J Diet, ooMbtBf of the provincial diets conjoined into one 

 i body, which wa* to be convened at l*a*t once in every four 

 yeara. The king bound him*lf to contract DO new loan and to 

 [poM DO n*w tax t-ieept In certain caen) without the consent of the 

 diet. The United Dirt WM excluded from legislating on .11 subjects 

 of forrfaja policy, frontier due*. MM! war Use*; it* positive n.h- 

 were limited to question, of internal taxation. Finally, the right of 

 pstitiBe. with respeet to iatereal aff.irs wa* conceded. 



OB tail fomaVkVM, small and slender though it was, an ample 

 tare of liberty might in time have been secured by a patient prac- 

 tical people j bat circumstance* were unfavourable. The French 



> IMS established a rrpublic in France, and the 

 kin*. itr**<|pf the nVead of this contagious example, trie.) to pre- 

 may the mind* of hi. subjects with fran of Krrii.-h inruion, and 

 with a desire to tear* an impracticable object, the unity of Germany 

 both in aome meaiur* ubjU of foreign policy, and excluded by 

 onstitution from the legi.l.tive functionii of the diet The 

 lary wave however which had originated in France reached 

 in IM* than a month. On the night of March 18 barricade* 



were thrown up in the street*, and many bloody encounten took place 

 Wtwwa the people and the royal troop*, which on th next morning 

 withdrew from the capital The king then, bending to the storm, 

 granted all *ort* of liberal measure* abolition of the censorship and 

 perfect freedom of the pree* ; a political amnesty ; a truly consti- 

 tattooal form of government for Prussia, with an electoral law for 

 regulating the election of a National Anembly to discuss a new 

 eooetitutifm ; independence of judge*; right of public meeting; exer- 

 ei*e of political right* without reference to religion*) belief ; the sub- 

 i*sinn of ail new law* to the deliberation of the representatives, ftc. 

 The National Ascembly met on Hay 22nd : it discussed and passed 

 several laws forming the base* of a new constitution ; but frequently 

 it* debate* were boisterous and intemperate, and its discussions were 

 eritioued or continued in clubs and even in the streets, where members 

 who opposed the popular demands were frequently ill treated. The 

 menacing attitude of the populace became more aggravating after the 

 njuDhtg of the Democratic Congress in Berlin (October 26). The 

 National Assembly was kept almost in a state of siege, and it was said 

 that ita resolution* were influenced by the democratic mobs that 

 thronged about it* place of meeting. On October 31 the Assembly 

 adopted an article declaring all Prussians equal before the law, denying 

 any difference or privilege of rank or any special nobility, and forbid- 

 ding the uae of title* of nobility or other qualifications in public 

 dooumvnti ; and voted to urge the government to take prompt and 

 Oergetio (tops to secure the liberty of the people in the German 

 portion of the Austrian states. On its rising the Assembly found that 

 the populace had nailed up the outer doors of the Hall of Session. 

 To deliver the capital from a state of long-continued ferment and 

 commotion, and to get rid of the National Assembly, which was 

 very day becoming more impracticable and more democratic, on the 

 Bcajrioii of Count Brandenburg to the ministry, the Assembly was 

 prorogued (November 8) and ordered to transfer itn sitting to Brau- 

 drabur*. The president (Dnruh) refused to close the session ; the 

 National Guard of Berlin was ordered to keep the members who per- 

 *btd to meet from reaching the hall of the Assembly ; but instead of 

 obeying the government the National Guard took the Assembly under 

 it* protection, and enabled it to continue it* deliberations. The 

 National Guard was then disarmed, the city declared in a state of siege, 

 aad occupied by the royal troops under General Wrangel, who closed 

 all the club*, prohibited all meetings in the streets and the sale of all 

 political papers without the authority of the police. A portion of 

 the Assembly met (November 16) iu a coffee-house, passed a reso- 

 lution to withhold payment of the taxes, and was then dispersed by 

 UM troops. 



On November 27 (to which date it was prorogued by royal ordi- 

 naoc.) UM National Assembly met in Brandenburg, and continued 

 it* .lUings for a few days, during which it exhibited undignified help- 

 Is****** by it* *qttabbles and dissensions. On December 5 the king 

 " a proclamation dissolving the Aasembly, and containing the 

 of the present constitution of Prussia. Thi* state paper 



guarantee UM freedom of the press, subject to prosecution for oflence* 

 by nuting lawi ; freedom of meeting iu inclosed places, and also in 

 public on 24 hoars' notice and permission of the police ; a responsible 

 ministry ; two chamber*, the upper consisting of 180 members elected 

 by the wealthier inhabitant* of the state, who are themselves chosen 

 by the general body of the electors the lower of 350 members, 

 elected by universal suffrage the members of either house requiring 

 DO other qualification* than being of a certain age and proof of natu- 

 ralisation ; complete liberty for all religions ; abolition of aristocratic 

 privilegr*; and the adoption of tht principle of the British Habeas 

 Corpy* Act. It n true that aome of these principles have been 

 modified, narrowed, or violated (as in the case of the preas, and in the 

 oomfHxition of the upper house, of which the king nominates the 

 majority if not all the member* for life) ince the subsidence of the 

 revolutionary period of 1848-9, but the leading feature* of consti- 

 tutional liberty on the basis of r. presentation are there. 



Prussia, a* a member of the German Confederation, is the second 

 in rank; it* contingent to the army In 1816 was 79,484 men, including 

 infantry, cavalry, and artillery and train with 100 pieces of cannon; 



I'IM'SSIA. *** 



^ 



but In recent time* Prussia has placed her whole army at the service 

 of th Confederation. It contribute* 801,088 florins per annum to 

 the expenses of the Diet ; and in the full council has, like the other 

 king*, four vote*. 



llutorical Skttck. The name of Prussia in derived from tlif 

 Borusse*. a Slavonic people, who inhabited the territory that now 

 forms the province* of East and West Prussiv These people were 

 subjugated and converted to Christianity in the 13th century by the 

 Teutonic knights. In the 15th century Went Prussia became subject 

 to Poland, and the Teutonic knights, who still held East Prussia with 

 Konigaberg for their capital, became vassala of Poland. Albert of 

 Brandenburg, a descendant of Frederick von Hohenzollern, burgrave 

 of NUrnberg and 35th grand master of the order, renounced his vows, 

 became a Protestant, and erected East Prussia into a hereditary duchy, 

 which he left with the march of Brandenburg to his descendant*. 

 The estates of the electors of Brandenburg increase. 1 by slow decree* 

 till 1843, when the elector Frederick Wilhelm obtained by the treaty 

 of Westphalia the bishoprics of Halbersta.lt and Hinden. In 1658 

 he delivered Pnusin from the suzerainty of Poland, and in 1680 ho 

 added to his possessions the archdiocese of Magdeburg. His son the 

 elector Frederick III. obtained the title of King (Frederick I.) from 

 the emperor in 1701, and made several acquisitions of territory, tin- 

 moct important of which was the principality of NeuchiUeL He also 

 took an active part in the Thirty Years' War. His successor, 

 Wilhelm I., who mounted tho throne in 171 S, wrested a large part 

 of Pomerania from Sweden, and obtained at the peace of Utrecht a 

 part of Guelderland and the duchy of Limburg. Frederick II. (the 

 Great), who reigned from 1740 to 1786, made Prussia famous by his 

 military genius and his successes against Austria, Saxony, and Sweden. 

 Soon after his accession he wrested Silesia from Austria ; in 1744 he 

 overran Saxony. In the Seven Tears' War he took a leading part, and 

 fought fourteen battles, of which he gained nine. At the close of 

 the Seven Tears' War, in 1763, he applied himself to the improvement 

 of his kingdom, which he did not fail to enlarge on the first partition 

 of Poland, by seizing for his share the greater part of West Prussia. 

 His successor, Wilhelm II., joined the first coalition against the French 

 republic, from which he gathered little glory ; but added to his states 

 considerable territories on the second and thin) partitions of Poland 

 (1793 and 1795). His son, Frederick Wilhelm III., who ao 

 the throne November 16, 1797, joined the coalition against Franco 

 November 8, 1805, upon certain conditions'. After the battle of 

 Austerlitz peace was concluded between Austria and France. A few 

 days before, on December 15, 1805, the Prussian ambassador, Count 

 Haugwitz, concluded a preliminary convention between Prussia and 

 France, by which Prussia ceded Anspach to Bavaria and Cleves and 

 Neufchatel to France, which made over the electorate of Hanover to 

 Prussia, and Prussia in fact took possession of that country. This led 

 to a declaration of war by England against Prussia. Various nego- 

 tiations followed, which ended in a war between Prussia ami France. 

 The battle of Jena (October 14, 130t!) decided the fate of the 

 Prussian army. The moat important fortresses brtween the Weser and 

 the Elbe surrendered in rapid succession, and Napoleon I. entered 

 Berlin on October 27th. Frederick William retired to Hemel, col; 

 a new army, and, together with his ally the Emperor of Kit-Kin, 

 marched to oppose the advance of the enemy in East Prussia. The 

 battles of Eylau and Friedland led to the peace of Tilsit (July 9, 

 1807), by which the king lost his dominions between tho Rhine and 

 the Elbe, and the greater part of Prussian Poland, which went to form 

 part of the grand-duchy of Warsaw. The king did not return to his 

 capital till the end of 1809. On February 24, 1812, he concluded 

 an offensive alliance with France, and when war broke out between 

 Russia and France, in June 1812, ho sent 30,000 men to join the 

 10th French corps under Marshal Macdouald, which was employnl iu 

 the siege of Riga. On the rapid retreat of the French from Russia 

 the Prussian corps was likewise obliged to retire, but General York, 

 who commanded it, concluded a convention with the Russian general 

 Diebitsch, by which the Prussian corps was declared neutral and 

 separated from the French army. The campaign of 1813, the advance 

 of the allies to Paris, the capture of that city in March 1814, the 

 deposition of Napoleon I., his removal to the island of Elba, and the 

 restoration of the Bourbons, followed in rapid succession. The return 

 of Napoleon from Elba in 1815 led to a new alliance between Prussia, 

 Austria, Russia, aud England, who declared war against him. The 

 battle of Waterloo led to the general peace of Europe, when the 

 Congress of Vienna restored to Prussia her lost territories, with the 

 exception of a part of Poland, in lieu of which she obtained a part of 

 Saxony and the territories on the lower Rhine, distinguished above as 

 Rhenish Prussia, During the reign of the present king, Frederick 

 J William IV., the most important events that have occurred in Prussia 

 are the constitutional reforms above noticed ; the suppression of the 

 insurrection of the Poles of Posen in 1848; delivering Baden from 

 insurgent bands of democratic socialists in 1849 [BADEX]; and the 

 open assistance given to the Scbleswig-Holsteiners in insurrection 

 against their sovereign the King of Denmark. [HOLSTEIN. 1 



PRUSSIA, properly so called, formerly designated by the name of 

 the Kingdom of Prussia, and afterwards divided into the two province* 

 of East and West Prussia, is situated between 52 54' and 55 53' 

 N. lat, 10 42' and 22 45' E. long. It is bounded N. by the Baltic, 



