But with the peace which succeeded the second overthrow of Napoleon, the expectations of the German nation began to exhibit themselves more clearly; and out of the disproportion between them and that which was done to satisfy them, sprang the germs of mistrust between the princes and the people. The opening of the _Bundesversammlung_, or confederated assembly, Nov. 5, 1816, betrayed not only the imperfection of the constitution, which had been thrown together in a hurry, but also the uncertainty of the assembly itself, of the extent of its delegated powers. Its declaration that Germany was not to be considered as a united state, but as a confederation of states--(nicht als ein Bundesstaat, sondern als ein Staaten-bund)--gave the less satisfaction, as it was just contrary to what was desired. The nation desired earnestly a common all-embracing bond of union and communion, and not merely a confederacy of their sovereign princes, which the interests of the moment, as they had originated it, would also dissolve again. The general excitement in Germany received a palpable point of demand in the thirteenth article of the Act of Confederation. In most of the German states the anxiety for a representative constitution displayed itself in such a manner as rendered in the highest degree difficult an accordance between princes and subjects. In Prussia especially, the constitution of the monarchy opposed so many difficulties to the establishment of a national representation, that its postponement was inevitable; and passionate discontent saw in the impracticability nothing but an evil disposition. In the other German states, the steps made towards the passing of a constitution conducted to as little result; the princes and popular representatives could not agree, since the first were as sparing in their concessions as the latter were unbounded in their demands. But the spirit which was in Germany striving after the constitutional organization of states, had not every where confined itself within due bounds. The secret unions which were formed during the ascendency of Napoleon still continued. The excitement of the public mind, which at an earlier period had been favoured even by the government itself, so far from having subsided, had rather received a new impulse, and as it had now necessarily lost its outward tendency, it sought to take effect in the heart of Germany. The government saw with suspicion the drift of the secret unions, and their influence on the Gymnastic schools and universities; they heard with astonishment, the bold language of the rising generation approximating itself to political fanaticism. The German Confederation satisfied not these heads on fire with ideas of one and a free Germany. The restoration of the empire, in connexion with one of the prevailing theories of conformable national representation, was the master desire of a numerous party, which was spread wide through Germany, and