German Empire.  Then came the agitated days of 1848, the sanguinary “March Days” in Berlin.  Frederick William IV was on the throne, and in 1847 permitted the calling of a Parliament, the forerunner of the present Reichstag; but only to represent the “rights,” not the “opinions,” of the people.  “No piece of paper,” cried the King, “shall come, like a second Providence, between God in heaven and this land!” That, too, was Bismarck’s sentiment, courageously expressed by him when the Diet was debating the idea of introducing the English parliamentary system, and proved by him in character and conduct until the day of his death.  He would have made a splendid Jacobite!

The three “March Days,” the 18th, 19th, and 20th of March, 1848, form one of the few occasions in Prussian or German history on which Crown and people came into direct and serious conflict.  According to German accounts of the episode the outbreak of the revolution in France was followed by a large influx into Berlin of Poles and Frenchmen, who instigated the populace to violence.  Collisions with the police occurred, and on March 15th barricades began to be erected.  Traffic in the streets was only possible with the aid of the military.  The King was in despair, not so much, the accounts say, at the danger he was in of losing his throne as at the shedding of the blood of his folk, and issued a proclamation promising to grant all desirable reforms, abolishing the censorship of the press, and summoning the Diet to discuss the terms of a Constitution.  The citizens, however, continued to build barricades, made their way into the courtyards of the palace, and demanded the withdrawal of the troops.  The King ordered the courtyards to be cleared, the palace guard advanced, and, either by accident or design, the guns of two grenadiers went off.  No one was hit, but cries of “Treason!” and “Murder!” were raised.  Within an hour a score of barricades were set up in various parts of the town and manned by a medley of workmen, university students, artists, and even men of the Landwehr, or military reserve.

At this time there were about 14,000 troops at the King’s disposal, and with these the authorities proceeded against the mob.  A series of scattered engagements between mob and military began.  They lasted for eight hours, until at midnight General von Prittwitz, who was in command of the troops, was able to report to the King that the revolution was subdued.

Next morning, however, the 19th, numerous deputations of citizens presented themselves at the palace, and assuring the King that it was the only means of preventing the further effusion of blood, renewed the request for the withdrawal of the troops.  The King consented, notwithstanding the opposition of Prince, afterwards Emperor, William, and the troops were drawn off to Potsdam.  The citizens thereupon appointed a National Guard, which took charge of the palace, and in the evening a vast crowd appeared beneath the King’s windows bearing the corpses of those who had fallen at the barricades during the two preceding days.  The dead bodies were laid in rows in the palace courtyard, and the King was invited out to see them.  He could not but obey, and bowed to the crowd as he stood bareheaded before the bodies.