ARE GERMAN HEARTS.Are German hearts with strength and courage beating?There to the clang of beakers gleams the sword,And true and steadfast in our place of meeting,We peal aloud in song the fiery word!Though rocks and oak trees shiver,We, we will tremble never!Strong like the tempest see the youths go by,For Fatherland to combat and to die!Red, red as true-love, be the brother token,And pure like gold the soul within imprest,And that in death our spirits be not broken,Black be the ribbon bound about the breastThough rocks, etc.We know the strength in honest swords residing,Bold is the brow, and strong the arm to smite;We fail not, faint not, in the right confiding,When calls the Fatherland his sons to fight.Though rocks, etc.So, on the German sword, to this alliance,In life and death let solemn faith he vow'd!Up, Brothers, up! the Fatherland's reliance,And to the blood-red morning cry aloud.Though rocks, etc.And thou, Beloved, who in hours the dearest,Hast nerved thy friend with many a look and tone,For thee my heart will beat when death comes nearest,For unto true love change is never known.Though rocks, etc.And now, since fate may tear us from each other,Let each man grasp of each the brother-hand,And swear once more, O every German Brother,Truth to the bond, truth to the Fatherland!Though rocks and oak-trees shiver,We, we will tremble never!Strong like the tempest see the youths go by,For Fatherland to combat and to die!
Are German hearts with strength and courage beating?
There to the clang of beakers gleams the sword,
And true and steadfast in our place of meeting,
We peal aloud in song the fiery word!
Though rocks and oak trees shiver,
We, we will tremble never!
Strong like the tempest see the youths go by,
For Fatherland to combat and to die!
Red, red as true-love, be the brother token,
And pure like gold the soul within imprest,
And that in death our spirits be not broken,
Black be the ribbon bound about the breast
Though rocks, etc.
We know the strength in honest swords residing,
Bold is the brow, and strong the arm to smite;
We fail not, faint not, in the right confiding,
When calls the Fatherland his sons to fight.
Though rocks, etc.
So, on the German sword, to this alliance,
In life and death let solemn faith he vow'd!
Up, Brothers, up! the Fatherland's reliance,
And to the blood-red morning cry aloud.
Though rocks, etc.
And thou, Beloved, who in hours the dearest,
Hast nerved thy friend with many a look and tone,
For thee my heart will beat when death comes nearest,
For unto true love change is never known.
Though rocks, etc.
And now, since fate may tear us from each other,
Let each man grasp of each the brother-hand,
And swear once more, O every German Brother,
Truth to the bond, truth to the Fatherland!
Though rocks and oak-trees shiver,
We, we will tremble never!
Strong like the tempest see the youths go by,
For Fatherland to combat and to die!
The laws of the Burschenschaft, or its constitution, bore the name--"Custom of the Burschenschaft." Amongst other things stand the following:
"In the German Fatherland we will live and move. We will perish with it, or die free in it, if God's great call ordain. Live the German speech for ever! Flourish the true chivalry! Let Germany be free!
"He who avows these ideas, and is willing to contend for their advancement, is our beloved brother. To accomplish these high endeavours, there must be a universal free Burschenschaft throughout all Germany.
"There can no salvation come to our beloved Germany unless through such a free and universal Burschenschaft, in which Germany's noblest youth continues intimately fraternized, in which every one learns to know his duty--and which Burschenschaft shall always find the Gymnastic schools its defence and alarm-post.
"We will never apply the word Fatherland to that state in which we were born: Germany is our Fatherland; the state in which we are born is our Home.
"We will hold these principles firmly and honourably; spread them by every possible means; and with all our power, now as youths, and hereafter as men, labour to bring them into exercise.
"When we quit the High School, and are invested with any office, be it high or low, we will fulfil the same honourably, true to Prince and Fatherland, and in such a manner administer it as shall be in accordance with the spirit of these principles.
"The law of the people shall be the will of the Prince. Liberty and Equality are the highest good; after which we have to strive, and from which strift no pious and honest German can ever desist.
"Every student who maintains honour and virtue, shall be a free German Bursche: subject to no one; inferior to no one; all shall be equal, obeying only the laws."
From this time forward the union laboured actively at throwing out and determining the principles of a future civil and ecclesiastical constitution for Germany, and in the dissemination of revolutionary writings. But unfortunately, as in all times of high excitement, spirits of a reckless and darker character mingled themselves with the nobler ones of liberty: for the realization of their intrinsically criminal wishes, criminal means also were necessary, and the spirit of youth was thus unconsciously conducted by fanaticism into unhallowed and bloodthirsty principles, and in the bosom of the Burschenschaft union, formed itself a closer union ofThe Unrestricted, whose name revealed sufficiently, that they would hesitate at no means by which they might arrive at their object. The misguided and blamable tendency of this spirit, to the horror of many who unconsciously implicated themselves in its criminal proceedings, was brought to light by some striking circumstances. On the 23d of March, 1810, the student Sand murdered the Russian Counsellor of State, Von Kotzebue, on no other ground than that he held him to be a spy of the Russian government, and an enemy of German liberty. He undertook the action with the full persuasion that it was a just and noble deed, and his trial revealed the horrible gulf of political immorality, unto the very brink of which was brought the youth of Germany. A somewhat particular account of this transaction, and of the circumstances of Sand's life, may fittingly here find a place: and which may be relied on, being derived from the relation published by the President of the Commission for the trial of Sand, the State Counsellor, Von Hohenhorst himself.
Karl Ludwig Sand was born at Wunsiedel, a little town in the district of Baireuth, lying in the Fichtel Mountains, on the 5th of October, 1795. His father was pensionary officer of justice; and the family, which consisted of three sons and two daughters, lived in the most delightful domestic harmony. Sand grew up in his paternal city, under the most careful guidance of his parents, whose good and thorough education, and moral training, such are his own words, in comparison with that of many, he never was able sufficiently to praise. There lay in him the strongest and most delightful recollection of his birthplace. Its very situation, he asserted, in the bosom of noble mountains, in the midst of the great Fatherland, had wrought powerfully upon his disposition of mind, which, especially since much sickness in his early youth, had always been very still. In truth, Sand passed his years of childhood in great weakness and many bodily ailments. In his seventh year he took naturally the small-pox, and of a very bad kind, which left behind them serious effects, especially a dangerous ulcer in the head, of which the grisly scars always continued visible. On that account the physicians forbade all mental exercise, and his proper instruction could only be commenced at home in his tenth year. His father explained, that a dejection of mind which long clung to him was a consequence of the weakness which these complaints had left upon; and therefore, where parents in general would put restraint on young people of lively temperament, he, on the contrary, had always been anxious that his son's disposition should not be further depressed. After Sand had received his first instruction from the tutor, he was sent to the Lyceum, in Wunsiedel. He afterwards followed his teacher to the Gymnasium in Hof, there acquired the first elements of general education, and proceeded in the study of ancient languages. Even at this early period he entertained a vehement hatred to the French. As in the spring of 1812 a great military train passed through Hof, he would neither see the march of the French nor especially Napoleon, since he believed that he could not endure to be in the presence of the arch enemy of his native land, without an attempt to rush upon him and destroy him.
He returned thence to his parents, with whom he continued till they resolved to send him to Regensburg, where he proceeded towards the end of the year 1812, with his tutor Saalfranc, and always called to mind with extreme pleasure his abode there. The testimonies of his life and habits during his sojourn in Hof and Regensburg, are greatly to his credit His good capacity, his restless diligence, his deep study, and not less his highly moral conduct, were greatly applauded. In his 18th year awoke in Sand the resolve to co-operate in doing battle with the common foe of his country. He may speak for himself.
"As in the spring of 1813 the French fled homewards, and Germany began to rouse itself to take vengeance for the shame inflicted on it, there awoke in me a new-born joy, a fresh mind, a new life; and from that hour I doubted no more of a complete liberation from the old slavery, although the heavens became so unpropitious to the Germans. With eager heart and yet with all possible circumspection, I lived in the newspapers of the time; and in the autumn of 1813, which I spent at home, I obtained the permission to join myself to the host of Germany, when in the meantime, came the intelligence of the battle of Leipsic, which rendered my going forth unnecessary."
Sand returned once more to Regensburg, and proceeded thence to the university of Tübingen. Here he passed quietly the winter half-year of 1814-15, and had begun the second half-year when Napoleon returned from Elba, and Sand felt himself called to stand forth with his countrymen in defence of Germany. His testimonies from Tübingen were highly creditable, yet they expressed suspicions that during his abode there he had been a member of a political union called Teutonia. Sand then first, on the day before his departure, announced to his parents his determination to enter into the army, and took farewell of them by letter. The style and tendency of his letter differ essentially from his subsequent compositions. We see in it only the youth full of zeal and fervour for his country,--who, pure, and without mixture of his subsequent political religious exaltation, avows his intimation to fight to the death for his country and kindred. "With an inward struggle," wrote he amongst other things, "held I myself back the last time when the liberation of Germany was at stake, and it was only the conviction that many thousands then stood in the field, eager for battle and victory for the welfare of Germany, that could detain me." In another place--"The spirit at home and in Bavaria may be as it will, I hold it for the highest duty to fight for the liberty of my German Fatherland; of my dear parents, brothers, and sisters; and of all the good people who love me; and, should numbers gain the advantage over us, to contend to the very last gasp, and triumph over a tyrant in death. Ever shall your beloved images hover round me; ever will I have God before my eyes and in my heart, that I may be strengthened to bear with serenity all the fatigues and dangers of this holy war. Yet wherefore make the hearts of each other so heavy? We alone have the right, the sacred cause. There is a righteous God, and how then shall we not have the victory?"
The letter concludes with the words of Theodore Körner, which Sand had often in his mouth--
Though rages hell itself,God, thy mighty hand,Hurls down the tower of lies.Perchance high o'er the slaughtered foes The Star of Peace shall rise.
Though rages hell itself,God, thy mighty hand,Hurls down the tower of lies.
Perchance high o'er the slaughtered foes The Star of Peace shall rise.
Sand set out with two friends on the way through Stuttgard to Heidelberg, where he stayed some days, and then went on to Mannheim, where he announced himself to the general staff of Graf Rechberg, and was received as cadet in the volunteer Jägers of the Rezat Circle. Before his departure from Tübingen, a friend presented him with a small riband which he continually wore during the campaign, and afterwards, at his arrest, it was still found round his neck. It was green and white. The troops, which Sand's brother also had now joined, already in Homberg, met the news of the victory of Waterloo; they marched forward, however, to Meaux, and into the neighbourhood of Fontainbleau, but soon after drew into cantonments in Auxurre, and from thence marched directly back, and entered Anspach the 2d of December, 1815. Sand remembered his military career with the highest dissatisfaction, since, as he expressed himself, he had never had the good fortune to kill a Frenchman. He had written upon his riband these words:--"With this dedicated I myself in 1815 to death. Was it not in earnest? Would I have recrossed the Rhine again except as a conqueror!"
Sand betook himself to Erlangen, and occupied himself there two years with the study of theology. Here it happened that in the summer of 1817, one of his dearest friends, while bathing, was drowned before his eyes, and he himself was in great danger of his life. This loss operated so strongly on his mind, that as he himself declared, he believed that the spring of life was now over, and that its summer had now shown itself. Consoled by his teachers and friends, he now gave the first proof of his talents for preaching in the High Church at Erlangen, continued there till the end of the half year, and then went to Jena. Sand conducted himself during his residence in Erlangen as exemplarily as before, yet he was at the same time an active member of the Teutonia there; in fact he was twice a leader of this union, and drew up a constitution for the Burschenschaft, under the title of the Erlangen Burschenschaft-Custom. From Erlangen and Jena he made several short journeys, and amongst them the one to Eisenach, which proved so influential on his future life. There he joined in the celebration of the festival on the Wartburg, on the 18th of October, 1817, and his part in this transaction he thus describes:--
"On the 17th of October I arrived in Eisenach, and was chosen on the festival-committee. I here helped to keep order; heard the speeches on the Wartburg, but did not speak myself; I went in the evening to the fire, and saw the books burnt. On the following morning I heard speeches for the reconcilement of the disputes of many of the student-quarrels of former years, and listened to the splendid orations on the Fatherland. I accompanied the Burschen to the church, and partook of the sacrament; then was the festival ended, and I returned to Jena." He adds, that it had been a festival simply for the elevation of the sacred cause, and that no determinate object besides had been contemplated.
In Jena, Sand continued to educate himself, in order, as he expressed himself, the better to look about himself, and to ground himself fairly in the different departments of knowledge; till suddenly the inner call for ever summoned him away. His teachers there gave their testimony that he always appeared as a grave, quiet, and discreet man, zealously striving after excellence. That he was accustomed to speak little, since speaking appeared a difficulty to him; but that what he did say, was always prudent, well-considered, and sensible, and that his deportment had nothing displeasing in it, although it was energetic and firm. During his abode in Jena, he was a member of the so-called Burschenschaft, but at the same time also of another company, which he termed a Literary Union. He made from Jena a journey into North Germany, and visited many of the most celebrated battle-fields of both past and modern times. After his return he proceeded again with his studies with unremitting diligence, and had obtained permission from his parents to continue another half-year in Jena, when he suddenly broke off, on the 9th of March, 1819, at four o'clock in the morning, and set out on his last fatally eventful journey towards Mannheim.
We have thus followed the thread of Sand's history to this period with sufficient minuteness, and we have permitted ourselves to sketch it with the more exactness, since it is particularly interesting to trace all the causes which could conduct a character, otherwise so excellent, to such a crime;--as, moreover, conjectures respecting these causes can only be rightly founded on a real knowledge of the circumstances of the case, and from these only can those conclusions be drawn, which were, though without effect, employed in the defence of this singular man. In his history we behold the fac-simile of the history of the whole Burschenschaft to which he belonged. A description of his person, from that officially drawn up, may precede the relation of his unhappy deed. In the protocol it stands thus:--
"Sand was in age twenty-three and a half years; stood five feet six inches high; had strong black hair and eyebrows; a high forehead, gray eyes, longish nose, mouth of middle size, dark-brown very weak beard, ordinary chin, broad countenance, tolerably healthy colour, with some pock-marks in the face." His look was open, and for the most part friendly, but not eminently intellectual; his physiognomy good-natured, but not especially interesting; his visage might be termed an involuntary mirror of his mind. So painted themselves wrath and scorn upon it, when the speech turned upon Kotzebue and his connexion with Germany; so might be read in it a painful, or an hostile feeling, when the principles of his system must be attacked; so that, in the end, very little attention became necessary to discern by it, when his answers did not contain the truth. The play of the muscles of his forehead was particularly strikingly acted upon by an internal feeling of resistance, which generally rose in him when he desired by some means to conceal the truth.
Kotzebue's writings had been long disliked by Sand. Many of his early assertions betray it. Such was his observation to his father:--"Of what use is the man's literary talent, when the German heart is wanting?" On the burning of his History of Germany, on the Wartburg, he became immediately watchful of him; but still more, when shortly afterwards his literaryWochenblatt, or weekly paper, appeared. In this publication, Kotzebue promulgated his opinions often and variously on the then state of German affairs, and many of his views must have given great displeasure. Thus, he contended especially against the promotion of a combined and constitutional government in Germany, and asserted that the loud demand for this was by no means the voice of the people, of whom he very much doubted, whether they wanted any constitution at all. For this bold assertion, Kotzebue was instantly attacked and ridiculed on all sides. A specimen of the missiles launched against him on the occasion, may be given from an article in the "Zeitung für die elegante Welt,"--News for the Elegant World, in the year 1818:--
This serious doubt (that of Kotzebue) has fallen heavily on the heart. We have, therefore, with eagerness undertaken the following proposal for its solution. In Kotzebue's right hand lies, in fact, the means to bring the matter to a tolerable certainty. If that gentleman will in future take the field against the clamour for a constitution in all his Plays with the same sober earnestness, and jibe and joke, with which he has powerfully and perseveringly attacked other follies, then will the success or the failure of his piece throw great light on the sentiments of the people; and the multitude who, Herr von Kotzebue so justly says, remain silent on the matter in debate--that means,they print nothing on it--will certainly, by applauding or censuring, clapping or hissing, speak out. Should the multitude, by hissing out anti-constitutional pieces, declare for a constitution, so might the theatre immediately furnish the government with a proof whether the declaration was worthy of notice. They might now, as was done in Paris, after the acting of Germanica, march soldiers--actual soldiers--upon the stage, and let them present arms to the pit. If the multitude now applauded or ran away, it would be the height of the ridiculous to give them a constitution, since it would be manifest that they had not courage to maintain themselves against the hand of power. But hissed and clamoured they still, it would be time "topreparethe demandedpreparationsfor thepreparationof a constitution."[6]
Sand assigned the ground of his hate against Kotzebue, immediately in the opening of his trial, and he reiterated the same as his actuating motive at its close; namely,--in the evening after the murder, having lost his voice, and being only able to express himself by signs, he requested paper, and wrote with a blacklead pencil these scarcely legible words:--"August von Kotzebue is the corrupter of youth,"-- alluding to Kotzebue's frequently slippery writings, as 'Barth with the Iron Brow,' and such like,--"the slanderer of our people's history, and the Russian spy upon our Fatherland."
Sand asserted, that by the insight which he had obtained into the character and position of Kotzebue, he immediately perceived that it was impossible that he could much longer continue to live in that manner; but the resolution to destroy him with his own hand did not awake suddenly in him, it demanded gradual growth, and came not to maturity without a severe strife in his own bosom. The well-known history of the discovered bulletin at length threw unquenchable fuel on his burning hatred against Kotzebue.
Kotzebue was, in fact, commissioned by the Russian government to furnish it with full reports on the political affairs and relations of Germany, on the predominant popular opinion, and on its literary transactions. He could, in truth, no more be styled a spy than an ambassador can; but the reports which he delivered--the false and detestable statements regarding Germany which he made in them, deserve the severest condemnation. No one was aware of this secret practice of Kotzebue's, till, through the faithlessness of a copyist, such a bulletin was sent to the well-known historian Luden, then the editor of the Jena "Nemesis," a literary paper. The bulletin contained sixteen paragraphs upon Steffens (a writer on the state of those times), Schmalz, Crome, the Allemannia, an opposition paper, the Nemesis, Jung Stilling, English newspapers, mischievous nature of freedom of the press, and, finally, a sort of apology for serfdom. Monarchy was panegyrized in this bulletin, and Luden was represented as a learned man, who, with others of the learned, longed heartily for a revolution, that they might play their parts as popular speakers, deputies, and representatives. Luden, enraged at these calumnies, published the bulletin in the Nemesis, and commented on it in the most amusing manner. Kotzebue, who had immediate information of this fact, procured an order from the Weimar government for the seizure of these sheets, at the moment they should be ready for issue: but Wieland, the editor of the opposition paper, had already received proof-sheets of the article, and caused it to appear at the same time in the People's Friend, which he edited, with still more biting remarks; since Luden, in the Nemesis, had expressed some doubts whether Kotzebue were really the author of these malicious calumnies. A long legal process took place between Kotzebue and the learned editors, and proceedings were laid before the Spruch Collegium--College of Arbitration of the University of Leipsic. These gentlemen were declared by this tribunal, guilty of a literary robbery upon Kotzebue, since the bulletin was not intended or delivered out by him for publication; but after the death of Kotzebue in the following year, they were declared free from all penalty by the High Court of Appeal in Weimar.
The fact, however, which finally and at once sealed the determination of Sand, was the appearance of the work of Stourdze, and Kotzebue's standing forth as his defender. Stourdze, a Russian, published a most odious and miserable volume, in which he lauded absolute monarchy, railed against freedom of the press, misrepresented the spirit of the German High Schools in the most abominable terms, and at the same time advised that they should be stripped of all their rights and privileges, and laid under the strictest discipline. The author was formally accused by the Burschenschaft of Jena for his calumnies, to the Grand Duke of Weimar, who laid the case before theBundestag. Stourdze defended himself in the public papers; two youths, not students, but belonging to the Burschenschaft, afterwards challenged him to single combat, whom, however, he answered only with words in the newspapers.
Sand now brooded a whole half-year in irresolution over this thought--whether he should devote himself as the instrument for taking out of the way this, in his eyes, so dangerous an enemy of the weal of the German people. "The determination," said he, "must first progress in myself to a greater maturity, since I have partly to contend in myself with the natural shrinking from the performance of such a deed, and partly with the oft recurring thought that I am worthy of and qualified for something better, by the character of my mind, and my already acquired accomplishments. I have also waited for a third, since I had as good a right to wait for a third, as he to wait for me. But as I found no one, this was likewise a ground of determination for myself. Oft have I thought--'thou canst quietly live on, if but a third person undertake the deed.' This waiting was thus properly only a wish that another might step before me; for the rest, however, I knew no such third."
Sand often prayed to God that this requisition might be allowed to pass from him, and that he might be left to pursue his ordinary duties. But in this inward warfare, the inner voice perpetually returned, saying--"Thou hast promised so much, and hast yet done nothing." The projected work stood thenceforth so vividly before his eyes, that his imagination enabled him to sketch out a drawing of the murder-scene beforehand, which was found amongst some indifferent pen-and-ink outlines amongst his papers in Jena. Still he continued to waver, till the newspapers brought a report, that Kotzebue intended to return to Russia; and then stood forth Sand's resolution to murder the traitor, let it turn out as it would, and though he should himself lead the way to death for him. Besides this it was part of his plan to make a confession, to bring the Death-Blow to the knowledge of the people. His original plan was, after the accomplishment of the deed, to betake himself to his weapons, and to make his escape if possible, so that provided he effected his own retreat, self-destruction formed no part of the scheme. While he brooded over his enterprise, he prepared the instruments of his design. He made choice, to that end, of a smaller and a greater dagger. The latter he called the small sword, and had it made in Jena after a model in wax, prepared by his own hand, and from his own drawing. For the carrying of these weapons he made a hole in the breast of his waistcoat, in which on account of its weight, this dagger hung; but for the lesser one he had a small hook sewed into the left-arm sleeve of his coat, which by a small eye secured the sheath there. Before setting out on his expedition of death, he completed his Death-Blow, or Confession, prepared the fair copy, which after the accomplishment of the act, he purposed to stick up in some public place; then the original of the same, as he called it, and numerous transcripts of the same. This Death-Blow was a document on which Sand long laboured, and for the promulgation of which, after the deed, he had taken measures. It was designed to be a call to the people to rise and assert their liberty. As this composition not only places in the clearest light the then overstrained state of Sand's mind, but also gives us glimpses of many ideas of the Burschenschaft at that period, which the government were afterwards obliged to hold in check, it shall here find a place.
"Our days demand a decision for the law which God has written in flaming characters in the hearts of his men. Prepare yourselves! decide for life and for death!
"Open nightly profligacy is not the corruption which rages in our blood, but vice devours around him only the more hideously under the mantle of an accustomed pious politeness: falsehood masks itself under a thousand assumed holy forms; and the condition of the people should be the blossom of so many sacrifices, and is the state of the old miserable laxity.
"Half-accomplished fools, and the stunted overwise, for ever deride the truth, which unadorned and simple, throws itself on the human mind, and they cripple and distort her use in life. The moral strength of the Germans is split on the Babel of foreign affectation, and keeps itself no longer in the house-life. The will is wanting in us for the deed. The Fatherland fails the youth. Courtiers and money-service rule, instead of that honour-firm integrity which has resigned itself to the influence of time, and is become mouldy in it.
"The virtue of the burger class bends itself servilely at the nod of the great, and rushes, with already gripped clutch, at the gold-bag. The idleness of servants devours our bones; courage and hero-mind display themselves alone in paper panoply amongst the whole people in empty vapouring; and since they glow not as pure flames in every heart, we find them not even in ourselves.
"Deep based on equally vile sentiments in the people, stands the most sensual government; and unrestrained arbitrary power needs no other protection than these;--the separation fraternal hearts by the means of jealously-guarded frontiers, of the leading-strings of strict and public surveillance; ofcradle-songs, and the sermons of sloth; and it rests itself as upon very sufficient props, on the wages and the oaths of police and soldiers. Many amongst the great German people may stand far before me; butI also hate nothing more than the cowardice and effeminacy of this day. I must give an example of this. I must proclaim myself against this laxity; and I know nothing nobler to achieve than to strike down the arch-slave, andgreat advocate of this mercenary time, the corrupter and betrayer of my people--August von Kotzebue!
"Thou, my German People, exalt thyself, to a higher moral worth of manhood; of the free spirit of man, and his creative strength! My German People! thou hast no realler nor nobler possession; it is thy highest good. Honour, guard this faith--this thy love to God. Let thy sanctuary no more be trodden under foot.
"Man, be he born in the most miserable and abject condition, is created to become an image of God. Rely on the promised Christian freedom. Honour and trust only the free man. Detest the traitors, the slaves in soul, the false teachers, who will not have this. Hate the dastardly poets of half-measures, the preachers of cowardice, the hirelings who hold thee back from every bold enterprise. Detest and murder all those who lift themselves so high in their villanous and despotic fancies that they forget the godlike in thee, and hold and drive thee, the mad multitude, in their high-wise hands, as a complex wheel.
"Free conscience! free speech! Man shall solace himself at his own free pleasure in the divine light, of which the fountain is in him. He shall strive after the highest discoveries, and shall be able, unburdened by those of others, to prove and build up his own convictions. But man also shall verify these opinions; he shall live and act; he shall exercise his divine creative power--his will, and shall make it availing. It is for this that we have received the whole might of will--not that we may suffer others to decide what they please concerning us, as over a piece of a field, but that in every condition of life we may determine for ourselves; and therein all virtue demonstrates itself--that we, in every thing which concerns the people, shall take a lively interest, and so act upon our own resolves, each as we will, and not as another compels.
"Finally, make free your wills!
"This is the sole, purely human, this the necessary foundation for every human society: this must be won for the German Empire! Only when this sole and righteous condition is achieved, then only can be the discussion on further undertakings.
"My German people! win self-dependence, and that lofty mind, which already some of thy heroes have borne in them. This is the right, hallowed spirit of life, that thou dost that which the sacred Scriptures of Christendom and of antiquity teach--that which thy poets sing; and admirest or regardest them not merely as empty fables. Brother! proudly and courageously shalt thou win by high endeavour, that highest and holiest object which thy soul can conceive--the condition of a purified, and beatified manhood--
A Christ canst thou become.
"So learn, my People, the time in which, after long wandering, joy and unity shall come back into this life. The Reformation, begun three hundred years ago, sought to restore the life of our people after the image of God. It is not yet completed! for yet continue compulsion of conscience, servitude, tearing asunder of brothers in our country, and no one can rejoice himself after a Christian and purely human form. Brothers, break the ancient chains of the Popedom, the chains of arbitrary rule! We Germans,--one empire and one church! Let the schism betwixt spiritual and secular be annihilated! Faith, learning, and action, shall unite themselves into one, and bloom anew in the Christian enthusiasm of free German citizens.
"The Reformation must be completed! Brothers, abandon not one another in the oppressions of the times. Sluggishness and treason blacken history with the hand of slavery! You have it before you!
"Up! I show you the great day of freedom! Up, my people, bethink thee; make thyself free!"
The writing of Sand "To the Burschenschaft in Jena," and the other "To my Friends of the true German mind," were completed only a few days before his setting out; and finally he composed also a so-called "Sentence of Death against Kotzebue." He left behind, in his desk, a statement of the debts which his parents should pay; and an order that his books and other things should be sent home. He empowered a student, to receive all current letters and money for him. He contracted for his lodgings with his landlord for the ensuing half-year. To those who asked whither he was going, he gave the double-meaning answer--"Home." A letter was also found addressed to his parents, as follows:
"To Father, Mother, Brothers, Sisters, Brother-in-law, Teachers,and all Friends! True, eternally true souls!
"Why still more aggravate your pain? I thought, and hesitated to write to you on this business. Truly, if you received the intelligence of what has occurred at once, might the bitter sorrow the easier and quicker pass over; but the truth of affection would in that case be wounded, and this great affliction can only be wholly conquered by our emptying the whole cup of wo at once, and thus keeping faithful to our friend the true, the eternal Father in heaven. So from the shut-up bosom, forth thou long, great pang of the last speech; plain dealing can alone soften the agony of parting. This sheet brings to you the last greeting of the son and the brother! Much and continually have I talked and wished, it is now time that I left dreaming, and the trouble of my Fatherland impels me to action. This is unquestionably the highest misery in this earth-life, if the affairs of God, through guilt, come to a dead pause in their lively developement; this is for us the most overwhelming disgrace, if all that beauty and good which would have been boldly pursued by thousands and on whose account thousands have joyfully offered themselves up, as dream-shapes, without abiding consequence, now sinks away into dark discontent; if the reformation of the old life, now in its half-way advance, stand petrified. Our grandchildren would have to bewail this neglect. The commencement of the restoration of German life was made with spirits animated by God, within the last twenty years, and especially in that hallowed season 1813. The paternal house is shaken to the foundations--forwards! let us raise it again, fresh and beautiful, a true temple of God, as our hearts long after it. They are but a few who oppose themselves as a dam against the stream of the evolutions of the higher humanity in the German people; why then do whole hosts bow themselves again under the yoke of these knaves? shall our once awaked salvation perish again? Many of the most abandoned traitors play their game without obstruction, with us, to the complete corruption of our people. Among these, Kotzebue is the subtlest and most malicious; the actual tool and mouthpiece of every thing base in our time, and his voice is exactly fitted to beguile us Germans of all bitterness and opposition to the most unrighteous usurpations, and to lull us into the old indolent slumber. He practises daily arch-treason against the Fatherland, and then stands there, protected by his hypocritical speeches, and artful flatteries, and wrapped in the mantle of a great political reputation, spite of his wickedness, as an idol for the half of Germany, which blinded by him, willingly imbibes the poison which, for Russian pay, he prepares for them in his daily publications. Will not the greatest disaster befall us? Will not the history of our day be blackened with everlasting shame? He must perish! I say continually if any saving influence is to arise, we must not shrink from strife and toil; the true freedom of the German people then only awakes in us, when challenged and dared by the brave,--when the son of the Fatherland in the contest for the right and for the highest good, casts all other love? behind him, and loves death alone.
"That this may be, who shall rush upon this pitiful fellow, upon this hireling traitor, Kotzebue? In anguish and bitter tears turned to the Almighty, have I waited a long time for the appearance of one who would step before me, and release me, not fitted for murder, would release me from my pain, and leave me to proceed on the pleasant path that I have chosen. Spite of all my prayers, no one has appeared, and each has as good a right as myself to wait for another. Delay makes our condition continually worse and more pitiable; and who shall absolve us from the shame, if Kotzebue leave German ground unpunished, and shall enjoy in Russia a fortune acquired by his treason? Who shall help and save us out of this unhappy condition, if every one, and I in my province first of all, feels not the call to maintain justice, and to do what ought to be done for German Fatherland? So then boldly forward! I will assault him with a heart confident in God to strike down the calumniator and betrayer of our brethren--the horrible traitor! that he may cease from turning us from God and history, and plotting to deliver us into the hands of the cunningest enemy. Solemn duty compels me to it. Since I have discovered what a lofty prize our people have in the present time to wrestle for--and that he is the cowardly false villain that would prevent their destiny--it is become for me, as for every German who regards the well-being of the whole, a rigorousMust!May I direct the eyes of all active and public-spirited men, to where danger and falsehood threaten, and turn, in time, the fear of all, and the vigorous youth to the right point, that they may save the common Fatherland, Germany, the perpetually rent, the unworthy states-union, from an imminent danger. May I scatter terror over the base and the cowardly, and courage over the good! Writing and speaking effect nothing--it is action alone that now creates union. May I, at least, cast a brand into the present indifference, and rouse and augment the flame of popular feeling, that glorious struggle for the affairs of God amongst mankind, which burned in us in 1813--then were all my highest and holiest wishes fulfilled! On this account, though startled out of all lovely dreams of coming life, still am I calm, full of trust in God; yea, happy, since I see the path sketched out for me through Night and Death, by which I may pay back to my Fatherland all that I owe it.
"So farewell, you dear souls! This sudden parting falls heavily, and your expectations and my wishes are probably disappointed; yet may this have prepared us, and therefore now be our comfort--that what the necessity of the Fatherland demands, is the first of all things to be desired by us, and has always lived in me as the most inviolable principle. You may hereafter say and think among yourselves--'Yet had he through our sacrifices learnt to know the whole of life on this earth, the joy there is in this human society; and he appeared to love this land, and his chosen profession heartily.' Yes, so was it; so did I under your affectionate guardianship. Through your countless sacrifices and cares for me, are my land and life become so thoroughly dear to me; you caused me to be introduced into the world of knowledge; I have lived in the active pursuits of a free spirit; I have glanced into history, and then turned back into my own mind in order to twine myself up by the tendril of the spirit firmly to the pillar of faith in the Eternal, and through the free inquiries of my understanding, to acquire a clearer perception of myself and of the greatness of surrounding things. I have cultivated the sciences in the usual course with all my power, and reached thereby the position and capacity to oversee the district of human knowledge, and have thereupon spoken out my convictions with friends and other persons; have travelled the country, to learn, to know men and their doings. As a preacher of the gospel would I joyfully have spent this life, and in any possible overthrow of our social customs and of knowledge, by the help of God, would have discharged faithfully the duties of my office.
"But should all this have withheld me from warding off more imminent danger from my country? Must not your unspeakable love for me directly spur me on to set death at defiance for the common good and the object of all our endeavours? What numbers of the modern Greeks have already fallen, to liberate their people from the scourge of the Turks, and are yet dead without having effected any visible consequence, without any prospect of it; and hundreds of them also amongst us, preparing themselves by education, suffer not their courage to sink, but are immediately ready again to offertheirlives for the good of their country, and would I not die for mine? And will not we, to whom the salvation and the working out of the highest blessings are so near and dear, will we do nothing to that end? And do I mistake your love, or would I wantonly sport with it? Believe it not. What should arm me for death, if not alone the love to you and the Fatherland, which impels me thus to testify it to you.
"Mother, thou wilt say,--Why have I brought up a son to maturity, whom I loved, and who loved me; for whom I have striven with a thousand cares and continual anxiety; who through my prayers became inspired with the love of goodness, and from whom I fondly hoped in the last days of my weary pilgrimage to experience repose and filial love? Why forsakes he me now? Dear mother! might not the fosterer of another also thus lament, if he went forth for his Fatherland? If no other will do that, where will the Fatherland be? But certainly thou complainest not thus, but thinkest on these things too justly. Complain not, noble woman! Once already have I received thy call, and if no one now would step forward for the good cause, wouldst thou thyself send me forth to the contest. Still two brothers, and two sisters, all true and noble, have I before me--they remain to you--I follow my duty! The young ones will step into my place, they will be true to their country--they also are your children. In the world have we troubles, but in God we are able to overcome them like Christ. Oh that we may enjoy his peace in full measure! Forsaken on the solitary way which I tread alone, I have no dependence but upon the Eternal Father: in him, however, grasp I courage and strength to conquer the last terror, and to accomplish my solemn deed. I commend you to his protection and comfort. May he lift you to that joy which misfortunes are not able to disturb. Forget then the loss in the enduring joy in Him, and regard not my tears so much as the love which exists between us, and never can perish. Advance still farther for your country, and conduct your little ones--to whom so gladly would I have become the guiding friend--without delay, up into the mighty mountains, and let them there, upon that sublime altar in the midst of the Fatherland, dedicate themselves and swear, never to rest nor to lay down the sword till the Brethren are united in freedom, till all Germany as one people, and with one constitution for the whole empire, great before God and mighty against their neighbours, is knit into one complete whole!
"With joyful look turned toward Thee, Eternal God, stands my Fatherland! Blessed be the great host of the German people ready armed for the battle, who, recognising the high privilege to be allowed to promote the cause of a pure humanity, thy image upon earth, stands courageously resolved, and amongst those may I see them in whose love I shall glory till my end.
"Salvation lies--highest and solely in the sword;Press then the spear into the patriot heart,And make a way for freedom!"Karl Sand."
"Salvation lies--highest and solely in the sword;Press then the spear into the patriot heart,And make a way for freedom!
"Karl Sand."
On the 19th of March, as already stated, he suddenly quitted Jena without taking any leave of the people of the house. His travelling dress consisted of a black German coat, with red cloth waistcoat, black cloth trousers, laced boots, and a black velvet cap with a front. Over his dress he wore on the way, for the most part, a blue carter's frock. Amongst other things was found in his pocket, Körner's "Lyre and Sword," in which many lines were under-drawn with single, and others with double scores; as for instance in the poem "Through,"--
What wins this long delaying?The strong with fearless tread--The act alone, onstaying,Crushes the serpent's head.
What wins this long delaying?
The strong with fearless tread--
The act alone, onstaying,
Crushes the serpent's head.
And his favourite quotation from the poem "Call to Arms," "Salvation lies," etc. as given above. So prepared, Sand left the university city of Jena. His journey towards Mannheim was by no means hurried, but extended itself to fourteen days. He had read in the papers that Kotzebue would not set out for Russia till the spring, and the anxiety respecting the consequences of the deed produced procrastination, and occasioned him again an unceasing self-struggle. From Erfurt he travelled to Frankfort with two merchants, and when they came to Eisenach he persuaded his two companions to take their dinner on the Wartburg. On this occasion he is said to have asserted--"Here have sacred words been spoken, and from this place will yet go forth much good." He also wrote there in in the Stamm-book for the students, these words:--"What wilt the old nightcaps (humdrums, dreamy but inactive people) do for you? Depend upon yourselves, and build up to God an altar in your own hearts."--Then his favourite quotation from Körner.
From Frankfort he went on to Darmstadt; where, as in the places already mentioned, he lodged with his kind friends. In Darmstadt he remained some days. He states that he had not been quite well, and had given himself up to his reflections. One of his friends accompanied him a part of the way thence, and at Sand's request, cut off his long hair, which attracted attention on the road. He arrived at Lorsch, and intended to have gone from there to Wurms; but his reluctance to his enterprise became so great, that he determined on the following day to advance at once upon the danger. He now read once more the Gospel of St. John, which he carried with him in separate sheets, and Körner's poem "Through."
On the 23d of March he arrived in Mannheim, at half-past nine in the morning, and went to the Vineyard hotel. There he breakfasted without the host's perceiving any agitation of mind in him, and about eleven o'clock was conducted by a waiter of the inn to the house of Kotzebue. He then went back, on pretence of tying a handkerchief round his neck, as he found it too cold with open breast. Again arrived at Kotzebue's residence, he caused the waiter to retire, and announced himself through the maid who opened the door, as a gentleman from Mietau. Kotzebue, however, was not at home, and he was requested to call again at five in the evening. He therefore took a walk to the Rhine, and inquired where lay the wood of Neckerau, and its distance, and at one o'clock returned to the inn. He conducted himself during dinner with great equanimity, ate moderately, and drank a choppin[7]of wine. His companions at table were two clergymen from the Upper Rhine country, with whom he conversed partly on topics of general history, and partly on the Reformation and Luther. He stayed with the company till towards five o'clock, and then said that he must yet pay a visit to Kotzebue. This time he met his victim. He announced himself, and was shown into a room on the right hand of which lay Kotzebue's study, separated only from it by a small cabinet, while the nursery and the sitting-room of the family lay on its left side. On the proceedings in this room Sand himself observed,--"The servant spent some minutes in going about in the room or speaking; he then called me in, but still continued standing in the doorway, and spoke in a low voice towards the interior of the room. I was finally admitted, and Kotzebue stepped into the room from the door on the left hand. I saw him appear at the half-open door, and then enter as the door was quite open. I went about six steps forward into the room and greeted him. He stepped somewhat nearer to the door, and I then turned myself towards him on the side of the entrance.[8]The most fearful thing to me was that I must dissemble. I said that I had a desire to call on him as I travelled through the place, and, after some pro and con, I added,--'I pride myself'--which Kotzebue probably interpreted otherwise than as I meant,--then drew I the dagger, and continued--'not in thee! Here, thou traitor to the Fatherland!' and with the last word I struck him down.
"I named myself Henry from Mietau, since I believed that Kotzebue would not admit me if I announced myself a native German. It was much more probable under the name of a Courlander; and Kotzebue actually said--'You are from Mietau?'
"How many blows I gave him I cannot say: as little, which was the first. It was quickly done. I drew the dagger out of the left sleeve, where I had secured it in a sheath, and gave him several stabs in the left side. Kotzebue spoke not a word during the attack, only uttered a cry of alarm, the instant that he saw me rush upon him with uplifted arm. He stretched out his hands, and fell immediately at the entrance of the room on the left hand, about three steps from the same. How I should have wounded him in the face I know not. Probably it may have happened through his holding his hands and arms before him, and moving them about. I held the dagger so that the edge was above the thumb and the fist, and struck directly out, neither from above nor from below. Kotzebue fell together in a sitting posture. I then looked him in the face to see how it was with him. I wished to ascertain the effect of the attack, and a second time looked him in the face. He continually winked with his eyelids, so that one could now see the whites of his eyes, and now nothing. I therefore concluded that he was not dead; but I interfered no further with him, because I was persuaded that enough had been done."
Sand having completed his act, turned towards the window in order to regain his old standing place, but that turn produced a deciding influence on his fate. "I saw," said he, "in turning round, a little child, which during the deed had sprung into the room from the left-hand door. Its cry produced in me such a mingled feeling that I was instantly determined to recompense it for the injury I had done it by stabbing myself with the small sword. The blow struck on the left breast, and went several inches deep. I drew forth the steel, and the effect was an instant gush of blood, which I perceived as I descended the stairs became, with the pain, more perceptible."
The cry of anguish of the victim under the hands of his murderer, brought in a few seconds thither the family and inmates of the house; but the horrible spectacle must naturally so violently have affected them, that they scarcely retained a clear remembrance of the first moments which followed the discovery. According to Sand's own account, as they bore Kotzebue into the next room, the wild outcry and deep alarm sunk by degrees; the whole room as well as the open-standing door was left vacant, and he had time to descend the steps and reach the outer door. When, however, he came there, he found already many other persons collected by the outcry, and must then have despaired of his escape, and therefore sought to secure the publication of his "Death-Blow." His original intention, that of sticking it up somewhere with the small dagger, was prevented by his having let it fall during the action, and he therefore took the paper from his pocket, and delivered it to the servant, who was then rushing out of the house to call the watch, saying, "There, take that!" Then cried Sand with a loud voice, to the people who had run together,--"Live for ever, my German Fatherland, and we amongst the German people, who strive to advance the condition of a pure humanity!"
He then kneeled down, and said in a low voice,--"I thank Thee, God, for thy victory;" prayed, placed with both hands the small sword against his breast, and drove it directly and deliberately into it till it stood fast; then withdrew his hands and fell forward on his right side. The people who hurried to the spot, found him lying in his blood, drew forth the dagger, and washed the wound with vinegar. In the mean time the watch and the police had arrived, and the murderer under the usual guard was carried on a handbarrow to the hospital.
Kotzebue died in the arms of his daughter. It was probably the first blow, which, piercing the pericardium and the artery of the lungs, caused his speedy death.
Sand, on the day following the murder was in a greatly excited state. His features changed rapidly, his eyes now gloomy and wildly rolling, now soft and swimming with tears. His wounds were cicatrized in about a fortnight, but an internal extravasation of blood ensuing, made the opening of the cavity of the chest necessary, which the then Professor Chelius from Heidelberg performed. Sand submitted himself quietly to the operation, and afterwards begged the surgeon to excuse him for some exclamations of pain during the operation. His behaviour during his whole imprisonment was praiseworthy. His frame of mind appeared calm and quiet, and he seemed to wait his fate with resignation. Only twice, in particular, was he seen to break out into passionate weeping; once, as he was conveyed from the hospital to the House of Correction, and the second time, as a letter from his parents was read to him, in which they gave him their blessing; but he sought anxiously to hide these tears, as evidences of weakness. He repented his attempt at self murder, as a cowardly act, and followed the prescriptions of his physician with regularity. He was thus soon so far restored that the trial could take place.
This was entered into with all possible gentleness; and he experienced generally throughout it a mild treatment. A visit which his mother and brother offered to make him he declined, on the ground of sparing to all parties the pain of such a parting.
The trial for the murder went on quickly at first, but afterwards became more complicated, on account of the documents which were found amongst Sand's papers, concerning the Burschenschaft and such matters. These occasioned an especial commission to be named, which put itself in communication with commissions afterwards named at Weimar, Darmstadt, and Giessen, and subsequently with the Ministry of Police at Berlin, so far as their inquiries might have an influence or throw any light on Sand's act. From the report of these inquiries we have drawn the preceding notices of his life, and it may yet be permitted us to say a few words on the force of some actuating causes which could lead so excellent a character, as Sand otherwise was, to such a deed.
Sand's early youth fell in a time when all Germany breathed hatred to its oppressors. From this source he drew the most glowing antipathy to the French, and enthusiasm for his native country. Traits of fanaticism, and a certain touch of religious enthusiasm, all must have remarked in him who have read the foregoing pages, and a degree of vanity which drove him to distinguish himself from the common herd by something peculiar. Thus he subscribed himself, as a genuine German, instead of Karl Ludwig, "Kerl Chlodowig," in the ancient style, and afterwards he used the signature, "German Brother of Fichtelberge." Then he made himself conspicuous in Tübingen by a very singular dress. His desire, however, to serve his country remained ungratified, and he returned from his campaign as so many others, casting his glance forward, to see whether Germany, which had purchased its external peace through so much bloodshed, possessed internal peace and deserved happiness. At the same time, his proneness to mysticism was undeniable. In his speculations upon religion, morals, constitutions of states and laws, one finds many contradictions. Thus, he regarded the Divine laws not so much positive commands as monitory precepts, by which man, according to his conviction, can regulate his conduct. When he, whose favourite reading was the Bible and the writings of Thomas à Kempis, yet felt a certain disbelief in the revealed religion, it was truly a great inconsistency to desire that an immediate revelation from above should be made to himself. Thus, he says amongst other things:--"He prayed to God daily for knowledge and enlightenment. If he, through divine revelation, could learn that his act was wrong, he would repent it every hour; but hitherto nothing of the kind has happened." "My own conviction," said he, "is my law. I act right whenever I follow it. It guides me better than divine or human precepts." According to these principles he would only acknowledge laws except in so far as they seemed reasonable to him. Above all things displeased him, the division of Germany into separate states,--he would have one Germany and one church; but when he demanded--not for himself alone, but for the whole people--this freedom of thought and will, he was in contradiction to himself again, since he would, to a certain degree, force this reform upon all, in opposition to his conceived freedom; nay, held it as allowable, to take out of the way, with the dagger, whoever placed himself as an enemy in the path of this reform; yes, and called upon the people also to do the same. And this he did, without sufficiently understanding the laws and circumstances of his Fatherland, as appears by his declaration. It is to be supposed that the spirit which formerly actuated the Burschenschaft, had an influence upon the developement of his ideas; but it is false, when it is asserted that the Burschenschaft was privy to his deed, or approved it. Sand had misunderstood some doctrines of Schelling's philosophy, and had fitted these misconceptions into his system, as well as many others which he had drawn from the lectures of his teachers, especially those of the historian Luden. All his teachers praised his restless diligence, without ascribing to him either particular talent or great strength of judgment. He entangled himself in a system of sophistry which he regarded as the firmest truth. When a man frequently pronounces any thing to be true, he comes at last to believe it so, however contrary it be to common sense. Thus Sand over-estimated the evil influence which Kotzebue exercised through his writings, without making himself sufficiently acquainted with these writings. Thus he imagined that the governments were not strong enough to repress this nuisance; and that the writers who contended against Kotzebue were powerless against this, literary tyrant. He therefore believed himself called to take the enemy of truth out of the way. He communicated his resolution to no one, and was so convinced of the meritorious nature of his action--which he, moreover, justified by his maxim, the "end hallows the means"--that to his last moment he never repented of it. For the rest, he endeavoured with all his power, to shield others from the evil consequences that might have reached them from his action, and therefore, when for their advantage he stated many things that were not true, he is on that account to be judged leniently. All these circumstances were well weighed by his judges, as ground of excuse so far as they might contribute to the mitigation of his punishment. Sand's counsel on the trial was the Licentiate Rüttger. The final judgment of the court condemned him to death with the sword. This judgment of the 5th of May was confirmed by the Grand Duke on the 12th, and arrived at Mannheim on the 17th of the same month.
At this latter period, the health of the culprit had so much improved that, according to the official medical report, he was in a condition to rise from his bed with help of his attendants, to continue some hours up, and to take his meals sitting in his room.
On the morning of the 17th of May, at half-past ten o'clock, the sentence of death was formally read to Sand, in the presence of two officers of the court, whereupon, permission being allowed, he dictated the following protocol:--"This hour, and the honourable judges with the final decision, were welcome. He would fortify himself in the strength of his God; since he had often and clearly made known his opinion, that amongst all mortal sorrows, none could so much afflict him as to live on without being able to serve the Fatherland, and the highest aims of humanity. He died willingly, since he could no longer work in love for the Idea--since he could no longer be free. So approached he the portals of eternity, with a glad mind, and with the most thorough internal conviction, which he had always entertained, that the true good upon earth can only come forth from the strife of conflicting passions, and that he who will work for the highest and divine, must be a leader and a member of a party. He cherished the hope through his death, to satisfy those whom he hated and who hated him; and again, to content those with whom he agreed in opinion, and in whose love consisted his earthly happiness. Death was welcome to him, since he yet felt the strength in him necessary, by the help of God, to enable him to die like a man."
The 20th of May was appointed for the execution, and till this period the governor of the House of Correction was instructed to admit all proper persons that the prisoner might desire to see, especially the Protestant ministers, and to comply with all reasonable wishes of the condemned.
Sand displayed the same fortitude as on the publication of the sentence of death. He made the request that day, that it might be ordered that no clergyman should attend him to the place of execution, and gave as his reason, that the attendance of criminals to the place of doom, was a degradation of the clerical order and of religion. That religion must lie in the heart, and could not, especially amid such a tumult, proceed from external things. As all the representatives, even of the clergy present, could not alter his opinions on this point, it was conceded, and his request allowed.
At five o'clock of the morning of the 20th, Sand was placed in a low open chaise, within the court of the Bridewell, the door being still closed. He was attended by the superintendent of the prison, at his own request, that he might help to support him, particularly in mounting the scaffold. Two other masters of the House of Correction were ordered to keep near the carriage. Sand was clad in a dark-green great-coat, linen trousers, and laced boots, without any covering on his head. The carriage in which he sat, as well as the one following with the officers of justice, was surrounded by the officials of the House of Correction, and the squadron of cavalry ordered for the occasion. The train proceeded to a meadow lying a little without the city gate, in which the scaffold was erected, and which was guarded by a detachment of infantry.
The government deemed these precautions necessary in order to frustrate any attempt at liberation of the prisoner on the part of the students. In fact, it is yet often related, that a great number of the Burschen rode, in the early morning, from Heidelberg, well provided with swords and fire-arms, with the intent to snatch Sand out of the hands of justice; that the keeping secret the day fixed for the execution, had made it impossible for them to obtain sufficiently early intelligence; and that in consequence, though riding the whole way at the highest speed, they arrived too late on the spot, where, cursing their evil star, they discharged their pistols into the ground. The whole story, however, is a fable, and it is certain, that by the wiser, and probably the greater part of the Burschenschaft, even as little as by the rest of the public, was Sand's murder-deed approved; and if at the moment he was generally pitied, and it was wished that a better fate had awaited him, yet none but a few political fanatics could pronounce the punishment unjust.
Sand was lifted out of the carriage, and mounted the scaffold and mounted the scaffold himself, supported by the arms of the two Bridewell masters. Arrived upon it, he turned himself round towards the crowd, then threw the handkerchief, which he held in his hand, forcibly down, with rolling eyes; lifted his hand on high, as if he swore an oath, turned his eyes towards heaven, and then caused himself to be led to the chair of execution, where at his particular request, he remained standing till the preparations of the execution were completed. The sentence of death was thereupon read with a loud voice by the actuary, and then the hands and body of the delinquent fast bound to the pillar. As the executioner bound his hands, Sand said to him in a low voice, "Don't bind me too fast, or it will hurt me." After his eyes were bound the sentence was completed, his head being severed from his body at one blow, and hung only by a part of the skin, which was immediately divided by the sword.
The whole passed over with the greatest order, and with the deepest silence of the spectators, except that at the moment of the fatal blow, was heard exclamations of pity. Many students and other spectators rushed to the scaffold, in order to dip their handkerchiefs in Sand's blood, or to cut small pieces of wood from the scaffold as mementos.
Sand had addressed through the whole time nothing to the public. A short time before his execution, he was heard alone to speak as to himself,--"God give me in my death much gladness--it is completed--I die in the mercy of my God!"
He died with much fortitude and presence of mind, at half-past five o'clock. His corpse with the severed head was soon after laid in the prepared coffin, and this was immediately nailed up. The military then guarded the remains back to the House of Correction; and on the following night at eleven o'clock they were buried in the cemetery of the Lutheran church near the House of Correction.
Kotzebue's dwelling, and the chamber where the murder was committed, are yet shown in Mannheim; and it is said that the spots of blood on the wall have continually reappeared in spite of being many times painted over.
The scaffold, according to custom, became the perquisite of the executioner, who came from Heidelberg. The stranger may observe a small garden-house which was built out of this material, as he goes towards the Bierhälter-hof, by the way of "The Three Troughs," as it is called. To this house for some years, the Burschenschaft were accustomed to go on the anniversary of Sand's execution, in procession, and there with singing, and probably an oration, paid their respect to his memory. Even those who did not approve of murder as a mere political reform, yet were glad that Kotzebue was out of the way, and pitied and even honoured Sand as a devoted and high-minded, though misguided martyr to their cause.
If the act of Sand, perpetrated upon a man who neither in public nor in private life enjoyed its respect, excited in the public mind so much just displeasure, how much more must that have been the case on the villanous attack upon the life of one whom so many social virtues adorned. The attempt to murder Ibell, the President of the First Chamber of Nassau, in the following year, by the fanatic Löning, increased the consternation of the rulers and the credibility of the charge that Germany, and especially its rising generation, was seized with a revolutionary dizziness. It appeared clear that the spirit which had formerly arisen from the salvation of the governments, had now taken a decided tendency to their destruction; and instead therefore of attempting to conciliate by liberal concessions, necessity commanded towards it a system of vigorous repression. The congress of sovereigns assembled at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818, had already turned its attention to the critical state of feeling in Germany. Whilst France had become so quiet that the Congress ordered its evacuation by the army of occupation, Germany became a new subject of anxiety. It was Sand's mad murder-deed which first made this manifest, and produced this reaction on the part of the governments. In August, 1819, many German ministers and diplomatists met on this subject at Karlsbad. The excellent Karlsbad resolutions, which were framed at this meeting, were on the 20th of September of the same year, published by the Confederation of States, as the Confederation Resolutions. These, in order to prevent the aberrations of the youth, ordained a strict oversight over both teachers and learners in this respect, and that a government inspector extraordinary should be appointed to every university to observe the teachers, and to restrain the scholars within the bounds of discipline and order.
The Karlsbad resolutions in reference to unions, and especially the Burschenschaft, say:--"The long existing laws against both secret and unauthorized unions in the universities, shall be maintained in their greatest force and stringency, and particularly shall be the more vigorously exercised towards the union instituted within these few years, under the name of a universal Burschenschaft: as at the foundation of this union lies the totally inadmissible presupposition of a lasting association and correspondence between the different universities. The government inspectors shall make it a duty to exercise an especial watchfulness in regard to this point. The governments are agreed upon this, that individuals who, after the publication of these resolutions, shall be found to have remained members of such secret or unauthorized unions, or shall have entered into such, shall not be permitted to hold any public office." Thus, the act of Sand, as is uniformly the case with wild and fanatical deeds of violence, had the very contrary effect to that which he purposed, and instead of serving and establishing the Burschenschaft, hastened its public denouncement and suppression. In all the German states, the freedom of the press was, moreover, abolished, so that in no German state could a manuscript be submitted to the press without censorship. Finally, also, a central commission of inquiry was established in Maintz for the finding out of all demagogical schemes. The Prussian government in particular went to work with pre-eminent energy and vigour, and, by its persecution of many distinguished men, forfeited a portion of that public respect which it had acquired through its strenuous exertions for the liberation of Germany from the French, and through other popular endeavours.
The repose of Germany during the political storms which in the following years shook foreign countries, at length put an end to the government alarms from demagogical agitations. The political inquisitions and persecutions ceased by degrees; the punishment suspended over the erring, became so much the milder as fewer aberrations, in consequence of the established regulations, arose to demand the care of the administrations. If therefore the impulse which the German spirit had acquired in the Liberation War had caused it to rush over its appropriate limits, the German nature yet returned speedily to its inherent morality and propriety; and by its unshakable loyalty to its hereditary princes, and relations, verified that old praise,--that in Germany good morals have more power than elsewhere good laws.
At the breaking up of the Burschenschaft at Jena, the 26th of November, 1819, the following song was sung; which we therefore give as one of the most celebrated.