387j. Adalbert Friedrich Marcus to Schelling in Würzburg: Bamberg, 4 November 1804 [*]
Bamberg, 4 November 1804
Here I am again. How much would I have given to have found you on my return. [1] I departed Munich on Tuesday, my affair having been definitively concluded in the state council on Monday. I had pushed for an opinion from a court of cassation or a transfer of files to impartiales. [2] The former was chosen. The falsum was turned into a police transgression and I sentenced to a fine [3] . . . and public declaration that I was the author of the article. [4] That resolution will be sent to the court here.
Herr von Zentner functioned as referens. [5] He promised to use the most considerate wording possible in the rescript. Indeed, even in the larger sense I was treated with the greatest consideration and considerable distinction in Munich. . . . I have been charged with working up a plan for the medical facilities in all of Bavaria. I will be coming to Würzburg to organize the Julius Hospital etc. etc.
I have infinitely many things to tell you, my dear friend, but I must wait to do so in person. I am thinking about . . . visiting you at the beginning of next week, and have already written as much to Count von Thürheim. — Your letter to the count has been presented to the ministry. [6] You will be receiving a rebuke and accused of arrogance. [7] —
Herr von Zentner is your true friend, and he also knows that our connection is inseparable. We must go to work quite carefully, otherwise we will damage the good cause, become needlessly entangled, and in the end the louts will triumph after staking everything on our imprudence, since they otherwise have no hope. You know that I am not the fearful sort, and can count on my courage and steadfastness where such might be of use. . . .
Notes
[*] Sources: Fuhrmans 3:129–30.
For the background to this letter, see Marcus’s letters to Schelling on 13 and 14 October 1804 (letter 387f). Schelling’s status and reputation in Würzburg and even among administrators in Munich was becoming increasingly precarious. Back.
[1] I.e., in Bamberg, where Caroline and Schelling had been since early September 1804; they were now back in Würzburg (Neueste Post. Karte von Deutschland und den angrenzenden Laendern [Vienna 1805]):
[2] I.e., to an impartial tribunal. Back.
[3] Falsum, Latin, civil law: a fraudulent or forged imitation or perversion of the truth; dissimulation, in this case allegedly Marcus’s anonymous article in the Zeitung für die elegante Welt, which through Marcus’s disingenuous communication with Karl Spazier, the editor of the newspaper, had been attributed to Konrad Joseph Kilian, an attribution Marcus had done nothing to correct. Back.
[4] Concerning the public declaration Marcus was required to publish, see supplementary appendix 383f.1, note 4. Back.
[5] Latin, here: “presenter.” Back.
[6] Schelling’s letter to Count Friedrich Karl von Thürheim on 26 September 1804 (letter 387e). Back.
[7] See Thürheim’s letter to Schelling on 7 November 1804 (letter 387k). Back.
Translation © 2017 Doug Stott