"On the 17th of October I arrived in Eisenach, and was chosen on the festival-committee. I here helped to keep order; heard the speeches on the Wartburg, but did not speak myself; I went in the evening to the fire, and saw the books burnt. On the following morning I heard speeches for the reconcilement of the disputes of many of the student-quarrels of former years, and listened to the splendid orations on the Fatherland. I accompanied the Burschen to the church, and partook of the sacrament; then was the festival ended, and I returned to Jena." He adds, that it had been a festival simply for the elevation of the sacred cause, and that no determinate object besides had been contemplated.
In Jena, Sand continued to educate himself, in order, as he expressed himself, the better to look about himself, and to ground himself fairly in the different departments of knowledge; till suddenly the inner call for ever summoned him away. His teachers there gave their testimony that he always appeared as a grave, quiet, and discreet man, zealously striving after excellence. That he was accustomed to speak little, since speaking appeared a difficulty to him; but that what he did say, was always prudent, well-considered, and sensible, and that his deportment had nothing displeasing in it, although it was energetic and firm. During his abode in Jena, he was a member of the so-called Burschenschaft, but at the same time also of another company, which he termed a Literary Union. He made from Jena a journey into North Germany, and visited many of the most celebrated battle-fields of both past and modern times. After his return he proceeded again with his studies with unremitting diligence, and had obtained permission from his parents to continue another half-year in Jena, when he suddenly broke off, on the 9th of March, 1819, at four o'clock in the morning, and set out on his last fatally eventful journey towards Mannheim.
We have thus followed the thread of Sand's history to this period with sufficient minuteness, and we have permitted ourselves to sketch it with the more exactness, since it is particularly interesting to trace all the causes which could conduct a character, otherwise so excellent, to such a crime;--as, moreover, conjectures respecting these causes can only be rightly founded on a real knowledge of the circumstances of the case, and from these only can those conclusions be drawn, which were, though without effect, employed in the defence of this singular man. In his history we behold the fac-simile of the history of the whole Burschenschaft to which he belonged. A description of his person, from that officially drawn up, may precede the relation of his unhappy deed. In the protocol it stands thus:--
