essary that he should fall.

"I have always said that if we wish to find a great and supreme remedy
for the state of abasement in which we are, none must shrink from combat
nor from suffering; and the real liberty of the German people will only
be assured when the good citizen sets himself or some other stake upon
the game, and when every true son of the country, prepared for the
struggle for justice, despises the good things of this world, and only
desires those celestial good things which death holds in charge.

"Who then will strike this miserable hireling, this venal traitor?

"I have long been waiting in fear, in prayer, and in tears--I who am not
born for murder--for some other to be beforehand with me, to set me free,
and suffer me to continue my way along the sweet and peaceful path that I
had chosen for myself. Well, despite my prayers and my tears, he who
should strike does not present himself; indeed, every man, like myself,
has a right to count upon some other, and everyone thus counting, every
hour's delay, but makes our state worse; far at any moment--and how deep
a shame would that be for us! Kotzebue may leave Germany, unpunished, and
go to devour in Russia the treasures for which he has exchanged his
honour, his conscience, and his German name. Who can preserve us from
this shame, if every man, if I myself, do not feel strength to make
myself the chosen instrument of God's justice? Therefore, forward! It
shall be I who will courageously rush upon him (do not be alarmed), on
him, the loathsome seducer; it shall be I who will kill the traitor, so
that his misguiding voice, being extinguished, shall cease to lead us
astray from the lessons of history and from the Spirit of God. An
irresistible and solemn duty impels me to this deed, ever since I have
recognised to what high destinies the German; nation may attain during
this century, and ever since I have come to know the dastard and
hypocrite who alone prevents it from reaching them; for me, as for every
German who seeks the public good, this desire has became a strict and
binding necessity. May I, by this national vengeance, indicate to all
upright and loyal consciences where the true danger lies, and save our
vilified and calumniated societies from the imminent danger that
threatens them! May I, in short, spread terror among the cowardly and
wicked, and courage and faith among the good! Speeches and writings lead
to nothing; only actions work.