The meeting of the state's representatives was called by the Austrian Minister of State Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich after the liberal Burschenschaft student Karl Ludwig Sand had murdered the conservative writer August von Kotzebue on 23 March 1819, and an attempt had been made by apothecary Karl Löning on the life of Nassau president Karl von Ibell on 1 July 1819. In the course of the European Restoration Metternich feared liberal and national tendencies at German universities which might conduct revolutionary activities threatening the monarchistic order. At this time, the two outrages cited were a welcome pretext to take action.