superscription, "To my nearest and dearest," was an exact account of what
he meant to do, and the motives which had made him determine upon this
act. Though the letter is a little long, it is so solemn and so antique
in spirit, that we do not hesitate to present it in its entirety to our
readers:--

"To all my own "Loyal and eternally cherished souls

"Why add still further to your sadness? I asked myself, and I hesitated
to write to you; but my silence would have wounded the religion of the
heart; and the deeper a grief the more it needs, before it can be blotted
out, to drain to the dregs its cup of bitterness. Forth from my agonised
breast, then; forth, long and cruel torment of a last conversation, which
alone, however, when sincere, can alleviate the pain of parting.

"This letter brings you the last farewell of your son and your brother.

"The greatest misfortune of life far any generous heart is to see the
cause of God stopped short in its developments by our fault; and the most
dishonouring infamy would be to suffer that the fine things acquired
bravely by thousands of men, and far which thousands of men have joyfully
sacrificed themselves, should be no more than a transient dream, without
real and positive consequences. The resurrection of our German life was
begun in these last twenty years, and particularly in the sacred year
1813, with a courage inspired by God. But now the house of our fathers
is shaken from the summit to the base. Forward! let us raise it, new
and fair, and such as the true temple of the true God should be.

"Small is the number of those who resist, and who wish to oppose
themselves as a dyke against the torrent of the progress of higher