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Alexander von Humboldt: „[Insel Cuba]“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1856-Insel_Cuba-11-neu> [abgerufen am 24.04.2024].
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| Titel | [Insel Cuba] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jahr | 1856 | ||||
| Ort | London | ||||
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Nachweis in: The Athenæum. Journal of English and Foreign Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts 1501 (2. August 1856), S. 964–965.
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| Sprache | Englisch | ||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung, Kapitälchen. | ||||
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|964|
A few weeks ago we reviewed a reprint fromAmerica bearing the title ‘The Island of Cuba,’by Alexander Humboldt, with Notes and a Pre-liminary Essay by J. S. Thrasher. The publica-tion, as we said at the time, appeared to be issuedas a vehicle for the notes,—and Baron Humboldtvery properly refuses to sanction the use of hisname for such a purpose. The Spener’she Zeitung
of July 25 contains the following protest from theNestor of Travel:—
—The request appears very reasonable to theEuropean mind, not much agitated with thepeculiar institution. But Mr. Thrasher writes fora more susceptible public. We notice in thisappeal to the press renewed evidence of the extra-ordinary intellectual vigour of a traveller countingeighty-seven summers.
“Berlin, July.
“In the year 1826, I published in Paris, underthe title of ‘Essai Politique sur l’Isle de Cuba,’ intwo volumes, all that the large edition of my‘Voyage aux Régions Equinoxiales du NouveauContinent,’ T. III., contained on the state ofagriculture and slavery in the Antilles. At thesame time an English and a Spanish translation ofthis work were published, the latter entitled‘Ensayo Politico sobre la Isla de Cuba,’ and ofcourse neither of these omitted any of the frankand open remarks which feelings of humanity hadinspired. Just now, strangely enough, the pub-lishers, Derby & Jackson, of New York, haveissued, translated from the Spanish translation,and not from the French original, an octavo volumeof 400 pages under the title of ‘The Island ofCuba,’ by Alexander Humboldt, with Notes anda Preliminary Essay by J. S. Thrasher. Thetranslator, who has lived a long time on thatbeautiful island, has enriched my work by morerecent facts on the subject of the population, onthe cultivation of the soil, and the state of trade,and, generally speaking, has exhibited a charitablemoderation in his discussion of conflicting opinions.I owe it, however, to a moral feeling, that is nowas lively in me as it was in 1826, publicly to com-plain that in a work which bears my name theentire seventh chapter of the Spanish translation(pp. 261–287), with which my essai politique ended,has been arbitrarily omitted. To this very portionof my work I attach greater importance than toany astronomical observations, experiments ofmagnetic intensity, or statistical statements. ‘J’aiexaminé avec franchise (I repeat the words whichI used thirty years ago) ce qui concerne l’organi-sation des sociétés humaines dans les colonies,l’inégale répartition des droits et de jouissances dela vie, les dangers menaçants que la sagesse deslégislateurs et la modération des hommes librespeuvent éloigner, quelleque soit la forme desGouvernements. Il appartient au voyageur qui avu de près ce qui tourmente et degrade la naturehumaine de faire parvenir les plaintes de l’infortuneà ceux qui ont le devoir des les soulager. J’airappelé dans cet exposé combien l’ancienne légis-lation Espagnolle de l’esclavage est moins inhu-maine et moins atroce que celle des États à esclavesdans l’Amérique continentale au nord et au sud del’équateur.’ A constant advocate as I am for themost unfettered expression of opinion in speech orin writing, I should never have thought of com-plaining if I had been attacked on account of my
|965| statements. But I think I am entitled to demandthat in the free States of America people shouldbe allowed to read what has been permitted tocirculate from the first year of its appearance in aSpanish translation.
“Alexander von Humboldt.”