It is a false notion to suppose, that Frankfort was the cradle of the German Revolution, and to hold in holy awe the very name of the city where, in former days, the Emperors were elected; and where, in our own times, the Confederation held its sittings, and Austria and Prussia exercised a regularly alternate influence, as the spot which Revolution and disorder had chosen for their head-quarters.

The first spark did not come from Frankfort, for, on the contrary, Frankfort, the residence of the Bund, as it was called, had to be superseded, attacked, and overthrown; and it was from Baden that issued the first symptoms of a desire to overturn the existing order of things. In Baden lay the germ of all that followed later; and under the shadow of its most historical edifice, surrounded by the memories of its bold Margraves and Palatines, at the foot of the proudest monument of feudalism in Southern Germany, in the face of the ruined keep of Otto-Heinrich, in Heidelberg, broke forth the first regular effort at re-constitution.

Fifty-two individuals, as we have said in the

preceding chapter, assembled in Heidelberg, and proposed plan after plan for the Unity of Germany. The two parties, Anarchists and Archists, as they may be termed, were already here; the former represented by Hecker, the latter by Gagern. Many others might also be named as leaders; but in these two, the two contending principles may be looked upon as having been, as it were, incarnate. Later, they were to be known by various other denominations-the Right, the Left, the Centres, the Moderates, the Fanatics, the Republicans, the Hereditary Imperialists, and Heaven knows how many other names; but the two innate forces may be pretty accurately stated to have been personified in Gagern and Hecker.

After much discussion, a committee of seven was formed, which was to undertake the convocation of an Assembly in Frankfort, destined to settle the affairs of the Empire, and of the German Confederation. The first idea naturally enough was, that this Assembly (since then celebrated under the name of the Vor Parlament) would be not only a constituent, but, perhaps, also a legislative and an executive one.

With such men as were some of those who had helped to call it together, there was no saying how far things might go, or where they would stop. The "advanced party" in Baden talked openly of nothing less than the necessity of "watching" the proceedings of the Assembly, with an armed force of thirty or forty thousand ruffians, who should, at a pinch, compel the deliberators in the Paulskirche to adopt and proclaim

the Republic. But already, before this first Assembly had held its first sitting, the cause of the Republicans may be said to have been condemned; and these very deputies, who had been called into existence by the Ultras, were already so alarmed at their fierce progenitors, that, on their way from Heidelberg to Frankfort, they had taken care to have each railroad station guarded by a number of troops, sufficient to deter their " colleagues" from attempting a coup-de-main.

Gagern may be said to have been almost intuitively recognized as "the man of the situation;" for, hardly had he taken his first step from the Darmstadt Railway into the town of Frankfort, than he was met by a deputation of Frankforter citizens, who welcomed him in the most flattering

manner.

Frankfort was stirring and joyous upon this occasion, as it had used to be in former days, when in its walls was elected the Head of the Holy Roman Empire. Bells were rung, cannon fired, triumphal arches raised, green boughs and rainbowcoloured banners waved, flowers strewn in the streets, tapestries hung from windows and balconies, hands stretched forth in greeting, voices strained to call down blessings; all that popular enthusiasm could invent was there, and one immense cry of rejoicing saluted, what was fondly termed the "Regeneration of Germany."

On the 31st of March, somewhere about four hundred deputies met in the Römersaale (where Rudolph of Hapsburg was chosen Emperor !)and, after constituting the presidential body of the

future Chamber with Mittermaier as President, and as Vice-Presidents Dahlmann, Jordan, Itzstein, and Robert Blum, sallied forth in procession, to make their entrance into the Paulskirche.

The existence of the power, which, in a parliamentary form, was destined to re-constitute Germany, after the Revolution of February, may be divided into three distinct periods: the Heidelberger spontaneous meeting of the fifty-two; the Vor Parlament, convoked by the committee of seven, chosen by these fifty-two; and the National Assembly of Frankfort. The first was decidedly Republican; the second, although still Revolutionary, more disposed for Constitutionalism than anything more violent; and the third, thanks to Gagern, Monarchical.

In the National Assembly of Frankfort itself, after it was definitely constituted, may be discerned, also, three distinct tendencies. At first, it is above all German, very confused, (which makes it only more decidedly German,) and bewildered with questions of rival nationalities, and the dream of unity in some shape or other. In its second stage, it has learnt to annex the idea of authority to that of unity, and it is bent upon having a head. In its last period, (for we will not follow

it to its dissolution and ridiculous flight to Stuttgardt, where only its ghost arrived,) it is Prussian, and continues to set all Germany by the ears, for love of the new German Empire, to be ruled over by Frederick William the Fourth.

Gagern and his immediate set, the party known now under the name of the Gothaers, or Members of the Committee of Gotha, have remained Prussian, and continue to believe in the Hegemony of Prussia, as it is called, as the only means of uniting Germany, and bringing Gesammt Deutschland to its proper point of internal development and weight in the councils of Europe.

About Gagern there was but small room for any difference of opinion, for, on the 24th of March, some days previous to his appearance in Frankfort, when he spoke, for the last time, to the Hessian States-he was then Minister to the Grand Duke-he took occasion to say distinctly, that he was convinced the Monarchical was the only form of Government by which unity and freedom could be secured to Germany, and which could aid the full development of its political and social wants.

Upon these grounds," added he, "I look upon the transformation of our country from a Con