fair; so let them
deliver their judgment, for nothing now prevents its execution."

The doctor made his report; there was no way of retreat; Russia was
becoming more and more pressing, and an the 5th of May 1820 the high
court of justice delivered the following judgment, which was confirmed
on the 12th by His Royal Highness the Grand-Duke of Baden:

"In the matters under investigation and after administration of the
interrogatory and hearing the defences, and considering the united
opinions of the court of justice at Mannheim and the further
consultations of the court of justice which declare the accused, Karl
Sand of Wonsiedel, guilty of murder, even on his own confession, upon
the person of the Russian imperial Councillor of State, Kotzebue; it is
ordered accordingly, for his just punishment and for an example that
may deter other people, that he is to be put from life to death by the
sword.

"All the costs of these investigations, including these occasioned
by his public execution, will be defrayed from the funds of the law
department, on account of his want of means."

We see that, though it condemned the accused to death, which indeed
could hardly be avoided, the sentence was both in form and substance as
mild as possible, since, though Sand was convicted, his poor family was
not reduced by the expenses of a long and costly trial to complete ruin.

Five days were still allowed to elapse, and the verdict was not
announced until the 17th. When Sand was informed that two councillors of
justice were at the door, he guessed that they were coming to read his
sentence to him; he asked a moment to rise, which he had done but once
before, in the instance already narrated, during fourteen months. And
indeed he was so weak that he could not stand to hear the sentence, and
after having greeted the deputation that death sent to him, he asked
to sit down, saying that he did so not from cowardice of soul but from
weakness of body; then he added, "You are welcome, gentlemen; far I have
suffered so much for fourteen months past that you come to me as angels
of deliverance."

He heard the sentence quite unaffectedly and with a gentle smile upon
his lips; then, when the reading was finished, he said--

"I look for no better fate, gentlemen, and when, more than a year ago, I
paused on the little hill that overlooks the town, I saw beforehand the
place where my grave would be; and so I ought to thank God and man far
having prol