MEETINO 0*' MUNCIIEN-GRATZ. 409 



gratz to clinch the measure. Surely this is too much for the dignity 

 of the people to bear. If the commission of the Diet, making use of 

 the powers with which it is invested, should dare to invade the 

 liberty of a single deputy, this might possibly become a rallying point 

 for the people. Is it in anticipation of such an event that Austria 

 and Prussia now retain on service such immense armies? If it be so, 

 and if such a contingency should happen, it would be seen what would 

 be the conduct of the mass of the people when the thunder of cannon, 

 the last argument of kings, came to decide before them a question of 

 the press or of the House of Deputies. 



There is not a more evident violation of constitutional law than 

 the act of those ministers who sign the resolutions of the Diet of 

 Frankfort. A prince who had truly at heart the interests and the 

 rights of his people, and had steadily opposed the usurpation of the 

 Diet would have possessed his throne more firmly than ever. A 

 recent instance of what the firmness of a prince, when placed under 

 the protection of his people, can effect, is not without interest. In 

 1818, at the time of the serious quarrel which took place after the 

 peace of Vienna, between Bavaria and the Duchy of Baden, the 

 Grand Duke of Baden, after a long altercation, and when every thing 

 seemed to go against him, addressed the following letter to his oppo- 

 nent. 



" SIRE, I am not surprised at the position in which I find my- 

 self placed ; nothing astonishes me ; I am prepared for every thing : 

 but I declare to you that if it be their intention to snatch from me 

 by force what they shall never obtain willingly, I shall in my defence 

 make an appeal to public opinion, and your Majesty will with diffi- 

 culty find a more powerful ally." 



These emphatic words, which were addressed to Austria and 

 Prussia as well as to Bavaria, whose cause those powers supported, 

 did not fail in their effect. The Grand Duke came out of the quar- 

 rel triumphantly. If the father of the present Grand Duke knew 

 the power of public opinion so well when there was an attempt made 

 to diminish his territory and his rights as sovereign, why is the son 

 ignorant when an attempt is made to change a king into a vile goaler 

 of his people, and to make him break his royal oaths pronounced in 

 the face of the whole world. The excuse is not then admissible on 

 the part of any government however limited in extent. The crime 

 of the ministers is clear. 



It is now necessary for the people to act violence may be averted. 

 For the defence of their cause no other means are yet necessary than 

 what the law affords. When the Diet passes from threats to violence, 

 it will be time enough then to oppose force to force. But even then 

 it is necessary that their political education should keep pace with 

 their power, that they be instructed in their rights and duties. We 

 see what ages it has taken Englishmen, what trials and political tem- 

 pests to acquire the knowledge requisite for the conducting a consti- 

 tutional monarchy. If an unanimous voice is not raised against the 

 declaration of the Diet, it is because there does not yet exist among 

 the multitude a feeling of its importance and injustice. It will riot 

 be, as in France, by an instantaneous explosion that the people will 



M.M. No. 95. G 



