  Rehberg's early articles on the French Revolution, which were published in the Allgemeine Literatur Zeitung, the most prominent journal of the day, quickly won him a national reputation. In the early 1790s, when pro-revolutionary sentiment swept through Germany, Rehberg stood out as an articulate spokesman for the conservative cause.  He seemed to show that a case could be made for conservatism, that it was intellectually respectable to honor the historical traditions of the old German states.  Apart from the immediate effect of his early articles, Rehberg's critique of the Revolution had a more lasting influence, and in two basic respects. First, by criticizing the abstract idealism of the radicals, and by stressing the importance of historical continuity for social and political stability, Rehberg made himself an important figure in the development of historicism.  Second, as the close friend of Karl von Stein, the leader of the Prussian Reform movement, Rehberg's thinking had a direct effect on the politics of his age.  Though Stein and Rehberg later fell out, Stein always acknowledged his great debts to  Rehberg.[9] 