“Every man has a destiny which he has to accomplish:  mine is devoted to the action that I am about to undertake; if I were to live another fifty years, I could not live more happily than I have done lately.  Farewell, mother:  I commend you to the protection of God; may He raise you to that joy which misfortunes can no longer trouble!  Take your grandchildren, to whom I should so much have liked to be a loving friend, to the top of our beautiful mountains soon.  There, on that altar raised by the Lord Himself in the midst of Germany, let them devote themselves, swearing to take up the sword as soon as they have strength to lift it, and to lay it down only when our brethren are all united in liberty, when all Germans, having a liberal constitution; are great before the Lord, powerful against their neighbours, and united among themselves.

“May my country ever raise her happy gaze to Thee, Almighty Father!  May Thy blessing fall abundantly upon her harvests ready to be cut and her armies ready for battle, and recognising the blessings that Thou host showered upon us, may the German nation ever be first among nations to rise and uphold the cause of humanity, which is Thy image upon earth!

“Your eternally attached son, brother and friend, “Karl-Ludwig sand.  “Jena, the beginning of March, 1819.”

Sand, who, as we have said, had at first been taken to the hospital, was removed at the end of three months to the prison at Mannheim, where the governor, Mr. G——­, had caused a room to be prepared for him.  There he remained two months longer in a state of extreme weakness:  his left arm was completely paralysed; his voice was very weak; every movement gave him horrible pain, and thus it was not until the 11th of August—­that is to say, five months after the event that we have narrated—­that he was able to write to his family the following letter:—­

“My very dear parents:—­The grand-duke’s commission of inquiry informed me yesterday that it might be possible I should have the intense joy of a visit from you, and that I might perhaps see you here and embrace you—­you, mother, and some of my brothers and sisters.

“Without being surprised at this fresh proof of your motherly love, I have felt an ardent remembrance reawaken of the happy life that we spent gently together.  Joy and grief, desire and sacrifice, agitate my heart violently, and I have had to weigh these various impulses one against the other, and with the force of reason, in order to resume mastery of myself and to take a decision in regard to my wishes.

“The balance has inclined in the direction of sacrifice.