[128] am engaged every day. All the distinguished professors I have seen familiarly, or received them at my own room. Raumer,1 and Ranke,2 the historians; of these two, Ranke pleases me the most: he has the most vivacity, humor, and, I should think, genius, and is placed before Raumer here. You doubtless know his ‘History of the Popes;’ Mrs. Austin is translating it in England. Humboldt3 is very kind to me. He is placed at the head of the conversers of Germany. So far as I can compare conversation in different languages, his reminds me of Judge Story's: it is rapid, continuous, unflagging, lively, various. He has spoken to me in the highest terms of Prescott's book,—which I saw on his table,—as has Ranke also. In a note to me, he spoke of ‘l'excellent et spirituel Gouverneur Everett.’ Savigny4 I know well, and have had the great pleasure of discussing with him the question of codification. I was told in Paris that he had modified his views on this subject of late years; but I was sorry to find that my informants are mistaken. He is as firm as ever in his opposition to codes. He listened very kindly to my views on the subject, but seemed unshakable in his own. He is placed, by common consent, at the head of jurisprudence in Germany, and, you may say, upon the whole Continent. He had read Judge Story's ‘Conflict of Laws’ with admiration, and wished to know why he was not on our committee for codifying the Criminal Law. Savigny, in personal appearance and manner, resembles Webster more than any person I have ever seen. He is taller, not quite so stout; has the same dark face, hair, and eyes; and as he has been sitting by my side, when I have first caught his voice, I have thought it was our Senator's. Savigny and Humboldt both are in what is called the societyof Berlin; that is, with la haute volee,the court, and the diplomatic circle,—though I have not seen either there. The other professors do not enter that circle. Most of the corps diplomatiqueand the Ministers I know already; and I have been well received by the Crown Prince, and the Prince William, and their princesses.5 The Crown Prince, who seems bon garcon,inquired about our summers: he thought they must be magnificent. I told him I thought so, till I had been in Italy. He asked me if Boston were not an old city (une ville
This text is part of:
1 Friedrich Ludwig George von Raumer, 1781-1873. He was Professor of History and Political Economy at Berlin, 1819-1853. He is the author of a work upon the United States.
2 Leopold von Ranke, born in 1795. He became Professor of History at Berlin, in 1825, and is still (1877) pursuing his vocation.
3 Alexander von Humboldt, 1769-1859. At the time of Sumner's visit, he had recently published his ‘Critical Examination of the Geography of the New Continent.’ The first volume of the ‘Cosmos’ appeared in 1845.
4 Friedrich Karl von Savigny, 1779-1861. He was a Professor in the University of Berlin, 1810-1842; and was appointed, in 1842, Minister of Justice of Prussia.
5 Frederick William III. was then King of Prussia. He was born Aug. 3, 1770, succeeded to the throne Nov. 16, 1797, and died June 7, 1840. The Crown Prince was his son, Frederick William IV., who was born Oct. 15, 1795, and died at Sans-Souci, Potsdam, Jan. 2, 1861. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Maximilian, of Bavaria. Prince William, brother of Frederick William IV., and now Emperor of Germany, was born March 22, 1797, and succeeded on his brother's death to the throne. He married, in 1829, a daughter of the Grand Duke Charles Frederick, of Saxe-Weimar.
Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.
Tufts University provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.