The new Bundesrath was soon called upon to prove the quality of its mettle, for troubles arose in Neuchâtel. This canton was, up to 1848, a veritable mediæval relic in its form of government--a mixture of monarchy and free state. Few spots in Europe have had a more typical and characteristic history than Neuchâtel, and did space permit it would be most interesting to trace that history downwards, from its junction with the empire in 1033; through its rule by native lords, the counts of Neuchâtel, till their extinction in 1395; its vassalage to the house of Châlons; the suzerainty of the Orleans-Longueville family; the regency of Marie de Nemours (1679-1707). But here suffice it to say, that through fear of the designs of Louis Quatorze, Neuchâtel gladly accepted the ducal supremacy of the kings of Prussia. In 1815 it was incorporated with the Confederation, as a canton with equal rights and standing to the rest. Notwithstanding this, Prussia still claimed to be its overlord, and thus arose a double _régime_, a condition of things plainly untenable. In 1848 the Confederation endeavoured to obtain the release of the canton from Prussian rule, and this by the peaceful methods of diplomacy, but in vain. In 1856 a conspiracy was set on foot to undo the work of 1848--the granting of a more democratic constitution to Neuchâtel. At the head of these royalist plotters were Count Poustates and De Meuron. However, their plans failed, and five hundred prisoners were taken. Out of these, twenty-five were by order of the Federal Government kept back to be tried as insurgents. Frederick William IV., of Prussia, demanded their unconditional pardon and surrender, an order obedience to which would have been a renunciation of the canton, and a defiance of the Federal rule. The demand was refused, and the question of the release became the centre about which all the negotiation now turned. In this emergency Napoleon III., of France, offered his services as mediator, mindful of the hospitality shown to him of old by Switzerland. He further promised to espouse the Swiss cause if the prisoners were released, and to Switzerland his offer carried greater weight than all the promises of Prussia. "I shall act in the matter as if I were the Swiss Government," he assured Dr. Kern, who had been sent as special envoy to the French Court, and in a further conversation tried in every possible way to prove his sympathy with the little republic.[105] England made similar promises. However the Prussian king made no overtures, and neither France nor England gave sufficient guarantee that Neuchâtel should be ceded to Switzerland, and the Swiss Government therefore declined to proceed further on these vague terms. Frederick William threatened war, and began to mobilize his troops. The Federal Council likewise began its preparation, and without outward sign of fear or hesitation, but with a unanimous feeling of heroic enthusiasm though the length and breadth of the country, the