he censorship of the press.
On the 21st of the same month he put forth an address, entitled 'To my
people and to the German nation.' In this, after saying that there was
no security against the threatening dangers except in the closest union
of the German princes and peoples, under one head, he adds: 'I assume
to-day this leadership for this time of danger. My people, undismayed by
the danger, will not abandon me, and Germany will confidingly attach
itself to me. I have to-day adopted the old German colors, and put
myself and my people under the venerable banner of the German Empire.
Henceforth Prussia passes over into Germany.' But all this was more
easily said than done. Whatever the German people may have wished, the
other German rulers could not so easily overcome their jealousies. The
extreme of the danger passed by, and with it this urgent demand for a
united Germany.

But the diet came together. The king laid before it the outline of a
constitution, the most important provisions of which were that there
should be guaranteed to all the right to hold meetings without first
securing consent from the police; civil rights to all, irrespective of
religious belief; a national parliament, whose assent should be
essential to the making of all laws. These propositions were approved by
the diet, which now advised the king to call together a national
assembly of delegates, elected by the people, to agree with him upon a
constitution. This was done; the assembly met on the 22d of May, and was
opened by the king in person. He laid before the delegates the draught
of a constitution, which they referred to a committee, by whom it was
elaborated, and on the 26th of July reported to the assembly. The
deliberation which followed had, by the 9th of November, resulted only
in fixing the preamble and the first four articles. At this time an
order came to the assembly from the king, requiring the members to
adjourn to the 27th, and then come together, not at Berlin, but
Brandenburg. The reason of this was that the assembly manifested too
much of an inclination to infringe on the royal prerogatives, and that
its place of meeting was surrounded by people who sought by threats,
and, in some cases, by violence, to intimidate the members. The king was
now the less inclined to be, or seem to be, controlled by such
terrorism, as the fury of the revolutionary storm was now spent; the
militia had been summoned to arms; and had not hesitated to