Meanwhile the 22nd of March passed, William the Great was a hundred years old and his monument had not yet been erected in the public park. Questions without end were asked at the meetings of the Town Council, several times additional credits were sanctioned after great difficulty, only to be vetoed again. The worst blow the community received was when His Majesty refused to have his lamented grandfather on foot and commanded an equestrian statue. Spurred on by his impatience Diederich often went to Meisestrasse in the evening to see how the work was progressing.