ABSTRACT
Richard Rush, American ambassador in London.239 List declared later that he first became interested in railways during this visit to England.24O
By the end of May 1824 List was back in Aarau. His prospects were gloomy. The final breach with Adolf and Karl Follen, which occurred in July, deprived him of the opportunity of earning a living by contributing to the Europaische Blatter. 241 He considered that he should either return to Wiirttemberg or seek his fortune in America. His three appeals to the King of Wiirttemberg for a pardon - or at least a mitigation of his sentence - had fallen on deaf ears.242. J. G. Cotta and Herzog had interceded on his behalf but to no avail. 243 Yet List apparently imagined that if he returned voluntarily to Stuttgart the king might change his mind. In June List's brother-in-law Fritz Seybold urged him to come to Stuttgart and offered him a post on the Neckar Zeitung. He appealed to List to consider the dangers that his wife and family might have to face if he took them to America. 244 In July List made up his mind and wrote to Menzel: "I shall return because circumstances force me to do so" .245 He reached Stuttgart early in August246 and by August 6 he was in the fortress of Hohenasperg.247 His enemies in the civil service had at last obtained their revenge on a former colleague who had dared to expose their inefficiency and corrupt practices. Well might List reflect on the old saying: Ingrata suevia, ingrata suevorum patria.
