So, on the German sword, to this alliance,
In life and death let solemn faith he vow'd!
Up, Brothers, up! the Fatherland's reliance,
And to the blood-red morning cry aloud.
Though rocks, etc.
And thou, Beloved, who in hours the dearest,
Hast nerved thy friend with many a look and tone,
For thee my heart will beat when death comes nearest,
For unto true love change is never known.
Though rocks, etc.
And now, since fate may tear us from each other,
Let each man grasp of each the brother-hand,
And swear once more, O every German Brother,
Truth to the bond, truth to the Fatherland!
Though rocks and oak-trees shiver,
We, we will tremble never!
Strong like the tempest see the youths go by,
For Fatherland to combat and to die!
The laws of the Burschenschaft, or its constitution, bore the
name--"Custom of the Burschenschaft." Amongst other things stand the
following:
"In the German Fatherland we will live and move. We will perish with
it, or die free in it, if God's great call ordain. Live the German
speech for ever! Flourish the true chivalry! Let Germany be free!
"He who avows these ideas, and is willing to contend for their
advancement, is our beloved brother. To accomplish these high
endeavours, there must be a universal free Burschenschaft throughout
all Germany.
"There can no salvation come to our beloved Germany unless through such
a free and universal Burschenschaft, in which Germany's noblest youth
continues intimately fraternized, in which every one learns to know his
duty--and which Burschenschaft shall always find the Gymnastic schools
its defence and alarm-post.
"We will never apply the word Fatherland to that state in which we were
born: Germany is our Fatherland; the state in which we are born is our
Home.
"We will hold these principles firmly and honourably; spread them by
every possible means; and with all our power, now as youths, and
hereafter as men, labour to bring them into exercise.
"When we quit the High School, and are invested with any office, be it
high or low, we will fulfil the same honourably, true to Prince and
Fatherland, and in such a manner administer it as shall be in
accordance with the spirit of these principles.
"The law of the people shall be the will of the Prince. Liberty and
Equality are the highest good; after which we have to strive, and from
which strift no pious and honest German can ever desist.
"Every student who maintains honour and virtue, shall be a free German
Bursche: subject to no one; inferior to no one; all shall be equal,
obeying only the laws."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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