ALTHOUGH the numerous victims, whom the wild and vindictive passions of mankind immolate on the altars of envy or revenge, jealousy or fanaticism, are seldom regarded amidst the tumult and anxieties of this busy scene, with more than a momentary surprise, and transient regret; it not unfrequently becomes the province of history, to pause and meditate on some startling and ominous exception to the general rule. Such was the tragical end of Augustus Von Kotzebue, an event, not only of awful import to Germany, but well calculated to strike, with the impressiveness of a monitory lesson, upon the public mind of all Europe. Kotzebue was a scholar of no mean pretensions; a writer at once voluminous and popular, he was consequently not without a certain degree of influence over the opinions of his fellow country B men and contemporaries: of late years, however, his name had acquired an adventitious and more questionable title to celebrity. Either from an illfated conviction, or a self-interested subserviency, he zealously espoused, and took a very active part in supporting political principles, adverse to that spirit of independence which burst forth in Germany, after its deliverance from foreign aggression in 1814. Hence it was, that the prostitution of his pen to the views of kings and ministers, while it secured to him the fruits of patronage and wealth, raised up against him a host of incensed and determined enemies, and in the end sealed his melancholy fate. Shortly to develope and trace the causes which have generated in the hearts of the German youth, such an implacable hatred to the advocate and apologist of despotic power, as to have driven a young man of otherwise gentle habits and kindly affections, with a phrenetic impulse into the commission of an act that cannot under any circumstances cease to be a crime, and against which the offender's generous soul must at first have revolted with unspeakable abhorrence, will be the object of the following pages; for though public curiosity may have been gratified in part, by the various and sometimes contradictory accounts that appeared shortly after the circumstance occurred, it is no less due to the present times than to pos terity, that a faithful narrative of such extraordinary events, should be put upon record, in a shape less perishable than that which the columns of a newspaper are able to embrace. The young student of theology, Charles Louis Sand, who enacted the BRUTUS of this terrific drama, was born of highly respectable parents at Weinseidel in the margraviate of Baireuth. Such was the modesty of his demeanour, and mildness of his disposition, from his earliest years, that the friends of the family, and the teachers under whom he was placed, almost equalled his parents in the warmth of their affection for him. His person was engaging, his manners agreeable, and the uniform propriety of his conduct in the highest degree examplary. His remarkable docility, and the eager thirst for knowledge with which he was inspired, produced in him a frame of mind, most happily adapted to the study of divinity, and while at the schools, his correct deportment, and assiduous application more than justified the sanguine expectations of his family and friends; so that there was not only a fair promise of his becoming a faithful minister of the gospel, but a distinguished ornament of his national church. Arrived at an age for reflection, Sand viewed with mingled feelings of sorrow and indignation the wretched condition of his country, at once the theatre of foreign invasion and domestic tyranny; while his mind dwelt with unceasing solicitude upon the means of achieving the redemption, and securing the liberties of Germany, objects above all others dear to the hearts of her native youth. No wonder then, that in 1815, we find him following the standard of Austria, in common with many thousands of young patriots, who, roused by the interested reports every where circulated, that the repose and liberty of Europe were threatened by the return of Napoleon from Elba, hastened to obey the artful appeal which the cabinet of Vienna made to their public spirit and patriotism. When, however, the struggle between France, fighting in defence of an imprescriptible right, to live under the sovereign of her own choice, and the allied monarchs, terminated in the field of Waterloo, Sand returned to his quiet and affectionate home, carrying with him unqualified testimonials of approbation from his superiors, and the warm regard of his companions in arms. But it was not long, ere the subject of our memoir had ample cause to repent that he drew his sword in the cause of those, whom no pledge, however sacred, could bind, no service, however zealous, could propitiate in favour of the just claims of the loyal and suffering people who had so often fought and bled for the safety of their thrones! Ye men, who pour your blood for kings as water; A blindfold bondage, where your hire is blows!* He remained but a short time with his family, and then hastened to resume the course of his studies, which were prosecuted with unabated ardour at the universities of Erlangen, Tubengen, and Jena. Every account communicated respecting Sand, while passing through these excellent seminaries of learning, tends to establish a high opinion of his talents and diligence as a scholar, and of his unimpeachable morality as a man.— It was at the second named place that those who were more particularly intimate with the young enthusiast, first observed his character to have assumed a sombre and deeply meditative cast.According to their accounts, he seemed to be constantly holding a painful and anxious communion with his own thoughts. This melancholy disposition took at Jena, a still darker hue, arising most probably from the peculiar signs of the times; and it was noticed that the agitation of his * See Lord Byron's ode to fallen Venice, one of the most spirited and beautiful efforts of that extraordinary poet's prolific muse. But I differ from his lordship's opinion that "there is no hope for nations," though who can hesitate to subscribe to his splendid illustration of the Roman maxim, MALIM INQUIETAM LIBERTATEM QUAM QUIETUM SERVITIUM!-ED. |