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Leopold was placed in an extremely difficult position, and his 
conduct cannot be fairly judged without more knowledge of the 
circumstances than is ever likely to be revealed. But he should 
have all the benefit of the doubt concerning his complicity in the 
dark secret with which his younger brother, Margrave Wilhelm, 
was evidently well acquainted from the first. Leopold’s intel- 
ectual power was insignificant, and his reign is memorable chiefly 
'n connection with the tragedy of Kaspar Hauser. 
He married, in 1819, his cousin, Sophie Vasa, who for many 
years carried on a notorious Zaison with the wealthy Jewish 
banker, Moritz von Haber, of Karlsruhe. The head of the firm 
vas ennobled by Grand-Duke Ludwig as a reward Jor services 
rendered, and it was the house of Haber that supplied Lord 
stanhope’s purse. 
But whether Grand-Duke Leopold was sincere or not in the 
professions. made before the Privy Council, and repeated in 
Stanhope’s hearing, it is certain that any plan for the acknow- 
'edgment of the abducted Prince, involving a confession of the 
rime committed against him, was sure to be opposed and, if 
possible, circumvented by Hennenhofer. He hated Kaspar 
Hauser, as a wicked man always hates the victim whom he has 
wronged ; he knew that the youth, crippled in body and mind 
rom his long imprisonment, would never be capable of ruling 
ais kingdom intelligently, and he felt certain, that however 
Jetermined Leopold might be to make the best of a bad job, he 
would yet be glad to be relieved of the burden and disgrace of 
such an undertaking as he had planned. 
Hennenhofer was a hard, coarse man, void of principles and 
void of conscience : public exposure would be his ruin, while one 
crime the more might save him and deliver all who suffered under 
the pressure of the terrible secret. It was only the repetition of 
his earliest decision, which other persons had formerly set aside— 
10w he was free to act. and Kaspar Hauser must die ! 
4, IH 
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At what period Stanhope was won over to Hennenhofer’s views 
's unknown : nerhans he was with him from the first, and con-