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in Vienna-the memorable "I will not have my Wieners shot at!" which cost Latour his life, bought by Hungarian gold-that was destined to have an echo in the halls of the great elector's home.

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But to judge of the feelings which stormed Frederick William's heart, one must know what has hitherto been the mutual attachment of the Kings of Prussia and their subjects. The sentiment existing between them had been for so many centuries so pure, so holy a one, that the idea of armed strife between the two seemed really monstrous, and unnatural as strife between father and child. The King defending himself against the nation! it could not be ! it was impossible! and what is more, it was not! But this was only proved to be a certainty, later. For the moment the Hohenzoller sat in his ancestral chambers, surrounded by the iron appurtenances of war, and the venerable and venerated walls, which even the stranger had not dared to fortify, echoed the harsh tread of armed men-of their King's defenders!

That in the end Frederick William yielded, can surprise no one; and that the idea of going amongst his people, of confiding in his children, should have seemed to him, even against his better judgment as likely to have beneficial consequences is not a circumstance to excite anything save deep regret.

The troops were withdrawn, and the town delivered over to the guardianship of the so-called "citizens" alone, who, too soon, alas! discovered the fatal error they had committed!

The troops were withdrawn; we all know what followed, and how Berlin was delivered up to anarchy and to the wild reign of the revolutionists, during a period of eight months, until the victories of Radetzky had re-awakened the Sovereigns of Germany to a sense of what they owed to themselves, and that the achievements of Windischgrätz and Jellacic had stimulated Wrangel into a desire to imitate them.*

I repeat it, the fault of Frederick William was a great one, but one that will be forgiven him in Heaven, and hard it was for the Sovereign of Prussia not to commit it. Here, after a night, during which every shot that rent the air had struck upon the heart of the King, of the father, rises suddenly a voice, which, in the assumed name of the citizens of Berlin, asks for an abandonment of the advantages reaped-of the victory gained, and speaks of the peace to be given by the father to his children, of the hearts to be softened by tenderness, which force cannot subdue, and this upon the day when peace is the thought of every Christian, the day devoted to the Eternal Forgiver of all injuries-the sweet Sabbath morn!

* The c is pronounced in certain Slavonic words as in Italian, in the word città, or as the final ch in our own word which. To mark this, an accent is placed over the letter.

No wonder that Frederick William yielded. He had yet ringing in his ears the unanimous acclamation which answered him, when he asked his people to help him in the task of governing them ;* and on this identical spot where the vows of people and King had been exchanged, could he refuse a

* At the Huldigung of the town of Berlin. It was from the steps leading to the Schloss that the King addressed to his people the famous speech ending thus: "Will you, with heart and soul, with word and deed, with all your efforts, and with the loyal sincerity of good Germans, will you help me to preserve Prussia as she is, as she must be, if she would remain honoured amongst nations? Will you help me to develop those great qualities by which Prussia, with only her four millions of inhabitants, has risen to equality with the great European powers? Honour, loyalty, desire of improvement, thirst for right and truth. Will you, in my endeavours, neither let from me nor leave me, but stay by me in good and evil times? Oh! if it be so, answer me by the one best sound of our mother-tongue-by an honest, heartfelt Ja!”

Such a ja as rose to Heaven upon all those thousand voices can only be imagined by those who know how "the King" is loved in Prussia. "The solemnity of this day," said the monarch, "belongs to the State and to Europe at large. Your yes was for me alone-it is my treasure; it binds us inseparably together in love and fidelity. That gives courage, strength, consolation, force. On my death-bed I shall not forget it."

And on this very spot they wrung from him the fatal concession! Could it be wondered at ?

petition presented, however erroneously, in their

names?

No! those who know Frederick William, know that he could not have acted otherwise than as he did; and those who do not know him, may reflect upon the fact of how very strong must be the chain which binds the sovereign to his people, for that, loosening the links of authority as he did, they should SO soon come back to their original

tension.

CHAPTER XVII.

PRUSSIA AND ERFURTH-THE KING AND RADOWITZ.

THE chief accusations that have been made against the line of conduct pursued by the King of Prussia, within the last two years, are three in number. Firstly, he is said to have promulgated the Patent of the 18th of March, 1848, under the influence of fear, and to have thereby given the first encouragement to the Democratic party, and paved the way to all the late disasters of the year; secondly, it is asserted, that his acts were dictated by ambition, and that throughout he behaved in a way to awaken Austria's suspicions, and throw obstacles in her path; lastly, his whole conduct is taxed with inconsistency, and it is pretended that he granted that which he had not the power to maintain; and that, after having raised the hopes of the Unionists, he

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