"Neue Rheinische Zeitung" – [The Comedy of the Imperial Crown]

[The Comedy of the Imperial Crown]

["Neue Rheinische Zeitung" No. 263 of April 4, 1849, Extraordinary Supplement]

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Cologne, April 3. Herr Brandenburg yesterday informed the Second Chamber what the King is going to do in the "German question". The temptation was too great; the "faithful Eckarts" of the "Neue Preußische Zeitung" have been set aside with all their warnings.

The King of Prussia will accept the crown offered, and accordingly we may soon look forward to the solemn entry of His Christian Germanic Royal Imperial Majesty into the seat of the "Imperial Government".

But while Frederick William accepts the imperial crown from the hands of the plebeian Frankfurt Parliament, he at the same time gives that selfsame Parliament and the illusion of its sovereignty a slight kick.

The Minister-President

"recognises that the decision of the Frankfurt Assembly is a great step forward towards bringing about German unity. But he must also show consideration for the rights of the governments. He is of the opinion that the decision first becomes valid through the free consent of the princes, and is binding only for those German states whose princes give this free consent. The Prussian government, however, will do everything to bring about this free agreement."

Very clever! The imperial crown is always acceptable, especially when it is a lifelong goal long yearned for in vain – compare the well-known pamphlet by Radowitz: How Frederick William IV did not become German Emperor. But the crown offered by the Frankfurt Parliament has too much plebeian dust clinging to it, too many unpleasant memories of the unfortunate days of the rule of the sovereign people, for a king by the grace of God, and, what is more, a rehabilitated one, to be allowed to place it on his head just like that.

Only when the other princes, likewise crowned by the grace of God, have given their consent, only then will the new crown be cleansed and consecrated by the grace of God from all the sinful stains acquired in March; only then will the elect of the 290 professors and privy councillors grasp it and say, as once in Berlin: "By the grace of God I have this crown, and woe betide him who touches it!"

We shall leave it to the wisdom of the "Kölnische Zeitung" to determine what new stage the German imperial muddle will enter as a result of the imperial comedy and, in particular, the respective recognition or non-recognition by the individual governments.