THE 18 TH OF MARCH 1848. 61 



spreading over all Germany. With elemental force 

 the mighty stream of political excitement rushed onward, 

 tearing down all the feeble dikes which the existing 

 powers aimlessly and planlessly opposed to it. Dis- 

 content with the prevailing state of things, the hopeless 

 feeling that they could not be changed without violent 

 subversion, penetrated the whole German people and 

 extended to the upper strata of the civil and even 

 the military administration of Prussia. The political 

 and national claptrap, the emptiness of which was 

 only revealed by the subsequent events, exerted its 

 full effect upon the masses, and its diffusion was 

 powerfully helped by the unusually fine summer 

 weather, which prevailed throughout Germany at 

 this time. 



The streets of Berlin were continually flooded by 

 excited crowds, discussing the most exaggerated reports 

 of the progress of the movement, and eagerly listening 

 to agitators who spread them further and called for 

 action. The police seemed to have disappeared 

 from the town, and the military, which did its duty 

 with thorough fidelity, hardly made itself noticeable. 

 Then came the overwhelming news of the victory of 

 the revolution in Dresden and Vienna, closely followed 

 by the shooting of the sentry at the Bank, and lastly 

 the misunderstanding at the Castle Square. This drove 

 even the quieter citizens, who had formed themselves 

 into a mediating national guard, to the revolutionary 

 side. I saw from my windows how a division of this 

 citizen-guard came in great excitement from the Castle 



