MEMOIR OF CHARLES LOUIS SAND; INCLUDING A Narratibe of the Circumstances ATTENDING THE DEATH OF AUGUSTUS VON KOTZEBUE: ALSO, A DEFENCE OF THE GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATORY NOTES BY THE EDITOR. Embellished with a Portrait of Sand. Les revolutions qui arrivent dans les grands etats ne sont point un effect du hazard, ni du Though this be madness, yet there's method in it! Hamlet, Act II. Scene II. LONDON: PRINTED FOR G. & W. B. WHITTAKER, 13, AVE MARIA LANE. EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. As no other record of the transactions which led to and followed the death of M. Kotzebue, has extended beyond the limits of a few newspaper paragraphs, all of which are extremely contradictory and imperfect, the Editor presumes it is unnecessary to make any apology for the present publication. The Memoir, though no doubt susceptible of considerable improvement, is that which has 'been received and circulated as the most authentic in Germany; and although the Defence of the Universities may give rise to a difference of opinion, as to the author's success in establishing their complete vindication; there can be but one sentiment entertained, with regard to the blameable course pursued by M. Kotzebue, so clearly explained by the writer. But heaven forbid the Editor should imagine that unfortunate victim merited such a tragical end, for the mere act of making comments, which, whether the result of honest conviction, or of venal profligacy, should still be corrected rather by the pen of the critic, than the knife of the assassin. Without being in any manner answerable for the doctrines or arguments of the Professor, the Editor could not be insensible to the importance of several of his facts and observations, the whole of which, he has done his utmost to place in the clearest point of view, leaving the final decision of their merits to a more competent tribunal. In laying the following Memoir and Defence before a British public, the Editor is, however, induced to offer some preliminary remarks, explanatory of the motives which have prompted this undertaking, as well as for the purpose of disarming the prejudices. of those, who are ever ready to put an evil |