CHAP. II. 1849. the King to accept Imperial crown. The had formed a compact with the Left. They had promised the Left a purely democratic electoral law, and to vote against the absolute veto of the future Emperor. This compact was signed on March 26, 1849, by 114 members of the Gagern party. The Refusal of choice, then, of the King of Prussia as Emperor could not have been made without the Left, and this aid made its acceptance impossible at Berlin. result of the vote is well known. The King refused the proffered honour. The reasons for this refusal have often been discussed; the majority being of opinion that the refusal resulted chiefly from the time and manner of making the offer of the Imperial dignity. Europe was barely recovering from the shock of last year; it was therefore imprudent to wound and insult a powerful State, the traditional bulwark of the old order of things. To this state of affairs Governments were now desirous of returning as far as possible; but to accomplish this by an act dictated by a revolutionary assembly would call forth opposition from men who supposed that a Head would thus be given to a movement barely suppressed. A crown too, the property and in the disposal of the reigning princes of Germany, could not be transferred by a narrow majority in a representative assembly. Frederick William IV. could not, and never would consent to become a democratic emperor. The refusal embittered the feeling amongst the people, who were far more national than their rulers, CHAP. II. 1849. drawal of deputies. Character of the re ception of the Con German and who thereby saw the chance of a united Germany slipping from their hands. The want of cohesion, combination, and organisation destroyed the possibility of the people gaining this end by themselves. The refusal, again, was quite unexpected by the Frankfort Parliament. Austria, withdrew all Withher deputies from the Assembly. The Parliament Austrian determined to call upon all Germans to subscribe to the Constitution, the question of the head of the Empire remaining an open one, and to proceed with stitution by the elections, hoping to summon the new Reichstag States. in the early days of August. Nearly all the representative assemblies of the several States had accepted the Imperial Constitution. William of Wurtemberg was, however, the only king who had done so. Hanover and Saxony dissolved their assemblies sooner than accept the Constitution. This naturally gave rise to discontent and murmuring, in some places breaking out in open hostilities amongst the people, who considered that the princes were attempting to rob them of the little freedom the Constitution offered them. The republicans had not much hold on the country; in some instances they openly declared their aim to be the establishment of a republic, but in most cases their declared object was the introduction of the Imperial Constitution. If they had been successful, their demands would probably not have stopped there, but it would be too much to say that the wish of the people was for a republic. CHAP. II. 1849. Resigna tion of Gagern. ment of ist Gagern resigned his office on May 9, finding he could not hinder the Parliament from passing revolutionary votes, and the Archduke John named a new ministry (Detmold Grävell), who were opposed Appoint- to the unity of Germany and to the policy of Particular- Prussia. There is some doubt whether the ArchMinistry. duke was really imbued with patriotic and liberal views. He may have been alarmed by the excessive demands of the Liberals and hurt as an Austrian Prince by the position of Prussia. He may have therefore gone counter to his past acts and intentions, and named this Particularist Ministry. It shows little political insight if he imagined that such a ministry was practicable at that time. Resignation of Parlia ment. The result of his move was that more than 150 members of members of the National Assembly resigned their seats or were recalled by their Governments, including Gagern and his party. The remnant of the assembly, composed chiefly of members of the extreme Left, transported itself to Stuttgart, declared the Archduke deposed, named a regency of five members, and demanded men and. money from Wurtemberg and other countries in order to maintain peace and order. Their demands were refused, and the Wurtemberg troops were ordered to disperse the members if they continued to hold their sittings. This order was carried into effect on June 18, and the Frankfort Parliament ceased to exist. Forcible dissolution of Frankfort Parliament. Prussia's attempts at Constitu Prussia now attempted to commence her work of reorganisation in Germany, but she failed. A II. 1849. tional King' conference of princes was held at Berlin in May, but CHAP. it lasted only a few days. Austria and Bavaria soon withdrew from it; the former when she discovered that the discussions tended towards her reforms. exclusion from the Germanic Confederation, and the Conference of princes latter because she saw that the object was the at Berlin. establishment of a Federative State (Bundes Staat) under Prussia. Hanover and Saxony, the other two States who attended the conferences, remained, however, firm to Prussia, and concluded with her the Three Kings' Alliance. This alliance, to which any Three member of the Confederation might attach himself, Alliance. was chiefly to occupy itself by drawing up a Constitution for Germany. By this Constitution, drawn on the same lines as that of Frankfort, a court of appeal was to be instituted at Erfurt to which every member of the Confederation was to submit himself. The term Empire (Reich) was to be given to this smaller Confederation (Austria being naturally excluded), and the head of the Central Power, though he was not to take the title of Emperor, but of head of the Empire (Reichsvorstand) was to be a Hohenzollern. He was to govern with the help of a college of princes, consisting of six members; viz. Prussia; Bavaria; Saxony, with the Thuringian States and Anhalt; Hanover, with the North German States; Wurtemberg, with Baden, Hohenzollern, and Lichtenstein; the three Hesses, with Luxemburg, Limburg, Nassau, Waldeck, Lippe, and Frankfort-on-theMain. The Reichstag was to consist of two cham D CHAP. II. 1849. Refusal of Withdrawal of Prussian Minister from Frankfort bers. Bavaria and Austria looked askance at this Constitution; and the latter openly declared that she would never agree to a German Parliament, and that her only desire was the re-establishment of the old Diet under her presidency. The Archduke John still held the office of Administrator, although the Assembly which had elected him was dissolved. He declined to resign his appointment until requested to do so by all the German Governments, and in this he was supported by Austria, who saw in him the only link which at present connected her with Germany. Prussia therefore withdrew her minister from Frankfort, and all relations between her and the central power consequently ceased. She had obtained the adhesion of most of the States to the Union of Three Kings; but Austria succeeded in making Bavaria and Wurtemberg cool with regard to this union by frightening them with the consequences of the German Parliament which was to meet at Erfurt next year, and for which Prussia begged her colleagues to prescribe elections. Gagern called together a Rump Parliament at Gotha, but it immediately dissolved itself after it had formally approved the policy of Prussia. This Power, however, saw the impossibility of realising the ideas which had inspired the union, in the face of the opposition of Austria, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg, and with the support of very lukewarm "Interim' adherents. She therefore began to enter into nego treaty. tiations with Austria, and on September 30 a treaty, |