of the Prussian proposals by the Senate. He pointed out that Prussia would not accept a refusal without further action. He mentioned that Prussia would dissolve the Senate and take over the government. The Burgerschaft would remain undisturbed, as would the population, if they kept quiet. Otherwise, 10,000 Prussian troops would occupy the city. Wolffson and Halben reported this to Syndicus Carl Merck, who directed Hamburg's foreign affairs, who now sent Krüger, then in Hamburg, to Richthofen to obtain certainty about the Prussian threats. Merck addressed the Senate on 25 June saying he regarded the policy of Lübeck, which was positive to the Prussian alliance and the threats of Richthofen as particularly serious considerations. He was afraid that, after the accession of all other north German states to the alliance, Hamburg would stand isolated and its independence threatened. Then on 26 June the Senate gave way. Merck instructed the Hamburg envoy in London to seek understanding in Britain for the forced connection to Prussia and thereby to preserve the benefit of Hamburg's good relations with Britain. Then, exhausted, a nervous breakdown compelled him to hand over the business to Senator Kirchenpauer. When Merck recovered, he tried to convince the Burgerschaft of the inevitability of the decision. The day after the Austrian defeat at the Battle of Königgrätz, on 4 July, the Senate submitted to the Burgerschaft the following urgent requests: (i) assent to the Prussian alliance, (ii) continue of the joint Brigade with Oldenburg, Bremen and Lübeck, and (iii) authorise the costs of mobilisation. The House assented by 113 votes to 54. On 5 July Merck informed Richthofen that Hamburg approved her accession to the Prussian alliance and in August, two battalions of Hamburg troops were sent to Frankfurt to replace some Prussian troops in that area. On 18 August, the Hanseatic Minister-Resident in Berlin, Friedrich Geffcken, signed a treaty between Hamburg and Prussia (of one-year duration) concluding the alliance. Under this treaty, all troops were placed under Prussian supreme command, the two states agreed to hold elections to an imperial parliament and their plenipotentiaries (along with those of other signatories of the alliance) would meet later in Berlin to draft a constitution, as soon as Prussia requested it. This request was made in December 1866 and Senator Kirchenpauer was sent to represent Hamburg. On 15 December, the draft constitution was presented to the plenipotentiaries assembled in Berlin. Kirchenpauer wrote: