Karl Ludwig Sand | Page 8

called the
Teutonic; then came tester of 1815, and with it the terrible news that
Napoleon had landed in the Gulf of Juan. Immediately all the youth of
Germany able to bear arms gathered once more around the banners of
1813 and 1814. Sand followed the general example; but the action,
which in others was an effect of enthusiasm, was in him the result of
calm and deliberate resolution. He wrote to Wonsiedel on this
occasion:--
"April 22, 1813
"MY DEAR PARENTS,--Until now you have found me submissive to
your parental lessons and to the advice of my excellent masters; until
now I have made efforts to render myself worthy of the education that
God has sent me through you, and have applied myself to become
capable of spreading the word of the Lord through my native land; and
for this reason I can to-day declare to you sincerely the decision that I
lave taken, assured that as tender and affectionate parents you will calm
yourselves, and as German parents and patriots you will rather praise
my resolution than seek to turn me from it.
"The country calls once more for help, and this time the call is
addressed to me, too, for now I have courage and strength. It cast me a
great in ward struggle, believe me, to abstain when in 1813 she gave
her first cry, and only the conviction held me back that thousands of
others were then fighting and conquering for Germany, while I had to

live far the peaceful calling to which I was destined. Now it is a
question of preserving our newly re-established liberty, which in so
many places has already brought in so rich a harvest. The all-powerful
and merciful Lord reserves for us this great trial, which will certainly
be the last; it is for us, therefore, to show that we are worthy of the
supreme gift which He has given us, and capable of upholding it with
strength and firmness.
"The danger of the country has never been so great as it is now, that is
why, among the youth of Germany, the strong should support the
wavering, that all may rise together. Our brave brothers in the north are
already assembling from all parts under their banners; the State of
Wurtemburg is, proclaiming a general levy, and volunteers are coming
in from every quarter, asking to die for their country. I consider it my
duty, too, to fight for my country and for all the dear ones whom I love.
If I were not profoundly convinced of this truth, I should not
communicate my resolution to you; but my family is one that has a
really German heart, and that would consider me as a coward and an
unworthy son if I did not follow this impulse. I certainly feel the
greatness of the sacrifice; it costs me something, believe me, to leave
my beautiful studies and go to put myself under the orders of vulgar,
uneducated people, but this only increases my courage in going to
secure the liberty of my brothers; moreover, when once that liberty is
secured, if God deigns to allow, I will return to carry them His word.
"I take leave, therefore, for a time of you, my most worthy parents, of
my brothers, my sisters, and all who are dear to me. As, after mature
deliberation, it seems the most suitable thing for me to serve with the
Bavarians. I shall get myself enrolled, for as long as the war may last,
with a company of that nation. Farewell, then; live happily; far away
from you as I shall be, I shall follow your pious exhortations. In this
new track I shall still I hope, remain pure before God, and I shall
always try to walk in the path that rises above the things of earth and
leads to those of heaven, and perhaps in this career the bliss of saving
some souls from their fall may be reserved for me.
"Your dear image will always be about me; I will always have the Lord
before my eyes and in my heart, so that I may endure joyfully the pains
and fatigues of this holy war. Include me in your Prayers; God will
send you the hope of better times to help you in bearing the unhappy

time in which we now are. We cannot see one another again soon,
unless we conquer; and if we should be conquered (which God forbid!),
then my last wish, which I pray you, I conjure you, to fulfil, my last
and supreme wish would be that you, my dear and deserving German
relatives, should leave an enslaved country for some other not yet under
the yoke.
"But why should we thus sadden one another's hearts? Is not