Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/610

 572 Readings in European History monarchy; but if monarchy were overthrown it would carry with it the blessings of law, liberty, and property. The hor- rors committed in Dresden, Breslau, and Elberfeld under the banner of German unity afford a melancholy proof of this. New horrors are occurring and are in prospect. While such crimes have put an end to the hope that the Frankfort Assembly can bring about German unity, I have, with a fidelity and persistence suiting my royal station, never lost hope. My government has taken up with the more im- portant German states the work on the German constitution begun by the Frankfort Assembly. 1 . . . This is my method. Only madness or deception will dare, in view of these facts, to assert that I have given up the cause of German unity, or that I am untrue to my earlier convictions and assurances. . . . _ Q Frederick William. Charlottenburg, May 15, 1849. III. Establishment of the Kingdom of Italy It was left for Cavour and Victor Emmanuel to carry on the work of Italian unification which Charles Albert had begun. Napoleon III, in coming to the aid of the Italians, explained his motives to France in a proclama- tion of May 3, 1859. 479. Napo- Frenchmen, Austria in ordering her army to invade the leon ill territory of the king of Sardinia, our ally, has declared war intervention u P on us - She has thus violated treaties and justice, and in Italy. threatens our frontiers. All the great powers have pro- tested against this aggression. Piedmont having accepted conditions which should have maintained peace, one cannot but inquire what can be the reason for this sudden invasion on Austria's part. It is because Austria has brought matters to such a pass that 1 Prussia's plans were ignominiously given up in the face of Austria's opposition.