[186] General von Pritwitz had taken command of the federal army in Schleswig-Holstein, after the appointment of General Wrangel as Commander of the Berlin troops.
[187] Nicholas I. had threatened to declare war upon the Germanic Confederation if the German troops did not evacuate the duchies and retire beyond the Elbe.
[188] Yielding to public opinion and to avoid a catastrophe, the King of Würtemberg eventually adopted the Constitution voted by the Frankfort Assembly, including the article dealing with the head of the Empire, which he had previously persisted in rejecting.
[189] In the session of April 26 the Frankfort Assembly had declared that the King of Prussia could not accept the proposed position as head of the Empire if he did not also accept the Constitution.
[190] On April 26 great agitation was produced in the Prussian Chamber among the Left by a letter found under the seats of the deputies. In this letter a large number of signatures from the Red faction proclaimed the sovereignty of the people and announced that all their efforts were being aimed at the formation of a great Polish republic. The same evening the King's ordinance dissolving the Chamber appeared.
[191] General Bem, of Polish origin, who had distinguished himself in the defence of Warsaw in 1831, joined the Hungarians who revolted against Austria in 1848 and won some great successes in Transylvania, especially at Hermannstadt.
[192] On May 3 the King of Saxony absolutely refused to recognise the constitution of the empire. His palace was immediately surrounded by the crowd, a defence committee was formed and the arsenal was attacked. The people seized the town hall and hoisted the German Tricolour. The Royal Family and the Ministers fled to Königstein. Had it not been for the Prussian intervention and the arrival of General Wrangel, the republic would have been proclaimed. The contagion of this revolt spread to Breslau, where, on May 7, the bands of insurgents paraded the streets with the red flag, which they brought before the town hall and proclaimed the republic. The military authorities stormed the barricades after a vigorous fusillade.
[193] The anniversary of the death of M. de Talleyrand.
[194] The German troops had entered Jutland after a battle between Wisdrup and Gudsor. The Danes, however, retired behind the ramparts of Fredericia which was bombarded by the Prussian troops, while negotiations for peace between Denmark and Prussia were proceeding at London under the auspices of Lord Palmerston. Some days later a Russian fleet left Cronstadt to help Denmark against Prussia, for the Emperor Nicholas maintained that Prussia was fomenting among her neighbours a spirit of revolt against the legitimate sovereign, and was doing all that she could to make herself mistress of the movements of Germany. The note which General von Rauch brought pointed out to the Czar that Prussia was only making war against Denmark at the orders of the central power and that no one was more anxious to see the end of these complications than the Prussian Cabinet.
[195] The Prussian Cabinet had invited the other German Cabinets to a Congress at Berlin with the object of settling the difficulties raised by the refusal of the Frankfort Assembly to make any change in the constitution which it had voted.