p. 74).

These questions were debated in twenty-three formal conferences. On the
issues raised by the first class there was practical unanimity. All were
agreed that the state of Germany demanded disciplinary measures, and as
the result of the deliberations it was determined to lay before the
federal diet definite proposals for (1) a uniform press censorship over
all periodical publications; (2) a system of "curators" to supervise the
education given in universities and schools, with disciplinary
enactments against professors and teachers who should use their position
for purposes of political propaganda; (3) the erection of a central
commission at Mainz, armed with inquisitorial powers, for the purpose of
unmasking the widespread revolutionary conspiracy, the existence of
which was assumed.

On the questions raised under the second class there was more
fundamental difference of opinion, and by far the greater part of the
time of the conference was occupied in discussing the burning question
of the due interpretation of article XIII. The controversy raged round
the distinction between "assemblies of estates," as laid down in the
article, and "representative assemblies," such as had been already
established in several German states. Gentz, in an elaborate memorandum
(_Nebenbeilage zum siebenten Protokoll_, iv. p. 102), laid down that
representation by estates was the only system compatible with the
conservative principle, as the "outcome of a well-ordered civil society,
in which the relations and rights of the several estates are due to the
peculiar position of the classes and corporations on which they are
based, which have been from time to time modified by law without
detracting from the essentials of the sovereign power"; whereas
representative assemblies are based on "the sovereignty of the people."
In answer to this, Count Wintzingerode, on behalf of the king of
Wurttemberg, placed on record (_Nebenbeilage 2 zum neunten Protokoll_,
p. 147) a protest, in which he urged that to insist on the system of
estates would be to stereotype caste distinctions foreign to the whole
spirit of the age, would alienate public opinion from the governments,
and--if enforced by the central power--would violate the sovereign
independence of those states which, like Wurttemberg, had already
established representative constitutions.

Though the majority of the ministers present favoured the Austrian
interpretation of article XIII. as