ry journal called Isis, loaded Kotzebue in this journal with ridicule. Kotzebue considered himself as no longer safe at Weimar, and fixed his abode at Manheim, where he, however, still continued to publish his journal, and forcibly to attack the proceedings of the Tourneyers and the Burchenschaft. When at the Congress of Aix la Chapelle, the Counsellor of State Stourdza, cousin to the Russian Secretary of State, the Count Capo d'Istria, a Greek by birth, and private secretary to the Emperor Alexander, received the commission to draw up, from papers which a German Court presented to the Emperor Alexander, the pamphlet "Etat actuel de l'Allemagne," in which the German universities are represented as without subordination and discipline, Kotzebue expressed in his journal his decided approbation. This pamphlet, which certainly contains much that is ill-founded and partial, and blows the alarm of fire wherever there is but an appearance of smoke, highly incensed the students in all the German universities, where the Burschenschaft had taken root, in consequence of the deputations to the Wartburg. Many refutations were written; the best was in the Leipsig Literary Journal. M. Stourdza, who did not think himself safe at Weimar, with his sister the Countess Edling, went to Dresden, where he still is, for the restoration of his health; here he received a challenge from two young noblemen studying at Jena, because he had calumniated the German universities. He of course did not accept this challenge, but declared in a letter to the Grand Duke of Weimar, that as sécretary to the Emperor Alexander, he had merely followed his Majesty's orders. The whole displeasure of the students was now directed against Kotzebue, who fell a victim to it by the hand of an assassin, while living quietly, and unsuspicious of harm, in the bosom of his family. (He had in all, by three wives, fourteen children, of whom only the half were with him.) At the head of the Burschenschaft of Jena was a Hanoverian nobleman, who was formerly expelled M. Stourdza has since left Dresden for Warsaw, to return to St Petersburgh, having, it is said, received intimation that he was not safe even at Dresden. from Marburg, and afterwards received at Jena as a Courlander, whose parents formerly acted a great part at the Court of King Jerome, at Cassel. He has now been expelled from Jens. But it seems absolutely necessary that the Burschenschaft, as it is called, which for these eight months has been at variance, in Leipsig, with the Landmanschaft, which is opposed to it, and has often occasioned disputes in the theatre, should be every where dissolved by the governments, and care taken lest a new Secret Tribunal (Sancta Fehma,) or "Old Man of the Mountain," should arise. All Germany is filled with indignation. Though Kotzebue, whether from inattention or inconsistency, has frequently committed himself in an unpardonable manner, and because it was more profitable spared the file, and composed a third of his 128 pieces extempore, yet he was the greatest dramatic genius of the age. His disposition to satire engaged him from his youth in many disagreeable quarrels, as, in Germany in particular, people are not used to personalities. But those who knew him well, know that he never had a venal pen. His hatred to Napoleon has always been the same, and there were times, when, not thinking himself secure even in Russia, he seriously thought of seeking an asylum in Britain. He was extremely liberal and beneficent; he gained by his writings large sums; but his expences were certainly great, considering his very numerous family, and his love of a cheerful, convivial life. But Weimar, 6th April 1819. Sand, the murderer of Kotzebue, first studied at Erlangen, but went, with special permission of the government, to Jena. In both universities his application and conduct are praised. Professor Mehmel, who is now deputy to the assembly of the states in Munich, confirms this praise. this Charles Sand harangued his comrades, in the meeting of the German Students on the Wartburg, and his speech is printed in the authentic account of the festival on the Wartburg, by Kieser, (a professor of medicine at Jena.) Entirely conformable to the enthusiastic ideas with which he spoke on the Wartburg, is a paper found in the pocket of the assassin, a true copy of which has been com municated by the Baden Minister, Von Bergstadt, to the governments of Germany. The infatuated youth had long devoted himself in secret to this deed, and has fatally executed it. Kotzebue, attacked by the assassin in the room where he received company, after he had received the mortal stab, pulled the murderer, in the struggle with him, to the ground; and it was then that Sand gave him the stab in the face, and a second in the lungs. Whether he had accomplices in Jena is not proved. The caricature which some students at Jena made upon Kotzebue, exactly on the day when he was murdered, is indeed suspicious; however, it is said to have been accidental. Almost all the inhabitants of Jena participate in the hatred of Kotzebue; and Professor Oken, in the second number of his monthly journal, the Isis, for 1819, had, again, a wood-cut in ridicule of Kotzebue, and said plainly that such a worthless being ought to be scourged out of Germany. Certain as it is that neither Oken nor any other professor knew of Sand's plan, yet this shews how much Kotzebue was hated. He had some foreboding of his fate, and in one of the last numbers of his weekly Literary Journal, of which some thousand copies are read in Germany, said that his end was near. He was resolved, after using the baths in Bohemia, to return to Russia. The Emperor had promised to continue to him there his salary of 6000 silver roubles, but had by no means recalled him, as has been asserted. It is remarkable, that the students of theology are every where the most licentious and the most unpolished. The students of theology are indeed, often, of poor families, and are therefore without the advantages of a polished education; but their study itself ought to supply the deficiency, if the Professors understood how to impress upon their hearts a true sense of religion; but many teachers of theology are rationalists. It was Kotzebue's portrait, with a bat instead of a beard, and was nailed to the black board on which the names of persons declared infamous, such as fraudulent bankrupts, &c. are exposed. An inquiry having been instituted, a student voluntarily confessed the fact, and the chance which had induced him to it. Everywhere, even where Kotzebue was most disliked and ridiculed, as at Berlin, where even Iffland once called him a perfumed polecat, hatred has been appeased by his tragical death. The very day when the news of his murder came to Berlin, and was immediately announced in an interesting notice by the Prussian State Gazette, a new play by Kotzebue was represented for the first time, with all possible splendour, in the great opera house, where plays are now performed, till the theatre (which was burnt) can be rebuilt. It is called Hermann and Thusnelda, in three acts, with choruses and songs, and is composed in a grand style by Weber of Berlin. The house was crowded to excess. The piece, which has very fine scenery, and represents the victory of the Germans under Hermann (Arminius) over Varus and the Romans, and is therefore a national drama, made a double impression, because it was known that the poet had been for ever removed from the scene by a horrible crime. His literary journal, of which the third part (from January to June 1819) will certainly be completed, because the publisher, Hofman the bookseller, has MS. of Kotzebue's for a good while in advance:-circulated in many thousand copies all over Germany, and lashed without mercy every presumption and folly, in every class, and under every shape. It is to be wished that the proper publisher of all his plays and best productions, the bookseller Kummer in Leipsig, may resolve to publish a selection from his 200 plays, and other interesting writings, made by a judicious critic. The selection might easily make 30 volumes. GOTTINGEN DURING THE SUMMER OF 1818. (Concluded from page 398.) [Since the first part of this communication was printed, we have received from our correspondent at Hamburg, by whom it was sent to us, a severe reproof for the prefatory observations which we hazarded on the character of the German students. Whether those few remarks were well or ill-founded, we hereby announce that they are in no respect the sentiments of our excellent and patriotic carrespondent, who entertains a much higher As the following day there happened to be a fair, and a great many traders, musicians, and such kind of people, were in the town, all these, and the citizens themselves, were, by the police of the city, equally forbidden to be, without good reason, on the streets later than nine o'clock. By the by, it may be observed, that, for the sake of this fair, there were erected on the market-place, and on a great part of the Wenderstreet, a number of booths, of which, as we shall see, the captain of the hussars took advantage but too well. During the day all was quiet, and the lectures were, as usual, regularly attended; every one waited impatiently for the evening. The great er number of the citizens imputed the disorders of yesterday only to the forbearance of the commissioner, who delayed so long ordering the hussars to be assembled, and they did not doubt that the mere sight of the troops would keep the students quiet. Most of the professors laughed in their sleeves at the dilemma in which the commissioner was, and secretly wished this embarrassment to become still greater, that the government might be convinced how inadequate the measure was of sending a commissioner, and of depriving the senate of their The students themselves did power. not know exactly what was to be done, though almost all were extremely willing to contravene the order; all, however, were sensible how superior exercised and armed men were to unarmed and undisciplined youth. They did not, therefore, adopt any general resolution, but proposed to wait till the evening, and to see what the moment would suggest. The evening came on, and the commissioner was now prepared to use more effectual means. At seven o'clock a squadron was posted round the University buildings; the same took place on a spot near the market. When it was growing dark, hussars on foot, and academical soldiers, walked up and down the Wenderstreet, to check in their commencement any troubles that might arise, by seizing those who began to riot. The street was also VOL. IV. crowded by students, who, all armed with their sticks, were walking in the greatest tranquillity; only here and there a few, who thought themselves unobserved by the academical soldiers, were crying out in spite of the order. This evening every thing might, perhaps, have remained quiet, but for the following circumstance: A party of about 50 students had spent the afternoon at a mill not far off; towards nine o'clock they returned home singing, as usual. When arrived at the gate of the town, they had not finished their song, and it appeared to them too humiliating to stop singing for the sake of Mr F-e's prohibition; so they confidently entered the town in full glee. Their example encouraged their comrades in the Wenderstreet, who till now had behaved quietly. These joined their friends; and in a few minutes the band was as large and as tumultuous as on the preceding evening. The hussars on foot had disappeared, and the few academical warriors durst not approach the enraged multitude. The commandant of Gottingen had at his house (near the market-place) this evening, the commissioner, the captain of the dragoons, the pro-rector, and others of the chief members of Thither the collethe University. gians went, and poured out their usual curse (" Pereat") at the assembled e himself came gentlemen. Mr Fout immediately to appease the crowd by his appearance, and by his exhortations, but in vain; he was hooted at, and it is likely he would have been laid hands on if he had not retired. Now at last a troop of cavalry galloped up to the market-place, and here they were received by the students with cries and derision. The second lieutenant told them to separate, and go home, according to the regulation, if not, he had orders to use force. His warning only augmented their clamours and abusive language; it is even said that stones had been thrown against the horses, for the students thought it certain that, as usual, the threats would remain mere menaces, and that nobody would dare to use arms against the favourites of the law; but they were mistaken. cer, seeing that words had no effect, ordered his men to drive their horses against the crowd, to disperse them, and use the flat sides of their swords," The offi if necessary. The exasperated sol- liberated separately what was to be done. Two different opinions were debated on. Some advised that as many guns, pistols, &c. as possible should be procured for the evening; that every one should arm himself with his student-sword, and so they should engage in battle with the troops in the following way: A part, concealed in the houses, should throw stones and fire at the soldiers, a part by fire-works frighten the horses, and the greatest number should fight openly. If their opinion had prevailed, and been executed, a horrible slaughter would have taken place. Fortunately the other more reasonable one was preferred, the plurality conceiving that it would be absurd to think of making head against regular soldiery, proposed to punish the city and the government, by all leaving the town, and not returning till what they should demand had been granted them. This motion was adopted at three o'clock by the four assemblages, and by the Prussians, approved by the rest, and partly executed the same day. About 100 students quitted the town. The commissioner, fearing that something similar to the first proposal might happen, caused, at five o'clock, in the presence of a squadron, all the booths on the market-place be pulled down, that the armed force might have free elbow room; and at eight in the evening a detachment of infantry came on, of whom the half were billeted in the houses, the other half bivouacked the whole night on the market-place. All, however, ended peaceably. The following day, Friday the 24th, the lecture-rooms were quite deserted; and at 12 o'clock, of 1200 students only 50 remained in town, some detained by their wounds, others destined to take care of the wounded, and the rest left in observation by the four assemblages, to communicate what was going forward in the University. Now, the general consternation of the commissioner, of the professors, and citizens, may be imagined. These last would have been glad to see the collegians a little chastened, but the general desertion was quite contrary to their interest, for it must be known that they chiefly depend on the University for subsistence. They suddenly changed * The students lodge in private houses, their sentiments, and, as they had but do not board in them; and all the tradesmen depend solely on the custom of the collegians. How much the German students are esinclined to distinguish themselves, even in in the market-place, where a great Here, as in ancient The reso "I. Deputies shall be sent to Hanover, and exhibit to government these two conditions of peace and of return: "1st, A complete amnesty of all that has happened. "2d, Removal of all the troops. "II. To enable the deputies to travel decently to Hanover, a contribution shall be made of 6d. a-head." These points were approved, and the two collegians elected as ambassadors set off directly by post for the capital. One who knows in what condition the purses of students generally are, will wonder how all could desert of their own accord, and take up their residence where they pleased. To be sure, that was a circumstance which perplexed a great many of them, even more than the swords of the hussars, and which rendered it impossible that such a state of affairs should be of any long duration. However, we must observe, that a rare public spirit prevailed, and that those who fortunately had a command of money supported their more indigent comrades. But want of money was not the only thing which, when matters were spun out, made numbers desire to return to Gottingen. Several greatly preferred the continuation of their studies to all this fracas. In effect, dress, from others, this may serve as a proof, that the compilers of the academical code have not thought it superfluous to make a law, by which it is forbidden, under a considerable fine, that a student walk in the streets in his nightgown, nightcap, or slip, pers. |