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Alexander von Humboldt: „Mr. Thrasher’s Book on 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-21-neu> [abgerufen am 19.04.2024].
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| Titel | Mr. Thrasher’s Book on Cuba | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jahr | 1856 | ||||
| Ort | New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||
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Nachweis in: The Daily Picayune (21. August 1856), [o. S.].
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| Sprache | Englisch | ||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung, Kapitälchen, Schriftgradverkleinerung. | ||||
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|Seitenumbruch|
The very valuable and instructive book on
Cuba, which was published in New York last
season, by our fellow-citizen, Mr. John S.
Thrasher, has been recently made the theme
of discussion, by a complaint made in Europe
by Baron Humboldt, that Mr, Thrasher omit-
ted a material chapter in the work translated,
of which the Baron is the author. We pub-
lish below the article in which Humboldt
makes this criticism, and the reply which Mr.
Thrasher has put forth in New York. Mr.
Thrasher explains that he published every
thing from Humboldt contained in the vo-
lume, which had reference to the subject of
Cuba, up to the point at which Mr. Thrasher’s
personal inquiries and investigations com-
menced. There is no ground for imputing
any mutilation or suppression.
While on the subject, we may say that the
book of Mr. Thrasher is one of very great in-
terest, very full of important and carefully
prepared information on the state, progress,
and prospects of Cuba—social, political and
material—and the most complete exposition of
the whole of the “Cuban question” which has
yet been published in this country, and ought
to be universally read.
The card of Humboldt, which follows, pays
a high tribute to the literary and statistical
merits of the book, which has such substan-
tial claims to American study.
The following is the article of Baron Hum-
boldt, which he caused to be inserted in the
Spenersche Zeitung:
Under the title of “Essai Politique sur l’Isle de
Cuba,” published in Paris in 1826, I collected to-
gether all that the large edition of my “Voyage aux
Régions Equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent” con-
tained upon the state of agriculture and slavery in
the Antilles. There appeared at the same time an
English and a Spanish translation of this work, the
latter entitled “Ensayo Politico sobre la Isla de Cu-
ba,” neither of which omitted any of the frank and
open remarks which feelings of humanity had in-
spired. But there appears just now, strangely
enough, translated from the Spanish translation, and
not from the French original, and published by Derby
& Jackson in New York, an octavo volume of 400
pages, under the title of “The Island of Cuba,” by
Alexander Humboldt; with notes and a preliminary
essay, by J. S. Thrasher. The translator, who has
lived a long time on that beautiful island, has enriched
my work by more recent data on the subject of the
numerical standing of the population, of the cultiva-
tion of the soil, and the state of trade, and, gene-
rally speaking, exhibited a charitable moderation in
his discussion of conflicting opinions. I owe it, how-
ever, to a moral feeling, that is now as lively in me as
it was in 1826, publicly to complain that in a work
which bears my name, the entire seventh chapter
of the Spanish translation, with which my “Es-
sai Politique” ended, has been arbitrarily omitted.
To this very portion of my work I attach greater
importance than to any astronomical observations,
experiments of magnetic intensity, or statistical
statements. “J’ai examiné avec franchise (I here
repeat the words which I used thirty years ago) ce
qui concerne l’organisation des sociétés humaines
dans les colonies, l’inégale répartition des droits et
des jouissances de la vie, les dangers menaçants que
la sagesse des législateurs et la modération des
hommes libres peuvent éloigner, quelleque soit la
forme des Gouvernements. Il appertient au voya-
geur qui a vu de près ce qui tourmente et degrade la
nature humaine de faire parvenir les plaintes de l’in-
fortune à ceux qui ont le devoir de les soulager. J’ai
rappelé dans cet exposé combien l'ancienne législa-
tion Espagnolle de l’esclavage est moins inhumaine
et moins atroce que celle des Etats à esclaves dans
l’Amérique continentale au nord et au sud de l’équa-
teur.” A steady advocate as I am for the most un-
fettered expression of opinion in speech or in writ-
ing, I should never have thought of complaining if I
had been attacked on account of my statements; but
I do think I am entitled to demand that in the free
States of the continent of America, people should be
allowed to read what has been permitted to circulate
from the first year of its appearance in a Spanish
translation.
Mr. Thrasher’s Book on Cuba.
Alexander von Humboldt.
Berlin, July, 1856.
Mr. Thrasher’s reply is as follows:
To the Editor of the Herald:
New York, August 13, 1856.
Dear Sir—I have noticed in your journal an article
which has been published by Baron Humboldt in the
Spenersche Zeitung, in relation to my translation of
his essay on the Island of Cuba, published by Derby
& Jackson. As your readers may be led to infer that
I have willfully mutilated a work of that great writer,
I request that you will publish the following explana-
tion.
Being destrous of placing in the hands of Ameri-
can readers such information in relation to the Island
of Cuba as my studies had enabled me to obtain, I
made the translation referred to, as being the best
work I had ever seen on the subject. In under-
taking this labor I was not aware that any English
version of the work had ever been made, and I
used the Spanish edition for text simply because,
being ignorant of the French language, I could
not translate the essay from that tongue.
As it was written thirty years ago, during which
time the material development of Cuba had been
very great, a continuation of Baron Humboldt’s re-
marks became necessary, in order to bring the sub-
ject matter up to the present time, and this labor I
have inserted in notes. In carrying out the design
of a work on Cuba, I deemed that I could not take
up the subject at a more appropriate point than that
where the illustrious author had left it in 1825.
The chapter complained of as being omitted is a
distinct essay “On Slavery,” and is so entitled in the
volume where it is published. Cuba is only inciden-
tally alluded to in it, while it begins with this express
declaration: “I here close the Examen, or Political
Essay on Cuba, in which I have presented the state
of this important Spanish possession as it at present
exists.” Baron Humboldt’s complaint is not that I
have mutilated his essay on Cuba, but that I have not
published all the matter contained in the volume from
which I have translated his work on that important
island. I would add that so one entertains a higher
or more sincere regard than I do for the great and
venerable name of Alexander von Humboldt.
I would ask those journals that may have alluded
to or published the article in question to publish also
this letter. Very respectfully, yours,
J. S. Thrasher.