Chapter 10
Part 10
The Austrian Empire itself, by this time, was shaken to its foundations. When the news of the February Revolution in Paris reached Austria the Magyar Diet was in session in Hungary. The success of the revolutionists in France inflamed the Liberal leaders in Hungary. Casting aside all reserve, Kossuth declared in the Diet: "From the charnel house of the Viennese system a poison-laden atmosphere steals over us. It would paralyze our nerves and pin us down when we might soar. The future of Hungary can never be secured while Austria maintains a system of government in direct antagonism to every constitutional principle. Our task is to found a happier future on the brotherhood of all the races in Austria. For a union enforced by bayonets and police spies let us substitute the enduring bond of a free constitution!" On March 3, the Hungarian Lower House triumphantly passed a resolution to that effect. The cry for a liberal constitution was instantly taken up in the other dominions of Austria. It so happened that the Provincial Estates of Lower Austria were to meet about this time. It was planned that an address embodying demands similar to those of Hungary should be forwarded to the Emperor by this assembly. The political agitation in Vienna became feverish. The students indulged in noisy demonstrations. Rumors of the impending repudiation of the paper currency and of State bankruptcy made matters worse. A sharp decline in stocks showed Metternich that a public catastrophe was near at hand.
[Sidenote: Viennese Diet stormed]
[Sidenote: Fighting in the street]
[Sidenote: Imperial palace invaded]
[Sidenote: Downfall of Metternich]
On March 13, the Provincial Diet met. Dense crowds surged about the Diet Hall. The students marched around in procession. Street orators harangued the crowds. The tumult was at its height when a slip of paper was let down from one of the windows of the hall, stating that the Diet was inclining to half measures. An announcement to this effect was received with a roar of fury. The mob overran the guards and burst into the Diet Hall. All debate was stopped, and the leading members of the Estates were forced to head a deputation to the Emperor's palace to exact a hearing. All the approaches to the palace were choked with people. Street fighting had already begun. Detachments of soldiers were hurried to the palace and to the Diet Hall. From the roof and windows of the Diet Hall missiles were hurled upon the soldiery. The interior of the Hall was demolished. The soldiers now fired a volley and cleared the Hall with their bayonets. Blood flowed freely and many were killed. The sound of the shots was received by the crowds around the palace with howls of rage. The whole city was in an uproar. Barricades were thrown up and the gunsmith shops were sacked. At the palace, where the Emperor himself remained invisible, Metternich and his assembled Council received the deputation in state. The Council urged the aged Prime Minister to grant the demanded concession. At length he withdrew into an adjoining chamber to draft an order annulling the censorship of the press. While he was thus engaged the cry was raised, "Down with Metternich!" The deputies in the Council Chamber peremptorily demanded his dismissal. When the old statesman returned he found himself abandoned even by his colleagues. Metternich realized that the end had come. He made a brief farewell speech, marked by all the dignity and self-possession of his greatest days, and left the Council Chamber to announce his resignation to the Emperor.
[Sidenote: Quiet restored]
[Sidenote: Hungarian demands]
[Sidenote: Kossuth in Vienna]
[Sidenote: Demonstrations of enthusiasm]
The news of Metternich's downfall was received with deafening cheers. His personality was so closely identified with all that was most hateful in Austrian politics that the mere announcement of his resignation sufficed to quell the popular tumult. On the night of March 14, Metternich contrived to escape from Vienna unobserved, and fled across the frontier. On the same day a National Guard was established in Vienna, and was supplied with arms taken from the government arsenal. The Viennese outbreak gave irresistible force to the national movement in Hungary. Now the Chamber of Magnates, which had hitherto opposed the demands of the Lower House, adopted the same by a unanimous vote. On March 15, a deputation was despatched to Vienna to demand from the Emperor not only a liberal constitution, but a separate Ministry, absolute freedom of the press, trial by jury, equality of religion, and a free public-school system. The Hungarians, with Kossuth in the lead, were received in triumph in Vienna. They paraded through the streets, and were greeted by Emperor Ferdinand in person. He consented to everything and issued an imperial rescript, promising a liberal constitution to the rest of Austria as well. The light-hearted Viennese indulged in indescribable jubilations. On March 18, the Emperor drove through the city. Somebody put a revolutionary banner into his hands. The black, red and gold ensign of united Germany was hoisted over the tower of St. Stephen. In an intoxication of joy the people took the horses from the imperial carriage and drew it triumphantly through the streets. The regular troops around the imperial palace were superseded by the new National Guards.
[Sidenote: Germany in a ferment]
[Sidenote: Prussian Assembly convoked]
[Sidenote: King of Prussia cowed]
[Sidenote: Revolt in Berlin]
[Sidenote: Prince William's part]
[Sidenote: King of Prussia submissive]
[Sidenote: Royal promises]
[Sidenote: Rising of Schleswig-Holstein]
[Sidenote: Reverse at Bau]
By this time the same storm of revolution was sweeping over Germany. Popular demonstrations occurred at Mannheim, Cassel, Breslau, Koenigsberg and along the Rhine region in Cologne, Duesseldorf and Aix-la-Chapelle. A popular convention at Heidelberg, on March 5, had resolved upon a national assembly to be held at Frankfort-on-the-Main by the end of March. Elections for this assembly were being held throughout Germany. The long-desired union of Germany was at last to be accomplished. On March 14, King Frederick William of Prussia convoked the Prussian Assembly for April 27, to deliberate upon Prussia's part in the proposed German union. Then came the news of the events in Vienna. Crowds gathered in the streets excitedly discussing the events of the day. Attempts on the part of the police to disperse them led to threatening encounters. Under the stress of alarming bulletins from Vienna, the King issued a rescript on March 18, in which he not only convoked the Prussian Assembly for the earlier date of April 2, but himself proposed such reforms as constitutional government, liberty of speech, liberty of the press, and the reconstitution of the Germanic Federation as a national union of states--a realization in brief of all the most ardent ideals of the German Liberals. Now the popular agitators proposed a monster demonstration to thank the King for his concessions. Shortly after noon, on March 18, the processions converged upon the palace. Immense crowds filled the streets. The appearance of the King upon the balcony was greeted with cheers. King Frederick William tried to speak but could not make himself heard. The troops set out to clear the palace grounds. Angry shouts arose for the withdrawal of the soldiery. In the confusion two shots were fired. A panic ensued: "We are betrayed," cried the leaders, and called the people to arms. The troops of the garrison charged into the rioters. Barricades were thrown up, and here and there church bells rang the tocsin. From three in the afternoon until early the next morning, fighting continued in the streets. The entire garrison of Berlin was called out and with the help of the bright moonlight succeeded in clearing one street after another. Prince William, the future German Emperor, gained unenviable notoriety by his zeal. At two in the morning the King gave orders to stop firing. He issued a proclamation: "To my dear people of Berlin," the mild tone of which only betrayed his weakness. On the following day all the troops were withdrawn and ordered out of the city. Prince William likewise left Berlin in deep chagrin and departed for England. His palace had to be protected from the fury of the people by placards pronouncing it the property of the nation. Once more the rioters appeared before the royal palace with the bodies of some of their slain. The King convoked a new Ministry and consented to substitute armed citizens and students for his royal guards. A general amnesty was proclaimed. On March 21, the King agreed to adopt "the sacred colors of the German Empire" for those of Prussia. After the manner of the weak Emperor of Austria, he rode through the streets of Berlin wearing a tricolor sash. Not satisfied with this, the revolutionists, on March 22, paraded before the palace with the open biers of 187 men that had been killed during the riots. Standing on his balcony with bared head, King Frederick William reviewed the ghastly procession. In a manifesto published at the close of the day he declared: "Germany is in ferment within and exposed from without to danger from more than one side. Deliverance from this danger can come only from the most intimate union of the German princes and people under a single leadership. I take this leadership upon me for the hour of peril. I have to-day assumed the old German colors, and placed myself and my people under the venerable banner of the German Empire. Prussia is henceforth merged into Germany." Thus Frederick William, by word and acts, which he afterward described as a comedy, directly encouraged the imperial aspirations of liberal Germany. The passage of his address in which he spoke of external dangers threatening Germany came true sooner than was expected. King Christian VIII. of Denmark had died early in the year. The fear of revolution at Copenhagen drove his son Frederick VII., the last of the Oldenburg line, to prick the war bubble blown by his father. On March 22, he called the leaders of the Eider-Dane party--the party which regarded the Eider as the boundary of the Danish dominions, thus converting Schleswig into a Danish province--to take the reins of government. The people of Schleswig and Holstein protested. The King was checkmated at Kiel by the appointment of a provisional government. The troops joined the people, and the insurrection spread over the whole province. The struggle then began. Volunteers from all parts of Germany rushed to the northern frontier. The German Bundestag admitted a representative of the threatened Duchies, and intrusted Prussia with their defence. An attempt was made to organize a German fleet. General Wrangel was placed in command of the Prussian forces despatched toward Denmark. Before he could arrive, the untrained volunteer army of Schleswig-Holsteiners suffered defeat at Bau. A corps of students from the University of Kiel was all but annihilated.
[Sidenote: Russia stems revolution]
An attempted rising of the Poles, in the Prussian province of Posen and at Cracow, was quickly suppressed. As soon as the news of the revolution in Paris reached Russia, the absolute ruler of that vast empire mobilized his armies, "so that, if circumstances should demand it, the tide of Anarchy could be dammed." After the abortive revolt at Cracow, Czar Nicholas issued an imperial manifesto, closing with a quotation from Isaiah: "Listen, ye heathen, and submit, for with us is God." When the spirit of revolt spread to Moldavia and Wallachia, Emperor Nicholas without further ado despatched a Russian army corps across the Pruth. The Sultan of Turkey was prevailed upon to do the same. Russian and Turkish troops occupied Jassy and Bucharest during the summer.
[Illustration: OPENING OF THE OPERA Painted by Edouard Detaille Copyright by M. Knoedler & Co.]
[Sidenote: Frankfort Vor-Parlament]
[Sidenote: Revolution in Baden]
[Sidenote: General Gagern shot]
[Sidenote: Flight of rebels]
The German preliminary Parliament of five hundred delegates had met at Frankfort in April. It lasted but five days. The Republicans found themselves outnumbered, when they submitted their scheme for a national constitution. Repulsed in this, the Liberals proposed that they should continue in session until the real National Parliament should meet, thus extending their function beyond the limits of a mere constituent assembly. Outvoted in this, the leaders of the extreme Republicans resorted to armed revolt. Assisted by Polish refugees and men from France, they raised the red flag in Baden. Friedrich Hecker, a popular orator and representative of Baden, headed the movement. George Herwegh, the poet, took charge of the refugees from Switzerland and a group of German operatives recently returned from France. A provisional government was declared in the lake district of Baden. The Parliamentary majority of Frankfort, on breaking up, left behind a committee of fifty to prepare the draft of a constitution. The Bundestag meeting at the same time called for military measures against the insurgents. From three sides troops advanced into Baden. A Bavarian detachment marched from Lindau, Swabian troops came from the Black Forest, while from the north Hessian forces were led by General von Gagern, a brother of the new Prime Minister of Hesse. On April 19, Von Gagern encountered the revolutionists under Hecker at Kandern. While haranguing the insurgents, he was shot from his horse. The troops charged the insurgents with the bayonet and dispersed them in less than an hour. Four days later the revolutionary intrenchments at Freiburg were stormed. On the 27th, Herwegh's corps of 1,000 refugees was dispersed by General Miller. Hecker fled to America. The other leaders likewise made good their escape. On April 29 they issued a manifesto at Strasburg: "An overwhelming number of imported bestial mercenaries have crushed Republican aspirations in Baden, and have once more subjected the people to the hateful tyranny of princes."
[Sidenote: The cause of Italy]
[Sidenote: Other Powers hostile]
[Sidenote: Italy isolated]
The unexpected outbreak of revolution in Vienna and Hungary had inspired the Italians to rebel against Austrian rule with new confidence. On March 30, Pio Nono at Rome issued a proclamation to the people of Italy, in which he said: "The events which have followed one another with such astounding rapidity during the last two months are not the work of man. Woe to him who, in this storm that shatters cedars as well as oaks, hears not the voice of the Lord." Under the command of General Durando, a band of Crociati, or crusaders, marched from Rome against the Austrians. Count Balbo was placed in command of the Piedmontese army. To the remonstrances of the British Ambassador at Turin, King Charles Albert replied that he must either march against Austria or lose his crown. England, indeed, was emphatic in its disapproval of the Italian national movement. In the pages of the "Edinburgh Review," Sir Archibald Allison, the court historian, wrote: "It is utterly repugnant to the first principles of English policy, and to every page in English history, to lend encouragement to the separation of nationalities from other empires." The new republican government in France, on its part, had no desire to see a strong Italian national State spring up on its southern frontier. Lamartine, the French Foreign Minister, declined Charles Albert's request to sanction his military occupation of Lombardy. A strong French army of observation was concentrated on the Italian frontier in the Alps. Germany, which in later years was destined to become the strongest ally of Italy, was still so bound up with Austria that when Arnold Ruge in the Frankfort Parliament dared to express a wish for the victory of Italian arms against Austria, a great storm of indignation broke out in Germany. As a last resort, Charles Albert, on April 6, proposed an offensive and defensive alliance to Switzerland, but the little republic wisely declined to emerge from its traditional neutrality. It was then that the Italians raised the defiant cry: "Italia fara de se" (Italy will fight her own battles). When the hard beset Austrian Government, in a confidential communication of Minister Wessendberg to Count Casati, showed itself inclined to yield Lombardy upon payment of Lombardy's share in the Austrian national debt, the proposition was curtly declined.
[Sidenote: Set-back at Naples]
[Sidenote: Neapolitan forces recalled]
[Sidenote: Pio Nono's allocution]
It was a fatal move. The course of Italy, as Dante once sang, seemed like that of "a ship without stars in a wild storm." Affairs took a wrong turn in Naples. There a new popular Parliament had just been elected, which was about to meet, when there were some final difficulties between the King and his Liberal Ministers over the exact wording of the oath of allegiance. The excitable Neapolitan populace forthwith became unmanageable. The Swiss Guards, who had long been the butt of the people, put down the revolt without mercy. Once more King Ferdinand was master. He hastened to dismiss his Cabinet and dissolved the Parliament before it could come to order. Orders were sent to General Pepe, who had marched to the front in northern Italy with 14,000 men, to return at once. General Pepe, who had already reached Bologna and had entered hostilities under Charles Albert's command, declined to obey the orders of his sovereign. His rank and file trooped back to Naples. Only fifteen hundred Neapolitan volunteers remained with Pepe at the front. A number of the officers who returned felt their disgrace so keenly that they committed suicide. The Neapolitan fleet, which had already succeeded in raising the Austrian blockade of Venice, was likewise ordered home. A more serious blow to the cause of Italy was Pio Nono's apparent change of front. On April 29, without previous consultation with his new Ministry, the Pope issued the famous "Allocution," in which he declared that he had despatched his troops northward only for the defence of the Papal dominions, and that it was far from his intentions to join with the other Italian princes and peoples in the war against Austria. The Papal Ministry immediately handed in its resignation. The Municipal Council of Rome called upon the Pope to abstain from interference with his army. General Durando, commanding the Papal troops at the front, had already yielded to their entreaties by crossing the Po. Now he threw in his lot with Charles Albert. Pio Nono sent a confidential messenger to Naples to arrange for an asylum there, in case the people should turn against him at Rome.
[Sidenote: Garibaldi]
[Sidenote: Battle of Goito]
[Sidenote: Cortatone]
[Sidenote: Surrender of Peschiera]
[Sidenote: Radetzky firm]
Charles Albert on the Mincio lost three precious weeks. His army now numbered nearly one hundred thousand men, only sixty thousand of whom were trained soldiers. About this time he was joined by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who had just returned from the revolutionary battlefields of South America, whither he had been driven an exile from Charles Albert's own dominions. He was received with honor, and was put in charge of a volunteer corps which he had raised at Milan. The Austrian commander profited by the delay of his opponents to place his army between the strong fortresses of Verona, Mantua, Legnano and Peschiera, and to draw reinforcements from the Tyrol, until the situation in Austria itself became so threatening that no further aid could be given him. In truth, the fate of the Austrian empire now rested on the aged shoulders of Radetzky. On April 8, the Sardinian army, in a sharp engagement at Goito, effected the passage of the Mincio. The Austrians lost one thousand men. Siege was now laid to Peschiera. A Tuscan division moved on Mantua, while the bulk of Charles Albert's army cut off Verona from the roads to the Tyrol. Radetzky was driven to take the offensive. In a fight at Cortatone he defeated the Tuscans, but within twenty-four hours the Austrian garrison of Peschiera was brought to the point of capitulation. The Italians took two thousand one hundred and fifty men. On May 6, Charles Albert made an attempt to drive the Austrians out of their positions in front of Verona. Repulsed at Santa Lucia, he was forced to fall back on the Mincio. Under the influence of the peace party, the Austrian Emperor now directed Radetzky to offer an armistice to the Italians. Simultaneously with this, Austrian reinforcements cut their way through to Verona. Radetzky sent Prince Felix Schwarzenberg to Innsbruck to implore the Emperor for permission to continue the combat. This was reluctantly given. Fearing another reversal of his orders, Radetzky forthwith threw his army into Venetia. General Durando and his Papal army were shut up in Vicenza, and compelled to capitulate. The capture of Vicenza was followed by that of all the Venetian mainland east of the Adige.
[Sidenote: Custozza]
[Sidenote: Fall of Milan]
[Sidenote: Truce of Vigevano]
The republic of St. Mark sought shelter under the royal AEgis of Piedmont. Manin, the liberator of Venice, resigned his presidency and went into retirement. Charles Albert now moved on Mantua, leaving half his army at Peschiera and further north. Radetzky instantly threw himself on the weakly guarded centre of the long Sardinian line. Charles Albert sought too late to rejoin his northern detachments. At Custozza, on July 25, he suffered a signal defeat. While he was thrown back over the Mincio the northern divisions were also overcome. Charles Albert retreated to Milan closely followed by Radetzky. He declared himself unable to hold the city. The people rose against him. On the night of August 5, he escaped with difficulty, protected by General La Marmora and a few guards. Milan capitulated on the following day. When the Austrians made their triumphant entry, half of the population left their homes to emigrate to Piedmont and Switzerland. On August 9, an armistice was arranged at Vigevano. Venice refused to accept it, and detaching itself once more from Sardinia, restored Manin to power. Garibaldi with his volunteers likewise held aloof and carried the fight into the northern mountains. From there he was eventually dislodged by D'Aspre and crossed the frontier into Switzerland.
[Sidenote: Raffet's battle scenes]
The picturesque scenes of the revolutionary struggle in Italy have been perpetuated by Denis-Auguste-Marie Raffet, a pupil of Charlot and of Gros, who had already distinguished himself by his lithographs of the brief Belgian war of 1832, and by his Russian and Oriental sketches made while travelling with Prince Demidov. The motley uniforms of the volunteers of Garibaldi, the Swiss Papal Guards and the Austrian, Piedmontese and French troops, as well as the picturesque costumes of the Italian peasantry, afforded a great scope for Raffet's brush. One of the most characteristic specimens of Raffet's art during this period is his well-known picture of "The Evening of the Battle of Novara."
[Sidenote: Austrian court returns]
[Sidenote: Jellacic ban of Croatia]
[Sidenote: Croats and Serbs secede from Magyars]
[Sidenote: Riots in Vienna]
[Sidenote: Jellacic disavowed]
[Sidenote: Civil War in Hungary]
[Sidenote: Metternich's comment]
The success of Radetzky restored a measure of confidence in Austria. The Emperor and his court, who had sought refuge at Innsbruck, consented to return to Vienna. There the promised elections had been held, and an assembly representing all the provinces of the Empire, excepting Hungary and Italy, had met in the third week of July. With the armies of Radetzky and Windischgraetz within call, the Emperor and his Ministry assumed a bolder front toward the Magyars. The concessions exacted by Hungary in April had raised that kingdom almost to the position of an independent state. Under its separate management of the Hungarian army, Austria found it difficult even to use her Magyar troops at the front in Italy. The Magyars showed the same haughty spirit toward the Austrian Serbs, Slavs and Croatians. After Hungary's successful emancipation in March, the Serbs of southern Hungary demanded from Kossuth the restoration of their own local autonomy. The Magyars insisted on maintaining their ascendency, and decreed that only the Magyar language should be the language of the state. Slavic race feeling was kindled to sudden hatred. The Croatian national committee at Agram, that had assumed charge of affairs after the catastrophe in March, elected Jellacic, the colonel of the first Croatian regiment, Ban of Croatia. The appointment was confirmed at Vienna, even before formal notification had reached the Emperor. On assuming office, Jellacic caused all Magyar officials to be driven out of the country, and broke off all relations with the Hungarian government at Pesth. Batthyany, the Hungarian Premier, hastened to Vienna, and obtained the disavowal of Jellacic. No attention was paid to this at Agram. Now, General Hrabovsky, commanding the troops in the southern provinces, received orders from Pesth to suspend Jellacic from office and bring him to trial for high treason. In the meanwhile the Serbs, meeting in Congress at Carlowitz on the Lower Danube, proclaimed home rule, elected a Voiovode of their own and authorized him to enter into intimate relations with their fellow Slavs in Croatia. This was in the middle of May. Vienna during these same days was in a continual uproar. Early in May a report that the Austrian Ambassador at London had given a formal reception to Prince Metternich upon his arrival in England caused an outbreak of popular wrath in Vienna. A mob surrounded the house of Count Ficquelmont, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and compelled him to resign his office. Detachments of troops patrolled the streets at night. On May 15, the people revolted against this measure before the Palace, and compelled Minister Pillersdorf to sign an order for the withdrawal of the troops. The Emperor and his family fled to the Tyrol. At Innsbruck, where he was received with great demonstrations of loyalty, the Emperor issued a rescript in which he declined to return to his capital or to open the national assembly until order should be restored. In Croatia, on hearing of Hrabovsky's orders, the Palatine was burned in effigy. Batthyany hastened to Innsbruck to turn this Slavic affront to the crown to account. By assuring to the Emperor the support of Hungary's troops against the Italians, Batthyany obtained the Emperor's signature to an emphatic condemnation of Jellacic and his suspension from office. Jellacic then set out for Innsbruck, accompanied by a large deputation of Croats and Serbs. On the day that he arrived at Innsbruck, Batthyany at Pesth published the text of the Emperor's orders against the Ban. Still Jellacic held his ground. He regained the Emperor's favor by issuing an address to the Croatian soldiers serving in Italy, enjoining them to stand by the colors no matter what reports reached them from home. He was permitted to return to Croatia and to resume his government at Agram. As soon as he reached home, he declared himself the champion of Austrian unity, and assumed dictatorial powers. Civil war broke out in Lower Hungary. General Hrabovsky, when he attempted to occupy Carlowitz, encountered serious opposition. He was attacked with such vehemence, by the Serbs led by Stratimirovic, that he had to beat a retreat. The Hungarian Diet at Pesth called for a levy of 200,000 men to crush the Slavic rebellion. In the face of a letter from the Emperor, condemning the resistance offered to the Hungarian government by the Slavs, Kossuth charged the Austrian Court with instigating the civil war. Evidence was brought forward to show that the Minister of War at Vienna was encouraging Austrian officers to join the insurrection. Such was the situation in Austria at midsummer. A characteristic comment on this apparently sudden disintegration of the Austrian Empire at this time was furnished by Prince Metternich to his fellow refugee, Francois Pierre Guizot, the fallen Prime Minister of France. "During the catastrophes of 1848," writes Guizot, in his "Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire de mon Temps," "meeting Prince Metternich at London one day, I said to him: 'Explain to me the causes of your revolution in Austria. I know why and how things happened in Paris; but in Austria, under your government, I cannot understand.' He replied with a smile of mingled pride and sadness: 'I have sometimes ruled Europe, but Austria never.'"
[Sidenote: The Frankfort Parliament]
[Sidenote: John of Austria elected leader]
[Sidenote: Prussia discredited]
[Sidenote: Foreign Powers intervene]
[Sidenote: Truce of Malmoe]
[Sidenote: Frankfort Parliament powerless]
At Frankfort, during this interval, the national parliament of Germany was convened on May 18. The event was celebrated throughout Germany with the ringing of bells and bonfires at night. In truth, the assembly was such that Germany might well be proud of it. Of the 586 delegates, more than a hundred were university professors and scholars of eminence. Among them were such men as Arndt, the poet, Gervinus and Dahlberg, the historians, with others of like note. A promising unity of ideals seemed to prevail. Heinrich von Gagern, a man of high character and parliamentary experience, was elected chairman by a majority of 305 out of 397 votes. It was his proposal to create a central executive in the person of a _Reichsverweser_. Archduke John of Austria, one of the most popular of German princes, was elected to this office by an overwhelming majority of 436 votes. The Archduke, who was then presiding over the new Austrian Assembly at Vienna, accepted the honor. By the time the German Bundestag adjourned, on July 13, everything seemed full of promise. The minor German States formally acknowledged the new Reichsverweser. King Frederick William of Prussia invited him, together with many members of the Frankfort Parliament, to the Cologne Cathedral festival on August 14. There the King pledged the Archduke at a public banquet: "May he give us," declared the King, "united and free German peoples; may he give us united and free sovereigns." A few days later an event occurred which opened the eyes of the Germans to Prussia's real part in the destinies of Germany. This was the armistice of Malmoe, concluded on August 26, between Denmark and Prussia. The early German victories at Dannewirk and Oversee had borne no fruit. The Danes were masters of the sea, and mercilessly ravaged the German coasts, unprotected by any navy. As King Frederick William remarked, it was like a fight between a hound and a fish. The Danes took innumerable prizes and crippled the commerce of the Hanseatic cities. General Wrangel thereupon exacted a contribution of 2,000,000 thalers in Jutland. For every fisherman's hut that the Danish fleet might injure on the German coast, he threatened to lay a Danish village in ashes. The foreign Powers objected to such ruthless campaigning. The Scandinavian States intervened on behalf of Denmark. Emperor Nicholas of Russia, who regarded the Schleswig-Holstein movement as an unjustifiable rebellion, came to their support. Lord Palmerston, who had once proposed to end the quarrel by simply cutting the disputed territory in two, according to the preferences of the inhabitants, now threw in the weight of England with the other Powers. Prussia was constrained to withdraw her army. According to the provisions of the seven months' truce forced upon Prussia at Malmoe in Sweden, all prisoners were to be returned, the Schleswig-Holstein army was to be disbanded, while a temporary government of the duchies was to be administered by representatives of Denmark and Prussia. All Germany was in an uproar. The Frankfort Parliament repudiated the armistice by 238 against 221 votes. The new-formed German Ministry resigned. Prof. Dahlmann, one of the protagonists of the Schleswig-Holstein movement, was commissioned to form a new Ministry. His efforts resulted only in failure. The conviction grew that the German Parliament was powerless. Presently the Parliament revoked its own decision, approving the armistice by 258 over 236 votes. After all, it was plain that the most momentous German question of the day had been settled independently of united Germany by Prussia standing alone. In South Germany the revolutionists were once more called to arms.
[Sidenote: The French Republic]
[Sidenote: National workshops]
[Sidenote: Fyffe's judgment]
The new republican government of France had been kept far too busy by the logical consequences of its revolutionary measures to take any active part in the international settlement of the Schleswig-Holstein question. The majority of the provisional government were moderate republicans, representing the _bourgeoisie_, or middle class, rather than the workmen, but associated with them were such radicals as Louis Blanc, Ledru-Rollin and Albert, a locksmith. During the first few days of the installation they undertook to guarantee employment to every citizen. It proved a gigantic engagement. The mere distribution of idle workmen among the various industries in which they were employed called for a new branch of the administration. The task outgrew all expectations. Within four weeks the number of applicants for government work rose from 140 to 65,000. Under the stimulus of government competition, a series of labor strikes were declared against private factories and establishments. The scheme, as then attempted, grew utterly unmanageable. As Fyffe has said in his chapter on this subject: "If, instead of a group of benevolent theorists, the experiment of 1848 had had for its authors a company of millionaires anxious to dispel all hope that mankind might ever rise to a higher order than that of unrestricted competition of man against man, it could not have been conducted under more fatal conditions."
[Sidenote: Radicals outvoted]
[Sidenote: Another attempted revolution]
[Sidenote: National workshop abolished]
The elections of April 23 gave the moderate element a handsome majority. An attempt to change the elections was frustrated by the National Guard. Strengthened by this manifestation of popular approval, Lamartine and his colleagues got rid of their radical associates in the Cabinet. The excluded radicals now planned a new revolution. On May 15, simultaneously with the renewed riots in Vienna, an attempt was made to overthrow the government. On the pretext of presenting a petition on behalf of Poland, a mob invaded the Chambers and dissolved the Assembly. A provisional government was installed at the Hotel de Ville. The government supporters rallied the National Guard. The leaders at the Hotel de Ville were taken captive. The Palais Bourbon was cleared, and the Deputies were reconvened in their assembly hall. Encouraged by this success, the government resolved to rid itself of the incubus of the national workshops, after a variety of schemes with this purpose in view had been brought forward in the Assembly. The government cut the Gordian knot by a violent stroke. On June 21, an edict was issued that all beneficiaries of the public workshops between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five must enlist in the army or cease to receive support from the State.
[Sidenote: Paris up in arms]
[Sidenote: Archbishop killed]
[Sidenote: End of bloodshed]
At this time more than a hundred thousand destitute men had flocked to the national workshops. They rose as of one accord. The rising of June 23 was the most formidable yet experienced in Paris. The number of the workmen alone exceeded that of several army corps. The unity of grievances and interests gave them an _esprit de corps_ similar to that of an army. The whole eastern part of Paris was barricaded like a fortified camp. Instead of a mere revolt, the government found itself entering upon a civil war. General Cavaignac, the Minister of War, was placed in supreme command, the executive commission resigning its powers. He summoned all available troops into the capital. Regardless of private interests, Paris was treated as a great battlefield in which the enemy was to be attacked in a mass and dislodged from all his main lines. The barricades were battered down with field and siege artillery. Four days and nights the fight lasted. Whole houses and blocks in which the insurgents had found a lodgment had to be demolished. On the third day the Archbishop of Paris was struck by a bullet while trying to stop the bloodshed. On both sides the fight was waged with inexcusable savagery. The National Guard, with a few exceptions, fought side by side with the regular troops. The workmen, threatened with the loss of their subsistence, fought with the courage of despair. At the point of the bayonet they were at last driven into the northeastern quarter of the city. There, plied with grape and canister from every direction, they were brought to the point of surrender.
[Sidenote: Cavaignac]
[Sidenote: Louis Napoleon]
After this hard-won victory, the government did not hesitate to transport without trial the whole mass of prisoners taken alive. A policy of reaction set in. The government workshops and other concessions to socialism were abandoned. General Cavaignac, at the direction of the Assembly, retained his dictatorial powers until a new Constitution could be drafted. It seemed as if Cavaignac was marked to become the permanent ruler of France, but his own rigid republicanism stood in his way. It was at this time that Prince Louis Napoleon once more came into prominence. When he first made his reappearance in Paris he was requested to leave by the Provisional Government. Retiring to England, he awaited developments, while his friends and supporters agitated in his behalf. During the supplementary elections he was nominated for the Chambers by four districts at once, and, despite the government's efforts, he obtained a fourfold election. A vote of the Assembly declared the election valid. With unwonted self-command the Prince declined to take his seat, on the ground that it might embarrass the government in its difficult situation. His letter to the president of the Assembly ended with the significant declaration that if duties should be imposed upon him by the will of the people he would know how to fulfil them.
[Sidenote: France spellbound]
Three months later, in the midst of the debates on the constitution, while Cavaignac was still in power, Louis Napoleon was re-elected to the Assembly--this time by five departments. His hour had come. From this moment he was a recognized aspirant for power. The great name of his uncle shed its glory upon him. The new constitution of the Republic provided that a President with executive powers should be elected by a direct vote of all citizens. Louis Napoleon at once became a candidate. In an address to the people he declared that he would devote himself without stint to the maintenance of the Republic. In well-worded generalities something was promised to all the classes and parties of France. The other candidates were Cavaignac and Lamartine. Out of seven millions of votes cast in this election, five million went to Louis Napoleon. The mere glamour of an imperial name cast a new spell over France.
[Sidenote: Death of Chopin]
[Sidenote: The pianist's career]
In the midst of these stirring events in Paris, Frederick Chopin, the piano composer, died on October 17. Born at Jelisovaya-Volia in Poland, he received his early musical education at Warsaw. At the age of nine he played a pianoforte concerto with improvisations in public. His first compositions were Polish dances. In his fifteenth year he published a rondo and a fantasie. Having perfected himself as a pianist, he set out on a concert tour through Vienna, Munich, Paris and London. After his first appearance in Vienna, the foremost musical critic there wrote of him: "From the outset Chopin took place in the front rank of masters. The perfect delicacy of his touch, his indescribable mechanical dexterity, the melancholy tints in his style of shading, and the rare clearness of his delivery are in him qualities which bear the stamp of genius. He must be regarded as one of the most remarkable meteors blazing on the musical horizon." In Paris he gave a concert at Pleyel's house. His reception was such that he gave up all idea of proceeding further and made Paris his home for life. He was welcomed to the intimacy of men like Liszt, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Bellini, Balzac and Heine. As one after another of his unique compositions for the piano appeared, he took rank as the foremost composer for that instrument. On the publication of his preludes and new Polish dances, Schumann wrote of Chopin: "He is and ever will be the most daring and proud poetic spirit of the time."
[Sidenote: Chopin and Georges Sand]
In 1836, Chopin met Madame Dudevant, better known as the celebrated novelist Georges Sand. Their attachment was mutual. For her he wrote some of his most inspired pieces. They spent the winter of 1838-39 together on the Island of Majorca, where Georges Sand nursed Chopin through a severe attack of bronchitis. Of this episode, which had its profound effect on Chopin's music, Georges Sand has left an unengaging record in the novel "Lucreticia Floriani," published shortly afterward, and another in her "Histoire de ma Vie." Chopin returned from Majorca broken in health. He was supplanted in Georges Sand's affections by Alfred de Musset. During the season of 1848-49 he gave concerts in London, whence he returned to Paris only to die. He was buried at Pere la Chaise, between Bellini and Cherubini's graves.
[Sidenote: Sicilian elections]
[Sidenote: King of Sardinia wary]
In Italy, after the armistice between the Austrians and the Piedmontese, matters went from bad to worse. In Sicily, a National Parliament had met and put Ruggiero Settimo at the head of affairs by a unanimous vote. King Ferdinand and the House of Bourbon were declared to have forfeited the crown of Sicily forever. Elections were ordered to call another Prince to the vacant throne. England, interested as ever in Sicilian affairs, impressed upon the Sicilian leaders the urgency of an early settlement. The elections were held in haste. On July 12, at two in the morning, the vote was announced in Parliament. The Duke of Genoa, Albert Amadeus of Savoy, Charles Albert's second son, was elected King. The British and French warships in Sicilian waters fired a royal salute. For Charles Albert this only meant fresh embarrassment. In case of acceptance, he was sure to be involved in war with Naples in the south, as well as with Austria in the north. When the Sicilian deputies submitted their proposition in Piedmont, on August 27, they obtained no definite reply.
[Sidenote: Venice steadfast]
[Sidenote: Riots at Bologna]
[Sidenote: Rossi, Papal Minister]
Meanwhile King Ferdinand of Naples gathered his forces to win back Sicily. In the north the cause of Italy was on the wane. Francis V. was reinstated as Duke of Modena, with the help of Austrian arms. On his return in August he granted an amnesty, from the benefits of which "only those who had taken part in the revolution" were to be excluded. Austrian troops under Count Thurn likewise occupied the Duchy of Parma, the Duke remaining in Germany. In Tuscany, the Archduke found it difficult to maintain himself at Florence. His principality was overrun by radical refugees. A revolutionary junta at Leghorn threatened to proclaim the republic unless the Duke of Tuscany should appoint a governor in sympathy with their ideas. In his extremity the Duke sent them Montanelli, a political dreamer, who proclaimed Jesus Christ as the father of democracy. At Venice the Republic of St. Mark, under Manin's able leadership, still held its own. Austria's occupation of Ferrara and the Romagna brought new embarrassment to the Pope. Baron Von Welden, the Austrian general, made matters worse in the Romagna by his threatening language: "Woe to those who dare to oppose me!" Formal protests were made in vain by Pope Pio Nono and the diplomatic representatives of France and England. The Papal Ministry of Mamiani resigned. The Roman Radicals, under the leadership of Prince Canino, a Bonaparte, clamored for war, and some Austrian officers dared to show themselves in Bologna. They were attacked in the streets and murdered by the mob. Fighting began around Bologna. Too late the Austrians consented to relieve the Pope from this embarrassment by withdrawing their troops from his dominions. The Pope's new Minister, Count Pellegrino Rossi, an unusually able and forceful man who had once acted as an envoy for Louis Philippe, was denounced as a Frenchman and an enemy to Italy.
[Sidenote: Bombardment of Messina]
In September, King Ferdinand of Naples, having got rid of his Parliament, launched his forces upon Sicily. General Filangieri, with 12,000 men, was sent against Messina. There the Neapolitan garrison still held the citadel--all that remained to Ferdinand of his Sicilian kingdom. Three days before Filangieri landed, the gunners in the citadel began to bombard the helpless town lying beneath them. Half of the city was laid in ruins. The foreign warships in the harbor were filled with refugees. It was this outrage that gave to King Ferdinand the nickname of "King Bomba." The inhabitants remained steadfast. When Filangieri effected his landing, the fight was carried on with ferocity. The fall of the city was followed by barbarous excesses. For three days incendiary fires raged in the hapless town. At last the foreign admirals, Parker and Baudin, put a stop to the horrors, "as against all canons of civilized nations." An armistice was established between the Neapolitans and the Sicilians. King Ferdinand's dogged resistance to the remonstrances of the French and English Ambassadors was strengthened by the latest event in Rome.
[Sidenote: Assassination of Rossi]
[Sidenote: Flight of Pio Nono]
On November 15, as the Roman Chambers were about to be opened, Prime Minister Rossi was assassinated as he left his carriage to enter the Chambers. It was the signal for a new revolt. The delegates in the Hall of Chambers sought safety in flight. The National Guards made common cause with the insurgents. A howling mob beset the Quirinal. But for the resolute stand of the Pope's Swiss mercenaries, the palace would have been stormed. As bullets penetrated the walls of the Pope's ante-chamber, Pio Nono exclaimed: "Has Heaven no lightning?" For a while the Pope was practically a prisoner in his palace, while the Prince of Panino and Sterbini, the President of the Circolo Popolare, ruled Rome. At last, on the night of November 24, Pio Nono, in the disguise of a groom, escaped from Rome, seated on the box of the carriage of the Bavarian Ambassador, Count Spaur. He fled to Naples. From the Neapolitan fortress Gaeta he sent a letter to his "dearest son," the Emperor of Austria, imploring his help against the Republic of Rome.
[Sidenote: Revolt in Frankfort]
At Frankfort, the ratification of the armistice of Malmoe by the German Parliament had aroused the Radicals to fury. On September 17, the day after the second vote on this matter, a mass meeting was called at Frankfort. One delegate, Zitz, proposed the abolition of the Parliament; another, Ludwig Simon, declared the time had come to discuss all further questions from behind barricades. The Municipal Senate of Frankfort, taking alarm, ordered out the city troops and appealed for help to Prussia. On the morrow fighting began in the streets of Frankfort. Barricades had been erected overnight, and all day long the insurgents held their ground. It was known that a Prussian column was approaching. Prince Lichnovsky and General Von Auerswald, two leaders of the Conservative majority in the Parliament, rashly undertook to meet the Prussian troops halfway. At the gates of Frankfort both men were seized by the insurgents and were lynched by the mob. Shortly before midnight the Prussian troops arrived and soon overran the barricades with their bayonets. On the following day the city was under military rule.
[Sidenote: South Germany restive]
In other parts of South Germany revolution had broken out anew. The Prince of Sigmaringen was driven from his little domain, which was proclaimed a republic. Insurgent expeditions were organized in Wurtemberg and Baden. There Karl Blind and Gustav Struve made another attempt on Freiburg. At Staufen, on September 24, they were beaten back by regular troops under General Hoffmann and fled toward Switzerland. Struve himself was captured near the frontier. On the same day the German Cabinet at Frankfort was reinstated. Still the ill success of popular government in Germany brought the Parliament into lasting disrepute.
[Sidenote: Reaction in Berlin]
[Sidenote: Brandenburg Prime Minister]
[Sidenote: Prussian Parliament dissolved]
The reaction was first felt at Berlin. There the return of General Wrangel's troops from Denmark was followed by friction between the soldiers and the democratic agitators in the streets. A resolution was passed in the popular Parliament of Prussia that all officers out of sympathy with democratic government should be encouraged to leave the army. The failure of the Minister of War to act on this suggestion was followed by his downfall. Having succeeded in this, the parliamentary majority next passed a vote to eliminate the words "by the grace of God" from the titles of the King. Toward the end of October a national convention of democrats met at Berlin, and held its sessions amid tumultuous scenes in the streets. In exasperation, the King dissolved the Cabinet that had been forced upon him, and commissioned Count Brandenburg, a natural son of Frederick William II., to form another. It included Major-General von Strotha, Minister of War, and Otto von Manteuffel, Minister of the Interior. The Parliament sent a deputation to remonstrate with the King. One of the delegates, Jacoby, as the King terminated the audience, called after him: "Behold the chief misfortune of kings, that they will not listen to the truth!" Immediately after this King Frederick William IV. prorogued the Parliament to the town of Brandenburg. The majority of the delegates declined to adjourn. The Cabinet Ministers, followed by the members that had been outvoted, left the hall. On November 15, the remaining Parliament issued a proclamation to the people to withhold all further payment of taxes. General Wrangel posted his troops throughout Berlin. The Municipal Guards of Berlin were dissolved. An attempt on the part of the Parliament to meet again was easily frustrated. The taxes were collected as before. When the Parliamentary minority came to order at Brandenburg their sessions were dissolved by royal order. On his own initiative, King Frederick William IV. now proclaimed a constitution. The Chambers, provisions for which were contained in this royal constitution, were to meet at Berlin on February 24, 1849. Such was the end of the People's Parliament in Prussia.
[Illustration: WAGNER AND LISZT Painted by W. Beckmann]
About the same time Robert Blum, one of the radical Parliamentarians of Frankfort, was shot in Austria. Together with Froebel, he had been despatched to Vienna by the Parliamentary minority in Frankfort with messages of sympathy for the popular cause in Austria. To offset this, the majority sent two delegates to the Emperor to offer the Parliament's good services for mediation with his rebellious subjects. They were coolly received.
[Sidenote: Slav Congress of Prague]
[Sidenote: Bohemian revolt suppressed]
[Sidenote: Ferdinand's duplicity]
[Sidenote: Archduke Stephen withdraws]
[Sidenote: Kossuth in power]
[Sidenote: Murder of General Lamberg]
[Sidenote: Count Zichy shot]
All Austria was in a state of civil war. After the example of the Slavs in Servia and Croatia, the Czechs of Bohemia rose at Prague. Austrian-German authority there collapsed. A National Guard was organized, and a popular Assembly convened. In midsummer a Congress of Slavs from all parts of Austria met at Prague. Popular excitement rose to a threatening pitch. On the day that the Panslavistic Congress broke up, barricades were erected and fighting began in the streets of Prague. The wife of Count Windischgraetz, the military commandant, was killed by a bullet. Windischgraetz, after withdrawing his troops, threatened to bombard the city unless the barricades were removed. This was not done. Windischgraetz then took the city by storm. Military law was proclaimed. This success, like that of Radetzky's arms in Italy, gave new hope to the Austrian Emperor. He pronounced his veto on Hungary's military measures against Croatia. A hundred delegates from the Magyar Diet at Pesth posted to Vienna to exact from the Emperor the fulfilment of his promises to Hungary. On September 9, the Emperor received them at his palace with renewed assurances that he would keep his plighted word. A few hours afterward the official "Gazette" published a letter over the Emperor's signature, expressing his full approval of Jellacic's measures in Croatia. This was all Jellacic had been waiting for. On September 11, he crossed the Drave with his Croatians and marched upon Pesth. Archduke Stephen, the Hungarian Palatine, took command of the Magyar army and went to the front. At Lake Balaton he requested a conference with Jellacic. The Ban paid no attention to it. Realizing the secret support given to Jellacic by the Crown, Archduke Stephen resigned his command in Hungary. The Emperor now appointed General Lamberg at Vienna to the supreme command over the military forces of Hungary as well as Croatia. At the same time the Austrian Cabinet submitted a memorial suggesting that the laws establishing Hungarian autonomy be declared null and void. On the publication of this memorial in Pesth, Batthyany's Ministry resigned. Kossuth openly proposed war with Austria. When Lamberg arrived at Pesth, Kossuth prevailed upon the Diet to withhold its ratification of Lamberg's appointment. Should Lamberg attempt to resume his military command Kossuth demanded that he should be outlawed as a traitor. As General Lamberg crossed the bridge at Budapesth he was recognized by the populace. A cry was raised that he meant to seize the citadel and bombard the town. He was dragged from his carriage and torn to pieces by the mob. His body was dragged through the streets, and finally strung up before one of the government buildings. A few days later, Count Zichy, one of the Magyar magnates, was court-martialled by order of Arthur Goergey, the Hungarian Honved leader, for entering into a correspondence with Jellacic, and was shot.
[Sidenote: Imperial rescript repudiated]
[Sidenote: Troops mutiny in Vienna]
[Sidenote: Flight of Emperor]
On the receipt of this news, Emperor Ferdinand declared the Hungarian Parliament dissolved, and pronounced all its acts null and void. Jellacic was appointed representative of Austria in Hungary with command of all the forces. The Magyar Diet repudiated the Emperor's manifesto as a breach of the constitution, and pronounced Jellacic a traitor. Jellacic's forces were checked by the Hungarian army in their advance upon Pesth. General Latour, the Austrian Minister of War, ordered a division of troops at Vienna to go to the support of Jellacic. The Magyar sympathizers at Vienna raised a fearful uproar. As the troops were marching out of the city several battalions were prevailed upon to mutiny. The Hungarian flag was hoisted above the Cathedral of St. Stephen. The National Guard joined the mutiny. Other battalions of the line were driven out of the city. The guards at the arsenal capitulated. Vienna was at the mercy of the insurgents. The Emperor, who had sought refuge at Schoenbrunn, left his palace at four on the morning of October 1, and fled to Olmuetz.
[Sidenote: Jellacic marches on Vienna]
[Sidenote: Windischgraetz moves from Bohemia]
[Sidenote: Assault on Vienna]
[Sidenote: Arrival of Hungarians]
[Sidenote: Battle of the Schwechat]
As soon as the news of these events reached Jellacic he evacuated his threatened positions on the banks of the Raab and marched for Vienna. Windischgraetz, with his garrison, set out from Prague. Revolutionists of all races flocked into Vienna. Among them were the German delegates Froebel and Blum, and the Polish general, Bem. The Hungarians pursued Jellacic no further than their frontier. The regiments expelled from Vienna, under the command of Count Auersperg, joined forces with Jellacic. The insurgents at Vienna manned their fortifications as well as they could, and called upon the people throughout Austria to take up arms. Emperor Ferdinand, at Olmuetz, offset this by an imperial proclamation to his people in which he guaranteed all peasant rights. Prince Windischgraetz was created a field marshal, with full command over all the forces in the empire, except those under Radetzky in Italy. Windischgraetz took immediate steps to effect a junction with Jellacic by seizing the bridges at Krems and Stein. In vain did the delegates from Frankfort, who now appeared upon the scene, present their offer of intervention. Windischgraetz would not listen to them. On October 23, the Austrian army, 80,000 strong, appeared before Vienna. The defence of the city had been intrusted to Captain Messenhauser, an officer of the regular army, and to General Bem. Robert Blum, the German Parliamentarian, fought in the ranks. While Windischgraetz was wasting his time in parleys, an army of 18,000 Hungarians crossed the frontier and threatened Jellacic's rear. On October 28, twenty-four hours after the time fixed in Windischgraetz's last ultimatum, he began his assault on the city. In the course of an all-day fight the troops succeeded in taking the suburbs. The scenes of that night were frightful. The troops bivouacked on the ramparts. The following Sunday was spent in further parleys. Already the terms of capitulation had been settled, when Messenhauser, from the top of the church of St. Stephen, made out the approaching columns of the Hungarians. The news of their arrival was signalled to the city by a column of smoke rising from the top of the tower. All negotiations for surrender were dropped. The Hungarians attacked Jellacic on the banks of the Schwechat, within a few leagues of the capital. The boom of their artillery could be plainly heard in Vienna. In a frenzy of enthusiasm the Viennese resumed the struggle. A corps of students attempted a sortie. Unfortunately for them, the engagement on the banks of the Schwechat turned against the Hungarians. Shortly after noon they gave way all along the line and fell back toward Hungary. On the ramparts of Vienna the hopeless fight of a few thousand civilians against an army of 90,000 men was continued until nightfall. At six in the evening the troops broke into the city.
[Sidenote: Fall of Vienna]
[Sidenote: Stadion's Ministry]
[Sidenote: Abdication of Ferdinand]
On the following day, November 1, Prince Windischgraetz declared Vienna under military law. All arms had to be delivered within forty-eight hours. Arrests and courts-martial followed in profusion. Robert Blum was one of the first to be shot. His colleague, Froebel, owed his life to a political pamphlet signed with his name, in which he had defended the interests of Austria against those of a united Germany. A new Ministry was installed, under the leadership of the notorious Prince Felix Schwarzenberg and Count Stadion. They announced their programme to be the maintenance of a strong central government and the integrity of the Austrian Empire, with quick suppression of the civil war in Hungary. A new Reichsrath was convoked at the village of Kremsier, near Olmuetz. On December 2, it was announced that Emperor Ferdinand had resolved to abdicate his throne. His brother, Archduke Francis Charles, renounced the succession. The Archduke's son, Francis Joseph, a youth of eighteen, was declared by a family council to have attained his majority. In virtue of this he ascended the throne as Emperor.
[Sidenote: Francis Joseph, Emperor]
[Sidenote: The war in Hungary]
The Hungarian Diet, on learning of this transfer of the crown, refused to acknowledge Francis Joseph as King of Hungary. The whole nation was summoned to arms. The command of the army was given to Goergey. His first serious problem was a rising of the Roumanians in Transylvania against Magyar rule. The Roumanian peasants committed all conceivable atrocities. When they raised the standard of the Empire, the Austrian commander, General Puchner, espoused their cause. Transylvania was lost to Hungary. The Roumanians led by Puchner co-operated with Jellacic's forces in Croatia, and moved on Hungary from that quarter. On December 15, the main Austrian army, under Windischgraetz, crossed over the River Leitha and invaded Hungary. Goergey declared from the first that Pesth would have to be abandoned. Kossuth's frantic efforts to prevent this only served to hamper Goergey's able campaign. One line after another had to be abandoned. At last, toward the close of the year, Kossuth and his Magyar Diet were compelled to evacuate Pesth. The Hungarian army fell back over the River Theiss, upon the fortress of Comorn, and the mountainous regions of northern Hungary. Kossuth's government was established at Debreczin.
1849
[Sidenote: Bem's aggressive campaign]
[Sidenote: Goergey and Dembinsky]
On January 5, Windischgraetz and Jellacic made their triumphant entry into Budapesth. The Vienna "Gazette" announced "the glorious end of the Hungarian campaign." Prince Windischgraetz rested on his arms. During this interval the Polish general, Bem, who had escaped from Vienna, aroused his countrymen in Siebenbuergen and carried the war into that region. The Austrian troops under General Puchner were beaten in a series of engagements. Goergey, aided by another Pole, Dembinsky, repulsed the Austrian troops under General Schlik in the north. While Windischgraetz remained idle at Pesth, Klapkah, the new Hungarian Minister of War, organized the Magyar forces and created new defences for his country.
[Sidenote: Afghan war]
[Sidenote: Chilian Wallah]
[Sidenote: Lord Gough superseded]
[Sidenote: "Battle of the Guns"]
[Sidenote: Punjab annexed to England]
Prince Metternich, whiling away his idle hours among other notable refugees at London and Brighton, now had the satisfaction of seeing the dangers of revolt brought home to the people of England. The tidings of a disaster in Afghanistan provoked an outburst of alarm and indignation in England. On January 13, Lord Gough had advanced on Sher Singh's intrenchments at Chilian Wallah. They were held by 30,000 Sikhs with sixty guns, screened by a thick jungle. As the British imprudently exposed themselves the Sikhs opened fire. Lord Gough ordered a general charge. The drawn battle that followed proved the bloodiest affair in the history of British India. Driven from their first line of defences, the Sikhs stood their ground in another stronger position, and repulsed the British attack. Nearly 2,500 British officers and men fell in the fight. In the face of the Afghan rejoicings Lord Gough claimed a victory. The British War Office, however, hastily despatched Sir Charles Napier to India to supersede Lord Gough. There was still time for that commander to retrieve himself. General Whish captured the town of Multan, and by terrible bombardment of the citadel brought Mulraj to surrender. General Whish then joined forces with Lord Gough in his final struggle with Sher Singh. At Guzerat, on February 22, Lord Gough achieved the crowning victory known as "the battle of the guns." For two hours a terrific artillery duel was maintained, the Sikhs firing with all their sixty pieces. Finally the British stormed their batteries in a combined charge of bayonets and cavalry. The Sikh forces were scattered, and their camp, with most of their standards and guns, were captured by the British. Dost Muhammad Khan and his Afghans were driven out of Peshawar and narrowly escaped to Kabul. Mulraj was imprisoned for life. The whole of the Punjab was annexed to British India. A successful administration of this hostile province was Lord Dalhousie's first great triumph.
[Sidenote: President Taylor inaugurated]
[Sidenote: Development of Western America]
[Sidenote: The "Forty-Niners"]
About the same time, General Taylor, the conqueror of Buena Vista, was inaugurated as President of the United States. One sentence in his inaugural address provoked derision: "We are at peace with all the world and the rest of mankind." The old Spanish missions in the conquered territory were deprived of their wealth and influence. The name of San Francisco was adopted in place of Yerba Buena. Besides California, the new territory included the subsequently admitted States of Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Kansas. The Apache and Navajo Indians in those regions gave immediate trouble. The gold seekers tracking across the plains were the first to suffer from the Indians. Still the stream of immigrants poured into California. Their halfway stations on the Missouri River developed into the two thriving towns of Omaha and Council Bluffs. The Bay of San Francisco was soon surrounded by a settlement of tents and sheds. A Vigilance Committee took affairs into its own hands, and administered justice without fear or favor. Six times the new city was destroyed by fire. Within two months all traces of the disaster would be lost. California soon had a population entitling it to Statehood. President Taylor eagerly seconded the wishes of the people for a government of their own. The first Constitutional Convention of California declared against slavery. More than $40,000,000 worth of gold was produced in the new State, and the first gold dollars were coined.
[Sidenote: Death of Poe]
[Sidenote: Posthumous poems]
[Sidenote: "The Conqueror Worm"]
The death of Edgar Allan Poe, the American poet, was as tragic as his life had been. After the death of his wife, Poe had engaged himself to marry a wealthy lady in Richmond, and the wedding day was fixed. On his way to New York to settle up affairs in anticipation of his marriage, Poe fell in with some of his companions in dissipation at Baltimore. He became drunk, wandered through the streets, and was finally taken to a hospital in an unconscious condition. Later he became delirious and finally expired, saying: "Lord, help my poor soul!" After Poe's death the simplest and sweetest of his ballads, "Annabel Lee," and the wonderful poem of "The Bells," were published. His former friend and editor, Griswold, published a scathing denunciation of the dead man in the New York "Tribune." Poe's fame as a master of the weird and fanciful in literature was already established wherever his thrilling tales and superb poem "The Raven" had penetrated. He was one of the few poets of America at that period who had succeeded in achieving an international reputation. The best of his poems were rendered in choice French by Baudelaire, while his short stories were translated into almost all European languages. As his biographer, Woodberry, has said: "On the roll of American literature Poe's name is inscribed with the few foremost, and in the world at large his genius is established as valid among all men. Much as he derived nurture from other sources, he was the son of Coleridge by the weird touch in his imagination, by the principles of his analytic criticism, and the speculative bent of his mind." Most characteristic of Poe's genius perhaps are these lines from his famous poem "The Conqueror Worm":
Lo! 'tis a gala night Within the lonesome latter years! An angel throng, bewinged, bedight In veils, and drowned in tears, Sit in a theatre, to see A play of hopes and fears, While the orchestra breathes fitfully The music of the spheres.
* * * * *
That motley drama--oh, be sure It shall not be forgot! With its Phantom chased for evermore By a crowd that seize it not, Through a circle that ever returneth in To the self-same spot, And much of Madness, and more of Sin, And Horror the soul of the plot.
* * * * *
Out--out are the lights--out all! And over each quivering form The curtain, a funeral pall, Comes down with the rush of a storm, And the angels, all pallid and wan, Uprising, unveiling, affirm That the play is the tragedy "Man," And its hero the Conqueror Worm.
[Sidenote: Abortive Spanish rising]
[Sidenote: Italian republics]
[Sidenote: Situation in Sicily]
In Europe, the startling upheavals of the previous year were followed by an aftermath no less startling. Even in Spain, where a first attempt at revolution had easily been crushed at Madrid, Don Carlos deemed the time ripe to join Cabrera's revolutionary rising in Catalonia. On his way there he was arrested at the French frontier. Deprived of his support, Cabrera himself had to remove his forces to French soil. In Italy, the revolutionary movement spread. On February 7, Duke Leopold of Florence was driven out of Tuscany. A republican government was established at Florence under the triumvirate of Guerazzi, Montanelli and Manzoni. Taking refuge on a British man-of-war, the Duke of Tuscany fled to Gaeta to share the Pope's exile there. On the same day that the new republic was proclaimed at Florence a popular assembly at Rome formally deposed the Pope from temporal power and proclaimed the Republic of Rome. The armistice in Sicily was about to expire. King Ferdinand's final concessions to his rebellious subjects were repudiated. Lord Palmerston, who had vainly offered British mediation to Ferdinand, on the floor of Parliament openly defended the uncompromising attitude of the Sicilians. In preparation for the inevitable conflict, Filangieri gathered an army of 20,000 Neapolitans, while Mierolavsky, a Pole, took command of the Sicilian insurgents.
[Sidenote: Hungarian defeats]
[Sidenote: Austrian reverses]
[Sidenote: Windischgraetz "Reconcentrates"]
[Sidenote: Hungarian declaration of independence]
Meanwhile the tide of war set against the Hungarians. On February 4, Bem was defeated on the site of his former victory at Hermannstadt. While retreating he was defeated again at Paiski. By the middle of February the Austrians succeeded in taking the fortress of Essek from the Hungarians. Toward the close of the month a disastrous defeat was inflicted upon the Hungarians under the command of General Dembinsky at Kapolna. Kossuth had made the mistake of superseding Goergey by that commander. Now Goergey was reinstated. The Hungarians rallied. On March 5, the Magyar Csikos, or irregular cavalry, under Janos Damjanies, defeated the Austrians under General Grammont at Szolnok. A few days later the Hungarian army in Transylvania, under General Bem, retrieved their ill-fortune by another glorious victory at Hermannstadt. A Russian contingent from Wallachia, which had crossed the frontier to assist the Austrians, was defeated by Bem at Brasso. General Puchner and his Russian allies sought refuge across the border. Goergey relieved Komorn. The ablest of the Austrian generals, Schlik, was beaten at Hapvan, while Jellacic was overthrown at Isaszteg and Goedoelloe. Prince Windischgraetz had to give up Pesth, or, as he put it in his immortal thirty-fourth bulletin: "Reconcentrate the army in front of Budapesth, a movement hastily imitated by the enemy." Goergey added another touch of humor by attributing the Hungarian victory solely to the activity of Windischgraetz and Jellacic. On March 4, Emperor Francis Joseph had annulled the old Hungarian constitution. Kossuth retaliated in kind. Under his influence the Magyar Diet at Debreczin pronounced the deposition of the House of Hapsburg from the throne of Hungary and declared the independence of Hungary and the adjoining southern provinces. While the Hungarian army, instead of marching on Vienna, lost valuable time before Ofen, the Austrian Government improved the interval to perfect its long-threatened alliance with Russia.
[Sidenote: Sardinia renews war]
[Sidenote: Polish leaders]
[Sidenote: The "Five Days' Campaign"]
[Sidenote: Battle of Novara]
[Sidenote: Italian retreat]
[Sidenote: D'Aspre's heavy losses]
[Sidenote: Charles Albert abdicates]
In the interim war had broken out anew in Schleswig-Holstein and in Italy. Before the expiration of the Austrian-Italian armistice, Charles Albert of Sardinia, in a spirited address on February 1, announced his determination to renew the war. To this desperate resolve he was driven by the increasing turbulence of Italian affairs. The spread of the revolutionary movement to his dominions could be forestalled only by placing himself once more at the head of the Italian movement. In some respects the moment appeared propitious. Charles Albert's army now numbered a hundred and twenty thousand men, while Radetzky had little more than seventy thousand Austrians. A characteristic note of the times was the appointment of Poles to command the Italian troops. Prince Chrzanovsky, who had fought under Napoleon at Leipzig and Waterloo, and had subsequently commanded a Russian division at Varna, was put in supreme command, seconded by Alexander La Marmora. Another Pole, or half Pole, Ramorino, who had figured in the unfortunate rising of 1833, commanded the legion of Lombardy. On March 12, the pending termination of the truce was officially announced. At noon on March 20, hostilities were to be resumed. The campaign that followed lasted but five days. Radetzky, by his preliminary feint, made the Italians believe that he would evacuate Lombardy as heretofore; but at the last moment he quickly concentrated his five army corps at Pavia. At the stroke of noon, on March 20, he threw his army across the Tessino on three bridges. While the Italians believed that Radetzky was retreating on the Adda, the Austrians were already bivouacking on the flank of the Piedmontese army. Three bloody engagements at Mortara, Gambola and Sforzesca, on March 21, ended in a retreat of the Italians all along the line. Ramorino had received orders to move northward and to destroy the bridges behind him. Out of accord with his countryman, Chrzanovsky, he disobeyed his orders and lingered at Stradella. Radetzky flung his army in between, and cut off the Italian line of retreat upon Turin and Alessandria. It was then that Benedek, an Austrian colonel, distinguished himself by leading his troops far in advance of the Austrian army, and cutting his way through an Italian brigade, under the cover of night. At midnight of March 21, Charles Albert had to order a general retreat on Novara. There Chrzanovsky determined to make a stand with his main column of about 50,000 men. Radetzky was in doubt whether the Italians had fallen back on Novara or Vercelli. To make sure he sent his troops in either direction. He himself remained at his headquarters, so as to be ready to ride either way. The roar of artillery from Novara, on the morning of March 23, told him where the battle was to be fought. There General D'Aspre, commanding the second Austrian army corps, undertook to win some laurels on his own account by a bold attack on the superior position of the Italians. As Charles Albert rode out of the gate of Novara he received the last cheers of his devoted Bersaglieri. After a three hours' fight the scale turned against the Austrians. Count D'Aspre repented of his rashness, and sent for help to Count Thurn at Vercelli. Fortunately for him, Radetzky and Thurn had marched in that direction as soon as they heard the sound of the cannon. It was a race between the two divisions. As Radetzky, at the head of the first army corps, galloped through Nebola, the aged marshal met the retreating columns of D'Aspre's second corps. Both the first and the third Austrian corps rushed into the battle almost simultaneously. The Italian advance was checked. At last, when Thurn's fourth corps arrived at sundown, the Austrian bugles sounded for a general charge. The Italian line of battle was overthrown. The Austrian cavalry circled around the flank. While the Italians fled into Novara they suffered from the fire of their own artillery. Charles Albert was one of the last who left the Bicocca to seek refuge in Novara. The town itself was bombarded by the Austrian artillery far into the night. Standing on the ramparts of Novara, Charles Albert realized the disastrous nature of his defeat. His losses aggregated more than seven thousand, of whom three thousand had been taken captive. Of the Austrian losses of 3,158 men, five-sevenths fell to D'Aspre's corps. The other Austrian divisions were practically intact. The Italians were in confusion. Charles Albert, who throughout the day had exposed his person with the utmost gallantry, had to be dragged from the ramparts by General Durando. As the Austrian shells struck all around them he exclaimed, "Leave me, General. Let it be the last day of my life. I wish to die." At last he consented to send his Minister, Cadorna, to Radetzky's headquarters to sue for an armistice. Cadorna was received in an insulting manner. Charles Albert came to the conclusion that his own person was an obstacle in the way of peace. That night he resigned his crown. In the presence of his generals he pronounced his eldest son, Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia. Accompanied by but one attendant he left Novara, and passed unrecognized through the enemy's lines. Sending a farewell letter to his wife, he went into exile. A few months later he died at Oporto in Portugal.
[Sidenote: Death of Charles Albert]
As Fyffe has said of this unfortunate Prince: "Nothing in his reign became him like the ending of it. He proved that there was one sovereign in Italy who was willing to stake his throne, his life, the whole sum of his personal interests, for the national cause.... The man who, beaten and outnumbered, had for hours sat immovable in front of the Austrian cannon in Novara, had, in the depth of his misfortune, given to his son not the crown of Piedmont only, but the crown of Italy."
[Sidenote: Victor Emmanuel yields]
[Sidenote: Italian Princes reinstated]
[Sidenote: French expedition to Rome]