There is weighty evidence in support of this.

But it is still more certain--and, though I was but eleven years old and brought up in a loyal atmosphere, I, too, felt and experienced it--that before the 18th of March the general discontent was at the highest point.

There was no controlling it.
If the chief of police, Von Minutoli, asserts that he knew beforehand the hour when the revolution was to break out, this is no special evidence of foresight; for the first threat the citizens had ventured to utter against the king was in the address drawn up at the sitting of the popular assembly in Kopenickstrasse, and couched in the following terms "If this is granted us, and granted at once, then we will guarantee a genuine peace." To finish the proposition with a statement of what would occur in the opposite case, was left to his Majesty; the assembly had simply decided that the "peaceful demonstration of the wishes of the people" should take place on the 18th, at two o'clock, several thousand citizens taking part in it.

While the address was handed in, and until the reply was received, the ambassadors of the people were to remain quietly assembled in the Schlossplatz.

What was to happen in case the above-mentioned demands were not granted is nowhere set down, but there is little doubt that many of those present intended to trust to the fortune of arms.