to be furnished partly by the State and
partly by private shareholders; the chief direction to belong to the
State, in such a manner as to enable the Government to draw upon the
funds of this bank to a large amount, and thus to repeat the same
fraudulent transactions that would no longer do with the
"Seehandlung." But, as a matter of course, there were no capitalists
to be found who would hand over their money upon such conditions; the
statutes of the bank had to be altered, and the property of the
shareholders guaranteed from the encroachments of the Treasury, before
any shares were subscribed for. Thus, this plan having failed, there
remained nothing but to try a loan, if capitalists could be found who
would lend their cash without requiring the permission and guarantee
of that mysterious "future Representation of the People." Rothschild
was applied to, and he declared that if the loan was to be guaranteed
by this "Representation of the People," he would undertake the thing
at a moment's notice--if not, he could not have anything to do with
the transaction.

Thus every hope of obtaining money had vanished, and there was no
possibility of escaping the fatal "Representation of the People."
Rothschild's refusal was known in autumn, 1846, and in February of the
next year the King called together all the eight Provincial Diets to
Berlin, forming them into one "United Diet." This Diet was to do the
work required, in case of need, by the law of 1820; it was to vote
loans and increased taxes, but beyond that it was to have no rights.
Its voice upon general legislation was to be merely consultative; it
was to assemble, not at fixed periods, but whenever it pleased the
King; it was to discuss nothing but what the Government pleased to
lay before it. Of course, the members were very little satisfied with
the part they were expected to perform. They repeated the wishes they
had enounced when they met in the provincial assembles; the relations
between them and the Government soon became acrimonious, and when the
loan, which was again stated to be required for railway constructions,
was demanded from them, they again refused to grant it.

This vote very soon brought their sitting to a close. The King, more
and more exasperated, dismissed them with a reprimand, but still
remained without money. And, indeed, he had every reason to be alarmed
at his position, seeing that the Liberal League, headed by the middle
classes, comprising