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To this I may add, that in consideration of the many and various disciplines, earnestly and steadily cultivated by me for several years past, such as intellectual philosophy, the learned and modern languages, linguistics and the history of literature generally, I could in academic justice demand the right to instruct in any one of the departments for which I was fitted. That such a right exists, and that it is applicable to my case, the reader may learn from Sir William Hamilton's Essays on University Education, recently republished in America, to which I refer passim. I can therefore confidently challenge not only the chancellor, but, in case of a concurrence in his sentiments, the entire faculty of the University to the following proposition: – In case my capacity to teach or lecture academically is questioned, I propose to take, and I demand one of the following chairs; where under suitable auspices and with proper and regular provisions for the maintenance of order, I could at once begin: – 1st, The Latin language and literature. – 2d, the Greek ditto, ditto. – 3d, Moral and intellectual philosophy, either systematically or historically. – 4th, History or the general history of literature (of which I have at present a text-book in preparation). – 5th, Linguistics or the classification of languages, including general grammar. – 6th, the history of modern (European) languages and literatures. – 7th, the elements of the Sanscrit, of which I still have a Mss. grammar, compiled by myself for my private use, during the winter of 1851. – I omit mentioning the remaining academic disciplines, for which I have no particular taste, but which I still could teach, and for which I could prepare the text-books, if it were necessary to do so.

3d, The alleged indications of insanity were utterly unfounded at the time they were made. I had recovered my usual health and spirits immediately after the commencement of last year, about the beginning of July '53, when those who had flagrantly disturbed the quiet of my residence in and about the University building had vanished into the country. Of the winter of 1852-'53 I only recollect, that subsequently to the dismissal of my class, which I could not in honor consent to hear any longer, I made a fruitless attempt to continue my private studies, and to finish a commentary on a Greek drama which I had begun at the commencement of the term, and that the ominous symptoms of external insanity about me soon increased to such an alarming extent, that I was forced to lay aside my pen, unable to endure the outrage and annoyance any longer; that gangs of scandalous ruffians in the shape of boys, girls, men and women, many of whom I knew by their voices, kept up at certain intervals, by day and by night, a nefarious system of mystification and of nuisance from January to the end of June, in the council-room of the institution, in the hall, before my door, in front of my window, and on the parade ground; that in consequence of all this my rest at night was completely broken, until I could only sleep by day; that after a while I was confined to my bed most of the time, and that I frequently did not rise for breakfast till 6 o'clock, P. M.; that it was painful and disgusting for me to be awake, and that all I read for several successive months was "Hegel's Logic" for two or three hours a day, and that for some time I only eat once a day. In May, I think, I fled to a neighboring State and University, partly with the intention of changing my place of residence. – As a psychologist I was well aware, that sleep was a sovereign preventive, as well as a remedy for all the disorders of the mind, especially for those which might arise from external causes such as those I have just described; I therefore anticipated and prevented the unhappy consequences which the Dr. seems to have expected from the outrageous nuisance of his cherished institution, where such scenes of scandal only date from the time his prospective and his actual entrance on the duties of his office, and really seem to have been made to order, I know not for whose benefit (certainly not for mine). During the summer I was, in consequence of the happy reaction and repose, unusually gay and regular in my work. I then wrote an introduction to Schiller's Maid of Orleans, another one to Gœthe's Iphigenia, and a third to Tieck's Puss in Boots, all of which have since been published in my new Manual of German Literature. I deny, therefore, having ever given any symptoms of insanity whatsoever at any time of the year, while I admit that a renewal of the scandal (which the parties concerned have endeavored to revive since my release this spring, but which I checked by a speedy notice to the police court and to some of my friends), in the autumn might have led to such calamitous results. Neither my Kant, nor my Rauch, nor my Hegel, nor any other philosopher or psychologist could for one moment be induced to admit, that the presence of external causes and tendencies to intellectual derangement were necessarily attended or followed by the malady itself. This would be an egregious logical fallacy, to which no intelligent physician in or out of the Lunatic Asylum could for one moment subscribe, without justly incurring the risk of being charged with an inexcusable lack of professional knowledge and experience or what is still worse, with a criminal connivance at an unjust and inquitous conspiracy against the reputation and the life of an American citizen. To the charge of the folly of suffering so long and so severely from so gross a system of disorder which might have speedily been checked by the extra-academic authorities of the city, I can only reply, that the confusion and the consequent embarrassment was so great, that it was impossible for me at the time to come to any decision as to the course to be pursued. The most advisable policy would have been, to have left entirely, and to have directed the correction or the punishment from a distance. The following letters, written from the Lunatic Asylum (between which and the University there was a manifest internal harmony, and which was evidently commissioned to complete the work of humiliation and of subjugation), may serve to elucidate the facts of the case with some additional particulars.

To the above mentioned causes of the ruin of my health, I may add, that during the same winter I had an opportunity of witnessing a resurrection of "Salem Witchcraft," practiced on me by a certain lady, a mother in Israel of this city, who was manifestly in connection with the ultra-calvinistic faction of the University, which is the one to which Dr. Ferris is indebted for his elevation. I moreover discovered in the same connection, one of the two sources, from which the low insults in the street, at certain well-known hours of my walks, in certain places and directions, (to which I made allusion in my letter to the mayor of the city,) had emanated, and I received some additional light on certain events of my personal history, to which I allude in letter No. 5. – A father in Israel, a gray-headed sinner in my opinion, likewise informed me that they had the Irish to defend them. – I venture to assert that few of my countrymen, except perhaps the lowest rabble, would ever lend their aid to such nefarious purposes.

From all that I have had occasion to observe of social disorder and discontent in the city for several years past, I am sure that there are men who foment intestine commotions, who shamelessly and openly conspire against the honor and the interests, if not against the property and lives of their fellow-citizens, and whom the State ought to prosecute and punish as offenders against a clearly defined law of the statute-book.

My sanity at the time of arrest I can establish: – 1st, By the testimony of those who saw me daily, and more especially, by that of a young man, who came to see me frequently, after the reception of Dr. Ferris' letter, and who in fact brought it from the office. 2dly, By the testimony of a distinguished physician, who about a week before, dressed a slight wound on one of my eye-brows, received from a fall against my sofa in the dark. 3dly, By the fact, that I was quietly and constantly engaged in writing, and in daily communication with the printer, who stereotyped my "Hand-book of German Literature." Symptoms of unusual excitement, in consequence of such an outrage, are no proof of derangement.

LETTER IV

Bloomingdale Asylum, Dec. 26th, 1853.

To – , Washington, D. C.

Dear Sir,

For several years past, I have repeatedly been on the point of making an effort to resuscitate a slight, but to me no less cherished acquaintance, by giving you some account of my doings and purposes, which, I have sometimes flattered myself, might not be without interest both to yourself and to such of your co-adjutors in Washington, as have enlisted with you in the noble cause of extending and diffusing knowledge among men. Of the proceedings of your institution I have occasionally informed myself, both from the pamphlets and reports periodically submitted to the public, and more especially from the volumes of regular "Transactions," in the archæological and linguistical parts of which, I have taken so much the greater interest, as of late years my own attention has at times been almost exclusively directed to the same field of investigation. It is true, I have as yet neither been able nor willing to give any positive result of my studies. I have hardly done anything more than "to break the ice." This, however, I may safely say to have done, having not only had the best opportunities, (since I saw you last in 1848) of surveying the field in the time-honored centres of intellectual light on the other side of the Atlantic, but having also since my return, as a member of several Learned Associations, had special occasion and incitement to keep alive my interest in these engaging pursuits. And if there be any truth in the ancient adage: ἀρχὴ ἥμισυ παντός, I may perhaps even entertain the hope (non invitá Minervâ) of some future concentration of my somewhat desultory excursions in these regions of light (where ignorance indeed, but ignorance alone, sees only darkness) to some radiant focal point. There are a number of subjects, closely connected with the inquiries, that come under the cognizance of the historico-philosophical section of your institute, which, I see, are agitated anew by the savants of the old world, and which to the resolution of certain problems, relating to the primitive history of this continent, are equally important here, perhaps entitled to our special consideration. Recent investigations would seem to show, for example, that our genial and acute Du Ponceau had by no means said the last word on the subject he has so learnedly reported. Several new works on the origin and classification of languages, that have made their appearance in Berlin, &c., since the day of Humboldt's attempt, would seem to invite to similar efforts on our side, and with special reference to the immensity of our cis-Atlantic field, which ought to be κατ' ἐξοχήν adopted as our own. Having most of these materials at hand, I have sometimes been tempted myself to try, whether by an exposition of the present state of that science, as cultivated by the Germans particularly, a new impulsion might not be imparted to it among ourselves. Some such purpose has been among the tasks, which I had proposed to myself for the present winter. The sudden suspension of my studies, and the consequent uncertainty of my affairs, however, have so seriously deranged my plans, that now I almost despair of being able to accomplish any of my more immediate and necessary purposes. – You will undoubtedly be surprised to learn, that I have been an inmate of the Lunatic Asylum, at Bloomingdale, for now nearly three months; your surprise will be still greater, when you come to learn, by what sort of machinations I have been brought here.

For several years past, I have been made the object of a systematic and invidious persecution, in consequence of which I have been obliged to shift my residence from one place to another, to spend my means in involuntary exile and unnecessary travelling, and altogether to lead a life of a discouraging uncertainty.

Shortly after my visit to Washington, (1848), where I saw you last, I was driven away from New-York, while yet absorbed in the midst of an arduous undertaking, (my large German and English Dictionary, which in consequence of my forced removal from the place of printing, I had to finish at an inconvenient distance), under circumstances of the most aggravated insults and abuses, (such as I had never dreamt men capable of,) and about six months after its completion the same miserable clique had already "finished" me in Boston and a regular "hedjra" to Europe was the consequence. ¹ – I spent a year in London, Paris and Berlin, in a miserable struggle to repair my shattered health, (I had a cough, contracted from sheer vexation, while in the clutches of the miserable wretches, who seemed to be determined to vex me out of existence, which clung to me a year and ever and anon returns again,) and what was still more difficult, to forget the loathsome reminiscences of the immediate past by bringing myself in contact with the sanatory influences of the literature and art of the old world; partly with the intention of remaining there. I returned, however, in the hope of finding my difficulties subsided. But the same odious conspiracy, which had even contrived to mar my comfort and happiness in one place on the other side, (in Paris, where I spent the greater part of an academic year, at the University and libraries, in various studies,) had, as I found to my surprise, kept up a malevolent espionage over my peregrinations even, and I have since been subjected to a series of vexations and intrigues, which at times made me regret that I had not preferred any lot in a foreign land and among entire strangers to such an ignoble re-establishment at home. A personal attachment of former years was made use of to harass and lacerate my feelings, and an underhanded, venomous persecution, (which the parties, who were the authors, and who were in alliance with certain ecclesiastical tricksters, did not even blush to own), followed me at every step. The scum of New-York in the shape of Negroes, Irishmen, Germans, &c., were hired, in well-organized gangs, to drop mysterious allusions and to offer me other insults in the street, (and thus I was daily forced to see and hear things in New-York, of which I had never dreamt before,) while a body of proselyting religionists were busy in their endeavors to make me a submissive tool of some ecclesiastical party or else to rob me of the last prospect of eating a respectable piece of bread and butter. This odious vice of certain countrymen of yours was in fact the prolific source of all the difficulties I complain of, and it is remotely the cause of my confinement here.