He returned thence to his parents, with whom he continued till they resolved to send him to Regensburg, where he proceeded towards the end of the year 1812, with his tutor Saalfranc, and always called to mind with extreme pleasure his abode there. The testimonies of his life and habits during his sojourn in Hof and Regensburg, are greatly to his credit His good capacity, his restless diligence, his deep study, and not less his highly moral conduct, were greatly applauded. In his 18th year awoke in Sand the resolve to co-operate in doing battle with the common foe of his country. He may speak for himself.
"As in the spring of 1813 the French fled homewards, and Germany began to rouse itself to take vengeance for the shame inflicted on it, there awoke in me a new-born joy, a fresh mind, a new life; and from that hour I doubted no more of a complete liberation from the old slavery, although the heavens became so unpropitious to the Germans. With eager heart and yet with all possible circumspection, I lived in the newspapers of the time; and in the autumn of 1813, which I spent at home, I obtained the permission to join myself to the host of Germany, when in the meantime, came the intelligence of the battle of Leipsic, which rendered my going forth unnecessary."
Sand returned once more to Regensburg, and proceeded thence to the university of Tübingen. Here he passed quietly the winter half-year of 1814-15, and had begun the second half-year when Napoleon returned from Elba, and Sand felt himself called to stand forth with his countrymen in defence of Germany. His testimonies from Tübingen were highly creditable, yet they expressed suspicions that during his abode there he had been a member of a political union called Teutonia. Sand then first, on the day before his departure, announced to his parents his determination to enter into the army, and took farewell of them by letter. The style and tendency of his letter differ essentially from his subsequent compositions. We see in it only the youth full of zeal and fervour for his country,--who, pure, and without mixture of his subsequent political religious exaltation, avows his intimation to fight to the death for his country and kindred. "With an inward struggle," wrote he amongst other things, "held I myself back the last time when the liberation of Germany was at stake, and it was only the conviction that many thousands then stood in the field, eager for battle and victory for the welfare of Germany, that could detain me." In another place--"The spirit at home and in Bavaria may be as it will, I hold it for the highest duty to fight for the liberty of my German Fatherland; of my dear parents, brothers, and sisters; and of all the good people who love me; and, should numbers gain the advantage over us, to contend to the very last gasp, and triumph over a tyrant in death. Ever shall your beloved images hover round me; ever will I have God before my eyes and in my heart, that I may be strengthened to bear with serenity all the fatigues and dangers of this holy war. Yet wherefore make the hearts of each other so heavy? We alone have the right, the sacred cause. There is a righteous God, and how then shall we not have the victory?"