Problems with Religion and Politics 337Countess ofK.: Without doubt, it was at the instigation of the Principal Minister that
he was put before the inquisition. Do you know this Principal Minister?
Lady von Recke: No, but I have heard a great deal about him.
Countess ofK.: I happened to be in Berlin when he married his wife, and as Minis¬
ter von Finckelstein got really worked up over this. All Berlin said that he loved the
mother and married the daughter.
Lady von Recke: I can show the letter of the empress to the Geheime Rat in any case.
Countess ofK.: Certainly, but the letter must remain secret, for the empress alludes
to a ruler (Fürst) who should not be far from here. Did you read Wiirzer then?
I: Preface and Dedication to the king. And there I found a very mediocre author and
otherwise nothing further.
Lady von Recke: They inquired with whom he was acquainted, and his answer was:
with the hangman, with two Jews, and two weeks ago I was at Dr. Biester's. Biester was
indicted and interrogated. And he said, if it was a mistake that I heard from Magister
Wiirzer that he wanted to write his book, if it was a crime to be a mediocre writer, then
Herr Wiirzer and I are culpable. -They let Biester go right away. - God!
There was a political discourse in which the officers were very active. Kant, as did
I, declared that the Russians were our main enemies.
Lady von Recke and the Countess were of a different opinion and for the Russians.
Lady von Recke assured us that the Emperor was hated and not respected in his own
country,... and that there would probably be no war.
I wished for war and I got war, which, however, was soon over, because I only wished
for war so that there would be a longer and more solid peace. The Mamsell Reichardt,
a companion of Lady von Recke, always interrupted interveniendo when the poor Elisa
wanted to in accordance with her appetite. I took care of the appetite, for one has to
give it at least one vote, even though Mamsell Reichardt remained the president of this
tribunal.
Of Enlightenment, Air Ships, etc.
Prof. Holzhauer, as a friend of the friend Göcking: It cannot yet be determined what
damage the religious edict could do. No one can always vote with his church, even if
there were a thousand edicts.
Lady von Recke: All right, but hypocrisy will be extra-ordinarily furthered, fed and
cultivated in this way. To me: You will read the letter of the empress, won't you?
To Kant: I am an enemy of all dogmatism, and I think religion must be in the heart.
Kant: Yes, but even natural religion has its dogmatism.
Lady von Recke: But then it must be very comprehensible.
A little dispute about natural science, which, I maintained, was the most important
enemy of superstition; against which professor Kant objected that it depended on en¬
tirely different principles. All true, I said. Yet it teaches nevertheless how the miracu¬
lous can be explained, and thus dispels the fear and the false idols of superstition, since
superstition is based on miracles. Much about Blomhard who had permission to go to
Breslau and Königsberg.
Countess Keyserlingk: What in the world does he want to do in Königsberg?
Exactly, I thought to myself, since Your Excellency is so exact, while having an in¬
come of 5000 Thalers a year, that there exists not a single house, etc.