THE PRUSSIAN PARTITION 89encouraged. In 1848, in the wake of the abortive Posnanian revolt, the Grand
Duchy was abolished. Later demands for its reinstatement were never seriously
considered.
Revolutionary Polish nationalism attracted few adherents, and scored no suc-
cess. In the 1840s, a number of conspiratorial societies made their appearance in
Posen, among them the Zwiazek Plebejuszy (Plebeians' Union). In February
1846, some 254 people were arrested at the Prussian end of an intended all-
Polish insurrection organized by the emigre Democratic Society. In the Berlin
Trial of the following year, the eight leading defendants, including Ludwik
Mieroslawski, were condemned to death for treason, but not executed. They
were released by the outbreak of Revolution in Berlin on 20 March 1848 amid
popular demonstrations. Mieroslawski rushed to Posen to head a National
Committee, which was formed whilst the back of the Prussian authorities was
turned. A local Polish militia was raised, and armed with scythes. Even so, the
revolutionary nature of these events can be easily exaggerated. The political
demands of the Committee were for effective autonomy, not for independence;
the militia was intended for use not against Prussia but against the threat of
Russian intervention. At the Pact of Jaroslawiec on 11 April, the Committee was
dissolved, when promises by General von Willisen about a Polish administra-
tion were accepted. MierosBawski, together with those of his militia who had
refused to disband, were dispersed by the Prussian Army. As Frederick-William
IV wrote to his sister, the Tsarina, 'I hope that lots of rebels will cross into the
Kingdom of Poland, where Pashkievich can hang them.' The Tsarina replied,
'Hang them yourself.' Von Willisen's promises were ignored. The Grand Duchy
became 'Provinz-Posen'; and the white eagle on its coat of arms was removed.
It was the last and only revolutionary outbreak in Prussian Poland until
December 1918.^3
The integration of the Polish provinces into the unified governmental system
of Prussia was part of a process which affected all parts of the Kingdom from
the Rhine to the Niemen. As from 1850, a new constitution gave wide legislative
powers to a revamped Prussian Landtag or 'Diet', which consisted of two cham-
bers - the upper Herrenhaus or 'House of Lords', of some 240 hereditary and
life peers appointed by the monarch, and the lower Abgeordnetenhaus or
'House of Commons', of some 350 to 450 elected deputies. The King retained
firm control over the convocation and the dissolution of the Diet, as he did over
the Staatsrat or 'Ministerial Council' and over the Army, the Judiciary, the Civil
Service, and the organs of Local Government. A system of indirect suffrage was
extended to all males over 25 years of age, divided by property qualifications
into three distinct classes of voter. Each class returned its own College of
Electors, whose task was then to elect the deputies. By this means, each deputy
of the First Class was returned on average by 480 votes; in the Second Class by
1,920 votes; and in the Third Class by 9,600 votes. Indubitably, the franchise
was weighted against the peasants and workers, which meant in the eastern
provinces that the Polish element was put at a considerable disadvantage from