On Thursday, 4th May, I could see that the Town Hall was gradually becoming the undoubted centre of the revolution.  That section of the people who had hoped for a peaceful understanding with the monarch was thrown into the utmost consternation by the news that the King and his whole court, acting on the advice of his minister Beust, had left the palace, and had gone by ship down the Elbe to the fortress of Konigstein.  In those circumstances the town council saw they were no longer able to face the situation, and thereupon took part in summoning those members of the Saxon Chamber who were still in Dresden.  These latter now assembled in the Town Hall to decide what steps should be taken for the protection of the state.  A deputation was sent to the ministry, but returned with the report that they were nowhere to be found.  At the same moment news arrived from all sides that, in accordance with a previous compact, the King of Prussia’s troops would advance to occupy Dresden.  A general outcry immediately arose for measures to be adopted to prevent this incursion of foreign troops.

Simultaneously with this, came the intelligence of the national uprising in Wurtemberg, where the troops themselves had frustrated the intentions of the government by their declaration of fidelity to the parliament, and the ministry had been compelled against their will to acknowledge the Pan-German Constitution.  The opinion of our politicians, who were assembled in consultation, was that the matter might still be settled by peaceful means, if it were possible to induce the Saxon troops to take up a similar attitude, as by this means the King would at least be placed under the wholesome necessity of offering patriotic resistance to the Prussian occupation of his country.

Everything seemed to depend on making the Saxon battalions in Dresden understand the paramount importance of their action.  As this seemed to me the only hope of an honourable peace in this senseless chaos, I confess that, on this one occasion, I did allow myself to be led astray so far as to organise a demonstration which, however, proved futile.

I induced the printer of Rockel’s Volksblatt, which was for the moment at a standstill, to employ all the type he would have used for his next number, in printing in huge characters on strips of paper the words:  Seid Ihr mit uns gegen fremde Truppen? (’Are you on our side against the foreign troops?’).  Placards bearing these words were fixed on those barricades which it was thought would be the first to be assaulted, and were intended to bring the Saxon troops to a halt if they were commanded to attack the revolutionaries.  Of course no one took any notice of these placards except intending informers.  On that day nothing but confused negotiations and wild excitement took place which threw no light on the situation.  The Old Town of Dresden, with its barricades, was an interesting enough sight for the spectators.  I looked on with amazement and disgust, but my attention