"Gentlemen," he added, "you have heard the proposal. On this occasion I will depart from my usual custom, and at once tell you my views. I take up my position on the standing-point that a war between two members of the German confederacy is, according to the laws of that confederacy, impossible. Such a war, alas! can and may come upon us, like a convulsion of nature, or some scourge of God;--to contemplate it beforehand, to conclude treaties on the subject, I hold to be irreconcilable with my duty as a German prince. I should by such a treaty take part in the guilt of a rupture of the confederacy so blessed to Germany and the whole of Europe. Never, with my consent, shall Hanoverian troops fight against German soldiers, except from dire necessity.
"But there is another reason why I cannot subscribe to this treaty. I cannot consent to the eventual enlargement of Hanover; I cannot sign a treaty by which I stretch out my hand for my neighbour's goods. It is my joy and my pride that throughout the country I rule, there is not a foot's breadth of earth that has not descended to me by legitimate inheritance; shall I now sign a treaty for the acquisition of lands that do not belong to me? Westphalia belongs to the King of Prussia, with whom not only do I live in peace, but to whom, as a member of the confederacy, I regard my obligations as sacred. Holstein belongs by right I know not to whom--to the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, to the Duke of Augustenburg, to Prussia,--I cannot enter into the difficult subject,--certainly it does not belong to me. No, gentlemen, I cannot part with the happy knowledge that I hold my kingdom entirely from God's justice, and by God's grace: never," cried the king, striking his right hand upon the table, "will I stretch out this hand to take what is not mine. Hence, according to my views, the treaty proposed is inadmissible. A proposal, however, from his Imperial Majesty of Austria has an undoubted right to our gravest and most earnest consideration. I therefore beg each of you conscientiously to think through this subject, to weigh it deeply, and express all that can be said against my opinions. Not to-day, but to-morrow I will preside at a council of my assembled ministers, including your absent colleagues, in order to decide upon our answer. For to-day I thank you, I will let you know the hour of council for to-morrow."
The king rose.
With grave looks and in silence the ministers left the cabinet.
Prince Solms gazed sorrowfully before him.
"Am I right?" asked the king.
The prince looked at his royal brother with an expression of deep veneration.
"You are right," he said in a low tone, "and yet," he added, his eyes growing sadder and his head sinking down, "yet very, very wrong."
"Now, my dear Karl," said the king cheerfully, "you shall go out with me. I wish to go where you must be my guide."
He pressed on a second knob at the right hand side of his writing-table. The groom of the chambers of the private apartments appeared, from a door leading to the king's bed-room.