 1849, ii. 149
Dusch, Herr von, ii. 3 ; 40
Dutch, their religion, i. 46
TMELHAM, ii. 62
JU Eberhard, i. 103
Egerton, Lord Francis, i. 325
Egypt, Bunsen's studies in the chro-
nology and history of, i. 291
' ^gypt' 8 Place in Universal His-
tory,' publication of the first
English volume, ii. 114
England in 1814, i. 117. Bunsen's
review of England and English
life, 305. In 1849, ii. 149
Erdmansdorf, settlement of the
Tyrolese Bible readers at, i. 165
Evangelical Alliance, meeting of
the, in Berlin, ii. 290, 295
Exhibition, the Great, ii. 161. Bun-
sen's speech on the, 158. Diver-
sities of opinion on the, 172.
Opening of the, 177
Eylert, Bishop, i. 183
FABEE, the officer, i. 50, 52.
Falk, Johannes, of Weimar, i.
355
Pea, Abb6, i. 214
Ferdusi, Bunsen's MS. of, i. 47.
His study of, 66
Feuerbach, i. 36
Florence in 1816, i. 75
Forster, Eev. C., his work on the
Sinaitic inscriptions, ii. 80
France, indifference to religion in
general in, in 1830, i. 225. Ee-
volution of 1848, ii. 99. Perse-
cution of Protestants, 322. The
Commercial Treaty with England,
352
Frankfort, conflict of, with Berlin,
ii. 118
Franz, Dr., i. 284
Frascati, i. 87
Frederick William III., King of
Prussia, his visit to Italy, i.
133. His conversations with Bun-
sen, 135. At Paretz, 171, 172.
His kindness to Bunsen, 174, 183,
195, 245. His reception of Bun-
sen's Liturgy, 186. His impres-
sions from his visit to England,
198. His 'Agenda,' 199. His
views on mixed marriages, 246.
His discussion with Bunsen as to
Catholic soldiers, 274. Appoints
Bunsen envoy to Switzerland, 330,
338. His death, 347
Frederick William IV., when Crown
Prince, i. 133, 171, 176, 213. His
kindness to Bunsen, 174. His
visits to Italy, 133, 213, 218. His
views as to Church government,
346, 347. His letter to Bunsen,
348. Gives audience to Bunsen,
366. His work, 370. His re-
ception of Bunsen's memoir, 375.
His visit to England, ii. 3. At
412
INDEX.
FEE
HEN
Windsor, 4. At the houses of
the aristocracy, 6. At the open-
ing of Parliament, 7. His gift
to Bunsen, 35. His letter to
Bunsen, 44. Keceives Queen
Victoria in Germany, 55. His
private letter to the Queen, 89.
Takes the oath on the Prussian
Constitution, 156. His last letter
to Bunsen, 292. His fatal illness,
312.
Prey a, garden of, i. 59
Preybe, Christian, Bunsen's master,
i. 21
Priedrich Carl, Prince, i. 195
Fronde's Nemesis of Faith,' ii. 139
Fry, Mrs., i. 316. Visit to her, 317,
Her death, ii. 61
r\ AGARIN, Prince, i. 21 1 .
vX Gagern,Heinrich von, prime min-
ister, ii. 135
Garibaldi, Joseph, ii. 382, 383
Gau, the architect, i. 207
Genga, Cardinal della, elected Pope,
i. 139
George, Prince, of Cumberland, i.191
Gerhard, Dr. Edward, i. 214; ii. 181
Germany in 1814, i. 42, 43. Bun-
sen's view of the true Germany,
60. His letter to Mr. Reeve on
German progress, ii. 108. His
reflections on Germany in 1848,
113, 114. Conferences with Lord
Palmerston and M. Drouyn de
Lhuys on a German union, 149.
Prospects in 1852, 183, 196
Gezler, Professor of Basle, i. 341 ;
ii. 330
Gilbert, Dr., Vice-Chancellor of Ox-
ford, i. 328
Gladstone, Eight Hon. W. E., i.
304, 31 0, 311. His ' Church
and State,' i. 302, 304
Glenelg, Lord, i. 328
Gloucester, Duchess of, ii. 6
Gobat, Bishop, ii. 65, 72
Gorham Case, the, ii. 163
Go'the, Bunsen presented to, i. 25.
His son, 232
Gottingen, University of, in 1808, i.
11. Bunsen at, 22
Graham, Cyril, ii. 324
Grahl, Augustus, miniature painter,
i. 155
Granville, Rev. Court, i. 380
Granville, Sir Bevil, ii. 74
Grattan, Mr., i. 319
Gregory XVI., Pope, i. 223, 230.
His reception of Bunsen, 256
Grimms, the, ii. 303
Groben, Count von der, i. 172
Grote, President von, ii. 32
Guizot, M., on the influence of the
French on the civilisation of
mankind, ii. 152
Guruey, Anna, ii. 63
Gurney, Eliza, ii. 286
Gurney, Elizabeth, ii. 54, 61
Gurney, Joseph John, ii. 62. Bun-
sen's testimony to his worth, 75
Gurney, Samuel, ii. 257
HADELN, Herr von, ii. 60
Hahn, Baron Paul von, i. 212 ;
ii. 241. Death of his wife, 325
Hake, General Count, i. 177
Hall, Sir Benjamin (afterwards Lord
Llanover), i. 221
Hall, Lady (now Lady Llanover), i.
221
Hallam, Mr., i. 314
Hamilton, Mr., English ambassador
at Naples, i. 155
Hampden, Rev. Dr., ii. 92. His
election, 92
Hardenberg, Prince, his maxim, i. 247
Hare, Augustus, i. 239. His death,
243
Hare, Julius, i. 377 ; ii. 5. His
death, 235
Harford, Mr., of Blaise Castle, i.
295. His ' Life of Michael An-
gelo,' ii. 281
Hartford, Mr. J. B., marries Mary
Bunsen, ii. 164
Haug, Dr., ii. 256, 274
Henckel, Count, ii. 216
Hensel, Prof., death of his wife, ii,
81
INDEX.
413
HER
Herbert, Mr. and Mrs. Algernon, i.
325
Herschel, Lady, ii. 78
Hey, Wilhelm, i. 41. His friendship
with Bunsen, 41. His ' Fables,'
42. His death, 41, 42, note.
Heydt, Herr von der, ii. 297, 325
Heyne, Professor, his kindness to
Bunsen, i. 22, note, 23, 27. His
death, 27. Bunsen's character of
him, 32, 33.
Hieroglyphics, Dr. Young's disco-
veries in, i. 153. Lepsius's re-
searches, 216
Hills, Mr. John, i. 217
' Hippolytus and his Age,' published,
ii. 193
Hofmann, Inspector, i. 352
Hofmann, Susanna Catherine, Hen-
rich Bunsen's first wife, i. 4. Her
children and early death, 4
Hope, Bunseu's discourse on, i.
10
Howley, Eev. Dr., Archbishop of
Canterbury, i. 368. Visit of the
King of Prussia, ii. 7- And of
Queen Victoria, 8
Hubel, Bunsen's residence at the, i.
338
Humboldt, Alexander von, i. 69,
136, 171. His illness, ii. 328
Humboldt, Baroness Alexander von,
i. 93
Hymn tunes, German/ i. 189
' Hymn and Prayer Book,' Bunsen's
il 178, 223. Second edition pub-
lished, ii. 16
Hymns, Bunsen's collections of, i.
129,178,223,228. Ancient hymn
books, 178
IGNATIUS, Epistles of, ii. 62
Immaculate Conception, Bun-
sen's remarks on the, ii. 225
Indian chronology, restoration of, ii.
256
Inverary Castle, ii. 193
Italinsky, M. d', his friendship
for Bunsen, i. 211
Italy, war of 1859 in, ii. 337
LEP
JACOBI, i. 34, 103, 104
Jelf, Mr., i. 191
Jerusalem, the Protestant Bishopric
of, i. 378
Joachim, the violinist, ii. 257
John, St., Liicke's edition of the
Gospel of. i. 40
Joukoffsky, Eussian poet, i. 324,
325
Jowett, Eev. Mr., his 'Thessalo-
nians,' ii. 245
Jung, Fraiilein Amalia, ii. 222
TTAMPHAUSEN, Dr., ii. 254,
IV 274
Kaye, Eev. Dr., Bishop of Lincoln,
ii. 72
Kestner, Augustus, i. 39. Notice
of, 162
Kilimandjaro, Mount, ii. 155
Kingston Lacy, visit to, i. 298
Knesebeck, General von, i. 176
Knowledge, thirst for, i. 258
Kocher of Stuttgard, his study
of ancient music, i. 124
Krummacher, Pastor, ii. 181
T ABOULAYE, M., ii. 354
J.J Laboulaye, Madame Edward,
ii. 363
Lachmann, Carl, i. 38. His edition
of the New Testament, 40. His
early death, 40. His death, ii.
175
Land credit system, the, ii. 107
Langles, i. 67
Lansdowne, Marquis of, i. 315
Lansdowne, Lady, i. 315
Laval-Montmorency, Due de, i. 139
Lawless Club, the, i. 61
Layard,Mr., his discoveries in Meso-
potamia, ii. 201
Lee, Dr., ii. 108
Leo X., Pope, his election, i. 139.
And obsequies, 219
Lepsius, Eichard, i. 216,298, ii. 299.
His Egyptian researches, i. 216.
In Switzerland ,361. In England
in 1842, ii. 18
414
INDEX.
LET
LIN
Letters from Bunsen to:
, ii. 337
Agricola, i. 31, 32, 74; ii. 199,
243
Argyll, Duchess of, ii. 286, 378
Arnold, Dr., i. 190, 237, 249,252,
254, 258, 278, 279, 291, 304,
343, 345, 346
Becker, i. 42, 57
Brandis, Prof. C. A., i. 45, 63, 64,
65, 85, 102, 105, 109, 225
Bremer, Frederica, ii. 261
Bromley, Miss Davenport, ii. 8
Bunsen, Frances, Countess von, i.
168, 170, 172, 176, 180, 182,
183, 195, 277, 293, 295, 302,
308, 332, 341, 351, 353, 356,
364, 370, 371, 372, 374, 377,
378, 379, 382, 383, 385, 387;
ii. 19, 22, 24, 27, 29, 31, 32,
35, 55, 61, 68, 69, 72, 78, 85,
90, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 115,
118, 120, 122, 122, 124, 153,
155, 156, 166, 166, 181, 194,
201, 202, 217, 219, 245, 247,
249, 256, 263, 294. 306, 323,
324, 344, 345, 345, 347, 366
Bunsen, Maria Christiana, i. 45,
62, 65, 67, 77, 78, 79, 92, 99,
108, 112, 114, 115, 116, 120,
128,133, 135, 143
Bunsen, Rev. Henry, ii. 162
Bunsen, Richard, i. 59
Cobden, Richard, ii. 259
Father and Mother, i. 23, 27
Frederick William IV. ii. 292
Friend, a, ii. 248, 260, 270, 271,
276, 278, 279, 282, 285, 312,
315, 322, 330, 332, 333, 336,
330, 332, 341, 348, 351, 352, 353,
354, 357, 377
Fry, Mrs. Elizabeth, i. 373 ;i i. 53
Gladstone, Right Hon. W. E., i.
357
Graff, Mr., ii. 82
Gurney, Anna, ii. 249
Gurney, Samuel, ii. 75
Hare, Archdeacon, ii. 10, 31, 47,
64, 117, 121, 155, 157, 166, 185,
218, 219
Harford, John, ii. 281
Letters from Bunsen to :
Hey, Wilhelm, i. 104
Hills, Mr. John, i. 304
Kestner, i. 286, 290, 377 ; ii. 8,
54, 170
Klingemann, ii. 258
Lady, a, ii. 196
Liicke, i. 58, 60, 73, 79, 119,137,
250; ii. 140, 192, 226
Miiller, Dr. Max, ii. 139, 177
Niebxihr, i. 150, 158, 169, 177,
218, 222, 223, 225
Perthes, Frederick, i. 367
Pertz, i. 235
Platner, i. 305 ; ii. 169, 108
Rudolph, W., ii. 316
Schnorr, Julius, i. 223 ; ii. 88,
176, 234
Schulze, Ernst, i. 35, 74
Schumacher, Wolrad, i. 34
Schwabe, Mrs., ii. 213, 215, 231,
238, 244, 252, 257, 258
Sieveking, Syndic, ii. 53, 69, 73, 76
Sons, his, ii. 29, 50, 52, 65, 66,
82, 83, 85, 87, 166, 171, 176,
182, 200, 213, 223, 224, 225,
227, 228, 233, 238, 239, 245,
249, 267, 288, 294, 311, 314,
323, 332, 334, 335, 336, 347,
348, 350, 352, 353, 355, 356,
358, 376
Stanley, Rev. Dr., Bishop of Nor-
wich, i. 334
Stockmar, Baron, ii. 71, 73, 77,
102, 114, 119, 156, 165, 174,
175, 183, 185, 201, 203
Usedom, Herr von, ii. 101, 111,
202
Waddington, Mrs., i. 84, 96, 129,
340, 358, 363, 388; ii. 21,74,
79, 112,114, 153
Letters to Bunsen from :
Bremer, Frederica, ii. 26 J
Peel, Sir Robert, i. 382
Seho'n, Herr von, ii. 107
Letter to Baroness Bunsen from :
Bunsen, George, ii. 305
Lieber, his personal appearance, ii.
181
1 Light, Friends of,' ii. 69
Lind, Jenny, ii. 15, 82
INDEX.
415
LIT
Literary Fund Dinner, Bunsen
chairman at the, ii. 72
Liturgies, investigation of the sub-
ject of, i. 134, 135. Bunsen's
Liturgy submitted to the King,
186, 192. Which is ordered by
the King to be printed, 188. Its
principal objects, 192
Liverpool, visit to, ii. 152
Louis, Crown Prince (afterwards
King) of Bavaria, i. 102, 104,
107
Lucca, Duke of, i. 302
Liicke, i. 38. His edition of the
Gospel of St. John, 40
Liineberg saved by Dornberg, i. 195
Lusbington, Dr., i. 333
Luther, Bunsen's work on, 277, 279
' Lyra Apostolica,' i. 259
M'CAUL, Eev. Dr., i. 369
Macaulay, Mr. (afterwards
Lord), i. 314
Macready, William, ii. 14
Madama, Piazza, musical perform-
ance in the, i. 132
Mahon, Lord (now Earl Stanhope),
i. 315
Mamiami, ii. 169
Manners, Lady Adeliza, ii. 45
Marburg, town of, i. 21
Marburg University, Bunsen at, i.
22 ,
Marriages, mixed, Papal instructions
as to, i. 222. Bunsen's notes on
the question of, 246. Quarrel of
Prussia with Eome on the subject,
260
Married life, Bunsen on, i. 222
Maubeuge, persecutions in, ii. 322.
Maurice, Kev.F.,in Switzerland, i, 361
Mazzini, Joseph, ii. 195
Melbourne, Lord, i. 309
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, i.
189, 220. At Kome, 220. At
Carlton Terrace, ii. 80. His last
visit there, 81. His death, 87
Merian, Frau, i. 352
Merle, Bunsen's first preceptor, i. 6
Metternich, Prince, i. 280 ; ii. 57
NIE
Metz in 1816, i. 65
VIeusbach, Herr von, i. 178
Vteyendorf, ii. 128
Meyer, appointed librarian to Prince
Albert, ii. 72
Michaelis, ii. 288
Michel Fetter, ii. 60
ll, John Stuart, ii. 351
Milnes, Kichard Monckton (now
Lord Honghton). His visit to
Bunsen, ii. 289
Minghetti, ii. 351
Mitscherlich, i. 43
Montalembert, Count, i. 357
Morier, Mr. David, i. 339, 361
Morier, Mr. E. B., ii. 385
Moscheles, ii. 5
Muir, Mr., ii. 283
Miiller, Dr. Max, ii. 49
Miiller, Wilhelm, ii. 49
Munich in 1813, i. 34, 36
Music of the ancients, i. 124
\TAPLES, Kevolution of 1848, ii.
11 97
Napoleon III., Emperor of the
French, his system, ii. 182.
Events in 1858, 314. His perse-
cution of French Protestants, 322.
The war of 1859 in Italy, 337.
His manifesto, 352
Neufchatel affair, the, ii. 271, 275
Neukomm, the composer, i. 155,
160, 361 ; ii. 5, 8, 257, 315. Bun-
sen's notice of him, i. 161. His
death, ii. 316
Newman, Eev. Dr., i. 252, 308, 369,
376
Nicholas, Emperor of Eussia, his
journey to England, ii. 38. His
war with Turkey, 200
Nicholas of Nassau, Prince, ii. 181
Niebuhr, i. 61, 75, 77, 95, 110. In
Italy, 77. At Eome, 91, 93, 110.
Conversations with, 110. At
the grave of Bunsen's daughter,
122. His part in Platner's ' De-
scription of Eome,' 129. In-
vested with the Grand Cross of
the Order of St. Leopold, 129.
416
INDEX.
NIE
Conducts the King of Prussia
over Eome, 133. Receives a pre-
sent from the King, 135. His
departure from Rome, 136. His
' History of Rome,' 204. His de-
scription of the Nubian inscrip-
tions, 207. His political senti-
ments, 209, 210, 211. His death,
225. Bunsen's letter of condo-
lence to the widow, 228
Niebuhr, Marcus, ii. 227
Nightingale, Miss Florence, ii. 12
Nineveh sculptures, the, ii. 65
Noirleau, Abbe Martin de, ii. 363
Nott, Rev. Dr., i. 168, 212,
Nubia, Niebuhr's account of the in-
scriptions of, i. 207
O'CONNELL, Daniel, his elo-
quence, i. 314.
Oenlenschlager, i. 58
Olfers, Herr von, i. 155
Ord, Sir F., i. 291
Osten, Baron Prokesch von, i. 215
Overbeck, i. 78
Oxford, visit to, i. 307
T)ALESTRINA, his music, i. 124 ;
JL ii. 35
Palmerston, Lord, i. 325. And on
the Neufchatel affair, ii. 90. Anec-
dote of him, 91. Conversation
with him on the affairs of Ger-
many, 148. His speech in 1859,
335
Paolo, S., fuori le mure, burning of,
i. 137
Peel, Sir Robert, i. 313, 381. In-
terview with, 373. Visit to, ii.
24. His death-bed, :27
Persian language, the, i. 68
Perthes, Clement, i. 41
Perthes, Friederich, i. 41
Pertz, Dr., i. 156
Pfuel, General von, i. 277
Philpotts, Rev. Dr., Bishop of
Exeter, i. 298
Pinchinat, Maison, Bunsen at the,
li. 332, 334
ROM
Pius VII., Pope, i. 78. His death
and funeral ohsequies, 138
Pius VIII., Pope, i. 223
Plainer, the artist, his ' Description
of Rome,' i. 128, 204
Plessen, Herr von, i. 176
Pope, funeral obsequies of a, i. 138
Prentiss, Mr., ii. 20
Pritchard, Dr., i. 295, 296 ; ii. 21.
His house, i. 295
Prophets, the old, ii. 50
Prussia, Princess (now Queen), of,
her visit to England, ii. 71
Prussia, government of, i. 259. Its
quarrel with the Court of Rome,
259. Its constitution, ii. 77. The
rising of 1848, 101. Proposals of
a union with Austria, 148
Pusey, Mr., i. 159, 291, 312. Visits
to him at Pusey, 307, 314, 315,
376
Pusey, Rev. Dr., hie well-known
sermon, ii. 29
"DADCLIFFE, Mrs., German
Xt translation of her novels, i. 9
Radowitz, General von, i. 149, 365 ;
ii. 136. His death, 204
Raffles, Lady, i. 316. At High
Wood, 326
Raphael, his ' Madonna della Fa-
migKa di Lante,' i. 167, 169, 176,
182
Reck, Dr., Schulze's character of
him, i. 38. His life at Gottingen,
41. His letters, 41
Reformation, celebration cf the jubi-
lee of the, in Rome, i. 93
Reichenbach, i. 36. His telescope, 36
Rhine boundary, question of the, in
1840, i. 359
Ridhardson's novels, German trans-
lations of, i. 9
Rio, M., of Vannes, i. 232
Ritter the geographer, i. 375
Rogers, Samuel, i. 301
Rome, the city in 1823, i. 139. Sun-
day in, 141. English State papers
in the Vatican, 156, 204. The
' Description of Rome,' 208. The
INDEX.
417
ROS
STA
Archaeological Institute at Rome,
214. The Infirmary for Protes-
tants, 217. The Collegium Preuc-
kianum, 218. The font in the
German chapel, 231. Cholera in
1837, 275
Rosellini, his work on Egypt, i. 215
Kosetta stone, the, i. 153
Rothe, Rev. Richard, chaplain in
Rome, i. 142
Rothschild, Baron, i. 217
Rouen, visit to, i. 339
Russell, Ladv Rachel, at Totteridge,
i. 326
Russell, Lord John (now Earl), at
Stafford House, ii. 6
Russell, Lord William, i. 370
Russian sacred mnsic, i. 179, 183
SACY, Silvestre de, i. 66, 68
Sadi, Bunsen's study of, i. 66
Sailer, Archbishop of Regensburg,
i. 173
Sand, G-eorge, her 'L'Histoire de
ma Vie,' ii. 284
Sandford, Rev. John (now Archdea-
con, i. 380
Sandon, Lady Frances, i. 310
Sans Souci, military festival at, ii.
310. Gardens of, 300
Savigny, i. 61
Schack, General von, i. 116, 171,
172. His services, ll7
Schadow, the sculptor, i. 103
Schelling, i. 35, 251. His lectures,
290
Schiller, centenary of his birth, ii.
361
Schleiermacher, i. 61, 250
Schleswig-Holstein question, the, ii.
186, 191
Schmolck, Benjamin, his devotional
works, i. 7
Schnorr, Julius, i. 155
Schopenhauer, Arthur, his friend-
ship with Bunsen, i. 25
Schopenhauer, Frau, i. 25
Scbulze, Ernsr, i. 65, 73. His friend-
ship with Bunsen, 36. Bunsen's
account of him, 37, note. His ac-
count of the friends at Gottingen,
38. His death, 39
Schumacher, Wolrad, his recollec-
tions of Bunsen, i. 12 ; ii. 52
Schmedding, Under-Secretary, i. 246
Schmieder, the Chaplain at Rome,
i. Ill, 142. His sermons, 112
Schon, President, ii. 175
Schwabe,Mrs.Salis,ii. 215, note, 363
Schwarzenberg, ii. 148
Scipio, Wilhelm, Bunsen's school-
fellow, i. 11
Scott, Charles, i. 232
Scott, Sir Walter, in Rome, i. 231
Seckendorf, i. 35
Seeland, i. 59
Senfft, Count, i. 309
Serre, Count de, i. 131
Seymer, Louisa Ker (afterwards
Mrs. Denison), i. 300, 334, 378.
Her death, 378
Shakspeare, German translations of,
i. 9
Sheridan, his ' School for Scandal,' i.
333
Sieveking, Dr., ii. 13, 116
Sieveking, Syndic, his death, ii. 85, 86
Silesia, troubles in, i. 173
Smith, Adam, ii. 351
Solly collection, the, i. 176
Somaglia, Cardinal della, i. 140
Sophia of Gloucester, Princess, ii.
3, 6
Sovereigns, the Allied, in England,
in 1814, i. 117
Speckter, Otto, i. 42
Spencer, Earl, i. 332
Spiegel zu Darenberg, Count, Arch-
bishop of Cologne, i. 174. His
death, 247
Sporlein in England, i. 376. His visit
to Dr. Newman, 376
Spottiswoode's printing establish-
ment, ii. 220
Stael, Madame Auguste de, ii. 262,
264
Stahl, Professor, i. 350 ; ii. 244
Stanley, Dr., Bishop of Norwich, ii.
22
Stanley, Rev. A. P. (now Dean), i.
361 ; ii. 304
VOL. II.
E E
418
INDEX.
STE
Steffens, i. 172
Stein, Baron von, i. 44, 124
Stephen, Sir James, ii. 151
Stockmar, Baron, ii. 101, 122, 147,
153
Stowell, Kev. Hugh, his sermons, ii.
25
Strangeways, Mr., i. 315
Strauss, Dr., i. 173, 189. At the
palace, 179. His 'Life of Jesus,'
255
Sumner, Rev. Dr., Bishop of Win-
chester, i. 327
Susemieh], of Kiel, student of medi-
cine, i. 28
Sussex, Duke of, ii. 6
Sutherland, Duke of, ii. 6
Sutherland, Duchess of, ii. 6
Switzerland in 1839, i. 340, 341
Sydow, Rudolph von, i. 147,164/230
rpAULER, publication of his ser-
JL mons, ii. 227
Taylor, Edward, ii. 23
Telescope, the, of Reichenbach, i. 36
Testament, New, Lachmann's edition
of the, i. 40
Thiers, M., his history, ii. 84
Thiersch, Bunsen's conversations
with, i. 36
Thile, General von, i. 3.58, 378, 379
Thirwall, Dr. (now Bishop of St.
David's), i. 107, 212
Tholuck, i. 172
Thorwaldsen, his works, i. 126
Ticknor, Mr., of Boston, i. 107
Tieck, his ' Puss in Boots,' ii. 36
Tippelkirsch, Herr von, i. 147, 189
Tivoli, Niebuhr and Bunsen at, i.
110
Tocqueville,M.de,his illness, ii.332.
His death, 337
Totteridge, ii. 107, 108, 112
Tractai ianism in England, ii. 49
TTLRICH, of Jena, student of me-
U decine, i. 28, 29
Ungern-Sternberg, Baron von, his
marriage, ii. 242
WES
I University, national, Bunsen's idea
of a, i. 255
Usedom, Herr von, i. 164, 319
tixkull, Baroness Clara Boris von,
ii. 242
M ? j 3 51
' Varnhagen, Diary of,' ii. 356
Verney, Sir Harry, i. 329
Vernon, Mrs., i. 380
Vicovara, i. 150
Victoria, Queen, her reception of the
King of Prussia, ii. 4. Hervisitto
Germany, 55. Her anxiety respect-
ing the education of her children,
74. Grants Bunsen a private
audience, 89. Effect on her of the
news of Si rR. Peel's death, 165
Vienna in 1848, ii. 122
Vischering, Baron Droste von, Arch-
bishop of Cologne, i. 264. Ar-
rested, 266
Voss, Henry, his song on the new
year, i. 28
WADDINGTON, Mr., and his
family in Rome, i. 79
Waddington, Mrs., i. 79. Her ill-
ness and death, ii. 153
Waddington, Miss, Bunsen's intro-
duction to, i. 83
Waddington, Marchesa Florenzi, ii.
169
Wagner, Mrs., ii. 217
Waldeckin 1814, i. 43
Waldeck, Christine Wilhelmine,
Countess of. i. 5. Her kindness
to him, 21
Walewski, Count, ii. 203
Weigel, Pfarrer, i. 20
Wellington, Duke of, i. 306, 311,
315. His remarks on military
regulations, ii. 46. And on the
threatened disturbances of April
10, 1848, 106
Welsh music and poetry, i. 357.
Literature, 357
Westphalia, Jerome Bonaparte's se-
vere rule in. i. 11
INDEX.
419
WEY
Weyer, M. van de, Belgian envoy to
England, ii. 97
Whately, Archbishop, i. 242
Wichern of Hamburg, ii. 181
Wiebeking, i. 36
Wied, Prince and Princess of, ii.
181, 212, 250, 384
Wiesmann, Pastor, ii. 386
Wigand, Frederica, ii. 52
William, Prince (now King) of
Prussia, his visit to Kome, i. 133
William I., King of Prussia, when
Prince, i. 133; ii. 35. Visits
England with Bunsen as his
guide, 42. At Carlton Terrace in
1848, 102. Eeturns to Germany,
112. Prince Albert's letter to
him, 151. Bunseti's interview with
him, 309. Becomes Kegent, 312
Williams, Bowland, his ' Christi-
anity and Hinduism,' ii. 282
Willisen, Lieut.-Col., i. 155
Winkworth, Miss, her translation of
' Signs of the Times,' ii. 242
zsc
Wittgenstein, Prince, i. 135, 247
Witzleben, General, i. 133
Woburn Abbey, ii. 92.
Wolff, the sculptor, his bust of
Bunsen, i. 196, 197
Wood, Mr., of the High Church
party, i. 310
Wordsworth, William, ii. 152, 153
Wyse, Mr., i. 314
TTOKK, General, i. 116
JL York, Count, son of the pre-
ceding, i. 155
Young, Dr., his discoveries in Egyp-
tian hieroglyphics, i. 153
F7ELLER, director, at Beuggen, i.
IJ 356
Zelter, director of the Sing-Aka-
demie, i. 182
Ziegler, Professor, of Berne, i. 341
Zschokke, i. 342
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