the liberals called for the right to an income level and assets, the democrats demanded universal, equal and direct suffrage for all adult men. At the end of October 1849 the king dismissed the government under Friedrich Römer. On 7 December 1849 the principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen were incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia. William's objective of mediatising these states into Württemberg therefore failed. The-then shattered relationship with Prussia was not normalised until 1852 with the resumption of diplomatic relations. From 1850 Wilhelm led a reactionary policy. His experience in the revolution led him to reject generally representative governments. He wanted the people to be "free from the periodic fever of elections". On 2 July 1850 he set up a new government with the conservative Joseph von Linden as Minister of the Interior. He was a more compliant rubber stamp for William's restoration policy. The old constitution was re-enacted, the army was sworn in again on the king rather than the Constitution, corporal punishment was reintroduced in 1852 and the death penalty in 1853. Linden's conservative cabinet remained until shortly after William's death in office. Later years and death In the 1850s, the polarity between Prussia and Austria came to a head in Germany. William pursued a foreign policy strategy shifting alliances and agreements with the major European powers. In the Crimean War between Russia on one hand and the Ottoman Empire, France and Great Britain on the other, he pushed for a neutrality of the German Confederation. This strengthened the position of the Württemberg ally of Russia. After the Crimean War, William tried to normalise his country's relations with France. The French emperor since 1852, Napoléon III, was the nephew of his brother-in-law, Jérôme Bonaparte. The Holy Alliance between Russia, Austria and Prussia had ended on the outbreak of the Crimean War. On 27 September 1857 a meeting organised by William was held in Stuttgart between Napoléon III and Tsar Alexander II. The emperors agreed that Russia would not intervene in any war that France would have in assisting Sardinia in a war against Austria (later to become the Second Italian War of Independence). Especially in his old age, European princes often sought his advice. His biographer Paul Sauer therefore referred to him as "Nestor among the princes of Europe". William's marriage looked happy to outsiders, but in actuality was completely shattered. He was constantly accompanied by his