[p. 522]
|522| concerning which a convention had likewise been concluded. The King demanded of the estates a deliberation and, in the shortest possible time, a declaration as to how these extraordinary resources were to be raised. – The answer to the question what the Württemberg estates, expressly called upon by their King as well as by their constituents to cooperate and empowered to support the cause of Europe, have done to avert that danger of a unique kind and of quite extraordinary character, comes out thus: that they have done nothing at all. The whole merit of how Württemberg at that time came forward in the ranks of all the European powers they have rather left to the King, the then Crown Prince, the ministry and the army. – The government, for the fulfilment of its general, moral and positive obligations, pursued its course for itself with honour and glory and, as it seems, found itself not in the least held up by the refusal of the cooperation of the estates. The estates, on the other hand, obtained nothing but to have shown their ill will, their misjudging of their fine position and the dispensability of their cooperation.
Subsequently they submitted to the ministry some further addresses directly concerning this matter, which no longer spoke of readiness for sacrifices but were meant to provide for the relief of the admittedly exhausted land by demanding the contribution of the royal domain chamber, of the church property etc. to the burdens of war. For that purpose the King had already had effective negotiations conducted with his allies and the army commands concerned; the answer which the estates received to their demand was simply this, that whatever was contributed from special state revenues would have to be replaced to the financial estimate from other sources, and that here it was precisely a matter of extraordinary resources. – In the sense of the
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