A detachment of _Jaeger_ occupied the Reichstag, and a great crowd gathered outside. Scheidemann, in an address from the Reichstag steps, told the crowd that the dynasty had been overthrown, and that Ebert had been appointed to form a new government on republican lines and with the participation of all political parties.[29] Scheidemann, like Max, also anticipated events, for the republic had not yet been authoritatively proclaimed, nor had Ebert been appointed Chancellor. [29] The Majority Socialists honestly intended to form a people's government representing all parties. That only Socialists were eventually admitted was due to the flat refusal of the Independents to let the despised _bourgeoisie_ have any voice whatever in the governmental affairs. Two hours later, shortly after 2:00 P.M., Ebert, Scheidemann, Braun and two members of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council, Prolat and Hiller, went to the palace of the Chancellor in an automobile carrying a red flag and guarded by armed soldiers. They informed Prince Max that they considered it absolutely necessary to form a socialistic government,[30] since this alone could save Germany. The Prince thereupon requested Ebert to accept the chancellorship. Ebert complied and thus became for one day "Imperial Chancellor," the possessor of an office which did not exist in an empire which no longer existed. [30] "Socialistic" in a non-partisan sense; a republic based on the Socialist party's tenets, but not necessarily conducted exclusively by them. The exclusion of the _bourgeoisie_ was a later idea. Ebert's first act was to proclaim the republic officially. He did this in an address to a crowd which filled Wilhelmstrasse and Wilhelmplatz in front of the Chancellor's official residence. Hysteric cheering followed the announcement that the German Empire had become history. The greatest revolution of all times was an accomplished fact before three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, November 9th. The old system, with its tens of thousands of trained and specialized officials; with armies that had successfully fought for years against the combined resources of the rest of the world; with citizens trained from their very infancy to reverence the Kaiser and to obey those in authority; with the moral support of the monarchic Germans, who far outnumbered the republican--this system fell as a rotten tree falls before a gale. The simile lacks in perfection because the tree falls with a crash, whereas the old German governmental system made less noise in its collapse than did the Kingdom of Portugal some years earlier. It simply disappeared. _Fuit Germania_.