Karl Ludwig Sand | Page 4

Kaiserthal and Mannheim,
at about three-quarters of the distance from the former town, and
commands a view of the latter. Mannheim is seen rising calm and

smiling amid gardens which once were ramparts, and which now
surround and embrace it like a girdle of foliage and flowers. Having
reached this spot, he lifted his cap, above the peak of which were
embroidered three interlaced oak leaves in silver, and uncovering his
brow, stood bareheaded for a moment to feel the fresh air that rose
from the valley of the Neckar. At first sight his irregular features
produced a strange impression; but before long the pallor of his face,
deeply marked by smallpox, the infinite gentleness of his eyes, and the
elegant framework of his long and flowing black hair, which grew in an
admirable curve around a broad, high forehead, attracted towards him
that emotion of sad sympathy to which we yield without inquiring its
reason or dreaming of resistance. Though it was still early, he seemed
already to have come some distance, for his boots were covered with
dust; but no doubt he was nearing his destination, for, letting his cap
drop, and hooking into his belt his long pipe, that inseparable
companion of the German Borsch, he drew from his pocket a little
note-book, and wrote in it with a pencil: "Left Wanheim at five in the
morning, came in sight of Mannheim at a quarter-past nine." Then
putting his note-book back into his pocket, he stood motionless for a
moment, his lips moving as though in mental prayer, picked up his hat,
and walked on again with a firm step towards Mannheim.
This young Student was Karl-Ludwig Sand, who was coming from
Jena, by way of Frankfort aid Darmstadt, in order to assassinate
Kotzebue.
Now, as we are about to set before our readers one of those terrible
actions for the true appreciation of which the conscience is the sole
judge, they must allow us to make them fully acquainted with him
whom kings regarded as an assassin, judges as a fanatic, and the youth
of Germany as a hero. Charles Louis Sand was born on the 5th of
October, 1795, at Wonsiedel, in the Fichtel Wald; he was the youngest
son of Godfrey Christopher Sand, first president and councillor of
justice to the King of Prussia, and of Dorothea Jane Wilheltmina
Schapf, his wife. Besides two elder brothers, George, who entered upon
a commercial career at St, Gall, and Fritz, who was an advocate in the
Berlin court of appeal, he had an elder sister named Caroline, and a
younger sister called Julia.
While still in the cradle he had been attacked by smallpox of the most

malignant type. The virus having spread through all his body, laid bare
his ribs, and almost ate away his skull. For several months he lay
between life and death; but life at last gained the upper hand. He
remained weak and sickly, however, up to his seventh year, at which
time a brain fever attacked him; and again put his life in danger. As a
compensation, however, this fever, when it left him, seemed to carry
away with it all vestiges of his former illness. From that moment his
health and strength came into existence; but during these two long
illnesses his education had remained very backward, and it was not
until the age of eight that he could begin his elementary studies;
moreover, his physical sufferings having retarded his intellectual
development, he needed to work twice as hard as others to reach the
same result.
Seeing the efforts that young Sand made, even while still quite a child,
to conquer the defects of his organisation, Professor Salfranck, a
learned and distinguished man, rector of the Hof gymnasium [college],
conceived such an affection for him, that when, at a later time, he was
appointed director of the gymnasium at Ratisbon, he could not part
from his pupil, and took him with him. In this town, and at the age of
eleven years, he gave the first proof of his courage and humanity. One
day, when he was walking with some young friends, he heard cries for
help, and ran in that direction: a little boy, eight or nine years old, had
just fallen into a pond. Sand immediately, without regarding his best
clothes, of which, however, he was very proud, sprang into the water,
and, after unheard-of efforts for a child of his age, succeeded in
bringing the drowning boy to land.
At the age of twelve or thirteen, Sand, who had become more active,
skilful, and determined than many of his elders, often amused himself
by giving battle to the lads of the town and of the neighbouring villages.
The theatre of these childish conflicts, which in their pale innocence