Benjamin Constant

didn’t neglect any information that could be obtained about those

people you are in the habit of judging on the basis of passion and

prejudice. I have accused you sometimes of not revising views you

have held for a long time: but this is not the case, for in fact you re-

examine and re-evaluate men and things with asonishing patience.

The trial of the supporters of Brissot, that of the King, the conduct

of R[obespierre] on 10 August [1792], the tenor, spirit and

intention of his speeches to the Convention and the Jacobins since

that period—you know about all of these things and you spare no

one. I found your moral sense to be as strict as your reason is

enlightened.^74

On his journey across Germany he passed scenes of devastation caused by

the war between revolutionary France and the counter-revolutionary
coalition which reinforced his longing for peace. His affection for

Germany was reinforced when he spent a few days in Göttingen during the

second half of April 1794 and visited the renowned University Library. In

his search for some new political arrangement for when the guillotinings

and anarchy had finally subsided in France there was something to be
learned from Germany, as he revealed to Isabelle on 20 April:

I spend my time going to see professors, who are more interesting

than I had thought. They question me as much as they can about the

situation in France, and are cross or pleased by what I tell them

depending on whether they are aristocrats or republicans

[démocrates]. But I do notice that the aristocracy here is

considerably more tempered by education, and the republicans are

more moderate because of the power of self-interest. I have only

met one fanatic who wanted France annihilated.^75

The day before he had written to his aunt Anne de Nassau in praise of the

Duke of Brunswick:

My Duke has confirmed the unlimited freedom of the press on his

territory. He has put his University on the surest footing. He is

remarkable for possessing all the moderation, the wisdom, and the

liberal and humane principles that can be expected of anyone. It is

a source of pleasure to be in such a man’s service.^76

And for once Constant meant what he said. For despite the Duke’s being

military leader of the alliance against France, he remained a model ruler,

Benjamin constant 148