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Fyffe</title> +<meta HTTP-EQUIV="content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8"> +<style type="text/css"> + + * { font-family: Times;} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + + span.c6 {margin-left: 1.75em;} + span.c5 {margin-left: 0.75em;} + span.c4 {margin-left: 0.5em;} + div.c3 {text-align: center;} + p.c2 {text-align: center;} + hr.c1 {width: 65%;} + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's History of Modern Europe 1792-1878, by C. A. Fyffe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of Modern Europe 1792-1878 + +Author: C. A. Fyffe + +Release Date: April 25, 2014 [EBook #6589] +[Most recently updated: June 21, 2023] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE 1792-1878 *** + + + + +Produced by Tom Allen, Charles Franks, David Gundry and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br> +<br> +<hr class="full"> +<table width="80%" summary="Bookspace" align="center"> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td><br> + +<br> + +<h2>HISTORY</h2> +<p class="c2">OF</p> +<p class="c2">MODERN EUROPE</p> +<p class="c2">1792-1878<br> +</p> +<p class="c2"><br> +</p> +<hr class="c1"> +<p class="c2"><br> +</p> +<br> + +<p class="c2">BY</p> +<p class="c2">C. A. FYFFE, M.A.</p> +<p class="c2">Barrister-at-Law; Fellow of University College, +Oxford;<br> + Vice-President of the Royal Historical Society</p> +<br> + +<p class="c2">POPULAR EDITION</p> +<p class="c2">With Maps</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<br> + +<p><a name="cp1"> </a><a href="#p1">PREFACE.</a></p> +<p><a name="cp2"> </a><a href="#p2">PREFACE TO THE FIRST +EDITION.</a></p> +<p><a name="cp3"> </a><a href="#p3">PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION +OF THE FIRST VOLUME.</a></p> +<p><a name="cp4"> </a><a href="#p4">PREFACE TO THE SECOND +VOLUME.</a></p> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> + +<div class="c3"><a name="Tn"> </a><a href="#Transcribers_Note">Transcriber's Note</a><br> +<br> +</div> +<hr class="c1"> +<br> + +<p><a name="c1"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_I.">CHAPTER I.</a></p> +<p>FRANCE AND GERMANY AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTIONARY +WAR.</p> +<p>Outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1792-Its immediate +causes- Declaration of Pillnitz made and withdrawn-Agitation of +the Priests and Emigrants-War Policy of the Gironde-Provocations +offered to France by the Powers-State of Central Europe in +1792-The Holy Roman Empire-Austria- Rule of the Hapsburgs-The +Reforms of Maria Theresa and Joseph II.-Policy of Leopold +II.-Government and Foreign Policy of Francis II.-Prussia- +Government of Frederick William II.-Social Condition of +Prussia-Secondary States of Germany-Ecclesiastical States-Free +Cities-Knights-Weakness of Germany</p> +<p><a name="c2"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_II.">CHAPTER II.</a></p> +<p>THE WAR, DOWN TO THE TREATIES OF BASLE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT +OF THE DIRECTORY.</p> +<p>French and Austrian Armies on the Flemish Frontier-Prussia +enters the War-Brunswick invades France-His +Proclamation-Insurrection of Aug. 10 at Paris-Massacres of +September-Character of the War-Brunswick, checked at Valmy, +retreats-The War becomes a Crusade of France-Neighbours of +France-Custine enters Mainz-Dumouriez conquers the Austrian +Netherlands- Nice and Savoy annexed-Decree of the Convention +against all Governments- Execution of Louis XVI.-War with +England, followed by war with the Mediterranean States-Condition +of England-English Parties, how affected by the Revolution-The +Gironde and the Mountain-Austria recovers the Netherlands-The +Allies invade France-La Vendée-Revolutionary System of +1793-Errors of the Allies-New French Commanders and Democratic +Army-Victories of Jourdan, Hoche, and Pichegru-Prussia +withdrawing from the War-Polish Affairs-Austria abandons the +Netherlands-Treaties of Basle-France in 1795-Insurrection of 13 +Vendémiaire-Constitution of 1795-The Directory-Effect of +the Revolution on the Spirit of Europe up to 1795</p> +<a name="c3"> </a> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_III.">CHAPTER III.</a></p> +<p>ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS: TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO.</p> +<p>Triple attack on Austria-Moreau, Jourdan-Bonaparte in +Italy-Condition of the Italian States-Professions and real +intentions of Bonaparte and the Directory-Battle of +Montenotte-Armistice with Sardinia-Campaign in Lombardy-Treatment +of the Pope, Naples, Tuscany-Siege of Mantua- Castiglione-Moreau +and Jourdan in Germany-Their retreat-Secret Treaty with +Prussia-Negotiations with England-Cispadane Republic-Rise of the +idea of Italian Independence-Battles of Arcola and Rivoli-Peace +with the Pope at Tolentino-Venice-Preliminaries of Leoben-The +French in Venice-The French take the Ionian Islands and give +Venice to Austria-Genoa-Coup d'état of 17 Fructidor in +Paris-Treaty of Campo Formio-Victories of England at +Sea-Bonaparte's project against Egypt</p> +<a name="c4"> </a> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_IV.">CHAPTER IV.</a></p> +<p>FROM THE CONGRESS OF RASTADT TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE +CONSULATE.</p> +<p>Congress of Rastadt-The Rhenish Provinces ceded-Ecclesiastical +States of Germany suppressed-French Intervention in +Switzerland-Helvetic Republic-The French invade the Papal +States-Roman Republic-Expedition to Egypt-Battle of the +Nile-Coalition of 1798-Ferdinand of Naples enters Rome-Mack's +defeats-French enter Naples-Parthenopean Republic-War with +Austria and Russia-Battle of Stockach-Murder of the French Envoys +at Rastadt-Campaign in Lombardy-Reign of Terror at +Naples-Austrian designs upon Italy-Suvaroff and the +Austrians-Campaign in Switzerland-Campaign in Holland-Bonaparte +returns from Egypt-Coup d'état of 18 Brumaire- +Constitution of 1799-System of Bonaparte in France-Its effect on +the influence of France abroad</p> +<p><a name="c5"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_V.">CHAPTER V.</a></p> +<p>FROM MARENGO TO THE RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS.</p> +<p>Overtures of Bonaparte to Austria and England-The War +continues-Massena besieged in Genoa-Moreau invades Southern +Germany-Bonaparte crosses the St. Bernard, and descends in the +rear of the Austrians-Battle of Marengo-Austrians retire behind +the Mincio-Treaty between England and Austria-Austria continues +the War-Battle of Hohenlinden-Peace of Lunéville-War +between England and the Northern Maritime League-Battle of +Copenhagen-Murder of Paul-End of the Maritime War-English Army +enters Egypt-French defeated at Alexandria-They capitulate at +Cairo and Alexandria-Preliminaries of Peace between England and +France signed at London, followed by Peace of Amiens-Pitt's Irish +Policy and his retirement-Debates on the Peace-Aggressions of +Bonaparte during the Continental Peace-Holland, Italy, +Switzerland-Settlement of Germany under French and Russian +influence-Suppression of Ecclesiastical States and Free +Cities-Its effects-Stein-France under the Consulate-The Civil +Code-The Concordat</p> +<p><a name="c6"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_VI.">CHAPTER VI.</a></p> +<p>THE EMPIRE, TO THE PEACE OF PRESBURG.</p> +<p>England claims Malta-War renewed-Bonaparte occupies Hanover, +and blockades the Elbe-Remonstrances of Prussia-Cadoudal's +Plot-Murder of the Duke of Enghien-Napoleon Emperor-Coalition of +1805-Prussia holds aloof-State of Austria-Failure of Napoleon's +Attempt to gain Naval Superiority in the Channel-Campaign in +Western Germany- Capitulation of Ulm-Trafalgar-Treaty of Potsdam +between Prussia and the Allies-The French enter Vienna-Haugwitz +sent to Napoleon with Prussian Ultimatum-Battle of +Austerlitz-Haugwitz signs a Treaty of Alliance with +Napoleon-Peace-Treaty of Presburg-End of the Holy Roman +Empire-Naples given to Joseph Bonaparte-Battle of Maida-The +Napoleonic Empire and Dynasty-Federation of the Rhine-State of +Germany-Possibility of maintaining the Empire of 1806</p> +<p><a name="c7"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_VII.">CHAPTER VII.</a></p> +<p>DEATH OF PITT, TO THE PEACE OF TILSIT.</p> +<p>Death of Pitt-Ministry of Fox and Grenville-Napoleon forces +Prussia into war with England, and then offers Hanover to +England-Prussia resolves on war with Napoleon-State of +Prussia-Decline of the Army-Southern Germany with +Napoleon-Austria neutral-England and Russia about to help +Prussia, but not immediately-Campaign of 1806-Battles of Jena and +Auerstädt-Ruin of the Prussian Army-Capitulation of +Fortresses-Demands of Napoleon-The War continues-Berlin +Decree-Exclusion of English goods from the Continent-Russia +enters the war-Campaign in Poland and East Prussia-Eylau-Treaty +of Bartenstein-Friedland-Interview at Tilsit-Alliance of Napoleon +and Alexander-Secret Articles-English expedition to Denmark-The +French enter Portugal-Prussia after the Peace of Tilsit-Stein's +Edict of Emancipation-The Prussian Peasant-Reform of the Prussian +Army, and creation of Municipalities-Stein's other projects of +Reform, which are not carried out</p> +<p><a name="c8"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.">CHAPTER +VIII.</a></p> +<p>SPAIN, TO THE FALL OF SARAGOSSA.</p> +<p>Spain in 1806-Napoleon uses the quarrel between Ferdinand and +Godoy-He affects to be Ferdinand's Protector-Dupont's Army enters +Spain-Murat in Spain-Charles abdicates-Ferdinand King-Savary +brings Ferdinand to Bayonne-Napoleon makes both Charles and +Ferdinand resign-Spirit of the Spanish Nation-Contrast with +Germany-Rising of all Spain-The Notables at Bayonne-Campaign of +1808-Capitulation of Baylen-Wellesley lands in +Portugal-Vimieiro-Convention of Cintra-Effect of the Spanish +Rising on Europe-War Party in Prussia-Napoleon and Alexander at +Erfurt-Stein resigns, and is proscribed-Napoleon in Spain-Spanish +Misgovernment- Campaign on the Ebro-Campaign of Sir John +Moore-Corunna-Napoleon leaves Spain-Siege of Saragossa-Successes +of the French</p> +<p><a name="c9"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_IX.">CHAPTER IX.</a></p> +<p>WAR OF 1809: THE NAPOLEONIC EMPIRE-SPAIN, TO THE BATTLE OF +SALAMANCA.</p> +<p>Austria preparing for war-The war to be one on behalf of the +German Nation-Patriotic movement in Prussia-Expected Insurrection +in North Germany-Plans of Campaign-Austrian Manifesto to the +Germans-Rising of the Tyrolese-Defeats of the Archduke Charles in +Bavaria-French in Vienna-Attempts of Dörnberg and +Schill-Battle of Aspern-Second passage of the Danube-Battle of +Wagram-Armistice of Znaim-Austria waiting for Events-Wellesley in +Spain-He gains the Battle of Talavera, but retreats-Expedition +against Antwerp fails-Austria makes Peace-Treaty of Vienna-Real +Effects of the War of 1809-Austria after 1809-Metternich- +Marriage of Napoleon with Marie Louise-Severance of Napoleon and +Alexander-Napoleon annexes the Papal States, Holland, Le Valais, +and the North German Coast-The Napoleonic Empire: its benefits +and wrongs-The Czar withdraws from Napoleon's Commercial +System-War with Russia imminent-Wellington in Portugal; Lines of +Torres Vedras; Massena's Campaign of 1810, and retreat-Soult in +Andalusia-Wellington's Campaign of 1811-Capture of Ciudad Rodrigo +and Badajoz-Salamanca</p> +<p><a name="c10"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_X.">CHAPTER X.</a></p> +<p>RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN, TO THE TREATY OF KALISCH.</p> +<p>War approaching between France and Russia-Policy of +Prussia-Hardenberg's Ministry-Prussia forced into Alliance with +Napoleon-Austrian Alliance- Napoleon's Preparations-He enters +Russia-Alexander and Bernadotte-Plan of Russians to fight a +battle at Drissa frustrated-They retreat on Witepsk-Sufferings of +the French-French enter Smolensko-Battle of Borodino-Evacuation +of Moscow-Moscow fired-The Retreat from Moscow- French at +Smolensko-Advance of Russian Armies from North and South-Battle +of Krasnoi-Passage of the Beresina-The French reach the +Niemen-York's Convention with the Russians-The Czar and +Stein-Russian Army enters Prussia-Stein raises East +Prussia-Treaty of Kalisch-Prussia declares War-Enthusiasm of the +Nation-Idea of German Unity-The Landwehr</p> +<p><a name="c11"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XI.">CHAPTER XI.</a></p> +<p>WAR OF LIBERATION, TO THE PEACE OF PARIS.</p> +<p>The War of Liberation-Blücher crosses the Elbe-Battle of +Lützen-The Allies retreat to Silesia-Battle of +Bautzen-Armistice-Napoleon intends to intimidate Austria-Mistaken +as to the Forces of Austria-Metternich's Policy-Treaty of +Reichenbach-Austria offers its Mediation-Congress of +Prague-Austria enters the War-Armies and Plans of Napoleon and +the Allies-Campaign of August-Battles of Dresden, Grosbeeren, the +Katzbach, and Kulm-Effect of these Actions-Battle of +Dennewitz-German Policy of Austria favourable to the Princes of +the Rhenish Confederacy-Frustrated hopes of German Unity-Battle +of Leipzig-The Allies reach the Rhine- Offers of Peace at +Frankfort-Plan of Invasion of France-Backwardness of Austria-The +Allies enter France-Campaign of 1814-Congress of +Châtillon-Napoleon moves to the rear of the Allies-The +Allies advance on Paris-Capitulation of Paris-Entry of the +Allies-Dethronement of Napoleon-Restoration of the Bourbons-The +Charta-Treaty of Paris- Territorial effects of the War, +1792-1814-Every Power except France had gained-France relatively +weaker in Europe-Summary of the permanent effects of this period +on Europe</p> +<p>END OF VOL. I. (ORIGINAL EDITION).</p> +<br> + +<p><a name="c12"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XII.">CHAPTER XII.</a></p> +<p>THE RESTORATION.</p> +<p>The Restoration of 1814-Norway-Naples-Westphalia-Spain-The +Spanish Constitution overthrown: victory of the +clergy-Restoration in France-The Charta-Encroachments of the +nobles and clergy-Growing hostility to the Bourbons-Congress of +Vienna-Talleyrand and the Four Powers-The Polish question-The +Saxon question-Theory of Legitimacy-Secret alliance against +Russia and Prussia-Compromise-The Rhenish Provinces-Napoleon +leaves Elba and lands in France-His declarations-Napoleon at +Grenoble, at Lyons, at Paris-The Congress of Vienna unites Europe +against France-Murat's action in Italy-The Acte Additionnel-The +Champ de Mai-Napoleon takes up the offensive-Battles of Ligny, +Quatre Bras, Waterloo-Affairs at Paris-Napoleon sent to St. +Helena-Wellington and Fouché-Arguments on the proposed +cession of French territory-Treaty of Holy Alliance-Second Treaty +of Paris-Conclusion of the work of the Congress of +Vienna-Federation of Germany-Estimate of the Congress of Vienna +and of the Treaties of 1815-The Slave Trade</p> +<p><a name="c13"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII.">CHAPTER +XIII.</a></p> +<p>THE PROGRESS OF REACTION.</p> +<p>Concert of Europe after 1815-Spirit of the Foreign Policy of +Alexander, of Metternich, and of the English +Ministry-Metternich's action in Italy, England's in Sicily and +Spain-The Reaction in France-Richelieu and the New +Chamber-Execution of Ney-Imprisonments and persecutions-Conduct +of the Ultra-Royalists in Parliament-Contests on the Electoral +Bill and the Budget-The Chamber prorogued-Affair of +Grenoble-Dissolution of the Chamber-Electoral Law and Financial +Settlement of 1817-Character of the first years of peace in +Europe generally-Promise of a Constitution in Prussia-Hardenberg +opposed by the partisans of autocracy and privilege-Schmalz' +Pamphlet-Delay of Constitutional Reform in Germany at large-The +Wartburg Festival-Progress of Reaction-The Czar now inclines to +repression-Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle-Evacuation of +France-Growing influence of Metternich in Europe-His action on +Prussia-Murder of Kotzebue-The Carlsbad Conference and measures +of repression in Germany-Richelieu and Decazes-Murder of the Duke +of Berry-Progress of the reaction in France-General causes of the +victory of reaction in Europe</p> +<p><a name="c14"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV.">CHAPTER XIV.</a></p> +<p>THE MEDITERRANEAN MOVEMENTS OF 1820.</p> +<p>Movements in the Mediterranean States beginning in 1820-Spain +from 1814 to 1820-The South American Colonies-The Army at Cadiz: +Action of Quiroga and Riego-Movement at Corunna-Ferdinand accepts +the Constitution of 1812-Naples from 1815 to 1820-The +Court-party, the Muratists, the Carbonari-The Spanish +Constitution proclaimed at Naples-Constitutional movement in +Portugal-Alexander's proposal with regard to Spain-The Conference +and Declaration of Troppau-Protest of England-Conference of +Laibach-The Austrians invade Naples and restore absolute +Monarchy-Insurrection in Piedmont, which fails-Spain from 1820 to +1822-Death of Castlereagh-The Congress of Verona-Policy of +England-The French invade Spain-Restoration of absolute Monarchy, +and violence of the reaction-England prohibits the conquest of +the Spanish Colonies by France, and subsequently recognises their +independence- Affairs in Portugal-Canning sends troops to +Lisbon-The Policy of Canning-Estimate of his place in the history +of Europe</p> +<p><a name="c15"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XV.">CHAPTER XV.</a></p> +<p>GREECE AND EASTERN AFFAIRS.</p> +<p>Condition of Greece: its Races and Institutions-The Greek +Church -Communal System-The Ægæan Islands-The +Phanariots-Greek intellectual revival: Koraes-Beginning of Greek +National Movement; Contact of Greece with the French Revolution +and Napoleon-The Hetæria Philike-Hypsilanti's Attempt in +the Danubian Provinces: its failure-Revolt of the Morea: +Massacres: Execution of Gregorius, and Terrorism at +Constantinople -Attitude of Russia, Austria, and +England-Extension of the Revolt: Affairs at Hydra-The Greek +Leaders-Fall of Tripolitza-The Massacre of Chios-Failure of the +Turks in the Campaign of 1822-Dissensions of the Greeks-Mahmud +calls upon Mehemet Ali for Aid-Ibrahim conquers Crete and invades +the Morea-Siege of Missolonghi-Philhellenism in Europe-Russian +proposal for Intervention-Conspiracies in Russia: Death of +Alexander: Accession of Nicholas-Military Insurrection at St. +Petersburg- Anglo-Russian Protocol-Treaty between England, +Russia, and France-Death of Canning-Navarino-War between Russia +and Turkey-Campaigns of 1828 and 1829-Treaty of +Adrianople-Capodistrias President of Greece-Leopold accepts and +then declines the Greek Crown-Murder of Capodistrias-Otho, King +of Greece</p> +<p><a name="c16"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI.">CHAPTER XVI.</a></p> +<p>THE MOVEMENTS OF 1830.</p> +<p>France before 1830-Reign of Charles X.-Ministry of +Martignac-Ministry of Polignac-The Duke of Orleans-War in +Algiers-The July Ordinances- Revolution of July-Louis Philippe +King-Nature and effects of the July Revolution-Affairs in +Belgium-The Belgian Revolution-The Great Powers-Intervention, and +establishment of the Kingdom of Belgium-Affairs of +Poland-Insurrection at Warsaw-War between Russia and +Poland-Overthrow of the Poles: End of the Polish +Constitution-Affairs of Italy- Insurrection in the Papal +States-France and Austria-Austrian Intervention-Ancona occupied +by the French-Affairs of Germany-Prussia; the +Zollverein-Brunswick, Hanover, Saxony-The Palatinate-Reaction in +Germany-The exiles in Switzerland: Incursion into +Savoy-Dispersion of the Exiles-France under Louis Philippe: +Successive risings-Period of Parliamentary activity-England after +1830: The Reform Bill</p> +<p><a name="c17"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII.">CHAPTER +XVII.</a></p> +<p>SPANISH AND EASTERN AFFAIRS.</p> +<p>France and England after 1830-Affairs of Portugal-Don +Miguel-Don Pedro invades Portugal-Ferdinand of Spain-The +Pragmatic Sanction-Death of Ferdinand: Regency of Christina-The +Constitution-Quadruple Alliance-Miguel and Carlos expelled from +Portugal-Carlos enters Spain-The Basque Provinces-Carlist War: +Zumalacarregui-The Spanish Government seeks French assistance, +which is refused-Constitution of 1837-End of the War-Regency of +Espartero-Isabella Queen-Affairs of the Ottoman Empire-Ibrahim +invades Syria; his victories-Rivalry of France and Russia at +Constantinople-Peace of Kutaya and Treaty of Unkiar +Skelessi-Effect of this Treaty-France and Mehemet Ali-Commerce of +the Levant-Second War between Mehemet and the Porte-Ottoman +disasters-The Policy of the Great Powers-Quadruple Treaty without +France-Ibrahim expelled from Syria-Final Settlement-Turkey after +1840-Attempted reforms of Reschid Pasha</p> +<p><a name="c18"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII.">CHAPTER +XVIII.</a></p> +<p>EUROPE BEFORE 1848.</p> +<p>Europe during the Thirty-years' Peace-Italy and +Austria-Mazzini-The House of Savoy-Gioberti-Election of Pius +IX.-Reforms expected- Revolution at Palermo-Agitation in Northern +Italy-Lombardy-State of the Austrian Empire-Growth of Hungarian +national spirit-The Magyars and Slavs-Transylvania-Parties among +the Magyars-Kossuth-The Slavic national movements in Austria-The +government enters on reforms in Hungary-Policy of the +Opposition-The Rural system of Austria- Insurrection in Galicia: +the nobles and the peasants-Agrarian edict-Public opinion in +Vienna-Prussia-Accession and character of King Frederick William +IV.-Convocation of the United Diet-Its debates and +dissolution-France-The Spanish Marriages-Reform +movement-Socialism-Revolution of February-End of the Orleanist +Monarchy</p> +<p>END OF VOL. II. (ORIGINAL EDITION).</p> +<br> + +<p><a name="c19"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX.">CHAPTER XIX.</a></p> +<p>THE MARCH REVOLUTION, 1848.</p> +<p>Europe in 1789 and in 1848-Agitation in Western Germany before +and after the Revolution at Paris-Austria and Hungary-The March +Revolution at Vienna-Flight of Metternich-The Hungarian +Diet-Hungary wins its independence-Bohemian movement-Autonomy +promised to Bohemia- Insurrection of Lombardy-Of Venice-Piedmont +makes war on Austria-A general Italian war against Austria +imminent-The March Days at Berlin-Frederick William IV.-A +National Assembly promised- Schleswig-Holstein-Insurrection in +Holstein-War between Germany and Denmark-The German +Ante-Parliament-Republican Rising in Baden-Meeting of the German +National Assembly at Frankfort-Europe generally in March, +1848-The French Provisional Government-The National Workshops-The +Government and the Red Republicans-French National Assembly-Riot +of May 15-Measures against the National Workshops-The Four Days +of June-Cavaignac-Louis Napoleon-He is elected to the +Assembly-Elected President</p> +<p><a name="c20"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XX.">CHAPTER XX.</a></p> +<p>THE PERIOD OF CONFLICT, DOWN TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE +SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE.</p> +<p>Austria and Italy-Vienna from March to May-Flight of the +Emperor -Bohemian National Movement-Windischgrätz subdues +Prague-Campaign around Verona-Papal Allocution-Naples in +May-Negotiations as to Lombardy- Reconquest of Venetia-Battle of +Custozza-The Austrians enter Milan-Austrian Court and Hungary-The +Serbs in Southern Hungary-Serb Congress at +Carlowitz-Jellacic-Affairs of Croatia-Jellacic, the Court and the +Hungarian Movement-Murder of Lamberg-Manifesto of October 3- +Vienna on October 6-The Emperor at Olmütz-Windischgrätz +conquers Vienna-The Parliament at Kremsier-Schwarzenberg +Minister-Ferdinand abdicates-Dissolution of the Kremsier +Parliament-Unitary Edict-Hungary -The Roumanians in +Transylvania-The Austrian Army occupies Pesth- Hungarian +Government at Debreczin-The Austrians driven out of +Hungary-Declaration of Hungarian Independence-Russian +Intervention-The Hungarian Summer Campaign-Capitulation of +Vilagos-Italy-Murder of Rossi-Tuscany-The March Campaign in +Lombardy-Novara-Abdication of Charles Albert-Victor +Emmanuel-Restoration in Tuscany-French Intervention in +Rome-Defeat of Oudinot-Oudinot and Lesseps-The French enter +Rome-The Restored Pontifical Government-Fall of Venice-Ferdinand +reconquers Sicily-Germany-The National Assembly at Frankfort-The +Armistice of Malmö-Berlin from April to September-The +Prussian Army-Last Days of the Prussian Parliament-Prussian +Constitution granted by Edict-The German National Assembly and +Austria-Frederick William IV. elected Emperor-He refuses the +Crown-End of the National Assembly- Prussia attempts to form a +separate Union-The Union Parliament at Erfurt-Action of +Austria-Hesse-Cassel-The Diet of Frankfort +restored-Olmütz-Schleswig-Holstein-Germany after +1849-Austria after 1851-France after 1848-Louis Napoleon-The +October Message-Law Limiting the Franchise-Louis Napoleon and the +Army-Proposed Revision of the Constitution-The Coup +d'Etat-Napoleon III. Emperor</p> +<a name="c21"> </a> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI.">CHAPTER XXI.</a></p> +<p>THE CRIMEAN WAR.</p> +<p>England and France in 1851-Russia under Nicholas-The Hungarian +Refugees-Dispute between France and Russia on the Holy +Places-Nicholas and the British Ambassador-Lord Stratford de +Redcliffe-Menschikoff's Mission-Russian troops enter the Danubian +Principalities-Lord Aberdeen's Cabinet-Movements of the +Fleets-The Vienna Note-The Fleets pass the Dardanelles-Turkish +Squadron destroyed at Sinope-Declaration of War-Policy of +Austria-Policy of Prussia-The Western Powers and the European +Concert-Siege of Silistria-The Principalities evacuated- Further +objects of the Western Powers-Invasion of the Crimea-Battle of +the Alma-The Flank March-Balaclava-Inkermann-Winter in the +Crimea-Death of Nicholas-Conference of Vienna-Austria-Progress of +the Siege-Plans of Napoleon III.-Canrobert and +Pélissier-Unsuccessful Assault-Battle of the +Tchernaya-Capture of the Malakoff-Fall of Sebastopol-Fall of +Kars-Negotiations for Peace-The Conference of Paris-Treaty of +Paris-The Danubian Principalities-Continued discord in the +Ottoman Empire-Revision of the Treaty of Paris in 1871</p> +<p><a name="c22"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII.">CHAPTER +XXII.</a></p> +<p>THE CREATION OF THE ITALIAN KINGDOM.</p> +<p>Piedmont after 1849-Ministry of Azeglio-Cavour Prime +Minister-Designs of Cavour-His Crimean Policy-Cavour at the +Conference of Paris-Cavour and Napoleon III.-The Meeting at +Plombières-Preparations in Italy-Treaty of January, +1859-Attempts at Mediation-Austrian Ultimatum-Campaign of +1859-Magenta-Movement in Central Italy-Solferino-Napoleon and +Prussia-Interview of Villafranca-Cavour resigns-Peace of +Zürich-Central Italy after Villafranca-The Proposed +Congress-"The Pope and the Congress"-Cavour resumes office-Cavour +and Napoleon-Union of the Duchies and the Romagna with +Piedmont-Savoy and Nice added to France-Cavour on this +cession-European opinion-Naples-Sicily-Garibaldi lands at +Marsala-Capture of Palermo-The Neapolitans evacuate Sicily-Cavour +and the Party of Action-Cavour's Policy as to Naples-Garibaldi on +the mainland-Persano and Villamarina at Naples-Garibaldi at +Naples-The Piedmontese Army enters Umbria and the Marches-Fall of +Ancona-Garibaldi and Cavour-The Armies on the Volturno-Fall of +Gaeta-Cavour's Policy with regard to Rome and Venice-Death of +Cavour-The Free Church in the Free State</p> +<p><a name="c23"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII.">CHAPTER +XXIII.</a></p> +<p>GERMAN ASCENDENCY WON BY PRUSSIA.</p> +<p>Germany after 1858-The Regency in +Prussia-Army-reorganisation-King William I.-Conflict between the +Crown and the Parliament-Bismarck-The struggle continued-Austria +from 1859-The October Diploma-Resistance of Hungary-The +Reichsrath-Russia under Alexander II.-Liberation of the +Serfs-Poland-The Insurrection of 1863-Agrarian measures in +Poland- Schleswig-Holstein-Death of Frederick VII.-Plans of +Bismarck-Campaign in Schleswig-Conference of London-Treaty of +Vienna-England and Napoleon III.-Prussia and Austria-Convention +of Gastein-Italy-Alliance of Prussia with Italy-Proposals for a +Congress fail-War between Austria and Prussia-Napoleon +III.-Königgrätz-Custozza-Mediation of Napoleon -Treaty +of Prague-South Germany-Projects for compensation to +France-Austria and Hungary-Deák-Establishment of the Dual +System in Austria-Hungary</p> +<p><a name="c24"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV.">CHAPTER +XXIV.</a></p> +<p>THE WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.</p> +<p>Napoleon III.-The Mexican Expedition-Withdrawal of the French +and death of Maximilian-The Luxemburg Question-Exasperation in +France against Prussia-Austria-Italy-Mentana-Germany after +1866-The Spanish Candidature of Leopold of Hohenzollern-French +declaration-Benedetti and King William-Withdrawal of Leopold and +demand for guarantees-The telegram from Ems-War-Expected +Alliances of France-Austria-Italy-Prussian plans-The French +army-Causes of French inferiority-Weissenburg-Wörth- +Spicheren-Borny-Mars-la-Tour-Gravelotte-Sedan-The Republic +proclaimed at Paris-Favre and Bismarck-Siege of Paris-Gambetta at +Tours-The Army of the Loire-Fall of Metz-Fighting at +Orleans-Sortie of Champigny-The Armies of the North, of the +Loire, of the East-Bourbaki's ruin- Capitulation of Paris and +Armistice-Preliminaries of Peace-Germany- Establishment of the +German Empire-The Commune of Paris-Second Siege- Effects of the +war as to Russia and Italy-Rome</p> +<p><a name="c25"> </a><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV.">CHAPTER XXV.</a></p> +<p>EASTERN AFFAIRS.</p> +<p>France after 1871-Alliance of the Three Emperors-Revolt of +Herzegovina- The Andrássy Note-Murder of the Consuls at +Salonika-The Berlin Memorandum-Rejected by England-Abdul Aziz +deposed-Massacres in Bulgaria-Servia and Montenegro declare +War-Opinion in England-Disraeli- Meeting of Emperors at +Reichstadt-Servian Campaign-Declaration of the Czar-Conference at +Constantinople-Its Failure-The London Protocol- Russia declares +War-Advance on the Balkans-Osman at Plevna-Second Attack on +Plevna-The Shipka Pass-Roumania-Third Attack on Plevna-Todleben- +Fall of Plevna-Passage of the Balkans-Armistice-England-The Fleet +passes the Dardanelles-Treaty of San Stefano-England and +Russia-Secret Agreement-Convention with Turkey-Congress of +Berlin-Treaty of Berlin-Bulgaria</p> +<br> + +<p>MAPS.</p> +<p>EUROPEAN STATES IN 1792</p> +<p>CENTRAL EUROPE IN 1812</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>MODERN EUROPE.</h2> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="p1"> </a> +<h2><a href="#cp1">PREFACE.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>In acceding to the Publishers' request for a re-issue of the +"History of Modern Europe," in the form of a popular edition, I +feel that I am only fulfilling what would have been the wish of +the Author himself. A few manuscript corrections and additions +found in his own copy of the work have been adopted in the +present edition; in general, however, my attention in revising +each sheet for the press has been devoted to securing an accurate +reproduction of the text and notes as they appeared in the +previous editions in three volumes. I trust that in this cheaper +and more portable form the work will prove, both to the student +and the general reader, even more widely acceptable than +heretofore.</p> +<p>HENRIETTA F. A. FYFFE.</p> +<p>London, November, 1895.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="p2"> </a> +<h2><a href="#cp2">PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>The object of this work is to show how the States of Europe +have gained the form and character which they possess at the +present moment. The outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1792, +terminating a period which now appears far removed from us, and +setting in motion forces which have in our own day produced a +united Germany and a united Italy, forms the natural +starting-point of a history of the present century. I have +endeavoured to tell a simple story, believing that a narrative in +which facts are chosen for their significance, and exhibited in +their real connection, may be made to convey as true an +impression as a fuller history in which the writer is not forced +by the necessity of concentration to exercise the same rigour +towards himself and his materials. The second volume of the work +will bring the reader down to the year 1848: the third, down to +the present time.</p> +<p>London, 1880.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="p3"> </a> +<h2><a href="#cp3">PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF THE FIRST +VOLUME.</a> <a name="FNanchor1"> </a><a href="#Footnote_1"><sup>[1]</sup></a></h2> +<br> + +<p>In revising this volume for the second edition I have occupied +myself mainly with two sources of information-the unpublished +Records of the English Foreign Office, and the published works +which have during recent years resulted from the investigation of +the Archives of Vienna. The English Records from 1792 to 1814, +for access to which I have to express my thanks to Lord +Granville, form a body of first-hand authority of extraordinary +richness, compass, and interest. They include the whole +correspondence between the representatives of Great Britain at +Foreign Courts and the English Foreign Office; a certain number +of private communications between Ministers and these +representatives; a quantity of reports from consuls, agents, and +"informants" of every description; and in addition to these the +military reports, often admirably vivid and full of matter, sent +by the British officers attached to the head-quarters of our +Allies in most of the campaigns from 1792 to 1814. It is +impossible that any one person should go through the whole of +this material, which it took the Diplomatic Service a quarter of +a century to write. I have endeavoured to master the +correspondence from each quarter of Europe which, for the time +being, had a preponderance in political or military interest, +leaving it when its importance became obviously subordinate to +that of others; and although I have no doubt left untouched much +that would repay investigation, I trust that the narrative has +gained in accuracy from a labour which was not a light one, and +that the few short extracts which space has permitted me to throw +into the notes may serve to bring the reader nearer to events. At +some future time I hope to publish a selection from the most +important documents of this period. It is strange that our +learned Societies, so appreciative of every distant and trivial +chronicle of the Middle Ages, should ignore the records of a time +of such surpassing interest, and one in which England played so +great a part. No just conception can be formed of the difference +between English statesmanship and that of the Continental Courts +in integrity, truthfulness, and public spirit, until the mass of +diplomatic correspondence preserved at London has been studied; +nor, until this has been done, can anything like an adequate +biography of Pitt be written.</p> +<p>The second and less important group of authorities with which +I have busied myself during the work of revision comprises the +works of Hüffer, Vivenot, Beer, Helfert, and others, based +on Austrian documents, along with the Austrian documents and +letters that have been published by Vivenot. The last-named +writer is himself a partizan, but the material which he has given +to the world is most valuable. The mystery in which the Austrian +Government until lately enveloped all its actions caused some of +these to be described as worse than they really were; and I +believe that in the First Edition I under-estimated the bias of +Prussian and North-German writers. Where I have seen reasons to +alter any statements, I have done so without reserve, as it +appears to me childish for any one who attempts to write history +to cling to an opinion after the balance of evidence seems to be +against it. The publication of the second volume of this work has +been delayed by the revision of the first; but I hope that it +will appear before many months more. I must express my +obligations to Mr. Oscar Browning, a fellow-labourer in the same +field, who not only furnished me with various corrections, but +placed his own lectures at my disposal; and to Mr. Alfred +Kingston, whose unfailing kindness and courtesy make so great a +difference to those whose work lies in the department of the +Record Office which is under his care.</p> +<p>London, 1883.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + +<h2><a name="p4"> </a><a href="#cp4">PREFACE TO THE SECOND +VOLUME</a><a name="FNanchor2">.</a><a href="#Footnote_2"><sup>[2]</sup></a></h2> +<br> + +<p>In writing this volume I have not had the advantage of +consulting the English Foreign Office Records for a later period +than the end of 1815. A rule not found necessary at Berlin and +some other foreign capitals still closes to historical inquirers +the English documents of the last seventy years. Restrictions are +no doubt necessary in the case of transactions of recent date, +but the period of seventy years is surely unnecessarily long. +Public interests could not be prejudiced, nor could individuals +be even remotely affected, by the freest examination of the +papers of 1820 or 1830.</p> +<p>The London documents of 1814-1815 are of various degrees of +interest and importance. Those relating to the Congress of Vienna +are somewhat disappointing. Taken all together, they add less to +our knowledge on the one or two points still requiring +elucidation than the recently-published correspondence of +Talleyrand with Louis XVIII. The despatches from Italy are on the +other hand of great value, proving, what I believe was not +established before, that the Secret Treaty of 1815, whereby +Austria gained a legal right to prevent any departure from +absolute Government at Naples, was communicated to the British +Ministry and received its sanction. This sanction explains the +obscure and embarrassed language of Castlereagh in 1820, which in +its turn gave rise to the belief in Italy that England was more +deeply committed to Austria than it actually was, and probably +occasioned the forgery of the pretended Treaty of July 27, 1813, +exposed in vol. i. of this work, p. 538, 2nd edit. <a name="FNanchor3"> </a><a href="#Footnote_3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> The +papers from France and Spain are also interesting, though not +establishing any new conclusions.</p> +<p>While regretting that I have not been able to use the London +archives later than 1815, I believe that it is nevertheless +possible, without recourse to unpublished papers, to write the +history of the succeeding thirty years with substantial +correctness. There exist in a published form, apart from +documents printed officially, masses of first-hand material of +undoubtedly authentic character, such as the great English +collection known by the somewhat misleading name of Wellington +Despatches, New Series; or again, the collection printed as an +appendix to Prokesch von Osten's History of the Greek Rebellion, +or the many volumes of Gentz' Correspondence belonging to the +period about 1820, when Gentz was really at the centre of +affairs. The Metternich papers, interesting as far as they go, +are a mere selection. The omissions are glaring, and scarcely +accidental. Many minor collections bearing on particular events +might be named, such as those in Guizot's Mémoires. +Frequent references will show my obligation to the German series +of historical works constituting the Leipzig Staatengeschichte, +as well as to French authors who, like Viel-Castel, have worked +with original sources of information before them. There exist in +English literature singularly few works on this period of +Continental history.</p> +<p>A greater publicity was introduced into political affairs on +the Continent by the establishment of Parliamentary Government in +France in 1815, and even by the attempts made to introduce it in +other States. In England we have always had freedom of +discussion, but the amount of information made public by the +executive in recent times has been enormously greater than it was +at the end of the last century. The only documents published at +the outbreak of the war of 1793 were, so far as I can ascertain, +the well-known letters of Chauvelin and Lord Grenville. During +the twenty years' struggle with France next to nothing was known +of the diplomatic transactions between England and the +Continental Powers. But from the time of the Reform Bill onwards +the amount of information given to the public has been constantly +increasing, and the reader of Parliamentary Papers in our own day +is likely to complain of diffusiveness rather than of reticence. +Nevertheless the perusal of published papers can never be quite +the same thing as an examination of the originals; and the writer +who first has access to the English archives after 1815 will have +an advantage over those who have gone before him.</p> +<p>The completion of this volume has been delayed by almost every +circumstance adverse to historical study and production, +including a severe Parliamentary contest. I trust, however, that +no trace of partisanship or unrest appears in the work, which I +have valued for the sake of the mental discipline which it +demanded. With quieter times the third volume will, I trust, +advance more rapidly.</p> +<p>LONDON, October, 1886.</p> +<p>NOTE.-The third volume was published in 1889.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_I."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c1">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1792-Its immediate +causes- Declaration of Pillnitz made and withdrawn-Agitation of +the Priests and Emigrants-War Policy of the Gironde-Provocations +offered to France by the Powers-State of Central Europe in +1792-The Holy Roman Empire- Austria-Rule of the Hapsburgs-The +Reforms of Maria Theresa and Joseph II.-Policy of Leopold +II.-Government and Foreign Policy of Francis +II.-Prussia-Government of Frederick William II.-Social condition +or Prussia-Secondary States of Germany-Ecclesiastical States-Free +Cities-Knights-Weakness of Germany</p> +<br> + +<p>On the morning of the 19th of April, 1792, after weeks of +stormy agitation in Paris, the Ministers of Louis XVI. brought +down a letter from the King to the Legislative Assembly of +France. The letter was brief but significant. It announced that +the King intended to appear in the Hall of Assembly at noon on +the following day. Though the letter did not disclose the object +of the King's visit, it was known that Louis had given way to the +pressure of his Ministry and the national cry for war, and that a +declaration of war against Austria was the measure which the King +was about to propose in person to the Assembly. On the morrow the +public thronged the hall; the Assembly broke off its debate at +midday in order to be in readiness for the King. Louis entered +the hall in the midst of deep silence, and seated himself beside +the President in the chair which was now substituted for the +throne of France. At the King's bidding General Dumouriez, +Minister of Foreign Affairs, read a report to the Assembly upon +the relations of France to foreign Powers. The report contained a +long series of charges against Austria, and concluded with the +recommendation of war. When Dumouriez ceased reading Louis rose, +and in a low voice declared that he himself and the whole of the +Ministry accepted the report read to the Assembly; that he had +used every effort to maintain peace, and in vain; and that he was +now come, in accordance with the terms of the Constitution, to +propose that the Assembly declare war against the Austrian +Sovereign. It was not three months since Louis himself had +supplicated the Courts of Europe for armed aid against his own +subjects. The words which he now uttered were put in his mouth by +men whom he hated, but could not resist: the very outburst of +applause that followed them only proved the fatal antagonism that +existed between the nation and the King. After the President of +the Assembly had made a short answer, Louis retired from the +hall. The Assembly itself broke up, to commence its debate on the +King's proposal after an interval of some hours. When the House +re-assembled in the evening, those few courageous men who argued +on grounds of national interest and justice against the passion +of the moment could scarcely obtain a hearing. An appeal for a +second day's discussion was rejected; the debate abruptly closed; +and the declaration of war was carried against seven dissentient +votes. It was a decision big with consequences for France and for +the world. From that day began the struggle between Revolutionary +France and the established order of Europe. A period opened in +which almost every State on the Continent gained some new +character from the aggressions of France, from the laws and +political changes introduced by the conqueror, or from the +awakening of new forces of national life in the crisis of +successful resistance or of humiliation. It is my intention to +trace the great lines of European history from that time to the +present, briefly sketching the condition of some of the principal +States at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, and endeavouring +to distinguish, amid scenes of ever-shifting incident, the steps +by which the Europe of 1792 has become the Europe of to-day.</p> +<p>[First threats of foreign Courts against France, 1791.]</p> +<p>The first two years of the Revolution had ended without +bringing France into collision with foreign Powers. This was not +due to any goodwill that the Courts of Europe bore to the French +people, or to want of effort on the part of the French +aristocracy to raise the armies of Europe against their own +country. The National Assembly, which met in 1789, had cut at the +roots of the power of the Crown; it had deprived the nobility of +their privileges, and laid its hand upon the revenues of the +Church. The brothers of King Louis XVI., with a host of nobles +too impatient to pursue a course of steady political opposition +at home, quitted France, and wearied foreign Courts with their +appeals for armed assistance. The absolute monarchs of the +Continent gave them a warm and even ostentatious welcome; but +they confined their support to words and tokens of distinction, +and until the summer of 1791 the Revolution was not seriously +threatened with the interference of the stranger. The flight of +King Louis from Paris in June, 1791, followed by his capture and +his strict confinement within the Tuileries, gave rise to the +first definite project of foreign intervention. <a name="FNanchor4"> </a><a href="#Footnote_4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> Louis +had fled from his capital and from the National Assembly; he +returned, the hostage of a populace already familiar with outrage +and bloodshed. For a moment the exasperation of Paris brought the +Royal Family into real jeopardy. The Emperor Leopold, brother of +Marie Antoinette, trembled for the safety of his unhappy sister, +and addressed a letter to the European Courts from Padua, on the +6th of July, proposing that the Powers should unite to preserve +the Royal Family of France from popular violence. Six weeks later +the Emperor and King Frederick William II. of Prussia met at +Pillnitz, in Saxony. A declaration was published by the two +Sovereigns, stating that they considered the position of the King +of France to be matter of European concern, and that, in the +event of all the other great Powers consenting to a joint action, +they were prepared to supply an armed force to operate on the +French frontier.</p> +<p>[Declaration of Pillnitz withdrawn.]</p> +<p>Had the National Assembly instantly declared war on Leopold +and Frederick William, its action would have been justified by +every rule of international law. The Assembly did not, however, +declare war, and for a good reason. It was known at Paris that +the manifesto was no more than a device of the Emperor's to +intimidate the enemies of the Royal Family. Leopold, when he +pledged himself to join a coalition of all the Powers, was in +fact aware that England would be no party to any such coalition. +He was determined to do nothing that would force him into war; +and it did not occur to him that French politicians would +understand the emptiness of his threats as well as he did +himself. Yet this turned out to be the case; and whatever +indignation the manifesto of Pillnitz excited in the mass of the +French people, it was received with more derision than alarm by +the men who were cognisant of the affairs of Europe. All the +politicians of the National Assembly knew that Prussia and +Austria had lately been on the verge of war with one another upon +the Eastern question; they even underrated the effect of the +French revolution in appeasing the existing enmities of the great +Powers. No important party in France regarded the Declaration of +Pillnitz as a possible reason for hostilities; and the challenge +given to France was soon publicly withdrawn. It was withdrawn +when Louis XVI., by accepting the Constitution made by the +National Assembly, placed himself, in the sight of Europe, in the +position of a free agent. On the 14th September, 1791, the King, +by a solemn public oath, identified his will with that of the +nation. It was known in Paris that he had been urged by the +emigrants to refuse his assent, and to plunge the nation into +civil war by an open breach with the Assembly. The frankness with +which Louis pledged himself to the Constitution, the seeming +sincerity of his patriotism, again turned the tide of public +opinion in his favour. His flight was forgiven; the restrictions +placed upon his personal liberty were relaxed. Louis seemed to be +once more reconciled with France, and France was relieved from +the ban of Europe. The Emperor announced that the circumstances +which had provoked the Declaration of Pillnitz no longer existed, +and that the Powers, though prepared to revive the League if +future occasion should arise, suspended all joint action in +reference to the internal affairs of France.</p> +<p>[Priests and emigrants keep France in agitation.]</p> +<p>The National Assembly, which, in two years, had carried France +so far towards the goal of political and social freedom, now +declared its work ended. In the mass of the nation there was +little desire for further change. The grievances which pressed +most heavily upon the common course of men's lives-unfair +taxation, exclusion from public employment, monopolies among the +townspeople, and the feudal dues which consumed the produce of +the peasant-had been swept away. It was less by any general +demand for further reform than by the antagonisms already kindled +in the Revolution that France was forced into a new series of +violent changes. The King himself was not sincerely at one with +the nation; in everything that most keenly touched his conscience +he had unwillingly accepted the work of the Assembly. The Church +and the noblesse were bent on undoing what had already been done. +Without interfering with doctrine or ritual, the National +Assembly had re-organised the ecclesiastical system of France, +and had enforced that supremacy of the State over the priesthood +to which, throughout the eighteenth century, the Governments of +Catholic Europe had been steadily tending. The Civil Constitution +of the Clergy, which was created by the National Assembly in +1790, transformed the priesthood from a society of landowners +into a body of salaried officers of the State, and gave to the +laity the election of their bishops and ministers. The change, +carried out in this extreme form, threw the whole body of bishops +and a great part of the lower clergy into revolt. Their interests +were hurt by the sale of the Church lands; their consciences were +wounded by the system of popular election, which was condemned by +the Pope. In half the pulpits of France the principles of the +Revolution were anathematised, and the vengeance of heaven +denounced against the purchasers of the secularised Church lands. +Beyond the frontier the emigrant nobles, who might have tempered +the Revolution by combining with the many liberal men of their +order who remained at home, gathered in arms, and sought the help +of foreigners against a nation in which they could see nothing +but rebellious dependents of their own. The head-quarters of the +emigrants were at Coblentz in the dominions of the Elector of +Trèves. They formed themselves into regiments, numbering +in all some few thousands, and occupied themselves with +extravagant schemes of vengeance against all Frenchmen who had +taken part in the destruction of the privileges of their +caste.</p> +<p>[Legislative Assembly. Oct. 1791.]</p> +<p>[War policy of the Gironde.]</p> +<p>Had the elections which followed the dissolution of the +National Assembly sent to the Legislature a body of men bent only +on maintaining the advantages already won, it would have been no +easy task to preserve the peace of France in the presence of the +secret or open hostility of the Court, the Church, and the +emigrants. But the trial was not made. The leading spirits among +the new representatives were not men of compromise. In the +Legislative Body which met in 1791 there were all the passions of +the Assembly of 1789, without any of the experience which that +Assembly had gained. A decree, memorable among the achievements +of political folly, had prohibited members of the late Chamber +from seeking re-election. The new Legislature was composed of men +whose political creed had been drawn almost wholly from literary +sources; the most dangerous theorists of the former Assembly were +released from Parliamentary restraints, and installed, like +Robespierre, as the orators of the clubs. Within the Chamber +itself the defenders of the Monarchy and of the Constitution +which had just been given to France were far outmatched by the +party of advance. The most conspicuous of the new deputies formed +the group named after the district of the Gironde, where several +of their leaders had been elected. The orator Vergniaud, +pre-eminent among companions of singular eloquence, the +philosopher Condorcet, the veteran journalist Brissot, gave to +this party an ascendancy in the Chamber and an influence in the +country the more dangerous because it appeared to belong to men +elevated above the ordinary regions of political strife. Without +the fixed design of turning the monarchy into a republic, the +orators of the Gironde sought to carry the revolutionary movement +over the barrier erected against it in the Constitution of 1791. +From the moment of the opening of the Assembly it was clear that +the Girondins intended to precipitate the conflict between the +Court and the nation by devoting all the wealth of their +eloquence to the subjects which divided France the most. To +Brissot and the men who furnished the ideas of the party, it +would have seemed a calamity that the Constitution of 1791, with +its respect for the prerogative of the Crown and its tolerance of +mediæval superstition, should fairly get underway. In spite +of Robespierre's prediction that war would give France a strong +sovereign in the place of a weak one, the Girondins persuaded +themselves that the best means of diminishing or overthrowing +monarchical power in France was a war with the sovereigns of +Europe; and henceforward they laboured for war with scarcely any +disguise. <a name="FNanchor5"> </a><a href="#Footnote_5"><sup>[5]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Notes of Kaunitz, Dec. 21, Feb. 17.]</p> +<p>Nor were occasions wanting, if war was needful for France. The +protection which the Elector of Trèves gave to the +emigrant army at Coblentz was so flagrant a violation of +international law that the Gironde had the support of the whole +nation when they called upon the King to demand the dispersal of +the emigrants in the most peremptory form. National feeling was +keenly excited by debates in which the military preparations of +the emigrants and the encouragement given to them by foreign +princes were denounced with all the energy of southern eloquence. +On the 13th of December Louis declared to the Electors of +Trèves and Mainz that he would treat them as enemies +unless the armaments within their territories were dispersed by +January 15th; and at the same time he called upon the Emperor +Leopold, as head of the Germanic body, to use his influence in +bringing the Electors to reason. The demands of France were not +resisted. On the 16th January, 1792, Louis informed the Assembly +that the emigrants had been expelled from the electorates, and +acknowledged the good offices of Leopold in effecting this +result. The substantial cause of war seemed to have disappeared; +but another had arisen in its place. In a note of December 21st +the Austrian Minister Kaunitz used expressions which implied that +a league of the Powers was still in existence against France. +Nothing could have come more opportunely for the war-party in the +Assembly. Brissot cried for an immediate declaration of war, and +appealed to the French nation to vindicate its honour by an +attack both upon the emigrants and upon their imperial protector. +The issue depended upon the relative power of the Crown and the +Opposition. Leopold saw that war was inevitable unless the +Constitutional party, which was still in office, rallied for one +last effort, and gained a decisive victory over its antagonists. +In the hope of turning public opinion against the Gironde, he +permitted Kaunitz to send a despatch to Paris which loaded the +leaders of the war-party with abuse, and exhorted the French +nation to deliver itself from men who would bring upon it the +hostility of Europe. (Feb. 17.) <a name="FNanchor6"> </a><a href="#Footnote_6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> The despatch gave singular proof +of the inability of the cleverest sovereign and the most +experienced minister of the age to distinguish between the fears +of a timid cabinet and the impulses of an excited nation. +Leopold's vituperations might have had the intended effect if +they had been addressed to the Margrave of Baden or the Doge of +Venice; addressed to the French nation and its popular Assembly +in the height of civil conflict, they were as oil poured upon the +flames. Leopold ruined the party which he meant to reinforce; he +threw the nation into the arms of those whom he attacked. His +despatch was received in the Assembly with alternate murmurs and +bursts of laughter; in the clubs it excited a wild outburst of +rage. The exchange of diplomatic notes continued for a few weeks +more; but the real answer of France to Austria was the +"Marseillaise," composed at Strasburg almost simultaneously with +Kaunitz' attack upon the Jacobins. The sudden death of the +Emperor on March 1st produced no pause in the controversy. +Delessart, the Foreign Minister of Louis, was thrust from office, +and replaced by Dumouriez, the representative of the +war-party.</p> +<p>[War declared, April 20th, 1792.]</p> +<p>Expostulation took a sharper tone; old subjects of complaint +were revived; and the armies on each side were already pressing +towards the frontier when the unhappy Louis was brought down to +the Assembly by his Ministers, and compelled to propose the +declaration of war.</p> +<p>[Pretended grounds of war.]</p> +<p>[Expectation of foreign attack real among the French people; +not real among the French politicians.]</p> +<p>It is seldom that the professed grounds correspond with the +real motives of a war; nor was this the case in 1792. The +ultimatum of the Austrian Government demanded that compensation +should be made to certain German nobles whose feudal rights over +their peasantry had been abolished in Alsace; that the Pope +should be indemnified for Avignon and the Venaissin, which had +been taken from him by France; and that a Government should be +established at Paris capable of affording the Powers of Europe +security against the spread of democratic agitation. No one +supposed the first two grievances to be a serious ground for +hostilities. The rights of the German nobles in Alsace over their +villagers were no doubt protected by the treaties which ceded +those districts to France; but every politician in Europe would +have laughed at a Government which allowed the feudal system to +survive in a corner of its dominions out of respect for a +settlement a century and a half old: nor had the Assembly refused +to these foreign seigneurs a compensation claimed in vain by King +Louis for the nobles of France. As to the annexation of Avignon +and the Venaissin, a power which, like Austria, had joined in +dismembering Poland, and had just made an unsuccessful attempt to +dismember Turkey, could not gravely reproach France for +incorporating a district which lay actually within it, and whose +inhabitants, or a great portion of them, were anxious to become +citizens of France. The third demand, the establishment of such a +government as Austria should deem satisfactory, was one which no +high-spirited people could be expected to entertain. Nor was +this, in fact, expected by Austria. Leopold had no desire to +attack France, but he had used threats, and would not submit to +the humiliation of renouncing them. He would not have begun a war +for the purpose of delivering the French Crown; but, when he +found that he was himself certain to be attacked, he accepted a +war with the Revolution without regret. On the other side, when +the Gironde denounced the league of the Kings, they exaggerated a +far-off danger for the ends of their domestic policy. The +Sovereigns of the Continent had indeed made no secret of their +hatred to the Revolution. Catherine of Russia had exhorted every +Court in Europe to make war; Gustavus of Sweden was surprised by +a violent death in the midst of preparations against France; +Spain, Naples, and Sardinia were ready to follow leaders stronger +than themselves. But the statesmen of the French Assembly well +understood the interval that separates hostile feeling from +actual attack; and the unsubstantial nature of the danger to +France, whether from the northern or the southern Powers, was +proved by the very fact that Austria, the hereditary enemy of +France, and the country of the hated Marie Antoinette, was +treated as the main enemy. Nevertheless, the Courts had done +enough to excite the anger of millions of French people who knew +of their menaces, and not of their hesitations and reserves. The +man who composed the "Marseillaise" was no maker of +cunningly-devised fables; the crowds who first sang it never +doubted the reality of the dangers which the orators of the +Assembly denounced. The Courts of Europe had heaped up the fuel; +the Girondins applied the torch. The mass of the French nation +had little means of appreciating what passed in Europe; they took +their facts from their leaders, who considered it no very serious +thing to plunge a nation into war for the furtherance of internal +liberty. Events were soon to pass their own stern and mocking +sentence upon the wisdom of the Girondin statesmanship.</p> +<p>[Germany follows Austria into the war.]</p> +<p>[State of Germany.]</p> +<p>After voting the Declaration of War the French Assembly +accepted a manifesto, drawn up by Condorcet, renouncing in the +name of the French people all intention of conquest. The +manifesto expressed what was sincerely felt by men like +Condorcet, to whom the Revolution was still too sacred a cause to +be stained with the vulgar lust of aggrandisement. But the actual +course of the war was determined less by the intentions with +which the French began it than by the political condition of the +States which bordered upon the French frontier. The war was +primarily a war with Austria, but the Sovereign of Austria was +also the head of Germany. The German Ecclesiastical Princes who +ruled in the Rhenish provinces had been the most zealous +protectors of the emigrants; it was impossible that they should +now find shelter in neutrality. Prussia had made an alliance with +the Emperor against France; other German States followed in the +wake of one or other of the great Powers. If France proved +stronger than its enemy, there were governments besides that of +Austria which would have to take their account with the +Revolution. Nor indeed was Austria the power most exposed to +violent change. The mass of its territory lay far from France; at +the most, it risked the loss of Lombardy and the Netherlands. +Germany at large was the real area threatened by the war, and +never was a political community less fitted to resist attack than +Germany at the end of the eighteenth century. It was in the +divisions of the German people, and in the rivalries of the two +leading German governments, that France found its surest support +throughout the Revolutionary war, and its keenest stimulus to +conquest. It will throw light upon the sudden changes that now +began to break over Europe if we pause to make a brief survey of +the state of Germany at the outbreak of the war, to note the +character and policy of its reigning sovereigns, and to cast a +glance over the circumstances which had brought the central +district of Europe into its actual condition.</p> +<p>[Since 1648, all the German States independent of the +Emperor.]</p> +<p>[Holy Roman Empire.]</p> +<p>Germany at large still preserved the mediæval name and +forms of the Holy Roman Empire. The members of this so-called +Empire were, however, a multitude of independent States; and the +chief of these States, Austria, combined with its German +provinces a large territory which did not even in name form part +of the Germanic body. The motley of the Empire was made up by +governments of every degree of strength and weakness. Austria and +Prussia possessed both political traditions and resources raising +them to the rank of great European Powers; but the sovereignties +of the second order, such as Saxony and Bavaria, had neither the +security of strength nor the free energy often seen in small +political communities; whilst in the remaining petty States of +Germany, some hundreds in number, all public life had long passed +out of mind in a drowsy routine of official benevolence or +oppression. In theory there still existed a united Germanic body; +in reality Germany was composed of two great monarchies in +embittered rivalry with one another, and of a multitude of +independent principalities and cities whose membership in the +Empire involved little beyond a liability to be dragged into the +quarrels of their more powerful neighbours. A German national +feeling did not exist, because no combination existed uniting the +interests of all Germany. The names and forms of political union +had come down from a remote past, and formed a grotesque +anachronism amid the realities of the eighteenth century. The +head of the Germanic body held office not by hereditary right, +but as the elected successor of Charlemagne and the Roman +Cæsars. Since the fifteenth century the imperial dignity +had rested with the Austrian House of Hapsburg; but, with the +exception of Charles V., no sovereign of that House had commanded +forces adequate to the creation of a united German state, and the +opportunity which then offered itself was allowed to pass away. +The Reformation severed Northern Germany from the Catholic +monarchy of the south. The Thirty Years' War, terminating in the +middle of the seventeenth century, secured the existence of +Protestantism on the Continent of Europe, but it secured it at +the cost of Germany, which was left exhausted and disintegrated. +By the Treaty of Westphalia, A.D. 1648, the independence of every +member of the Empire was recognised, and the central authority +was henceforth a mere shadow. The Diet of the Empire, where the +representatives of the Electors, of the Princes, and of the Free +Cities, met in the order of the Middle Ages, sank into a Heralds' +College, occupied with questions of title and precedence; affairs +of real importance were transacted by envoys from Court to Court. +For purposes of war the Empire was divided into Circles, each +Circle supplying in theory a contingent of troops; but this +military organisation existed only in letter. The greater and the +intermediate States regulated their armaments, as they did their +policy, without regard to the Diet of Ratisbon; the contingents +of the smaller sovereignties and free cities were in every degree +of inefficiency, corruption, and disorder; and in spite of the +courage of the German soldier, it could make little difference in +a European war whether a regiment which had its captain appointed +by the city of Gmünd, its lieutenant by the Abbess of +Rotenmünster, and its ensign by the Abbot of Gegenbach, did +or did not take the field with numbers fifty per cent. below its +statutory <a name="FNanchor7">contingent.</a><a href="#Footnote_7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> How loose was the connection +subsisting between the members of the Empire, how slow and +cumbrous its constitutional machinery, was strikingly proved +after the first inroads of the French into Germany in 1792, when +the Diet deliberated for four weeks before calling out the forces +of the Empire, and for five months before declaring war.</p> +<p>[Austria.]</p> +<p>[Catholic policy of the Hapsburgs.]</p> +<p>The defence of Germany rested in fact with the armies of +Austria and Prussia. The Austrian House of Hapsburg held the +imperial title, and gathered around it the sovereigns of the less +progressive German States. While the Protestant communities of +Northern Germany identified their interests with those of the +rising Prussian Monarchy, religious sympathy and the tradition of +ages attached the minor Catholic Courts to the political system +of Vienna. Austria gained something by its patronage; it was, +however, no real member of the German family. Its interests were +not the interests of Germany; its power, great and enduring as it +proved, was not based mainly upon German elements, nor used +mainly for German ends. The title of the Austrian monarch gave +the best idea of the singular variety of races and nationalities +which owed their political union only to their submission to a +common head. In the shorter form of state the reigning Hapsburg +was described as King of Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia, Slavonia, and +Galicia; Archduke of Austria; Grand Duke of Transylvania; Duke of +Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola; and Princely Count of Hapsburg +and Tyrol. At the outbreak of the war of 1792 the dominions of +the House of Austria included the Southern Netherlands and the +Duchy of Milan, in addition to the great bulk of the territory +which it still governs. Eleven distinct languages were spoken in +the Austrian monarchy, with countless varieties of dialects. Of +the elements of the population the Slavic was far the largest, +numbering about ten millions, against five million Germans and +three million Magyars; but neither numerical strength nor +national objects of desire coloured the policy of a family which +looked indifferently upon all its subject races as instruments +for its own aggrandisement. Milan and the Netherlands had come +into the possession of Austria since the beginning of the +eighteenth century, but the destiny of the old dominions of the +Hapsburg House had been fixed for many generations in the course +of the Thirty Years' War. In that struggle, as it affected +Austria, the conflict of the ancient and the reformed faith had +become a conflict between the Monarchy, allied with the Church, +and every element of national life and independence, allied with +the Reformation. Protestantism, then dominant in almost all the +Hapsburg territories, was not put down without extinguishing the +political liberties of Austrian Germany, the national life of +Bohemia, the spirit and ambition of the Hungarian nobles. The +detestable desire of the Emperor Ferdinand, "Rather a desert than +a country full of heretics," was only too well fulfilled in the +subsequent history of his dominions. In the German provinces, +except the Tyrol, the old Parliaments, and with them all trace of +liberty, disappeared; in Bohemia the national Protestant nobility +lost their estates, or retained them only at the price of +abandoning the religion, the language, and the feelings of their +race, until the country of Huss passed out of the sight of +civilised Europe, and Bohemia represented no more than a blank, +unnoticed mass of tillers of the soil. In Hungary, where the +nation was not so completely crushed in the Thirty Years' War, +and Protestantism survived, the wholesale executions in 1686, +ordered by the Tribunal known as the "Slaughter-house of +Eperies," illustrated the traditional policy of the Monarchy +towards the spirit of national independence. Two powers alone +were allowed to subsist in the Austrian dominions, the power of +the Crown and the power of the Priesthood; and, inasmuch as no +real national unity could exist among the subject races, the +unity of a blind devotion to the Catholic Church was enforced +over the greater part of the Monarchy by all the authority of the +State.</p> +<p>[Reforms of Maria Theresa, 1740-1780.]</p> +<p>Under the pressure of this soulless despotism the mind of man +seemed to lose all its finer powers. The seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries, in which no decade passed in England and +France without the production of some literary masterpiece, some +scientific discovery, or some advance in political reasoning, are +marked by no single illustrious Austrian name, except that of +Haydn the musician. When, after three generations of torpor +succeeding the Thirty Years' War, the mind of North Germany awoke +again in Winckelmann and Lessing, and a widely-diffused education +gave to the middle class some compensation for the absence of all +political freedom, no trace of this revival appeared in Austria. +The noble hunted and slept; the serf toiled heavily on; where a +school existed, the Jesuit taught his schoolboys ecclesiastical +Latin, and sent them away unable to read their mother-tongue. To +this dull and impenetrable society the beginnings of improvement +could only be brought by military disaster. The loss of Silesia +in the first years of Maria Theresa disturbed the slumbers of the +Government, and reform began. Although the old provincial +Assemblies, except in Hungary and the Netherlands, had long lost +all real power, the Crown had never attempted to create a uniform +system of administration: the collection of taxes, the enlistment +of recruits, was still the business of the feudal landowners of +each district. How such an antiquated order was likely to fare in +the presence of an energetic enemy was clearly enough shown in +the first attack made upon Austria by Frederick the Great. As the +basis of a better military organisation, and in the hope of +arousing a stronger national interest among her subjects, Theresa +introduced some of the offices of a centralised monarchy, at the +same time that she improved the condition of the serf, and +substituted a German education and German schoolmasters for those +of the Jesuits. The peasant, hitherto in many parts of the +monarchy attached to the soil, was now made free to quit his +lord's land, and was secured from ejectment so long as he +fulfilled his duty of labouring for the lord on a fixed number of +days in the year. Beyond this Theresa's reform did not extend. +She had no desire to abolish the feudal character of country +life; she neither wished to temper the sway of Catholicism, nor +to extinguish those provincial forms which gave to the nobles +within their own districts a shadow of political independence. +Herself conservative in feeling, attached to aristocracy, and +personally devout, Theresa consented only to such change as was +recommended by her trusted counsellors, and asked no more than +she was able to obtain by the charm of her own queenly +character.</p> +<p>[Joseph II., 1780-1790.]</p> +<p>With the accession of her son Joseph II. in 1780 a new era +began for Austria. The work deferred by Theresa was then taken up +by a monarch whose conceptions of social and religious reform +left little for the boldest innovators of France ten years later +to add. There is no doubt that the creation of a great military +force for enterprises of foreign conquest was an end always +present in Joseph's mind, and that the thirst for uncontrolled +despotic power never left him; but by the side of these coarser +elements there was in Joseph's nature something of the true fire +of the man who lives for ideas. Passionately desirous of +elevating every class of his subjects at the same time that he +ignored all their habits and wishes, Joseph attempted to +transform the motley and priest-ridden collection of nations over +whom he ruled into a single homogeneous body, organised after the +model of France and Prussia, worshipping in the spirit of a +tolerant and enlightened Christianity, animated in its relations +of class to class by the humane philosophy of the eighteenth +century. In the first year of his reign Joseph abolished every +jurisdiction that did not directly emanate from the Crown, and +scattered an army of officials from Ostend to the Dniester to +conduct the entire public business of his dominions under the +immediate direction of the central authority at Vienna. In +succeeding years edict followed edict, dissolving monasteries, +forbidding Church festivals and pilgrimages, securing the +protection of the State to every form of Christian worship, +abolishing the exemption from land-tax and the monopoly of public +offices enjoyed by the nobility, transforming the Universities +from dens of monkish ignorance into schools of secular learning, +converting the peasant's personal service into a rent-charge, and +giving him in the officer of the Crown a protector and an arbiter +in all his dealings with his lord. Noble and enlightened in his +aims, Joseph, like every other reformer of the eighteenth +century, underrated the force which the past exerts over the +present; he could see nothing but prejudice and unreason in the +attachment to provincial custom or time-honoured opinion; he knew +nothing of that moral law which limits the success of revolutions +by the conditions which precede them. What was worst united with +what was best in resistance to his reforms. The bigots of the +University of Louvain, who still held out against the discoveries +of Newton, excited the mob to insurrection against Joseph, as the +enemy of religion; the Magyar landowners in Hungary resisted a +system which extinguished the last vestiges of their national +independence at the same time that it destroyed the harsh +dominion which they themselves exercised over their peasantry. +Joseph alternated between concession and the extreme of +autocratic violence. At one moment he resolved to sweep away +every local right that fettered the exercise of his power; then, +after throwing the Netherlands into successful revolt, and +forcing Hungary to the verge of armed resistance, he revoked his +unconstitutional ordinances (January 28, 1790), and restored all +the institutions of the Hungarian monarchy which existed at the +date of his accession.</p> +<p>[Leopold II., 1790-1792.]</p> +<p>A month later, death removed Joseph from his struggle and his +sorrows. His successor, Leopold II., found the monarchy involved +as Russia's ally in an attack upon Turkey; threatened by the +Northern League of Prussia, England, and Holland; exhausted in +finance; weakened by the revolt of the Netherlands; and +distracted in every province by the conflict of the ancient and +the modern system of government, and the assertion of new social +rights that seemed to have been created only in order to be +extinguished. The recovery of Belgium and the conclusion of peace +with Turkey were effected under circumstances that brought the +adroit and guarded statesmanship of Leopold into just credit. His +settlement of the conflict between the Crown and the Provinces, +between the Church and education, between the noble and the serf, +marked the line in which, for better or for worse, Austrian +policy was to run for sixty years. Provincial rights, the +privileges of orders and corporate bodies, Leopold restored; the +personal sovereignty of his house he maintained unimpaired. In +the more liberal part of Joseph's legislation, the emancipation +of learning from clerical control, the suppression of unjust +privilege in taxation, the abolition of the feudal services of +the peasant, Leopold was willing to make concessions to the +Church and the aristocracy; to the spirit of national +independence which his predecessor's aggression had excited in +Bohemia as well as in Hungary, he made no concession beyond the +restoration of certain cherished forms. An attempt of the Magyar +nobles to affix conditions to their acknowledgment of Leopold as +King of Hungary was defeated; and, by creating new offices at +Vienna for the affairs of Illyria and Transylvania, and making +them independent of the Hungarian Diet, Leopold showed that the +Crown possessed an instrument against the dominant Magyar race in +the Slavic and Romanic elements of the Hungarian Kingdom. <a +name="FNanchor8"> </a><a href="#Footnote_8"><sup>[8]</sup></a> On +the other hand, Leopold consented to restore to the Church its +control over the higher education, and to throw back the burden +of taxation upon land not occupied by noble owners. He gave new +rigour to the censorship of the press; but the gain was not to +the Church, to which the censorship had formerly belonged, but to +the Government, which now employed it as an instrument of State. +In the great question of the emancipation of the serf Leopold was +confronted by a more resolute and powerful body of nobility in +Hungary than existed in any other province. The right of the lord +to fetter the peasant to the soil and to control his marriage +Leopold refused to restore in any part of his dominions; but, +while in parts of Bohemia he succeeded in maintaining the right +given by Joseph to the peasant to commute his personal service +for a money payment, in Hungary he was compelled to fall back +upon the system of Theresa, and to leave the final settlement of +the question to the Diet. Twenty years later the statesman who +emancipated the peasants of Prussia observed that Hungary was the +only part of the Austrian dominions in which the peasant was not +in a better condition than his fellows in North Germany; <a name="FNanchor9"> </a><a href="#Footnote_9"><sup>[9]</sup></a> and so +torpid was the humanity of the Diet that until the year 1835 the +prison and the flogging-board continued to form a part of every +Hungarian manor.</p> +<p>[Death of Leopold, March 1, 1792.]</p> +<p>[Francis II., 1792.]</p> +<p>Of the self-sacrificing ardour of Joseph there was no trace in +Leopold's character; yet his political aims were not low. During +twenty-four years' government of Tuscany he had proved himself +almost an ideal ruler in the pursuit of peace, of religious +enlightenment, and of the material improvement of his little +sovereignty. Raised to the Austrian throne, the compromise which +he effected with the Church and the aristocracy resulted more +from a supposed political necessity than from his own +inclination. So long as Leopold lived, Austria would not have +wanted an intelligence capable of surveying the entire field of +public business, nor a will capable of imposing unity of action +upon the servants of State. To the misfortune of Europe no less +than of his own dominions, Leopold was carried off by sickness at +the moment when the Revolutionary War broke out. An uneasy +reaction against Joseph's reforms and a well-grounded dread of +the national movements in Hungary and the Netherlands were +already the principal forces in the official world at Vienna; in +addition to these came the new terror of the armed proselytism of +the Revolution. The successor of Leopold, Francis II., was a +sickly prince, in whose homely and unimaginative mind the great +enterprises of Joseph, amidst which he had been brought up, +excited only aversion. Amongst the men who surrounded him, +routine and the dread of change made an end of the higher forms +of public life. The Government openly declared that all change +should cease so long as the war lasted; even the pressing +question of the peasant's relation to his lord was allowed to +remain unsettled by the Hungarian Diet, lest the spirit of +national independence should find expression in its debates. Over +the whole internal administration of Austria the torpor of the +days before Theresa seemed to be returning. Its foreign policy, +however, bore no trace of this timorous, conservative spirit. +Joseph, as restless abroad as at home, had shared the ambition of +the Russian Empress Catherine, and troubled Europe with his +designs upon Turkey, Venice, and Bavaria. These and similar +schemes of territorial extension continued to fill the minds of +Austrian courtiers and ambassadors. Shortly after the outbreak of +war with France the aged minister Kaunitz, who had been at the +head of the Foreign Office during three reigns, retired from +power. In spite of the first partition of Poland, made in +combination with Russia and Prussia in 1772, and in spite of +subsequent attempts of Joseph against Turkey and Bavaria, the +policy of Kaunitz had not been one of mere adventure and shifting +attack. He had on the whole remained true to the principle of +alliance with France and antagonism to Prussia; and when the +revolution brought war within sight, he desired to limit the +object of the war to the restoration of monarchical government in +France. The conditions under which the young Emperor and the King +of Prussia agreed to turn the war to purposes of territorial +aggrandisement caused Kaunitz, with a true sense of the fatal +import of this policy, to surrender the power which he had held +for forty years. It was secretly agreed between the two courts +that Prussia should recoup itself for its expenses against France +by seizing part of Poland. On behalf of Austria it was demanded +that the Emperor should annex Bavaria, giving Belgium to the +Elector as compensation. Both these schemes violated what Kaunitz +held to be sound policy. He believed that the interests of +Austria required the consolidation rather than the destruction of +Poland; and he declared the exchange of the Netherlands for +Bavaria to be, in the actual state of affairs, impracticable. <a +name="FNanchor10"> </a><a href="#Footnote_10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> +Had the coalition of 1792 been framed on the principles advocated +by Kaunitz, though Austria might not have effected the +restoration of monarchial power in France, the alliance would not +have disgracefully shattered on the crimes and infamies attending +the second partition of Poland.</p> +<p>From the moment when Kaunitz retired from office, territorial +extension became the great object of the Austrian Court. To +prudent statesmen the scattered provinces and varied population +of the Austrian State would have suggested that Austria had more +to lose than any European Power; to the men of 1792 it appeared +that she had more to gain. The Netherlands might be increased +with a strip of French Flanders; Bavaria, Poland, and Italy were +all weak neighbours, who might be made to enrich Austria in their +turn. A sort of magical virtue was attached to the acquisition of +territory. If so many square miles and so many head of population +were gained, whether of alien or kindred race, mutinous or +friendly, the end of all statesmanship was realised, and the +heaviest sacrifice of life and industry repaid. Austria affected +to act as the centre of a defensive alliance, and to fight for +the common purpose of giving a Government to France which would +respect the rights of its neighbours. In reality, its own +military operations were too often controlled, and an effective +common warfare frustrated, at one moment by a design upon French +Flanders, at another by the course of Polish or Bavarian +intrigue, at another by the hope of conquests in Italy. Of all +the interests which centred in the head of the House of Hapsburg, +the least befriended at Vienna was the interest of the Empire and +of Germany.</p> +<p>[Prussia.]</p> +<p>Nor, if Austria was found wanting, had Germany any permanent +safeguard in the rival Protestant State. Prussia, the second +great German Power and the ancient enemy of Austria, had been +raised to an influence in Europe quite out of proportion to its +scanty resources by the genius of Frederick the Great and the +earlier Princes of the House of Hohenzollern. Its population was +not one-third of that of France or Austria; its wealth was +perhaps not superior to that of the Republic of Venice. That a +State so poor in men and money should play the part of one of the +great Powers of Europe was possible only so long as an energetic +ruler watched every movement of that complicated machinery which +formed both army and nation after the prince's own type. +Frederick gave his subjects a just administration of the law; he +taught them productive industries; he sought to bring education +to their doors <a name="FNanchor11"> </a><a href="#Footnote_11"><sup>[11]</sup></a>; but he required that the +citizen should account himself before all the servant of the +State. Every Prussian either worked in the great official +hierarchy or looked up to it as the providence which was to +direct all his actions and supply all his judgments. The burden +of taxation imposed by the support of an army relatively three +times as great as that of any other Power was wonderfully +lightened by Frederick's economy: far more serious than the +tobacco-monopoly and the forage-requisitions, at which +Frederick's subjects grumbled during his life-time, was the +danger that a nation which had only attained political greatness +by its obedience to a rigorous administration should fall into +political helplessness, when the clear purpose and +all-controlling care of its ruler no longer animated a system +which, without him, was only a pedantic routine. What in England +we are accustomed to consider as the very substance of national +life,-the mass of political interest and opinion, diffused in +some degree amongst all classes, at once the support and the +judge of the servants of the State,-had in Prussia no existence. +Frederick's subjects obeyed and trusted their Monarch; there were +probably not five hundred persons outside the public service who +had any political opinions of their own. Prussia did not possess +even the form of a national representation; and, although certain +provincial assemblies continued to meet, they met only to receive +the instructions of the Crown-officers of their district. In the +absence of all public criticism, the old age of Frederick must in +itself have endangered the efficiency of the military system +which had raised Prussia to its sudden <a name="FNanchor12">eminence.</a><a href="#Footnote_12"><sup>[12]</sup></a> The impulse of Frederick's +successor was sufficient to reverse the whole system of Prussian +foreign policy, and to plunge the country in alliance with +Austria into a speculative and unnecessary war.</p> +<p>[Frederick William II., 1786.]</p> +<p>[Alliance with Austria against France, Feb., 1792.]</p> +<p>On the death of Frederick in 1786, the crown passed to +Frederick William II., his nephew. Frederick William was a man of +common type, showy and pleasure-loving, interested in public +affairs, but incapable of acting on any fixed principle. His +mistresses gave the tone to political society. A knot of +courtiers intrigued against one another for the management of the +King; and the policy of Prussia veered from point to point as one +unsteady impulse gave place to another. In countries less +dependent than Prussia upon the personal activity of the monarch, +Frederick William's faults might have been neutralised by able +Ministers; in Prussia the weakness of the King was the decline of +the State. The whole fabric of national greatness had been built +up by the royal power; the quality of the public service, apart +from which the nation was politically non-existent, was the +quality of its head. When in the palace profusion and intrigue +took the place of Frederick the Great's unflagging labour, the +old uprightness, industry, and precision which had been the pride +of Prussian administration fell out of fashion everywhere. Yet +the frivolity of the Court was a less active cause of military +decline than the abandonment of the first principles of Prussian +policy. <a name="FNanchor13"> </a><a href="#Footnote_13"><sup>[13]</sup></a> If any political sentiment +existed in the nation, it was the sentiment of antagonism to +Austria. The patriotism of the army, with all the traditions of +the great King, turned wholly in this direction. When, out of +sympathy with the Bourbon family and the emigrant French nobles, +Frederick William allied himself with Austria (Feb. 1792), and +threw himself into the arms of his ancient enemy in order to +attack a nation which had not wronged him, he made an end of all +zealous obedience amongst his servants. Brunswick, the Prussian +Commander-in-Chief, hated the French emigrants as much as he did +the Revolution; and even the generals who did not originally +share Brunswick's dislike to the war recovered their old jealousy +of Austria after the first defeat, and exerted themselves only to +get quit of the war at the first moment that Prussia could retire +from it without disgrace. The very enterprise in which Austria +had consented that the Court of Berlin should seek its reward-the +seizure of a part of Poland-proved fatal to the coalition. The +Empress Catherine was already laying her hand for the second time +upon this unfortunate country. It was easy for the opponents of +the Austrian alliance who surrounded King Frederick William to +contrast the barren effort of a war against France with the cheap +and certain advantages to be won by annexation, in concert with +Russia, of Polish territory. To pursue one of these objects with +vigour it was necessary to relinquish the other. Prussia was not +rich enough to maintain armies both on the Vistula and the Rhine. +Nor, in the opinion of its rulers, was it rich enough to be very +tender of its honour or very loyal towards its allies. <a name="FNanchor14"> </a><a href="#Footnote_14"><sup>[14]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Social system of Prussia.]</p> +<p>In the institutions of Prussia two opposite systems existed +side by side, exhibiting in the strongest form a contrast which +in a less degree was present in most Continental States. The +political independence of the nobility had long been crushed; the +King's Government busied itself with every detail of town and +village administration; yet along with this rigorous development +of the modern doctrine of the unity and the authority of the +State there existed a social order more truly archaic than that +of the Middle Ages at their better epochs. The inhabitants of +Prussia were divided into the three classes of nobles, burghers, +and peasants, each confined to its own stated occupations, and +not marrying outside its own order. The soil of the country bore +the same distinction; peasant's land could not be owned by a +burgher; burgher's land could not be owned by a noble. No +occupation was lawful for the noble, who was usually no more than +a poor gentleman, but the service of the Crown; the peasant, even +where free, might not practise the handicraft of a burgher. But +the mass of the peasantry in the country east of the Elbe were +serfs attached to the soil; and the noble, who was not permitted +to exercise the slightest influence upon the government of his +country, inherited along with his manor a jurisdiction and +police-control over all who were settled within it. Frederick had +allowed serfage to continue because it gave him in each manorial +lord a task-master whom he could employ in his own service. +System and obedience were the sources of his power; and if there +existed among his subjects one class trained to command and +another trained to obey, it was so much the easier for him to +force the country into the habits of industry which he required +of it. In the same spirit, Frederick officered his army only with +men of the noble caste. They brought with them the habit of +command ready-formed; the peasants who ploughed and threshed at +their orders were not likely to disobey them in the presence of +the enemy. It was possible that such a system should produce +great results so long as Frederick was there to guard against its +abuses; Frederick gone, the degradation of servitude, the +insolence of caste, was what remained. When the army of France, +led by men who had worked with their fathers in the fields, +hunted a King of Prussia amidst his capitulating grandees from +the centre to the verge of his dominions, it was seen what was +the permanent value of a system which recognised in the nature of +the poor no capacity but one for hereditary subjection. The +French peasant, plundered as he was by the State, and vexed as he +was with feudal services, knew no such bondage as that of the +Prussian serf, who might not leave the spot where he was born; +only in scattered districts in the border-provinces had serfage +survived in France. It is significant of the difference in +self-respect existing in the peasantry of the two countries that +the custom of striking the common soldier, universal in Germany, +was in France no more than an abuse, practised by the admirers of +Frederick, and condemned by the better officers themselves.</p> +<p>[Minor States of Germany.]</p> +<p>[Ecclesiastical States.]</p> +<p>In all the secondary States of Germany the government was an +absolute monarchy; though, here and there, as in Würtemberg, +the shadow of the old Assembly of the Estates survived; and in +Hanover the absence of the Elector, King George III., placed +power in the hands of a group of nobles who ruled in his name. +Society everywhere rested on a sharp division of classes similar +in kind to that of Prussia; the condition of the peasant ranging +from one of serfage, as it existed in <a name="FNanchor15">Mecklenburg,</a><a href="#Footnote_15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> to one of comparative freedom +and comfort in parts of the southern and western States. The +sovereigns differed widely in the enlightenment or selfishness of +their rule; but, on the whole, the character of government had +changed for the better of late years; and, especially in the +Protestant States, efforts to improve the condition of the people +were not wanting. Frederick the Great had in fact created a new +standard of monarchy in Germany. Forty years earlier, Versailles, +with its unfeeling splendours, its glorification of the personal +indulgence of the monarch, had been the ideal which, with a due +sense of their own inferiority, the German princes had done their +best to imitate. To be a sovereign was to cover acres of ground +with state apartments, to lavish the revenues of the country upon +a troop of mistresses and adventurers, to patronise the arts, to +collect with the same complacency the masterpieces of ancient +painting that adorn the Dresden Gallery, or an array of valuables +scarcely more interesting than the chests of treasure that were +paid for them. In the ecclesiastical States, headed by the +Electorates of Mainz, Trèves, and Cologne, the +affectations of a distinctive Christian or spiritual character +had long been abandoned. The prince-bishop and canons, who were +nobles appointed from some other province, lived after the gay +fashion of the time, at the expense of a land in which they had +no interest extending beyond their own lifetime. The only feature +distinguishing the ecclesiastical residence from that of one of +the minor secular princes was that the parade of state was +performed by monks in the cathedral instead of by soldiers on the +drill-ground, and that even the pretence of married life was +wanting among the flaunting harpies who frequented a celibate +Court. Yet even on the Rhine and on the Moselle the influence of +the great King of Prussia had begun to make itself felt. The +intense and penetrating industry of Frederick was not within the +reach of every petty sovereign who might envy its results; but +the better spirit of the time was seen under some of the +ecclesiastical princes in the encouragement of schools, the +improvement of the roads, and a retrenchment in courtly +expenditure. That deeply-seated moral disease which resulted from +centuries of priestly rule was not to be so lightly shaken off. +In a district where Nature most bountifully rewards the industry +of man, twenty-four out of every hundred of the population were +monks, nuns, or beggars. <a name="FNanchor16"> </a><a href="#Footnote_16"><sup>[16]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Petty States. Free Cities. Knights.]</p> +<p>Two hundred petty principalities, amongst which Weimar, the +home of Goethe, stood out in the brightest relief from the level +of princely routine and self-indulgence; fifty imperial cities, +in most of which the once vigorous organism of civic life had +shrivelled to the type of the English rotten borough, did not +exhaust the divisions of Germany. Several hundred Knights of the +Empire, owing no allegiance except to the Emperor, exercised, +each over a domain averaging from three to four hundred +inhabitants, all the rights of sovereignty, with the exception of +the right to make war and treaties. The districts in which this +order survived were scattered over the Catholic States of the +south-west of Germany, where the knights maintained their +prerogatives by federations among themselves and by the support +of the Emperor, to whom they granted sums of money. There were +instances in which this union of the rights of the sovereign and +the landlord was turned to good account; but the knight's land +was usually the scene of such poverty and degradation that the +traveller needed no guide to inform him when he entered it. Its +wretched tracks interrupted the great lines of communication +between the Rhine and further Germany; its hovels were the refuge +of all the criminals and vagabonds of the surrounding country; +for no police existed but the bailiffs of the knight, and the +only jurisdiction was that of the lawyer whom the knight brought +over from the nearest town. Nor was the disadvantage only on the +side of those who were thus governed. The knight himself, even if +he cherished some traditional reverence for the shadow of the +Empire, was in the position of a man who belongs to no real +country. If his sons desired any more active career than that of +annuitants upon the family domains, they could obtain it only by +seeking employment at one or other of the greater Courts, and by +identifying themselves with the interests of a land which they +entered as strangers.</p> +<p>Such was in outline the condition of Germany at the moment +when it was brought into collision with the new and unknown +forces of the French Revolution. A system of small States, which +in the past of Greece and Italy had produced the finest types of +energy and genius, had in Germany resulted in the extinction of +all vigorous life, and in the ascendancy of all that was +stagnant, little, and corrupt. If political disorganisation, the +decay of public spirit, and the absence of a national idea, are +the signs of impending downfall, Germany was ripe for foreign +conquest. The obsolete and dilapidated fabric of the Empire had +for a century past been sustained only by the European tradition +of the Balance of Power, or by the absence of serious attack from +without. Austria once overpowered, the Empire was ready to fall +to pieces by itself: and where, among the princes or the people +of Germany, were the elements that gave hope of its renovation in +any better form of national life?</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_II."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c2">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>French and Austrian armies on the Flemish frontier-Prussia +enters the war-Brunswick invades France-His +Proclamation-Insurrection of Aug. 10 at Paris-Massacres of +September-Character of the war-Brunswick, checked at Valmy, +retreats-The War becomes a Crusade of France-Neighbours of +France-Custine enters Mainz-Dumouriez conquers the Austrian +Netherlands -Nice and Savoy annexed-Decree of the Convention +against all Governments -Execution of Louis XVI.-War with +England, followed by war with the Mediterranean States-Condition +of England-English Parties, how affected by the Revolution-The +Gironde and the Mountain-Austria recovers the Netherlands-The +Allies invade France-La Vendée-Revolutionary System of +1793-Errors of the Allies-New French Commanders and Democratic +Army- Victories of Jourdan, Hoche, and Pichegru-Prussia +withdrawing from the War -Polish Affairs-Austria abandons the +Netherlands-Treaties of Basle-France in 1795-Insurrection of 13 +Vendémiaire-Constitution of 1795-The Directory-Effect of +the Revolution on the spirit of Europe up to 1795.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Fighting on Flemish frontier, April, 1792.]</p> +<p>[Prussian army invades France, July, 1792. Proclamation.]</p> +<p>The war between France and Austria opened in April, 1792, on +the Flemish frontier. The first encounters were discreditable to +the French soldiery, who took to flight and murdered one of their +generals. The discouragement with which the nation heard of these +reverses deepened into sullen indignation against the Court, as +weeks and months passed by, and the forces lay idle on the +frontier or met the enemy only in trifling skirmishes which left +both sides where they were before. If at this crisis of the +Revolution, with all the patriotism, all the bravery, all the +military genius of France burning for service, the Government +conducted the war with results scarcely distinguishable from +those of a parade, the suggestion of treason on the part of the +Court was only too likely to be entertained. The internal +difficulties of the country were increasing. The Assembly had +determined to banish from France the priests who rejected the new +ecclesiastical system, and the King had placed his veto upon +their decree. He had refused to permit the formation of a camp of +volunteers in the neighbourhood of Paris. He had dismissed the +popular Ministry forced upon him by the Gironde. A tumult on the +20th of June, in which the mob forced their way into the +Tuileries, showed the nature of the attack impending upon the +monarchy if Louis continued to oppose himself to the demands of +the nation; but the lesson was lost upon the King. Louis was as +little able to nerve himself for an armed conflict with the +populace as to reconcile his conscience to the Ecclesiastical +Decrees, and he surrendered himself to a pious inertia at a +moment when the alarm of foreign invasion doubled revolutionary +passion all over France. Prussia, in pursuance of a treaty made +in February, united its forces to those of Austria. Forty +thousand Prussian troops, under the Duke of Brunswick, the best +of Frederick's surviving generals, advanced along the Moselle. +From Belgium and the upper Rhine two Austrian armies converged +upon the line of invasion; and the emigrant nobles were given +their place among the forces of the Allies.</p> +<p>On the 25th of July the Duke of Brunswick, in the name of the +Emperor and the King of Prussia, issued a proclamation to the +French people, which, but for the difference between violent +words and violent deeds, would have left little to be complained +of in the cruelties that henceforward stained the popular cause. +In this manifesto, after declaring that the Allies entered France +in order to deliver Louis from captivity, and that members of the +National Guard fighting against the invaders would be punished as +rebels against their king, the Sovereigns addressed themselves to +the city of Paris and to the representatives of the French +nation:-"The city of Paris and its inhabitants are warned to +submit without delay to their King; to set that Prince at entire +liberty, and to show to him and to all the Royal Family the +inviolability and respect which the law of nature and of nations +imposes on subjects towards their Sovereigns. Their Imperial and +Royal Majesties will hold all the members of the National +Assembly, of the Municipality, and of the National Guard of Paris +responsible for all events with their heads, before military +tribunals, without hope of pardon. They further declare that, if +the Tuileries be forced or insulted, or the least violence +offered to the King, the Queen, or the Royal Family, and if +provision be not at once made for their safety and liberty, they +will inflict a memorable vengeance, by delivering up the city of +Paris to military execution and total overthrow, and the rebels +guilty of such crimes to the punishment they have merited." <a +name="FNanchor17"> </a><a href="#Footnote_17"><sup>[17]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Insurrection August 10, 1792.]</p> +<p>This challenge was not necessary to determine the fate of +Louis. Since the capture of the Bastille in the first days of the +Revolution the National Government had with difficulty supported +itself against the populace of the capital; and, even before the +foreigner threatened Paris with fire and sword, Paris had learnt +to look for the will of France within itself. As the columns of +Brunswick advanced across the north-eastern frontier, Danton and +the leaders of the city-democracy marshalled their army of the +poor and the desperate to overthrow that monarchy whose cause the +invader had made his own. The Republic which had floated so long +in the thoughts of the Girondins was won in a single day by the +populace of Paris, amid the roar of cannons and the flash of +bayonets. On the 10th of August Danton let loose the armed mob +upon the Tuileries. Louis quitted the Palace without giving +orders to the guard either to fight or to retire; but the guard +were ignorant that their master desired them to offer no +resistance, and one hundred and sixty of the mob were shot down +before an order reached the troops to abandon the Palace. The +cruelties which followed the victory of the people indicated the +fate in store for those whom the invader came to protect. It is +doubtful whether the foreign Courts would have made any serious +attempt to undo the social changes effected by the Revolution in +France; but no one supposed that those thousands of self-exiled +nobles who now returned behind the guns of Brunswick had returned +in order to take their places peacefully in the new social order. +In their own imagination, as much as in that of the people, they +returned with fire and sword to repossess themselves of rights of +which they had been despoiled, and to take vengeance upon the men +who were responsible for the changes made in France since <a +name="FNanchor18">1789.</a><a href="#Footnote_18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> In the midst of a panic little +justified by the real military situation, Danton inflamed the +nation with his own passionate courage and resolution; he +unhappily also thought it necessary to a successful national +defence that the reactionary party at Paris should be paralysed +by a terrible example. The prisons were filled with persons +suspected of hostility to the national cause, and in the first +days of September many hundreds of these unfortunate persons were +massacred by gangs of assassins paid by a committee of the +Municipality. Danton did not disguise his approval of the act. He +had made up his mind that the work of the Revolution could only +be saved by striking terror into its enemies, and by preventing +the Royalists from co-operating with the invader. But the +multitudes who flocked to the standards of 1792 carried with them +the patriotism of Danton unstained by his guilt. Right or wrong +in its origin, the war was now unquestionably a just one on the +part of France, a war against a privileged class attempting to +recover by force the unjust advantages that they had not been +able to maintain, a war against the foreigner in defence of the +right of the nation to deal with its own government. Since the +great religious wars there had been no cause so rooted in the +hearts, so close to the lives of those who fought for it. Every +soldier who joined the armies of France in 1792 joined of his own +free will. No conscription dragged the peasant to the frontier. +Men left their homes in order that the fruit of the poor man's +labour should be his own, in order that the children of France +should inherit some better birthright than exaction and want, in +order that the late-won sense of human right should not be swept +from the earth by the arms of privilege and caste. It was a time +of high-wrought hope, of generous and pathetic self-sacrifice; a +time that left a deep and indelible impression upon those who +judged it as eye-witnesses. Years afterwards the poet Wordsworth, +then alienated from France and cold in the cause of liberty, +could not recall without tears the memories of 1792. <a name="FNanchor19"> </a><a href="#Footnote_19"><sup>[19]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Brunswick checked at Valmy, Sept. 20.]</p> +<p>[Retreat of Brunswick.]</p> +<p>The defence of France rested on General Dumouriez. The +fortresses of Longwy and Verdun, covering the passage of the +Meuse, had fallen after the briefest resistance; the troops that +could be collected before Brunswick's approach were too few to +meet the enemy in the open field. Happily for France the slow +advance of the Prussian general permitted Dumouriez to occupy the +difficult country of the Argonne, where, while waiting for his +reinforcements, he was able for some time to hold the invaders in +check. At length Brunswick made his way past the defile which +Dumouriez had chosen for his first line of defence; but it was +only to find the French posted in such strength on his flank that +any further advance would imperil his own army. If the advance +was to be continued, Dumouriez must be dislodged. Accordingly, on +the 20th of September, Brunswick directed his artillery against +the hills of Valmy, where the French left was encamped. The +cannonade continued for some hours, but it was followed by no +general attack. The firmness of the French under Brunswick's fire +made it clear that they would not be displaced without an +obstinate battle; and, disappointed of victory, the King of +Prussia began to listen to proposals of peace sent to him by +Dumouriez. <a name="FNanchor20"> </a><a href="#Footnote_20"><sup>[20]</sup></a> A week spent in negotiation +served only to strengthen the French and to aggravate the +scarcity and sickness within the German camp. Dissensions broke +out between the Prussian and Austrian commanders; a retreat was +ordered; and to the astonishment of Europe the veteran forces of +Brunswick fell back before the mutinous soldiery and unknown +generals of the Revolution, powerless to delay for a single month +the evacuation of France and the restoration of the fortresses +which they had captured.</p> +<p>[The Convention meets. Proclaims Republic, Sept. 21.]</p> +<p>[The war becomes a crusade of democracy.]</p> +<p>In the meantime the Legislative Assembly had decreed its own +dissolution in consequence of the overthrow of the monarchy on +August both, and had ordered the election of representatives to +frame a constitution for France. The elections were held in the +crisis of invasion, in the height of national indignation against +the alliance of the aristocracy with the foreigner, and, in some +districts, under the influence of men who had not shrunk from +ordering the massacres in the prisons. At such a moment a +Constitutional Royalist had scarcely more chance of election than +a detected spy from the enemy's camp. The Girondins, who had been +the party of extremes in the Legislative Assembly, were the party +of moderation and order in the Convention. By their side there +were returned men whose whole being seemed to be compounded out +of the forces of conflict, men who, sometimes without conscious +depravity, carried into political and social struggles that +direct, unquestioning employment of force which has ordinarily +been reserved for war or for the diffusion of religious +doctrines. The moral differences that separated this party from +the Gironde were at once conspicuous: the political creed of the +two parties appeared at first to be much the same. Monarchy was +abolished, and France declared a Republic (Sept. 21). Office +continued in the hands of the Gironde; but the vehement, +uncompromising spirit of their rivals, the so-called party of the +Mountain, quickly made itself felt in all the relations of France +to foreign Powers. The intention of conquest might still be +disavowed, as it had been five months before; but were the +converts to liberty to be denied the right of uniting themselves +to the French people by their own free will? When the armies of +the Republic had swept its assailants from the border-provinces +that gave them entrance into France, were those provinces to be +handed back to a government of priests and nobles? The scruples +which had condemned all annexation of territory vanished in that +orgy of patriotism which followed the expulsion of the invader +and the discovery that the Revolution was already a power in +other lands than France. The nation that had to fight the battle +of European freedom must appeal to the spirit of freedom wherever +it would answer the call: the conflict with sovereigns must be +maintained by arming their subjects against them in every land. +In this conception of the universal alliance of the nations, the +Governments with which France was not yet at war were scarcely +distinguished from those which had pronounced against her. The +frontier-lines traced by an obsolete diplomacy, the artificial +guarantees of treaties, were of little account against the living +and inalienable sovereignty of the people. To men inflamed with +the passions of 1792 an argument of international law scarcely +conveyed more meaning than to Peter the Hermit. Among the +statesmen of other lands, who had no intention of abandoning all +the principles recognised as the public right of Europe, the +language now used by France could only be understood as the +avowal of indiscriminate aggression.</p> +<p>[The neighbors of France.]</p> +<p>The Revolution had displayed itself in France as a force of +union as well as of division. It had driven the nobles across the +frontier; it had torn the clergy from their altars; but it had +reconciled sullen Corsica; and by abolishing feudal rights it had +made France the real fatherland of the Teutonic peasant in Alsace +and Lorraine. It was now about to prove its attractive power in +foreign lands. At the close of the last century the nationalities +of Europe were far less consolidated than they are at present; +only on the Spanish and the Swiss frontier had France a neighbour +that could be called a nation. On the north, what is now the +kingdom of Belgium was in 1792 a collection of provinces subject +to the House of Austria. The German population both of the +districts west of the Rhine and of those opposite to Alsace was +parcelled out among a number of petty principalities. Savoy, +though west of the chain of the Alps and French in speech, formed +part of the kingdom of Piedmont, which was itself severed by +history and by national character from the other States of +Northern Italy. Along the entire frontier, from Dunkirk to the +Maritime Alps, France nowhere touched a strong, united, and +independent people; and along this entire frontier, except in the +country opposite Alsace, the armed proselytism of the French +Revolution proved a greater force than the influences on which +the existing order of things depended. In the Low Countries, in +the Principalities of the Rhine, in Switzerland, in Savoy, in +Piedmont itself, the doctrines of the Revolution were welcomed by +a more or less numerous class, and the armies of France appeared, +though but for a moment, as the missionaries of liberty and right +rather than as an invading enemy.</p> +<p>[Custine enters Mainz, Oct. 20.]</p> +<p>No sooner had Brunswick been brought to a stand by Dumouriez +at Valmy than a French division under Custine crossed the +Alsatian frontier and advanced upon Spires, where Brunswick had +left large stores of war. The garrison was defeated in an +encounter outside the town; Spires and Worms surrendered to +Custine. In the neighbouring fortress of Mainz, the key to +Western Germany, Custine's advance was watched by a republican +party among the inhabitants, from whom the French general learnt +that he had only to appear before the city to become its master. +Brunswick had indeed apprehended the failure of his invasion of +France, but he had never given a thought to the defence of +Germany; and, although the King of Prussia had been warned of the +defenceless state of Mainz, no steps had been taken beyond the +payment of a sum of money for the repair of the fortifications, +which money the Archbishop expended in the purchase of a wood +belonging to himself and the erection of a timber patchwork. On +news arriving of the capture of Spires, the Archbishop fled, +leaving the administration to the Dean, the Chancellor, and the +Commandant. The Chancellor made a speech, calling upon his +"beloved brethren" the citizens to defend themselves to the last +extremity, and daily announced the overthrow of Dumouriez and the +approaching entry of the Allies into Paris, until Custine's +soldiers actually came into sight. <a name="FNanchor21"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_21"><sup>[21]</sup></a> Then a council of war +declared the city to be untenable; and before Custine had brought +up a single siege-gun the garrison capitulated, and the French +were welcomed into Mainz by the partisans of the Republic (Oct. +20). With the French arms came the French organisation of +liberty. A club was formed on the model of the Jacobin Club of +Paris; existing officers and distinctions of rank were abolished; +and although the mass of the inhabitants held aloof, a Republic +was finally proclaimed, and incorporated with the Republic of +France.</p> +<p>[Dumouriez invades the Netherlands.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Jemappes, Nov. 6.]</p> +<p>The success of Custine's raid into Germany did not divert the +Convention from the design of attacking Austria in the +Netherlands, which Dumouriez had from the first pressed upon the +Government. It was not three years since the Netherlands had been +in revolt against the Emperor Joseph. In its origin the revolt +was a reactionary movement of the clerical party against Joseph's +reforms; but there soon sprang up ambitions and hopes at variance +with the first impulses of the insurrection; and by the side of +monks and monopolists a national party came into existence, +proclaiming the sovereignty of the people, and imitating all the +movements of the French Revolution. During the brief suspension +of Austrian rule the popular and the reactionary parties attacked +one another; and on the restoration of Leopold's authority in +1791 the democratic leaders, with a large body of their +followers, took refuge beyond the frontier, looking forward to +the outbreak of war between Austria and France. Their partisans +formed a French connection in the interior of the country; and by +some strange illusion, the priests themselves and the close +corporations which had been attacked by Joseph supposed that +their interests would be respected by Revolutionary France. <a +name="FNanchor22"> </a><a href="#Footnote_22"><sup>[22]</sup></a> +Thus the ground was everywhere prepared for a French invasion. +Dumouriez crossed the frontier. The border fortresses no longer +existed; and after a single battle won by the French at Jemappes +on the 6th of November, <a name="FNanchor23"> </a><a href="#Footnote_23"><sup>[23]</sup></a> the Austrians, finding the +population universally hostile, abandoned the Netherlands without +a struggle.</p> +<p>[Nice and Savoy annexed.]</p> +<p>[Decree of Dec. 15.]</p> +<p>The victory of Jemappes, the first pitched battle won by the +Republic, excited an outburst of revolutionary fervour in the +Convention which deeply affected the relations of France to Great +Britain, hitherto a neutral spectator of the war. A manifesto was +published declaring that the French nation offered its alliance +to all peoples who wished to recover their freedom, and charging +the generals of the Republic to give their protection to all +persons who might suffer in the cause of liberty (Nov. 19). A +week later Savoy and Nice were annexed to France, the population +of Savoy having declared in favour of France and Sardinia. On the +15th of December the Convention proclaimed that social and +political revolution was henceforth to accompany every movement +of its armies on foreign soil. "In every country that shall be +occupied by the armies of the French Republic"-such was the +substance of the Decree of December 15th-"the generals shall +announce the abolition of all existing authorities; of nobility, +of serfage, of every feudal right and every monopoly; they shall +proclaim the sovereignty of the people, and convoke the +inhabitants in assemblies to form a provisional Government, to +which no officer of a former Government, no noble, nor any member +of the former privileged corporations shall be eligible. They +shall place under the charge of the French Republic all property +belonging to the Sovereign or his adherents, and the property of +every civil or religious corporation. The French nation will +treat as enemies any people which, refusing liberty and equality, +desires to preserve its prince and privileged castes, or to make +any accommodation with them."</p> +<p>[England arms.]</p> +<p>[The Schelde.]</p> +<p>[Execution of Louis XVI., Jan. 21, 1793.]</p> +<p>This singular announcement of a new crusade caused the +Government of Great Britain to arm. Although the decree of the +Convention related only to States with which France was at war, +the Convention had in fact formed connections with the English +revolutionary societies; and the French Minister of Marine +informed his sailors that they were about to carry fifty thousand +caps of liberty to their English brethren. No prudent statesman +would treat a mere series of threats against all existing +authorities as ground for war; but the acts of the French +Government showed that it intended to carry into effect the +violent interference in the affairs of other nations announced in +its manifestoes. Its agents were stirring up dissatisfaction in +every State; and although the annexation of Savoy and the +occupation of the Netherlands might be treated as incidental to +the conflict with Austria and Sardinia, in which Great Britain +had pledged itself to neutrality, other acts of the Convention +were certainly infringements of the rights of allies of England. +A series of European treaties, oppressive according to our own +ideas, but in keeping with the ideas of that age, prohibited the +navigation of the River Schelde, on which Antwerp is situated, in +order that the commerce of the North Sea might flow exclusively +into Dutch ports. On the conquest of Belgium the French +Government gave orders to Dumouriez to send a flotilla down the +river, and to declare Antwerp an open port in right of the law of +nature, which treaties cannot abrogate. Whatever the folly of +commercial restraints, the navigation of the Schelde was a +question between the Antwerpers and the Dutch, and one in which +France had no direct concern. The incident, though trivial, was +viewed in England as one among many proofs of the intention of +the French to interfere with the affairs of neighbouring States +at their pleasure. In ordinary times it would not have been easy +to excite much interest in England on behalf of a Dutch monopoly; +but the feeling of this country towards the French Revolution had +been converted into a passionate hatred by the massacres of +September, and by the open alliance between the Convention and +the Revolutionary societies in England itself. Pitt indeed, whom +the Parisians imagined to be their most malignant enemy, laboured +against the swelling national passion, and hoped against all hope +for peace. Not only was Pitt guiltless of the desire to add this +country to the enemies of France, but he earnestly desired to +reconcile France with Austria, in order that the Western States, +whose embroilment left Eastern Europe at the mercy of Catherine +of Russia, might unite to save both Poland and Turkey from +falling into the hands of a Power whose steady aggression +threatened Europe more seriously than all the noisy and outspoken +excitement of the French Convention. Pitt, moreover, viewed with +deep disapproval the secret designs of Austria and Prussia. <a +name="FNanchor24"> </a><a href="#Footnote_24"><sup>[24]</sup></a> +If the French executive would have given any assurance that the +Netherlands should not be annexed, or if the French ambassador, +Chauvelin, who was connected with English plotters, had been +superseded by a trustworthy negotiator, it is probable that peace +might have been preserved. But when, on the execution of King +Louis (Jan. 21, 1793), Chauvelin was expelled from England as a +suspected alien, war became a question of days. <a name="FNanchor25"> </a><a href="#Footnote_25"><sup>[25]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Holland and Mediterranean States enter the war.]</p> +<p>[War with England, Feb. 1st, 1793.]</p> +<p>Points of technical right figured in the complaints of both +sides; but the real ground of war was perfectly understood. +France considered itself entitled to advance the Revolution and +the Rights of Man wherever its own arms or popular insurrection +gave it the command. England denied the right of any Power to +annul the political system of Europe at its pleasure. No more +serious, no more sufficient, ground of war ever existed between +two nations; yet the event proved that, with the highest +justification for war, the highest wisdom would yet have chosen +peace. England's entry into the war converted it from an affair +of two or three campaigns into a struggle of twenty years, +resulting in more violent convulsions, more widespread misery, +and more atrocious crimes, than in all probability would have +resulted even from the temporary triumph of the revolutionary +cause in 1793. But in both nations political passion welcomed +impending calamity; and the declaration of war by the Convention +on February 1st only anticipated the desire of the English +people. Great Britain once committed to the struggle, Pitt spared +neither money nor intimidation in his efforts to unite all Europe +against France. Holland was included with England in the French +declaration of war. The Mediterranean States felt that the navy +of England was nearer to them than the armies of Austria and +Prussia; and before the end of the summer of 1793, Spain, +Portugal, Naples, Tuscany, and the Papal States had joined the +Coalition.</p> +<p>[French wrongly think England inclined to revolution.]</p> +<p>The Jacobins of Paris had formed a wrong estimate of the +political condition of England. At the outbreak of the war they +believed that England itself was on the verge of revolution. They +mistook the undoubted discontent of a portion of the middle and +lower classes, which showed itself in the cry for parliamentary +reform, for a general sentiment of hatred towards existing +institutions, like that which in France had swept away the old +order at a single blow. The Convention received the addresses of +English Radical societies, and imagined that the abuses of the +parliamentary system under George III. had alienated the whole +nation. What they had found in Belgium and in Savoy-a people +thankful to receive the Rights of Man from the soldiers of the +Revolution-they expected to find among the dissenting +congregations of London and the factory-hands of Sheffield. The +singular attraction exercised by each class in England upon the +one below it, as well as the indifference of the nation generally +to all ideals, was little understood in France, although the +Revolutions of the two countries bore this contrast on their +face. A month after the fall of the Bastille, the whole system of +class-privilege and monopoly had vanished from French law; +fifteen years of the English Commonwealth had left the structure +of English society what it had been at the beginning. But +political observation vanished in the delirium of 1793; and the +French only discovered, when it was too late, that in Great +Britain the Revolution had fallen upon an enemy of unparalleled +stubbornness and inexhaustible strength.</p> +<p>[The Whigs not democratic.]</p> +<p>[Political condition of England.]</p> +<p>In the first Assembly of the Revolution it was usual to speak +of the English as free men whom the French ought to imitate; in +the Convention it was usual to speak of them as slaves whom the +French ought to deliver. The institutions of England bore in fact +a very different aspect when compared with the absolute monarchy +of the Bourbons and when compared with the democracy of 1793. +Frenchmen who had lived under the government of a Court which +made laws by edict and possessed the right to imprison by +letters-patent looked with respect upon the Parliament of +England, its trial by jury, and its freedom of the press. The men +who had sent a king to prison and confiscated the estates of a +great part of the aristocracy could only feel compassion for a +land where three-fourths of the national representatives were +nominees of the Crown or of wealthy peers. Nor, in spite of the +personal sympathy of Fox with the French revolutionary movement, +was there any real affinity between the English Whig party and +that which now ruled in the Convention. The event which fixed the +character of English liberty during the eighteenth century, the +Revolution of 1688, had nothing democratic in its nature. That +revolution was directed against a system of Roman Catholic +despotism; it gave political power not to the mass of the nation, +which had no desire and no capacity to exercise it, but to a +group of noble families and their retainers, who, during the +reigns of the first two Georges, added all the patronage and +influence of the Crown to their social and constitutional weight +in the country. The domestic history of England since the +accession of George III. had turned chiefly upon the obstinate +struggle of this monarch to deliver himself from all dependence +upon party. The divisions of the Whigs, their jealousies, but, +above all, their real alienation from the mass of the people +whose rights they professed to defend, ultimately gave the King +the victory, when, after twenty years of errors, be found in the +younger Pitt a Minister capable of uniting the interests of the +Crown with the ablest and most patriotic liberal statesmanship. +Bribes, threats, and every species of base influence had been +employed by King George to break up the great Coalition of 1783, +which united all sections of the Whigs against him under the +Ministry of Fox and North; but the real support of Pitt, whom the +King placed in office with a minority in the House of Commons, +was the temper of the nation itself, wearied with the +exclusiveness, the corruption, and the party-spirit of the Whigs, +and willing to believe that a popular Minister, even if he had +entered upon power unconstitutionally, might do more for the +country than the constitutional proprietors of the rotten +boroughs.</p> +<p>[Pitt Minister, 1783.]</p> +<p>[Effect of French Revolution on English Parties.]</p> +<p>From 1783 down to the outbreak of the French Revolution, Pitt, +as a Tory Minister confronted by a Whig Opposition, governed +England on more liberal principles than any statesman who had +held power during the eighteenth century. These years were the +last of the party-system of England in its original form. The +French Revolution made an end of that old distinction in which +the Tory was known as the upholder of Crown-prerogative and the +Whig as the supporter of a constitutional oligarchy of great +families. It created that new political antagonism in which, +whether under the names of Whig and Tory, or of Liberal and +Conservative, two great parties have contended, one for a series +of beneficial changes, the other for the preservation of the +existing order. The convulsions of France and the dread of +revolutionary agitation in England transformed both Pitt and the +Whigs by whom he was opposed. Pitt sacrificed his schemes of +peaceful progress to foreign war and domestic repression, and set +his face against the reform of Parliament which he had once +himself proposed. The Whigs broke up into two sections, led +respectively by Burke and by Fox, the one denouncing the violence +of the Revolution, and ultimately uniting itself with Pitt; the +other friendly to the Revolution, in spite of its excesses, as +the cause of civil and religious liberty, and identifying itself, +under the healthy influence of parliamentary defeat and +disappointment, with the defence of popular rights in England and +the advocacy of enlightened reform.</p> +<p>[Burke's "Reflections," Oct. 1790.]</p> +<p>[Most of the Whigs support Pitt against France.]</p> +<p>The obliteration of the old dividing-line in English politics +may be said to date from the day when the ancient friendship of +Burke and Fox was bitterly severed by the former in the House of +Commons (May 6, 1791). The charter of the modern Conservative +party was that appeal to the nation which Burke had already +published, in the autumn of 1790, under the title of "Reflections +on the French Revolution." In this survey of the political forces +which he saw in action around him, the great Whig writer, who in +past times had so passionately defended the liberties of America +and the constitutional tradition of the English Parliament +against the aggression of George III., attacked the Revolution as +a system of violence and caprice more formidable to freedom than +the tyranny of any Crown. He proved that the politicians and +societies of England who had given it their sympathy had given +their sympathy to measures and to theories opposed to every +principle of 1688. Above all, he laid bare that agency of riot +and destructiveness which, even within the first few months of +the Revolution, filled him with presentiment of the calamities +about to fall upon France. Burke's treatise was no dispassionate +inquiry into the condition of a neighbouring state: it was a +denunciation of Jacobinism as fierce and as little qualified by +political charity as were the maledictions of the Hebrew prophets +upon their idolatrous neighbours; and it was intended, like +these, to excite his own countrymen against innovations among +themselves. It completely succeeded. It expressed, and it +heightened, the alarm arising among the Liberal section of the +propertied class, at first well inclined to the Revolution; and, +although the Whigs of the House of Commons pronounced in favour +of Fox upon his first rupture with Burke, the tide of public +feeling, rising higher with every new outrage of the Revolution, +soon invaded the legislature, and carried the bulk of the Whig +party to the side of the Minister, leaving to Fox and his few +faithful adherents the task of maintaining an unheeded protest +against the blind passions of war, and the increasing rigour with +which Pitt repressed every symptom of popular disaffection.</p> +<p>[The Gironde and the Mountain in the Convention.]</p> +<p>[The Gironde and the Commune of Paris.]</p> +<p>The character of violence which Burke traced and condemned in +the earliest acts of the Revolution displayed itself in a much +stronger light after the overthrow of the Monarchy by the +insurrection of August 10th. That event was the work of men who +commanded the Parisian democracy, not the work of orators and +party-leaders in the Assembly. The Girondins had not hesitated to +treat the victory as their own, by placing the great offices of +State, with one exception, in the hands of their leaders; they +instantly found that the real sovereignty lay elsewhere. The +Council of the Commune, or Municipality, of Paris, whose members +had seized their post at the moment of the insurrection, was the +only administrative body that possessed the power to enforce its +commands; in the Ministries of State one will alone made itself +felt, that of Danton, whom the Girondins had unwillingly admitted +to office along with themselves. The massacres of September threw +into full light the powerlessness of the expiring Assembly. For +five successive days it was unable to check the massacres; it was +unable to bring to justice the men who had planned them, and who +called upon the rest of France to follow their example. With the +meeting of the Convention, however, the Girondins, who now +regarded themselves as the legitimate government, and forgot that +they owed office to an insurrection, expected to reduce the +capital to submission. They commanded an overwhelming majority in +the new chamber; they were supported by the middle class in all +the great cities of France. The party of the Mountain embraced at +first only the deputies of Paris, and a group of determined men +who admitted no criticism on the measures which the democracy of +Paris had thought necessary for the Revolution. In the Convention +they were the assailed, not the assailants. Without waiting to +secure themselves by an armed force, the orators of the Gironde +attempted to crush both the Municipality and the deputies who +ruled at the Clubs. They reproached the Municipality with the +murders of September; they accused Robespierre of aiming at the +Dictatorship. It was under the pressure of these attacks that the +party of the Mountain gathered its strength within the +Convention, and that the populace of Paris transferred to the +Gironde the passionate hatred which it had hitherto borne to the +King and the aristocracy. The gulf that lay between the people +and those who had imagined themselves to be its leaders burst +into view. The Girondins saw with dismay that the thousands of +hungry workmen whose victory had placed them in power had fought +for something more tangible than Republican phrases from Tacitus +and Plutarch. On one side was a handful of orators and writers, +steeped in the rhetoric and the commonplace of ancient Rome, and +totally strange to the real duties of government; on the other +side the populace of Paris, such as centuries of despotism, +privilege, and priestcraft had made it: sanguinary, unjust, +vindictive; convulsed since the outbreak of the Revolution with +every passion that sways men in the mass; taught no conception of +progress but the overthrow of authority, and acquainted with no +title to power but that which was bestowed by itself. If the +Girondins were to remain in power, they could do so only by +drawing an army from the departments, or by identifying +themselves with the multitude. They declined to take either +course. Their audience was in the Assembly alone; their support +in the distant provinces. Paris, daily more violent, listened to +men of another stamp. The Municipality defied the Government; the +Mountain answered the threats and invectives of the majority in +the Assembly by displays of popular menace and tumult. In the +eyes of the common people, who after so many changes of +government found themselves more famished and more destitute than +ever, the Gironde was now but the last of a succession of +tyrannies; its statesmen but impostors who stood between the +people and the enjoyment of their liberty.</p> +<p>Among the leaders of the Mountain, Danton aimed at the +creation of a central Revolutionary Government, armed with +absolute powers for the prosecution of the war; and he attacked +the Girondins only when they themselves had rejected his support. +Robespierre, himself the author of little beyond destruction, was +the idol of those whom Rousseau's writings had filled with the +idea of a direct exercise of sovereignty by the people. It was in +the trial of the King that the Gironde first confessed its +submission to the democracy of Paris. The Girondins in their +hearts desired to save the King; they voted for his death with +the hope of maintaining their influence in Paris, and of clearing +themselves from the charge of lukewarmness in the cause of the +Revolution. But the sacrifice was as vain as it was +dishonourable. The populace and the party of the Mountain took +the act in its true character, as an acknowledgment of their own +victory. A series of measures was brought forward providing for +the poorer classes at the expense of the wealthy. The Gironde, +now forced to become the defenders of property, encountered the +fatal charge of deserting the cause of the people; and from this +time nothing but successful foreign warfare could have saved +their party from ruin.</p> +<p>[Defeat and treason of Dumouriez, March, 1793.]</p> +<p>Instead of success came inaction, disaster, and treason. The +army of Flanders lay idle during January and February for want of +provisions and materials of war; and no sooner had Dumouriez +opened the campaign against Holland than he was recalled by +intelligence that the Austrians had fallen upon his lieutenant, +Miranda, at Maestricht, and driven the French army before them. +Dumouriez returned, in order to fight a pitched battle before +Brussels. He attacked the Austrians at Neerwinden (March 18), and +suffered a repulse inconsiderable in itself, but sufficient to +demoralise an army composed in great part of recruits and +National Guards. <a name="FNanchor26"> </a><a href="#Footnote_26"><sup>[26]</sup></a> His defeat laid Flanders open +to the Austrians; but Dumouriez intended that it should inflict +upon the Republic a far heavier blow. Since the execution of the +King, he had been at open enmity with the Jacobins. He now +proposed to the Austrian commander to unite with him in an attack +upon the Convention, and in re-establishing monarchy in France. +The first pledge of Dumouriez's treason was the surrender of +three commissioners sent by the Convention to his camp; the +second was to have been the surrender of the fortress of +Condé. But Dumouriez had overrated his influence with the +army. Plainer minds than his own knew how to deal with a general +who intrigues with the foreigner. Dumouriez's orders were +disregarded; his movements watched; and he fled to the Austrian +lines under the fire of his own soldiers. About thirty officers +and eight hundred men passed with him to the enemy.</p> +<p>[Defeats on the North and East. Revolt of La Vendée, +March, 1793.]</p> +<p>[The Commune crushes the Gironde, June 2.]</p> +<p>The defeat and treason of Dumouriez brought the army of +Austria over the northern frontier. Almost at the same moment +Custine was overpowered in the Palatinate; and the conquests of +the previous autumn, with the exception of Mainz, were lost as +rapidly as they had been won. Custine fell back upon the lines of +Weissenburg, leaving the defence of Mainz to a garrison of 17,000 +men, which, alone among the Republican armies, now maintained its +reputation. In France itself civil war broke out. The peasants of +La Vendée, a district destitute of large towns, and +scarcely touched either by the evils which had produced the +Revolution or by the hopes which animated the rest of France, had +seen with anger the expulsion of the parish priests who refused +to take the oath to the Constitution. A levy of 300,000 men, +which was ordered by the Convention in February, 1793, threw into +revolt the simple Vendeans, who cared for nothing outside their +own parishes, and preferred to fight against their countrymen +rather than to quit their homes. The priests and the Royalists +fanned these village outbreaks into a religious war of the most +serious character. Though poorly armed, and accustomed to return +to their homes as soon as fighting was over, the Vendean +peasantry proved themselves a formidable soldiery in the moment +of attack, and cut to pieces the half-disciplined battalions +which the Government sent against them. On the north, France was +now assailed by the English as well as by the Austrians. The +Allies laid siege to Condé and Valenciennes, and drove the +French army back in disorder at Famars. Each defeat was a blow +dealt to the Government of the Gironde at Paris. With foreign and +civil war adding disaster to disaster, with the general to whom +the Gironde had entrusted the defence of the Republic openly +betraying it to its enemies, the fury of the capital was easily +excited against the party charged with all the misfortunes of +France. A threatening movement of the middle classes in +resistance to a forced loan precipitated the struggle. The +Girondins were accused of arresting the armies of the Republic in +the midst of their conquests, of throwing the frontier open to +the foreigner, and of kindling the civil war of La Vendée. +On the 31st of May a raging mob invaded the Convention. Two days +later the representatives of France were surrounded by the armed +forces of the Commune; the twenty-four leading members of the +Gironde were placed under arrest, and the victory of the Mountain +was completed. <a name="FNanchor27"> </a><a href="#Footnote_27"><sup>[27]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Civil War. The Committee of Public Safety.]</p> +<p>The situation of France, which was serious before, now became +desperate; for the Girondins, escaping from their arrest, called +the departments to arms against Paris. Normandy, Bordeaux, +Marseilles, Lyons, rose in insurrection against the tyranny of +the Mountain, and the Royalists of the south and west threw +themselves into a civil war which they hoped to turn to their own +advantage. But a form of government had now arisen in France well +fitted to cope with extraordinary perils. It was a form of +government in which there was little trace of the constitutional +tendencies of 1789, one that had come into being as the stress of +conflict threw into the background the earlier hopes and efforts +of the Revolution. In the two earlier Assemblies it had been a +fixed principle that the representatives of the people were to +control the Government, but were not to assume executive powers +themselves. After the overthrow of Monarchy on the 10th August, +the Ministers, though still nominally possessed of powers +distinct from the representative body, began to be checked by +Committees of the Convention appointed for various branches of +the public service; and in March, 1793, in order to meet the +increasing difficulties of the war, a Committee of Public Safety +was appointed, charged with the duty of exercising a general +surveillance over the administration. In this Committee, however, +as in all the others, the Gironde were in the majority; and the +twenty-four members who composed it were too numerous a body to +act with effect. The growing ascendancy of the Mountain produced +that concentration of force which the times required. The +Committee was reduced in April to nine members, and in this form +it ultimately became the supreme central power. It was not until +after the revolt of Lyons that the Committee, exchanging Danton's +influence for that of Robespierre, adopted the principle of +Terror which has made the memory of their rule one of the most +sinister in history. Their authority steadily increased. The +members divided among themselves the great branches of +government. One directed the army, another the navy, another +foreign affairs; the signature of three members practically gave +to any measure the force of law, for the Convention accepted and +voted their reports as a matter of course.</p> +<p>[Commissioners of the Convention]</p> +<p>Whilst the Committee gave orders as the supreme executive, +eighty of the most energetic of the Mountain spread themselves +over France, in parties of two and three, with the title of +Commissioners of the Convention, and with powers over-riding +those of all the local authorities. They were originally +appointed for the purpose of hastening on the levy ordered by the +Convention in March, but their powers were gradually extended +over the whole range of administration. Their will was absolute, +their authority supreme. Where the councillors of the Departments +or the municipal officers were good Jacobins, the Commissioners +availed themselves of local machinery; where they suspected their +principles, they sent them to the scaffold, and enforced their +own orders by whatever means were readiest. They censured and +dismissed the generals; one of them even directed the movements +of a fleet at sea. What was lost by waste and confusion and by +the interference of the Commissioners in military movements was +more than counterbalanced by the vigour which they threw into all +the preparations of war, and by the unity of purpose which, at +the price of unsparing bloodshed, they communicated to every +group where Frenchmen met together.</p> +<p>[Local revolutionary system of 1793]</p> +<p>But no individual energy could have sustained these +dictatorships without the support of a popular organisation. All +over France a system of revolutionary government sprang up, which +superseded all existing institutions just as the authority of the +Commissioners of the Convention superseded all existing local +powers. The local revolutionary administration consisted of a +Committee, a Club, and a Tribunal. <a name="FNanchor28"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_28"><sup>[28]</sup></a> In each of 21,000 +communes a committee of twelve was elected by the people, and +entrusted by the Convention, as the Terror gained ground, with +boundless powers of arrest and imprisonment. Popular excitement +was sustained by clubs, where the peasants and labourers +assembled at the close of their day's work, and applauded the +victories or denounced the enemies of the Revolution. A Tribunal +with swift procedure and powers of life and death sat in each of +the largest towns, and judged the prisoners who were sent to it +by the committees of the neighbouring district. Such was the +government of 1793-an executive of uncontrolled power drawn from +the members of a single Assembly, and itself brought into +immediate contact with the poorest of the people in their +assemblies and clubs. The balance of interests which creates a +constitutional system, the security of life, liberty, and +property, which is the essence of every recognised social order, +did not now exist in France. One public purpose, the defence of +the Revolution, became the law before which all others lost their +force. Treating all France like a town in a state of siege, the +Government took upon itself the duty of providing support for the +poorest classes by enactments controlling the sale and possession +of the necessaries of life.</p> +<p>[Law of the Maximum]</p> +<p>The price of corn and other necessaries was fixed; and, when +the traders and producers consequently ceased to bring their +goods to market, the Commissioners of the Convention were +empowered to make requisition of a certain quantity of corn for +every acre of ground. Property was thus placed at the disposal of +the men who already exercised absolute political power. "The +state of France," said Burke, "is perfectly simple. It consists +of but two descriptions, the oppressors and the oppressed." It is +in vain that the attempt has been made to extenuate the atrocious +and senseless cruelties of this time by extolling the great +legislative projects of the Convention, or pleading the dire +necessity of a land attacked on every side by the foreigner, and +rent with civil war. The more that is known of the Reign of +Terror, the more hateful, the meaner and more disgusting is the +picture unveiled. France was saved not by the brutalities, but by +the energy, of the faction that ruled it. It is scarcely too much +to say that the cause of European progress would have been less +injured by the military overthrow of the Republic, by the +severance of the border provinces from France and the restoration +of some shadow of the ancient <i>régime</i>, than by the +traditions of horror which for the next fifty years were +inseparably associated in men's minds with the victory of the +people over established power.</p> +<p>[French disasters, March-Sept., 1793.]</p> +<p>The Revolutionary organisation did not reach its full vigour +till the autumn of 1793, when the prospects of France were at +their worst. Custine, who was brought up from Alsace to take +command of the Army of the North, found it so demoralised that he +was unable to attempt the relief of the fortresses which were now +besieged by the Allies. Condé surrendered to the Austrians +on the 10th of July; Valenciennes capitulated to the Duke of York +a fortnight later. In the east the fortune of war was no better. +An attack made on the Prussian army besieging Mainz totally +failed; and on the 23rd of July this great fortress, which had +been besieged since the middle of April, passed back into the +hands of the Germans. On every side the Republic seemed to be +sinking before its enemies. Its frontier defences had fallen +before the victorious Austrians and English; Brunswick was ready +to advance upon Alsace from conquered Mainz; Lyons and Toulon +were in revolt; La Vendée had proved the grave of the +forces sent to subdue it. It was in this crisis of misfortune +that the Convention placed the entire male population of France +between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five at the disposal of +the Government, and turned the whole country into one great camp +and arsenal of war. Nor was there wanting a mind equal to the +task of giving order to this vast material. The appointment of +Carnot, an officer of engineers, to a seat on the Committee of +Public Safety placed the military administration of France in the +hands of a man who, as an organiser, if not as a strategist, was +soon to prove himself without equal in Europe.</p> +<p>[The Allies seek each their separate ends.]</p> +<p>Nevertheless, it was to the dissensions and to the bad policy +of the Allies more than to the energy of its own Government that +France owed its safety. The object for which the Allies professed +to be carrying on the war, the establishment of a pacific +Government in France, was subordinated to schemes of +aggrandisement, known as the acquisition of just indemnities. +While Prussia, bent chiefly on preventing the Emperor from +gaining Bavaria in exchange for Belgium, kept its own army +inactive on the Rhine, <a name="FNanchor29"> </a><a href="#Footnote_29"><sup>[29]</sup></a> Austria, with the full +approval of Pitt's Cabinet, claimed annexations in Northern +France, as well as Alsace, and treated the conquered town of +Condé as Austrian territory. <a name="FNanchor30"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_30"><sup>[30]</sup></a> Henceforward all the +operations of the northern army were directed to the acquisition +of frontier territory, not to the pursuit and overthrow of the +Republican forces. The war was openly converted from a war of +defence into a war of spoliation. It was a change which mocked +the disinterested professions with which the Allies had taken up +arms; in its military results it was absolutely ruinous. In face +of the immense levies which promised the French certain victory +in a long war, the only hope for the Allies lay in a rapid march +to Paris; they preferred the extreme of division and delay. No +sooner had the advance of their united armies driven Custine from +his stronghold at Famars, than the English commander led off his +forces to besiege Dunkirk, while the Austrians, under Prince +Coburg, proceeded to invest Cambray and Le Quesnoy. The line of +the invaders thus extended from the Channel to Brunswick's posts +at Landau, on the border of Alsace; the main armies were out of +reach of one another, and their strength was diminished by the +corps detached to keep up their communications. The French held +the inner circle; and the advantage which this gave them was well +understood by Carnot, who now inspired the measures of the +Committee. In steadiness and precision the French recruits were +no match for the trained armies of Germany; but the supply of +them was inexhaustible, and Carnot knew that when they were +thrown in sufficient masses upon the enemy their courage and +enthusiasm would make amends for their inexperience. The +successes of the Allies, unbroken from February to August, now +began to alternate with defeats; the flood of invasion was first +slowly and obstinately repelled, then swept away before a +victorious advance.</p> +<p>[York driven from Dunkirk Sept. 8.]</p> +<p>It was on the British commander that the first blow was +struck. The forces that could be detached from the French +Northern army were not sufficient to drive York from before +Dunkirk; but on the Moselle there were troops engaged in watching +an enemy who was not likely to advance; and the Committee did not +hesitate to leave this side of France open to the Prussians in +order to deal a decisive stroke in the north. Before the movement +was noticed by the enemy, Carnot had transported 30,000 men from +Metz to the English Channel; and in the first week of September +the German corps covering York was assailed by General Houchard +with numbers double its own. The Germans were driven back upon +Dunkirk; York only saved his own army from destruction by hastily +raising the siege and abandoning his heavy artillery. The victory +of the French, however, was ill followed up. Houchard was sent +before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and he paid with his life for +his mistakes. Custine had already perished, unjustly condemned +for the loss of Mainz and Valenciennes.</p> +<p>[Commands given to men of the people.]</p> +<p>[Jourdan's victory at Wattignies, Oct 15.]</p> +<p>It was no unimportant change for France when the successors of +Custine and Houchard received their commands from the Committee +of Public Safety. The levelling principle of the Reign of Terror +left its effect on France through its operation in the army, and +through this almost alone. Its executions produced only horror +and reaction; its confiscations were soon reversed; but the +creation of a thoroughly democratic army, the work of the men who +overthrew the Gironde, gave the most powerful and abiding impulse +to social equality in France. The first generals of the +Revolution had been officers of the old army, men, with a few +exceptions, of noble birth, who, like Custine, had enrolled +themselves on the popular side when most of their companions +quitted the country. These generals were connected with the +politicians of the Gironde, and were involved in its fall. The +victory of the Mountain brought men of another type into command. +Almost all the leaders appointed by the Committee of Public +Safety were soldiers who had served in the ranks. In the levies +of 1792 and 1793 the officers of the newly-formed battalions were +chosen by the recruits themselves. Patriotism, energy of +character, acquaintance with warfare, instantly brought men into +prominence. Soldiers of the old army, like Massena, who had +reached middle life with their knapsacks on their backs; lawyers, +like the Breton Moreau; waiters at inns, like Murat, found +themselves at the head of their battalions, and knew that Carnot +was ever watching for genius and ability to call it to the +highest commands. With a million of men under arms, there were +many in whom great natural gifts supplied the want of +professional training. It was also inevitable that at the outset +command should sometimes fall into the hands of mere busy +politicians; but the character of the generals steadily rose as +the Committee gained the ascendancy over a knot of demagogues who +held the War Ministry during the summer of 1793; and by the end +of the year there was scarcely one officer in high command who +had not proved himself worthy of his post. In the investigation +into Houchard's conduct at Dunkirk, Carnot learnt that the +victory had in fact been won by Jourdan, one of the generals of +division. Jourdan had begun life as a common soldier fifteen +years before. Discharged at the end of the American War, he had +set up a draper's shop in Limoges, his native town. He joined the +army a second time on the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, and +the men of his battalion elected him captain. His ability was +noticed; he was made successively general of brigade and general +of division; and, upon the dismissal of Houchard, Carnot summoned +him to the command of the Army of the North. The Austrians were +now engaged in the investment of Maubeuge. On the 15th of October +Jourdan attacked and defeated their covering army at Wattignies. +His victory forced the Austrians to raise the siege, and brought +the campaign to an end for the winter.</p> +<p>[Lyons, Toulon, La Vendée, conquered, Oct.-Dec. +1793.]</p> +<p>Thus successful on the northern frontier, the Republic carried +on war against its internal enemies without pause and without +mercy. Lyons surrendered in October; its citizens were +slaughtered by hundreds in cold blood. Toulon had thrown itself +into the hands of the English, and proclaimed King Louis XVII. It +was besieged by land; but the operations produced no effect until +Napoleon Bonaparte, captain of artillery, planned the capture of +a ridge from which the cannon of the besiegers would command the +English fleet in the harbour. Hood, the British admiral, now +found his position hopeless. He took several thousands of the +inhabitants on board his ships, and put out to sea, blowing up +the French ships which he left in the harbour. Hood had received +the fleet from the Royalists in trust for their King; its +destruction gave England command of the Mediterranean and freed +Naples from fear of attack; and Hood thought too little of the +consequences which his act would bring down upon those of the +inhabitants of Toulon whom he left behind. <a name="FNanchor31"> </a><a href="#Footnote_31"><sup>[31]</sup></a></p> +<p>The horrors that followed the entry of the Republican army +into the city did not prevent Pitt from including among the +subjects of congratulation in the King's Speech of 1794 "the +circumstances attending the evacuation of Toulon." It was perhaps +fortunate for the Royalists in other parts of France that they +failed to receive the assistance of England. Help was promised to +the Vendeans, but it arrived too late. The appearance of Kleber +at the head of the army which had defended Mainz had already +turned the scale. Brave as they were, the Vendeans could not long +resist trained armies. The war of pitched battles ended on the +Loire with the year 1793. It was succeeded by a war of merciless +and systematic destruction on the one side, and of ambush and +surprises on the other.</p> +<p>[Prussia withdrawing from the war on account of Polish +affairs.]</p> +<p>At home the foes of the Republic were sinking; its invaders +were too much at discord with one another to threaten it any +longer with serious danger. Prussia was in fact withdrawing from +the war. It has been seen that when King Frederick William and +the Emperor concerted the autumn campaign of 1792, the +understanding was formed that Prussia, in return for its efforts +against France, should be allowed to seize part of western +Poland, if the Empress Catherine should give her consent. With +this prospect before it, the thoughts of the Prussian Government +had been from the first busied more with Poland, where it hoped +to enter into possession, than with France, where it had only to +fight Austria's battles. Negotiations on the Polish question had +been actively carried on between Berlin and St. Petersburg during +the first months of the war; and in January, 1793, the Empress +Catherine had concluded a Treaty of Partition with King Frederick +William, in virtue of which a Prussian army under General +Möllendorf immediately entered western Poland. It was thought +good policy to keep the terms of this treaty secret from Austria, +as it granted a much larger portion of Poland to Prussia than +Austria was willing that it should receive. Two months passed +before the Austrian Sovereign learnt how he had been treated by +his ally. He then denounced the treaty, and assumed so +threatening an attitude that the Prussians thought it necessary +to fortify the territory that they had seized. <a name="FNanchor32"> </a><a href="#Footnote_32"><sup>[32]</sup></a> The +Ministers who had been outwitted by the Court of Berlin were +dismissed; Baron Thugut, who from the first had prophesied +nothing but evil of the Prussian alliance, was called to power. +The history of this statesman, who for the next eight years +directed the war-policy of Austria, and filled a part in Europe +subordinate only to those of Pitt and Bonaparte, has until a +recent date been drawn chiefly from the representations of his +enemies. Humbly born, scornful and inaccessible, Thugut was +detested by the Viennese aristocracy; the French emigrants hated +and maligned him on account of his indifference to their cause; +the public opinion of Austria held him responsible for +unparalleled military disasters; Prussian generals and +ambassadors, whose reports have formed the basis of Prussian +histories, pictured him as a Satanic antagonist. It was long +believed of Thugut that while ambassador at Constantinople he had +sold the Austrian cypher to the French; that in 1794 he prevented +his master's armies from winning victories because he had +speculated in the French funds; and that in 1799 he occasioned +the murder of the French envoys at Rastadt, in order to recover +documents incriminating himself. Better sources of information +are now opened, and a statesman, jealous, bitter, and +over-reaching, but not without great qualities of character, +stands in the place of the legendary criminal. It is indeed clear +that Thugut's hatred of Prussia amounted almost to mania; it is +also clear that his designs of aggression, formed in the school +of the Emperor Joseph, were fatally in conflict with the +defensive principles which Europe ought to have opposed to the +aggressions of France. Evidence exists that during the eight +years of Thugut's ministry he entertained, together or +successively, projects for the annexation of French Flanders, +Bavaria, Alsace, part of Poland, Venice and Dalmatia, Salzburg, +the Papal Legations, the Republic of Genoa, Piedmont, and Bosnia; +and to this list Tuscany and Savoy ought probably to be added. +But the charges brought against Thugut of underhand dealings with +France, and of the willing abandonment of German interests in +return for compensation to Austria in Italy, rest on insufficient +ground. Though, like every other politician at Vienna and Berlin, +he viewed German affairs not as a matter of nationality but in +subordination to the general interests of his own Court, Thugut +appears to have been, of all the Continental statesmen of that +time, the steadiest enemy of French aggression, and to have +offered the longest resistance to a peace that was purchased by +the cession of German soil. <a name="FNanchor33"> </a><a href="#Footnote_33"><sup>[33]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Victories of Hoche and Pichegru at Wörth and +Weissenburg, Dec. 23, 26.]</p> +<p>Nevertheless, from the moment when Thugut was called to power +the alliance between Austria and Prussia was doomed. Others might +perhaps have averted a rupture; Thugut made no attempt to do so. +The siege of Mainz was the last serious operation of war which +the Prussian army performed. The mission of an Austrian envoy, +Lehrbach, to the Prussian camp in August, 1793, and his +negotiations on the Polish and the Bavarian questions, only +widened the breach between the two Courts. It was known that the +Austrians were encouraging the Polish Diet to refuse the cession +of the provinces occupied by Prussia; and the advisers of King +Frederick William in consequence recommended him to quit the +Rhine, and to place himself at the head of an army in Poland. At +the headquarters of the Allies, between Mainz and the Alsatian +frontier, all was dissension and intrigue. The impetuosity of the +Austrian general, Wurmser, who advanced upon Alsace without +consulting the King, was construed as a studied insult. On the +29th of September, after informing the allied Courts that Prussia +would henceforth take only a subordinate part in the war, King +Frederick William quitted the army, leaving orders with the Duke +of Brunswick to fight no great battle. It was in vain that +Wurmser stormed the lines of Weissenburg (Oct. 13), and +victoriously pushed forward into Alsace. The hopes of a Royalist +insurrection in Strasburg proved illusory. The German sympathies +shown by a portion of the upper and middle classes of Alsace only +brought down upon them a bloody vengeance at the hands of St. +Just, commissioner of the Convention. The peasantry, partly from +hatred of the feudal burdens of the old <i>régime</i>, +partly from fear of St. Just and the guillotine, thronged to the +French camp. In place of the beaten generals came Hoche and +Pichegru: Hoche, lately a common soldier in the Guards, earning +by a humble industry little sums for the purchase of books, now, +at the age of twenty-six, a commander more than a match for the +wrangling veterans of Germany; Pichegru, six years older, also a +man sprung from the people, once a teacher in the military school +of Brienne, afterwards a private of artillery in the American +War. A series of harassing encounters took place during December. +At length, with St. Just cheering on the Alsatian peasants in the +hottest of the fire, these generals victoriously carried the +Austrian positions at Wörth and at Weissenburg (Dec. 23, +26). The Austrian commander declared his army to be utterly +ruined; and Brunswick, who had abstained from rendering his ally +any real assistance, found himself a second time back upon the +Rhine. <a name="FNanchor34"> </a><a href="#Footnote_34"><sup>[34]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Pitt's bargain with Prussia, April, 1794.]</p> +<p>[Revolt of Kosciusko. April, 1794.]</p> +<p>[Möllendorf refuses to help in Flanders.]</p> +<p>The virtual retirement of Prussia from the Coalition was no +secret to the French Government: amongst the Allies it was viewed +in various lights. The Empress Catherine, who had counted on +seeing her troublesome Prussian friend engaged with her detested +French enemy, taunted the King of Prussia with the loss of his +personal honour. Austria, conscious of the antagonism between +Prussian and Austrian interests and of the hollow character of +the Coalition, would concede nothing to keep Prussia in arms. +Pitt alone was willing to make a sacrifice, in order to prevent +the rupture of the alliance. The King of Prussia was ready to +continue the struggle with France if his expenses were paid, but +not otherwise. Accordingly, after Austria had refused to +contribute the small sum which Pitt asked, a bargain was struck +between Lord Malmesbury and the Prussian Minister Haugwitz, by +which Great Britain undertook to furnish a subsidy, provided that +60,000 Prussian troops, under General Möllendorf, were +placed at the disposal of the Maritime Powers. <a name="FNanchor35"> </a><a href="#Footnote_35"><sup>[35]</sup></a> It +was Pitt's intention that the troops which he subsidised should +be massed with Austrian and English forces for the defence of +Belgium: the Prussian Ministry, availing themselves of an +ambiguous expression in the treaty, insisted on keeping them +inactive upon the Upper Rhine. Möllendorf wished to guard +Mainz: other men of influence longed to abandon the alliance with +Austria, and to employ the whole of Prussia's force in Poland. At +the moment when Haugwitz was contracting to place +Möllendorf's army at Pitt's disposal, Poland had risen in +revolt under Kosciusko, and the Russian garrison which occupied +Warsaw had been overpowered and cut to pieces. Catherine called +upon the King of Prussia for assistance; but it was not so much a +desire to rescue the Empress from a momentary danger that excited +the Prussian Cabinet as the belief that her vengeance would now +make an absolute end of what remained of the Polish kingdom. The +prey was doomed; the wisdom of Prussia was to be the first to +seize and drag it to the ground. So large a prospect offered +itself to the Power that should crush Poland during the brief +paralysis of the Russian arms, that, on the first news of the +outbreak, the King's advisers urged him instantly to make peace +with France and to throw his whole strength into the Polish +struggle. Frederick William could not reconcile himself to making +peace with the Jacobins; but he ordered an army to march upon +Warsaw, and shortly afterwards placed himself at its head (May, +1794). When the King, who was the only politician in Prussia who +took an interest in the French war, thus publicly acknowledged +the higher importance of the Polish campaign, his generals upon +the Rhine made it their only object to do nothing which it was +possible to leave undone without actually forfeiting the British +subsidy. Instead of fighting, Möllendorf spent his time in +urging other people to make peace. It was in vain that Malmesbury +argued that the very object of Pitt's bargain was to keep the +French out of the Netherlands: Möllendorf had made up his +mind that the army should not be committed to the orders of Pitt +and the Austrians. He continued in the Palatinate, alleging that +any movement of the Prussian army towards the north would give +the French admittance to southern Germany. Pitt's hope of +defending the Netherlands now rested on the energy and on the +sincerity of the Austrian Cabinet, and on this alone.</p> +<p>[Battles on the Sambre, May-June, 1794.]</p> +<p>After breaking up from winter quarters in the spring of 1794, +the Austrian and English allied forces had successfully laid +siege to Landrecies, and defeated the enemy in its neighbourhood. +<a name="FNanchor36"> </a><a href="#Footnote_36"><sup>[36]</sup></a> Their advance, however, was +checked by a movement of the French Army of the North, now +commanded by Pichegru, towards the Flemish coast. York and the +English troops were exposed to the attack, and suffered a defeat +at Turcoing. The decision of the campaign lay, however, not in +the west of Flanders, but at the other end of the Allies' +position, at Charleroi on the Sambre, where a French victory +would either force the Austrians to fall back eastwards, leaving +York to his fate, or sever their communications with Germany. +This became evident to the French Government; and in May the +Commissioners of the Convention forced the generals on the Sambre +to fight a series of battles, in which the French repeatedly +succeeded in crossing the Sambre, and were repeatedly driven back +again. The fate of the Netherlands depended, however, on +something beside victory or defeat on the Sambre. The Emperor had +come with Baron Thugut to Belgium in the hope of imparting +greater unity and energy to the allied forces, but his presence +proved useless. Among the Austrian generals and diplomatists +there were several who desired to withdraw from the contest in +the Netherlands, and to follow the example of Prussia in Poland. +The action of the army was paralysed by intrigues. "Every one," +wrote Thugut, "does exactly as he pleases: there is absolute +anarchy and disorder." <a name="FNanchor37"> </a><a href="#Footnote_37"><sup>[37]</sup></a> At the beginning of June the +Emperor quitted the army; the combats on the Sambre were taken up +by Jourdan and 50,000 fresh troops brought from the army of the +Moselle; and on the 26th of June the French defeated Coburg at +Fleurus, as he advanced to the relief of Charleroi, unconscious +that Charleroi had surrendered on the day before. Even now the +defence of Belgium was not hopeless; but after one council of war +had declared in favour of fighting, a second determined on a +retreat. It was in vain that the representatives of England +appealed to the good faith and military honour of Austria. Namur +and Louvain were abandoned; the French pressed onwards; and +before the end of July the Austrian army had fallen back behind +the Meuse. York, forsaken by the allies, retired northwards +before the superior forces of Pichegru, who entered Antwerp and +made himself master of the whole of the Netherlands up to the +Dutch frontier. <a name="FNanchor38"> </a><a href="#Footnote_38"><sup>[38]</sup></a></p> +<p>[England disappointed by the Allies.]</p> +<p>Such was the result of Great Britain's well-meant effort to +assist the two great military Powers to defend Europe against the +Revolution. To the aim of the English Minister, the defence of +existing rights against democratic aggression, most of the public +men alike of Austria and Prussia were now absolutely indifferent. +They were willing to let the French seize and revolutionise any +territory they pleased, provided that they themselves obtained +their equivalent in Poland. England was in fact in the position +of a man who sets out to attack a highway robber, and offers each +of his arms to a pickpocket. The motives and conduct of these +politicians were justly enough described by the English statesmen +and generals who were brought into closest contact with them. In +the councils of Prussia, Malmesbury declared that he could find +no quality but "great and shabby art and cunning; ill-will, +jealousy, and every sort of dirty passion." From the head +quarters of Möllendorf he wrote to a member of Pitt's +Cabinet: "Here I have to do with knavery and dotage.... If we +listened only to our feelings, it would be difficult to keep any +measure with Prussia. We must consider it an alliance with the +Algerians, whom it is no disgrace to pay, or any impeachment of +good sense to be cheated by." To the Austrian commander the Duke +of York addressed himself with royal plainness: "Your Serene +Highness, the British nation, whose public opinion is not to be +despised, will consider that it has been bought and sold." <a +name="FNanchor39"> </a><a href="#Footnote_39"><sup>[39]</sup></a></p> +<p>[French reach the Rhine, Oct., 1794.]</p> +<p>[Pichegru conquers Holland, Dec., 1794.]</p> +<p>The sorry concert lasted for a few months longer. Coburg, the +Austrian commander, was dismissed at the peremptory demand of +Great Britain; his successor, Clerfayt, after losing a battle on +the Ourthe, offered no further resistance to the advance of the +Republican army, and the campaign ended in the capture of Cologne +by the French, and the disappearance of the Austrians behind the +Rhine. The Prussian subsidies granted by England resulted in some +useless engagements between Möllendorf's corps in the +Palatinate and a French army double its size, followed by the +retreat of the Prussians into Mainz. It only remained for Great +Britain to attempt to keep the French out of Holland. The defence +of the Dutch, after everything south of the river Waal had been +lost, Pitt determined to entrust to abler hands than those of the +Duke of York; but the presence of one high-born blunderer more or +less made little difference in a series of operations conceived +in indifference and perversity. Clerfayt would not, or could not, +obey the Emperor's orders and succour his ally. City after city +in Holland welcomed the French. The very elements seemed to +declare for the Republic. Pichegru's army marched in safety over +the frozen rivers; and, when the conquest of the land was +completed, his cavalry crowned the campaign by the capture of the +Dutch fleet in the midst of the ice-bound waters of the Texel. +The British regiments, cut off from home, made their way eastward +through the snow towards the Hanoverian frontier, in a state of +prostrate misery which is compared by an eye-witness of both +events to that of the French on their retreat in 1813 after the +battle of Leipzig. <a name="FNanchor40"> </a><a href="#Footnote_40"><sup>[40]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Treaties of Basle with Prussia, April 5, and Spain, July 22, +1795.]</p> +<p>The first act of the struggle between France and the +Monarchies of Europe was concluded. The result of three years of +war was that Belgium, Nice, and Savoy had been added to the +territory of the Republic, and that French armies were in +possession of Holland, and the whole of Germany west of the +Rhine. In Spain and in Piedmont the mountain-passes and some +extent of country had been won. Even on the seas, in spite of the +destruction of the fleet at Toulon, and of a heavy defeat by Lord +Howe off Ushant on the 1st of June, 1794, the strength of France +was still formidable; and the losses which she inflicted on the +commercial marine of her enemies exceeded those which she herself +sustained. England, which had captured most of the French West +Indian Islands, was the only Power that had wrested anything from +the Republic. The dream of suppressing the Revolution by force of +arms had vanished away; and the States which had entered upon the +contest in levity, in fanaticism, or at the bidding of more +powerful allies, found it necessary to make peace upon such terms +as they could obtain. Holland, in which a strong Republican party +had always maintained connection with France, abolished the rule +of its Stadtholder, and placed its resources at the disposal of +its conquerors. Sardinia entered upon abortive negotiations. +Spain, in return for peace, ceded to the Republic the Spanish +half of St. Domingo (July 22, 1795). Prussia concluded a Treaty +at Basle (April 5), which marked and perpetuated the division of +Germany by providing that, although the Empire as a body was +still at war with France, the benefit of Prussia's neutrality +should extend to all German States north of a certain line. A +secret article stipulated that, upon the conclusion of a general +peace, if the Empire should cede to France the principalities +west of the Rhine, Prussia should cede its own territory lying in +that district, and receive compensation elsewhere. <a name="FNanchor41"> </a><a href="#Footnote_41"><sup>[41]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Austria and England continue the war, 1795.]</p> +<p>Humiliating such a peace certainly was; yet it would probably +have been the happiest issue for Europe had every Power been +forced to accept its conditions. The territory gained by France +was not much more than the very principle of the Balance of Power +would have entitled it to demand, at a moment when Russia, +victorious over the Polish rebellion, was proceeding to make the +final partition of Poland among the three Eastern Monarchies; +and, with all its faults, the France of 1795 would have offered +to Europe the example of a great free State, such as the growth +of the military spirit made impossible after the first of +Napoleon's campaigns. But the dark future was withdrawn from the +view of those British statesmen who most keenly felt the evils of +the present; and England, resolutely set against the course of +French aggression, still found in Austria an ally willing to +continue the struggle. The financial help of Great Britain, the +Russian offer of a large share in the spoils of Poland, +stimulated the flagging energy of the Emperor's government. +Orders were sent to Clerfayt to advance from the Rhine at +whatever risk, in order to withdraw the troops of the Republic +from the west of France, where England was about to land a body +of Royalists. Clerfayt, however, disobeyed his instructions, and +remained inactive till the autumn. He then defeated a French army +pushing beyond the Rhine, and drove back the besiegers of Mainz; +but the British expedition had already failed, and the time was +passed when Clerfayt's successes might have produced a decisive +result. <a name="FNanchor42"> </a><a href="#Footnote_42"><sup>[42]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Landing at Quiberon, June 27, 1795.]</p> +<p>[France in 1795.]</p> +<p>A new Government was now entering upon power in France. The +Reign of Terror had ended in July, 1794, with the life of +Robespierre. The men by whom Robespierre was overthrown were +Terrorists more cruel and less earnest than himself, who attacked +him only in order to save their own lives, and without the least +intention of restoring a constitutional Government to France. An +overwhelming national reaction forced them, however, to represent +themselves as the party of clemency. The reaction was indeed a +simple outburst of human feeling rather than a change in +political opinion. Among the victims of the Terror the great +majority had been men of the lower or middle class, who, except +in La Vendée and Brittany, were as little friendly to the +old <i>régime</i> as their executioners. Every class in +France, with the exception of the starving city mobs, longed for +security, and the quiet routine of life. After the disorders of +the Republic a monarchical government naturally seemed to many +the best guarantee of peace; but the monarchy so contemplated was +the liberal monarchy of 1791, not the ancient Court, with its +accessories of a landed Church and privileged noblesse. Religion +was still a power in France; but the peasant, with all his +superstition and all his desire for order, was perfectly free +from any delusions about the good old times. He liked to see his +children baptised; but he had no desire to see the priest's +tithe-collector back in his barn: he shuddered at the summary +marketing of Conventional Commissioners; but he had no wish to +resume his labours on the fields of his late seigneur. To be a +Monarchist in 1795, among the shopkeepers of Paris or the farmers +of Normandy, meant no more than to wish for a political system +capable of subsisting for twelve months together, and resting on +some other basis than forced loans and compulsory sales of +property. But among the men of the Convention, who had abolished +monarchy and passed sentence of death upon the King, the +restoration of the Crown seemed the bitterest condemnation of all +that the Convention had done for France, and a sentence of +outlawry against themselves. If the will of the nation was for +the moment in favour of a restored monarchy, the Convention +determined that its will must be overpowered by force or thwarted +by constitutional forms. Threatened alternately by the Jacobin +mob of Paris and by the Royalist middle class, the Government +played off one enemy against the other, until an ill-timed effort +of the emigrant noblesse gave to the Convention the prestige of a +decisive victory over Royalists and foreigners combined. On the +27th of June, 1795, an English fleet landed the flower of the old +nobility of France at the Bay of Quiberon in southern Brittany. +It was only to give one last fatal proof of their incapacity that +these unhappy men appeared once more on French soil. Within three +weeks after their landing, in a region where for years together +the peasantry, led by their landlords, baffled the best generals +of the Republic, this invading army of the nobles, supported by +the fleet, the arms, and the money of England, was brought to +utter ruin by the discord of its own leaders. Before the nobles +had settled who was to command and who was to obey, General Hoche +surprised their fort, beat them back to the edge of the peninsula +where they had landed, and captured all who were not killed +fighting or rescued by English boats (July 20). The Commissioner +Tallien, in order to purge himself from the just suspicion of +Royalist intrigues, caused six hundred prisoners to be shot in +cold blood. <a name="FNanchor43"> </a><a href="#Footnote_43"><sup>[43]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Project of Constitution, 1795.]</p> +<p>At the moment when the emigrant army reached France, the +Convention was engaged in discussing the political system which +was to succeed its own rule. A week earlier, the Committee +appointed to draw up a new constitution for France had presented +its report. The main object of the new constitution in its +original form was to secure France against a recurrence of those +evils which it had suffered since 1792. The calamities of the +last three years were ascribed to the sovereignty of a single +Assembly. A vote of the Convention had established the +Revolutionary Tribunal, proscribed the Girondins, and placed +France at the mercy of eighty individuals selected by the +Convention from itself. The legislators of 1795 desired a +guarantee that no party, however determined, should thus destroy +its enemies by a single law, and unite supreme legislative and +executive power in its own hands. With the object of dividing +authority, the executive was, in the new draft-constitution, made +independent of the legislature, and the legislature itself was +broken up into two chambers. A Directory of five members, chosen +by the Assemblies, but not responsible except under actual +impeachment, was to conduct the administration, without the right +of proposing laws; a Chamber of five hundred was to submit laws +to the approval of a Council of two hundred and fifty Ancients, +or men of middle life; but neither of these bodies was to +exercise any influence upon the actual government. One director +and a third part of each of the legislative bodies were to retire +every year. <a name="FNanchor44"> </a><a href="#Footnote_44"><sup>[44]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Constitution of 1795. Insurrection of Vendémiaire, +Oct. 4.]</p> +<p>The project thus outlined met with general approval, and +gained even that of the Royalists, who believed that a popular +election would place them in a majority in the two new +Assemblies. Such an event was, however, in the eyes of the +Convention, the one fatal possibility that must be averted at +every cost. In the midst of the debates upon the +draft-constitution there arrived the news of Hoche's victory at +Quiberon. The Convention gained courage to add a clause providing +that two-thirds of the new deputies should be appointed from +among its own members, thus rendering a Royalist majority in the +Chambers impossible. With this condition attached to it, the +Constitution was laid before the country. The provinces accepted +it; the Royalist middle class of Paris rose in insurrection, and +marched against the Convention in the Tuileries. Their revolt was +foreseen; the defence of the Convention was entrusted to General +Bonaparte, who met the attack of the Parisians in a style unknown +in the warfare of the capital. Bonaparte's command of trained +artillery secured him victory; but the struggle of the 4th of +October (13 Vendémiaire) was the severest that took place +in Paris during the Revolution, and the loss of life in fighting +greater than on the day that overthrew the Monarchy.</p> +<p>[The Directory, Oct., 1795.]</p> +<p>The new Government of France now entered into power. Members +of the Convention formed two-thirds of the new legislative +bodies; the one-third which the country was permitted to elect +consisted chiefly of men of moderate or Royalist opinions. The +five persons who were chosen Directors were all Conventionalists +who had voted for the death of the King; Carnot, however, who had +won the victories without sharing in the cruelties of the Reign +of Terror, was the only member of the late Committee of Public +Safety who was placed in power. In spite of the striking homage +paid to the great act of regicide in the election of the five +Directors, the establishment of the Directory was accepted by +Europe as the close of revolutionary disorder. The return of +constitutional rule in France was marked by a declaration on the +part of the King of England of his willingness to treat for +peace. A gentler spirit seemed to have arisen in the Republic. +Although the laws against the emigrants and non-juring priests +were still unrepealed, the exiles began to return unmolested to +their homes. Life resumed something of its old aspect in the +capital. The rich and the gay consoled themselves with costlier +luxury for all the austerities of the Reign of Terror. The +labouring classes, now harmless and disarmed, were sharply taught +that they must be content with such improvement in their lot as +the progress of society might bring.</p> +<p>[What was new to Europe in the Revolution.]</p> +<p>[Absolute governments of 18th century engaged in reforms.]</p> +<p>At the close of this first period of the Revolutionary War we +may pause to make an estimate of the new influences which the +French Revolution had brought into Europe, and of the effects +which had thus far resulted from them. The opinion current among +the French people themselves, that the Revolution gave birth to +the modern life not of France only but of the Western Continent +generally, is true of one great set of facts; it is untrue of +another. There were conceptions in France in 1789 which made +France a real contrast to most of the Continental monarchies; +there were others which it shared in common with them. The ideas +of social, legal, and ecclesiastical reform which were realised +in 1789 were not peculiar to France; what was peculiar to France +was the idea that these reforms were to be effected by the nation +itself. In other countries reforms had been initiated by +Governments, and forced upon an unwilling people. Innovation +sprang from the Crown; its agents were the servants of the State. +A distinct class of improvements, many of them identical with the +changes made by the Revolution in France, attracted the attention +in a greater or less degree of almost all the Western Courts of +the eighteenth century. The creation of a simple and regular +administrative system; the reform of the clergy; the emancipation +of the Church from the jurisdiction of the Pope, and of all +orders in the State from the jurisdiction of the Church; the +amelioration of the lot of the peasant; the introduction of codes +of law abolishing both the cruelties and the confusion of ancient +practice,-all these were purposes more or less familiar to the +absolute sovereigns of the eighteenth century, whom the French so +summarily described as benighted tyrants. It was in Austria, +Prussia, and Tuscany that the civilising energy of the Crown had +been seen in its strongest form, but even the Governments of +Naples and Spain had caught the spirit of change. The religious +tolerance which Joseph gave to Austria, the rejection of Papal +authority and the abolition of the punishment of death which +Leopold effected in Tuscany, were bolder efforts of the same +political rationalism which in Spain minimised the powers of the +Inquisition and in Naples attempted to found a system of public +education. In all this, however, there was no trace of the action +of the people, or of any sense that a nation ought to raise +itself above a state of tutelage. Men of ideas called upon +Governments to impose better institutions upon the people, not +upon the people to wrest them from the Governments.</p> +<p>[In France, the nation itself acted.]</p> +<p>In France alone a view of public affairs had grown up which +impelled the nation to create its reforms for itself. If the +substance of many of the French revolutionary changes coincided +with the objects of Austrian or of Tuscan reform, there was +nothing similar in their method. In other countries reform sprang +from the command of an enlightened ruler; in France it started +with the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and aimed at the +creation of local authority to be exercised by the citizens +themselves. The source of this difference lay partly in the +influence of England and America upon French opinion, but much +more in the existence within France of a numerous and energetic +middle class, enriched by commerce, and keenly interested in all +the speculation and literary activity of the age. This was a +class that both understood the wrongs which the other classes +inflicted or suffered, and felt itself capable of redressing +them. For the flogged and over-driven peasant in Naples or +Hungary no ally existed but the Crown. In most of those poor and +backward States which made up monarchical Europe, the fraction of +the inhabitants which neither enjoyed privilege nor stood in +bondage to it was too small to think of forcing itself into +power. The nobles sought to preserve their feudal rights: the +Crown sought to reduce them; the nation, elsewhere than in +France, did not intervene and lay hands upon power for itself, +because the nation was nothing but the four mutually exclusive +classes of the landlords who commanded, the peasants who served, +the priests who idled, and the soldiers who fought. France +differed from all the other monarchies of the Continent in +possessing a public which blended all classes and was dominated +by none; a public comprehending thousands of men who were +familiar with the great interests of society, and who, whether +noble or not noble, possessed the wealth and the intelligence +that made them rightly desire a share in power.</p> +<p>[Movements against governments outside France.]</p> +<p>Liberty, the right of the nation to govern itself, seemed at +the outset to be the great principle of the Revolution. The +French people themselves believed the question at issue to be +mainly between authority and popular right; the rest of Europe +saw the Revolution under the same aspect. Hence, in those +countries where the example of France produced political +movements, the effect was in the first instance to excite +agitation against the Government, whatever might be the form of +the latter. In England the agitation was one of the middle class +against the aristocratic parliamentary system; in Hungary, it was +an agitation of the nobles against the Crown; on the Rhine it was +an agitation of the commercial classes against ecclesiastical +rule. But in every case in which the reforming movement was not +supported by the presence of French armies, the terrors which +succeeded the first sanguine hopes of the Revolution struck the +leaders of these movements with revulsion and despair, and +converted even the better Governments into engines of reaction. +In France itself it was seen that the desire for liberty among an +enlightened class could not suddenly transform the habits of a +nation accustomed to accept everything from authority. Privilege +was destroyed, equality was advanced; but instead of +self-government the Revolution brought France the most absolute +rule it had ever known. It was not that the Revolution had swept +by, leaving things where they were before: it had in fact +accomplished most of those great changes which lay the foundation +of a sound social life: but the faculty of self-government, the +first condition of any lasting political liberty, remained to be +slowly won.</p> +<p>[Reaction.]</p> +<p>Outside France reaction set in without the benefit of previous +change. At London, Vienna, Naples, and Madrid, Governments gave +up all other objects in order to devote themselves to the +suppression of Jacobinism. Pitt, whose noble aims had been the +extinction of the slave-trade, the reform of Parliament, and the +advance of national intercourse by free trade, surrendered +himself to men whose thoughts centred upon informers, Gagging +Acts, and constructive treasons, and who opposed all legislation +upon the slave-trade because slaves had been freed by the +Jacobins of the Convention. State trials and imprisonments became +the order of the day; but the reaction in England at least +stopped short of the scaffold. At Vienna and Naples fear was more +cruel. The men who either were, or affected to be, in such fear +of revolution that they discovered a Jacobinical allegory in +Mozart's last opera, <a name="FNanchor45"> </a><a href="#Footnote_45"><sup>[45]</sup></a> did not spare life when the +threads of anything like a real conspiracy were placed in their +hands. At Vienna terror was employed to crush the constitutional +opposition of Hungary to the Austrian Court. In Naples a long +reign of cruelty and oppression began with the creation of a +secret tribunal to investigate charges of conspiracy made by +informers. In Mainz, the Archbishop occupied the last years of +his government, after his restoration in 1793, with a series of +brutal punishments and tyrannical precautions.</p> +<p>These were but instances of the effect which the first epoch +of the Revolution produced upon the old European States. After a +momentary stimulus to freedom it threw the nations themselves +into reaction and apathy; it totally changed the spirit of the +better governments, attaching to all liberal ideas the stigma of +Revolution, and identifying the work of authority with resistance +to every kind of reform. There were States in which this change, +the first effect of the Revolution, was also its only one; States +whose history, as in the case of England, is for a whole +generation the history of political progress unnaturally checked +and thrown out of its course. There were others, and these the +more numerous, where the first stimulus and the first reaction +were soon forgotten in new and penetrating changes produced by +the successive victories of France. The nature of these changes, +even more than the warfare which introduced them, gives its +interest to the period on which we are about to enter.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_III."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c3">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Triple attack on Austria-Moreau, Jourdan-Bonaparte in +Italy-Condition of the Italian States-Professions and real +intentions of Bonaparte and the Directory-Battle of +Montenotte-Armistice with Sardinia-Campaign in Lombardy-Treatment +of the Pope, Naples, Tuscany-Siege of Mantua- Castiglione, Moreau +and Jourdan in Germany Their retreat-Secret Treaty with +Prussia-Negotiations with England-Cispadane Republic-Rise of the +idea of Italian Independence-Battles of Arcola and Rivoli-Peace +with the Pope at Tolentino-Venice-Preliminaries of Leoben-The +French in Venice-The French take the Ionian Islands and give +Venice to Austria-Genoa-Coup d'état of 17 Fructidor in +Paris-Treaty of Campo Formio-Victories of England at +sea-Bonaparte's project against Egypt.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Armies of Italy, the Danube, and the Main, 1796.]</p> +<p>With the opening of the year 1796 the leading interest of +European history passes to a new scene. Hitherto the progress of +French victory had been in the direction of the Rhine: the +advance of the army of the Pyrenees had been cut short by the +conclusion of peace with Spain; the army of Italy had achieved +little beyond some obscure successes in the mountains. It was the +appointment of Napoleon Bonaparte to the command of the latter +force, in the spring of 1796, that first centred the fortunes of +the Republic in the land beyond the Alps. Freed from Prussia by +the Treaty of Basle, the Directory was now able to withdraw its +attention from Holland and from the Lower Rhine, and to throw its +whole force into the struggle with Austria. By the advice of +Bonaparte a threefold movement was undertaken against Vienna, by +way of Lombardy, by the valley of the Danube, and by the valley +of the Main. General Jourdan, in command of the army that had +conquered the Netherlands, was ordered to enter Germany by +Frankfort; Moreau crossed the Rhine at Strasburg: Bonaparte +himself, drawing his scanty supplies along the coast-road from +Nice, faced the allied forces of Austria and Sardinia upon the +slopes of the Maritime Apennines, forty miles to the west of +Genoa. The country in which he was about to operate was familiar +to Bonaparte from service there in 1794; his own descent and +language gave him singular advantages in any enterprise +undertaken in Italy. Bonaparte was no Italian at heart; but he +knew at least enough of the Italian nature to work upon its +better impulses, and to attach its hopes, so long as he needed +the support of Italian opinion, to his own career of victory.</p> +<p>[Condition of Italy.]</p> +<p>Three centuries separated the Italy of that day from the +bright and vigorous Italy which, in the glow of its Republican +freedom, had given so much to Northern Europe in art, in letters, +and in the charm of life. A long epoch of subjection to despotic +or foreign rule, of commercial inaction, of decline in mind and +character, had made the Italians of no account among the +political forces of Europe. Down to the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle +in 1748 their provinces were bartered between the Bourbons and +the Hapsburgs; and although the settlement of that date left no +part of Italy, except the Duchy of Milan, incorporated in a +foreign empire, yet the crown of Naples was vested in a younger +branch of the Spanish Bourbons, and the marriage of Maria Theresa +with the Archduke Francis made Tuscany an appanage of the House +of Austria. Venice and Genoa retained their independence and +their republican government, but little of their ancient spirit. +At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Austrian influence was +dominant throughout the peninsula, Marie Caroline, the Queen and +the ruler of Ferdinand of Naples, being the sister of the Emperor +Leopold and Marie Antoinette. With the exception of Piedmont, +which preserved a strong military sentiment and the tradition of +an active and patriotic policy, the Italian States were either, +like Venice and Genoa, anxious to keep themselves out of danger +by seeming to hear and see nothing that passed around them, or +governed by families in the closest connection with the great +reigning Houses of the Continent. Neither in Italy itself, nor in +the general course of European affairs during the Napoleonic +period, was anything determined by the sentiment of the Italian +people. The peasantry at times fought against the French with +energy; but no strong impulse, like that of the Spaniards, +enlisted the upper class of Italians either on the side of +Napoleon or on that of his enemies. Acquiescence and submission +had become the habit of the race; the sense of national unity and +worth, the personal pride which makes the absence of liberty an +intolerable wrong, only entered the Italian character at a later +date.</p> +<p>[Revival after 1740.]</p> +<p>Yet, in spite of its political nullity, Italy was not in a +state of decline. Its worst days had ended before the middle of +the eighteenth century. The fifty years preceding the French +Revolution, if they had brought nothing of the spirit of liberty, +had in all other respects been years of progress and revival. In +Lombardy the government of Maria Theresa and Joseph awoke life +and motion after ages of Spanish torpor and misrule. Traditions +of local activity revived; the communes were encouraged in their +works of irrigation and rural improvement; a singular liberality +towards public opinion and the press made the Austrian +possessions the centre of the intellectual movement of Italy. In +the south, progress began on the day when the last foreign +Viceroy disappeared from Naples (1735), and King Charles III., +though a member of the Spanish House, entered upon the government +of the two Sicilies as an independent kingdom. Venice and the +Papal States alone seemed to be untouched by the spirit of +material and social improvement, so active in the rest of Italy +before the interest in political life had come into being.</p> +<p>Nor was the age without its intellectual distinction. If the +literature of Italy in the second half of the eighteenth century +had little that recalled the inspiration of its splendid youth, +it showed at least a return to seriousness and an interest in +important things. The political economists of Lombardy were +scarcely behind those of England; the work of the Milanese +Beccaria on "Crimes and Punishments" stimulated the reform of +criminal law in every country in Europe; an intelligent and +increasing attention to problems of agriculture, commerce, and +education took the place of the fatuous gallantries and insipid +criticism which had hitherto made up the life of Italians of +birth and culture. One man of genius, Vittorio Alfieri, the +creator of Italian tragedy, idealised both in prose and verse a +type of rugged independence and resistance to tyrannical power. +Alfieri was neither a man of political judgment himself nor the +representative of any real political current in Italy; but the +lesson which he taught to the Italians, the lesson of respect for +themselves and their country, was the one which Italy most of all +required to learn; and the appearance of this manly and energetic +spirit in its literature gave hope that the Italian nation would +not long be content to remain without political being.</p> +<p>[Social condition.]</p> +<p>[Tuscany.]</p> +<p>Italy, to the outside world, meant little more than the ruins +of the Roman Forum, the galleries of Florence, the paradise of +Capri and the Neapolitan coast; the singular variety in its local +conditions of life gained little attention from the foreigner. +There were districts in Italy where the social order was almost +of a Polish type of barbarism; there were others where the rich +and the poor lived perhaps under a happier relation than in any +other country in Europe. The difference depended chiefly upon the +extent to which municipal life had in past time superseded the +feudal order under which the territorial lord was the judge and +the ruler of his own domain. In Tuscany the city had done the +most in absorbing the landed nobility; in Naples and Sicily it +had done the least. When, during the middle ages, the Republic of +Florence forced the feudal lords who surrounded it to enter its +walls as citizens, in some cases it deprived them of all +authority, in others it permitted them to retain a jurisdiction +over their peasants; but even in these instances the sovereignty +of the city deprived the feudal relation of most of its harshness +and force. After the loss of Florentine liberty, the Medici, +aping the custom of older monarchies, conferred the title of +marquis and count upon men who preferred servitude to freedom, +and accompanied the grant of rank with one of hereditary local +authority; but the new institutions took no deep hold on country +life, and the legislation of the first Archduke of the House of +Lorraine (1749) left the landed aristocracy in the position of +mere country gentlemen. <a name="FNanchor46"> </a><a href="#Footnote_46"><sup>[46]</sup></a> Estates were not very large: +the prevalent agricultural system was, as it still is, that of +the <i>mezzeria</i>, a partnership between the landlord and +tenant; the tenant holding by custom in perpetuity, and sharing +the produce with the landlord, who supplied a part of the stock +and materials for farming. In Tuscany the conditions of the +<i>mezzeria</i> were extremely favourable to the tenant; and if a +cheerful country life under a mild and enlightened government +were all that a State need desire, Tuscany enjoyed rare +happiness.</p> +<p>[Naples and Sicily.]</p> +<p>[Piedmont.]</p> +<p>Far different was the condition of Sicily and Naples. Here the +growth of city life had never affected the rough sovereignty +which the barons exercised over great tracts of country withdrawn +from the civilised world. When Charles III. ascended the throne +in 1735, he found whole provinces in which there was absolutely +no administration of justice on the part of the State. The feudal +rights of the nobility were in the last degree oppressive, the +barbarism of the people was in many districts extreme. Out of two +thousand six hundred towns and villages in the kingdom, there +were only fifty that were not subject to feudal authority. In the +manor of San Gennaro di Palma, fifteen miles from Naples, even +down to the year 1786 the officers of the baron were the only +persons who lived in houses; the peasants, two thousand in +number, slept among the corn-ricks. <a name="FNanchor47"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_47"><sup>[47]</sup></a> Charles, during his +tenure of the Neapolitan crown, from 1735 to 1759, and the +Ministers Tanucci and Caraccioli under his feeble successor +Ferdinand IV., enforced the authority of the State in justice and +administration, and abolished some of the most oppressive feudal +rights of the nobility; but their legislation, though bold and +even revolutionary according to an English standard, could not in +the course of two generations transform a social system based +upon centuries of misgovernment and disorder. At the outbreak of +the French Revolution the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was, as it +still in a less degree is, a land of extreme inequalities of +wealth and poverty, a land where great estates wasted in the +hands of oppressive or indolent owners, and the peasantry, +untrained either by remunerative industry or by a just and +regular enforcement of the law, found no better guide than a +savage and fanatical priesthood. Over the rest of Italy the +conditions of life varied through all degrees between the Tuscan +and the Neapolitan type. Piedmont, in military spirit and +patriotism far superior to the other Italian States, was socially +one of the most backward of all. It was a land of priests, +nobles, and soldiers, where a gloomy routine and the repression +of all originality of thought and character drove the most gifted +of its children, like the poet Alfieri, to seek a home on some +more liberal soil.</p> +<p>[Professions and real intentions of the Directory and +Bonaparte, 1796.]</p> +<p>During the first years of the Revolution, an attempt had been +made by French enthusiasts to extend the Revolution into Italy by +means of associations in the principal towns; but it met with no +great success. A certain liberal movement arose among the young +men of the upper classes at Naples, where, under the influence of +Queen Marie Caroline, the Government had now become reactionary; +and in Turin and several of the Lombard cities the French were +not without partisans; but no general disaffection like that of +Savoy existed east of the Alps. The agitation of 1789 and 1792 +had passed by without bringing either liberty or national +independence to the Italians. When Bonaparte received his +command, that fervour of Republican passion which, in the midst +of violence and wrong, had seldom been wanting in the first +leaders of the Revolutionary War, had died out in France. The +politicians who survived the Reign of Terror and gained office in +the Directory repeated the old phrases about the Rights of Man +and the Liberation of the Peoples only as a mode of cajolery. +Bonaparte entered Italy proclaiming himself the restorer of +Italian freedom, but with the deliberate purpose of using Italy +as a means of recruiting the exhausted treasury of France. His +correspondence with the Directory exposes with brazen frankness +this well-considered system of pillage and deceit, in which the +general and the Government were cordially at one. On the further +question, how France should dispose of any territory that might +be conquered in Northern Italy, Bonaparte and the Directory had +formed no understanding, and their purposes were in fact at +variance. The Directory wished to conquer Lombardy in order to +hand it back to Austria in return for the Netherlands; Bonaparte +had at least formed the conception that an Italian State was +possible, and he intended to convert either Austrian Lombardy +itself, or some other portion of Northern Italy, into a Republic, +serving as a military outwork for France.</p> +<p>[Bonaparte separates the Austrian and Sardinian Armies, April, +1796.]</p> +<p>[Armistice and peace with Sardinia.]</p> +<p>The campaign of 1796 commenced in April, in the mountains +above the coast-road connecting Nice and Genoa. Bonaparte's own +army numbered 40,000 men; the force opposed to it consisted of +38,000 Austrians, under Beaulieu, and a smaller Sardinian army, +so placed upon the Piedmontese Apennines as to block the passes +from the coast-road into Piedmont, and to threaten the rear of +the French if they advanced eastward against Genoa. The +Piedmontese army drew its supplies from Turin, the Austrian from +Mantua; to sever the two armies was to force them on to lines of +retreat conducting them farther and farther apart from one +another. Bonaparte foresaw the effect which such a separation of +the two armies would produce upon the Sardinian Government. For +four days he reiterated his attacks at Montenotte and Millesimo, +until he had forced his own army into a position in the centre of +the Allies; then, leaving a small force to watch the Austrians, +he threw the mass of his troops upon the Piedmontese, and drove +them back to within thirty miles of Turin. The terror-stricken +Government, anticipating an outbreak in the capital itself, +accepted an armistice from Bonaparte at Cherasco (April 28), and +handed over to the French the fortresses of Coni, Ceva, and +Tortona, which command the entrances of Italy. It was an unworthy +capitulation for Turin could not have been taken before the +Austrians returned in force; but Bonaparte had justly calculated +the effect of his victory; and the armistice, which was soon +followed by a treaty of peace between France and Sardinia, ceding +Savoy to the Republic, left him free to follow the Austrians, +untroubled by the existence of some of the strongest fortresses +of Europe behind him.</p> +<p>[Bridge of Lodi, May 10.]</p> +<p>In the negotiations with Sardinia Bonaparte demanded the +surrender of the town of Valenza, as necessary to secure his +passage over the river Po. Having thus led the Austrian Beaulieu +to concentrate his forces at this point, he suddenly moved +eastward along the southern bank of the river, and crossed at +Piacenza, fifty miles below the spot where Beaulieu was awaiting +him. It was an admirable movement. The Austrian general, with the +enemy threatening his communications, had to abandon Milan and +all the country west of it, and to fall back upon the line of the +Adda. Bonaparte followed, and on the 10th of May attacked the +Austrians at Lodi. He himself stormed the bridge of Lodi at the +head of his Grenadiers. The battle was so disastrous to the +Austrians that they could risk no second engagement, and retired +upon Mantua and the line of the Mincio. <a name="FNanchor48"> </a><a href="#Footnote_48"><sup>[48]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Bonaparte in Milan. Extortions.]</p> +<p>Bonaparte now made his triumphal entry into Milan (May 15). +The splendour of his victories and his warm expressions of +friendship for Italy excited the enthusiasm of a population not +hitherto hostile to Austrian rule. A new political movement +began. With the French army there came all the partisans of the +French Republic who had been expelled from other parts of Italy. +Uniting with the small revolutionary element already existing in +Milan, they began to form a new public opinion by means of +journals and patriotic meetings. It was of the utmost importance +to Bonaparte that a Republican party should be organised among +the better classes in the towns of Lombardy; for the depredations +of the French army exasperated the peasants, and Bonaparte's own +measures were by no means of a character to win him unmixed +goodwill. The instructions which he received from the Directory +were extremely simple. "Leave nothing in Italy," they wrote to +him on the day of his entry into Milan, "which will be useful to +us, and which the political situation will allow you to remove." +If Bonaparte had felt any doubt as to the meaning of such an +order, the pillage of works of art in Belgium and Holland in +preceding years would have shown him that it was meant to be +literally interpreted. Accordingly, in return for the gift of +liberty, the Milanese were invited to offer to their deliverers +twenty million francs, and a selection from the paintings in +their churches and galleries. The Dukes of Parma and Modena, in +return for an armistice, were required to hand over forty of +their best pictures, and a sum of money proportioned to their +revenues. The Dukes and the townspeople paid their contributions +with good grace: the peasantry of Lombardy, whose cattle were +seized in order to supply an army that marched without any stores +of its own, rose in arms, and threw themselves into Pavia, +killing all the French soldiers who fell in their way. The revolt +was instantly suppressed, and the town of Pavia given up to +pillage. In deference to the Liberal party of Italy, the movement +was described as a conspiracy of priests and nobles.</p> +<p>[Venice.]</p> +<p>[Battle on the Mincio, May 29.]</p> +<p>The way into Central Italy now lay open before Bonaparte. Rome +and Naples were in no condition to offer resistance; but with +true military judgment the French general declined to move +against this feeble prey until the army of Austria, already +crippled, was completely driven out of the field. Instead of +crossing the Apennines, Bonaparte advanced against the Austrian +positions upon the Mincio. It suited him to violate the +neutrality of the adjacent Venetian territory by seizing the town +of Brescia. His example was followed by Beaulieu, who occupied +Peschiera, at the foot of the Lake of Garda, and thus held the +Mincio along its whole course from the lake to Mantua. A battle +was fought and lost by the Austrians half-way between the lake +and the fortress. Beaulieu's strength was exhausted; he could +meet the enemy no more in the field, and led his army out of +Italy into the Tyrol, leaving Mantua to be invested by the +French. The first care of the conqueror was to make Venice pay +for the crime of possessing territory intervening between the +eastern and western extremes of the Austrian district. Bonaparte +affected to believe that the Venetians had permitted Beaulieu to +occupy Peschiera before he seized upon Brescia himself. He +uttered terrifying threats to the envoys who came from Venice to +excuse an imaginary crime. He was determined to extort money from +the Venetian Republic; he also needed a pretext for occupying +Verona, and for any future wrongs. "I have purposely devised this +rupture," he wrote to the Directory (June 7th), "in case you +should wish to obtain five or six millions of francs from Venice. +If you have more decided intentions, I think it would be well to +keep up the quarrel." The intention referred to was the +disgraceful project of sacrificing Venice to Austria in return +for the cession of the Netherlands, a measure based on plans +familiar to Thugut as early as the year 1793. <a name="FNanchor49"> </a><a href="#Footnote_49"><sup>[49]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Armistice with Naples, June 6.]</p> +<p>[Armistice with the Pope, June 23.]</p> +<p>The Austrians were fairly driven out of Lombardy, and +Bonaparte was now free to deal with southern Italy. He advanced +into the States of the Church, and expelled the Papal Legate from +Bologna. Ferdinand of Naples, who had lately called heaven and +earth to witness the fury of his zeal against an accursed horde +of regicides, thought it prudent to stay Bonaparte's hand, at +least until the Austrians were in a condition to renew the war in +Lombardy. He asked for a suspension of hostilities against his +own kingdom. The fleet and the sea-board of Naples gave it +importance in the struggle between France and England, and +Bonaparte granted the king an armistice on easy terms. The Pope, +in order to gain a few months' truce, had to permit the +occupation of Ferrara, Ravenna, and Ancona, and to recognise the +necessities, the learning, the taste, and the virtue of his +conquerors by a gift of twenty million francs, five hundred +manuscripts, a hundred pictures, and the busts of Marcus and +Lucius Brutus. The rule of the Pope was unpopular in Bologna, and +a Senate which Bonaparte placed in power, pending the formation +of a popular Government gladly took the oath of fidelity to the +French Republic. Tuscany was the only State that remained to be +dealt with. Tuscany had indeed made peace with the Republic a +year before, but the ships and cargoes of the English merchants +at Leghorn were surely fair prey; and, with the pretence of +punishing insults offered by the English to the French flag, +Bonaparte descended upon Leghorn, and seized upon everything that +was not removed before his approach. Once established in Leghorn, +the French declined to quit it. By way of adjusting the relations +of the Grand Duke, the English seized his harbour of Porto +Ferraio, in the island of Elba.</p> +<p>[Battles of Lonato and Castiglione, July, Aug., 1796.]</p> +<p>Mantua was meanwhile invested, and thither, after his brief +incursion into Central Italy, Bonaparte returned. Towards the end +of July an Austrian relieving army, nearly double the strength of +Bonaparte's, descended from the Tyrol. It was divided into three +corps: one, under Quosdanovich, advanced by the road on the west +of Lake Garda; the others, under Wurmser, the commander-in-chief, +by the roads between the lake and the river Adige. The peril of +the French was extreme; their outlying divisions were defeated +and driven in; Bonaparte could only hope to save himself by +collecting all his forces at the foot of the lake, and striking +at one or other of the Austrian armies before they effected their +junction on the Mincio. He instantly broke up the siege of +Mantua, and withdrew from every position east of the river. On +the 30th of July, Quosdanovich was attacked and checked at +Lonato, on the west of the Lake of Garda. Wurmser, unaware of his +colleague's repulse, entered Mantua in triumph, and then set out, +expecting to envelop Bonaparte between two fires. But the French +were ready for his approach. Wurmser was stopped and defeated at +Castiglione, while the western Austrian divisions were still held +in check at Lonato. The junction of the Austrian armies had +become impossible. In five days the skill of Bonaparte and the +unsparing exertions of his soldiery had more than retrieved all +that appeared to have been lost. <a name="FNanchor50"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_50"><sup>[50]</sup></a> The Austrians retired +into the Tyrol, beaten and dispirited, and leaving 15,000 +prisoners in the hands of the enemy.</p> +<p>Bonaparte now prepared to force his way into Germany by the +Adige, in fulfilment of the original plan of the campaign. In the +first days of September he again routed the Austrians, and gained +possession of Roveredo and Trent. Wurmser hereupon attempted to +shut the French up in the mountains by a movement southwards; +but, while he operated with insufficient forces between the +Brenta and the Adige, he was cut off from Germany, and only +escaped capture by throwing himself into Mantua with the +shattered remnant of his army. The road into Germany through the +Tyrol now lay open; but in the midst of his victories Bonaparte +learnt that the northern armies of Moreau and Jourdan, with which +he had intended to co-operate in an attack upon Vienna, were in +full retreat.</p> +<p>[Invasion of Germany by Moreau and Jourdan, June-Oct., 1796.]</p> +<p>[The Archduke Charles overpowers Jourdan.]</p> +<p>Moreau's advance into the valley of the Danube had, during the +months of July and August, been attended with unbroken military +and political success. The Archduke Charles, who was entrusted +with the defence of the Empire, found himself unable to bring two +armies into the field capable of resisting those of Moreau and +Jourdan separately, and he therefore determined to fall back +before Moreau towards Nuremberg, ordering Wartensleben, who +commanded the troops facing Jourdan on the Main, to retreat in +the same direction, in order that the two armies might throw +their collected force upon Jourdan while still at some distance +north of Moreau. <a name="FNanchor51"> </a><a href="#Footnote_51"><sup>[51]</sup></a> The design of the Archduke +succeeded in the end, but it opened Germany to the French for six +weeks, and showed how worthless was the military constitution of +the Empire, and how little the Germans had to expect from one +another. After every skirmish won by Moreau some neighbouring +State abandoned the common defence and hastened to make its terms +with the invader. On the 17th of July the Duke of Würtemberg +purchased an armistice at the price of four million francs; a +week later Baden gained the French general's protection in return +for immense supplies of food and stores. The troops of the +Swabian Circle of the Empire, who were ridiculed as "harlequins" +by the more martial Austrians, dispersed to their homes; and no +sooner had Moreau entered Bavaria than the Bavarian contingent in +its turn withdrew from the Archduke. Some consideration was shown +by Moreau's soldiery to those districts which had paid tribute to +their general; but in the region of the Main, Jourdan's army +plundered without distinction and without mercy. They sacked the +churches, they maltreated the children, they robbed the very +beggars of their pence. Before the Archduke Charles was ready to +strike, the peasantry of this country, whom their governments +were afraid to arm, had begun effective reprisals of their own. +At length the retreating movement of the Austrians stopped. +Leaving 30,000 men on the Lech to disguise his motions from +Moreau, Charles turned suddenly northwards from Neuburg on the +17th August, met Wartensleben at Amberg, and attacked Jourdan at +this place with greatly superior numbers. Jourdan was defeated +and driven back in confusion towards the Rhine. The issue of the +campaign was decided before Moreau heard of his colleague's +danger. It only remained for him to save his own army by a +skilful retreat. Jourdan's soldiers, returning through districts +which they had devastated, suffered heavier losses from the +vengeance of the peasantry than from the army that pursued them. +By the autumn of 1796 no Frenchman remained beyond the Rhine. The +campaign had restored the military spirit of Austria and given +Germany a general in whom soldiers could trust; but it had also +shown how willing were the Governments of the minor States to +become the vassals of a foreigner, how little was wanting to +convert the western half of the Empire into a dependency of +France.</p> +<p>[Secret Treaty with Prussia, Aug. 5.]</p> +<p>With each change in the fortunes of the campaign of 1796 the +diplomacy of the Continent had changed its tone. When Moreau won +his first victories, the Court of Prussia, yielding to the +pressure of the Directory, substituted for the conditional +clauses of the Treaty of Basle a definite agreement to the +cession of the left bank of the Rhine, and a stipulation that +Prussia should be compensated for her own loss by the annexation +of the Bishopric of Münster. Prussia could not itself cede +provinces of the Empire: it could only agree to their cession. In +this treaty, however, Prussia definitely renounced the integrity +of the Empire, and accepted the system known as the +Secularisation of Ecclesiastical States, the first step towards +an entire reconstruction of Germany. <a name="FNanchor52"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_52"><sup>[52]</sup></a> The engagement was kept +secret both from the Emperor and from the ecclesiastical princes. +In their negotiations with Austria the Directory were less +successful. Although the long series of Austrian disasters had +raised a general outcry against Thugut's persistence in the war, +the resolute spirit of the Minister never bent; and the ultimate +victory of the Archduke Charles more than restored his influence +over the Emperor. Austria refused to enter into any negotiation +not conducted in common with England, and the Directory were for +the present foiled in their attempts to isolate England from the +Continental Powers. It was not that Thugut either hoped or cared +for that restoration of Austrian rule in the Netherlands which +was the first object of England's Continental policy. The +abandonment of the Netherlands by France was, however, in his +opinion necessary for Austria, as a step towards the acquisition +of Bavaria, which was still the cherished hope of the Viennese +Government. It was in vain that the Directory suggested that +Austria should annex Bavaria without offering Belgium or any +other compensation to its ruler. Thugut could hardly be induced +to listen to the French overtures. He had received the promise of +immediate help from the Empress Catherine; he was convinced that +the Republic, already anxious for peace, might by one sustained +effort be forced to abandon all its conquests; and this was the +object for which, in the winter of 1796, army after army was +hurled against the positions where Bonaparte kept his guard on +the north of the still unconquered Mantua. <a name="FNanchor53"> </a><a href="#Footnote_53"><sup>[53]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Malmesbury sent to Paris, Oct., 1796.]</p> +<p>In England itself the victory of the Archduke Charles raised +expectations of peace. The war had become unpopular through the +loss of trade with France, Spain, and Holland, and petitions for +peace daily reached Parliament. Pitt so far yielded to the +prevalent feeling as to enter into negotiations with the +Directory, and despatched Lord Malmesbury to Paris; but the +condition upon which Pitt insisted, the restoration of the +Netherlands to Austria, rendered agreement hopeless; and as soon +as Pitt's terms were known to the Directory, Malmesbury was +ordered to leave Paris. Nevertheless, the negotiation was not a +mere feint on Pitt's part. He was possessed by a fixed idea that +the resources of France were exhausted, and that, in spite of the +conquest of Lombardy and the Rhine, the Republic must feel itself +too weak to continue the war. Amid the disorders of Revolutionary +finance, and exaggerated reports of suffering and distress, Pitt +failed to recognise the enormous increase of production resulting +from the changes which had given the peasant full property in his +land and labour, and thrown vast quantities of half-waste domain +into the busy hands of middling and small proprietors. <a name="FNanchor54"> </a><a href="#Footnote_54"><sup>[54]</sup></a></p> +<p>Whatever were the resources of France before the Revolution, +they were now probably more than doubled. Pitt's belief in the +economic ruin of France, the only ground on which he could +imagine that the Directory would give up Belgium without fighting +for it, was wholly erroneous, and the French Government would +have acted strangely if they had listened to his demand.</p> +<p>[Bonaparte creates a Cispadane Republic, Oct., 1796.]</p> +<p>Nevertheless, though the Directory would not hear of +surrendering Belgium, they were anxious to conclude peace with +Austria, and unwilling to enter into any engagements in the +conquered provinces of Italy which might render peace with +Austria more difficult. They had instructed Bonaparte to stir up +the Italians against their Governments, but this was done with +the object of paralysing the Governments, not of emancipating the +peoples. They looked with dislike upon any scheme of Italian +reconstruction which should bind France to the support of +newly-formed Italian States. Here, however, the scruples of the +Directory and the ambition of Bonaparte were in direct conflict. +Bonaparte intended to create a political system in Italy which +should bear the stamp of his own mind and require his own strong +hand to support it. In one of his despatches to the Directory he +suggested the formation of a client Republic out of the Duchy of +Modena, where revolutionary movements had broken out. Before it +was possible for the Government to answer him, he published a +decree, declaring the population of Modena and Reggio under the +protection of the French army, and deposing all the officers of +the Duke (Oct. 4). When, some days later, the answer of the +Directory arrived, it cautioned Bonaparte against disturbing the +existing order of the Italian States. Bonaparte replied by +uniting to Modena the Papal provinces of Bologna and Ferrara, and +by giving to the State which he had thus created the title of the +Cispadane Republic. <a name="FNanchor55"> </a><a href="#Footnote_55"><sup>[55]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Idea of free Italy.]</p> +<p>The event was no insignificant one. It is from this time that +the idea of Italian independence, though foreign to the great +mass of the nation, may be said to have taken birth as one of +those political hopes which wane and recede, but do not again +leave the world. A class of men who had turned with dislike from +the earlier agitation of French Republicans in Italy rightly +judged the continued victories of Bonaparte over the Austrians to +be the beginning of a series of great changes, and now joined the +revolutionary movement in the hope of winning from the overthrow +of the old Powers some real form of national independence. In its +origin the French party may have been composed of hirelings and +enthusiasts. This ceased to be the case when, after the passage +of the Mincio, Bonaparte entered the Papal States. Among the +citizens of Bologna in particular there were men of weight and +intelligence who aimed at free constitutional government, and +checked in some degree the more numerous popular party which +merely repeated the phrases of French democracy. Bonaparte's own +language and action excited the brightest hopes. At Modena he +harangued the citizens upon the mischief of Italy's divisions, +and exhorted them to unite with their brethren whom he had freed +from the Pope. A Congress was held at Modena on the 16th of +October. The representatives of Modena, Reggio, Bologna, and +Ferrara declared themselves united in a Republic under the +protection of France. They abolished feudal nobility, decreed a +national levy, and summoned a General Assembly to meet at Reggio +two months later, in order to create the Constitution of the new +Cispadane Republic. It was in the Congress of Modena, and in the +subsequent Assembly of Reggio (Dec. 23), that the idea of Italian +unity and independence first awoke the enthusiasm of any +considerable body of men. With what degree of sincerity Bonaparte +himself acted may be judged from the circumstance that, while he +harangued the Cispadanes on the necessity of Italian union, he +imprisoned the Milanese who attempted to excite a popular +movement for the purpose of extending this union to themselves. +Peace was not yet made with Austria, and it was uncertain to what +account Milan might best be turned.</p> +<p>[Rivoli, Jan. 14, 15, 1797.]</p> +<p>[Arcola, Nov. 15-17.]</p> +<p>Mantua still held out, and in November the relieving +operations of the Austrians were renewed. Two armies, commanded +by Allvintzy and Davidovich, descended the valleys of the Adige +and the Piave, offering to Bonaparte, whose centre was at Verona, +a new opportunity of crushing his enemy in detail. Allvintzy, +coming from the Piave, brought the French into extreme danger in +a three days' battle at Arcola, but was at last forced to retreat +with heavy loss. Davidovich, who had been successful on the +Adige, retired on learning the overthrow of his colleague. Two +months more passed, and the Austrians for the third time appeared +on the Adige. A feint made below Verona nearly succeeded in +drawing Bonaparte away from Rivoli, between the Adige and Lake +Garda, where Allvintzy and his main army were about to make the +assault; but the strength of Allvintzy's force was discovered +before it was too late, and by throwing his divisions from point +to point with extraordinary rapidity, Bonaparte at length +overwhelmed the Austrians in every quarter of the battle-field. +This was their last effort. The surrender of Mantua on the 2nd +February, 1797, completed the French conquest of Austrian +Lombardy. <a name="FNanchor56"> </a><a href="#Footnote_56"><sup>[56]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Peace of Tolentino, Feb. 19, 1797.]</p> +<p>The Pope now found himself left to settle his account with the +invaders, against whom, even after the armistice, he had never +ceased to intrigue. <a name="FNanchor57"> </a><a href="#Footnote_57"><sup>[57]</sup></a> His despatches to Vienna fell +into the hands of Bonaparte, who declared the truce broken, and a +second time invaded the Papal territory. A show of resistance was +made by the Roman troops; but the country was in fact at the +mercy of Bonaparte, who advanced as far as Tolentino, thirty +miles south of Ancona. Here the Pope tendered his submission. If +the Roman Court had never appeared to be in a more desperate +condition, it had never found a more moderate or a more politic +conqueror. Bonaparte was as free from any sentiment of Christian +piety as Nero or Diocletian; but he respected the power of the +Papacy over men's minds, and he understood the immense advantage +which any Government of France supported by the priesthood would +possess over those who had to struggle with its hostility. In his +negotiations with the Papal envoys he deplored the violence of +the French Executive, and consoled the Church with the promise of +his own protection and sympathy. The terms of peace which he +granted, although they greatly diminished the ecclesiastical +territory were in fact more favourable than the Pope had any +right to expect. Bologna, Ferrara, and the Romagna, which had +been occupied in virtue of the armistice, were now ceded by the +Papacy. But conditions affecting the exercise of the spiritual +power which had been proposed by the Directory were withdrawn; +and, beyond a provision for certain payments in money, nothing of +importance was added to the stipulations of the armistice.</p> +<p>The last days of the Venetian Republic were now at hand. It +was in vain that Venice had maintained its neutrality when all +the rest of Italy joined the enemies of France; its refusal of a +French alliance was made an unpardonable crime. So long as the +war with Austria lasted, Bonaparte exhausted the Venetian +territory with requisitions: when peace came within view, it was +necessary that he should have some pretext for seizing it or +handing it over to the enemy. In fulfilment of his own design of +keeping a quarrel open, he had subjected the Government to every +insult and wrong likely to goad it into an act of war. When at +length Venice armed for the purpose of protecting its neutrality, +the organs of the invader called upon the inhabitants of the +Venetian mainland to rise against the oligarchy, and to throw in +their lot with the liberated province of Milan. A French alliance +was once more urged upon Venice by Bonaparte: it was refused, and +the outbreak which the French had prepared instantly followed. +Bergamo and Brescia, where French garrisons deprived the Venetian +Government of all power of defence, rose in revolt, and renounced +all connection with Venice. The Senate begged Bonaparte to +withdraw the French garrisons; its entreaties drew nothing from +him but repeated demands for the acceptance of the French +alliance, which was only another name for subjection. Little as +the Venetians suspected it, the only doubt now present to +Bonaparte was whether he should add the provinces of Venetia to +his own Cispadane Republic or hand them over to Austria in +exchange for other cessions which France required.</p> +<p>[Preliminaries of Leoben, April 18.]</p> +<p>Austria could defend itself in Italy no longer. Before the end +of March the mountain-passes into Carinthia were carried by +Bonaparte. His army drove the enemy before it along the road to +Vienna, until both pursuers and pursued were within eighty miles +of the capital. At Leoben, on the 7th of April, Austrian +commander asked for a suspension of arms. It was granted, and +negotiations for peace commenced. <a name="FNanchor58"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_58"><sup>[58]</sup></a> Bonaparte offered the +Venetian provinces, but not the city of Venice, to the Emperor. +On the 18th of April preliminaries of peace were signed at +Leoben, by which, in return for the Netherlands and for Lombardy +west of the river Oglio, Bonaparte secretly agreed to hand over +to Austria the whole of the territory of Venice upon the mainland +east of the Oglio, in addition to its Adriatic provinces of +Istria and Dalmatia. To disguise the act of spoliation, it was +pretended that Bologna and Ferrara should be offered to Venice in +return. <a name="FNanchor59"> </a><a href="#Footnote_59"><sup>[59]</sup></a></p> +<p>[French enter Venice.]</p> +<p>But worse was yet to come. While Bonaparte was in conference +at Leoben, an outbreak took place at Verona, and three hundred +French soldiers, including the sick in the hospital, perished by +popular violence. The Venetian Senate despatched envoys to +Bonaparte to express their grief and to offer satisfaction; in +the midst of the negotiations intelligence arrived that the +commander of a Venetian fort had fired upon a French vessel and +killed some of the crew. Bonaparte drove the envoys from his +presence, declaring that he could not treat with men whose hands +were dripping with French blood. A declaration of war was +published, charging the Senate with the design of repeating the +Sicilian Vespers, and the panic which it was Bonaparte's object +to inspire instantly followed. The Government threw themselves +upon his mercy. Bonaparte pretended that he desired no more than +to establish a popular government in Venice in the place of the +oligarchy. His terms were accepted. The Senate consented to +abrogate the ancient Constitution of the Republic, and to +introduce a French garrison into Venice. On the 12th of May the +Grand Council voted its own dissolution. Peace was concluded. The +public articles of the treaty declared that there should be +friendship between the French and the Venetian Republics; that +the sovereignty of Venice should reside in the body of the +citizens; and that the French garrison should retire so soon as +the new Government announced that it had no further need of its +support. Secret articles stipulated for a money payment, and for +the usual surrender of works of art; an indefinite expression +relating to an exchange of territory was intended to cover the +surrender of the Venetian mainland, and the union of Bologna and +Ferrara with what remained of Venice. The friendship and alliance +of France, which Bonaparte had been so anxious to bestow on +Venice, were now to bear their fruit. "I shall do everything in +my power," he wrote to the new Government of Venice, "to give you +proof of the great desire I have to see your liberty take root, +and to see this unhappy Italy, freed from the rule of the +stranger, at length take its place with glory on the scene of the +world, and resume, among the great nations, the rank to which +nature, destiny, and its own position call it." This was for +Venice; for the French Directory Bonaparte had a very different +tale. "I had several motives," he wrote (May 19), "in concluding +the treaty:-to enter the city without difficulty; to have the +arsenal and all else in our possession, in order to take from it +whatever we needed, under pretext of the secret articles; ... to +evade the odium attaching to the Preliminaries of Leoben; to +furnish pretexts for them, and to facilitate their +execution."</p> +<p>[French seize Ionian islands.]</p> +<p>[Venice to be given to Austria.]</p> +<p>As the first fruits of the Venetian alliance, Bonaparte seized +upon Corfu and the other Ionian Islands. "You will start," he +wrote to General Gentili, "as quickly and as secretly as +possible, and take possession of all the Venetian establishments +in the Levant.... If the inhabitants should be inclined for +independence, you should flatter their tastes, and in all your +proclamations you should not fail to allude to Greece, Athens, +and Sparta." This was to be the French share in the spoil. Yet +even now, though stripped of its islands, its coasts, and its +ancient Italian territory, Venice might still have remained a +prominent city in Italy. It was sacrificed in order to gain the +Rhenish Provinces for France. Bonaparte had returned to the +neighbourhood of Milan, and received the Austrian envoy, De +Gallo, at the villa of Montebello. Wresting a forced meaning from +the Preliminaries of Leoben, Bonaparte claimed the frontier of +the Rhine, offering to Austria not only the territory of Venice +upon the mainland, but the city of Venice itself. De Gallo +yielded. Whatever causes subsequently prolonged the negotiation, +no trace of honour or pity in Bonaparte led him even to feign a +reluctance to betray Venice. "We have to-day had our first +conference on the definitive treaty," he wrote to the Directory, +on the night of the 26th of May, "and have agreed to present the +following propositions: the line of the Rhine for France; +Salzburg, Passau for the Emperor; ... the maintenance of the +Germanic Body; ... Venice for the Emperor. Venice," he continued, +"which has been in decadence since the discovery of the Cape of +Good Hope and the rise of Trieste and Ancona, can scarcely +survive the blows we have just struck. With a cowardly and +helpless population in no way fit for liberty, without territory +and without rivers, it is but natural that she should go to those +to whom we give the mainland." Thus was Italy to be freed from +foreign intervention; and thus was Venice to be regenerated by +the friendship of France!</p> +<p>[Genoa.]</p> +<p>In comparison with the fate preparing for Venice, the +sister-republic of Genoa met with generous treatment. A +revolutionary movement, long prepared by the French envoy, +overthrew the ancient oligarchical Government; but democratic +opinion and French sympathies did not extend below the middle +classes of the population; and, after the Government had +abandoned its own cause, the charcoal-burners and dock-labourers +rose in its defence, and attacked the French party with the cry +of "Viva Maria," and with figures of the Virgin fastened to their +hats, in the place where their opponents wore the French +tricolour. Religious fanaticism won the day; the old Government +was restored, and a number of Frenchmen who had taken part in the +conflict were thrown into prison. The imprisonment of the +Frenchmen gave Bonaparte a pretext for intervention. He +disclaimed all desire to alter the Government, and demanded only +the liberation of his countrymen and the arrest of the enemies of +France. But the overthrow of the oligarchy had been long arranged +with Faypoult, the French envoy; and Genoa received a democratic +constitution which place the friends of France in power (June +5).</p> +<p>[France in 1797.]</p> +<p>While Bonaparte, holding Court in the Villa of Montebello, +continued to negotiate with Austria upon the basis of the +Preliminaries of Leoben, events took place in France which +offered him an opportunity of interfering directly in the +government of the Republic. The elections which were to replace +one-third of the members of the Legislature took place in the +spring of 1797. The feeling of the country was now much the same +as it had been in 1795, when a large Royalist element was +returned for those seats in the Councils which the Convention had +not reserved for its own members. France desired a more equitable +and a more tolerant rule. The Directory had indeed allowed the +sanguinary laws against non-juring priests and returning +emigrants to remain unenforced; but the spirit and traditions of +official Jacobinism were still active in the Government. The +Directors themselves were all regicides; the execution of the +King was still celebrated by a national <i>fête</i>; +offices, great and small, were held by men who had risen in the +Revolution; the whole of the old gentry of France was excluded +from participation in public life. It was against this +revolutionary class-rule, against a system which placed the +country as much at the mercy of a few directors and generals as +it had been at the mercy of the Conventional Committee, that the +elections of 1797 were a protest. Along with certain Bourbonist +conspirators, a large majority of men were returned who, though +described as Royalists, were in fact moderate Constitutionalists, +and desired only to undo that part of the Revolution which +excluded whole classes of the nation from public life. <a name="FNanchor60"> </a><a href="#Footnote_60"><sup>[60]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Opposition to the Directory.]</p> +<p>Such a party in the legislative body naturally took the +character of an Opposition to the more violent section of the +Directory. The Director retiring in 1797 was replaced by the +Constitutionalist Barthélemy, negotiator of the treaty of +Basle; Carnot, who continued in office, took part with the +Opposition, justly fearing that the rule of the Directory would +soon amount to nothing more than the rule of Bonaparte himself. +The first debates in the new Chamber arose upon the laws relating +to emigrants; the next, upon Bonaparte's usurpation of sovereign +power in Italy. On the 23rd of June a motion for information on +the affairs of Venice and Genoa was brought forward in the +Council of Five Hundred. Dumolard, the mover, complained of the +secrecy of Bonaparte's action, of the contempt shown by him to +the Assembly, of his tyrannical and un-republican interference +with the institutions of friendly States. No resolution was +adopted by the Assembly; but the mere fact that the Assembly had +listened to a hostile criticism of his own actions was sufficient +ground in Bonaparte's eyes to charge it with Royalism and with +treason. Three of the Directors, Barras, Rewbell, and +Laréveillère, had already formed the project of +overpowering the Assembly by force. Bonaparte's own interests led +him to offer them his support. If the Constitutional party gained +power, there was an end to his own unshackled rule in Italy; if +the Bourbonists succeeded, a different class of men would hold +all the honours of the State. However feeble the Government of +the Directory, its continuance secured his own present +ascendency, and left him the hope of gaining supreme power when +the public could tolerate the Directory no longer.</p> +<p>[Coup d'état, 17 Fructidor (Sept. 3).]</p> +<p>The fate of the Assembly was sealed. On the anniversary of the +capture of the Bastille, Bonaparte issued a proclamation to his +army declaring the Republic to be threatened by Royalist +intrigues. A banquet was held, and the officers and soldiers of +every division signed addresses to the Directory full of threats +and fury against conspiring aristocrats. "Indignation is at its +height in the army," wrote Bonaparte to the Government; "the +soldiers are asking with loud cries whether they are to be +rewarded by assassination on their return home, as it appears all +patriots are to be so dealt with. The peril is increasing every +day, and I think, citizen Directors, you must decide to act one +way or other." The Directors had no difficulty in deciding after +such an exhortation as this; but, as soon as Bonaparte had worked +up their courage, he withdrew into the background, and sent +General Augereau, a blustering Jacobin, to Paris, to risk the +failure or bear the odium of the crime. Augereau received the +military command of the capital; the air was filled with rumours +of an impending blow; but neither the majority in the Councils +nor the two threatened Directors, Carnot and Barthélemy, +knew how to take measures of defence. On the night of the 3rd +September (17 Fructidor) the troops of Augereau surrounded the +Tuileries. Barthélemy was seized at the Luxembourg; Carnot +fled for his life; the members of the Councils, marching in +procession to the Tuileries early the next morning, were arrested +or dispersed by the soldiers. Later in the day a minority of the +Councils was assembled to ratify the measures determined upon by +Augereau and the three Directors. Fifty members of the +Legislature, and the writers, proprietors, and editors of +forty-two journals, were sentenced to exile; the elections of +forty-eight departments were annulled; the laws against priests +and emigrants were renewed; and the Directory was empowered to +suppress all journals at its pleasure. This coup d'état +was described as the suppression of a Royalist conspiracy. It was +this, but it was something more. It was the suppression of all +Constitutional government, and all but the last step to the +despotism of the chief of the army.</p> +<p>[Peace signed with Austria, Oct. 17.]</p> +<p>The effect of the movement was instantly felt in the +negotiations with Austria and with England. Lord Malmesbury was +now again in France, treating for peace with fair hopes of +success, since the Preliminaries of Leoben had removed England's +opposition to the cession of the Netherlands, the discomfiture of +the moderate party in the Councils brought his mission to an +abrupt end. Austria, on the other hand, had prolonged its +negotiations because Bonaparte claimed Mantua and the Rhenish +Provinces in addition to the cessions agreed upon at Leoben. +Count Ludwig Cobenzl, Austrian ambassador at St. Petersburg, who +had protected his master's interests only too well in the last +partition of Poland, was now at the head of the plenipotentiaries +in Italy, endeavouring to bring Bonaparte back to the terms fixed +in the Preliminaries, or to gain additional territory for Austria +in Italy. The Jacobin victory at Paris depressed the Austrians as +much as it elated the French leader. Bonaparte was resolved on +concluding a peace that should be all his own, and this was only +possible by anticipating an invasion of Germany, about to be +undertaken by Augereau at the head of the Army of the Rhine. It +was to this personal ambition of Bonaparte that Venice was +sacrificed. The Directors were willing that Austria should +receive part of the Venetian territory: they forbade the proposed +cession of Venice itself. Within a few weeks more, the advance of +the Army of the Rhine would have enabled France to dictate its +own terms; but no consideration either for France or for Italy +could induce Bonaparte to share the glory of the Peace with +another. On the 17th of October he signed the final treaty of +Campo Formio, which gave France the frontier of the Rhine, and +made both the Venetian territory beyond the Adige and Venice +itself the property of the Emperor. For a moment it seemed that +the Treaty might be repudiated at Vienna as well as at Paris. +Thugut protested against it, because it surrendered Mantua and +the Rhenish Provinces without gaining for Austria the Papal +Legations; and he drew up the ratification only at the absolute +command of the Emperor. The Directory, on the other hand, +condemned the cession of Venice. But their fear of Bonaparte and +their own bad conscience left them impotent accessories of his +treachery; and the French nation at large was too delighted with +the peace to resent its baser conditions. <a name="FNanchor61"> </a><a href="#Footnote_61"><sup>[61]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Treaty of Campo Formio, Oct. 17.]</p> +<p>By the public articles of the Treaty of Campo Formio, the +Emperor ceded to France the Austrian possessions in Lombardy and +in the Netherlands, and agreed to the establishment of a +Cisalpine Republic, formed out of Austrian Lombardy, the Venetian +territory west of the Adige, and the districts hitherto composing +the new Cispadane State. France took the Ionian Islands, Austria +the City of Venice, with Istria and Dalmatia, and the Venetian +mainland east of the Adige. For the conclusion of peace between +France and the Holy Roman Empire, it was agreed that a Congress +should meet at Rastadt; but a secret article provided that the +Emperor should use his efforts to gain for France the whole left +bank of the Rhine, except a tract including the Prussian Duchies +of Cleve and Guelders. With humorous duplicity the French +Government, which had promised Prussia the Bishopric of +Münster in return for this very district, now pledged itself +to Austria that Prussia should receive no extension whatever, and +affected to exclude the Prussian Duchies from the Rhenish +territory which was to be made over to France. Austria was +promised the independent Bishopric of Salzburg, and that portion +of Bavaria which lies between the Inn and the Salza. The secular +princes dispossessed in the Rhenish Provinces were to be +compensated in the interior of the Empire by a scheme framed in +concert with France.</p> +<p>[Austria sacrifices Germany.]</p> +<p>The immense advantages which the Treaty of Campo Formio gave +to France-its extension over the Netherlands and the Rhenish +Provinces, and the virtual annexation of Lombardy, Modena, and +the Papal Legations under the form of a client republic-were not +out of proportion to its splendid military successes. Far +otherwise was it with Austria. With the exception of the +Archduke's campaign of 1796, the warfare of the last three years +had brought Austria nothing but a series of disasters; yet +Austria gained by the Treaty of Campo Formio as much as it lost. +In the place of the distant Netherlands and of Milan it gained, +in Venice and Dalmatia, a territory touching its own, nearly +equal to the Netherlands and Milan together in population, and so +situated as to enable Austria to become one of the naval Powers +of the Mediterranean. The price which Austria paid was the +abandonment of Germany, a matter which, in spite of Thugut's +protests, disturbed the Court of Vienna as little as the betrayal +of Venice disturbed Bonaparte. The Rhenish Provinces were +surrendered to the stranger; German districts were to be handed +over to compensate the ejected Sovereigns of Holland and of +Modena; the internal condition and order of the Empire were to be +superseded by one framed not for the purpose of benefiting +Germany, but for the purpose of extending the influence of +France.</p> +<p>[Policy of Bonaparte.]</p> +<p>As defenders of Germany, both Prussia and Austria had been +found wanting. The latter Power seemed to have reaped in Italy +the reward of its firmness in prolonging the war. Bonaparte +ridiculed the men who, in the earlier spirit of the Revolution, +desired to found a freer political system in Europe upon the +ruins of Austria's power. "I have not drawn my support in Italy," +he wrote to Talleyrand (Oct. 7), "from the love of the peoples +for liberty and equality, or at least but a very feeble support. +The real support of the army of Italy has been its own +discipline, ... above all, our promptitude in repressing +malcontents and punishing those who declared against us. This is +history; what I say in my proclamations and speeches is a +romance.... If we return to the foreign policy of 1793, we shall +do so knowing that a different policy has brought us success, and +that we have no longer the great masses of 1793 to enrol in our +armies, nor the support of an enthusiasm which has its day and +does not return." Austria might well, for the present, be left in +some strength, and France was fortunate to have so dangerous an +enemy off her hands. England required the whole forces of the +Republic. "The present situation," wrote Bonaparte, after the +Peace of Campo Formio, "offers us a good chance. We must set all +our strength upon the sea; we must destroy England; and the +Continent is at our feet."</p> +<p>[Battles of St. Vincent, Feb. 14, 1797, and Camperdown, Oct. +6.]</p> +<p>It had been the natural hope of the earlier Republicans that +the Spanish and the Dutch navies, if they could be brought to the +side of France, would make France superior to Great Britain as a +maritime Power. The conquest of Holland had been planned by +Carnot as the first step towards an invasion of England. For a +while these plans seemed to be approaching their fulfilment, +Holland was won; Spain first made peace, and then entered into +alliance with the Directory (Aug. 1796). But each increase in the +naval forces of the Republic only gave the admirals of Great +Britain new material to destroy. The Spanish fleet was beaten by +Jarvis off St. Vincent; even the mutiny of the British squadrons +at Spithead and the Nore, in the spring and summer of 1797, +caused no change in the naval situation in the North Sea. Duncan, +who was blockading the Dutch fleet in the Texel when his own +squadron joined the mutineers, continued the blockade with one +ship beside his own, signalling all the while as if the whole +fleet were at his back; until the misused seamen, who had lately +turned their guns upon the Thames, returned to the admiral, and +earned his forgiveness by destroying the Dutch at Camperdown as +soon as they ventured out of shelter.</p> +<p>[Bonaparte about to invade Egypt.]</p> +<p>It is doubtful whether at any time after his return from Italy +Bonaparte seriously entertained the project of invading England. +The plan was at any rate soon abandoned, and the preparations, +which caused great alarm in the English coast-towns, were +continued only for the purpose of disguising Bonaparte's real +design of an attack upon Egypt. From the beginning of his career +Bonaparte's thoughts had turned towards the vast and undefended +East. While still little known, he had asked the French +Government to send him to Constantinople to organise the Turkish +army; as soon as Venice fell into his hands, he had seized the +Ionian Islands as the base for a future conquest of the Levant. +Every engagement that confirmed the superiority of England upon +the western seas gave additional reason for attacking her where +her power was most precarious, in the East. Bonaparte knew that +Alexander had conquered the country of the Indus by a land-march +from the Mediterranean, and this was perhaps all the information +which he possessed regarding the approaches to India; but it was +enough to fix his mind upon the conquest of Egypt and Syria, as +the first step towards the destruction of the Asiatic Empire of +England. Mingled with the design upon India was a dream of +overthrowing the Mohammedan Government of Turkey, and attacking +Austria from the East with an army drawn from the liberated +Christian races of the Ottoman Empire. The very vagueness of a +scheme of Eastern conquest made it the more attractive to +Bonaparte's genius and ambition. Nor was there any inclination on +the part of the Government to detain the general at home. The +Directory, little concerned with the real merits or dangers of +the enterprise, consented to Bonaparte's project of an attack +upon Egypt, thankful for any opportunity of loosening the grasp +which was now closing so firmly upon themselves.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_IV."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Congress of Rastadt-The Rhenish Provinces ceded-Ecclesiastical +States of Germany suppressed-French intervention in +Switzerland-Helvetic Republic- The French invade the Papal +States-Roman Republic-Expedition to Egypt- Battle of the +Nile-Coalition of 1798-Ferdinand of Naples enters Rome-Mack's +defeats-French enter Naples-Parthenopean Republic-War with +Austria and Russia-Battle of Stockach-Murder of the French Envoys +at Rastadt-Campaign in Lombardy-Reign of Terror at +Naples-Austrian designs upon Italy-Suvaroff and the +Austrians-Campaign in Switzerland-Campaign in Holland-Bonaparte +returns from Egypt-Coup d'état of 18 Brumaire- +Constitution of 1799-System of Bonaparte in France-Its effect on +the influence of France abroad.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Congress of Rastadt, Nov. 1797.]</p> +<p>The public articles of the Treaty of Campo Formio contained +only the terms which had been agreed upon by France and Austria +in relation to Italy and the Netherlands: the conditions of peace +between France and the Germanic Body, which had been secretly +arranged between France and the two leading Powers, were referred +by a diplomatic fiction to a Congress that was to assemble at +Rastadt. Accordingly, after Prussia and Austria had each signed +an agreement abandoning the Rhenish Provinces, the Congress was +duly summoned. As if in mockery of his helpless countrymen, the +Emperor informed the members of the Diet that "in unshaken +fidelity to the great principle of the unity and indivisibility +of the German Empire, they were to maintain the common interests +of the Fatherland with noble conscientiousness and German +steadfastness; and so, united with their imperial head, to +promote a just and lasting peace, founded upon the basis of the +integrity of the Empire and of its Constitution." <a name="FNanchor62"> </a><a href="#Footnote_62"><sup>[62]</sup></a> Thus +the Congress was convoked upon the pretence of preserving what +the two greater States had determined to sacrifice; while its +real object, the suppression of the ecclesiastical principalities +and the curtailment of Bavaria, was studiously put out of +sight.</p> +<p>[Rivalry of the Germans.]</p> +<p>The Congress was composed of two French envoys, of the +representatives of Prussia and Austria, and of a committee, +numbering with their secretaries seventy-four persons, appointed +by the Diet of Ratisbon. But the recognised negotiators formed +only a small part of the diplomatists who flocked to Rastadt in +the hope of picking up something from the wreck of the Empire. +Every petty German sovereign, even communities which possessed no +political rights at all, thought it necessary to have an agent on +the spot, in order to filch, if possible, some trifling advantage +from a neighbour, or to catch the first rumour of a proposed +annexation. It was the saturnalia of the whole tribe of +busybodies and intriguers who passed in Germany for men of state. +They spied upon one another; they bribed the secretaries and +doorkeepers, they bribed the very cooks and coachmen, of the two +omnipotent French envoys. Of the national humiliation of Germany, +of the dishonour attaching to the loss of entire provinces and +the reorganisation of what remained at the bidding of the +stranger, there seems to have been no sense in the political +circles of the day. The collapse of the Empire was viewed rather +as a subject of merriment. A gaiety of life and language +prevailed, impossible among men who did not consider themselves +as the spectators of a comedy. Cobenzl, the chief Austrian +plenipotentiary, took his travels in a fly, because his mistress, +the <i>citoyenne</i> Hyacinthe, had decamped with all his +carriages and horses. A witty but profane pamphlet was +circulated, in which the impending sacrifice of the Empire was +described in language borrowed from the Gospel narrative, Prussia +taking the part of Judas Iscariot, Austria that of Pontius +Pilate, the Congress itself being the chief priests and Pharisees +assembling that they may take the Holy Roman Empire by craft, +while the army of the Empire figures as the "multitude who smote +upon their breasts and departed." In the utter absence of any +German pride or patriotism the French envoys not only obtained +the territory that they required, but successfully embroiled the +two leading Powers with one another, and accustomed the minor +States to look to France for their own promotion at the cost of +their neighbours. The contradictory pledges which the French +Government had given to Austria and to Prussia caused it no +embarrassment. To deceive one of the two powers was to win the +gratitude of the other; and the Directory determined to fulfil +its engagement to Prussia at the expense of the bishoprics, and +to ignore what it had promised to Austria at the expense of +Bavaria.</p> +<p>[Rhenish Provinces.]</p> +<p>[Ecclesiastical States suppressed.]</p> +<p>A momentary difficulty arose upon the opening of the Congress, +when it appeared that, misled by the Emperor's protestations, the +Diet had only empowered its Committee to treat upon the basis of +the integrity of the Empire (Dec. 9). The French declined to +negotiate until the Committee had procured full powers: and the +prospects of the integrity of the Empire were made clear enough a +few days later by the entry of the French into Mainz, and the +formal organisation of the Rhenish Provinces as four French +Departments. In due course a decree of the Diet arrived, +empowering the Committee to negotiate at their discretion: and +for some weeks after the inhabitants of the Rhenish Provinces had +been subjected to the laws, the magistracy, and the taxation of +France, the Committee deliberated upon the proposal for their +cession with as much minuteness and as much impartiality as if it +had been a point of speculative philosophy. At length the French +put an end to the tedious trifling, and proceeded to the question +of compensation for the dispossessed lay Princes. This they +proposed to effect by means of the disestablishment, or +secularisation, of ecclesiastical States in the interior of +Germany. Prussia eagerly supported the French proposal, both with +a view to the annexation of the great Bishopric of Münster, +and from ancient hostility to the ecclesiastical States as +instruments and allies of Catholic Austria. The Emperor opposed +the destruction of his faithful dependents; the ecclesiastical +princes themselves raised a bitter outcry, and demonstrated that +the fall of their order would unloose the keystone of the +political system of Europe; but they found few friends. If +Prussia coveted the great spoils of Münster, the minor +sovereigns, as a rule, wore just as eager for the convents and +abbeys that broke the continuity of their own territories: only +the feeblest of all the members of the Empire, the counts, the +knights, and the cities, felt a respectful sympathy for their +ecclesiastical neighbours, and foresaw that in a system of +annexation their own turn would come next. The principle of +secularisation was accepted by the Congress without much +difficulty, all the energy of debate being reserved for the +discussion of details: arrangements which were to transfer a few +miles of ground and half a dozen custom-houses from some bankrupt +ecclesiastic to some French-bought duke excited more interest in +Germany than the loss of the Rhenish Provinces, and the +subjection of a tenth part of the German nation to a foreign +rule.</p> +<p>[Austria determines on war, 1798.]</p> +<p>One more question was unexpectedly presented to the Congress. +After proclaiming for six years that the Rhine was the natural +boundary of France, the French Government discovered that a river +cannot be a military frontier at all. Of what service, urged the +French plenipotentiaries, were Strasburg and Mainz, so long as +they were commanded by the guns on the opposite bank? If the +Rhine was to be of any use to France, France must be put in +possession of the fortresses of Kehl and Castel upon the German +side. Outrageous as such a demand appears, it found supporters +among the venal politicians of the smaller Courts, and furnished +the Committee with material for arguments that extended over four +months. But the policy of Austria was now taking a direction that +rendered the resolutions of the Congress of very little +importance. It had become clear that France was inclining to an +alliance with Prussia, and that the Bavarian annexations promised +to Austria by the secret articles of Campo Formio were to be +withheld. Once convinced, by the failure of a private negotiation +in Alsace, that the French would neither be content with their +gains of 1797, nor permit Austria to extend its territory in +Italy, Thugut determined upon a renewal of the war. <a name="FNanchor63"> </a><a href="#Footnote_63"><sup>[63]</sup></a> In +spite of a powerful opposition at Court, Thugut's stubborn will +still controlled the fortune of Austria: and the aggressions of +the French Republic in Switzerland and the Papal States, at the +moment when it was dictating terms of peace to the Empire, gave +only too much cause for the formation of a new European +league.</p> +<p>[French intervention in Switzerland.]</p> +<p>At the close of the last century there was no country where +the spirit of Republican freedom was so strong, or where the +conditions of life were so level, as in Switzerland; its +inhabitants, however, were far from enjoying complete political +equality. There were districts which stood in the relation of +subject dependencies to one or other of the ruling cantons: the +Pays de Vaud was governed by an officer from Berne; the valley of +the Ticino belonged to Uri; and in most of the sovereign cantons +themselves authority was vested in a close circle of patrician +families. Thus, although Switzerland was free from the more +oppressive distinctions of caste, and the Governments, even where +not democratic, were usually just and temperate, a sufficiently +large class was excluded from political rights to give scope to +an agitation which received its impulse from Paris. It was indeed +among communities advanced in comfort and intelligence, and +divided from those who governed them by no great barrier of +wealth and prestige, that the doctrines of the Revolution found a +circulation which they could never gain among the hereditary +serfs of Prussia or the priest-ridden peasantry of the Roman +States. As early as the year 1792 a French army had entered the +territory of Geneva, in order to co-operate with the democratic +party in the city. The movement was, however, checked by the +resolute action of the Bernese Senate; and the relations of +France to the Federal Government had subsequently been kept upon +a friendly footing by the good sense of Barthélemy, the +French ambassador at Berne, and the discretion with which the +Swiss Government avoided every occasion of offence. On the +conquest of Northern Italy, Bonaparte was brought into direct +connection with Swiss affairs by a reference of certain points in +dispute to his authority as arbitrator. Bonaparte solved the +difficulty by annexing the district of the Valteline to the +Cisalpine Republic; and from that time he continued in +communication with the Swiss democratic leaders on the subject of +a French intervention in Switzerland, the real purpose of which +was to secure the treasure of Berne, and to organise a +government, like that of Holland and the Cisalpine Republic, in +immediate dependence upon France.</p> +<p>[Helvetic Republic, April 12.]</p> +<p>[War between France and Swiss Federation, June, 1798.]</p> +<p>At length the moment for armed interference arrived. On the +15th December, 1797, a French force entered the Bishopric of +Basle, and gave the signal for insurrection in the Pays de Vaud. +The Senate of Berne summoned the Diet of the Confederacy to +provide for the common defence: the oath of federation was +renewed, and a decree was passed calling out the Federal army. It +was now announced by the French that they would support the +Vaudois revolutionary party, if attacked. The Bernese troops, +however, advanced; and the bearer of a flag of truce having been +accidentally killed, war was declared between the French Republic +and the Government of Berne. Democratic movements immediately +followed in the northern and western cantons; the Bernese +Government attempted to negotiate with the French invaders, but +discovered that no terms would be accepted short of the entire +destruction of the existing Federal Constitution. Hostilities +commenced; and the Bernese troops, supported by contingents from +most of the other cantons, offered a brave but ineffectual +resistance to the advance of the French, who entered the Federal +capital on the 6th of March, 1798. The treasure of Berne, +amounting to about £800,000, accumulated by ages of thrift +and good management, was seized in order to provide for +Bonaparte's next campaign, and for a host of voracious soldiers +and contractors. A system of robbery and extortion, more +shameless even than that practised in Italy, was put in force +against the cantonal governments, against the monasteries, and +against private individuals. In compensation for the material +losses inflicted upon the country, the new Helvetic Republic, one +and indivisible, was proclaimed at Aarau. It conferred an +equality of political rights upon all natives of Switzerland, and +substituted for the ancient varieties of cantonal sovereignty a +single national government, composed, like that of France, of a +Directory and two Councils of Legislature.</p> +<p>The towns and districts which had been hitherto excluded from +a share in government welcomed a change which seemed to place +them on a level with their former superiors: the mountain-cantons +fought with traditional heroism in defence of the liberties which +they had inherited from their fathers; but they were compelled, +one after another, to submit to the overwhelming force of France, +and to accept the new constitution. Yet, even now, when peace +seemed to have been restored, and the whole purpose of France +attained, the tyranny and violence of the invaders exhausted the +endurance of a spirited people. The magistrates of the Republic +were expelled from office at the word of a French Commission; +hostages were seized; at length an oath of allegiance to the new +order was required as a condition for the evacuation of +Switzerland by the French army. Revolt broke out in Unterwalden, +and a handful of peasants met the French army at the village of +Stanz, near the eastern shore of the Lake of Lucerne (Sept. 8). +There for three days they fought with unyielding courage. Their +resistance inflamed the French to a cruel vengeance; slaughtered +families and burning villages renewed, in this so-called crusade +of liberty, the savagery of ancient war.</p> +<p>[French intrigues in Rome.]</p> +<p>Intrigues at Rome paved the way for a French intervention in +the affairs of the Papal States, coincident in time with the +invasion of Switzerland. The residence of the French ambassador +at Rome, Joseph Bonaparte, was the centre of a democratic +agitation. The men who moved about him were in great part +strangers from the north of Italy, but they found adherents in +the middle and professional classes in Rome itself, although the +mass of the poor people, as well as the numerous body whose +salaries or profits depended upon ecclesiastical expenditure, +were devoted to the priests and the Papacy. In anticipation of +disturbances, the Government ordered companies of soldiers to +patrol the city. A collision occurred on the 28th December, 1797, +between the patrols and a band of revolutionists, who, being +roughly handled by the populace as well as by the soldiers, made +their way for protection to the courtyard of the Palazzo Corsini, +where Joseph Bonaparte resided. Here, in the midst of a confused +struggle, General Duphot, a member of the Embassy, was shot by a +Papal soldier. <a name="FNanchor64"> </a><a href="#Footnote_64"><sup>[64]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Berthier enters Rome, Feb. 10, 1798.]</p> +<p>[Roman Republic, Feb. 15, 1798.]</p> +<p>The French had now the pretext against the Papal Government +which they desired. Joseph Bonaparte instantly left the city, and +orders were sent to Berthier, chief of the staff in northern +Italy, to march upon Rome. Berthier advanced amid the +acclamations of the towns and the curses of the peasantry, and +entered Rome on the 10th of February, 1798. Events had produced +in the capital a much stronger inclination towards change than +existed on the approach of Bonaparte a year before. The treaty of +Tolentino had shaken the prestige of Papal authority; the loss of +so many well-known works of art, the imposition of new and +unpopular taxes, had excited as much hatred against the defeated +government as against the extortionate conquerors; even among the +clergy and their retainers the sale of a portion of the +Church-lands and the curtailment of the old Papal splendours had +produced alienation and discontent. There existed too within the +Italian Church itself a reforming party, lately headed by Ricci, +bishop of Pistoia, which claimed a higher degree of independence +for the clergy, and condemned the assumption of universal +authority by the Roman See. The ill-judged exercise of the Pope's +temporal power during the last six years had gained many converts +to the opinion that the head of the Church would best perform his +office if emancipated from a worldly sovereignty, and restored to +his original position of the first among the bishops. Thus, on +its approach to Rome, the Republican army found the city ripe for +revolution. On the 15th of February an excited multitude +assembled in the Forum, and, after planting the tree of liberty +in front of the Capitol, renounced the authority of the Pope, and +declared that the Roman people constituted itself a free +Republic. The resolution was conveyed to Berthier, who recognised +the Roman Commonwealth, and made a procession through the city +with the solemnity of an ancient triumph. The Pope shut himself +up in the Vatican. His Swiss guard was removed, and replaced by +one composed of French soldiers, at whose hands the Pontiff, now +in his eighty-first year, suffered unworthy insults. He was then +required to renounce his temporal power, and, upon his refusal, +was removed to Tuscany, and afterwards beyond the Alps to +Valence, where in 1799 he died, attended by a solitary +ecclesiastic.</p> +<p>In the liberated capital a course of spoliation began, more +thorough and systematic than any that the French had yet +effected. The riches of Rome brought all the brokers and +contractors of Paris to the spot. The museums, the Papal +residence, and the palaces of many of the nobility were robbed of +every article that could be moved; the very fixtures were cut +away, when worth the carriage. On the first meeting of the +National Institute in the Vatican it was found that the doors had +lost their locks; and when, by order of the French, masses were +celebrated in the churches in expiation of the death of Duphot, +the patrols who were placed at the gates to preserve order rushed +in and seized the sacred vessels. Yet the general robbery was far +less the work of the army than of the agents and contractors sent +by the Government. In the midst of endless peculation the +soldiers were in want of their pay and their food. A sense of the +dishonour done to France arose at length in the subordinate ranks +of the army; and General Massena, who succeeded Berthier, was +forced to quit his command in consequence of the protests of the +soldiery against a system to which Massena had conspicuously +given his personal sanction. It remained to embody the recovered +liberties of Rome in a Republican Constitution, which was, as a +matter of course, a reproduction of the French Directory and +Councils of Legislature, under the practical control of the +French general in command. What Rome had given to the Revolution +in the fashion of classical expressions was now more than repaid. +The Directors were styled Consuls; the divisions of the +Legislature were known as the Senate and the Tribunate; the +Prætorship and the Quæstorship were recalled to life +in the Courts of Justice. That the new era might not want its +classical memorial, a medal was struck, with the image and +superscription of Roman heroism, to "Berthier, the restorer of +the city," and to "Gaul, the salvation of the human race."</p> +<p>[Expedition to Egypt, May, 1798.]</p> +<p>It was in the midst of these enterprises in Switzerland and +Central Italy that the Directory assembled the forces which +Bonaparte was to lead to the East. The port of Expedition to +embarkation was Toulon; and there, on the 9th of May, 1798, +Bonaparte took the command of the most formidable armament that +had ever left the French shores. Great Britain was still but +feebly represented in the Mediterranean, a detachment from St. +Vincent's fleet at Cadiz, placed under the command of Nelson, +being the sole British force in these waters. Heavy +reinforcements were at hand; but in the meantime Nelson had been +driven by stress of weather from his watch upon Toulon. On the +19th of May the French armament put out to sea, its destination +being still kept secret from the soldiers themselves. It appeared +before Malta on the 16th of June. By the treachery of the knights +Bonaparte was put in possession of this stronghold, which he +could not even have attempted to besiege. After a short delay the +voyage was resumed, and the fleet reached Alexandria without +having fallen in with the English, who had now received their +reinforcements. The landing was safely effected, and Alexandria +fell at the first assault. After five days the army advanced upon +Cairo. At the foot of the Pyramids the Mameluke cavalry vainly +threw themselves upon Bonaparte's soldiers. They were repulsed +with enormous loss on their own side and scarcely any on that of +the French. Their camp was stormed; Cairo was occupied; and there +no longer existed a force in Egypt capable of offering any +serious resistance to the invaders.</p> +<p>[Battle of the Nile, Aug. 1.]</p> +<p>But the fortune which had brought Bonaparte's army safe into +the Egyptian capital was destined to be purchased by the utter +destruction of his fleet. Nelson had passed the French in the +night, when, after much perplexity, he decided on sailing in the +direction of Egypt. Arriving at Alexandria before his prey, he +had hurried off in an imaginary pursuit to Rhodes and Crete. At +length he received information which led him to visit Alexandria +a second time. He found the French fleet, numbering thirteen +ships of the line and four frigates, at anchor in Aboukir Bay. <a +name="FNanchor65"> </a><a href="#Footnote_65"><sup>[65]</sup></a> +His own fleet was slightly inferior in men and guns, but he +entered battle with a presentiment of the completeness of his +victory. Other naval battles have been fought with larger forces; +no destruction was ever so complete as that of the Battle of the +Nile (August 1). Two ships of the line and two frigates, out of +the seventeen sail that met Nelson, alone escaped from his hands. +Of eleven thousand officers and men, nine thousand were taken +prisoners, or perished in the engagement. The army of Bonaparte +was cut off from all hope of support or return; the Republic was +deprived of communication with its best troops and its greatest +general.</p> +<p>[Coalition of 1798.]</p> +<p>A coalition was now gathering against France superior to that +of 1793 in the support of Russia and the Ottoman Empire, although +Spain was now on the side of the Republic, and Prussia, in spite +of the warnings of the last two years, refused to stir from its +neutrality. The death of the Empress Catherine, and the accession +of Paul, had caused a most serious change in the prospects of +Europe. Hitherto the policy of the Russian Court had been to +embroil the Western Powers with one another, and to confine its +efforts against the French Republic to promises and assurances; +with Paul, after an interval of total reaction, the professions +became realities. <a name="FNanchor66"> </a><a href="#Footnote_66"><sup>[66]</sup></a> No monarch entered so +cordially into Pitt's schemes for a renewal of the European +league; no ally had joined the English minister with a sincerity +so like his own. On the part of the Ottoman Government, the +pretences of friendship with which Bonaparte disguised the +occupation of Egypt were taken at their real worth. War was +declared by the Porte; and a series of negotiations, carried on +during the autumn of 1798, united Russia, England, Turkey, and +Naples in engagements of mutual support against the French +Republic.</p> +<p>[Nelson at Naples, Sept., 1798.]</p> +<p>A Russian army set out on its long march towards the Adriatic: +the levies of Austria prepared for a campaign in the spring of +1799; but to the English Government every moment that elapsed +before actual hostilities was so much time given to +uncertainties; and the man who had won the Battle of the Nile +ridiculed the precaution which had hitherto suffered the French +to spread their intrigues through Italy, and closed the ports of +Sicily and Naples to his own most urgent needs. Towards the end +of September, Nelson appeared in the Bay of Naples, and was +received with a delirium that recalled the most effusive scenes +in the French Revolution. <a name="FNanchor67"> </a><a href="#Footnote_67"><sup>[67]</sup></a> In the city of Naples, as in +the kingdom generally, the poorest classes were the fiercest +enemies of reform, and the steady allies of the Queen and the +priesthood against that section of the better-educated classes +which had begun to hope for liberty. The system of espionage and +persecution with which the sister of Marie Antoinette avenged +upon her own subjects the sufferings of her kindred had grown +more oppressive with every new victory of the Revolution. In the +summer of 1798 there were men languishing for the fifth year in +prison, whose offences had never been investigated, and whose +relatives were not allowed to know whether they were dead or +alive. A mode of expression, a fashion of dress, the word of an +informer, consigned innocent persons to the dungeon, with the +possibility of torture. In the midst of this tyranny of +suspicion, in the midst of a corruption which made the naval and +military forces of the kingdom worse than useless, King Ferdinand +and his satellites were unwearied in their theatrical invocations +of the Virgin and St. Januarius against the assailants of divine +right and the conquerors of Rome. A Court cowardly almost beyond +the example of Courts, a police that had trained every Neapolitan +to look upon his neighbour as a traitor, an administration that +had turned one of the hardiest races in Europe into soldiers of +notorious and disgraceful cowardice-such were the allies whom +Nelson, ill-fitted for politics by his sailor-like inexperience +and facile vanity, heroic in his tenderness and fidelity, in an +evil hour encouraged to believe themselves invincible because +they possessed his own support. On the 14th of November, 1798, +King Ferdinand published a proclamation, which, without declaring +war on the French, announced that the King intended to occupy the +Papal States and restore the Papal government. The manifesto +disclaimed all intention of conquest, and offered a free pardon +to all compromised persons. Ten days later the Neapolitan army +crossed the frontier, led by the Austrian general, Mack, who +passed among his admirers for the greatest soldier in Europe. <a +name="FNanchor68"> </a><a href="#Footnote_68"><sup>[68]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Ferdinand enters Rome, Nov. 29.]</p> +<p>The mass of the French troops, about twelve thousand in +number, lay in the neighbourhood of Ancona; Rome and the +intermediate stations were held by small detachments. Had Mack +pushed forward towards the Upper Tiber, his inroad, even if it +failed to crush the separated wings of the French army, must have +forced them to retreat; but, instead of moving with all his +strength through Central Italy, Mack led the bulk of his army +upon Rome, where there was no French force capable of making a +stand, and sent weak isolated columns towards the east of the +peninsula, where the French were strong enough to make a good +defence. On the approach of the Neapolitans to Rome, Championnet, +the French commander, evacuated the city, leaving a garrison in +the Castle of St. Angelo, and fell back on Civita Castellana, +thirty miles north of the capital. The King of Naples entered +Rome on the 29th November. The restoration of religion was +celebrated by the erection of an immense cross in the place of +the tree of liberty, by the immersion of several Jews in the +Tiber, by the execution of a number of compromised persons whose +pardon the King had promised, and by a threat to shoot one of the +sick French soldiers in the hospital for every shot fired by the +guns of St. Angelo. <a name="FNanchor69"> </a><a href="#Footnote_69"><sup>[69]</sup></a> Intelligence was despatched to +the exiled Pontiff of the discomfiture of his enemies. "By help +of the divine grace," wrote King Ferdinand, "and of the most +miraculous St. Januarius, we have to-day with our army entered +the sacred city of Rome, so lately profaned by the impious, who +now fly terror-stricken at the sight of the Cross and of my arms. +Leave then, your Holiness, your too modest abode, and on the +wings of cherubim, like the virgin of Loreto, come and descend +upon the Vatican, to purify it by your sacred presence." A letter +to the King of Piedmont, who had already been exhorted by +Ferdinand to encourage his peasants to assassinate French +soldiers, informed him that "the Neapolitans, guided by General +Mack, had sounded the hour of death to the French, and proclaimed +to Europe, from the summit of the Capitol, that the time of the +Kings had come."</p> +<p>[Mack defeated by Championnet, Dec. 6-13.]</p> +<p>The despatches to Piedmont fell into the hands of the enemy, +and the usual modes of locomotion would scarcely have brought +Pope Pius to Rome in time to witness the exit of his deliverer. +Ferdinand's rhapsodies were cut short by the news that his +columns advancing into the centre and east of the Papal States +had all been beaten or captured. Mack, at the head of the main +army, now advanced to avenge the defeat upon the French at Civita +Castellana and Terni. But his dispositions were as unskilful as +ever: wherever his troops encountered the enemy they were put to +the rout; and, as he had neglected to fortify or secure a single +position upon his line of march, his defeat by a handful of +French soldiers on the north of Rome involved the loss of the +country almost up to the gates of Naples. On the first rumour of +Mack's reverses the Republican party at Rome declared for France. +King Ferdinand fled; Championnet re-entered Rome, and, after a +few days' delay, advanced into Neapolitan territory. Here, +however, he found himself attacked by an enemy more formidable +than the army which had been organised to expel the French from +Italy. The Neapolitan peasantry, who, in soldiers' uniform and +under the orders of Mack, could scarcely be brought within sight +of the French, fought with courage when an appeal to their +religious passions collected them in brigand-like bands under +leaders of their own. Divisions of Championnet's army sustained +severe losses; they succeeded, however, in effecting their +junction upon the Volturno; and the stronghold of Gaeta, being +defended by regular soldiers and not by brigands, surrendered to +the French at the first summons.</p> +<p>[French enter Naples, Jan. 23, 1799.]</p> +<p>Mack was now concentrating his troops in an entrenched camp +before Capua. The whole country was rising against the invaders; +and, in spite of lost battles and abandoned fortresses, the +Neapolitan Government if it had possessed a spark of courage, +might still have overthrown the French army, which numbered only +18,000 men. But the panic and suspicion which the Government had +fostered among its subjects were now avenged upon itself. The cry +of treachery was raised on every side. The Court dreaded a +Republican rising; the priests and the populace accused the Court +of conspiracy with the French; Mack protested that the soldiers +were resolved to be beaten; the soldiers swore that they were +betrayed by Mack. On the night of the 21st of December, the Royal +Family secretly went on board Nelson's ship the <i>Vanguard</i>, +and after a short interval they set sail for Palermo, leaving the +capital in charge of Prince Pignatelli, a courtier whom no one +was willing to obey. <a name="FNanchor70"> </a><a href="#Footnote_70"><sup>[70]</sup></a> Order was, however, maintained +by a civic guard enrolled by the Municipality, until it became +known that Mack and Pignatelli had concluded an armistice with +the French, and surrendered Capua and the neighbouring towns. +Then the populace broke into wild uproar. The prisons were thrown +open; and with the arms taken from the arsenal the lazzaroni +formed themselves into a tumultuous army, along with thousands of +desperate men let loose from the gaols and the galleys. The +priests, hearing that negotiations for peace were opened, raised +the cry of treason anew; and, with the watchword of the Queen, +"All the gentlemen are Jacobins; only the people are faithful," +they hounded on the mob to riot and murder. On the morning of +January 15th hordes of lazzaroni issued from the gates to throw +themselves upon the French, who were now about nine miles from +the city; others dragged the guns down from the forts to defend +the streets. The Republican party, however, and that considerable +body among the upper class which was made Republican by the chaos +into which the Court, with its allies, the priests, and the +populace, had thrown Naples, kept up communication with +Championnet, and looked forward to the entrance of the French as +the only means of averting destruction and massacre. By a +stratagem carried out on the night of the 20th they gained +possession of the fort of St. Elmo, while the French were already +engaged in a bloody assault upon the suburbs. On the 23rd +Championnet ordered the attack to be renewed. The conspirators +within St. Elmo hoisted the French flag and turned their guns +upon the populace; the fortress of the Carmine was stormed by the +French; and, before the last struggle for life and death +commenced in the centre of the city, the leaders of the lazzaroni +listened to words of friendship which Championnet addressed to +them in their own language, and, with the incoherence of a +half-savage race, escorted his soldiers with cries of joy to the +Church of St. Januarius, which Championnet promised to respect +and protect.</p> +<p>[Parthenopean Republic.]</p> +<p>Championnet used his victory with a discretion and forbearance +rare amongst French conquerors. He humoured the superstition of +the populace; he encouraged the political hopes of the +enlightened. A vehement revulsion of feeling against the fugitive +Court and in favour of Republican government followed the +creation of a National Council by the French general, and his +ironical homage to the patron saint. The Kingdom of Naples was +converted into the Parthenopean Republic. New laws, new +institutions, discussed in a representative assembly, excited +hopes and interests unknown in Naples before. But the inevitable +incidents of a French occupation, extortion and impoverishment, +with all their bitter effects on the mind of the people, were not +long delayed. In every country district the priests were exciting +insurrection. The agents of the new Government, men with no +experience in public affairs, carried confusion wherever they +went. Civil war broke out in fifty different places; and the +barbarity of native leaders of insurrection, like Fra Diavolo, +was only too well requited by the French columns which traversed +the districts in revolt.</p> +<p>[War with Austria and Russia, March, 1799.]</p> +<p>The time was ill chosen by the French Government for an +extension of the area of combat to southern Italy. Already the +first division of the Russian army, led by Suvaroff, had reached +Moravia, and the Court of Vienna was only awaiting its own moment +for declaring war. So far were the newly-established Governments +in Rome and Naples from being able to assist the French upon the +Adige, that the French had to send troops to Rome and Naples to +support the new Governments. The force which the French could +place upon the frontier was inferior to that which two years of +preparation had given to Austria: the Russians, who were expected +to arrive in Lombardy in April, approached with the confidence of +men who had given to the French none of their recent triumphs. +Nor among the leaders was personal superiority any longer +markedly on the side of the French, as in the war of the First +Coalition. Suvaroff and the Archduke Charles were a fair match +for any of the Republican generals, except Bonaparte, who was +absent in Egypt. The executive of France had deeply declined. +Carnot was in exile; the work of organisation which he had +pursued with such energy and disinterestedness flagged under his +mediocre and corrupt successors. Skilful generals and brave +soldiers were never wanting to the Republic; but no single +controlling will, no storm of national passion, inspired the +Government with the force which it had possessed under the +Convention, and which returned to it under Napoleon.</p> +<p>A new character was given to the war now breaking out by the +inclusion of Switzerland in the area of combat. In the war of the +First Coalition, Switzerland had been neutral territory; but the +events of 1798 had left the French in possession of all +Switzerland west of the Rhine, and an Austrian force subsequently +occupied the Grisons. The line separating the combatants now ran +without a break from Mainz to the Adriatic. The French armies +were in continuous communication with one another, and the +movements of each could be modified according to the requirements +of the rest. On the other hand, a disaster sustained at any one +point of the line endangered every other point; for no neutral +territory intervened, as in 1796, to check a lateral movement of +the enemy, and to protect the communications of a French army in +Lombardy from a victorious Austrian force in southern Germany. +The importance of the Swiss passes in this relation was +understood and even overrated by the French Government; and an +energy was thrown into their mountain warfare which might have +produced greater results upon the plains.</p> +<p>[The Archduke Charles defeats Jourdan at Stockach, March, +25.]</p> +<p>Three armies formed the order of battle on either side. +Jourdan held the French command upon the Rhine; Massena in +Switzerland; Scherer, the least capable of the Republican +generals, on the Adige. On the side of the Allies, the Archduke +Charles commanded in southern Germany; in Lombardy the Austrians +were led by Kray, pending the arrival of Suvaroff and his corps; +in Switzerland the command was given to Hotze, a Swiss officer +who had gained some distinction in foreign service. It was the +design of the French to push their centre under Massena through +the mountains into the Tyrol, and by a combined attack of the +central and the southern army to destroy the Austrians upon the +upper Adige, while Jourdan, also in communication with the +centre, drove the Archduke down the Danube upon Vienna. Early in +March the campaign opened. Massena assailed the Austrian +positions east of the head-waters of the Rhine, and forced back +the enemy into the heart of the Grisons. Jourdan crossed the +Rhine at Strasburg, and passed the Black Forest with 40,000 men. +His orders were to attack the Archduke Charles, whatever the +Archduke's superiority of force. The French and the Austrian +armies met at Stockach, near the head of the Lake of Constance +(March 25). Overwhelming numbers gave the Archduke a complete +victory. Jourdan was not only stopped in his advance, but forced +to retreat beyond the Rhine. Whatever might be the fortune of the +armies of Switzerland and Italy, all hope of an advance upon +Vienna by the Danube was at an end.</p> +<p>[Murder of the French envoys at Rastadt, April 28.]</p> +<p>Freed from the invader's presence, the Austrians now spread +themselves over Baden, up to the gates of Rastadt, where, in +spite of the war between France and Austria, the envoys of the +minor German States still continued their conferences with the +French agents. On the 28th of April the French envoys, now three +in number, were required by the Austrians to depart within +twenty-four hours. An escort, for which they applied, was +refused. Scarcely had their carriages passed through the city +gates when they were attacked by a squadron of Austrian hussars. +Two of French envoys the French envoys were murdered; the third +left for dead. Whether this frightful violation of international +law was the mere outrage of a drunken soldiery, as it was +represented to be by the Austrian Government; whether it was to +any extent occasioned by superior civil orders, or connected with +French emigrants living in the neighbourhood, remains unknown. +Investigations begun by the Archduke Charles were stopped by the +Cabinet, in order that a more public inquiry might be held by the +Diet. This inquiry, however, never took place. In the year 1804 +all papers relating to the Archduke's investigation were removed +by the Government from the military archives. They have never +since been discovered. <a name="FNanchor71"> </a><a href="#Footnote_71"><sup>[71]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Battle of Magnano, April 5.]</p> +<p>The outburst of wrath with which the French people learnt the +fate of their envoys would have cost Austria dear if Austria had +now been the losing party in the war; but, for the present, +everything seemed to turn against the Republic. Jourdan had +scarcely been overthrown in Germany before a ruinous defeat at +Magnano, on the Adige, drove back the army of Italy to within a +few miles of Milan; while Massena, deprived of the fruit of his +own victories by the disasters of his colleagues, had to abandon +the eastern half of Switzerland, and to retire upon the line of +the river Limnat, Lucerne, and the Gothard. Charles now moved +from Germany into Switzerland. Massena fixed his centre at +Zürich, and awaited the Archduke's assault. For five weeks +Charles remained inactive: at length, on the 4th of June, he gave +battle. After two days' struggle against greatly superior forces, +Massena was compelled to evacuate Zürich. He retreated, +however, no farther than to the ridge of the Uetliberg, a few +miles west of the city; and here, fortifying his new position, he +held obstinately on, while the Austrians established themselves +in the central passes of Switzerland, and disaster after disaster +seemed to be annihilating the French arms in Italy.</p> +<p>[Suvaroff's Campaign in Lombardy, April-June.]</p> +<p>Suvaroff, at the head of 17,000 Russians, had arrived in +Lombardy in the middle of April. His first battle was fought, and +his first victory won, at the passage of the Adda on the 25th of +April. It was followed by the surrender of Milan and the +dissolution of the Cisalpine Republic. Moreau, who now held the +French command, fell back upon Alessandria, intending to cover +both Genoa and Turin; but a sudden movement of Suvaroff brought +the Russians into the Sardinian capital before it was even known +to be in jeopardy. The French general, cut off from the roads +over the Alps, threw himself upon the Apennines above Genoa, and +waited for the army which had occupied Naples, and which, under +the command of Macdonald, was now hurrying to his support, +gathering with it on its march the troops that lay scattered on +the south of the Po. Macdonald moved swiftly through central +Italy, and crossed the Apennines above Pistoia in the beginning +of June. His arrival at Modena with 20,000 men threatened to turn +the balance in favour of the French. Suvaroff, aware of his +danger, collected all the troops within reach with the utmost +despatch, and pushed eastwards to meet Macdonald on the Trebbia. +Moreau descended from the Apennines in the same direction; but he +had underrated the swiftness of the Russian general; and, before +he had advanced over half the distance, Macdonald was attacked by +Suvaroff on the Trebbia, and overthrown in three days of the most +desperate fighting that had been seen in the war (June 18). <a +name="FNanchor72"> </a><a href="#Footnote_72"><sup>[72]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Naples.]</p> +<p>All southern Italy now rose against the Governments +established by the French. Cardinal Ruffo, with a band of +fanatical peasants, known as the Army of the Faith, made himself +master of Apulia and Calabria amid scenes of savage cruelty, and +appeared before Naples, where the lazzaroni were ready to unite +with the hordes of the Faithful in murder and pillage. Confident +of support within the city, and assisted by some English and +Russian vessels in the harbour, Ruffo attacked the suburbs of +Naples on the morning of the 13th of June. Massacre and outrage +continued within and without the city for five days. On the +morning of the 19th, the Cardinal proposed a suspension of arms. +It was accepted by the Republicans, who were in possession of the +forts. Negotiations followed. On the 23rd conditions of peace +were signed by Ruffo on behalf of the King of Naples, and by the +representatives of Great Britain and of Russia in guarantee for +their faithful execution. It was agreed that the Republican +garrison should march out with the honours of war; that their +persons and property should be respected; that those who might +prefer to leave the country should be conveyed to Toulon on +neutral vessels; and that all who remained at home should be free +from molestation.</p> +<p>[Reign of Terror.]</p> +<p>The garrison did not leave the forts that night. On the +following morning, while they were embarking on board the +polaccas which were to take them to Toulon, Nelson's fleet +appeared in the Bay of Naples. Nelson declared that in treating +with rebels Cardinal Ruffo had disobeyed the King's orders, and +he pronounced the capitulation null and void. The polaccas, with +the Republicans crowded on board, were attached to the sterns of +the English ships, pending the arrival of King Ferdinand. On the +29th of June, Admiral Caracciolo, who had taken office under the +new Government, and on its fall had attempted to escape in +disguise, was brought a captive before Nelson. Nelson ordered him +to be tried by a Neapolitan court-martial, and, in spite of his +old age, his rank, and his long service to the State, caused him +to be hanged from a Neapolitan ship's yard-arm, and his body to +be thrown into the sea. Some days later, King Ferdinand arrived +from Palermo, and Nelson now handed over all his prisoners to the +Bourbon authorities. A reign of terror followed. Innumerable +persons were thrown into prison. Courts-martial, or commissions +administering any law that pleased themselves, sent the flower of +the Neapolitan nation to the scaffold. Above a hundred sentences +of death were carried out in Naples itself: confiscation, exile, +and imprisonment struck down thousands of families. It was +peculiar to the Neapolitan proscriptions that a Government with +the names of religion and right incessantly upon its lips +selected for extermination both among men and women those who +were most distinguished in character, in science, and in letters, +whilst it chose for promotion and enrichment those who were known +for deeds of savage violence. The part borne by Nelson in this +work of death has left a stain on his glory which time cannot +efface. <a name="FNanchor73"> </a><a href="#Footnote_73"><sup>[73]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Austrian designs in Italy.]</p> +<p>[New plan of the War.]</p> +<p>It was on the advance of the Army of Naples under Macdonald +that the French rested their last hope of recovering Lombardy. +The battle of the Trebbia scattered this hope to the winds, and +left it only too doubtful whether France could be saved from +invasion. Suvaroff himself was eager to fall upon Moreau before +Macdonald could rally from his defeat, and to drive him westwards +along the coast-road into France. It was a moment when the +fortune of the Republic hung in the scales. Had Suvaroff been +permitted to follow his own counsels, France would probably have +seen the remnant of her Italian armies totally destroyed, and the +Russians advancing upon Lyons or Marseilles. The Republic was +saved, as it had been in 1793, by the dissensions of its enemies. +It was not only for the purpose of resisting French aggression +that Austria had renewed the war, but for the purpose of +extending its own dominion in Italy. These designs were concealed +from Russia; they were partially made known by Thugut to the +British Ambassador, under the most stringent obligation to +secrecy. On the 17th of August, 1799, Lord Minto acquainted his +Government with the intentions of the Austrian Court. "The +Emperor proposes to retain Piedmont, and to take all that part of +Savoy which is important in a military view. I have no doubt of +his intention to keep Nice also, if he gets it, which will make +the Var his boundary with France. The whole territory of the +Genoese Republic seems to be an object of serious speculation ... +The Papal Legations will, I am persuaded, be retained by the +Emperor ... I am not yet master of the designs on Tuscany." <a +name="FNanchor74"> </a><a href="#Footnote_74"><sup>[74]</sup></a> +This was the sense in which Austria understood the phrase of +defending the rights of Europe against French aggression. It was +not, however, for this that the Czar had sent his army from +beyond the Carpathians. Since the opening of the campaign +Suvaroff had been in perpetual conflict with the military Council +of Vienna. <a name="FNanchor75"> </a><a href="#Footnote_75"><sup>[75]</sup></a> Suvaroff was bent upon a +ceaseless pursuit of the enemy; the Austrian Council insisted +upon the reduction of fortresses. What at first appeared as a +mere difference of military opinion appeared in its true +political character when the allied troops entered Piedmont. The +Czar desired with his whole soul to crush the men of the +Revolution, and to restore the governments which France had +overthrown. As soon as his troops entered Turin, Suvaroff +proclaimed the restoration of the House of Savoy, and summoned +all Sardinian officers to fight for their King. He was +interrupted by a letter from Vienna requiring him to leave +political affairs in the hands of the Viennese Ministry. <a name="FNanchor76"> </a><a href="#Footnote_76"><sup>[76]</sup></a> The +Russians had already done as much in Italy as the Austrian +Cabinet desired them to do, and the first wish of Thugut was now +to free himself from his troublesome ally. Suvaroff raged against +the Austrian Government in every despatch, and tendered his +resignation. His complaints inclined the Czar to accept a new +military scheme, which was supported by the English Government in +the hope of terminating the contention between Suvaroff and the +Austrian Council. It was agreed at St. Petersburg that, as soon +as the French armies were destroyed, the reduction of the Italian +fortresses should be left exclusively to the Austrians; and that +Suvaroff, uniting with a new Russian army now not far distant, +should complete the conquest of Switzerland, and then invade +France by the Jura, supported on his right by the Archduke +Charles. An attack was to be made at the same time upon Holland +by a combined British and Russian force.</p> +<p>If executed in its original form, this design would have +thrown a formidable army upon France at the side of Franche +Comté, where it is least protected by fortresses. But at +the last moment an alteration in the plan was made at Vienna. The +prospect of an Anglo-Russian victory in Holland again fixed the +thoughts of the Austrian Minister upon Belgium, which had been so +lightly abandoned five years before, and which Thugut now hoped +to re-occupy and to barter for Bavaria or some other territory. +"The Emperor," he wrote, "cannot turn a deaf ear to the appeal of +his subjects. He cannot consent that the Netherlands shall be +disposed of without his own concurrence." <a name="FNanchor77"> </a><a href="#Footnote_77"><sup>[77]</sup></a> The +effect of this perverse and mischievous resolution was that the +Archduke Charles received orders to send the greater part of his +army from Switzerland to the Lower Rhine, and to leave only +25,000 men to support the new Russian division which, under +General Korsakoff, was approaching from the north to meet +Suvaroff. The Archduke, as soon as the new instructions reached +him, was filled with the presentiment of disaster, and warned his +Government that in the general displacement of forces an +opportunity would be given to Massena, who was still above +Zürich, to strike a fatal blow. Every despatch that passed +between Vienna and St. Petersburg now increased the Czar's +suspicion of Austria. The Pope and the King of Naples were +convinced that Thugut had the same design upon their own +territories which had been shown in his treatment of Piedmont. <a +name="FNanchor78"> </a><a href="#Footnote_78"><sup>[78]</sup></a> +They appealed to the Czar for protection. The Czar proposed a +European Congress, at which the Powers might learn one another's +real intentions. The proposal was not accepted by Austria; but, +while disclaiming all desire to despoil the King of Sardinia, the +Pope, or the King of Naples, Thugut admitted that Austria claimed +an improvement of its Italian frontier, in other words, the +annexation of a portion of Piedmont, and of the northern part of +the Roman States. The Czar replied that he had taken up arms in +order to check one aggressive Government, and that he should not +permit another to take its place.</p> +<p>[Battle of Novi, Aug. 15.]</p> +<p>For the moment, however, the allied forces continued to +co-operate in Italy against the French army on the Apennines +covering Genoa. This army had received reinforcements, and was +now placed under the command of Joubert, one of the youngest and +most spirited of the Republican generals. Joubert determined to +attack the Russians before the fall of Mantua should add the +besieging army to Suvaroff's forces in the field. But the +information which he received from Lombardy misled him. In the +second week of August he was still unaware that Mantua had fallen +a fortnight before. He descended from the mountains to attack +Suvaroff at Tortona, with a force about equal to Suvaroff's own. +On reaching Novi he learnt that the army of Mantua was also +before him (Aug. 15). It was too late to retreat; Joubert could +only give to his men the example of Republican spirit and +devotion. Suvaroff himself, with Kray, the conqueror of Mantua, +began the attack: the onset of a second Austrian corps, at the +moment when the strength of the Russians was failing, decided the +day. Joubert did not live to witness the close of a defeat which +cost France eleven thousand men. <a name="FNanchor79"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_79"><sup>[79]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Suvaroff goes into Switzerland.]</p> +<p>The allied Governments had so framed their plans that the most +overwhelming victory could produce no result. Instead of entering +France, Suvaroff was compelled to turn back into Switzerland, +while the Austrians continued to besiege the fortresses of +Piedmont. In Switzerland Suvaroff had to meet an enemy who was +forewarned of his approach, and who had employed every resource +of military skill and daring to prevent the union of the two +Russian armies now advancing from the south and the north. Before +Suvaroff could leave Italy, a series of admirably-planned attacks +had given Massena the whole network of the central Alpine passes, +and closed every avenue of communication between Suvaroff and the +army with which he hoped to co-operate. The folly of the Austrian +Cabinet seconded the French general's exertions. No sooner had +Korsakoff and the new Russian division reached Schaffhausen than +the Archduke Charles, forced by his orders from Vienna, turned +northwards (Sept. 3), leaving the Russians with no support but +Hotze's corps, which was scattered over six cantons. <a name="FNanchor80"> </a><a href="#Footnote_80"><sup>[80]</sup></a> +Korsakoff advanced to Zürich; Massena remained in his old +position on the Uetliberg. It was now that Suvaroff began his +march into the Alps, sorely harassed and delayed by the want of +the mountain-teams which the Austrians had promised him, and +filled with the apprehension that Korsakoff would suffer some +irreparable disaster before his own arrival.</p> +<p>[Second Battle of Zürich, Sept. 26.]</p> +<p>Two roads lead from the Italian lakes to central Switzerland; +one, starting from the head of Lago Maggiore and crossing the +Gothard, ends on the shore of Lake Lucerne; the other, crossing +the Splügen, runs from the Lake of Como to Reichenau, in the +valley of the Rhine. The Gothard in 1799 was not practicable for +cannon; it was chosen by Suvaroff, however, for his own advance, +with the object of falling upon Massena's rear with the utmost +possible speed. He left Bellinzona on the 21st of September, +fought his way in a desperate fashion through the French outposts +that guarded the defiles of the Gothard, and arrived at Altorf +near the Lake of Lucerne. Here it was discovered that the +westward road by which Suvaroff meant to strike upon the enemy's +communications had no existence. Abandoning this design, Suvaroff +made straight for the district where his colleague was encamped, +by a shepherd's path leading north-eastwards across heights of +7,000 feet to the valley of the Muotta. Over this desolate region +the Russians made their way; and the resolution which brought +them as far as the Muotta would have brought them past every +other obstacle to the spot where they were to meet their +countrymen. But the hour was past. While Suvaroff was still +struggling in the mountains, Massena advanced against +Zürich, put Korsakoff's army to total rout, and drove it, +with the loss of all its baggage and of a great part of its +artillery, outside the area of hostilities.</p> +<p>[Retreat of Suvaroff.]</p> +<p>The first rumours of the catastrophe reached Suvaroff on the +Muotta; he still pushed on eastwards, and, though almost without +ammunition, overthrew a corps commanded by Massena in person, and +cleared the road over the Pragel at the point of the bayonet, +arriving in Glarus on the 1st of October. Here the full extent of +Korsakoff's disaster was made known to him. To advance or to fall +back was ruin. It only remained for Suvaroff's army to make its +escape across a wild and snow-covered mountain-tract into the +valley of the Rhine, where the river flows below the northern +heights of the Grisons. This exploit crowned a campaign which +filled Europe with astonishment. The Alpine traveller of to-day +turns with some distrust from narratives which characterise with +every epithet of horror and dismay scenes which are the delight +of our age; but the retreat of Suvaroff's army, a starving, +footsore multitude, over what was then an untrodden wilderness of +rock, and through fresh-fallen autumn snow two feet deep, had +little in common with the boldest feats of Alpine hardihood. <a +name="FNanchor81"> </a><a href="#Footnote_81"><sup>[81]</sup></a> +It was achieved with loss and suffering; it brought the army from +a position of the utmost danger into one of security; but it was +followed by no renewed attack. Proposals for a combination +between Suvaroff and the Archduke Charles resulted only in mutual +taunts and menaces. The co-operation of Russia in the war was at +an end. The French remained masters of the whole of the Swiss +territory that they had lost since the beginning of the +campaign.</p> +<p>[British and Russian expedition against Holland Aug. +1799.]</p> +<p>In the summer months of 1799 the Czar had relieved his +irritation against Austria by framing in concert with the British +Cabinet the plan for a joint expedition against Holland. It was +agreed that 25,000 English and 17,000 Russian troops, brought +from the Baltic in British ships, should attack the French in the +Batavian Republic, and raise an insurrection on behalf of the +exiled Stadtholder. Throughout July the Kentish coast-towns were +alive with the bustle of war; and on the 13th of August the first +English division, numbering 12,000 men, set sail from Deal under +the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby. After tossing off the Dutch +coast for a fortnight, the troops landed at the promontory of the +Helder. A Dutch corps was defeated on the sand-hills, and the +English captured the fort of the Helder, commanding the Texel +anchorage. Immediately afterwards a movement in favour of the +Stadtholder broke out among the officers of the Dutch fleet. The +captains hoisted the Orange flag, and brought their ships over to +the English.</p> +<p>This was the first and the last result of the expedition. The +Russian contingent and a second English division reached Holland +in the middle of September, and with them came the Duke of York, +who now took the command out of the hands of Abercromby. On the +other side reinforcements daily arrived from France, until the +enemy's troops, led by General Brune, were equal in strength to +the invaders. A battle fought at Alkmaar on the 19th of September +gave the Allies some partial successes and no permanent +advantage; and on the 3rd of October the Duke of York gained one +of those so-called victories which result in the retreat of the +conquerors. Never were there so many good reasons for a bad +conclusion. The Russians moved too fast or too slow; the ditches +set at nought the rules of strategy; it was discovered that the +climate of Holland was unfavourable to health, and that the Dutch +had not the slightest inclination to get back their Stadtholder. +The result of a series of mischances, every one of which would +have been foreseen by an average midshipman in Nelson's fleet, or +an average sergeant in Massena's army, was that York had to +purchase a retreat for the allied forces at a price equivalent to +an unconditional surrender. He was allowed to re-embark on +consideration that Great Britain restored to the French 8,000 +French and Dutch prisoners, and handed over in perfect repair all +the military works which our own soldiers had erected at the +Helder. Bitter complaints were raised among the Russian officers +against York's conduct of the expedition. He was accused of +sacrificing the Russian regiments in battle, and of courting a +general defeat in order not to expose his own men. The accusation +was groundless. Where York was, treachery or bad faith was +superfluous. York in command, the feeblest enemy became +invincible. Incompetence among the hereditary chiefs of the +English army had become part of the order of nature. The +Ministry, when taxed with failure, obstinately shut their eyes to +the true cause of the disaster. Parliament was reminded that +defeat was the most probable conclusion of any military +operations that we might undertake, and that England ought not to +expect success when Prussia and Austria had so long met only with +misfortune. Under the command of Nelson, English sailors were +indeed manifesting that kind of superiority to the seamen of +other nations which the hunter possesses over his prey; yet this +gave no reason why foresight and daring should count for anything +ashore. If the nation wished to see its soldiers undefeated, it +must keep them at home to defend their country. Even among the +Opposition no voice was raised to protest against the system +which sacrificed English life and military honour to the dignity +of the Royal Family. The collapse of the Anglo-Russian expedition +was viewed with more equanimity in England than in Russia. The +Czar dismissed his unfortunate generals. York returned home, to +run horses at Newmarket, to job commissions with his mistress, +and to earn his column at St. James's Park.</p> +<p>[Unpopularity of the Directory.]</p> +<p>[Plans of Siéyès 1799.]</p> +<p>It was at this moment, when the tide of military success was +already turning in favour of the Republic, that the revolution +took place which made Bonaparte absolute ruler of France. Since +the attack of the Government upon the Royalists in Fructidor, +1797, the Directory and the factions had come no nearer to a +system of mutual concession, or to a peaceful acquiescence in the +will of a parliamentary majority. The Directory, assailed both by +the extreme Jacobins and by the Constitutionalists, was still +strong enough to crush each party in its turn. The elections of +1798, which strengthened the Jacobins, were annulled with as +little scruple as the Royalist elections in the preceding year; +it was only when defeat in Germany and Italy had brought the +Government into universal discredit that the Constitutionalist +party, fortified by the return of a large majority in the +elections of 1799, dared to turn the attack upon the Directors +themselves. The excitement of foreign conquest had hitherto +shielded the abuses of Government from criticism; but when Italy +was lost, when generals and soldiers found themselves without +pay, without clothes, without reinforcements, one general outcry +arose against the Directory, and the nation resolved to have done +with a Government whose outrages and extortions had led to +nothing but military ruin. The disasters of France in the spring +of 1799, which resulted from the failure of the Government to +raise the armies to their proper strength, were not in reality +connected with the defects of the Constitution. They were caused +in part by the shameless jobbery of individual members of the +Administration, in part by the absence of any agency, like that +of the Conventional Commissioners of 1793, to enforce the control +of the central Government over the local authorities, left +isolated and independent by the changes of 1789. Faults enough +belonged, however, to the existing political order; and the +Constitutionalists, who now for the second time found themselves +with a majority in the Councils, were not disposed to prolong a +system which from the first had turned their majorities into +derision. A party grew up around the Abbé +Siéyès intent upon some change which should give +France a government really representing its best elements. What +the change was to be few could say; but it was known that +Siéyès, who had taken a leading part in 1789, and +had condemned the Constitution of 1795 from the moment when it +was sketched, had elaborated a scheme which he considered exempt +from every error that had vitiated its predecessors. As the first +step to reform, Siéyès himself was elected to a +Directorship then falling vacant. Barras attached himself to +Siéyès; the three remaining Directors, who were +Jacobins and popular in Paris, were forced to surrender their +seats. Siéyès now only needed a soldier to carry +out his plans. His first thought had turned on Joubert, but +Joubert was killed at Novi. Moreau scrupled to raise his hand +against the law; Bernadotte, a general distinguished both in war +and in administration, declined to play a secondary part. Nor in +fact was the support of Siéyès indispensable to any +popular and ambitious soldier who was prepared to attack the +Government. Siéyès and his friends offered the +alliance of a party weighty in character and antecedents; but +there were other well-known names and powerful interests at the +command of an enterprising leader, and all France awaited the +downfall of a Government whose action had resulted only in +disorder at home and defeat abroad.</p> +<p>[Bonaparte returns from Egypt, Oct., 1799.]</p> +<p>Such was the political situation when, in the summer of 1799, +Bonaparte, baffled in an attack upon the Syrian fortress of St. +Jean d'Acre, returned to Egypt, and received the first tidings +from Europe which had reached him since the outbreak of the war. +He saw that his opportunity had arrived. He determined to leave +his army, whose ultimate failure was inevitable, and to offer to +France in his own person that sovereignty of genius and strength +for which the whole nation was longing. On the 7th of October a +despatch from Bonaparte was read in the Council of Five Hundred, +announcing a victory over the Turks at Aboukir. It brought the +first news that had been received for many months from the army +of Egypt; it excited an outburst of joyous enthusiasm for the +general and the army whom a hated Government was believed to have +sent into exile; it recalled that succession of victories which +had been unchecked by a single defeat, and that Peace which had +given France a dominion wider than any that her Kings had won. +While every thought was turned upon Bonaparte, the French nation +suddenly heard that Bonaparte himself had landed on the coast of +Provence. "I was sitting that day," says Béranger in his +autobiography, "in our reading-room with thirty or forty other +persons. Suddenly the news was brought in that Bonaparte had +returned from Egypt. At the words, every man in the room started +to his feet and burst into one long shout of joy." The emotion +portrayed by Béranger was that of the whole of France. +Almost everything that now darkens the early fame of Bonaparte +was then unknown. His falsities, his cold, unpitying heart were +familiar only to accomplices and distant sufferers; even his most +flagrant wrongs, such as the destruction of Venice, were excused +by a political necessity, or disguised as acts of righteous +chastisement. The hopes, the imagination of France saw in +Bonaparte the young, unsullied, irresistible hero of the +Republic. His fame had risen throughout a crisis which had +destroyed all confidence in others. The stale placemen of the +factions sank into insignificance by his side; even sincere +Republicans, who feared the rule of a soldier, confessed that it +is not always given to a nation to choose the mode of its own +deliverance. From the moment that Bonaparte landed at +Fréjus, he was master of France.</p> +<p>[Conspiracy of Siéyès and Bonaparte.]</p> +<p>Siéyès saw that Bonaparte, and no one else, was +the man through whom he could overthrow the existing +Constitution. <a name="FNanchor82"> </a><a href="#Footnote_82"><sup>[82]</sup></a> So little sympathy existed, +however, between Siéyès and the soldier to whom he +now offered his support, that Bonaparte only accepted +Siéyès' project after satisfying himself that +neither Barras nor Bernadotte would help him to supreme power. +Once convinced of this, Bonaparte closed with +Siéyès' offers. It was agreed that +Siéyès and his friend Ducos should resign their +Directorships, and that the three remaining Directors should be +driven from office. The Assemblies, or any part of them +favourable to the plot, were to appoint a Triumvirate composed of +Bonaparte, Siéyès, and Ducos, for the purpose of +drawing up a new Constitution. In the new Constitution it was +understood, though without any definite arrangement, that +Bonaparte and Siéyès were to be the leading +figures. The Council of Ancients was in great part in league with +the conspirators: the only obstacle likely to hinder the success +of the plot was a rising of the Parisian populace. As a +precaution against attack, it was determined to transfer the +meeting of the Councils to St. Cloud. Bonaparte had secured the +support of almost all the generals and troops in Paris. His +brother Lucien, now President of the Council of Five Hundred, +hoped to paralyse the action of his own Assembly, in which the +conspirators were in the minority.</p> +<p>[Coup d'état, 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9), 1799.]</p> +<p>Early on the morning of the 9th of November (18 Brumaire), a +crowd of generals and officers met before Bonaparte's house. At +the same moment a portion of the Council of Ancients assembled, +and passed a decree which adjourned the session to St. Cloud, and +conferred on Bonaparte the command over all the troops in Paris. +The decree was carried to Bonaparte's house and read to the +military throng, who acknowledged it by brandishing their swords. +Bonaparte then ordered the troops to their posts, received the +resignation of Barras, and arrested the two remaining Directors +in the Luxembourg. During the night there was great agitation in +Paris. The arrest of the two Directors and the display of +military force revealed the true nature of the conspiracy, and +excited men to resistance who had hitherto seen no great cause +for alarm. The Councils met at St. Cloud at two on the next day. +The Ancients were ready for what was coming; the Five Hundred +refused to listen to Bonaparte's accomplices, and took the oath +of fidelity to the Constitution. Bonaparte himself entered the +Council of Ancients, and in violent, confused language declared +that he had come to save the Republic from unseen dangers. He +then left the Assembly, and entered the Chamber of the Five +Hundred, escorted by armed grenadiers. A roar of indignation +greeted the appearance of the bayonets. The members rushed in a +mass upon Bonaparte, and drove him out of the hall. His brother +now left the President's chair and joined the soldiers outside, +whom he harangued in the character of President of the Assembly. +The soldiers, hitherto wavering, were assured by Lucien's civil +authority and his treacherous eloquence. The drums beat; the word +of command was given; and the last free representatives of France +struggled through doorways and windows before the levelled and +advancing bayonets.</p> +<p>[Siéyès' plan of Constitution.]</p> +<p>The Constitution which Siéyès hoped now to +impose upon France had been elaborated by its author at the close +of the Reign of Terror. Designed at that epoch, it bore the trace +of all those apprehensions which gave shape to the Constitution +of 1795. The statutory outrages of 1793, the Royalist reaction +shown in the events of Vendémiaire, were the perils from +which both Siéyès and the legislators of 1795 +endeavoured to guard the future of France. It had become clear +that a popular election might at any moment return a royalist +majority to the Assembly: the Constitution of 1795 averted this +danger by prolonging the power of the Conventionalists; +Siéyès overcame it by extinguishing popular +election altogether. He gave to the nation no right but that of +selecting half a million persons who should be eligible to +offices in the Communes, and who should themselves elect a +smaller body of fifty thousand, eligible to offices in the +Departments. The fifty thousand were in their turn to choose five +thousand, who should be eligible to places in the Government and +the Legislature. The actual appointments were to be made, +however, not by the electors, but by the Executive. With the +irrational multitude thus deprived of the power to bring back its +old oppressors, priests, royalists, and nobles might safely do +their worst. By way of still further precaution, +Siéyès proposed that every Frenchman who had been +elected to the Legislature since 1789 should be inscribed for ten +years among the privileged five thousand.</p> +<p>Such were the safeguards provided against a Bourbonist +reaction. To guard against a recurrence of those evils which +France had suffered from the precipitate votes of a single +Assembly, Siéyès broke up the legislature into as +many chambers as there are stages in the passing of a law. The +first chamber, or Council of State, was to give shape to measures +suggested by the Executive; a second chamber, known as the +Tribunate, was to discuss the measures so framed, and ascertain +the objections to which they were liable; the third chamber, +known as the Legislative Body, was to decide in silence for or +against the measures, after hearing an argument between +representatives of the Council and of the Tribunate. As a last +impregnable bulwark against Jacobins and Bourbonists alike, +Siéyès created a Senate whose members should hold +office for life, and be empowered to annul every law in which the +Chambers might infringe upon the Constitution.</p> +<p>It only remained to invent an Executive. In the other parts of +his Constitution, Siéyès had borrowed from Rome, +from Greece, and from Venice; in his Executive he improved upon +the political theories of Great Britain. He proposed that the +Government should consist of two Consuls and a Great Elector; the +Elector, like an English king, appointing and dismissing the +Consuls, but taking no active part in the administration himself. +The Consuls were to be respectively restricted to the affairs of +peace and of war. Grotesque under every aspect, the Constitution +of Siéyès was really calculated to effect in all +points but one the end which he had in view. His object was to +terminate the convulsions of France by depriving every element in +the State of the power to create sudden change. The members of +his body politic, a Council that could only draft, a Tribunate +that could only discuss, a Legislature that could only vote, Yes +or No, were impotent for mischief; and the nation itself ceased +to have a political existence as soon as it had selected its +half-million notables.</p> +<p>[Siéyès and Bonaparte.]</p> +<p>So far, nothing could have better suited the views of +Bonaparte; and up to this point Bonaparte quietly accepted +Siéyès' plan. But the general had his own scheme +for what was to follow. Siéyès might apportion the +act of deliberation among debating societies and dumb juries to +the full extent of his own ingenuity; but the moment that he +applied his disintegrating method to the Executive, Bonaparte +swept away the flimsy reasoner, and set in the midst of his +edifice of shadows the reality of an absolute personal rule. The +phantom Elector, and the Consuls who were to be the Elector's +tenants-at-will, corresponded very little to the power which +France desired to see at its head. "Was there ever anything so +ridiculous?" cried Bonaparte. "What man of spirit could accept +such a post?" It was in vain that Siéyès had so +nicely set the balance. His theories gave to France only the +pageants which disguised the extinction of the nation beneath a +single will: the frame of executive government which the country +received in 1799 was that which Bonaparte deduced from the +conception of an absolute central power. The First Consul summed +up all executive authority in his own person. By his side there +were set two colleagues whose only function was to advise. A +Council of State placed the highest skill and experience in +France at the disposal of the chief magistrate, without +infringing upon his sovereignty. All offices, both in the +Ministries of State and in the provinces, were filled by the +nominees of the First Consul. No law could be proposed but at his +desire.</p> +<p>[Contrast of the Institutions of 1791 and 1799.]</p> +<p>[Centralisation of 1799.]</p> +<p>The institutions given to France by the National Assembly of +1789 and those given to it in the Consulate exhibited a direct +contrast seldom found outside the region of abstract terms. Local +customs, survivals of earlier law, such as soften the difference +between England and the various democracies of the United States, +had no place in the sharp-cut types in which the political order +of France was recast in 1791 and 1799. The Constituent Assembly +had cleared the field before it began to reconstruct. Its +reconstruction was based upon the Rights of Man, identified with +the principle of local self-government by popular election. It +deduced a system of communal administration so completely +independent that France was described by foreign critics as +partitioned into 40,000 republics; and the criticism was +justified when, in 1793, it was found necessary to create a new +central Government, and to send commissioners from the capital +into the provinces. In the Constitution of 1791, judges, bishops, +officers of the National Guard, were all alike subjected to +popular election; the Minister of War could scarcely move a +regiment from one village to another without the leave of the +mayor of the commune. In the Constitution of 1799 all authority +was derived from the head of the State. A system of +centralisation came into force with which France under her kings +had nothing to compare. All that had once served as a check upon +monarchical power, the legal Parliaments, the Provincial Estates +of Brittany and Languedoc, the rights of lay and ecclesiastical +corporations, had vanished away. In the place of the motley of +privileges that had tempered the Bourbon monarchy, in the place +of the popular Assemblies of the Revolution, there sprang up a +series of magistracies as regular and as absolute as the orders +of military rank. <a name="FNanchor83"> </a><a href="#Footnote_83"><sup>[83]</sup></a> Where, under the Constitution +of 1791, a body of local representatives had met to conduct the +business of the Department, there was now a Préfet, +appointed by the First Consul, absolute, like the First Consul +himself, and assisted only by the advice of a nominated council, +which met for one fortnight in the year. In subordination to the +Préfet, an officer and similar council transacted the +local business of the Arrondissement. Even the 40,000 Maires with +their communal councils were all appointed directly or indirectly +by the Chief of the State. There existed in France no authority +that could repair a village bridge, or light the streets of a +town, but such as owed its appointment to the central Government. +Nor was the power of the First Consul limited to the +administration. With the exception of the lowest and the highest +members of the judicature, he nominated all judges, and +transferred them at his pleasure to inferior or superior +posts.</p> +<p>Such was the system which, based to a great extent upon the +preferences of the French people, fixed even more deeply in the +national character the willingness to depend upon an omnipresent, +all-directing power. Through its rational order, its regularity, +its command of the highest science and experience, this system of +government could not fail to confer great and rapid benefits upon +the country. It has usually been viewed by the French themselves +as one of the finest creations of political wisdom. In comparison +with the self-government which then and long afterwards existed +in England, the centralisation of France had all the superiority +of progress and intelligence over torpor and self-contradiction. +Yet a heavy, an incalculable price is paid by every nation which +for the sake of administrative efficiency abandons its local +liberties, and all that is bound up with their enjoyment. No +practice in the exercise of public right armed a later generation +of Frenchmen against the audacity of a common usurper: no +immortality of youth secured the institutions framed by Napoleon +against the weakness and corruption which at some period +undermine all despotisms. The historian who has exhausted every +term of praise upon the political system of the Consulate lived +to declare, as Chief of the State himself, that the first need of +France was the decentralisation of power. <a name="FNanchor84"> </a><a href="#Footnote_84"><sup>[84]</sup></a></p> +<p>[State policy of Bonaparte.]</p> +<p>After ten years of disquiet, it was impossible that any +Government could be more welcome to the French nation than one +which proclaimed itself the representative, not of party or of +opinion, but of France itself. No section of the nation had won a +triumph in the establishment of the Consulate; no section had +suffered a defeat. In his own elevation Bonaparte announced the +close of civil conflict. A Government had arisen which summoned +all to its service which would employ all, reward all, reconcile +all. The earliest measures of the First Consul exhibited the +policy of reconciliation by which he hoped to rally the whole of +France to his side. The law of hostages, under which hundreds of +families were confined in retaliation for local Royalist +disturbances, was repealed, and Bonaparte himself went to +announce their liberty to the prisoners in the Temple. Great +numbers of names were struck off the list of the emigrants, and +the road to pardon was subsequently opened to all who had not +actually served against their country. In the selection of his +officers of State, Bonaparte showed the same desire to win men of +all parties. Cambacérès, a regicide, was made +Second Consul; Lebrun, an old official of Louis XVI., became his +colleague. In the Ministries, in the Senate, and in the Council +of State the nation saw men of proved ability chosen from all +callings in life and from all political ranks. No Government of +France had counted among its members so many names eminent for +capacity and experience. One quality alone was indispensable, a +readiness to serve and to obey. In that intellectual greatness +which made the combination of all the forces of France a familiar +thought in Bonaparte's mind, there was none of the moral +generosity which could pardon opposition to himself, or tolerate +energy acting under other auspices than his own. He desired to +see authority in the best hands; he sought talent and promoted +it, but on the understanding that it took its direction from +himself. Outside this limit ability was his enemy, not his +friend; and what could not be caressed or promoted was treated +with tyrannical injustice. While Bonaparte boasted of the career +that he had thrown open to talent, he suppressed the whole of the +independent journalism of Paris, and banished Mme. de Stael, +whose guests continued to converse, when they might not write, +about liberty. Equally partial, equally calculated, was +Bonaparte's indulgence towards the ancient enemies of the +Revolution, the Royalists and the priests. He felt nothing of the +old hatred of Paris towards the Vendean noble and the +superstitious Breton; he offered his friendship to the stubborn +Breton race, whose loyalty and piety he appreciated as good +qualities in subjects; but failing their submission, he +instructed his generals in the west of France to burn down their +villages, and to set a price upon the heads of their chiefs. +Justice, tolerance, good faith, were things which had no being +for Bonaparte outside the circle of his instruments and +allies.</p> +<p>[France ceases to excite democracy abroad, but promotes +equality under monarchical systems.]</p> +<p>[Effect of Bonaparte's autocracy outside France.]</p> +<p>In the foreign relations of France it was not possible for the +most unscrupulous will to carry aggression farther than it had +been already carried; yet the elevation of Bonaparte deeply +affected the fortunes of all those States whose lot depended upon +France. It was not only that a mind accustomed to regard all +human things as objects for its own disposal now directed an +irresistible military force, but from the day when France +submitted to Bonaparte, the political changes accompanying the +advance of the French armies took a different character. Belgium +and Holland, the Rhine Provinces, the Cisalpine, the Roman, and +the Parthenopean Republics, had all received, under whatever +circumstances of wrong, at least the forms of popular +sovereignty. The reality of power may have belonged to French +generals and commissioners; but, however insincerely uttered, the +call to freedom excited hopes and aspirations which were not +insincere themselves. The Italian festivals of emancipation, the +trees of liberty, the rhetoric of patriotic assemblies, had +betrayed little enough of the instinct for self-government; but +they marked a separation from the past; and the period between +the years 1796 and 1799 was in fact the birth-time of those hopes +which have since been realised in the freedom and the unity of +Italy. So long as France had her own tumultuous assemblies, her +elections in the village and in the county-town, it was +impossible for her to form republics beyond the Alps without +introducing at least some germ of republican organisation and +spirit. But when all power was concentrated in a single man, when +the spoken and the written word became an offence against the +State, when the commotion of the old municipalities was succeeded +by the silence and the discipline of a body of clerks working +round their chief, then the advance of French influence ceased to +mean the support of popular forces against the Governments. The +form which Bonaparte had given to France was the form which he +intended for the clients of France. Hence in those communities +which directly received the impress of the Consulate, as in +Bavaria and the minor German States, authority, instead of being +overthrown, was greatly strengthened. Bonaparte carried beyond +the Rhine that portion of the spirit of the Revolution which he +accepted at home, the suppression of privilege, the extinction of +feudal rights, the reduction of all ranks to equality before the +law, and the admission of all to the public service. But this +levelling of the social order in the client-states of France, and +the establishment of system and unity in the place of obsolete +privilege, cleared the way not for the supremacy of the people, +but for the supremacy of the Crown. The power which was taken +away from corporations, from knights, and from ecclesiastics, was +given, not to a popular Representative, but to Cabinet Ministers +and officials ranged after the model of the official hierarchy of +France. What the French had in the first epoch of their +Revolution endeavoured to impart to Europe-the spirit of liberty +and self-government-they had now renounced themselves. The belief +in popular right, which made the difference between the changes +of 1789 and those attempted by the Emperor Joseph, sank in the +storms of the Revolution.</p> +<p>[Bonaparte legislates in the spirit of the reforming monarchs +of the 18th century.]</p> +<p>Yet the statesmanship of Bonaparte, if it repelled the liberal +and disinterested sentiment of 1789, was no mere cunning of a +Corsican soldier, or exploit of mediæval genius born +outside its age. Subject to the fullest gratification of his own +most despotic or most malignant impulse, Bonaparte carried into +his creations the ideas upon which the greatest European +innovators before the French Revolution had based their work. +What Frederick and Joseph had accomplished, or failed to +accomplish, was realised in Western Germany when its Sovereigns +became the clients of the First Consul. Bonaparte was no child of +the French Revolution; he was the last and the greatest of the +autocratic legislators who worked in an unfree age. Under his +rule France lost what had seemed to be most its own; it most +powerfully advanced the forms of progress common to itself and +the rest of Europe. Bonaparte raised no population to liberty: in +extinguishing privilege and abolishing the legal distinctions of +birth, in levelling all personal and corporate authority beneath +the single rule of the State, he prepared the way for a rational +freedom, when, at a later day, the Government of the State should +itself become the representative of the nation's will.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_V."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c5">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Overtures of Bonaparte to Austria and England-The War +continues-Massena besieged in Genoa-Moreau invades Southern +Germany-Bonaparte crosses the St. Bernard, and descends in the +rear of the Austrians-Battle of Marengo-Austrians retire behind +the Mincio-Treaty between England and Austria-Austria continues +the War-Battle of Hohenlinden-Peace of Lunéville-War +between England and the Northern Maritime League-Battle of +Copenhagen-Murder of Paul-End of the Maritime War-English Army +enters Egypt-French defeated at Alexandria-They capitulate at +Cairo and Alexandria-Preliminaries of Peace between England and +France signed at London, followed by Peace of Amiens-Pitt's Irish +Policy and his retirement-Debates on the Peace-Aggressions of +Bonaparte during the Continental Peace-Holland, Italy, +Switzerland-Settlement of Germany under French and Russian +influence-Suppression of Ecclesiastical States and Free +Cities-Its effects-Stein-France under the Consulate-The Civil +Code-The Concordat.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Overtures of Bonaparte to Austria and to England, 1799.]</p> +<p>The establishment of the Consulate gave France peace from the +strife of parties. Peace from foreign warfare was not less +desired by the nation; and although the First Consul himself was +restlessly planning the next campaign, it belonged to his policy +to represent himself as the mediator between France and Europe. +Discarding the usual diplomatic forms, Bonaparte addressed +letters in his own name to the Emperor Francis and to King George +III., deploring the miseries inflicted by war upon nations +naturally allied, and declaring his personal anxiety to enter +upon negotiations for peace. The reply of Austria which was +courteously worded, produced an offer on the part of Bonaparte to +treat for peace upon the basis of the Treaty of Campo Formio. +Such a proposal was the best evidence of Bonaparte's real +intentions. Austria had re-conquered Lombardy, and driven the +armies of the Republic from the Adige to within a few miles of +Nice. To propose a peace which should merely restore the +situation existing at the beginning of the war was pure irony. +The Austrian Government accordingly declared itself unable to +treat without the concurrence of its allies. The answer of +England to the overtures of the First Consul was rough and +defiant. It recounted the causes of war and distrust which +precluded England from negotiating with a revolutionary +Government; and, though not insisting on the restoration of the +Bourbons as a condition of peace, it stated that no guarantee for +the sincerity and good behaviour of France would be so acceptable +to Great Britain as the recall of the ancient family. <a name="FNanchor85"> </a><a href="#Footnote_85"><sup>[85]</sup></a></p> +<p>Few State papers have been distinguished by worse faults of +judgment than this English manifesto. It was intended to +recommend the Bourbons to France as a means of procuring peace: +it enabled Bonaparte to represent England as violently +interfering with the rights of the French people, and the +Bourbons as seeking their restoration at the hand of the enemy of +their country. The answer made to Pitt's Government from Paris +was such as one high-spirited nation which had recently expelled +its rulers might address to another that had expelled its rulers +a century before. France, it was said, had as good a right to +dismiss an incapable dynasty as Great Britain. If Talleyrand's +reply failed to convince King George that before restoring the +Bourbons he ought to surrender his own throne to the Stuarts, it +succeeded in transferring attention from the wrongs inflicted by +France to the pretensions advanced by England. That it affected +the actual course of events there is no reason to believe. The +French Government was well acquainted with the real grounds of +war possessed by England, in spite of the errors by which the +British Cabinet weakened the statement of its cause. What the +mass of the French people now thought, or did not think, had +become a matter of very little importance.</p> +<p>[Situation of the Armies.]</p> +<p>[Moreau invades South Germany, April, 1800.]</p> +<p>The war continued. Winter and the early spring of 1800 passed +in France amidst vigorous but concealed preparations for the +campaign which was to drive the Austrians from Italy. In Piedmont +the Austrians spent months in inaction, which might have given +them Genoa and completed the conquest of Italy before Bonaparte's +army could take the field. It was not until the beginning of +April that Melas, their general, assailed the French positions on +the Genoese Apennines; a fortnight more was spent in mountain +warfare before Massena, who now held the French command, found +himself shut up in Genoa and blockaded by land and sea. The army +which Bonaparte was about to lead into Italy lay in between Dijon +and Geneva, awaiting the arrival of the First Consul. On the +Rhine, from Strasburg to Schaffhausen, a force of 100,000 men was +ready to cross into Germany under the command of Moreau, who was +charged with the task of pushing the Austrians back from the +Upper Danube, and so rendering any attack through Switzerland +upon the communications of Bonaparte's Italian force impossible. +Moreau's army was the first to move. An Austrian force, not +inferior to Moreau's own, lay within the bend of the Rhine that +covers Baden and Würtemberg. Moreau crossed the Rhine at +various points, and by a succession of ingenious manoeuvres led +his adversary, Kray, to occupy all the roads through the Black +Forest except those by which the northern divisions of the French +were actually passing. A series of engagements, conspicuous for +the skill of the French general and the courage of the defeated +Austrians, gave Moreau possession of the country south of the +Danube as far as Ulm, where Kray took refuge in his entrenched +camp. Beyond this point Moreau's instructions forbade him to +advance. His task was fulfilled by the severance of the Austrian +army from the roads into Italy.</p> +<p>[Bonaparte crosses the Alps, May, 1800.]</p> +<p>Bonaparte's own army was now in motion. Its destination was +still secret; its very existence was doubted by the Austrian +generals. On the 8th of May the First Consul himself arrived at +Geneva, and assumed the command. The campaign upon which this +army was now entering was designed by Bonaparte to surpass +everything that Europe had hitherto seen most striking in war. +The feats of Massena and Suvaroff in the Alps had filled his +imagination with mountain warfare. A victory over nature more +imposing than theirs might, in the present position of the +Austrian forces in Lombardy, be made the prelude to a victory in +the field without a parallel in its effects upon the enemy. +Instead of relieving Genoa by an advance along the coast-road, +Bonaparte intended to march across the Alps and to descend in the +rear of the Austrians. A single defeat would then cut the +Austrians off from their communications with Mantua, and result +either in the capitulation of their army or in the evacuation of +the whole of the country that they had won, Bonaparte led his +army into the mountains. The pass of the Great St. Bernard, +though not a carriage-road, offered little difficulty to a +commander supplied with every resource of engineering material +and skill; and by this road the army crossed the Alps. The +cannons were taken from their carriages and dragged up the +mountain in hollowed trees; thousands of mules transported the +ammunition and supplies; workshops for repairs were established +on either slope of the mountain; and in the Monastery of St. +Bernard there were stores collected sufficient to feed the +soldiers as they reached the summit during six successive days +(May 15-20). The passage of the St. Bernard was a triumph of +organisation, foresight, and good management; as a military +exploit it involved none of the danger, none of the suffering, +none of the hazard, which gave such interest to the campaign of +Massena and Suvaroff.</p> +<p>[Bonaparte cuts off the Austrian army from Eastern +Lombardy.]</p> +<p>Bonaparte had rightly calculated upon the unreadiness of his +enemy. The advanced guard of the French army poured down the +valley of the Dora-Baltea upon the scanty Austrian detachments at +Ivrea and Chiusella, before Melas, who had in vain been warned of +the departure of the French from Geneva, arrived with a few +thousand men at Turin to dispute the entrance into Italy. Melas +himself, on the opening of the campaign, had followed a French +division to Nice, leaving General Ott in charge of the army +investing Genoa. On reaching Turin he discovered the full extent +of his peril, and sent orders to Ott to raise the siege of Genoa +and to join him with every regiment that he could collect. Ott, +however, was unwilling to abandon the prey at this moment falling +into his grasp. He remained stationary till the 5th of June, when +Massena, reduced to the most cruel extremities by famine, was +forced to surrender Genoa to the besiegers. But his obstinate +endurance had the full effect of a battle won. Ott's delay +rendered Melas powerless to hinder the movements of Bonaparte, +when, instead of marching upon Genoa, as both French and +Austrians expected him to do, he turned eastward, and thrust his +army between the Austrians and their own fortresses. Bonaparte +himself entered Milan (June 2); Lannes and Murat were sent to +seize the bridges over the Po and the Adda. The Austrian +detachment guarding Piacenza was overpowered; the communications +of Melas with the country north of the Powere completely severed. +Nothing remained for the Austrian commander but to break through +the French or to make his escape to Genoa.</p> +<p>[Battle of Marengo, June 14, 1800.]</p> +<p>[Conditions of Armistice.]</p> +<p>The French centre was now at Stradella, half-way between +Piacenza and Alessandria. Melas was at length joined by Ott at +Alessandria, but so scattered were the Austrian forces, that out +of 80,000 men Melas had not more than 33,000 at his command. +Bonaparte's forces were equal in number; his only fear was that +Melas might use his last line of retreat, and escape to Genoa +without an engagement. The Austrian general, however, who had +shared with Suvaroff the triumph over Joubert at Novi, resolved +to stake everything upon a pitched battle. He awaited Bonaparte's +approach at Alessandria. On the 12th of June Bonaparte advanced +westward from Stradella. His anxiety lest Melas might be escaping +from his hands increased with every hour of the march that +brought him no tidings of the enemy; and on the 13th, when his +advanced guard had come almost up to the walls of Alessandria +without seeing an enemy, he could bear the suspense no longer, +and ordered Desaix to march southward towards Novi and hold the +road to Genoa. Desaix led off his division. Early the next +morning the whole army of Melas issued from Alessandria, and +threw itself upon the weakened line of the French at Marengo. The +attack carried everything before it: at the end of seven hours' +fighting, Melas, exhausted by his personal exertions, returned +into Alessandria, and sent out tidings of a complete victory. It +was at this moment that Desaix, who had turned at the sound of +the cannon, appeared on the field, and declared that, although +one battle had been lost, another might be won. A sudden +cavalry-charge struck panic into the Austrians, who believed the +battle ended and the foe overthrown. Whole brigades threw down +their arms and fled; and ere the day closed a mass of fugitives, +cavalry and infantry, thronging over the marshes of the Bormida, +was all that remained of the victorious Austrian centre. The +suddenness of the disaster, the desperate position of the army, +cut off from its communications, overthrew the mind of Melas, and +he agreed to an armistice more fatal than an unconditional +surrender. The Austrians retired behind the Mincio, and abandoned +to the French every fortress in Northern Italy that lay west of +that river. A single battle had produced the result of a campaign +of victories and sieges. Marengo was the most brilliant in +conception of all Bonaparte's triumphs. If in its execution the +genius of the great commander had for a moment failed him, no +mention of the long hours of peril and confusion was allowed to +obscure the splendour of Bonaparte's victory. Every document was +altered or suppressed which contained a report of the real facts +of the battle. The descriptions given to the French nation +claimed only new homage to the First Consul's invincible genius +and power. <a name="FNanchor86"> </a><a href="#Footnote_86"><sup>[86]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Austria continues the war.]</p> +<p>At Vienna the military situation was viewed more calmly than +in Melas' camp. The conditions of the armistice were generally +condemned, and any sudden change in the policy of Austria was +prevented by a treaty with England, binding Austria, in return +for British subsidies, and for a secret promise of part of +Piedmont, to make no separate peace with France before the end of +February, 1801. This treaty was signed a few hours before the +arrival of the news of Marengo. It was the work of Thugut, who +still maintained his influence over the Emperor, in spite of +growing unpopularity and almost universal opposition. Public +opinion, however, forced the Emperor at least to take steps for +ascertaining the French terms of peace. An envoy was sent to +Paris; and, as there could be no peace without the consent of +England, conferences were held with the object of establishing a +naval armistice between England and France. England, however, +refused the concessions demanded by the First Consul; and the +negotiations were broken off in September. But this interval of +three months had weakened the authority of the Minister and +stimulated the intrigues which at every great crisis paralysed +the action of Austria. At length, while Thugut was receiving the +subsidies of Great Britain and arranging for the most vigorous +prosecution of the war, the Emperor, concealing the transaction +from his Minister, purchased a new armistice by the surrender of +the fortresses of Ulm and Ingolstadt to Moreau's army. <a name="FNanchor87"> </a><a href="#Footnote_87"><sup>[87]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Battle of Hohenlinden, Dec. 3, 1800.]</p> +<p>A letter written by Thugut after a council held on the 25th of +September gives some indication of the stormy scene which then +passed in the Emperor's presence. Thugut tendered his +resignation, which was accepted; and Lehrbach, the author of the +new armistice, was placed in office. But the reproaches of the +British ambassador forced the weak Emperor to rescind this +appointment on the day after it had been published to the world. +There was no one in Vienna capable of filling the vacant post; +and after a short interval the old Minister resumed the duties of +his office, without, however, openly resuming the title. The +remainder of the armistice was employed in strengthening the +force opposed to Moreau, who now received orders to advance upon +Vienna. The Archduke John, a royal strategist of eighteen, was +furnished with a plan for surrounding the French army and cutting +it off from its communications. Moreau lay upon the Isar; the +Austrians held the line of the Inn. On the termination of the +armistice the Austrians advanced and made some devious marches in +pursuance of the Archduke's enterprise, until a general +confusion, attributed to the weather, caused them to abandon +their manoeuvres and move straight against the enemy. On the 3rd +of December the Austrians plunged into the snow-blocked roads of +the Forest of Hohenlinden, believing that they had nothing near +them but the rear-guard of a retiring French division. Moreau +waited until they had reached the heart of the forest, and then +fell upon them with his whole force in front, in flank, and in +the rear. The defeat of the Austrians was overwhelming. What +remained of the war was rather a chase than a struggle. Moreau +successively crossed the Inn, the Salza, and the Traun; and on +December 25th the Emperor, seeing that no effort of Pitt could +keep Moreau out of Vienna, accepted an armistice at Steyer, and +agreed to treat for peace without reference to Great Britain.</p> +<p>[Peace of Lunéville, Feb. 9, 1801.]</p> +<p>Defeats on the Mincio, announced during the following days, +increased the necessity for peace. Thugut was finally removed +from power. Some resistance was offered to the conditions +proposed by Bonaparte, but these were directed more to the +establishment of French influence in Germany than to the +humiliation of the House of Hapsburg. Little was taken from +Austria but what she had surrendered at Campo Formio. It was not +by the cession of Italian or Slavonic provinces that the +Government of Vienna paid for Marengo and Hohenlinden, but at the +cost of that divided German race whose misfortune it was to have +for its head a sovereign whose interests in the Empire and in +Germany were among the least of all his interests. The Peace of +Lunéville, <a name="FNanchor88"> </a><a href="#Footnote_88"><sup>[88]</sup></a> concluded between France and +the Emperor on the 9th of February, 1801, without even a +reference to the Diet of the Empire, placed the minor States of +Germany at the mercy of the French Republic. It left to the House +of Hapsburg the Venetian territory which it had gained in 1797; +it required no reduction of the Hapsburg influence in Italy +beyond the abdication of the Grand Duke of Tuscany; but it ceded +to France, without the disguises of 1797, the German provinces +west of the Rhine, and it formally bound the Empire to compensate +the dispossessed lay Sovereigns in such a manner as should be +approved by France. The French Republic was thus made arbiter, as +a matter of right, in the rearrangement of the maimed and +shattered Empire. Even the Grand Duke of Tuscany, like his +predecessor in ejection, the Duke of Modena, was to receive some +portion of the German race for his subjects, in compensation for +the Italians taken from him. To such a pass had political +disunion brought a nation which at that time could show the +greatest names in Europe in letters, in science, and in art.</p> +<p>[Peace with Naples.]</p> +<p>[Russia turns against England.]</p> +<p>[Northern Maritime League, Dec., 1800.]</p> +<p>Austria having succumbed, the Court of Naples, which had been +the first of the Allies to declare war, was left at the mercy of +Bonaparte. Its cruelties and tyranny called for severe +punishment; but the intercession of the Czar kept the Bourbons +upon the throne, and Naples received peace upon no harder +condition than the exclusion of English vessels from its ports. +England was now left alone in its struggle with the French +Republic. Nor was it any longer to be a struggle only against +France and its dependencies. The rigour with which the English +Government had used its superiority at sea, combined with the +folly which it had shown in the Anglo-Russian attack upon +Holland, raised against it a Maritime League under the leadership +of a Power which England had offended as a neutral and +exasperated as an ally. Since the pitiful Dutch campaign, the +Czar had transferred to Great Britain the hatred which he had +hitherto borne to France. The occasion was skilfully used by +Bonaparte, to whom, as a soldier, the Czar felt less repugnance +than to the Government of advocates and contractors which he had +attacked in 1799. The First Consul restored without ransom +several thousands of Russian prisoners, for whom the Austrians +and the English had refused to give up Frenchmen in exchange, and +followed up this advance by proposing that the guardianship of +Malta, which was now blockaded by the English, should be given to +the Czar. Paul had caused himself to be made Grand Master of the +Maltese Order of St. John of Jerusalem. His vanity was touched by +Bonaparte's proposal, and a friendly relation was established +between the French and Russian Governments. England, on the other +hand, refused to place Malta under Russian guardianship, either +before or after its surrender. This completed the breach between +the Courts of London and St. Petersburg. The Czar seized all the +English vessels in his ports and imprisoned their crews (Sept. +9). A difference of long standing existed between England and the +Northern Maritime Powers, which was capable at any moment of +being made a cause of war. The rights exercised over neutral +vessels by English ships in time of hostilities, though good in +international law, were so oppressive that, at the time of the +American rebellion, the Northern Powers had formed a league, +known as the Armed Neutrality, for the purpose of resisting by +force the interference of the English with neutral merchantmen +upon the high seas. Since the outbreak of war with France, +English vessels had again pushed the rights of belligerents to +extremes. The Armed Neutrality of 1780 was accordingly revived +under the auspices of the Czar. The League was signed on the 16th +of December, 1800, by Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. Some days +later Prussia gave in its adhesion. <a name="FNanchor89"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_89"><sup>[89]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Points at issue.]</p> +<p>The points at issue between Great Britain and the Neutrals +were such as arise between a great naval Power intent upon +ruining its adversary and that larger part of the world which +remains at peace and desires to carry on its trade with as little +obstruction as possible. It was admitted on all sides that a +belligerent may search a neutral vessel in order to ascertain +that it is not conveying contraband of war, and that a neutral +vessel, attempting to enter a blockaded port, renders itself +liable to forfeiture; but beyond these two points everything was +in dispute. A Danish ship conveys a cargo of wine from a Bordeaux +merchant to his agent in New York. Is the wine liable to be +seized in the mid-Atlantic by an English cruiser, to the +destruction of the Danish carrying-trade, or is the Danish flag +to protect French property from a Power whose naval superiority +makes capture upon the high seas its principal means of offence? +England announces that a French port is in a state of blockade. +Is a Swedish vessel, stopped while making for the port in +question, to be considered a lawful prize, when, if it had +reached the port, it would as a matter of fact have found no real +blockade in existence? A Russian cargo of hemp, pitch, and timber +is intercepted by an English vessel on its way to an open port in +France. Is the staple produce of the Russian Empire to lose its +market as contraband of war? Or is an English man-of-war to allow +material to pass into France, without which the repair of French +vessels of war would be impossible?</p> +<p>[War between England and the Northern Maritime Powers, Jan., +1801.]</p> +<p>These were the questions raised as often as a firm of +shipowners in a neutral country saw their vessel come back into +port cleared of its cargo, or heard that it was lying in the +Thames awaiting the judgment of the Admiralty Court. Great +Britain claimed the right to seize all French property, in +whatever vessel it might be sailing, and to confiscate, as +contraband of war, not only muskets, gunpowder, and cannon, but +wheat, on which the provisioning of armies depended, and hemp, +pitch, iron, and timber, out of which the navies of her adversary +were formed. The Neutrals, on the other hand, demanded that a +neutral flag should give safe passage to all goods on board, not +being contraband of war; that the presence of a vessel of State +as convoy should exempt merchantmen from search; that no port +should be considered in a state of blockade unless a competent +blockading force was actually in front of it; and that contraband +of war should include no other stores than those directly +available for battle. Considerations of reason and equity may be +urged in support of every possible theory of the rights of +belligerents and neutrals; but the theory of every nation has, as +a matter of fact, been that which at the time accorded with its +own interests. When a long era of peace had familiarised Great +Britain with the idea that in the future struggles of Europe it +was more likely to be a spectator than a belligerent, Great +Britain accepted the Neutrals' theory of international law at the +Congress of Paris in 1856; but in 1801, when the lot of England +seemed to be eternal warfare, any limitation of the rights of a +belligerent appeared to every English jurist to contradict the +first principles of reason. Better to add a general maritime war +to the existing difficulties of the country than to abandon the +exercise of its naval superiority in crippling the commerce of an +adversary. The Declaration of armed Neutrality, announcing the +intention of the Allied Powers to resist the seizure of French +goods on board their own merchantmen, was treated in this country +as a declaration of war. The Government laid an embargo upon all +vessels of the allied neutrals lying in English ports (Jan. 14th, +1801), and issued a swarm of privateers against the trading ships +making for the Baltic. Negotiations failed to lower the demands +of either side, and England prepared to deal with the navies of +Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia.</p> +<p>[Battle of Copenhagen, April 2, 1801.]</p> +<p>At the moment, the concentrated naval strength of England made +it more than a match for its adversaries. A fleet of seventeen +ships of the line sailed from Yarmouth on the 12th of March, +under the command of Parker and Nelson, with orders to coerce the +Danes and to prevent the junction of the confederate navies. The +fleet reached the Sound. The Swedish batteries commanding the +Sound failed to open fire. Nelson kept to the eastern side of the +channel, and brought his ships safely past the storm of shot +poured upon them from the Danish guns at Elsinore. He appeared +before Copenhagen at mid-day on the 30th of March. Preparations +for resistance were made by the Danes with extraordinary spirit +and resolution. The whole population of Copenhagen volunteered +for service on the ships, the forts, and the floating batteries. +Two days were spent by the English in exploring the shallows of +the channel; on the morning of the 2nd of April Nelson led his +ships into action in front of the harbour. Three ran aground; the +Danish fire from land and sea was so violent that after some +hours Admiral Parker, who watched the engagement from the +mid-channel, gave the signal of recall. Nelson laughed at the +signal, and continued the battle. In another hour the six Danish +men-of-war and the whole of the floating batteries were disabled +or sunk. The English themselves had suffered most severely from a +resistance more skilful and more determined than anything that +they had experienced from the French, and Nelson gladly offered a +truce as soon as his own victory was assured. The truce was +followed by negotiation, and the negotiation by an armistice for +fourteen weeks, a term which Nelson considered sufficient to +enable him to visit and to overthrow the navies of Sweden and +Russia.</p> +<p>[Murder of Paul, March 23.]</p> +<p>[Peace between England and the Northern Powers.]</p> +<p>But an event had already occurred more momentous in its +bearing upon the Northern Confederacy than the battle of +Copenhagen itself. On the night of the 23rd of March the Czar of +Russia was assassinated in his palace. Paul's tyrannical +violence, and his caprice verging upon insanity, had exhausted +the patience of a court acquainted with no mode of remonstrance +but homicide. Blood-stained hands brought to the Grand Duke +Alexander the crown which he had consented to receive after a +pacific abdication. Alexander immediately reversed the policy of +his father, and sent friendly communications both to the +Government at London and to the commander of the British fleet in +the Baltic. The maintenance of commerce with England was in fact +more important to Russia than the protection of its carrying +trade. Nelson's attack was averted. A compromise was made between +the two Governments, which saved Russia's interests, without +depriving England of its chief rights against France. The +principles of the Armed Neutrality were abandoned by the +Government of St. Petersburg in so far as they related to the +protection of an enemy's goods by the neutral flag. Great Britain +continued to seize French merchandise on board whatever craft it +might be found; but it was stipulated that the presence of a ship +of war should exempt neutral vessels from search by privateers, +and that no port should be considered as in a state of blockade +unless a reasonable blockading force was actually in front of it. +The articles condemned as contraband were so limited as not to +include the flax, hemp, and timber, on whose export the commerce +of Russia depended. With these concessions the Czar was easily +brought to declare Russia again neutral. The minor Powers of the +Baltic followed the example of St. Petersburg; and the naval +confederacy which had threatened to turn the balance in the +conflict between England and the French Republic left its only +trace in the undeserved suffering of Denmark.</p> +<p>[Affairs in Egypt.]</p> +<p>Eight years of warfare had left France unassailable in Western +Europe, and England in command of every sea. No Continental +armies could any longer be raised by British subsidies: the +navies of the Baltic, with which Bonaparte had hoped to meet +England on the seas, lay at peace in their ports. Egypt was now +the only arena remaining where French and English combatants +could meet, and the dissolution of the Northern Confederacy had +determined the fate of Egypt by leaving England in undisputed +command of the approach to Egypt by sea. The French army, vainly +expecting reinforcements, and attacked by the Turks from the +east, was caught in a trap. Soon after the departure of Bonaparte +from Alexandria, his successor, General Kleber, had addressed a +report to the Directory, describing the miserable condition of +the force which Bonaparte had chosen to abandon. The report was +intercepted by the English, and the Government immediately +determined to accept no capitulation which did not surrender the +whole of the French army as prisoners of war. An order to this +effect was sent to the Mediterranean. Before, however, the order +reached Sir Sidney Smith, the English admiral co-operating with +the Turks, an agreement had been already signed by him at El +Arish, granting Kleber's army a free return to France (Feb. 24, +1800). After Kleber, in fulfilment of the conditions of the +treaty, had withdrawn his troops from certain positions, Sir +Sidney Smith found himself compelled to inform the French General +that in the negotiations of El Arish he had exceeded his powers, +and that the British Government insisted upon the surrender of +the French forces. Kleber replied by instantly giving battle to +the Turks at Heliopolis, and putting to the rout an army six +times as numerous as his own. The position of the French seemed +to be growing stronger in Egypt, and the prospect of a Turkish +re-conquest more doubtful, when the dagger of a fanatic robbed +the French of their able chief, and transferred the command to +General Menou, one of the very few French officers of marked +incapacity who held command at any time during the war. The +British Government, as soon as it learnt what had taken place +between Kleber and Sir Sidney Smith, declared itself willing to +be bound by the convention of El Arish. The offer was, however, +rejected by the French. It was clear that the Turks could never +end the war by themselves; and the British Ministry at last came +to understand that Egypt must be re-conquered by English +arms.</p> +<p>[English army lands in Egypt, March, 1801.]</p> +<p>[French capitulate at Cairo, June 27, 1801.]</p> +<p>[And at Alexandria, Aug. 30.]</p> +<p>On the 8th of March, 1801, a corps of 17,000 men, led by Sir +Ralph Abercromby, landed at Aboukir Bay. According to the plan of +the British Government, Abercromby's attack was to be supported +by a Turkish corps from Syria, and by an Anglo-Indian division +brought from Ceylon to Kosseir, on the Red Sea. The Turks and the +Indian troops were, however, behind their time, and Abercromby +opened the campaign alone. Menou had still 27,000 troops at his +disposal. Had he moved up with the whole of his army from Cairo, +he might have destroyed the English immediately after their +landing. Instead of doing so, he allowed weak isolated +detachments of the French to sink before superior numbers. The +English had already gained confidence of victory when Menou +advanced in some force in order to give battle in front of +Alexandria. The decisive engagement took place on the 21st of +March. The French were completely defeated. Menou, however, still +refused to concentrate his forces; and in the course of a few +weeks 13,000 French troops which had been left behind at Cairo +were cut off from communication with the rest of the army. A +series of attempts made by Admiral Ganteaume to land +reinforcements from France ended fruitlessly. Towards the end of +June the arrival of a Turkish force enabled the English to +surround the French in Cairo. The circuit of the works was too +large to be successfully defended; on the other hand, the English +were without the heavy artillery necessary for a siege. Under +these circumstances the terms which had originally been offered +at El Arish were again proposed to General Belliard for himself +and the army of Cairo. They were accepted, and Cairo was +surrendered to the English on condition that the garrison should +be conveyed back to France (June 27). Soon after the capitulation +General Baird reached Lower Egypt with an Anglo-Indian division. +Menou with the remainder of the French army was now shut up in +Alexandria. His forts and outworks were successively carried; his +flotilla was destroyed; and when all hope of support from France +had been abandoned, the army of Alexandria, which formed the +remnant of the troops with which Bonaparte had won his earliest +victories in Italy, found itself compelled to surrender the last +stronghold of the French in Egypt (Aug. 30). It was the first +important success which had been gained by English soldiers over +the troops of the Republic; the first campaign in which English +generalship had permitted the army to show itself in its true +quality.</p> +<p>[Negotiations for peace.]</p> +<p>[Preliminaries of London, Oct. 1, 1801.]</p> +<p>[Peace of Amiens, March 27, 1802.]</p> +<p>Peace was now at hand. Soon after the Treaty of +Lunéville had withdrawn Austria from the war, unofficial +negotiations had begun between the Governments of Great Britain +and France. The object with which Pitt had entered upon the war, +the maintenance of the old European system against the aggression +of France, was now seen to be one which England must abandon. +England had borne its share in the defence of the Continent. If +the Continental Powers could no longer resist the ascendancy of a +single State, England could not struggle for the Balance of Power +alone. The negotiations of 1801 had little in common with those +of 1796. Belgium, which had been the burden of all Pitt's earlier +despatches, no longer figured as an object of contention. The +frontier of the Rhine, with the virtual possession of Holland and +Northern Italy, under the title of the Batavian, Ligurian, and +Cisalpine Republics, was tacitly conceded to France. In place of +the restoration of the Netherlands, the negotiators of 1801 +argued about the disposal of Egypt, of Malta, and of the colonies +which Great Britain had conquered from France and its allies. +Events decided the fate of Egypt. The restoration of Malta to the +Knights of St. John was strenuously demanded by France, and not +refused by England. It was in relation to the colonial claims of +France that the two Governments found it most difficult to agree. +Great Britain, which had lost no territory itself, had conquered +nearly all the Asiatic and Atlantic colonies of the French +Republic and of its Dutch and Spanish allies. In return for the +restoration of Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, Guiana, Trinidad, +and various East and West Indian settlements, France had nothing +to offer to Great Britain but peace. If peace, however, was to be +made, the only possible settlement was by means of a compromise; +and it was finally agreed that England should retain Ceylon and +Trinidad, and restore the rest of the colonies which it had taken +from France, Spain, and Holland. Preliminaries of peace embodying +these conditions were signed at London on the 1st of October, +1801. Hostilities ceased; but an interval of several months +between the preliminary agreement and the conclusion of the final +treaty was employed by Bonaparte in new usurpations upon the +Continent, to which he forced the British Government to lend a +kind of sanction in the continuance of the negotiations. The +Government, though discontented, was unwilling to treat these +acts as new occasions of war. The conferences were at length +brought to a close, and the definitive treaty between France and +Great Britain was signed at Amiens on the 27th of March, 1802. <a +name="FNanchor90"> </a><a href="#Footnote_90"><sup>[90]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Pitt's retirement. Its cause.]</p> +<p>[Union of Ireland and Great Britain, 1800.]</p> +<p>The Minister who, since the first outbreak of war, had so +resolutely struggled for the freedom of Europe, was no longer in +power when Great Britain entered into negotiations with the First +Consul. In the same week that Austria signed the Peace of +Lunéville, Pitt had retired from office. The catastrophe +which dissolved his last Continental alliance may possibly have +disposed Pitt to make way for men who could treat for peace with +a better grace than himself, but the immediate cause of his +retirement was an affair of internal policy. Among the few +important domestic measures which Pitt had not sacrificed to +foreign warfare was a project for the Legislative Union of Great +Britain and Ireland. Ireland had up to this time possessed a +Parliament nominally independent of that of Great Britain. Its +population, however, was too much divided to create a really +national government; and, even if the internal conditions of the +country had been better, the practical sovereignty of Great +Britain must at that time have prevented the Parliament of Dublin +from being more than an agency of ministerial corruption. It was +the desire of Pitt to give to Ireland, in the place of a +fictitious independence, that real participation in the political +life of Great Britain which has more than recompensed Scotland +and Wales for the loss of separate nationality. As an earnest of +legislative justice, Pitt gave hopes to the leaders of the Irish +Catholic party that the disabilities which excluded Roman +Catholics from the House of Commons and from many offices in the +public service would be no longer maintained. On this +understanding the Catholics of Ireland abstained from offering to +Pitt's project a resistance which would probably have led to its +failure. A majority of members in the Protestant Parliament of +Dublin accepted the price which the Ministry offered for their +votes. A series of resolutions in favour of the Legislative Union +of the two countries was transmitted to England in the spring of +1800; the English Parliament passed the Act of Union in the same +summer; and the first United Parliament of Great Britain and +Ireland assembled in London at the beginning of the year +1801.</p> +<p>[Pitt desires to emancipate the Catholics.]</p> +<p>[Pitt resigns Feb. 1801.]</p> +<p>[Addington Minister.]</p> +<p>Pitt now prepared to fulfil his virtual promise to the Irish +Catholics. A measure obliterating the ancient lines of civil and +religious enmity, and calling to public life a class hitherto +treated as alien and hostile to the State, would have been in +true consonance with all that was best in Pitt's own +statesmanship. But the ignorant bigotry of King George III. was +excited against him by men who hated every act of justice or +tolerance to Roman Catholics; and it proved of greater force than +the genius of the Minister. The old threat of the King's personal +enmity was publicly addressed to Pitt's colleague, Dundas, when +the proposal for Catholic emancipation was under discussion in +the Cabinet; and, with a just regard for his own dignity, Pitt +withdrew from office (Feb. 5, 1801), unable to influence a +Sovereign who believed his soul to be staked on the letter of the +Coronation Oath. The ablest members of Pitt's government, +Grenville, Dundas, and Windham, retired with their leader. +Addington, Speaker of the House of Commons, became Prime +Minister, with colleagues as undistinguished as himself. It was +under the government of Addington that the negotiations were +begun which resulted in the signature of Preliminaries of Peace +in October 1801.</p> +<p>[The Peace of 1801.]</p> +<p>Pitt himself supported the new Ministry in their policy of +peace; Grenville, lately Pitt's Foreign Minister, unsparingly +condemned both the cession of the conquered colonies and the +policy of granting France peace on any terms whatever. Viewed by +the light of our own knowledge of events, the Peace of 1801 +appears no more than an unprofitable break in an inevitable war; +and perhaps even then the signs of Bonaparte's ambition justified +those who, like Grenville, urged the nation to give no truce to +France, and to trust to Bonaparte's own injustice to raise us up +allies upon the Continent. But, for the moment, peace seemed at +least worth a trial. The modes of prosecuting a war of offence +were exhausted; the cost of the national defence remained the +same. There were no more navies to destroy, no more colonies to +seize; the sole means of injuring the enemy was by blockading his +ports, and depriving him of his maritime commerce. On the other +hand, the possibility of a French invasion required the +maintenance of an enormous army and militia in England, and +prevented any great reduction in the expenses of the war, which +had already added two hundred millions to the National Debt. +Nothing was lost by making peace, except certain colonies and +military positions which few were anxious to retain. The argument +that England could at any moment recover what she now surrendered +was indeed a far sounder one than most of those which went to +prove that the positions in question were of no real service. Yet +even on the latter point there was no want of high authority. It +was Nelson himself who assured the House of Lords that neither +Malta nor the Cape of Good Hope could ever be of importance to +Great Britain. <a name="FNanchor91"> </a><a href="#Footnote_91"><sup>[91]</sup></a> In the face of such testimony, +the men who lamented that England should allow the adversary to +recover any lost ground in the midst of a struggle for life or +death, passed for obstinate fanatics. The Legislature reflected +the general feeling of the nation; and the policy of the +Government was confirmed in the Lords and the Commons by +majorities of ten to one.</p> +<p>[Aggressions of Bonaparte during the Continental peace.]</p> +<p>[Holland, Sept., 1801.]</p> +<p>Although the Ministry of Addington had acted with energy both +in Egypt and in the Baltic, it was generally felt that Pitt's +retirement marked the surrender of that resolute policy which had +guided England since 1793. When once the Preliminaries of Peace +had been signed in London, Bonaparte rightly judged that +Addington would waive many just causes of complaint, rather than +break off the negotiations which were to convert the +Preliminaries into a definitive treaty. Accordingly, in his +instructions to Joseph Bonaparte, who represented France at the +conferences held at Amiens, the First Consul wrote, through +Talleyrand, as follows:-"You are forbidden to entertain any +proposition relating to the King of Sardinia, or to the +Stadtholder, or to the internal affairs of Batavia, of Helvetia, +or the Republic of Italy. None of these subjects have anything to +do with the discussions of England." The list of subjects +excluded from the consideration of England was the list of +aggressions by which Bonaparte intended to fill up the interval +of Continental peace. In the Treaty of Lunéville, the +independence of the newly-established republics in Holland, +Switzerland, and Italy had been recognised by France. The +restoration of Piedmont to the House of Savoy had been the +condition on which the Czar made peace. But on every one of these +points the engagements of France were made only to be broken. So +far from bringing independence to the client-republics of France, +the peace of Lunéville was but the introduction to a +series of changes which brought these States directly into the +hands of the First Consul. The establishment of absolute +government in France itself entailed a corresponding change in +each of its dependencies, and the creation of an executive which +should accept the First Consul's orders with as little question +as the Prefect of a French department. Holland received its new +constitution while France was still at war with England. The +existing Government and Legislature of the Batavian Republic were +dissolved (Sept., 1801), and replaced by a council of twelve +persons, each holding the office of President in turn for a +period of three months, and by a legislature of thirty-five, +which met only for a few days in the year. The power given to the +new President during his office was enough, and not more than +enough, to make him an effective servant: a three-months' +Minister and an Assembly that met and parted at the word of +command were not likely to enter into serious rivalry with the +First Consul. The Dutch peaceably accepted the constitution thus +forced upon them; they possessed no means of resistance, and +their affairs excited but little interest upon the Continent.</p> +<p>[Bonaparte made President of the Italian Republic, Jan., +1802.]</p> +<p>[Piedmont annexed to France, Sept., 1802.]</p> +<p>Far more striking was the revolution next effected by the +First Consul. In obedience to orders sent from Paris to the +Legislature of the Cisalpine Republic, a body of four hundred and +fifty Italian representatives crossed the Alps in the middle of +winter in order to meet the First Consul at Lyons, and to +deliberate upon a constitution for the Cisalpine Republic. The +constitution had, as a matter of fact, been drawn up by +Talleyrand, and sent to the Legislature at Milan some months +before. But it was not for the sake of Italy that its +representatives were collected at Lyons, in the presence of the +First Consul, with every circumstance of national solemnity. It +was the most striking homage which Bonaparte could exact from a +foreign race in the face of all France; it was the testimony that +other lands besides France desired Bonaparte to be their +sovereign. When all the minor offices in the new Cisalpine +Constitution had been filled, the Italians learnt that the real +object of the convocation was to place the sceptre in Bonaparte's +hands. They accepted the part which they found themselves forced +to play, and offered to the First Consul the presidency of the +Cisalpine State (Jan. 25, 1802). Unlike the French Consulate, the +chief magistracy in the new Cisalpine Constitution might be +prolonged beyond the term of ten years. Bonaparte had practically +won the Crown of Lombardy; and he had given to France the example +of a submission more unqualified than its own. A single phrase +rewarded the people who had thus placed themselves in his hands. +The Cisalpine Republic was allowed to assume the name of Italian +Republic. The new title indicated the national hopes which had +sprung up in Italy during the past ten years; it indicated no +real desire on the part of Bonaparte to form either a free or a +united Italian nation. In the Cisalpine State itself, although a +good administration and the extinction of feudal privileges made +Bonaparte's government acceptable, patriots who asked for freedom +ran the risk of exile or imprisonment. What further influence was +exercised by France upon Italian soil was not employed for the +consolidation of Italy. Tuscany was bestowed by Bonaparte upon +the Spanish Prince of Parma, and controlled by agents of the +First Consul. Piedmont, which had long been governed by French +generals, was at length definitely annexed to France.</p> +<p>[Intervention in Switzerland.]</p> +<p>[Bonaparte Mediator of the Helvetic League, Oct. 4, 1802.]</p> +<p>Switzerland had not, like the Cisalpine Republic, derived its +liberty from the victories of French armies, nor could Bonaparte +claim the presidency of the Helvetic State under the title of its +founder. The struggles of the Swiss parties, however, placed the +country at the mercy of France. Since the expulsion of the +Austrians by Massena in 1799, the antagonism between the +Democrats of the town and the Federalists of the Forest Cantons +had broken out afresh. A French army still occupied Switzerland; +the Minister of the First Consul received instructions to +interfere with all parties and consolidate none. In the autumn of +1801, the Federalists were permitted to dissolve the central +Helvetic Government, which had been created by the Directory in +1798. One change followed another, until, on the 19th of May, +1802, a second Constitution was proclaimed, based, like that of +1798, on centralising and democratic principles, and almost +extinguishing the old local independence of the members of the +Swiss League. No sooner had French partisans created this +Constitution, which could only be maintained by force against the +hostility of Berne and the Forest Cantons, than the French army +quitted Switzerland. Civil war instantly broke out, and in the +course of a few weeks the Government established by the French +had lost all Switzerland except the Pays de Vaud. This was the +crisis for which Bonaparte had been waiting. On the 4th of +October a proclamation appeared at Lausanne, announcing that the +First Consul had accepted the office of Mediator of the Helvetic +League. A French army entered Switzerland. Fifty-six deputies +from the cantons were summoned to Paris; and, in the beginning of +1803, a new Constitution, which left the central Government +powerless in the hands of France and reduced the national +sovereignty to cantonal self-administration, placed Switzerland +on a level with the Batavian and the Cisalpine dependencies of +Bonaparte. The Rhone Valley, with the mountains crossed by the +new road over the Simplon, was converted into a separate republic +under the title of La Valais. The new chief magistrate of the +Helvetic Confederacy entered upon his office with a pension paid +out of Bonaparte's secret police fund.</p> +<p>[Settlement of Germany.]</p> +<p>Such was the nature of the independence which the Peace of +Lunéville gave to Holland, to Northern Italy, and to +Switzerland. The re-organisation of Germany, which was provided +for by the same treaty, affected larger interests, and left more +permanent traces upon European history. In the provinces ceded to +France lay the territory of the ancient ecclesiastical princes of +the empire, the Electors of Mainz, Cologne, and Trèves; +but, besides these spiritual sovereigns, a variety of secular +potentates, ranging from the Elector Palatine, with 600,000 +subjects, to the Prince of Wiedrunkel, with a single village, +owned territory upon the left bank of the Rhine; and for the +dispossessed lay princes new territories had now to be formed by +the destruction of other ecclesiastical States in the interior of +Germany. Affairs returned to the state in which they had stood in +1798, and the comedy of Rastadt was renewed at the point where it +had been broken off: the only difference was that the French +statesmen who controlled the partition of ecclesiastical Germany +now remained in Paris, instead of coming to the Rhine, to run the +risk of being murdered by Austrian hussars. Scarcely was the +Treaty of Lunéville signed when the whole company of +intriguers who had touted at Rastadt posted off to the French +capital with their maps and their money-bags, the keener for the +work when it became known that by common consent the Free Cities +of the Empire were now to be thrown into the spoil. Talleyrand +and his confidant Mathieu had no occasion to ask for bribes, or +to manoeuvre for the position of arbiters in Germany. They were +overwhelmed with importunities. Solemn diplomatists of the old +school toiled up four flights of stairs to the office of the +needy secretary, or danced attendance at the parties of the witty +Minister. They hugged Talleyrand's poodle; they vied with one +another in gaining a smile from the child whom he brought up at +his house. <a name="FNanchor92"> </a><a href="#Footnote_92"><sup>[92]</sup></a> The shrewder of them fortified +their attentions with solid bargains, and made it their principal +care not to be outbidden at the auction. Thus the game was kept +up as long as there was a bishopric or a city in the market.</p> +<p>This was the real process of the German re-organisation. A +pretended one was meanwhile enacted by the Diet of Ratisbon. The +Diet deliberated during the whole of the summer of 1801 without +arriving at a single resolution. Not even the sudden change of +Russian policy that followed the death of the Emperor Paul and +deprived Bonaparte of the support of the Northern Maritime +League, could stimulate the German Powers to united action. The +old antagonism of Austria and Prussia paralysed the Diet. Austria +sought a German indemnity for the dethroned Grand Duke of +Tuscany; Prussia aimed at extending its influence into Southern +Germany by the annexation of Würzburg and Bamberg. Thus the +summer of 1801 was lost in interminable debate, until Bonaparte +regained the influence over Russia which he had held before the +death of Paul, and finally set himself free from all check and +restraint by concluding peace with England.</p> +<p>[German policy of Bonaparte.]</p> +<p>No part of Bonaparte's diplomacy was more ably conceived or +more likely to result in a permanent empire than that which +affected the secondary States of Germany. The rivalry of Austria +and Prussia, the dread of Austrian aggression felt in Bavaria, +the grotesque ambition of the petty sovereigns of Baden and +Würtemburg, were all understood and turned to account in the +policy which from this time shaped the French protectorate beyond +the Rhine. Bonaparte intended to give to Prussia such an increase +of territory upon the Baltic as should counterbalance the power +of Austria; and for this purpose he was willing to sacrifice +Hanover or Mecklenburg: but he forbade Prussia's extension to the +south. Austria, so far from gaining new territory in Bavaria, was +to be deprived of its own outlying possessions in Western +Germany, and excluded from all influence in this region. Bavaria, +dependent upon French protection against Austria, was to be +greatly strengthened. Baden and Würtemberg, enriched by the +spoil of little sovereignties, of Bishoprics and Free Cities, +were to look to France for further elevation and aggrandisement. +Thus, while two rival Powers balanced one another upon the Baltic +and the Lower Danube, the sovereigns of central and western +Germany, owing everything to the Power that had humbled Austria, +would find in submission to France the best security for their +own gains, and the best protection against their more powerful +neighbours.</p> +<p>[Treaty between France and Russia for joint action in Germany, +Oct. 11, 1801.]</p> +<p>One condition alone could have frustrated a policy agreeable +to so many interests, namely, the existence of a national +sentiment among the Germans themselves. But the peoples of +Germany cared as little about a Fatherland as their princes. To +the Hessian and the Bavarian at the centre of the Empire, Germany +was scarcely more than it was to the Swiss or the Dutch, who had +left the Empire centuries before. The inhabitants of the Rhenish +Provinces had murmured for a while at the extortionate rule of +the Directory; but their severance from Germany and their +incorporation with a foreign race touched no fibre of patriotic +regret; and after the establishment of a better order of things +under the Consulate the annexation to France appears to have +become highly popular. <a name="FNanchor93"> </a><a href="#Footnote_93"><sup>[93]</sup></a> Among a race whose members +could thus be actually conquered and annexed without doing +violence to their feelings Bonaparte had no difficulty in finding +willing allies. While the Diet dragged on its debates upon the +settlement of the Empire, the minor States pursued their +bargainings with the French Government; and on the 14th of +August, 1801, Bavaria signed the first of those treaties which +made the First Consul the patron of Western Germany. Two months +later a secret treaty between France and Russia admitted the new +Czar, Alexander, to a share in the reorganisation of the Empire. +The Governments of Paris and St. Petersburg pledged themselves to +united action for the purpose of maintaining an equilibrium +between Austria and Prussia; and the Czar further stipulated for +the advancement of his own relatives, the Sovereigns of Bavaria, +Baden, and Würtemberg. The relationship of these petty +princes to the Russian family enabled Bonaparte to present to the +Czar, as a graceful concession, the very measure which most +vitally advanced his own power in Germany. Alexander's +intervention made resistance on the part of Austria hopeless. One +after another the German Sovereigns settled with their patrons +for a share in the spoil; and on the 3rd of June, 1802, a secret +agreement between France and Russia embodied the whole of these +arrangements, and disposed of almost all the Free Cities and the +entire ecclesiastical territory of the Empire.</p> +<p>[Diet of Ratisbon accepts French Scheme.]</p> +<p>[End of German Ecclesiastical States and forty-five Free +Cities, March, 1803.]</p> +<p>When everything had thus been settled by the foreigners, a +Committee, to which the Diet of Ratisbon had referred the work of +re-organisation, began its sessions, assisted by a French and a +Russian representative. The Scheme which had been agreed upon +between France and Russia was produced entire; and in spite of +the anger and the threats of Austria it passed the Committee with +no greater delay than was inseparable from everything connected +with German affairs. The Committee presented the Scheme to the +Diet: the Diet only agitated itself as to the means of passing +the Scheme without violating those formalities which were the +breath of its life. The proposed destruction of all the +Ecclesiastical States, and of forty-five out of the fifty Free +Cities, would extinguish a third part of the members of the Diet +itself. If these unfortunate bodies were permitted to vote upon +the measure, their votes might result in its rejection: if +unsummoned, their absence would impair the validity of the +resolution. By a masterpiece of conscientious pedantry it was +agreed that the doomed prelates and cities should be duly called +to vote in their turn, and that upon the mention each name the +answer "absent" should be returned by an officer. Thus, faithful +to its formalities, the Empire voted the destruction of its +ancient Constitution; and the sovereignties of the Ecclesiastics +and Free Cities, which had lasted for so many centuries, vanished +from Europe (March, 1803). <a name="FNanchor94"> </a><a href="#Footnote_94"><sup>[94]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Effect on Germany.]</p> +<p>The loss was small indeed. The internal condition of the +priest-ruled districts was generally wretched; heavy ignorance, +beggary, and intolerance reduced life to a gross and dismal +inertia. Except in their patronage of music, the ecclesiastical +princes had perhaps rendered no single service to Germany. The +Free Cities, as a rule, were sunk in debt; the management of +their affairs had become the perquisite of a few lawyers and +privileged families. For Germany, as a nation, the destruction of +these petty sovereignties was not only an advantage but an +absolute necessity. The order by which they were superseded was +not devised in the interest of Germany itself; yet even in the +arrangements imposed by the foreigner Germany gained centres from +which the institutions of modern political life entered into +regions where no public authority had yet been known beyond the +court of the bishop or the feudal officers of the manor. <a name="FNanchor95"> </a><a href="#Footnote_95"><sup>[95]</sup></a> +Through the suppression of the Ecclesiastical States a Protestant +majority was produced in the Diet. The change bore witness to the +decline of Austrian and of Catholic energy during the past +century; it scarcely indicated the future supremacy of the +Protestant rival of Austria; for the real interests of Germany +were but faintly imaged in the Diet, and the leadership of the +race was still open to the Power which should most sincerely +identify itself with the German nation. The first result of the +changed character of the Diet was the confiscation of all landed +property held by religious or charitable bodies, even where these +had never advanced the slightest claim to political independence. +The Diet declared the whole of the land held in Germany by pious +foundations to be at the disposal of the Governments for purposes +of religion, of education, and of financial relief. The more +needy courts immediately seized so welcome an opportunity of +increasing their revenues. Germany lost nothing by the +dissolution of some hundreds of monasteries; the suppression of +hospitals and the impoverishment of Universities was a doubtful +benefit. Through the destruction of the Ecclesiastical States and +the confiscation of Church lands, the support of an army of +priests was thrown upon the public revenues. The Elector of +Cologne, who had been an indifferent civil ruler, became a very +prosperous clergyman on £20,000 a year. All the members of +the annexed or disendowed establishments, down to the acolytes +and the sacristans, were credited with annuities equal in value +to what they had lost. But in the confusion caused by war the +means to satisfy these claims was not always forthcoming; and the +ecclesiastical revolution, so beneficial on the whole to the +public interest, was not effected without much severe and +undeserved individual suffering.</p> +<p>[Governments in Germany become more absolute and more +regular.]</p> +<p>[Bavaria. Reforms of Montgelas.]</p> +<p>[Suppression of the Knights.]</p> +<p>The movement of 1803 put an end to an order of things more +curious as a survival of the mixed religious and political form +of the Holy Roman Empire than important in the actual state of +Europe. The temporal power now lost by the Church in Germany had +been held in such sluggish hands that its effect was hardly +visible except in a denser prejudice and an idler life than +prevailed under other Governments. The first consequence of its +downfall was that a great part of Germany which had hitherto had +no political organisation at all gained the benefit of a regular +system of taxation, of police, of civil and of criminal justice. +If harsh and despotic, the Governments which rose to power at the +expense of the Church were usually not wanting in the love of +order and uniformity. Officers of the State administered a fixed +law where custom and privilege had hitherto been the only rule. +Appointments ceased to be bought or inherited; trades and +professions were thrown open; the peasant was relieved of his +heaviest feudal burdens. Among the newly consolidated States, +Bavaria was the one where the reforming impulse of the time took +the strongest form. A new dynasty, springing from the west of the +Rhine, brought something of the spirit of French liberalism into +a country hitherto unsurpassed in Western Europe for its +ignorance and bigotry. <a name="FNanchor96"> </a><a href="#Footnote_96"><sup>[96]</sup></a> The Minister Montgelas, a +politician of French enlightenment, entered upon the same crusade +against feudal and ecclesiastical disorder which Joseph had +inaugurated in Austria twenty years before. His measures for +subjecting the clergy to the law, and for depriving the Church of +its control over education, were almost identical with those +which in 1790 had led to the revolt of Belgium; and the Bavarian +landowners now unconsciously reproduced all the mediæval +platitudes of the University of Louvain. Montgelas organised and +levelled with a remorseless common sense. Among his victims there +was a class which had escaped destruction in the recent changes. +The Knights of the Empire, with their village jurisdictions, were +still legally existent; but to Montgelas such a class appeared a +mere absurdity, and he sent his soldiers to disperse their courts +and to seize their tolls. Loud lamentation assailed the Emperor +at Vienna. If the dethroned bishops had bewailed the approaching +extinction of Christianity in Europe, the knights just as +convincingly deplored the end of chivalry. Knightly honour, now +being swept from the earth, was proved to be the true soul of +German nationality, the invisible support of the Imperial throne. +For a moment the intervention of the Emperor forced Montgelas to +withdraw his grasp from the sacred rents and turnpikes; but the +threatening storm passed over, and the example of Bavaria was +gradually followed by the neighbouring Courts.</p> +<p>[Stein and the Duke of Nassau.]</p> +<p>[Stein's attack on the Minor Princes.]</p> +<p>It was to the weak and unpatriotic princes who were enriched +by the French that the knights fell victims. Among the knights +thus despoiled by the Duke of Nassau was the Ritter vom Stein, a +nobleman who had entered the Prussian service in the reign of +Frederick the Great, and who had lately been placed in high +office in the newly-acquired province of Münster. Stein was +thoroughly familiar with the advantages of systematic government; +the loss of his native parochial jurisdiction was not a serious +one to a man who had become a power in Prussia; and although +domestic pride had its share in Stein's resentment, the protest +now published by him against the aggressions of the Duke of +Nassau sounded a different note from that of his order generally. +That a score of farmers should pay their dues and take off their +hats to the officer of the Duke of Nassau instead of to the +bailiff of the Ritter vom Stein was not a matter to excite deep +feeling in Europe; but that the consolidation of Germany should +be worked out in the interest of French hirelings instead of in +the interests of the German people was justly treated by Stein as +a subject for patriotic anger. In his letter <a name="FNanchor97"> </a><a href="#Footnote_97"><sup>[97]</sup></a> to +the Duke of Nassau, Stein reproached his own despoiler and the +whole tribe of petty princes with that treason to German +interests which had won them the protection of the foreigner. He +argued that the knights were a far less important obstacle to +German unity than those very princes to whom the knights were +sacrificed; and he invoked that distant day which should give to +Germany a real national unity, over knights and princes alike, +under the leadership of a single patriotic sovereign. Stein's +appeal found little response among his contemporaries. Like a +sober man among drunkards, he seemed to be scarcely rational. The +simple conception of a nation sacrificing its internal rivalries +in order to avert foreign rule was folly to the politicians who +had all their lives long been outwitting one another at Vienna or +Berlin, or who had just become persons of consequence in Europe +through the patronage of Bonaparte. Yet, if years of intolerable +suffering were necessary before any large party in Germany rose +to the idea of German union, the ground had now at least been +broken. In the changes that followed the Peace of +Lunéville the fixity and routine of Germany received its +death-blow. In all but name the Empire had ceased to exist. +Change and re-constitution in one form or another had become +familiar to all men's minds; and one real statesman at the least +was already beginning to learn the lesson which later events were +to teach to the rest of the German race.</p> +<p>[France, 1801-1804.]</p> +<p>[Civil Code.]</p> +<p>Four years of peace separated the Treaty of Lunéville +from the next outbreak of war between France and any Continental +Power. They were years of extension of French influence in every +neighbouring State; in France itself, years of the consolidation +of Bonaparte's power, and of the decline of everything that +checked his personal rule. The legislative bodies sank into the +insignificance for which they had been designed; everything that +was suffered to wear the appearance of strength owed its vigour +to the personal support of the First Consul. Among the +institutions which date from this period, two, equally associated +with the name of Napoleon, have taken a prominent place in +history, the Civil Code and the Concordat. Since the middle of +the eighteenth century the codification of law had been pursued +with more or less success by almost every Government in Europe. +In France the Constituent Assembly of 1789 had ordered the +statutes, by which it superseded the old variety of local +customs, to be thus cast into a systematic form. A Committee of +the Convention had completed the draft of a Civil Code. The +Directory had in its turn appointed a Commission; but the project +still remained unfulfilled when the Directory was driven from +power. Bonaparte instinctively threw himself into a task so +congenial to his own systematising spirit, and stimulated the +efforts of the best jurists in France by his personal interest +and pride in the work of legislation. A Commission of lawyers, +appointed by the First Consul, presented the successive chapters +of a Civil Code to the Council of State. In the discussions in +the Council of State Bonaparte himself took an active, though not +always a beneficial, part. The draft of each chapter, as it left +the Council of State, was submitted, as a project of Law, to the +Tribunate and to the Legislative Body. For a moment the free +expression of opinion in the Tribunate caused Bonaparte to +suspend his work in impatient jealousy. The Tribunate, however, +was soon brought to silence; and in March, 1804, France received +the Code which has formed from that time to the present the basis +of its civil rights.</p> +<p>[Napoleon as a legislator.]</p> +<p>When Napoleon declared that he desired his fame to rest upon +the Civil Code, he showed his appreciation of the power which +names exercise over mankind. It is probable that a majority of +the inhabitants of Western Europe believe that Napoleon actually +invented the laws which bear his name. As a matter of fact, the +substance of these laws was fixed by the successive Assemblies of +the Revolution; and, in the final revision which produced the +Civil Code, Napoleon appears to have originated neither more nor +less than several of the members of his Council whose names have +long been forgotten. He is unquestionably entitled to the honour +of a great legislator, not, however, as one who, like Solon or +like Mahomet, himself created a new body of law, but as one who +most vigorously pursued the work of consolidating and +popularising law by the help of all the skilled and scientific +minds whose resources were at his command. Though faulty in +parts, the Civil Code, through its conciseness, its simplicity, +and its justice, enabled Napoleon to carry a new and incomparably +better social order into every country that became part of his +Empire. Four other Codes, appearing at intervals from the year +1804 to the year 1810, embodied, in a corresponding form, the Law +of Commerce, the Criminal Law, and the Rules of Civil and of +Criminal Process. <a name="FNanchor98"> </a><a href="#Footnote_98"><sup>[98]</sup></a> The whole remains a monument +of the legal energy of the period which began in 1789, and of the +sagacity with which Napoleon associated with his own rule all the +science and the reforming zeal of the jurists of his day.</p> +<p>[The Concordat.]</p> +<p>[The Concordat destroys the Free Church.]</p> +<p>Far more distinctively the work of Napoleon's own mind was the +reconciliation with the Church of Rome effected by the Concordat. +It was a restoration of religion similar to that restoration of +political order which made the public service the engine of a +single will. The bishops and priests, whose appointment the +Concordat transferred from their congregations to the Government, +were as much instruments of the First Consul as his prefects and +his gendarmes. The spiritual wants of the public, the craving of +the poor for religious consolation, were made the pretext for +introducing the new theological police. But the situation of the +Catholic Church was in reality no worse in France at the +commencement of the Consulate than its present situation in +Ireland. The Republic had indeed subjected the non-juring priests +to the heaviest penalties, but the exercise of Christian worship, +which, even in the Reign of Terror, had only been interrupted by +local and individual fanaticism, had long recovered the +protection of the law, services in the open air being alone +prohibited. <a name="FNanchor99"> </a><a href="#Footnote_99"><sup>[99]</sup></a> Since 1795 the local +authorities had been compelled to admit the religious societies +of their district to the use of church-buildings. Though the coup +d'état of Fructidor, 1797, renewed the persecution of +non-juring priests, it in no way checked the activity of the +Constitutional Church, now free from all connection with the +Civil Government. While the non-juring priests, exiled as +political offenders, or theatrically adoring the sacred elements +in the woods, pretended that the age of the martyrs had returned +to France, a Constitutional Church, ministering in 4,000 +parishes, unprivileged but unharassed by the State, supplied the +nation with an earnest and respectable body of clergy. <a name="FNanchor100"> </a><a href="#Footnote_100"><sup>[100]</sup></a> +But in the eyes of the First Consul everything left to voluntary +association was so much lost to the central power. In the order +of nature, peasants must obey priests, priests must obey bishops, +and bishops must obey the First Consul. An alliance with the Pope +offered to Bonaparte the means of supplanting the popular +organisation of the Constitutional Church by an imposing +hierarchy, rigid in its orthodoxy and unquestioning in its +devotion to himself. In return for the consecration of his own +rule, Bonaparte did not shrink from inviting the Pope to an +exercise of authority such as the Holy See had never even claimed +in France. The whole of the existing French Bishops, both the +exiled non-jurors and those of the Constitutional Church, were +summoned to resign their Sees into the hands of the Pope; against +all who refused to do so sentence of deposition was pronounced by +the Pontiff, without a word heard in defence, or the shadow of a +fault alleged. The Sees were re-organised, and filled up by +nominees of the First Consul. The position of the great body of +the clergy was substantially altered in its relation to the +Bishops. Episcopal power was made despotic, like all other power +in France: thousands of the clergy, hitherto secure in their +livings, were placed at the disposal of their bishop, and +rendered liable to be transferred at the pleasure of their +superior from place to place. The Constitutional Church vanished, +but religion appeared to be honoured by becoming part of the +State.</p> +<p>[Results in Ultramontanism.]</p> +<p>In its immediate action, the Napoleonic Church served the +purpose for which it was intended. For some few years the clergy +unflaggingly preached, prayed, and catechised to the glory of +their restorer. In the greater cycle of religious change, the +Concordat of Bonaparte appears in another light. However little +appreciated at the time, it was the greatest, the most critical, +victory which the Roman See has ever gained over the more +enlightened and the more national elements in the Catholic +Church. It converted the Catholicism of France from a faith +already far more independent than that of Fénélon +and Bossuet into the Catholicism which in our own day has +outstripped the bigotry of Spain and Austria in welcoming the +dogma of Papal infallibility. The lower clergy, condemned by the +State to an intolerable subjection, soon found their only hope in +an appeal to Rome, and instinctively worked as the emissaries of +the Roman See. The Bishops, who owed their office to an +unprecedented exercise of Papal power and to the destruction of +religious independence in France, were not the men who could +maintain a struggle with the Papacy for the ancient Gallican +liberties. In the resistance to the Papacy which had been +maintained by the Continental Churches in a greater or less +degree during the eighteenth century, France had on the whole +taken the most effective part; but, from the time when the +Concordat dissolved both the ancient and the revolutionary Church +system of France, the Gallican tradition of the past became as +powerless among the French clergy as the philosophical liberalism +of the Revolution.</p> +<p>[So do the German changes.]</p> +<p>In Germany the destruction of the temporal power of the Church +tended equally to Ultramontanism. An archbishop of Cologne who +governed half a million subjects was less likely to prostrate +himself before the Papal Chair than an archbishop of Cologne who +was only one among a regiment of churchmen. The spiritual +Electors and Princes who lost their dominions in 1801 had +understood by the interests of their order something more +tangible than a body of doctrines. When not hostile to the +Papacy, they had usually treated it with indifference. The +conception of a Catholic society exposed to persecution at the +hands of the State on account of its devotion to Rome was one +which had never entered the mind of German ecclesiastics in the +eighteenth century. Without the changes effected in Germany by +the Treaty of Lunéville, without the Concordat of +Bonaparte, Catholic orthodoxy would never have become identical +with Ultramontanism. In this respect the opening years of the +present century mark a turning-point in the relation of the +Church to modern life. Already, in place of the old monarchical +Governments, friendly on the whole to the Catholic Church, events +were preparing the way for that changed order with which the +century seems destined to close-an emancipated France, a free +Italy, a secular, state-disciplined Germany, and the Church in +conspiracy against them all.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_VI."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>England claims Malta-War renewed-Bonaparte occupies Hanover, +and blockades the Elbe-Remonstrances of Prussia-Cadoudal's +Plot-Murder of the Duke of Enghien-Napoleon Emperor-Coalition of +1805-Prussia holds aloof-State of Austria-Failure of Napoleon's +attempt to gain naval superiority in the Channel-Campaign in +Western Germany-Capitulation of Ulm-Trafalgar-Treaty of Potsdam +between Prussia and the Allies-The French enter Vienna-Haugwitz +sent to Napoleon with Prussian Ultimatum- Battle of +Austerlitz-Haugwitz signs a Treaty of Alliance with +Napoleon-Peace-Treaty of Presburg-End of the Holy Roman Empire- +Naples given to Joseph Bonaparte-Battle of Maida-The Napoleonic +Empire and Dynasty-Federation of the Rhine-State of +Germany-Possibility of maintaining the Empire of 1806.</p> +<br> + +<p>[England prepares for war, Nov., 1802.]</p> +<p>[England claims Malta.]</p> +<p>War was renewed between France and Great Britain in the spring +of 1803. Addington's Government, in their desire for peace, had +borne with Bonaparte's aggressions during all the months of +negotiation at Amiens; they had met his complaints against the +abuse of the English press by prosecuting his Royalist libellers; +throughout the Session of 1802 they had upheld the possibility of +peace against the attacks of their parliamentary opponents. The +invasion of Switzerland in the autumn of 1802, following the +annexation of Piedmont, forced the Ministry to alter its tone. +The King's Speech at the meeting of Parliament in November +declared that the changes in operation on the Continent demanded +measures of security on the part of Great Britain. The naval and +military forces of the country were restored to a war-footing; +the evacuation of Malta by Great Britain, which had hitherto been +delayed chiefly through a misunderstanding with Russia, was no +longer treated as a matter of certainty. While the English +Government still wavered, a challenge was thrown down by the +First Consul which forced them into decided action. The +<i>Moniteur</i> published on the 13th of January, 1803, a report +upon Egypt by Colonel Sebastiani, pointing in the plainest terms +to the renewal of French attacks upon the East. The British +Government demanded explanations, and declared that until +satisfaction was given upon this point they should retain +possession of Malta. Malta was in fact appropriated by Great +Britain as an equivalent for the Continental territory added to +France since the end of the war. <a name="FNanchor101"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_101"><sup>[101]</sup></a></p> +<p>[War, May, 1803.]</p> +<p>It would have been better policy if, some months earlier, +Bonaparte had been required to withdraw from Piedmont or from +Switzerland, under pain of hostilities with England. Great +Britain had as little technical right to retain Malta as +Bonaparte had to annex Piedmont. The desire for peace had, +however, led Addington's Government to remain inactive until +Bonaparte's aggressions had become accomplished facts. It was now +too late to attempt to undo them: England could only treat the +settlement of Amiens as superseded, and claim compensation on its +own side. Malta was the position most necessary to Great Britain, +in order to prevent Bonaparte from carrying out projects in Egypt +and Greece of which the Government had evidence independent of +Sebastiani's report. The value of Malta, so lately denied by +Nelson, was now fully understood both in France and England. No +sooner had the English Ministry avowed its intention of retaining +the island than the First Consul declared himself compelled to +take up arms in behalf of the faith of treaties. Ignoring his own +violations of treaty-rights in Italy and Switzerland, Bonaparte +declared the retention of Malta by Great Britain to be an outrage +against all Europe. He assailed the British Ambassador with the +utmost fury at a reception held at the Tuileries on the 13th of +March; and, after a correspondence of two months, which probably +marked his sense of the power and obstinacy of his enemy, the +conflict was renewed which was now to continue without a break +until Bonaparte was driven from his throne.</p> +<p>[Bonaparte and Hanover.]</p> +<p>So long as England was without Continental allies its warfare +was limited to the seizure of colonies and the blockade of ports: +on the part of France nothing could be effected against the +island Power except by actual invasion. There was, however, among +the communities of Germany one which, in the arguments of a +conqueror, might be treated as a dependency of England, and made +to suffer for its connection with the British Crown. Hanover had +hitherto by common agreement been dissociated from the wars in +which its Elector engaged as King of England; even the personal +presence of King George II. at the battle of Dettingen had been +held no ground for violating its neutrality. Bonaparte, however, +was untroubled by precedents in a case where he had so much to +gain. Apart from its value as a possible object of exchange in +the next treaty with England, Hanover would serve as a means of +influencing Prussia: it was also worth so many millions in cash +through the requisitions which might be imposed upon its +inhabitants. The only scruple felt by Bonaparte in attacking +Hanover arose from the possibility of a forcible resistance on +the part of Prussia to the appearance of a French army in North +Germany. Accordingly, before the invasion began, General Duroc +was sent to Berlin to inform the King of the First Consul's +intentions, and to soothe any irritation that might be felt at +the Prussian Court by assurances of friendship and respect.</p> +<p>[Prussia and Hanover.]</p> +<p>It was a moment of the most critical importance to Prussia. +Prussia was the recognised guardian of Northern Germany; every +consideration of interest and of honour required that its +Government should forbid the proposed occupation of Hanover-if +necessary, at the risk of actual war. Hanover in the hands of +France meant the extinction of German independence up to the +frontiers of the Prussian State. If, as it was held at Berlin, +the cause of Great Britain was an unjust one, and if the +connection of Hanover with the British Crown was for the future +to make that province a scapegoat for the offences of England, +the wisest course for Prussia would have been to deliver Hanover +at once from its French and from its English enemies by occupying +it with its own forces. The Foreign Minister, Count Haugwitz, +appears to have recommended this step, but his counsels were +overruled. King Frederick William III., who had succeeded his +father in 1797, was a conscientious but a timid and spiritless +being. Public affairs were in the hands of his private advisers, +of whom the most influential were the so-called +cabinet-secretaries, Lombard and Beyme, men credulously anxious +for the goodwill of France, and perversely blind to the native +force and worth which still existed in the Prussian Monarchy. <a +name="FNanchor102"> </a><a href="#Footnote_102"><sup>[102]</sup></a> Instead of declaring the +entry of the French into Hanover to be absolutely incompatible +with the safety of the other North German States, King Frederick +William endeavoured to avert it by diplomacy. He tendered his +mediation to the British Government upon condition of the +evacuation of Malta; and, when this proposal was bluntly +rejected, he offered to the First Consul his personal security +that Hanover should pay a sum of money in order to be spared the +intended invasion.</p> +<p>[French enter Hanover, May, 1803.]</p> +<p>[Oppression in Hanover, 1803-1805.]</p> +<p>Such a proposal marked the depth to which Prussian +statemanship had sunk; it failed to affect the First Consul in +the slightest degree. While negotiations were still proceeding, a +French division, commanded by General Mortier, entered Hanover +(May, 1803). The Hanoverian army was lost through the follies of +the civil Government; the Duke of Cambridge, commander of one of +its divisions, less ingenious than his brother the Duke of York +in finding excuses for capitulation, resigned his commission, and +fled to England, along with many brave soldiers, who subsequently +found in the army of Great Britain the opportunity for honourable +service which was denied to them at home. Hanover passed into the +possession of France, and for two years the miseries of French +occupation were felt to the full. Extortion consumed the homely +wealth of the country; the games and meetings of the people were +prohibited; French spies violated the confidences of private +life; law was administered by foreign soldiers; the press existed +only for the purpose of French proselytism. It was in Hanover +that the bitterness of that oppression was first felt which +subsequently roused all North Germany against a foreign master, +and forced upon the race the long-forgotten claims of patriotism +and honour.</p> +<p>[French blockade the Elbe.]</p> +<p>[Vain remonstrance of Prussia.]</p> +<p>Bonaparte had justly calculated upon the inaction of the +Prussian Government when he gave the order to General Mortier to +enter Hanover; his next step proved the growth of his confidence +in Prussia's impassivity. A French force was despatched to +Cuxhaven, at the mouth of the Elbe, in order to stop the commerce +of Great Britain with the interior of Germany. The British +Government immediately informed the Court of Berlin that it +should blockade the Elbe and the Weser against the ships of all +nations unless the French soldiers withdrew from the Elbe. As the +linen trade of Silesia and other branches of Prussian industry +depended upon the free navigation of the Elbe, the threatened +reprisals of the British Government raised very serious questions +for Prussia. It was France, not England, that had first violated +the neutrality of the river highway; and the King of Prussia now +felt himself compelled to demand assurances Bonaparte that the +interests of Germany should suffer no further injury at his +hands. A letter was written by the King to the First Consul, and +entrusted to the cabinet-secretary, Lombard, who carried it to +Napoleon at Brussels (July, 1803). Lombard, the son of French +parents who had settled at Berlin in the reign of Frederick the +Great, had risen from a humble station through his skill in +expression in the two languages that were native to him; and the +accomplishments which would have made him a good clerk or a +successful journalist made him in the eyes of Frederick William a +counsellor for kings. The history of his mission to Brussels +gives curious evidence both of the fascination exercised by +Napoleon over common minds, and of the political helplessness +which in Prussia could now be mistaken for the quality of a +statesman. Lombard failed to obtain from Napoleon any guarantee +or security whatever; yet he wrote back in terms of the utmost +delight upon the success of his mission. Napoleon had infatuated +him by the mere exercise of his personal charm. "What I cannot +describe," said Lombard, in his report to the King relating his +interview with the First Consul, <a name="FNanchor103"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_103"><sup>[103]</sup></a> "is the tone of +goodness and noble frankness with which he expressed his +reverence for your Majesty's rights, and asked for that +confidence from your Majesty which he so well deserves." "I only +wish," he cried at the close of Napoleon's address, "that I could +convey to the King, my master, every one of your words and the +tone in which they are uttered; he would then, I am sure, feel a +double joy at the justice with which you have always been treated +at his hands." Lombard's colleagues at Berlin were perhaps not +stronger men than the envoy himself, but they were at least +beyond the range of Napoleon's voice and glance, and they +received this rhapsody with coldness. They complained that no +single concession had been made by the First Consul upon the +points raised by the King. Cuxhaven continued in French hands; +the British inexorably blockaded the Germans upon their own +neutral waters; and the cautious statecraft of Prussia proved as +valueless to Germany as the obstinate, speculating warfare of +Austria.</p> +<p>[Alexander displeased.]</p> +<p>There was, however, a Power which watched the advance of +French dominion into Northern Germany with less complaisance than +the Germans themselves. The Czar of Russia had gradually come to +understand the part allotted to him by Bonaparte since the Peace +of Lunéville, and was no longer inclined to serve as the +instrument of French ambition. Bonaparte's occupation of Hanover +changed the attitude of Alexander into one of coldness and +distrust. Alexander saw and lamented the help which he himself +had given to Bonaparte in Germany: events that now took place in +France itself, as well as the progress of French intrigues in +Turkey, <a name="FNanchor104"> </a><a href="#Footnote_104"><sup>[104]</sup></a> threw him into the arms of +Bonaparte's enemies, and prepared the way for a new European +coalition.</p> +<p>[Bonaparte about to become Emperor.]</p> +<p>[Murder of the Duke of Enghien, March 20, 1804.]</p> +<p>The First Bonaparte Consul had determined to assume the +dignity of Emperor. The renewal of war with England excited a new +outburst of enthusiasm for his person; nothing was wanting to +place the crown on his head but the discovery of a plot against +his life. Such a plot had been long and carefully followed by the +police. A Breton gentleman, Georges Cadoudal, had formed the +design of attacking the First Consul in the streets of Paris in +the midst of his guards. Cadoudal and his fellow-conspirators, +including General Pichegru, were traced by the police from the +coast of Normandy to Paris: an unsuccessful attempt was made to +lure the Count of Artois, and other royal patrons of the +conspiracy, from Great Britain. When all the conspirators who +could be enticed to France were collected within the capital, the +police, who had watched every stage of the movement, began to +make arrests. Moreau, the last Republican soldier of France, was +charged with complicity in the plot. Pichegru and Cadoudal were +thrown into prison, there to await their doom; Moreau, who +probably wished for the overthrow of the Consular Government, but +had no part in the design against Bonaparte's life, <a name="FNanchor105"> </a><a href="#Footnote_105"><sup>[105]</sup></a> +was kept under arrest and loaded with official calumny. One +sacrifice more remained to be made, in place of the Bourbon +d'Artois, who baffled the police of the First Consul beyond the +seas. In the territory of Baden, twelve miles from the French +frontier, there lived a prince of the exiled house, the Duke of +Enghien, a soldier under the first Coalition against France, now +a harmless dependent on the bounty of England. French spies +surrounded him; his excursions into the mountains gave rise to a +suspicion that he was concerned in Pichegru's plot. This was +enough to mark him for destruction. Bonaparte gave orders that he +should be seized, brought to Paris, and executed. On the 15th of +March, 1804, a troop of French soldiers crossed the Rhine and +arrested the Duke in his own house at Ettenheim. They arrived +with him at Paris on the 20th. He was taken to the fort of +Vincennes without entering the city. On that same night a +commission of six colonels sat in judgment upon the prisoner, +whose grave was already dug, and pronounced sentence of death +without hearing a word of evidence. At daybreak the Duke was led +out and shot.</p> +<p>[Napoleon Emperor, May 18, 1804.]</p> +<p>If some barbaric instinct made the slaughter of his +predecessor's kindred in Bonaparte's own eyes the omen of a +successful usurpation, it was not so with Europe generally. One +universal sense of horror passed over the Continent. The Court of +Russia put on mourning; even the Diet of Ratisbon showed signs of +human passion at the indignity done to Germany by the seizure of +the Duke of Enghien on German soil. Austria kept silent, but +watched the signs of coming war. France alone showed no pity. +Before the Duke of Enghien had been dead a week, the Senate +besought Napoleon to give to France the security of a hereditary +throne. Prefects, bishops, mayors, and councils with one voice +repeated the official prayer. A resolution in favour of imperial +rule was brought forward in the Tribunate, and passed, after a +noble and solitary protest on the part of Carnot. A decree of the +Senate embodied the terms of the new Constitution; and on the +18th of May, without waiting for the sanction of a national vote, +Napoleon assumed the title of Emperor of the French.</p> +<p>[Title of Emperor of Austria, Aug., 1804.]</p> +<p>In France itself the change was one more of the name than of +the substance of power. Napoleon could not be vested with a more +absolute authority than he already possessed; but the forms of +republican equality vanished; and although the real social +equality given to France by the Revolution was beyond reach of +change, the nation had to put up with a bastard Court and a +fictitious aristocracy of Corsican princes, Terrorist +excellencies, and Jacobin dukes. The new dynasty was recognised +at Vienna and Berlin: on the part of Austria it received the +compliment of an imitation. Three months after the assumption of +the Imperial title by Napoleon, the Emperor Francis (Emperor in +Germany, but King in Hungary and Bohemia) assumed the title of +Emperor of all his Austrian dominions. The true reason for this +act was the virtual dissolution of the Germanic system by the +Peace of Lunéville, and the probability that the old +Imperial dignity, if preserved in name, would soon be transferred +to some client of Napoleon or to Napoleon himself. Such an +apprehension was, however, not one that could be confessed to +Europe. Instead of the ruin of Germany, the grandeur of Austria +was made the ostensible ground of change. In language which +seemed to be borrowed from the scriptural history of +Nebuchadnezzar, the Emperor Francis declared that, although no +possible addition could be made to his own personal dignity, as +Roman Emperor, yet the ancient glory of the Austrian House, the +grandeur of the principalities and kingdoms which were united +under its dominion, required that the Sovereigns of Austria +should hold a title equal to that of the greatest European +throne. A general war against Napoleon was already being proposed +by the Court of St. Petersburg; but for the present the Corsican +and the Hapsburg Cæsar exchanged their hypocritical +congratulations. <a name="FNanchor106"> </a><a href="#Footnote_106"><sup>[106]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Pitt again Minister, May, 1804.]</p> +<p>[Coalition of 1805.]</p> +<p>Almost at the same time that Bonaparte ascended the throne, +Pitt returned to power in Great Britain. He was summoned by the +general distrust felt in Addington's Ministry, and by the belief +that no statesman but himself could rally the Powers of Europe +against the common enemy. Pitt was not long in framing with +Russia the plan of a third Coalition. The Czar broke off +diplomatic intercourse with Napoleon in September, 1804, and +induced the Court of Vienna to pledge itself to resist any +further extension of French power. Sweden entered into +engagements with Great Britain. On the opening of Parliament at +the beginning of 1805, King George III. announced that an +understanding existed between Great Britain and Russia, and asked +in general terms for a provision for Continental subsidies. In +April, a treaty was signed at St. Petersburg by the +representatives of Russia and Great Britain, far more +comprehensive and more serious in its provisions than any which +had yet united the Powers against France. <a name="FNanchor107"> </a><a href="#Footnote_107"><sup>[107]</sup></a> +Russia and England bound themselves to direct their efforts to +the formation of a European League capable of placing five +hundred thousand men in the field. Great Britain undertook to +furnish subsidies to every member of the League; no peace was to +be concluded with France but by common consent; conquests made by +any of the belligerents were to remain unappropriated until the +general peace; and at the termination of the war a Congress was +to fix certain disputed points of international right, and to +establish a federative European system for their maintenance and +enforcement. As the immediate objects of the League, the treaty +specified the expulsion of the French from Holland, Switzerland, +Italy, and Northern Germany; the re-establishment of the King of +Sardinia in Piedmont, with an increase of territory; and the +creation of a solid barrier against any future usurpations of +France. The last expression signified the union of Holland and +part of Belgium under the House of Orange. In this respect, as in +the provision for a common disposal of conquests and for the +settlement of European affairs by a Congress, the Anglo-Russian +Treaty of 1805 defined the policy actually carried out in 1814. +Other territorial changes now suggested by Pitt, including the +annexation of the Rhenish Provinces to the Prussian Monarchy, +were not embodied in the treaty, but became from this time +understood possibilities.</p> +<p>[Policy of Prussia.]</p> +<p>[Prussia neutral.]</p> +<p>England and Russia had, however, some difficulty in securing +allies. Although in violation of his promises to Austria, +Napoleon had accepted the title of King of Italy from the Senate +of the Italian Republic, and had crowned himself with the Iron +Crown of Lombardy (March, 1805), the Ministers at Vienna would +have preferred peace, if that had been possible; and their master +reluctantly consented to a war against Napoleon when war in some +form or other seemed inevitable. The policy of Prussia was +doubtful. For two years past Napoleon had made every effort to +induce Prussia to enter into alliance with himself. After the +invasion of Hanover he had doubled his attentions to the Court of +Berlin, and had spared nothing in the way of promises and +assurances of friendship to win the King over to his side. The +neutrality of Prussia was of no great service to France: its +support would have been of priceless value, rendering any attack +upon France by Russia or Austria almost impossible, and thus +enabling Napoleon to throw his whole strength into the combat +with Great Britain. In the spring of 1804, the King of Prussia, +uncertain of the friendship of the Czar, and still unconvinced of +the vanity of Napoleon's professions, had inclined to a defensive +alliance with France. The news of the murder of the Duke of +Enghien, arriving almost simultaneously with a message of +goodwill from St. Petersburg, led him to abandon this project of +alliance, but caused no breach with Napoleon. Frederick William +adhered to the temporising policy which Prussia had followed +since 1795, and the Foreign Minister, Haugwitz, who had +recommended bolder measures, withdrew for a time from the Court. +<a name="FNanchor108"> </a><a href="#Footnote_108"><sup>[108]</sup></a> Baron Hardenberg, who had +already acted as his deputy, stepped into his place. Hardenberg, +the negotiator of the peace of Basle, had for the last ten years +advocated a system of neutrality. A politician quick to grasp new +social and political ideas, he was without that insight into the +real forces at work in Europe which, in spite of errors in +detail, made the political aims of Pitt, and of many far inferior +men, substantially just and correct. So late as the end of the +year 1804, Hardenberg not only failed to recognise the dangers to +which Prussia was exposed from Napoleon's ambition, but conceived +it to be still possible for Prussia to avert war between France +and the Allied Powers by maintaining a good understanding with +all parties alike. Hardenberg's neutrality excited the wrath of +the Russian Cabinet. While Metternich, the Austrian ambassador at +Berlin, cautiously felt his way, the Czar proposed in the last +resort to force Prussia to take up arms. A few months more +passed; and, when hostilities were on the point of breaking out, +Hanover was definitely offered to Prussia by Napoleon as the +price of an alliance. Hardenberg, still believing that it lay +within the power of Prussia, by means of a French alliance, both +to curb Napoleon and to prevent a European war, urged the King to +close with the offer of the French Emperor. <a name="FNanchor109"> </a><a href="#Footnote_109"><sup>[109]</sup></a> +But the King shrank from a decision which involved the +possibility of immediate war. The offer of Hanover was rejected, +and Prussia connected itself neither with Napoleon nor his +enemies.</p> +<p>[State of Austria. The army.]</p> +<p>Pitt, the author of the Coalition of 1805, had formed the most +sanguine estimate of the armaments of his allies. Austria was +said to have entered upon a new era since the peace of +Lunéville, and to have turned to the best account all the +disasters of its former campaigns. There had indeed been no want +of fine professions from Vienna, but Pitt knew little of the real +state of affairs. The Archduke Charles had been placed at the +head of the military administration, and entrusted with +extraordinary powers; but the whole force of routine and +corruption was ranged against him. He was deceived by his +subordinates; and after three years of reorganisation he resigned +his post, confessing that he left the army no nearer efficiency +than it was before. Charles was replaced at the War Office by +General Mack. Within six months this bustling charlatan imagined +himself to have effected the reorganisation of which the Archduke +<a name="FNanchor110">despaired,</a> <a href="#Footnote_110"><sup>[110]</sup></a> while he had in fact only +introduced new confusion into an army already hampered beyond any +in Europe by its variety of races and languages.</p> +<p>[Political condition of Austria.]</p> +<p>If the military reforms of Austria were delusive, its +political reforms were still more so. The Emperor had indeed +consented to unite the Ministers, who had hitherto worked +independently, in a Council of State; but here reform stopped. +Cobenzl, who was now First Minister, understood nothing but +diplomacy. Men continued in office whose presence was an +insuperable bar to any intelligent action: even in that +mechanical routine which, in the eyes of the Emperor Francis, +constituted the life of the State, everything was antiquated and +self-contradictory. In all that affected the mental life of the +people the years that followed the peace of Lunéville were +distinctly retrograde. Education was placed more than ever in the +hands of the priests; the censorship of the press was given to +the police; a commission was charged with the examination of all +the books printed during the reign of the Emperor Joseph, and +above two thousand works, which had come into being during that +brief period of Austrian liberalism, were suppressed and +destroyed. Trade regulations were issued which combined the +extravagance of the French Reign of Terror with the ignorance of +the Middle Ages. All the grain in the country was ordered to be +sold before a certain date, and the Jews were prohibited from +carrying on the corn-trade for a year. Such were the reforms +described by Pitt in the English Parliament as having effected +the regeneration of Austria. Nearer home things were judged in a +truer light. Mack's paper-regiments, the helplessness and +unreality of the whole system of Austrian officialism, were +correctly appreciated by the men who had been most in earnest +during the last war. Even Thugut now thought a contest hopeless. +The Archduke Charles argued to the end for peace, and entered +upon the war with the presentiment of defeat and ruin.</p> +<p>[Plans of campaign, 1805.]</p> +<p>The plans of the Allies for the campaign of 1805 covered an +immense field. <a name="FNanchor111"> </a><a href="#Footnote_111"><sup>[111]</sup></a> It was intended that one +Austrian army should operate in Lombardy under the Archduke +Charles, while a second, under General Mack, entered Bavaria, and +there awaited the arrival of the Russians, who were to unite with +it in invading France: British and Russian contingents were to +combine with the King of Sweden in Pomerania, and with the King +of Naples in Southern Italy. At the head-quarters of the Allies +an impression prevailed that Napoleon was unprepared for war. It +was even believed that his character had lost something of its +energy under the influence of an Imperial Court. Never was there +a more fatal illusion. The forces of France had never been so +overwhelming; the plans of Napoleon had never been worked out +with greater minuteness and certainty. From Hanover to Strasburg +masses of troops had been collected upon the frontier in +readiness for the order to march; and, before the campaign +opened, the magnificent army of Boulogne, which had been +collected for the invasion of England, was thrown into the scale +against Austria.</p> +<p>[Failure of Napoleon's naval designs against England.]</p> +<p>[Nelson and Villeneuve, April-June, 1805.]</p> +<p>Events had occurred at sea which frustrated Napoleon's plan +for an attack upon Great Britain. This attack, which in 1797 had +been but lightly threatened, had, upon the renewal of war with +England in 1803, become the object of Napoleon's most serious +efforts. An army was concentrated at Boulogne sufficient to +overwhelm the military forces of England, if once it could reach +the opposite shore. Napoleon's thoughts were centred on a plan +for obtaining the naval superiority in the Channel, if only for +the few hours which it would take to transport the army from +Boulogne to the English coast. It was his design to lure Nelson +to the other side of the Atlantic by a feigned expedition against +the West Indies, and, during the absence of the English admiral, +to unite all the fleets at present lying blockaded in the French +ports, as a cover for the invading armament. Admiral Villeneuve +was ordered to sail to Martinique, and, after there meeting with +some other ships, to re-cross the Atlantic with all possible +speed, and liberate the fleets blockaded in Ferrol, Brest, and +Rochefort. The junction of the fleets would give Napoleon a force +of fifty sail in the British Channel, a force more than +sufficient to overpower all the squadrons which Great Britain +could possibly collect for the defence of its shores. Such a +design exhibited all the power of combination which marked +Napoleon's greatest triumphs; but it required of an indifferent +marine the precision and swiftness of movement which belonged to +the land-forces of France; it assumed in the seamen of Great +Britain the same absence of resource which Napoleon had found +among the soldiers of the Continent. In the present instance, +however, Napoleon had to deal with a man as far superior to all +the admirals of France as Napoleon himself was to the generals of +Austria and Prussia. Villeneuve set sail for the West Indies in +the spring of 1805, and succeeded in drawing Nelson after him; +but, before he could re-cross the Atlantic, Nelson, incessantly +pursuing the French squadron in the West-Indian seas, and at +length discovering its departure homewards at Antigua (June 13), +had warned the English Government of Villeneuve's movement by a +message sent in the swiftest of the English brigs. <a name="FNanchor112"> </a><a href="#Footnote_112"><sup>[112]</sup></a> +The Government, within twenty-four hours of receiving Nelson's +message, sent orders to Sir Robert Calder instantly to raise the +blockades of Ferrol and Rochefort, and to wait for Villeneuve off +Cape Finisterre. Here Villeneuve met the English fleet (July 22). +He was worsted in a partial engagement, and retired into the +harbour of Ferrol. The pressing orders of Napoleon forced the +French admiral, after some delay, to attempt that movement on +Brest and Rochefort on which the whole plan of the invasion of +England depended. But Villeneuve was no longer in a condition to +meet the English force assembled against him. He put back without +fighting, and retired to Cadiz. All hope of carrying out the +attack upon England was lost.</p> +<p>[March of French armies on Bavaria, Sept.]</p> +<p>It only remained for Napoleon to avenge himself upon Austria +through the army which was baulked of its English prey. On the +1st of September, when the Austrians were now on the point of +crossing the Inn, the camp of Boulogne was broken up. The army +turned eastwards, and distributed itself over all the roads +leading from the Channel to the Rhine and the Upper Danube. Far +on the north-east the army of Hanover, commanded by Bernadotte, +moved as its left wing, and converged upon a point in Southern +Germany half-way between the frontiers of France and Austria. In +the fables that long disguised the true character of every action +of Napoleon, the admirable order of march now given to the French +armies appears as the inspiration of a moment, due to the rebound +of Napoleon's genius after learning the frustration of all his +naval plans. In reality, the employment of the "Army of England" +against a Continental coalition had always been an alternative +present to Napoleon's mind; and it was threateningly mentioned in +his letters at a time when Villeneuve's failure was still +unknown.</p> +<p>[Austrians invade Bavaria, Sept. 8.]</p> +<p>The only advantage which the Allies derived from the +remoteness of the Channel army was that Austria was able to +occupy Bavaria without resistance. General Mack, who was charged +with this operation, crossed the Inn on the 8th of September. The +Elector of Bavaria was known to be secretly hostile to the +Coalition. The design of preventing his union with the French was +a correct one; but in the actual situation of the allied armies +it was one that could not be executed without great risk. The +preparations of Russia required more time than was allowed for +them; no Russian troops could reach the Inn before the end of +October; and, in consequence, the entire force operating in +Western Germany did not exceed seventy thousand men. Any doubts, +however, as to the prudence of an advance through Bavaria were +silenced by the assurance that Napoleon had to bring the bulk of +his army from the British Channel. <a name="FNanchor113"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_113"><sup>[113]</sup></a> In ignorance of the +real movements of the French, Mack pushed on to the western limit +of Bavaria, and reached the river Iller, the border of +Würtemberg, where he intended to stand on the defensive +until the arrival of the Russians.</p> +<p>[Mack at Ulm, October.]</p> +<p>[Capitulation of Ulm, Oct. 17.]</p> +<p>Here, in the first days of October, he became aware of the +presence of French troops, not only in front but to the east of +his own position. With some misgiving as to the situation of the +enemy, Mack nevertheless refused to fall back from Ulm. Another +week revealed the true state of affairs. Before the Russians were +anywhere near Bavaria, the vanguard of Napoleon's Army of the +Channel and the Army of Hanover had crossed North-Western +Germany, and seized the roads by which Mack had advanced from +Vienna. Every hour that Mack remained in Ulm brought new +divisions of the French into the Bavarian towns and villages +behind him. Escape was only possible by a retreat into the Tyrol, +or by breaking through the French line while it was yet +incompletely formed. Resolute action might still have saved the +Austrian army; but the only energy that was shown was shown in +opposition to the general. The Archduke Ferdinand, who was the +titular commander-in-chief, cut his way through the French with +part of the cavalry; Mack remained in Ulm, and the iron circle +closed around him. At the last moment, after the hopelessness of +the situation had become clear even to himself, Mack was seized +by an illusion that some great disaster had befallen the French +in their rear, and that in the course of a few days Napoleon +would be in full retreat. "Let no man utter the word +'Surrender'"-he proclaimed in an order of October 15th-"the enemy +is in the most fearful straits; it is impossible that he can +continue more than a few days in the neighbourhood. If provisions +run short, we have three thousand horses to nourish us." "I +myself," continued the general, "will be the first to eat +horseflesh." Two days later the inevitable capitulation took +place; and Mack with 25,000 men, fell into the hands of the enemy +without striking a blow. A still greater number of the Austrians +outside Ulm surrendered in detachments. <a name="FNanchor114"> </a><a href="#Footnote_114"><sup>[114]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Trafalgar, Oct. 21.]</p> +<p>[Effects.]</p> +<p>All France read with wonder Napoleon's bulletins describing +the capture of an entire army and the approaching presentation of +forty Austrian standards to the Senate at Paris. No imperial +rhetoric acquainted the nation with an event which, within four +days of the capitulation of Ulm, inflicted a heavier blow on +France than Napoleon himself had ever dealt to any adversary. On +the 21st of October Nelson's crowning victory of Trafalgar, won +over Villeneuve venturing out from Cadiz, annihilated the +combined fleets of France and Spain. Nelson fell in the moment of +his triumph; but the work which his last hours had achieved was +one to which years prolonged in glory could have added nothing. +He had made an end of the power of France upon the sea. Trafalgar +was not only the greatest naval victory, it was the greatest and +most momentous victory won either by land or by sea during the +whole of the Revolutionary War. No victory, and no series of +victories, of Napoleon produced the same effect upon Europe. +Austria was in arms within five years of Marengo, and within four +years of Austerlitz; Prussia was ready to retrieve the losses of +Jena in 1813; a generation passed after Trafalgar before France +again seriously threatened England at sea. The prospect of +crushing the British navy, so long as England had the means to +equip a navy, vanished: Napoleon henceforth set his hopes on +exhausting England's resources by compelling every State on the +Continent to exclude her commerce. Trafalgar forced him to impose +his yoke upon all Europe, or to abandon the hope of conquering +Great Britain. If national love and pride have idealised in our +great sailor a character which, with its Homeric force and +freshness, combined something of the violence and the self-love +of the heroes of a rude age, the common estimate of Nelson's work +in history is not beyond the truth. So long as France possessed a +navy, Nelson sustained the spirit of England by his victories; +his last triumph left England in such a position that no means +remained to injure her but those which must result in the +ultimate deliverance of the Continent.</p> +<p>[Treaty of Potsdam, Nov. 3.]</p> +<p>[Violation of Prussian territory.]</p> +<p>The consequences of Trafalgar lay in the future; the military +situation in Germany after Mack's catastrophe was such that +nothing could keep the army of Napoleon out of Vienna. In the +sudden awakening of Europe to its danger, one solitary gleam of +hope appeared in the attitude of the Prussian Court. Napoleon had +not scrupled, in his anxiety for the arrival of the Army of +Hanover, to order Bernadotte, its commander, to march through the +Prussian territory of Anspach, which lay on his direct route +towards Ulm. It was subsequently alleged by the Allies that +Bernadotte's violation of Prussian neutrality had actually saved +him from arriving too late to prevent Mack's escape; but, apart +from all imaginary grounds of reproach, the insult offered to +Prussia by Napoleon was sufficient to incline even Frederick +William to decided action. Some weeks earlier the approach of +Russian forces to his frontier had led Frederick William to arm; +the French had now more than carried out what the Russians had +only suggested. When the outrage was made known to the King of +Prussia, that cold and reserved monarch displayed an emotion +which those who surrounded him had seldom witnessed. <a name="FNanchor115"> </a><a href="#Footnote_115"><sup>[115]</sup></a> +The Czar was forthwith offered a free passage for his armies +through Silesia; and, before the news of Mack's capitulation +reached the Russian frontier, Alexander himself was on the way to +Berlin. The result of the deliberations of the two monarchs was +the Treaty of Potsdam, signed on November 3rd. By this treaty +Prussia undertook to demand from Napoleon an indemnity for the +King of Piedmont, and the evacuation of Germany, Switzerland, and +Holland: failing Napoleon's acceptance of Prussia's mediation +upon these terms, Prussia engaged to take the field with 180,000 +men.</p> +<p>[French enter Vienna, Nov. 13.]</p> +<p>Napoleon was now close upon Vienna. A few days after the +capitulation of Ulm thirty thousand Russians, commanded by +General Kutusoff, had reached Bavaria; but Mack's disaster +rendered it impossible to defend the line of the Inn, and the +last detachments of the Allies disappeared as soon as Napoleon's +vanguard approached the river. The French pushed forth in +overpowering strength upon the capital. Kutusoff and the weakened +Austrian army could neither defend Vienna nor meet the invader in +the field. It was resolved to abandon the city, and to unite the +retreating forces on the northern side of the Danube with a +second Russian army now entering Moravia. On the 7th of November +the Court quitted Vienna. Six days later the French entered the +capital, and by an audacious stratagem of Murat's gained +possession of the bridge connecting the city with the north bank +of the Danube, at the moment when the Austrian gunners were about +to blow it into the air. <a name="FNanchor116"> </a><a href="#Footnote_116"><sup>[116]</sup></a> The capture of this bridge +deprived the allied army of the last object protecting it from +Napoleon's pursuit. Vienna remained in the possession of the +French. All the resources of a great capital were now added to +the means of the conqueror; and Napoleon prepared to follow his +retreating adversary beyond the Danube, and to annihilate him +before he could reach his supports.</p> +<p>[The Allies and Napoleon in Moravia, Nov.]</p> +<p>The retreat of the Russian army into Moravia was conducted +with great skill by General Kutusoff, who retorted upon Murat the +stratagem practised at the bridge of Vienna, and by means of a +pretended armistice effected his junction with the newly-arrived +Russian corps between Olmütz and Brünn. Napoleon's +anger at the escape of his prey was shown in the bitterness of +his attacks upon Murat. The junction of the allied armies in +Moravia had in fact most seriously altered the prospects of the +war. For the first time since the opening of the campaign, the +Allies had concentrated a force superior in numbers to anything +that Napoleon could bring against it. It was impossible for +Napoleon, while compelled to protect himself on the Italian side, +to lead more than 70,000 men into Moravia. The Allies had now +80,000 in camp, with the prospect of receiving heavy +reinforcements. The war, which lately seemed to be at its close, +might now, in the hands of a skilful general, be but beginning. +Although the lines of Napoleon's communication with France were +well guarded, his position in the heart of Europe exposed him to +many perils; the Archduke Charles had defeated Massena at +Caldiero on the Adige, and was hastening northwards; above all, +the army of Prussia was preparing to enter the field. Every mile +that Napoleon advanced into Moravia increased the strain upon his +resources; every day that postponed the decision of the campaign +brought new strength to his enemies. Merely to keep the French in +their camp until a Prussian force was ready to assail their +communications seemed enough to ensure the Allies victory; and +such was the counsel of Kutusoff, who made war in the temper of +the wariest diplomatist. But the scarcity of provisions was +telling upon the discipline of the army, and the Czar was eager +for battle. <a name="FNanchor117"> </a><a href="#Footnote_117"><sup>[117]</sup></a> The Emperor Francis gave way +to the ardour of his allies. Weyrother, the Austrian chief of the +staff, drew up the most scientific plans for a great victory that +had ever been seen even at the Austrian head-quarters; and +towards the end of November it was agreed by the two Emperors +that the allied army should march right round Napoleon's position +near Brünn, and fight a battle with the object of cutting +off his retreat upon Vienna.</p> +<p>[Haugwitz comes with Prussian demands to Napoleon, Nov. +28.]</p> +<p>[Haugwitz goes away to Vienna.]</p> +<p>It was in the days immediately preceding the intended battle, +and after Napoleon had divined the plans of his enemy, that Count +Haugwitz, bearing the demands of the Cabinet of Berlin, reached +the French camp at Brünn. <a name="FNanchor118"> </a><a href="#Footnote_118"><sup>[118]</sup></a> Napoleon had already heard +something of the Treaty of Potsdam, and was aware that Haugwitz +had started from Berlin. He had no intention of making any of +those concessions which Prussia required; at the same time it was +of vital importance to him to avoid the issue of a declaration of +war by Prussia, which would nerve both Austria and Russia to the +last extremities. He therefore resolved to prevent Haugwitz by +every possible method from delivering his ultimatum, until a +decisive victory over the allied armies should have entirely +changed the political situation. The Prussian envoy himself +played into Napoleon's hands. Haugwitz had obtained a disgraceful +permission from his sovereign to submit to all Napoleon's wishes, +if, before his arrival, Austria should be separately treating for +peace; and he had an excuse for delay in the fact that the +military preparations of Prussia were not capable of being +completed before the middle of December. He passed twelve days on +the journey from Berlin, and presented himself before Napoleon on +the 28th of November. The Emperor, after a long conversation, +requested that he would proceed to Vienna and transact business +with Talleyrand. He was weak enough to permit himself to be +removed to a distance with his ultimatum to Napoleon undelivered. +When next the Prussian Government heard of their envoy, he was +sauntering in Talleyrand's drawing-rooms at Vienna, with the +cordon of the French Legion of Honour on his breast, exchanging +civilities with officials who politely declined to enter upon any +question of business.</p> +<p>[Austerlitz, Dec. 2.]</p> +<p>[Armistice, Dec. 4.]</p> +<p>Haugwitz once removed to Vienna, and the Allies thus deprived +of the certainty that Prussia would take the field, Napoleon +trusted that a single great defeat would suffice to break up the +Coalition. The movements of the Allies were exactly those which +he expected and desired. He chose his own positions between +Brünn and Austerlitz in the full confidence of victory; and +on the morning of the 2nd of December, when the mists disappeared +before a bright wintry sun, he saw with the utmost delight that +the Russian columns were moving round him in a vast arc, in +execution of the turning-movement of which he had forewarned his +own army on the day before. Napoleon waited until the foremost +columns were stretched far in advance of their supports; then, +throwing Soult's division upon the gap left in the centre of the +allied line, he cut the army into halves, and crushed its severed +divisions at every point along the whole line of attack. The +Allies, although they outnumbered Napoleon, believed themselves +to be overpowered by an army double their own size. The +incoherence of the allied movements was as marked as the unity +and effectiveness of those of the French. It was alleged in the +army that Kutusoff, the commander-in-chief, had fallen asleep +while the Austrian Weyrother was expounding his plans for the +battle; a truer explanation of the palpable errors in the allied +generalship was that the Russian commander had been forced by the +Czar to carry out a plan of which he disapproved. The destruction +in the ranks of the Allies was enormous, for the Russians fought +with the same obstinacy as at the Trebbia and at Novi. Austria +had lost a second army in addition to its capital; and the one +condition which could have steeled its Government against all +thoughts of peace-the certainty of an immediate Prussian attack +upon Napoleon-had vanished with the silent disappearance of the +Prussian envoy. Two days after the battle, the Emperor Francis +met his conqueror in the open field, and accepted an armistice, +which involved the withdrawal of the Russian army from his +dominions.</p> +<p>[Haugwitz signs Treaty with Napoleon, Dec. 15.]</p> +<p>Yet even now the Czar sent appeals to Berlin for help, and the +negotiation begun by Austria would possibly have been broken off +if help had been given. But the Cabinet of Frederick William had +itself determined to evade its engagements; and as soon as the +news of Austerlitz reached Vienna, Haugwitz had gone over heart +and soul to the conqueror. While negotiations for peace were +carried on between France and Austria, a parallel negotiation was +carried on with the envoy of Prussia; and even before the Emperor +Francis gave way to the conqueror's demands, Haugwitz signed a +treaty with Napoleon at Schönbrunn, by which Prussia, +instead of attacking Napoleon, entered into an alliance with him, +and received from him in return the dominion of Hanover (December +15, 1805). <a name="FNanchor119"> </a><a href="#Footnote_119"><sup>[119]</sup></a> Had Prussia been the +defeated power at Austerlitz, the Treaty of Schönbrunn could +not have more completely reversed the policy to which King +Frederick William had pledged himself six weeks before. While +Haugwitz was making his pact with Napoleon, Hardenberg had been +arranging with an English envoy for the combination of English +and Russian forces in Northern Germany. <a name="FNanchor120"> </a><a href="#Footnote_120"><sup>[120]</sup></a></p> +<p>There were some among the King's advisers who declared that +the treaty must be repudiated, and the envoy disgraced. But the +catastrophe of Austerlitz, and the knowledge that the Government +of Vienna was entering upon a separate negotiation, had damped +the courage of the men in power. The conduct of Haugwitz was +first excused, then supported, then admired. The Duke of +Brunswick disgraced himself by representing to the French +Ambassador in Berlin that the whole course of Prussian policy +since the beginning of the campaign had been an elaborate piece +of dissimulation in the interest of France. The leaders of the +patriotic party in the army found themselves without influence or +following; the mass of the nation looked on with the same stupid +unconcern with which it had viewed every event of the last twenty +years. The King finally decided that the treaty by which Haugwitz +had thrown the obligations of his country to the winds should be +ratified, with certain modifications, including one that should +nominally reserve to King George III. a voice in the disposal of +Hanover. <a name="FNanchor121"> </a><a href="#Footnote_121"><sup>[121]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Treaty of Presburg, Dec. 27.]</p> +<p>[End of the Holy Roman Empire, Aug. 6, 1806.]</p> +<p>Ten days after the departure of the Prussian envoy from +Vienna, peace was concluded between France and Austria by the +Treaty of Presburg <a name="FNanchor122"> </a><a href="#Footnote_122"><sup>[122]</sup></a> (December 27). At the +outbreak of the war Napoleon had declared to his army that he +would not again spare Austria, as he had spared her at Campo +Formio and at Lunéville; and he kept his word. The Peace +of Presburg left the Austrian State in a condition very different +from that in which it had emerged from the two previous wars. The +Treaty of Campo Formio had only deprived Austria of Belgium in +order to replace it by Venice; the Settlement of Lunéville +had only substituted French for Austrian influence in Western +Germany: the Treaty that followed the battle of Austerlitz +wrested from the House of Hapsburg two of its most important +provinces, and cut it off at once from Italy, from Switzerland, +and from the Rhine. Venetia was ceded to Napoleon's kingdom of +Italy; the Tyrol was ceded to Bavaria; the outlying districts +belonging to Austria in Western Germany were ceded to Baden and +to Würtemberg. Austria lost 28,000 square miles of territory +and 3,000,000 inhabitants. The Emperor recognised the sovereignty +and independence of Bavaria, Baden, and Würtemberg, and +renounced all rights over those countries as head of the Germanic +Body. The Electors of Bavaria and Würtemberg, along with a +large increase of territory, received the title of King. The +constitution of the Empire ceased to exist even in name. It only +remained for its chief, the successor of the Roman Cæsars, +to abandon his title at Napoleon's bidding; and on the 6th of +August, 1806, an Act, published by Francis II. at Vienna, made an +end of the outworn and dishonoured fiction of a Holy Roman +Empire.</p> +<p>[Naples given to Joseph Bonaparte.]</p> +<p>Though Russia had not made peace with Napoleon, the European +Coalition was at an end. Now, as in 1801, the defeat of the +Austrian armies left the Neapolitan Monarchy to settle its +account with the conqueror. Naples had struck no blow; but it was +only through the delays of the Allies that the Neapolitan army +had not united with an English and a Russian force in an attack +upon Lombardy. What had been pardoned in 1801 was now avenged +upon the Bourbon despot of Naples and his Austrian Queen, who +from the first had shown such bitter enmity to France. Assuming +the character of a judge over the sovereigns of Europe, Napoleon +pronounced from Vienna that the House of Naples had ceased to +reign (Dec. 27, 1805). The sentence was immediately carried into +execution. Ferdinand fled, as he had fled in 1798, to place +himself under the protection of the navy of Great Britain. The +vacant throne was given by Napoleon to his own brother, Joseph +Bonaparte. Ferdinand, with the help of the English fleet, +maintained himself in Sicily. A thread of sea two miles broad was +sufficient barrier against the Power which had subdued half the +Continent; and no attempt was made either by Napoleon or his +brother to gain a footing beyond the Straits of Messina. In +Southern Italy the same fanatical movements took place among the +peasantry as in the previous period of French occupation. When +the armies of Austria and Russia were crushed, and the continent +lay at the mercy of France, Great Britain imagined that it could +effect something against Napoleon in a corner of Italy, with the +help of some ferocious villagers. A British force, landing near +Maida, on the Calabrian coast, in the summer of 1806, had the +satisfaction of defeating the French at the point of the bayonet, +of exciting a horde of priests and brigands to fruitless +barbarities, and of abandoning them to their well-merited +chastisement.</p> +<p>[Battle of Maida, July 6, 1806.]</p> +<p>[The Empire. Napoleonic dynasty and titles.]</p> +<p>The elevation of Napoleon's brother Joseph to the throne of +Naples was the first of a series of appointments now made by +Napoleon in the character of Emperor of the West. He began to +style himself the new Charlemagne; his thoughts and his language +were filled with pictures of universal sovereignty; his +authority, as a military despot who had crushed his neighbours, +became strangely confused in his own mind with that half-sacred +right of the Cæsars from which the Middle Ages derived all +subordinate forms of power. He began to treat the government of +the different countries of Western Europe as a function to be +exercised by delegation from himself. Even the territorial grants +which under the Feudal System accompanied military or civil +office were now revived and the commander of a French army-corps +or the chief of the French Foreign Office became the titular lord +of some obscure Italian principality. <a name="FNanchor123"> </a><a href="#Footnote_123"><sup>[123]</sup></a> +Napoleon's own family were to reign in many lands, as the +Bourbons and the Hapsburgs had reigned before them, but in strict +dependence on their head. Joseph Bonaparte had not long been +installed at Naples when his brother Louis was compelled to +accept the Crown of Holland. Jerome, for whom no kingdom was at +present vacant, was forced to renounce his American wife, in +order that he might marry the daughter of the King of +Würtemberg. Eugène Beauharnais, Napoleon's step-son, +held the office of Viceroy of Italy; Murat, who had married +Napoleon's sister, had the German Duchy of Berg. Bernadotte, +Talleyrand, and Berthier found themselves suzerains of districts +whose names were almost unknown to them. Out of the revenues of +Northern Italy a yearly sum was reserved as an endowment for the +generals whom the Emperor chose to raise to princely honours.</p> +<p>[Federation of the Rhine.]</p> +<p>More statesmanlike, more practical than Napoleon's dynastic +policy, was his organisation of Western Germany under its native +princes as a dependency of France. The object at which all French +politicians had aimed since the outbreak of the Revolutionary +War, the exclusion of both Austria and Prussia from influence in +Western Germany, was now completely attained. The triumph of +French statesmanship, the consummation of two centuries of German +discord, was seen in the Act of Federation subscribed by the +Western German Sovereigns in the summer of 1806. By this Act the +Kings of Bavaria and Würtemberg, the Elector of Baden, and +thirteen minor princes, united themselves, in the League known as +the Rhenish Confederacy, under the protection of the French +Emperor, and undertook to furnish contingents, amounting to +63,000 men, in all wars in which the French Empire should engage. +Their connection with the ancient Germanic Body was completely +severed; the very town in which the Diet of the Empire had held +its meetings was annexed by one of the members of the +Confederacy. The Confederacy itself, with a population of +8,000,000, became for all purposes of war and foreign policy a +part of France. Its armies were organised by French officers; its +frontiers were fortified by French engineers; its treaties were +made for it at Paris. In the domestic changes which took place +within these States the work of consolidation begun in 1801 was +carried forward with increased vigour. Scores of tiny +principalities which had escaped dissolution in the earlier +movement were now absorbed by their stronger neighbours. +Governments became more energetic, more orderly, more ambitious. +The princes who made themselves the vassals of Napoleon assumed a +more despotic power over their own subjects. Old constitutional +forms which had imposed some check on the will of the sovereign, +like the Estates of Würtemberg, were contemptuously +suppressed; the careless, ineffective routine of the last age +gave place to a system of rigorous precision throughout the +public services. Military service was enforced in countries +hitherto free from it. The burdens of the people became greater, +but they were more fairly distributed. The taxes were more +equally levied; justice was made more regular and more simple. A +career both in the army and the offices of Government was opened +to a people to whom the very conception of public life had +hitherto been unknown.</p> +<p>[No national unity in Germany.]</p> +<p>The establishment of German unity in our own day after a +victorious struggle with France renders it difficult to imagine +the voluntary submission of a great part of the race to a French +sovereign, or to excuse a policy which, like that of 1806, +appears the opposite of everything honourable and patriotic. But +what seems strange now was not strange then. No expression more +truly describes the conditions of that period than one of the +great German poet who was himself so little of a patriot. +"Germany," said Goethe, "is not a nation." Germany had indeed the +unity of race; but all that truly constitutes a nation, the sense +of common interest, a common history, pride, and desire, Germany +did not possess at all. Bavaria, the strongest of the western +States, attached itself to France from a well-grounded fear of +Austrian aggression. To be conquered by Austria was just as much +conquest for Bavaria as to be conquered by any other Power; it +was no step to German unity, but a step in the aggrandisement of +the House of Hapsburg. The interests of the Austrian House were +not the interests of Germany any more than they were the +interests of Croatia, or of Venice, or of Hungary. Nor, on the +other hand, had Prussia yet shown a form of political life +sufficiently attractive to lead the southern States to desire to +unite with it. Frederick's genius had indeed made him the hero of +Germany, but his military system was harsh and tyrannical. In the +actual condition of Austria and Prussia, it is doubtful whether +the population of the minor States would have been happier united +to these Powers than under their own Governments. Conquest in any +case was impossible, and there was nothing to stimulate to +voluntary union. It followed that the smaller States were +destined to remain without a nationality, until the violence of +some foreign Power rendered weakness an intolerable evil, and +forced upon the better minds of Germany the thought of a common +Fatherland.</p> +<p>[What German unity desirable.]</p> +<p>The necessity of German unity is no self-evident political +truth. Holland and Switzerland in past centuries detached +themselves from the Empire, and became independent States, with +the highest advantage to themselves. Identity of blood is no more +conclusive reason for political union between Holstein and the +Tyrol than between Great Britain and the United States of +America. The conditions which determine both the true area and +the true quality of German unity are, in fact, something more +complex than an ethnological law or an outburst of patriotic +indignation against the French. Where local circumstances +rendered it possible for a German district, after detaching +itself from the race, to maintain a real national life and defend +itself from foreign conquest, there it was perhaps better that +the connection with Germany should be severed; where, as in the +great majority of minor States, independence resulted only in +military helplessness and internal stagnation, there it was +better that independence should give place to German unity. But +the conditions of any tolerable unity were not present so long as +Austria was the leading Power. Less was imperilled in the future +of the German people by the submission of the western States to +France than would have been lost by their permanent incorporation +under Austria.</p> +<p>[The Empire of 1806 might have been permanent.]</p> +<p>[Limits of a possible Napoleonic Empire.]</p> +<p>With the establishment of the Rhenish Confederacy and the +conquest of Naples, Napoleon's empire reached, but did not +overpass, the limits within which the sovereignty of France might +probably have been long maintained. It has been usual to draw the +line between the sound statesmanship and the hazardous +enterprises of Napoleon at the Peace of Lunéville: a +juster appreciation of the condition of Western Europe would +perhaps include within the range of a practical, though +mischievous, ideal the whole of the political changes which +immediately followed the war of 1805, and which extended +Napoleon's dominion to the Inn and to the Straits of Messina. +Italy and Germany were not then what they have since become. The +districts that lay between the Rhine and the Inn were not more +hostile to the foreigner than those Rhenish Provinces which so +readily accepted their union with France. The more enterprising +minds in Italy found that the Napoleonic rule, with all its +faults, was superior to anything that Italy had known in recent +times. If we may judge from the feeling with which Napoleon was +regarded in Germany down to the middle of the year 1806, and in +Italy down to a much later date, the Empire then founded might +have been permanently upheld, if Napoleon had abstained from +attacking other States. No comparison can be made between the +attractive power exercised by the social equality of France, its +military glory, and its good administration, and the slow and +feeble process of assimilation which went on within the dominions +of Austria; yet Austria succeeded in uniting a greater variety of +races than France sought to unite in 1806. The limits of a +possible France were indeed fixed, and fixed more firmly than by +any geographical line, in the history and national character of +two other peoples. France could not permanently overpower +Prussia, and it could not permanently overpower Spain. But within +a boundary-line drawn roughly from the mouth of the Elbe to the +head of the Adriatic, that union of national sentiment and +material force which checks the formation of empires did not +exist. The true turning-point in Napoleon's career was the moment +when he passed beyond the policy which had planned the Federation +of the Rhine, and roused by his oppression the one State which +was still capable of giving a national life to Germany.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_VII."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Death of Pitt-Ministry of Fox and Grenville-Napoleon forces +Prussia into War with England, and then offers Hanover to +England-Prussia resolves on War with Napoleon-State of +Prussia-Decline of the Army-Southern Germany with +Napoleon-Austria Neutral-England and Russia about to help +Prussia, but not immediately-Campaign of 1806-Battles of Jena and +Auerstädt-Ruin of the Prussian Army-Capitulation of +Fortresses-Demands of Napoleon-The War continues-Berlin +Decree-Exclusion of English Goods from the Continent-Russia +enters the War-Campaign in Poland and East Prussia-Eylau-Treaty +of Bartenstein-Friedland-Interview at Tilsit-Alliance of Napoleon +and Alexander-Secret Articles-English Expedition to Denmark-The +French enter Portugal-Prussia after the Peace of Tilsit-Stein's +Edict of Emancipation-The Prussian Peasant-Reform of the Prussian +Army, and Creation of Municipalities-Stein's other Projects of +Reform, which are not carried out.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Death of Pitt, Jan. 23rd, 1806.]</p> +<p>[Coalition Ministry of Fox and Grenville.]</p> +<p>Six weeks after the tidings of Austerlitz reached Great +Britain, the statesman who had been the soul of every European +coalition against France was carried to the grave. <a name="FNanchor124"> </a><a href="#Footnote_124"><sup>[124]</sup></a> +Pitt passed away at a moment of the deepest gloom. His victories +at sea appeared to have effected nothing; his combinations on +land had ended in disaster and ruin. If during Pitt's lifetime a +just sense of the greatness and patriotism of all his aims +condoned the innumerable faults of his military administration, +that personal ascendancy which might have disarmed criticism even +after the disaster of Austerlitz belonged to no other member of +his Ministry. His colleagues felt their position to be hopeless. +Though the King attempted to set one of Pitt's subordinates in +the vacant place, the prospects of Europe were too dark, the +situation of the country too serious, to allow a Ministry to be +formed upon the ordinary principles of party-organisation or in +accordance with the personal preferences of the monarch. The +nation called for the union of the ablest men of all parties in +the work of government; and, in spite of the life-long hatred of +King George to Mr. Fox, a Ministry entered upon office framed by +Fox and Grenville conjointly; Fox taking the post of Foreign +Secretary, with a leading influence in the Cabinet, and yielding +to Grenville the title of Premier. Addington received a place in +the Ministry, and carried with him the support of a section of +the Tory party, which was willing to countenance a policy of +peace.</p> +<p>[Napoleon hopes to intimidate Fox through Prussia.]</p> +<p>Fox had from the first given his whole sympathy to the French +Revolution, as the cause of freedom. He had ascribed the +calamities of Europe to the intervention of foreign Powers in +favour of the Bourbon monarchy: he had palliated the aggressions +of the French Republic as the consequences of unjust and +unprovoked attack: even the extinction of liberty in France +itself had not wholly destroyed his faith in the honour and the +generosity of the soldier of the Revolution. In the brief +interval of peace which in 1802 opened the Continent to English +travellers, Fox had been the guest of the First Consul. His +personal feeling towards the French Government had in it nothing +of that proud and suspicious hatred which made negotiation so +difficult while Pitt continued in power. It was believed at +Paris, and with good reason, that the first object of Fox on +entering upon office would be the restoration of peace. Napoleon +adopted his own plan in view of the change likely to arise in the +spirit of the British Cabinet. It was his habit, wherever he saw +signs of concession, to apply more violent means of intimidation. +In the present instance he determined to work upon the pacific +leanings of Fox by adding Prussia to the forces arrayed against +Great Britain. Prussia, isolated and discredited since the battle +of Austerlitz, might first be driven into hostilities with +England, and then be made to furnish the very satisfaction +demanded by England as the primary condition of peace.</p> +<p>[The King of Prussia wishes to disguise the cession of +Hanover.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon forces Prussia into war with England, March, +1806.]</p> +<p>At the moment when Napoleon heard of Pitt's death, he was +expecting the arrival of Count Haugwitz at Paris for the purpose +of obtaining some modification in the treaty which he had signed +on behalf of Prussia after the battle of Austerlitz. The +principal feature in that treaty had been the grant of Hanover to +Prussia by the French Emperor in return for its alliance. This +was the point which above all others excited King Frederick +William's fears and scruples. He desired to retain Hanover, but +he also desired to derive his title rather from its English owner +than from its French invader. It was the object of Haugwitz' +visit to Paris to obtain an alteration in the terms of the treaty +which should make the Prussian occupation of Hanover appear to be +merely provisional, and reserve to the King of England at least a +nominal voice in its ultimate transfer. In full confidence that +Napoleon would agree to such a change, the King of Prussia had +concealed the fact of its cession to himself by Napoleon, and +published an untruthful proclamation, stating that, in the +interests of the Hanoverian people themselves, a treaty had been +signed and ratified by the French and Prussian Governments, in +virtue of which Hanover was placed under the protection of the +King of Prussia until peace should be concluded between Great +Britain and France. The British Government received assurances of +Prussia's respect for the rights of King George III.: the bitter +truth that the treaty between France and Prussia contained no +single word reserving the rights of the Elector, and that the +very idea of qualifying the absolute cession of Hanover was an +afterthought, lay hidden in the conscience of the Prussian +Cabinet. Never had a Government more completely placed itself at +the mercy of a pitiless enemy. Count Haugwitz, on reaching Paris, +was received by Napoleon with a storm of invective against the +supposed partisans of England at the Prussian Court. Napoleon +declared that the ill faith of Prussia had made an end even of +that miserable pact which had been extorted after Austerlitz, and +insisted that King Frederick William should openly defy Great +Britain by closing the ports of Northern Germany to British +vessels, and by declaring himself endowed by Napoleon with +Hanover in virtue of Napoleon's own right of conquest. Haugwitz +signed a second and more humiliating treaty embodying these +conditions; and the Prussian Government, now brought into the +depths of contempt, but unready for immediate war, executed the +orders of its master. <a name="FNanchor125"> </a><a href="#Footnote_125"><sup>[125]</sup></a> A proclamation, stating that +Prussia had received the absolute dominion of Hanover from its +conqueror Napoleon, gave the lie to the earlier announcements of +King Frederick William. A decree was published excluding the +ships of England from the ports of Prussia and from those of +Hanover itself (March 28, 1806). It was promptly answered by the +seizure of four hundred Prussian vessels in British harbours, and +by the total extinction of Prussian maritime commerce by British +privateers. <a name="FNanchor126"> </a><a href="#Footnote_126"><sup>[126]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Napoleon negotiates with Fox. Offers Hanover to England.]</p> +<p>Scarcely was Prussia committed to this ruinous conflict with +Great Britain, when Napoleon opened negotiations for peace with +Mr. Fox's Government. The first condition required by Great +Britain was the restitution of Hanover to King George III. It was +unhesitatingly granted by Napoleon. <a name="FNanchor127"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_127"><sup>[127]</sup></a> Thus was Prussia to be +mocked of its prey, after it had been robbed of all its honour. +For the present, however, no rumour of this part of the +negotiation reached Berlin. The negotiation itself, which dragged +on through several months, turned chiefly upon the future +ownership of Sicily. Napoleon had in the first instance agreed +that Sicily should be left in the hands of Ferdinand of Naples, +who had never been expelled from it by the French. Finding, +however, that the Russian envoy d'Oubril, who had been sent to +Paris with indefinite instructions by the Emperor Alexander, was +willing to separate the cause of Russia from that of England, and +to sign a separate peace, Napoleon retracted his promise relating +to Sicily, and demanded that this island should be ceded to his +brother Joseph. D'Oubril signed Preliminaries on behalf of Russia +on the 20th of July, and left the English negotiator to obtain +what terms he could. Fox had been willing to recognise the order +of things established by Napoleon on the Italian mainland; he +would even have ceded Sicily, if Russia had urged this in a joint +negotiation; but he was too good a statesman to be cheated out of +Sicily by a mere trick. He recalled the English envoy from Paris, +and waited for the judgment of the Czar upon the conduct of his +own representative. The Czar disavowed d'Oubril's negotiations, +and repudiated the treaty which he brought back to St. +Petersburg. Napoleon had thus completely overreached himself, +and, instead of severing Great Britain and Russia by separate +agreements, had only irritated and displeased them both. The +negotiations went no further; their importance lay only in the +effect which they produced upon Prussia, when Napoleon's offer of +Hanover to Great Britain became known at Berlin.</p> +<p>[Prussia learns of Napoleon's offer of Hanover to England, +Aug. 7.]</p> +<p>[Prussia determines on war.]</p> +<p>From the time when Haugwitz' second treaty placed his master +at Napoleon's feet, Prussia had been subjected to an unbroken +series of insults and wrongs. Murat, as Duke of Berg, had seized +upon territory allotted to Prussia in the distribution of the +ecclesiastical lands; the establishment of a North German +Confederacy under Prussian leadership was suggested by Napoleon +himself, only to be summarily forbidden as soon as Prussia +attempted to carry the proposal into execution. There was +scarcely a courtier in Berlin who did not feel that the yoke of +the French had become past endurance; even Haugwitz himself now +considered war as a question of time. The patriotic party in the +capital and the younger officers of the army bitterly denounced +the dishonoured Government, and urged the King to strike for the +credit of his country. <a name="FNanchor128"> </a><a href="#Footnote_128"><sup>[128]</sup></a> In the midst of this +deepening agitation, a despatch arrived from Lucchesini, the +Prussian Ambassador at Paris (August 7), relating the offer of +Hanover made by Napoleon to the British Government. For nearly +three months Lucchesini had caught no glimpse of the negotiations +between Great Britain and France; suddenly, on entering into +conversation with the English envoy at a dinner-party, he learnt +the blow which Napoleon had intended to deal to Prussia. +Lucchesini instantly communicated with the Court of Berlin; but +his despatch was opened by Talleyrand's agents before it left +Paris, and the French Government was thus placed on its guard +against the sudden explosion of Prussian wrath. Lucchesini's +despatch had indeed all the importance that Talleyrand attributed +to it. It brought that spasmodic access of resolution to the +irresolute King which Bernadotte's violation of his territory had +brought in the year before. The whole Prussian army was ordered +to prepare for war; Brunswick was summoned to form plans of a +campaign; and appeals for help were sent to Vienna, to St. +Petersburg, and even to the hostile Court of London.</p> +<p>[Condition of Prussia.]</p> +<p>[Ministers not in the King's Cabinet.]</p> +<p>The condition of Prussia at this critical moment was one which +filled with the deepest alarm those few patriotic statesmen who +were not blinded by national vanity or by slavery to routine. The +foreign policy of Prussia in 1805, miserable as it was, had been +but a single manifestation of the helplessness, the moral +deadness that ran through every part of its official and public +life. Early in the year 1806 a paper was drawn up by Stein, <a +name="FNanchor129"> </a><a href="#Footnote_129"><sup>[129]</sup></a> exposing, in language seldom +used by a statesman, the character of the men by whom Frederick +William was surrounded, and declaring that nothing but a speedy +change of system could save the Prussian State from utter +downfall and ruin. Two measures of immediate necessity were +specified by Stein, the establishment of a responsible council of +Ministers, and the removal of Haugwitz and all his friends from +power. In the existing system of government the Ministers were +not the monarch's confidential advisers. The Ministers performed +their work in isolation from one another; the Cabinet, or +confidential council of the King, was composed of persons holding +no public function, and free from all public responsibility. No +guarantee existed that the policy of the country would be the +same for two days together. The Ministers were often unaware of +the turn that affairs had taken in the Cabinet; and the history +of Haugwitz' mission to Austerlitz showed that an individual +might commit the State to engagements the very opposite of those +which he was sent to contract. The first necessity for Prussia +was a responsible governing council: with such a council, formed +from the heads of the actual Administration, the reform of the +army and of the other branches of the public service, which was +absolutely hopeless under the present system, might be attended +with some chance of success.</p> +<p>[State of the Prussian Army.]</p> +<p>[Higher officers.]</p> +<p>The army of Prussia, at an epoch when the conscription and the +genius of Napoleon had revolutionised the art of war, was nothing +but the army of Frederick the Great grown twenty years older. <a +name="FNanchor130"> </a><a href="#Footnote_130"><sup>[130]</sup></a> It was obvious to all the +world that its commissariat and marching-regulations belonged to +a time when weeks were allowed for movements now reckoned by +days; but there were circumstances less conspicuous from the +outside which had paralysed the very spirit of soldiership, and +prepared the way for a military collapse in which defeats in the +field were the least dishonourable event. Old age had rendered +the majority of the higher officers totally unfit for military +service. In that barrack-like routine of officialism which passed +in Prussia for the wisdom of government, the upper ranks of the +army formed a species of administrative corps in time of peace, +and received for their civil employment double the pay that they +could earn in actual war. Aged men, with the rank of majors, +colonels, and generals, mouldered in the offices of country +towns, and murmured at the very mention of a war, which would +deprive them of half their salaries. Except in the case of +certain princes, who were placed in high rank while young, and of +a few vigorous patriarchs like Blücher, all the energy and +military spirit of the army was to be found in men who had not +passed the grade of captain. The higher officers were, on an +average, nearly double the age of French officers of +corresponding <a name="FNanchor131">rank.</a> <a href="#Footnote_131"><sup>[131]</sup></a> Of the twenty-four +lieutenant-generals, eighteen were over sixty; the younger ones, +with a single exception, were princes. Five out of the seven +commanders of infantry were over seventy; even the sixteen +cavalry generals included only two who had not reached +sixty-five. These were the men who, when the armies of Prussia +were beaten in the field, surrendered its fortresses with as +little concern as if they had been receiving the French on a +visit of ceremony. Their vanity was as lamentable as their +faint-heartedness. "The army of his Majesty," said General +Rüchel on parade, "possesses several generals equal to +Bonaparte." Faults of another character belonged to the +generation which had grown up since Frederick. The arrogance and +licentiousness of the younger officers was such that their ruin +on the field of Jena caused positive joy to a great part of the +middle classes of Prussia. But, however hateful their manners, +and however rash their self-confidence, the vices of these +younger men had no direct connection with the disasters of 1806. +The gallants who sharpened their swords on the window-sill of the +French Ambassador received a bitter lesson from the plebeian +troopers of Murat; but they showed courage in disaster, and +subsequently gave to their country many officers of ability and +honour.</p> +<p>[Common soldiers.]</p> +<p>What was bad in the higher grades of the army was not +retrieved by any excellence on the part of the private soldier. +The Prussian army was recruited in part from foreigners, but +chiefly from Prussian serfs, who were compelled to serve. Men +remained with their regiments till old age; the rough character +of the soldiers and the frequency of crimes and desertions +occasioned the use of brutal punishments, which made the military +service an object of horror to the better part of the middle and +lower classes. The soldiers themselves, who could be flogged and +drilled into high military perfection by a great general like +Frederick, felt a surly indifference to their present +taskmasters, and were ready to desert in masses to their homes as +soon as a defeat broke up the regimental muster and roll-call. A +proposal made in the previous year to introduce that system of +general service which has since made Prussia so great a military +power was rejected by a committee of generals, on the ground that +it "would convert the most formidable army of Europe into a +militia." But whether Prussia entered the war with a militia or a +regular army, under the men who held command in 1806 it could +have met with but one fate. Neither soldiery nor fortresses could +have saved a kingdom whose generals knew only how to +capitulate.</p> +<p>[Southern Germany. Execution of Palm, Aug. 26.]</p> +<p>All southern Germany was still in Napoleon's hands. As the +probability of a war with Prussia became greater and greater, +Napoleon had tightened his grasp upon the Confederate States. +Publications originating among the patriotic circles of Austria +were beginning to appeal to the German people to unite against a +foreign oppressor. An anonymous pamphlet, entitled "Germany in +its Deep Humiliation," was sold by various booksellers in +Bavaria, among others by Palm, a citizen of Nuremberg. There is +no evidence that Palm was even acquainted with the contents of +the pamphlet; but as in the case of the Duke of Enghien, two +years before, Napoleon had required a victim to terrify the House +of Bourbon, so now he required a victim to terrify those who +among the German people might be inclined to listen to the call +of patriotism. Palm was not too obscure for the new Charlemagne. +The innocent and unoffending man, innocent even of the honourable +crime of attempting to save his country, was dragged before a +tribunal of French soldiers, and executed within twenty-four +hours, in pursuance of the imperative orders of Napoleon (August +26). The murder was an unnecessary one, for the Bavarians and the +Würtembergers were in fact content with the yoke they bore; +its only effect was to arouse among a patient and home-loving +class the doubt whether the German citizen and his family might +not after all have some interest in the preservation of national +independence.</p> +<p>[Austria neutral. England and Russia can give Prussia no +prompt help.]</p> +<p>When, several years later, the oppressions of Napoleon had +given to a great part of the German race at least the transient +nobleness of a real patriotism, the story of Palm's death was one +of those that kindled the bitterest sense of wrong: at the time, +it exercised no influence upon the course of political events. +Southern Germany remained passive, and supplied Napoleon with a +reserve of soldiers: Prussia had to look elsewhere for allies. +Its prospects of receiving support were good, if the war should +prove a protracted one, but not otherwise. Austria, crippled by +the disasters of 1805, could only hope to renew the struggle if +victory should declare against Napoleon. In other quarters help +might be promised, but it could not be given at the time and at +the place where it was needed. The Czar proffered the whole +forces of his Empire; King George III. forgave the despoilers of +his patrimony when he found that they really intended to fight +the French; but the troops of Alexander lay far in the East, and +the action of England in any Continental war was certain to be +dilatory and ineffective. Prussia was exposed to the first shock +of the war alone. In the existing situation of the French armies, +a blow unusually swift and crushing might well be expected by all +who understood Napoleon's warfare.</p> +<p>[Situation of the French and Prussian armies, Sept., +1806.]</p> +<p>[French on the Main.]</p> +<p>[Prussians on the Saale.]</p> +<p>A hundred and seventy thousand French soldiers, with +contingents from the Rhenish Confederate States, lay between the +Main and the Inn. The last weeks of peace, in which the Prussian +Government imagined themselves to be deceiving the enemy while +they pushed forward their own preparations, were employed by +Napoleon in quietly concentrating this vast force upon the Main +(September, 1806). Napoleon himself appeared to be absorbed in +friendly negotiations with General Knobelsdorff, the new Prussian +Ambassador at Paris. In order to lull Napoleon's suspicions, +Haugwitz had recalled Lucchesini from Paris, and intentionally +deceived his successor as to the real designs of the Prussian +Cabinet. Knobelsdorff confidentially informed the Emperor that +Prussia was not serious in its preparations for war. Napoleon, +caring very little whether Prussia intended to fight or not, +continued at Paris in the appearance of the greatest calm, while +his lieutenants in Southern Germany executed those unobserved +movements which were to collect the entire army upon the Upper +Main. In the meantime the advisers of King Frederick William +supposed themselves to have made everything ready for a vigorous +offensive. Divisions of the Prussian army, numbering nearly +130,000 men, were concentrated in the neighbourhood of Jena, on +the Saale. The bolder spirits in the military council pressed for +an immediate advance through the Thuringian Forest, and for an +attack upon what were supposed to be the scattered detachments of +the French in Bavaria. Military pride and all the traditions of +the Great Frederick impelled Prussia to take the offensive rather +than to wait for the enemy upon the strong line of the Elbe. +Political motives pointed in the same direction, for the support +of Saxony was doubtful if once the French were permitted to +approach Dresden.</p> +<p>[Confusion of the Prussians.]</p> +<p>On the 23rd of September King Frederick William arrived at the +head-quarters of the army, which were now at Naumburg, on the +Saale. But his presence brought no controlling mind to the +direction of affairs. Councils of war held on the two succeeding +days only revealed the discord and the irresolution of the +military leaders of Prussia. Brunswick, the commander-in-chief, +sketched the boldest plans, and shrank from the responsibility of +executing them. Hohenlohe, who commanded the left wing, lost no +opportunity of opposing his superior; the suggestions of officers +of real ability, like Scharnhorst, chief of the staff, fell +unnoticed among the wrangling of pedants and partisans. +Brunswick, himself a man of great intelligence though of little +resolution, saw the true quality of the men who surrounded him. +"Rüchel," he cried, "is a tin trumpet, Möllendorf a +dotard, Kalkreuth a cunning trickster. The generals of division +are a set of stupid journeymen. Are these the people with whom +one can make war on Napoleon? No. The best service that I could +render to the King would be to persuade him to keep the peace." +<a name="FNanchor132"> </a><a href="#Footnote_132"><sup>[132]</sup></a> It was ultimately decided, +after two days of argument, that the army should advance through +the Thuringian Forest, while feints on the right and left +deceived the French as to its real direction. The diplomatists, +however, who were mad enough to think that an ultimatum which +they had just despatched to Paris would bring Napoleon on to his +knees, insisted that the opening of hostilities should be +deferred till the 8th of October, when the term of grace which +they had given to Napoleon would expire.</p> +<p>[Prussians at Erfurt, Oct. 4.]</p> +<p>A few days after this decision had been formed, intelligence +arrived at head-quarters that Napoleon himself was upon the +Rhine. Before the ultimatum reached the hands of General +Knobelsdorff in Paris, Napoleon had quitted the capital, and the +astonished Ambassador could only send the ultimatum in pursuit of +him after he had gone to place himself at the head of 200,000 +men. The news that Napoleon was actually in Mainz confounded the +diplomatists in the Prussian camp, and produced an order for an +immediate advance. This was the wisest as well as the boldest +determination that had yet been formed; and an instant assault +upon the French divisions on the Main might perhaps even now have +given the Prussian army the superiority in the first encounter. +But some fatal excuse was always at hand to justify Brunswick in +receding from his resolutions. A positive assurance was brought +into camp by Lucchesini that Napoleon had laid his plans for +remaining on the defensive on the south of the Thuringian Forest. +If this were true, there might yet be time to improve the plan of +the campaign; and on the 4th of October, when every hour was of +priceless value, the forward march was arrested, and a new series +of deliberations began at the head-quarters at Erfurt. In the +council held on the 4th of October, a total change in the plan of +operations was urged by Hohenlohe's staff. They contended, and +rightly, that it was the design of Napoleon to pass the Prussian +army on the east by the valley of the Saale, and to cut it off +from the roads to the Elbe. The delay in Brunswick's movements +had in fact brought the French within striking distance of the +Prussian communications. Hohenlohe urged the King to draw back +the army from Erfurt to the Saale, or even to the east of it, in +order to cover the roads to Leipzig and the Elbe. His theory of +Napoleon's movements, which was the correct one, was adopted by +the council, and the advance into the Thuringian Forest was +abandoned; but instead of immediately marching eastwards with the +whole army, the generals wasted two more days in hesitations and +half-measures. At length it was agreed that Hohenlohe should take +post at Jena, and that the mass of the army should fall back to +Weimar, with the object of striking a blow at some undetermined +point on the line of Napoleon's advance.</p> +<p>[Encounter at Saalfeld, Oct. 10.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon defeats Hohenlohe at Jena, Oct. 14.]</p> +<p>[Davoust defeats Brunswick at Auerstädt, Oct. 14.]</p> +<p>[Ruin of the Prussian Army.]</p> +<p>Napoleon, who had just received the Prussian ultimatum with +unbounded ridicule and contempt, was now moving along the roads +that lead from Bamberg and Baireuth to the Upper Saale. On the +10th of October, as the division of Lannes was approaching +Saalfeld, it was attacked by Prince Louis Ferdinand at the head +of Hohenlohe's advanced guard. The attack was made against +Hohenlohe's orders. It resulted in the total rout of the Prussian +force. Though the numbers engaged were small, the loss of +magazines and artillery, and the death of Prince Louis Ferdinand, +the hero of the war-party, gave to this first repulse the moral +effect of a great military disaster. Hohenlohe's troops at Jena +were seized with panic; numbers of men threw away their arms and +dispersed; the drivers of artillery-waggons and provision-carts +cut the traces and rode off with their horses. Brunswick, +however, and the main body of the army, were now at Weimar, close +at hand; and if Brunswick had decided to fight a great battle at +Jena, the Prussians might have brought nearly 90,000 men into +action. But the plans of the irresolute commander were again +changed. It was resolved to fall back upon Magdeburg and the +Elbe. Brunswick himself moved northwards to Naumburg; Hohenlohe +was ordered to hold the French in check at Jena until this +movement was completed. Napoleon reached Jena. He had no +intelligence of Brunswick's retreat, and imagined the mass of the +Prussian army to be gathered round Hohenlohe, on the plateau +before him. He sent Davoust, with a corps 27,000 strong, to +outflank the enemy by a march in the direction of Naumburg, and +himself prepared to make the attack in front with 90,000 men, a +force more than double Hohenlohe's real army. The attack was made +on the 14th of October. Hohenlohe's army was dashed to pieces by +Napoleon, and fled in wild disorder. Davoust's weak corps, which +had not expected to meet with any important forces until it fell +upon Hohenlohe's flank, found itself in the presence of +Brunswick's main army, when it arrived at Auerstädt, a few +miles to the north. Fortune had given to the Prussian commander +an extraordinary chance of retrieving what strategy had lost. A +battle conducted with common military skill would not only have +destroyed Davoust, but have secured, at least for the larger +portion of the Prussian forces, a safe retreat to Leipzig or the +Elbe. The French general, availing himself of steep and broken +ground, defeated numbers nearly double his own through the +confusion of his adversary, who sent up detachment after +detachment instead of throwing himself upon Davoust with his +entire strength. The fighting was as furious on the Prussian side +as its conduct was unskilful. King Frederick William, who led the +earlier cavalry charges, had two horses killed under him. +Brunswick was mortally wounded. Many of the other generals were +killed or disabled. There remained, however, a sufficient number +of unbroken regiments to preserve some order in the retreat until +the army came into contact with the remnant of Hohenlohe's +forces, flying for their lives before the cavalry of Murat. Then +all hope was lost. The fugitive mass struck panic and confusion +into the retreating columns; and with the exception of a few +regiments which gathered round well-known leaders, the soldiers +threw away their arms and spread over the country in headlong +rout. There was no line of retreat, and no rallying-point. The +disaster of a single day made an end of the Prussian army as a +force capable of meeting the enemy in the field. A great part of +the troops was captured by the pursuing enemy during the next few +days. The regiments which preserved their coherence were too weak +to make any attempt to check Napoleon's advance, and could only +hope to save themselves by escaping to the fortresses on the +Oder.</p> +<p>[Haugwitz and Lord Morpeth.]</p> +<p>[Retreat and surrender of Hohenlohe.]</p> +<p>Two days before the battle of Jena, an English envoy, Lord +Morpeth, had arrived at the head-quarters of the King of Prussia, +claiming the restoration of Hanover, and bearing an offer of the +friendship and support of Great Britain. At the moment when the +Prussian monarchy was on the point of being hurled to the ground, +its Government might have been thought likely to welcome any +security that it should not be abandoned in its utmost need. +Haugwitz, however, was at head-quarters, dictating lying +bulletins, and perplexing the generals with ridiculous arguments +of policy until the French actually opened fire. When the English +envoy made known his arrival, he found that no one would transact +business with him. Haugwitz had determined to evade all +negotiations until the battle had been fought. He was unwilling +to part with Hanover, and he hoped that a victory over Napoleon +would enable him to meet Lord Morpeth with a bolder countenance +on the following day. When that day arrived, Ministers and +diplomatists were flying headlong over the country. The King made +his escape to Weimar, and wrote to Napoleon, begging for an +armistice; but the armistice was refused, and the pursuit of the +broken army was followed up without a moment's pause. The capital +offered no safe halting-place; and Frederick William only rested +when he had arrived at Graudenz, upon the Vistula. Hohenlohe's +poor remnant of an army passed the Elbe at Magdeburg, and took +the road for Stettin, at the mouth of the Oder, leaving Berlin to +its fate. The retreat was badly conducted; alternate halts and +strained marches discouraged the best of the soldiers. As the men +passed their native villages they abandoned the famishing and +broken-spirited columns; and at the end of a fortnight's +disasters Prince Hohenlohe surrendered to his pursuers at +Prenzlau with his main body, now numbering only 10,000 men (Oct. +28).</p> +<p>[Blücher at Lübeck.]</p> +<p>Blücher, who had shown the utmost energy and fortitude +after the catastrophe of Jena, was moving in the rear of +Hohenlohe with a considerable force which his courage had +gathered around him. On learning of Hohenlohe's capitulation, he +instantly reversed his line of march, and made for the Hanoverian +fortress of Hameln, in order to continue the war in the rear of +the French. Overwhelming forces, however, cut off his retreat to +the Elbe; he was hemmed in on the east and on the west; and +nothing remained for him but to throw himself into the neutral +town of Lübeck, and fight until food and ammunition failed +him. The French were at his heels. The magistrates of Lübeck +prayed that their city might not be made into a battle-field, but +in vain; Blücher refused to move into the open country. The +town was stormed by the French, and put to the sack. Blücher +was driven out, desperately fighting, and pent in between the +Danish frontier and the sea. Here, surrounded by overpowering +numbers, without food, without ammunition, he capitulated on the +7th of November, after his courage and resolution had done +everything that could ennoble both general and soldiers in the +midst of overwhelming calamity.</p> +<p>[Napoleon at Berlin, Oct. 27.]</p> +<p>[Capitulation of Prussian fortresses.]</p> +<p>The honour of entering the Prussian capital was given by +Napoleon to Davoust, whose victory at Auerstädt had in fact +far surpassed his own. Davoust entered Berlin without resistance +on the 25th of October; Napoleon himself went to Potsdam, and +carried off the sword and the scarf that lay upon the grave of +Frederick the Great. Two days after Davoust, the Emperor made his +own triumphal entry into the capital. He assumed the part of the +protector of the people against the aristocracy, ordering the +formation of a municipal body and of a civic guard for the city +of Berlin. The military aristocracy he treated with the bitterest +hatred and contempt. "I will make that noblesse," he cried, "so +poor that they shall beg their bread." The disaster of Jena had +indeed fearfully punished the insolence with which the officers +of the army had treated the rest of the nation. The Guards were +marched past the windows of the citizens of Berlin, a miserable +troop of captives; soldiers of rank who remained in the city had +to attend upon the French Emperor to receive his orders. But +calamity was only beginning. The overthrow of Jena had been +caused by faults of generalship, and cast no stain upon the +courage of the officers; the surrender of the Prussian +fortresses, which began on the day when the French entered +Berlin, attached the utmost personal disgrace to their +commanders. Even after the destruction of the army in the field, +Prussia's situation would not have been hopeless if the +commanders of fortresses had acted on the ordinary rules of +military duty. Magdeburg and the strongholds upon the Oder were +sufficiently armed and provisioned to detain the entire French +army, and to give time to the King to collect upon the Vistula a +force as numerous as that which he had lost. But whatever is +weakest in human nature-old age, fear, and credulity-seemed to +have been placed at the head of Prussia's defences. The very +object for which fortresses exist was forgotten; and the fact +that one army had been beaten in the field was made a reason for +permitting the enemy to forestall the organisation of another. +Spandau surrendered on the 25th of October, Stettin on the 29th. +These were places of no great strength; but the next fortress to +capitulate, Küstrin on the Oder, was in full order for a +long siege. It was surrendered by the older officers, amidst the +curses of the subalterns and the common soldiers: the +artillerymen had to be dragged from their guns by force. +Magdeburg, with a garrison of 24,000 men and enormous supplies, +fell before a French force not numerous enough to beleaguer it +(Nov. 8).</p> +<p>[Napoleon's demands.]</p> +<p>Neither Napoleon himself nor any one else in Europe could have +foreseen such conduct on the part of the Prussian commanders. The +unexpected series of capitulations made him demand totally +different terms of peace from those which he had offered after +the battle of Jena. A week after the victory, Napoleon had +demanded, as the price of peace, the cession of Prussia's +territory west of the Elbe, with the exception of the town of +Magdeburg, and the withdrawal of Prussia from the affairs of +Germany. These terms were communicated to King Frederick William; +he accepted them, and sent Lucchesini to Berlin to negotiate for +peace upon this basis. Lucchesini had scarcely reached the +capital when the tidings arrived of Hohenlohe's capitulation, +followed by the surrender of Stettin and Küstrin. The +Prussian envoy now sought in vain to procure Napoleon's +ratification of the terms which he had himself proposed. No word +of peace could be obtained: an armistice was all that the Emperor +would grant, and the terms on which the armistice was offered +rose with each new disaster to the Prussian arms. On the fall of +Magdeburg becoming known, Napoleon demanded that the troops of +Prussia should retire behind the Vistula, and surrender every +fortress that they still retained, with the single exception of +Königsberg. Much as Prussia had lost, it would have cost +Napoleon a second campaign to make himself master of what he now +asked; but to such a depth had the Prussian Government sunk, that +Lucchesini actually signed a convention at Charlottenburg +(November 16), surrendering to Napoleon, in return for an +armistice, the entire list of uncaptured fortresses, including +Dantzig and Thorn on the Lower Vistula, Breslau, with the rest of +the untouched defences of Silesia, Warsaw and Praga in Prussian +Poland, and Colberg upon the Pomeranian <a name="FNanchor133">coast.</a><a href="#Footnote_133"><sup>[133]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Frederick William continues the war.]</p> +<p>The treaty, however, required the King's ratification. +Frederick William, timorous as he was, hesitated to confirm an +agreement which ousted him from his dominions as completely as if +the last soldier of Prussia had gone into captivity. The +patriotic party, headed by Stein, pleaded for the honour of the +country against the miserable Cabinet which now sought to +complete its work of ruin. Assurances of support arrived from St. +Petersburg. The King determined to reject the treaty, and to +continue the war to the last extremity. Haugwitz hereupon +tendered his resignation, and terminated a political career +disastrous beyond any recorded in modern times. For a moment, it +seemed as if the real interests of the country were at length to +be recognised in the appointment of Stein to one of the three +principal offices of State. But the King still remained blind to +the necessity of unity in the government, and angrily dismissed +Stein when he refused to hold the Ministry if representatives of +the old Cabinet and of the peace-party were to have places beside +him. The King's act was ill calculated to serve the interests of +Prussia, either at home or abroad. Stein was the one Minister on +whom the patriotic party of Prussia and the Governments of Europe +could rely with perfect confidence. <a name="FNanchor134"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_134"><sup>[134]</sup></a> His dismissal at this +crisis proved the incurable poverty of Frederick William's mental +nature; it also proved that, so long as any hope remained of +saving the Prussian State by the help of the Czar of Russia, the +patriotic party had little chance of creating a responsible +government at home.</p> +<p>[Napoleon at Berlin.]</p> +<p>[The Berlin decree against English commerce, Nov. 21, +1806.]</p> +<p>Throughout the month of November French armies overran +Northern Germany: Napoleon himself remained at Berlin, and laid +the foundations of a political system corresponding to that which +he had imposed upon Southern Germany after the victory of +Austerlitz. The Houses of Brunswick and Hesse-Cassel were +deposed, in order to create a new client-kingdom of Westphalia; +Saxony, with Weimar and four other duchies, entered the +Confederation of the Rhine. A measure more widely affecting the +Continent of Europe dated from the last days of the Emperor's +residence at the Prussian capital. On the 21st of November, 1806, +a decree was published at Berlin prohibiting the inhabitants of +the entire European territory allied with France from carrying on +any commerce with Great Britain, or admitting any merchandise +that had been produced in Great Britain or in its colonies. <a +name="FNanchor135"> </a><a href="#Footnote_135"><sup>[135]</sup></a> The line of coast thus +closed to the shipping and the produce of the British Empire +included everything from the Vistula to the southern point of +Dalmatia, with the exception of Denmark and Portugal and the +Austrian port of Trieste. All property belonging to English +subjects, all merchandise of British origin, whoever might be the +owner, was ordered to be confiscated: no vessel that had even +touched at a British port was permitted to enter a Continental +harbour. It was the fixed purpose of Napoleon to exhaust Great +Britain, since he could not destroy its navies, or, according to +his own expression, to conquer England upon the Continent. All +that was most harsh and unjust in the operation of the Berlin +Decree fell, however, more upon Napoleon's own subjects than upon +Great Britain. The exclusion of British ships from the harbours +of the allies of France was no more than the exercise of a common +right in war; even the seizure of the property of Englishmen, +though a violation of international law, bore at least an analogy +to the seizure of French property at sea; but the confiscation of +the merchandise of German and Dutch traders, after it had lain +for weeks in their own warehouses, solely because it had been +produced in the British Empire, was an act of flagrant and odious +oppression. The first result of the Berlin Decree was to fill the +trading towns of North Germany with French revenue-officers and +inquisitors. Peaceable tradesmen began to understand the import +of the battle of Jena when French gendarmes threw their stock +into the common furnace, or dragged them to prison for possessing +a hogshead of Jamaica sugar or a bale of Leeds cloth. The +merchants who possessed a large quantity of English or colonial +wares were the heaviest sufferers by Napoleon's commercial +policy: the public found the markets supplied by American and +Danish traders, until, at a later period, the British Government +adopted reprisals, and prevented the ships of neutrals from +entering any port from which English vessels were excluded. Then +every cottage felt the stress of the war. But if the full +consequences of the Berlin Decree were delayed until the +retaliation of Great Britain reached the dimensions of Napoleon's +own tyranny, the Decree itself marked on the part of Napoleon the +assumption of a power in conflict with the needs and habits of +European life. Like most of the schemes of Napoleon subsequent to +the victories of 1806, it transgressed the limits of practical +statesmanship, and displayed an ambition no longer raised above +mere tyranny by its harmony with forms of progress and with the +better tendencies of the age.</p> +<p>[Napoleon and the Poles.]</p> +<p>Immediately after signing the Berlin Decree, Napoleon quitted +the Prussian capital (Nov. 25). The first act of the war had now +closed. The Prussian State was overthrown; its territory as far +as the Vistula lay at the mercy of the invader; its King was a +fugitive at Königsberg, at the eastern extremity of his +dominions. The second act of the war began with the rejection of +the armistice which had been signed by Lucchesini, and with the +entry of Russia into the field against Napoleon. The scene of +hostilities was henceforward in Prussian Poland and in the Baltic +Province lying between the lower Vistula and the Russian +frontier. Napoleon entered Poland, as he had entered Italy ten +years before, with the pretence of restoring liberty to an +enslaved people. Kosciusko's name was fraudulently attached to a +proclamation summoning the Polish nation to arms; and although +Kosciusko himself declined to place any trust in the betrayer of +Venice, thousands of his countrymen flocked to Napoleon's +standard, or anticipated his arrival by capturing and expelling +the Prussian detachments scattered through their country. +Promises of the restoration of Polish independence were given by +Napoleon in abundance; but the cause of Poland was the last to +attract the sympathy of a man who considered the sacrifice of the +weak to the strong to be the first principle of all good policy. +To have attempted the restoration of Polish independence would +have been to make permanent enemies of Russia and Prussia for the +sake of an ally weaker than either of them. The project was not +at this time seriously entertained by Napoleon. He had no motive +to face a work of such enormous difficulty as the creation of a +solid political order among the most unpractical race in Europe. +He was glad to enrol the Polish nobles among his soldiers; he +knew the value of their enthusiasm, and took pains to excite it; +but, when the battle was over, it was with Russia, not Poland, +that France had to settle; and no better fate remained, even for +the Prussian provinces of Poland, than in part to be formed into +a client-state, in part to be surrendered as a means of +accommodation with the Czar.</p> +<p>[Campaign in Poland against Russia, Dec., 1806.]</p> +<p>The armies of Russia were at some distance from the Vistula +when, in November, 1806, Napoleon entered Polish territory. Their +movements were slow, their numbers insufficient. At the moment +when all the forces of the Empire were required for the struggle +against Napoleon, troops were being sent into Moldavia against +the Sultan. Nor were the Russian commanders anxious to save what +still remained of the Prussian kingdom. The disasters of Prussia, +like those of Austria at the beginning of the campaign of 1805, +excited less sympathy than contempt; and the inclination of the +Czar's generals was rather to carry on the war upon the frontier +of their own country than to commit themselves to a distant +campaign with a despised ally. Lestocq, who commanded the remnant +of the Prussian army upon the Vistula, was therefore directed to +abandon his position at Thorn and to move eastwards. The French +crossed the Vistula higher up the river; and by the middle of +December the armies of France and Russia lay opposite to one +another in the neighbourhood of Pultusk, upon the Ukra and the +Narew. The first encounter, though not of a decisive character, +resulted in the retreat of the Russians. Heavy rains and +fathomless mud checked the pursuit. War seemed almost impossible +in such a country and such a climate; and Napoleon ordered his +troops to take up their winter quarters along the Vistula, +believing that nothing more could be attempted on either side +before the spring.</p> +<p>[Eylau, Feb. 8, 1807.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon and Bennigsen in East Prussia.]</p> +<p>But the command of the Russian forces was now transferred from +the aged and half-mad <a name="FNanchor136">Kamenski,</a><a href="#Footnote_136"><sup>[136]</sup></a> who had opened the campaign, +to a general better qualified to cope with Napoleon. Bennigsen, +the new commander-in-chief, was an active and daring soldier. +Though a German by birth, his soldiership was of that dogged and +resolute order which suits the character of Russian troops; and, +in the mid-winter of 1806, Napoleon found beyond the Vistula such +an enemy as he had never encountered in Western Europe. Bennigsen +conceived the design of surprising the extreme left of the French +line, where Ney's division lay stretched towards the Baltic, far +to the north-east of Napoleon's main body. Forest and marsh +concealed the movement of the Russian troops, and both Ney and +Bernadotte narrowly escaped destruction. Napoleon now broke up +his winter quarters, and marched in great force against Bennigsen +in the district between Königsberg and the mouth of the +Vistula. Bennigsen manoeuvred and retired until his troops +clamoured for battle. He then took up a position at Eylau, and +waited for the attack of the French. The battle of Eylau, fought +in the midst of snowstorms on the 8th of February, 1807, was +unlike anything that Napoleon had ever yet seen. His columns +threw themselves in vain upon the Russian infantry. Augereau's +corps was totally destroyed in the beginning of the battle. The +Russians pressed upon the ground where Napoleon himself stood; +and, although the superiority of the Emperor's tactics at length +turned the scale, and the French began a forward movement, their +advance was stopped by the arrival of Lestocq and a body of +13,000 Prussians. At the close of the engagement 30,000 men lay +wounded or dead in the snow; the positions of the armies remained +what they had been in the morning. Bennigsen's lieutenants urged +him to renew the combat on the next day; but the confusion of the +Russian army was such that the French, in spite of their losses +and discouragement, would probably have gained the victory in a +second battle; <a name="FNanchor137"> </a><a href="#Footnote_137"><sup>[137]</sup></a> and the Russian commander +determined to fall back towards Königsberg, content with +having disabled the enemy and given Napoleon such a check as he +had never received before. Napoleon, who had announced his +intention of entering Königsberg in triumph, fell back upon +the river Passarge, and awaited the arrival of +reinforcements.</p> +<p>[Sieges of Dantzig and Colberg, March, 1807.]</p> +<p>[Inaction of England.]</p> +<p>[Fall of Grenville's Ministry, March 24, 1807.]</p> +<p>[Treaty of Bartenstein between Russia, Prussia, England, and +Sweden. April, 1807.]</p> +<p>The warfare of the next few months was confined to the +reduction of the Prussian fortresses which had not yet fallen +into the hands of the French. Dantzig surrendered after a long +and difficult siege; the little town of Colberg upon the +Pomeranian coast prolonged a defence as honourable to its +inhabitants as to the military leaders. Two soldiers of +singularly different character, each destined to play a +conspicuous part in coming years, first distinguished themselves +in the defence of Colberg. Gneisenau, a scientific soldier of the +highest order, the future guide of Blücher's victorious +campaigns, commanded the garrison; Schill, a cavalry officer of +adventurous daring, gathered round him a troop of hardy riders, +and harassed the French with an audacity as perplexing to his +military superiors as to the enemy. The citizens, led by their +burgomaster, threw themselves into the work of defence with a +vigour in striking contrast to the general apathy of the Prussian +people; and up to the end of the war Colberg remained uncaptured. +Obscure as Colberg was, its defence might have given a new turn +to the war if the Government of Great Britain had listened to the +entreaties of the Emperor Alexander, and despatched a force to +the Baltic to threaten the communications of Napoleon. The task +was not a difficult one for a Power which could find troops, as +England now did, to send to Constantinople, to Alexandria, and to +Buenos Ayres; but military judgment was more than ever wanting to +the British Cabinet. Fox had died at the beginning of the war; +his successors in Grenville's Ministry, though they possessed a +sound theory of foreign policy, <a name="FNanchor138"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_138"><sup>[138]</sup></a> were not fortunate in +its application, nor were they prompt enough in giving financial +help to their allies. Suddenly, however, King George quarrelled +with his Ministers upon the ancient question of Catholic +Disabilities, and drove them from office (March 24). The country +sided with the King. A Ministry came into power, composed of the +old supporters of Pitt, men, with the exception of Canning and +Castlereagh, of narrow views and poor capacity, headed by the +Duke of Portland, who, in 1793, had given his name to the section +of the Whig party which joined Pitt. The foreign policy of the +new Cabinet, which concealed its total lack of all other +statesmanship, returned to the lines laid down by Pitt in 1805. +Negotiations were opened with Russia for the despatch of an +English army to the Baltic; arms and money were promised to the +Prussian King. For a moment it seemed as if the Powers of Europe +had never been united in so cordial a league. The Czar embraced +the King of Prussia in the midst of his soldiers, and declared +with tears that the two should stand or fall together. The Treaty +of Bartenstein, signed in April 1807 pledged the Courts of St. +Petersburg, Stockholm, and Berlin to a joint prosecution of the +war, and the common conclusion of peace. Great Britain joined the +pact, and prepared to fulfil its part in the conflict upon the +Baltic. But the task was a difficult one, for Grenville's +Ministry had dispersed the fleet of transports; and, although +Canning determined upon the Baltic expedition in April, two +months passed before the fleet was ready to sail.</p> +<p>[Summer campaign in East Prussia, 1807.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Friedland.]</p> +<p>In the meantime army upon army was moving to the support of +Napoleon, from France, from Spain, from Holland, and from +Southern Germany. The fortresses of the Elbe and the Oder, which +ought to have been his barrier, had become his base of +operations; and so enormous were the forces at his command, that, +after manning every stronghold in Central Europe, he was able at +the beginning of June to bring 140,000 men into the field beyond +the Vistula. The Russians had also received reinforcements, but +Bennigsen's army was still weaker than that of the enemy. It was +Bennigsen, nevertheless, who began the attack; and now, as in the +winter campaign, he attempted to surprise and crush the northern +corps of Ney. The same general movement of the French army +followed as in January. The Russian commander, outnumbered by the +French, retired to his fortified camp at Heilsberg. After +sustaining a bloody repulse in an attack upon this position, +Napoleon drew Bennigsen from his lair by marching straight upon +Königsberg. Bennigsen supposed himself to be in time to deal +with an isolated corps; he found himself face to face with the +whole forces of the enemy at Friedland, accepted battle, and was +unable to save his army from a severe and decisive defeat (June +14). The victory of Friedland brought the French into +Königsberg. Bennigsen retired behind the Niemen; and on the +19th of June an armistice closed the operations of the hostile +forces upon the frontiers of Russia. <a name="FNanchor139"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_139"><sup>[139]</sup></a></p> +<p>The situation of Bennigsen's army was by no means desperate. +His men had not been surrounded; they had lost scarcely any +prisoners; they felt no fear of the French. But the general +exaggerated the seriousness of his defeat. Like most of his +officers, he was weary of the war, and felt no sympathy with the +motives which led the Emperor to fight for the common cause of +Europe. The politicians who surrounded Alexander urged him to +withdraw Russia from a conflict in which she had nothing to gain. +The Emperor wavered. The tardiness of Great Britain, the +continued neutrality of Austria, cast a doubt upon the wisdom of +his own disinterestedness; and he determined to meet Napoleon, +and ascertain the terms on which Russia might be reconciled to +the master of half the Continent.</p> +<p>[Interview of Napoleon and Alexander at Tilsit, June 25.]</p> +<p>On the 25th of June the two sovereigns met one another on the +raft of Tilsit, in the midstream of the river Niemen. The +conversation, which is alleged to have been opened by Alexander +with an expression of hatred towards England, was heard by no one +but the speakers. But whatever the eagerness or the reluctance of +the Russian monarch to sever himself from Great Britain, the +purpose of Napoleon was effected. Alexander surrendered himself +to the addresses of a conqueror who seemed to ask for nothing and +to offer everything. The negotiations were prolonged; the +relations of the two monarchs became more and more intimate; and +the issue of the struggle for life or death was that Russia +accepted the whole scheme of Napoleonic conquest, and took its +place by the side of the despoiler in return for its share of the +prey. It was in vain that the King of Prussia had rejected +Napoleon's offers after the battle of Eylau, in fidelity to his +engagements towards his ally. Promises, treaties, and pity were +alike cast to the winds. The unfortunate Frederick William +received no more embraces; the friend with whom he was to stand +or fall bargained away the larger half of his dominions to +Napoleon, and even rectified the Russian frontier at his expense. +Prussia's continued existence in any shape whatever was described +as a concession made by Napoleon to Alexander. By the public +articles of the Treaties of Tilsit, signed by France, Russia, and +Prussia in the first week of July, the King of Prussia ceded to +Napoleon the whole of his dominions west of the Elbe, and the +entire territory which Prussia had gained in the three partitions +of Poland, with the exception of a district upon the Lower +Vistula connecting Pomerania with Eastern Prussia. Out of the +ceded territory on the west of the Elbe a Kingdom of Westphalia +was created for Napoleon's brother Jerome; the Polish provinces +of Prussia, with the exception of a strip made over to Alexander, +were formed into the Grand-Duchy of Warsaw, and presented to +Napoleon's vassal, the King of Saxony. Russia recognised the +Napoleonic client-states in Italy, Holland, and Germany. The Czar +undertook to offer his mediation in the conflict between France +and Great Britain; a secret article provided that, in the event +of Great Britain and France being at war on the ensuing 1st of +December, Prussia should declare war against Great Britain.</p> +<p>[Secret Treaty of Alliance.]</p> +<p>[Conspiracy of the two Emperors.]</p> +<p>Such were the stipulations contained in the formal Treaties of +Peace between the three Powers. These, however, contained but a +small part of the terms agreed upon between the masters of the +east and of the west. A secret Treaty of Alliance, distinct from +the Treaty of Peace, was also signed by Napoleon and Alexander. +In the conversations which won over the Czar to the cause of +France, Napoleon had offered to Alexander the spoils of Sweden +and the Ottoman Empire. Finland and the Danubian provinces were +not too high a price for the support of a Power whose arms could +paralyse Austria and Prussia. In return for the promise of this +extension of his Empire, Alexander undertook, in the event of +Great Britain refusing terms of peace dictated by himself, to +unite his arms to those of Napoleon, and to force the neutral +maritime Powers, Denmark and Portugal, to take part in the +struggle against England. The annexation of Moldavia and +Wallachia to the Russian Empire was provided for under the form +of a French mediation. In the event of the Porte declining this +mediation, Napoleon undertook to assist Russia to liberate all +the European territory subject to the yoke of the Sultan, with +the exception of Roumelia and Constantinople. A partition of the +liberated territory between France and Russia, as well as the +establishment of the Napoleonic house in Spain, probably formed +the subject rather of a verbal understanding than of any written +agreement. <a name="FNanchor140"> </a><a href="#Footnote_140"><sup>[140]</sup></a></p> +<p>Such was this vast and threatening scheme, conceived by the +man whose whole career had been one consistent struggle for +personal domination, accepted by the man who among the rulers of +the Continent had hitherto shown the greatest power of acting for +a European end, and of interesting himself in a cause not +directly his own. In the imagination of Napoleon, the national +forces of the western continent had now ceased to exist. Austria +excepted, there was no State upon the mainland whose army and +navy were not prospectively in the hands of himself and his new +ally. The commerce of Great Britain, already excluded from the +greater part of Europe, was now to be shut out from all the rest; +the armies which had hitherto fought under British subsidies for +the independence of Europe, the navies which had preserved their +existence by neutrality or by friendship with England, were soon +to be thrown without distinction against that last foe. If even +at this moment an English statesman who had learnt the secret +agreement of Tilsit might have looked without fear to the future +of his country, it was not from any imperfection in the structure +of Continental tyranny. The fleets of Denmark and Portugal might +be of little real avail against English seamen; the homes of the +English people might still be as secure from foreign invasion as +when Nelson guarded the seas; but it was not from any vestige of +political honour surviving in the Emperor Alexander. Where +Alexander's action was of decisive importance, in his mediation +between France and Prussia, he threw himself without scruple on +to the side of oppression. It lay within his power to gain terms +of peace for Prussia as lenient as those which Austria had gained +at Campo Formio and at Lunéville: he sacrificed Prussia, +as he allied himself against the last upholders of national +independence in Europe, in order that he might himself receive +Finland and the Danubian Provinces.</p> +<p>[English expedition against Denmark, July, 1807.]</p> +<p>Two days before the signature of the Treaty of Tilsit the +British troops which had once been so anxiously expected by the +Czar landed in the island of Rügen. The struggle in which +they were intended to take their part was over. Sweden alone +remained in arms; and even the Quixotic pugnacity of King +Gustavus was unable to save Stralsund from a speedy capitulation. +But the troops of Great Britain were not destined to return +without striking a blow. The negotiations between Napoleon and +Alexander had scarcely begun, when secret intelligence of their +purport was sent to the British Government. <a name="FNanchor141"> </a><a href="#Footnote_141"><sup>[141]</sup></a> It +became known in London that the fleet of Denmark was to be seized +by Napoleon, and forced to fight against Great Britain. Canning +and his colleagues acted with the promptitude that seldom failed +the British Government when it could effect its object by the +fleet alone. They determined to anticipate Napoleon's violation +of Danish neutrality, and to seize upon the navy which would +otherwise be seized by France and Russia.</p> +<p>[Bombardment of Copenhagen, Sept. 2.]</p> +<p>On the 28th of July a fleet with 20,000 men on board set sail +from the British coast. The troops landed in Denmark in the +middle of August, and united with the corps which had already +been despatched to Rügen. The Danish Government was summoned +to place its navy in the hands of Great Britain, in order that it +might remain as a deposit in some British port until the +conclusion of peace. While demanding this sacrifice of Danish +neutrality, England undertook to protect the Danish nation and +colonies from the hostility of Napoleon, and to place at the +disposal of its Government every means of naval and military +defence. Failing the surrender of the fleet, the English declared +that they would bombard Copenhagen. The reply given to this +summons was such as might be expected from a courageous nation +exasperated against Great Britain by its harsh treatment of +neutral ships of commerce, and inclined to submit to the despot +of the Continent rather than to the tyrants of the seas. +Negotiations proved fruitless, and on the 2nd of September the +English opened fire on Copenhagen. For three days and nights the +city underwent a bombardment of cruel efficiency. Eighteen +hundred houses were levelled, the town was set on fire in several +places, and a large number of the inhabitants lost their lives. +At length the commander found himself compelled to capitulate. +The fleet was handed over to Great Britain, with all the stores +in the arsenal of Copenhagen. It was brought to England, no +longer under the terms of a friendly neutrality, but as a prize +of war.</p> +<p>The captors themselves were ashamed of their spoil. England +received an armament which had been taken from a people who were +not our enemies, and by an attack which was not war, with more +misgiving than applause. In Europe the seemingly unprovoked +assault upon a weak neutral State excited the utmost indignation. +The British Ministry, who were prevented from making public the +evidence which they had received of the intention of the two +Emperors, were believed to have invented the story of the Secret +Treaty. The Danish Government denied that Napoleon had demanded +their co-operation; Napoleon and Alexander themselves assumed the +air of indignant astonishment. But the facts alleged by Canning +and his colleagues were correct. The conspiracy of the two +Emperors was no fiction. The only question still remaining +open-and this is indeed an essential one-relates to the +engagements entered into by the Danish Government itself. +Napoleon in his correspondence of this date alludes to certain +promises made to him by the Court of Denmark, but he also +complains that these promises had not been fulfilled; and the +context of the letter renders it almost certain that, whatever +may have been demanded by Napoleon, nothing more was promised by +Denmark than that its ports should be closed to English vessels. +<a name="FNanchor142"> </a><a href="#Footnote_142"><sup>[142]</sup></a> Had the British Cabinet +possessed evidence of the determination of the Danish Government +to transfer its fleet to Napoleon without resistance, the attack +upon Denmark, considered as virtually an act of war, would not +have been unjust. But beyond an alleged expression of Napoleon at +Tilsit, no such evidence was even stated to have reached London; +and the undoubted conspiracy of the Emperors against Danish +neutrality was no sufficient ground for an action on the part of +Great Britain which went so far beyond the mere frustration of +their designs. The surrender of the Danish fleet demanded by +England would have been an unqualified act of war on the part of +Denmark against Napoleon; it was no mere guarantee for a +continued neutrality. Nor had the British Government the last +excuse of an urgent and overwhelming necessity. Nineteen Danish +men-of-war would not have turned the scale against England. The +memory of Trafalgar might well have given a British Ministry +courage to meet its enemies by the ordinary methods of war. Had +the forces of Denmark been far larger than they actually were, +the peril of Great Britain was not so extreme as to excuse the +wrong done to mankind by an example encouraging all future +belligerents to anticipate one another in forcing each neutral +state to take part with themselves.</p> +<p>[Napoleon's demands upon Portugal.]</p> +<p>The fleet which Napoleon had meant to turn against this +country now lay safe within Portsmouth harbour. Denmark, in +bitter resentment, declared war against Great Britain, and +rendered some service to the Continental League by the attacks of +its privateers upon British merchant-vessels in the Baltic. The +second neutral Power whose fate had been decided by the two +Emperors at Tilsit received the summons of Napoleon a few days +before the attack on Copenhagen. The Regent of Portugal himself +informed the British Government that he had been required by +Napoleon to close his ports to British vessels, to declare war on +England, and to confiscate all British property within his +dominions. Placed between a Power which could strip him of his +dominions on land, and one which could despoil him of everything +he possessed beyond the sea, the Regent determined to maintain +his ancient friendship with Great Britain, and to submit to +Napoleon only in so far as the English Government would excuse +him, as acting under coercion. Although a nominal state of war +arose between Portugal and England, the Regent really acted in +the interest of England, and followed the advice of the British +Cabinet up to the end.</p> +<p>[Treaty of Fontainebleau between France and Spain for the +partition of Portugal, Oct. 27.]</p> +<p>The end was soon to come. The demands of Napoleon, arbitrary +and oppressive as they were, by no means expressed his full +intentions towards Portugal. He had determined to seize upon this +country, and to employ it as a means for extending his own +dominion over the whole of the Spanish Peninsula. An army-corps, +under the command of Junot, had been already placed in the +Pyrenees. On the 12th of October Napoleon received the answer of +the Regent of Portugal, consenting to declare war upon England, +and only rejecting the dishonourable order to confiscate all +English property. This single act of resistance was sufficient +for Napoleon's purpose. He immediately recalled his ambassador +from Lisbon, and gave orders to Junot to cross the frontier, and +march upon Portugal. The King of Spain, who was to be Napoleon's +next victim, was for the moment employed as his accomplice. A +treaty was concluded at Fontainebleau between Napoleon and King +Charles IV. for the partition of Portugal (Oct. 27). <a name="FNanchor143"> </a><a href="#Footnote_143"><sup>[143]</sup></a> In +return for the cession of the kingdom of Etruria, which was still +nominally governed by a member of the Spanish house, the King of +Spain was promised half the Portuguese colonies, along with the +title of Emperor of the Indies; the northern provinces of +Portugal were reserved for the infant King of Etruria, its +southern provinces for Godoy, Minister of Charles IV.; the +central districts were to remain in the hands of France, and to +be employed as a means of regaining the Spanish colonies from +England upon the conclusion of a general peace.</p> +<p>[Junot invades Portugal, Nov., 1807.]</p> +<p>[Flight of the House of Braganza.]</p> +<p>Not one of these provisions was intended to be carried into +effect. The conquest of Portugal was but a part of the conquest +of the whole peninsula. But neither the Spanish Court nor the +Spanish people suspected Napoleon's design. Junot advanced +without resistance through the intervening Spanish territory, and +pushed forward upon Lisbon with the utmost haste. The speed at +which Napoleon's orders forced him to march reduced his army to +utter prostration, and the least resistance would have resulted +in its ruin. But the Court of Lisbon had determined to quit a +country which they could not hope to defend against the master of +the Continent. Already in the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries the House of Braganza had been familiar with the +project of transferring the seat of their Government to Brazil; +and now, with the approval of Great Britain, the Regent resolved +to maintain the independence of his family by flight across the +Atlantic. As Junot's troops approached the capital, the servants +of the palace hastily stowed the royal property on ship-board. On +the 29th of November, when the French were now close at hand, the +squadron which bore the House of Braganza to its colonial home +dropped down the Tagus, saluted by the cannon of the English +fleet that lay in the same river. Junot entered the capital a few +hours later, and placed himself at the head of the Government +without encountering any opposition. The occupation of Portugal +was described by Napoleon as a reprisal for the bombardment of +Copenhagen. It excited but little attention in Europe; and even +at the Spanish Court the only feeling was one of satisfaction at +the approaching aggrandisement of the Bourbon monarchy. The full +significance of Napoleon's intervention in the affairs of the +Peninsula was not discovered until some months were passed.</p> +<p>[Prussia after the Peace of Tilsit.]</p> +<p>[Stein Minister, Oct. 5, 1807.]</p> +<p>Portugal and Denmark had felt the consequences of the peace +made at Tilsit. Less, however, depended upon the fate of the +Danish fleet and the Portuguese Royal Family than upon the fate +of Prussia, the most cruelly wronged of all the victims +sacrificed by Alexander's ambition. The unfortunate Prussian +State, reduced to half its former extent, devastated and +impoverished by war, and burdened with the support of a French +army, found in the crisis of its ruin the beginning of a worthier +national life. Napoleon, in his own vindictive jealousy, +unwittingly brought to the head of the Prussian Government the +ablest and most patriotic statesman of the Continent. Since the +spring of 1807 Baron Hardenberg had again been the leading +Minister of Prussia, and it was to his counsel that the King's +honourable rejection of a separate peace after the battle of +Eylau was due. Napoleon could not permit this Minister, whom he +had already branded as a partisan of Great Britain, to remain in +power; he insisted upon Hardenberg's dismissal, and recommended +the King of Prussia to summon Stein, who was as yet known to +Napoleon only as a skilful financier, likely to succeed in +raising the money which the French intended to extort.</p> +<p>[Edict of Emancipation, Oct. 9, 1807.]</p> +<p>Stein entered upon office on the 5th of October, 1807, with +almost dictatorial power. The need of the most radical changes in +the public services, as well as in the social order of the +Prussian State, had been brought home to all enlightened men by +the disasters of the war; and a commission, which included among +its members the historian Niebuhr, had already sketched large +measures of reform before Hardenberg quitted office. Stein's +appointment brought to the head of the State a man immeasurably +superior to Hardenberg in the energy necessary for the execution +of great changes, and gave to those who were the most sincerely +engaged in civil or military reform a leader unrivalled in +patriotic zeal, in boldness, and in purity of character. The +first great legislative measure of Stein was the abolition of +serfage, and of all the legal distinctions which fixed within the +limits of their caste the noble, the citizen, and the peasant. In +setting his name to the edict <a name="FNanchor144"> </a><a href="#Footnote_144"><sup>[144]</sup></a> which, on the 9th of +October, 1807, made an end of the mediæval framework of +Prussian society, Stein was indeed but consummating a change +which the progress of neighbouring States must have forced upon +Prussia, whoever held its government. The Decree was framed upon +the report of Hardenberg's Commission, and was published by Stein +within six days after his own entry upon office. Great as were +the changes involved in this edict of emancipation, it contained +no more than was necessary to bring Prussia up to the level of +the least advanced of the western Continental States. In Austria +pure serfage had been abolished by Maria Theresa thirty years +before; it vanished, along with most of the legal distinctions of +class, wherever the victories of France carried a new political +order; even the misused peasantry of Poland had been freed from +their degrading yoke within the borders of the newly-founded +Duchy of Warsaw. If Prussia was not to renounce its partnership +in European progress and range itself with its barbarous eastern +neighbour, that order which fettered the peasant to the soil, and +limited every Prussian to the hereditary occupations of his class +could no longer be maintained. It is not as an achievement of +individual genius, but as the most vivid expression of the +differences between the old and the new Europe, that the first +measure of Stein deserves a closer examination.</p> +<p>[The Prussian peasant before and after the Edict of Oct. +9.]</p> +<p>The Edict of October 9, 1807, extinguished all personal +servitude; it permitted the noble, the citizen, and the peasant +to follow any calling; it abolished the rule which prevented land +held by a member of one class from passing into the hands of +another class; it empowered families to free their estates from +entail. Taken together, these enactments substitute the free +disposition of labour and property for the outworn doctrine which +Prussia had inherited from the feudal ages, that what a man is +born that he shall live and die. The extinction of serfage, +though not the most prominent provision of the Edict, was the one +whose effects were the soonest felt. In the greater part of +Prussia the marks of serfage, as distinct from payments and +services amounting to a kind of rent, were the obligation of the +peasant to remain on his holding, and the right of the lord to +take the peasant's children as unpaid servants into his house. A +general relation of obedience and command existed, as between an +hereditary subject and master, although the lord could neither +exact an arbitrary amount of labour nor inflict the cruel +punishments which had been common in Poland and Hungary. What the +villein was in England in the thirteenth century, that the serf +was in Prussia in the year 1806; and the change which in England +gradually elevated the villein into the free copyholder was that +change which, so many centuries later, the Prussian legislator +effected by one great measure. Stein made the Prussian peasant +what the English copyholder had become at the accession of Henry +VII., and what the French peasant had been before 1789, a free +person, but one bound to render fixed dues and service to the +lord of the manor in virtue of the occupation of his land. These +feudal dues and services, which the French peasant, accustomed +for centuries before the Revolution to consider himself as the +full proprietor of the land, treated as a mere grievance and +abuse, Stein considered to be the best form in which the joint +interest of the lord and the peasant could be maintained. It was +reserved for Hardenberg, four years later, to free the peasant +from all obligations towards his lord, and to place him in +unshackled proprietorship of two-thirds of his former holding, +the lord receiving the remaining one-third in compensation for +the loss of feudal dues. Neither Stein nor Hardenberg interfered +with the right of the lord to act as judge and police-magistrate +within the limits of his manor; and the hereditary legal +jurisdiction, which was abolished in Scotland in 1747, and in +France in 1789, continued unchanged in Prussia down to the year +1848.</p> +<p>[Relative position of the peasant in Prussia and England.]</p> +<p>The history of Agrarian Reform upon the Continent shows how +vast was the interval of time by which some of the greatest +social changes in England had anticipated the corresponding +changes in almost all other nations. But if the Prussian peasant +at the beginning of this century remained in the servile +condition which had passed out of mind in Great Britain before +the Reformation, the early prosperity of the peasant in England +was dearly purchased by a subsequent decline which has made his +present lot far inferior to that of the children or grandchildren +of the Prussian serf. However heavy the load of the Prussian +serf, his holding was at least protected by law from absorption +into the domain of his lord. Before sufficient capital had been +amassed in Prussia to render landed property an object of +competition, the forced military service of Frederick had made it +a rule of State that the farmsteads of the peasant class must +remain undiminished in number, at whatever violence to the laws +of the market or the desires of great landlords. No process was +permitted to take place corresponding to that by which in +England, after the villein had become the free copyholder, the +lord, with or without technical legal right, terminated the +copyhold tenure of his retainer, and made the land as much his +own exclusive property as the chairs and tables in his house. In +Prussia, if the law kept the peasant on the land, it also kept +the land for the peasant. Economic conditions, in the absence of +such control in England, worked against the class of small +holders. Their early enfranchisement in fact contributed to their +extinction. It would perhaps have been better for the English +labouring class to remain bound by a semi-servile tie to their +land, than to gain a free holding which the law, siding with the +landlord, treated as terminable at the expiration of particular +lives, and which the increasing capital of the rich made its +favourite prey. It is little profit to the landless, resourceless +English labourer to know that his ancestor was a yeoman when the +Prussian was a serf. Long as the bondage of the peasant on the +mainland endured, prosperity came at last. The conditions which +once distinguished agricultural England from the Continent are +now reversed. Nowhere on the Continent is there a labouring class +so stripped and despoiled of all interest in the soil, so +sedulously excluded from all possibilities of proprietorship, as +in England. In England alone the absence of internal revolution +and foreign pressure has preserved a class whom a life spent in +toil leaves as bare and dependent as when it began, and to whom +the only boon which their country can offer is the education +which may lead them to quit it.</p> +<p>[Reform of Prussian Army.]</p> +<p>[Short service.]</p> +<p>Besides the commission which had drafted the Edict of +Emancipation, Stein found a military commission engaged on a plan +for the reorganisation of the Prussian army. The existing system +forced the peasant to serve in the ranks for twenty years, and +drew the officers from the nobility, leaving the inhabitants of +towns without either the duty or the right to enter the army at +all. Since the battle of Jena, no one doubted that the principle +of universal liability to military service must be introduced +into Prussia; on the other hand, the very disasters of the State +rendered it impossible to maintain an army on anything +approaching to its former scale. With half its territory torn +from it, and the remainder devastated by war, Prussia could +barely afford to keep 40,000 soldiers in arms. Such were the +conditions laid before the men who were charged with the +construction of a new Prussian military system. Their +conclusions, imperfect in themselves, and but partially carried +out in the succeeding years, have nevertheless been the basis of +the latest military organisation of Prussia and of Europe +generally. The problem was solved by the adoption of a short +period of service and the rapid drafting of the trained conscript +into a reserve-force. Scharnhorst, President of the Military +Commission, to whom more than to any one man Prussia owed its +military revival, proposed to maintain an Active Army of 40,000 +men; a Reserve, into which soldiers should pass after short +service in the active army; a Landwehr, to be employed only for +the internal defence of the country; and a Landsturm, or general +arming of the population, for a species of guerilla warfare. +Scharnhorst's project was warmly supported by Stein, who held a +seat and a vote on the Military Commission; and the system of +short service, with a Reserve, was immediately brought into +action, though on a very limited scale. The remainder of the +scheme had to wait for the assistance of events. The principle of +universal military obligation was first proclaimed in the war of +1813, when also the Landwehr was first enrolled.</p> +<p>[Stein's plans of political reform.]</p> +<p>[Design for a Parliament, for Municipalities, and District +boards.]</p> +<p>The reorganisation of the Prussian military system and the +emancipation of the peasant, though promoted by Stein's accession +to power, did not originate in Stein himself; the distinctive +work of Stein was a great scheme of political reform. Had Stein +remained longer in power, he would have given to Prussia at least +the beginnings of constitutional government. Events drove him +from office when but a small part of his project was carried into +effect; but the project itself was great and comprehensive. He +designed to give Prussia a Parliament, and to establish a system +of self-government in its towns and country districts. Stein had +visited England in his youth. The history and the literature of +England interested him beyond those of any other country; and he +had learnt from England that the partnership of the nation in the +work of government, so far from weakening authority, animates it +with a force which no despotic system can long preserve. Almost +every important State-paper written by Stein denounces the apathy +of the civil population of Prussia, and attributes it to their +exclusion from all exercise of public duties. He declared that +the nation must be raised from its torpor by the establishment of +representative government and the creation of free local +institutions in town and country. Stein was no friend of +democracy. Like every other Prussian statesman he took for +granted the exercise of a vigorous monarchical power at the +centre of the State; but around the permanent executive he +desired to gather the Council of the Nation, checking at least +the caprices of Cabinet-rule, and making the opinion of the +people felt by the monarch. Stein's Parliament would have been a +far weaker body than the English House of Commons, but it was at +least not intended to be a mockery, like those legislative bodies +which Napoleon and his clients erected as the disguise of +despotism. The transaction of local business in the towns and +country districts, which had hitherto belonged to officials of +the Crown, Stein desired to transfer in part to bodies elected by +the inhabitants themselves. The functions allotted to the new +municipal bodies illustrated the modest and cautious nature of +Stein's attempt in the direction of self-government, including no +more than the care of the poor, the superintendence of schools, +and the maintenance of streets and public buildings. Finance +remained partly, police wholly, in the hands of the central +Government. Equally limited were the powers which Stein proposed +to entrust to the district councils elected by the rural +population. In comparison with the self-government of England or +America, the self-government which Stein would have introduced +into Prussia was of the most elementary character; yet his policy +stood out in striking contrast to that which in every +client-state of Napoleon was now crushing out the last elements +of local independence under a rigid official centralisation.</p> +<p>[Municipal reform alone carried out.]</p> +<p>Stein was indeed unable to transform Prussia as he desired. Of +the legislative, the municipal, and the district reforms which he +had sketched, the municipal reform was the only one which he had +time to carry out before being driven from power; and for forty +years the municipal institutions created by Stein were the only +fragment of liberty which Prussia enjoyed. A vehement opposition +to reform was excited among the landowners, and supported by a +powerful party at the Court. Stein was detested by the nobles +whose peasants he had emancipated, and by the Berlin aristocracy, +which for the last ten years had maintained the policy of +friendship with France, and now declared the only safety of the +Prussian State to lie in unconditional submission to Napoleon. +The fire of patriotism, of energy, of self-sacrifice, which +burned in Stein made him no representative of the Prussian +governing classes of his time. It was not long before the +landowners, who deemed him a Jacobin, and the friends of the +French, who called him a madman, had the satisfaction of seeing +the Minister sent into banishment by order of Napoleon himself +(Dec., 1808). Stein left the greater part of his work +uncompleted, but he had not laboured in vain. The years of his +ministry in 1807 and 1808 were the years that gathered together +everything that was worthiest in Prussia in the dawn of a +national revival, and prepared the way for that great movement in +which, after an interval of the deepest gloom, Stein was himself +to light the nation to its victory.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_VIII."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Spain in 1806-Napoleon uses the quarrel between Ferdinand and +Godoy-He affects to be Ferdinand's protector-Dupont's army enters +Spain-Murat in Spain-Charles abdicates-Ferdinand King-Savary +brings Ferdinand to Bayonne-Napoleon makes both Charles and +Ferdinand resign-Spirit of the Spanish Nation-Contrast with +Germany-Rising of all Spain-The Notables at Bayonne-Campaign of +1808-Capitulation of Baylen-Wellesley lands in +Portugal-Vimieiro-Convention of Cintra-Effect of the Spanish +Rising on Europe-War Party in Prussia-Napoleon and Alexander at +Erfurt-Stein resigns, and is proscribed-Napoleon in Spain-Spanish +Misgovernment- Campaign on the Ebro-Campaign of Sir John +Moore-Corunna-Napoleon leaves Spain-Siege of Saragossa-Successes +of the French.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Spanish affairs, 1793-1806.]</p> +<p>[Spain in 1806.]</p> +<p>Spain, which had played so insignificant a part throughout the +Revolutionary War, was now about to become the theatre of events +that opened a new world of hope to Europe. Its King, the Bourbon +Charles IV., was more weak and more pitiful than any sovereign of +the age. Power belonged to the Queen and to her paramour Godoy, +who for the last fourteen years had so conducted the affairs of +the country that every change in its policy had brought with it +new disaster. In the war of the First Coalition Spain had joined +the Allies, and French armies had crossed the Pyrenees. In 1796 +Spain entered the service of France, and lost the battle of St. +Vincent. At the Peace of Amiens, Napoleon surrendered its colony +Trinidad to England; on the renewal of the war he again forced it +into hostilities with Great Britain, and brought upon it the +disaster of Trafalgar. This unbroken humiliation of the Spanish +arms, combined with intolerable oppression and impoverishment at +home, raised so bitter an outcry against Godoy's government, that +foreign observers, who underrated the loyalty of the Spanish +people, believed the country to be on the verge of revolution. At +the Court itself the Crown Prince Ferdinand, under the influence +of his Neapolitan wife, headed a party in opposition to Godoy and +the supporters of French dominion. Godoy, insecure at home, threw +himself the more unreservedly into the arms of Napoleon, who +bestowed upon him a contemptuous patronage, and flattered him +with the promise of an independent principality in Portugal. +Izquierdo, Godoy's agent at Paris, received proposals from +Napoleon which were concealed from the Spanish Ambassador; and +during the first months of 1806 Napoleon possessed no more +devoted servant than the man who virtually held the government of +Spain.</p> +<p>[Spain intends to join Prussia in 1806.]</p> +<p>The opening of negotiations between Napoleon and Fox's +Ministry in May, 1806, first shook this relation of confidence +and obedience. Peace between France and England involved the +abandonment on the part of Napoleon of any attack upon Portugal; +and Napoleon now began to meet Godoy's inquiries after his +Portuguese principality with an ominous silence. The next +intelligence received was that the Spanish Balearic Islands had +been offered by Napoleon to Great Britain, with the view of +providing an indemnity for Ferdinand of Naples, if he should give +up Sicily to Joseph Bonaparte (July, 1806.) This contemptuous +appropriation of Spanish territory, without even the pretence of +consulting the Spanish Government, excited scarcely less anger at +Madrid than the corresponding proposal with regard to Hanover +excited at Berlin. The Court began to meditate a change of +policy, and watched the events which were leading Prussia to arm +for the war of 1806. A few weeks more passed, and news arrived +that Buenos Ayres, the capital of Spanish South America, had +fallen into the hands of the English. This disaster produced the +deepest impression, for the loss of Buenos Ayres was believed, +and with good reason, to be but the prelude to the loss of the +entire American empire of Spain. Continuance of the war with +England was certain ruin; alliance with the enemies of Napoleon +was at least not hopeless, now that Prussia was on the point of +throwing its army into the scale against France. An agent was +despatched by the Spanish Government to London (Sept., 1806); +and, upon the commencement of hostilities by Prussia, a +proclamation was issued by Godoy, which, without naming any +actual enemy, summoned the Spanish people to prepare for a war on +behalf of their country.</p> +<p>[Treaty of Fontainebleau, Oct., 1807.]</p> +<p>Scarcely had the manifesto been read by the Spaniards when the +Prussian army was annihilated at Jena. The dream of resistance to +Napoleon vanished away; the only anxiety of the Spanish +Government was to escape from the consequences of its untimely +daring. Godoy hastened to explain that his martial proclamation +had been directed not against the Emperor of the French, but +against the Emperor of Morocco. Napoleon professed himself +satisfied with this palpable absurdity: it appeared as if the +events of the last few months had left no trace on his mind. +Immediately after the Peace of Tilsit he resumed his negotiations +with Godoy upon the old friendly footing, and brought them to a +conclusion in the Treaty of Fontainebleau (Oct., 1807), which +provided for the invasion of Portugal by a French and a Spanish +army, and for its division into principalities, one of which was +to be conferred upon Godoy himself. The occupation of Portugal +was duly effected, and Godoy looked forward to the speedy +retirement of the French from the province which was to be his +portion of the spoil.</p> +<p>[Napoleon uses the enmity of Ferdinand against Godoy.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon about to intervene as protector of Ferdinand.]</p> +<p>Napoleon, however, had other ends in view. Spain, not +Portugal, was the true prize. Napoleon had gradually formed the +determination of taking Spain into his own hands, and the +dissensions of the Court itself enabled him to appear upon the +scene as the judge to whom all parties appealed. The Crown Prince +Ferdinand had long been at open enmity with Godoy and his own +mother. So long as Ferdinand's Neapolitan wife was alive, her +influence made the Crown Prince the centre of the party hostile +to France; but after her death in 1806, at a time when Godoy +himself inclined to join Napoleon's enemies, Ferdinand took up a +new position, and allied himself with the French Ambassador, at +whose instigation he wrote to Napoleon, soliciting the hand of a +princess of the Napoleonic <a name="FNanchor145">House.</a> <a +href="#Footnote_145"><sup>[145]</sup></a> Godoy, though unaware +of the letter, discovered that Ferdinand was engaged in some +intrigue. King Charles was made to believe that his son had +entered into a conspiracy to dethrone him. The Prince was placed +under arrest, and on the 30th of October, 1807, a royal +proclamation appeared at Madrid, announcing that Ferdinand had +been detected in a conspiracy against his parents, and that he +was about to be brought to justice along with his accomplices. +King Charles at the same time wrote a letter to Napoleon, of +whose connection with Ferdinand he had not the slightest +suspicion, stating that he intended to exclude the Crown Prince +from the succession to the throne of Spain. No sooner had +Napoleon received the communication from the simple King than he +saw himself in possession of the pretext for intervention which +he had so long desired. The most pressing orders were given for +the concentration of troops on the Spanish frontier; Napoleon +appeared to be on the point of entering Spain as the defender of +the hereditary rights of Ferdinand. The opportunity, however, +proved less favourable than Napoleon had expected. The Crown +Prince, overcome by his fears, begged forgiveness of his father, +and disclosed the negotiations which had taken place between +himself and the French Ambassador. Godoy, dismayed at finding +Napoleon's hand in what he had supposed to be a mere +palace-intrigue, abandoned all thought of proceeding further +against the Crown Prince; and a manifesto announced that +Ferdinand was restored to the favour of his father. Napoleon now +countermanded the order which he had given for the despatch of +the Rhenish troops to the Pyrenees, and contented himself with +directing General Dupont, the commander of an army-corps +nominally destined for Portugal, to cross the Spanish frontier +and advance as far as Vittoria.</p> +<p>[Dupont enters Spain, Dec., 1807.]</p> +<p>[French welcomed in Spain as Ferdinand's protectors.]</p> +<p>Dupont's troops entered Spain in the last days of the year +1807, and were received with acclamations. It was universally +believed that Napoleon had espoused the cause of Ferdinand, and +intended to deliver the Spanish nation from the detested rule of +Godoy. Since the open attack made upon Ferdinand in the +publication of the pretended conspiracy, the Crown Prince, who +was personally as contemptible as any of his enemies, had become +the idol of the people. For years past the hatred of the nation +towards Godoy and the Queen had been constantly deepening, and +the very reforms which Godoy effected in the hope of attaching to +himself the more enlightened classes only served to complete his +unpopularity with the fanatical mass of the nation. The French, +who gradually entered the Peninsula to the number of 80,000, and +who described themselves as the protectors of Ferdinand and of +the true Catholic faith, were able to spread themselves over the +northern provinces without exciting suspicion. It was only when +their commanders, by a series of tricks worthy of American +savages, obtained possession of the frontier citadels and +fortresses, that the wiser part of the nation began to entertain +some doubt as to the real purpose of their ally. At the Court +itself and among the enemies of Ferdinand the advance of the +French roused the utmost alarm. King Charles wrote to Napoleon in +the tone of ancient friendship; but the answer he received was +threatening and mysterious. The utterances which the Emperor let +fall in the presence of persons likely to report them at Madrid +were even more alarming, and were intended to terrify the Court +into the resolution to take flight from Madrid. The capital once +abandoned by the King, Napoleon judged that he might safely take +everything into his own hands on the pretence of restoring to +Spain the government which it had lost.</p> +<p>[Murat sent to Spain, Feb., 1808.]</p> +<p>[Charles IV. abdicates, March 17, 1808.]</p> +<p>On the 20th of February, 1808, Murat was ordered to quit Paris +in order to assume the command in Spain. Not a word was said by +Napoleon to him before his departure. His instructions first +reached him at Bayonne; they were of a military nature, and gave +no indication of the ultimate political object of his mission. +Murat entered Spain on the 1st of March, knowing no more than +that he was ordered to reassure all parties and to commit himself +to none, but with full confidence that he himself was intended by +Napoleon to be the successor of the Bourbon dynasty. It was now +that the Spanish Court, expecting the appearance of the French +army in Madrid, resolved upon that flight which Napoleon +considered so necessary to his own success. The project was not +kept a secret. It passed from Godoy to the Ministers of State, +and from them to the friends of Ferdinand. The populace of Madrid +was inflamed by the report that Godoy was about to carry the King +to a distance, in order to prolong the misgovernment which the +French had determined to overthrow. A tumultuous crowd marched +from the capital to Aranjuez, the residence of the Court. On the +evening of the 17th of March, the palace of Godoy was stormed by +the mob. Godoy himself was seized, and carried to the barracks +amid the blows and curses of the populace. The terrified King, +who already saw before him the fate of his cousin, Louis XVI., +first published a decree depriving Godoy of all his dignities, +and then abdicated in favour of his son. On the 19th of March +Ferdinand was proclaimed King.</p> +<p>[French enter Madrid, March 23.]</p> +<p>Such was the unexpected intelligence that met Murat as he +approached Madrid. The dissensions of the Court, which were to +supply his ground of intervention, had been terminated by the +Spaniards themselves: in the place of a despised dotard and a +menaced favourite, Spain had gained a youthful sovereign around +whom all classes of the nation rallied with the utmost +enthusiasm. Murat's position became a very difficult one; but he +supplied what was wanting in his instructions by the craft of a +man bent upon creating a vacancy in his own favour. He sent his +aide-de-camp, Monthieu, to visit the dethroned sovereign, and +obtained a protest from King Charles IV., declaring his +abdication to have been extorted from him by force, and +consequently to be null and void. This document Murat kept +secret; but he carefully abstained from doing anything which +might involve a recognition of Ferdinand's title. On the 23rd of +March the French troops entered Madrid. Nothing had as yet become +known to the public that indicated an altered policy on the part +of the French; and the soldiers of Murat, as the supposed friends +of Ferdinand, met with as friendly a reception in Madrid as in +the other towns of Spain. On the following day Ferdinand himself +made his solemn entry into the capital, amid wild demonstrations +of an almost barbaric loyalty.</p> +<p>[Savary brings Ferdinand to Bayonne, April, 1808.]</p> +<p>In the tumult of popular joy it was noticed that Murat's +troops continued their exercises without the least regard to the +pageant that so deeply stirred the hearts of the Spaniards. +Suspicions were aroused; the enthusiasm of the people for the +French soldiers began to change into irritation and ill-will. The +end of the long drama of deceit was in fact now close at hand. On +the 4th of April General Savary arrived at Madrid with +instructions independent of those given to Murat. He was charged +to entice the new Spanish sovereign from his capital, and to +bring him, either as a dupe or as a prisoner, on to French soil. +The task was not a difficult one. Savary pretended that Napoleon +had actually entered Spain, and that he only required an +assurance of Ferdinand's continued friendship before recognising +him as the legitimate successor of Charles IV. Ferdinand, he +added, could show no greater mark of cordiality to his patron +than by advancing to meet him on the road. Snared by these hopes, +Ferdinand set out from Madrid, in company with Savary and some of +his own foolish confidants. On reaching Burgos, the party found +no signs of the Emperor. They continued their journey to +Vittoria. Here Ferdinand's suspicions were aroused, and he +declined to proceed farther. Savary hastened to Bayonne to report +the delay to Napoleon. He returned with a letter which overcame +Ferdinand's scruples and induced him to cross the Pyrenees, in +spite of the prayers of statesmen and the loyal violence of the +simple inhabitants of the district. At Bayonne Ferdinand was +visited by Napoleon, but not a word was spoken on the object of +his journey. In the afternoon the Emperor received Ferdinand and +his suite at a neighbouring château, but preserved the same +ominous silence. When the other guests departed, the Canon +Escoiquiz, a member of Ferdinand's retinue, was detained, and +learned from Napoleon's own lips the fate in store for the +Bourbon Monarchy. Savary returned to Bayonne with Ferdinand, and +informed the Prince that he must renounce the crown of Spain. <a +name="FNanchor146"> </a><a href="#Footnote_146"><sup>[146]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Charles and Ferdinand surrender their rights to +Napoleon.]</p> +<p>[Attack on the French in Madrid, May 2.]</p> +<p>For some days Ferdinand held out against Napoleon's demands +with a stubbornness not often shown by him in the course of his +mean and hypocritical career. He was assailed not only by +Napoleon but by those whose fall had been his own rise; for Godoy +was sent to Bayonne by Murat, and the old King and Queen hurried +after their son in order to witness his humiliation. Ferdinand's +parents attacked him with an indecency that astonished even +Napoleon himself; but the Prince maintained his refusal until +news arrived from Madrid which terrified him into submission. The +irritation of the capital had culminated in an armed conflict +between the populace and the French troops. On an attempt being +made by Murat to remove the remaining members of the royal family +from the palace, the capital had broken into open insurrection, +and wherever French soldiers were found alone or in small bodies +they were massacred. (May 2.) Some hundreds of the French +perished; but the victory of Murat was speedy, and his vengeance +ruthless. The insurgents were driven into the great central +square of the city, and cut down by repeated charges of cavalry. +When all resistance was over, numbers of the citizens were shot +in cold blood. Such was the intelligence which reached Bayonne in +the midst of Napoleon's struggle with Ferdinand. There was no +further need of argument. Ferdinand was informed that if he +withheld his resignation for twenty-four hours longer he would be +treated as a rebel. He yielded; and for a couple of country +houses and two life-annuities the crown of Spain and the Indies +was renounced in favour of Napoleon by father and son.</p> +<p>[National spirit of the Spaniards.]</p> +<p>The crown had indeed been won without a battle. That there +remained a Spanish nation ready to fight to the death for its +independence was not a circumstance which Napoleon had taken into +account. His experience had as yet taught him of no force but +that of Governments and armies. In the larger States, or groups +of States, which had hitherto been the spoil of France, the sense +of nationality scarcely existed. Italy had felt it no disgrace to +pass under the rule of Napoleon. The Germans on both sides of the +Rhine knew of a fatherland only as an arena of the keenest +jealousies. In Prussia and in Austria the bond of citizenship was +far less the love of country than the habit of obedience to +government. England and Russia, where patriotism existed in the +sense in which it existed in Spain, had as yet been untouched by +French armies. Judging from the action of the Germans and the +Italians, Napoleon might well suppose that in settling with the +Spanish Government he had also settled with the Spanish people, +or, at the worst, that his troops might have to fight some +fanatical peasants, like those who resisted the expulsion of the +Bourbons from Naples. But the Spanish nation was no mosaic of +political curiosities like the Holy Roman Empire, and no divided +and oblivious family like the population of Italy. Spain, as a +single nation united under its King, had once played the foremost +part in Europe: when its grandeur departed, its pride had +remained behind: the Spaniard, in all his torpor and +impoverishment, retained the impulse of honour, the spirited +self-respect, which periods of national greatness leave behind +them among a race capable of cherishing their memory. Nor had +those influences of a common European culture, which directly +opposed themselves to patriotism in Germany, affected the +home-bred energy of Spain. The temper of mind which could find +satisfaction in the revival of a form of Greek art when +Napoleon's cavalry were scouring Germany, or which could inquire +whether mankind would not profit by the removal of the barriers +between nations, was unknown among the Spanish people. Their +feeling towards a foreign invader was less distant from that of +African savages than from that of the civilised and literary +nations which had fallen so easy a prey to the French. +Government, if it had degenerated into everything that was +contemptible, had at least failed to reduce the people to the +passive helplessness which resulted from the perfection of +uniformity in Prussia. Provincial institutions, though corrupted, +were not extinguished; provincial attachments and prejudices +existed in unbounded strength. Like the passion of the Spaniard +for his native district, his passion for Spain was of a blind and +furious character. Enlightened conviction, though not altogether +absent, had small place in the Spanish war of defence. Religious +fanaticism, hatred of the foreigner, delight in physical +barbarity, played their full part by the side of nobler elements +in the struggle for national independence.</p> +<p>[Rising of Spain, May, 1808.]</p> +<p>The captivity of Ferdinand, and the conflict of Murat's troops +with the inhabitants of Madrid, had become known in the Spanish +cities before the middle of May. On the 20th of the same month +the <i>Gaceta</i> announced the abdication of the Bourbon family. +Nothing more was wanting to throw Spain into tumult. The same +irresistible impulse seized provinces and cities separated by the +whole breadth of the Peninsula. Without communication, and +without the guidance of any central authority, the Spanish people +in every part of the kingdom armed themselves against the +usurper. Carthagena rose on the 22nd. Valencia forced its +magistrates to proclaim King Ferdinand on the 23rd. Two days +later the mountain-district of Asturias, with a population of +half a million, formally declared war on Napoleon, and despatched +envoys to Great Britain to ask for assistance. On the 26th, +Santander and Seville, on opposite sides of the Peninsula, joined +the national movement. Corunna, Badajoz, and Granada declared +themselves on the Feast of St. Ferdinand, the 30th of May. Thus +within a week the entire country was in arms, except in those +districts where the presence of French troops rendered revolt +impossible. The action of the insurgents was everywhere the same. +They seized upon the arms and munitions of war collected in the +magazines, and forced the magistrates or commanders of towns to +place themselves at their head. Where the latter resisted, or +were suspected of treachery to the national cause, they were in +many cases put to death. Committees of Government were formed in +the principal cities, and as many armies came into being as there +were independent centres of the insurrection.</p> +<p>[Joseph Bonaparte made King.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon's Assembly at Bayonne, June, 1808.]</p> +<p>Napoleon was in the meantime collecting a body of prelates and +grandees at Bayonne, under the pretence of consulting the +representatives of the Spanish nation. Half the members of the +intended Assembly received a personal summons from the Emperor; +the other half were ordered to be chosen by popular election. +When the order, however, was issued from Bayonne, the country was +already in full revolt. Elections were held only in the districts +occupied by the French, and not more than twenty representatives +so elected proceeded to Bayonne. The remainder of the Assembly, +which numbered in all ninety-one persons, was composed of +courtiers who had accompanied the Royal Family across the +Pyrenees, and of any Spaniards of distinction upon whom the +French could lay their hands. Joseph Bonaparte was brought from +Naples to receive the crown of Spain. <a name="FNanchor147"> </a><a href="#Footnote_147"><sup>[147]</sup></a> On +the 15th of June the Assembly of the Notables was opened. Its +discussions followed the order prescribed by Napoleon on all +similar occasions. Articles disguising a central absolute power +with some pretence of national representation were laid before +the Assembly, and adopted without criticism. Except in the +privileges accorded to the Church, little indicated that the +Constitution of Bayonne was intended for the Spanish rather than +for any other nation. Its political forms were as valuable or as +valueless as those which Napoleon had given to his other client +States; its principles of social order were those which even now +despotism could not dissever from French supremacy-the abolition +of feudal services, equality of taxation, admission of all ranks +to public employment. Titles of nobility were preserved, the +privileges of nobility abolished. One genuine act of homage was +rendered to the national character. The Catholic religion was +declared to be the only one permitted in Spain.</p> +<p>[Attempts of Napoleon to suppress the Spanish rising.]</p> +<p>While Napoleon was thus emancipating the peasants from the +nobles, and reconciling his supremacy with the claims of the +Church, peasants and townspeople were flocking to arms at the +call of the priests, who so little appreciated the orthodoxy of +their patron as to identify him in their manifestos with Calvin, +with the Antichrist, and with Apollyon. <a name="FNanchor148"> </a><a href="#Footnote_148"><sup>[148]</sup></a> +The Emperor underrated the military efficiency of the national +revolt, and contented himself with sending his lieutenants to +repress it, while he himself, expecting a speedy report of +victory, remained in Bayonne. Divisions of the French army moved +in all directions against the insurgents. Dupont was ordered to +march upon Seville from the capital, Moncey upon Valencia; +Marshal Bessières took command of a force intended to +disperse the main army of the Spaniards, which threatened the +roads from the Pyrenees to Madrid. The first encounters were all +favourable to the practised French troops; yet the objects which +Napoleon set before his generals were not achieved. Moncey failed +to reduce Valencia; Dupont found himself outnumbered on passing +the Sierra Morena, and had to retrace his steps and halt at +Andujar, where the road to Madrid leaves the valley of the +Guadalquivir. Without sustaining any severe loss, the French +divisions were disheartened by exhausting and resultless marches; +the Spaniards gained new confidence on each successive day which +passed without inflicting upon them a defeat. At length, however, +the commanders of the northern army were forced by Marshal +Bessières to fight a pitched battle at Rio Seco, on the +west of Valladolid (July 13th). Bessières won a complete +victory, and gained the lavish praises of his master for a battle +which, according to Napoleon's own conception, ended the Spanish +war by securing the roads from the Pyrenees to Madrid.</p> +<p>[Capitulation of Baylen, July 19.]</p> +<p>[Dupont in Andalusia.]</p> +<p>Never had Napoleon so gravely mistaken the true character of a +campaign. The vitality of the Spanish insurrection lay not in the +support of the capital, which had never passed out of the hands +of the French, but in the very independence of the several +provincial movements. Unlike Vienna and Berlin, Madrid might be +held by the French without the loss being felt by their +adversary; Cadiz, Corunna, Lisbon, were equally serviceable bases +for the insurrection. The victory of Marshal Bessières in +the north preserved the communication between France and Madrid, +and it did nothing more. It failed to restore the balance of +military force in the south of Spain, or to affect the operations +of the Spanish troops which were now closing round Dupont upon +the Guadalquivir. On the 15th of July Dupont was attacked at +Andujar by greatly superior forces. His lieutenant, Vedel, +knowing the Spaniards to be engaged in a turning movement, made a +long march northwards in order to guard the line of retreat. In +his absence the position of Baylen, immediately in Dupont's rear, +was seized by the Spanish general Reding. Dupont discovered +himself to be surrounded. He divided his army into two columns, +and moved on the night of the 18th from Andujar towards Baylen, +in the hope of overpowering Reding's division. At daybreak on the +19th the positions of Reding were attacked by the French. The +struggle continued until mid-day, though the French soldiers sank +exhausted with thirst and with the burning heat. At length the +sound of cannon was heard in the rear. Castanos, the Spanish +general commanding at Andujar, had discovered Dupont's retreat, +and pressed behind him with troops fresh and unwearied by +conflict. Further resistance was hopeless. Dupont had to +negotiate for a surrender. He consented to deliver up Vedel's +division as well as his own, although Vedel's troops were in +possession of the road to Madrid, the Spanish commander +promising, on this condition, that the captives should not be +retained as prisoners of war in Spain, but be permitted to return +by sea to their native country. The entire army of Andalusia, +numbering 23,000 men, thus passed into the hands of an enemy whom +Napoleon had not believed to possess a military existence. +Dupont's anxiety to save something for France only aggravated the +extent of the calamity; for the Junta of Seville declined to +ratify the terms of the capitulation, and the prisoners, with the +exception of the superior officers, were sent to the galleys at +Cadiz. The victorious Spaniards pushed forwards upon Madrid. King +Joseph, who had entered the city only a week before, had to fly +from his capital. The whole of the French troops in Spain were +compelled to retire to a defensive position upon the Ebro.</p> +<p>[Wellesley lands in Portugal, Aug. 1, 1808.]</p> +<p>[Vimieiro, Aug. 21.]</p> +<p>[Convention of Cintra, Aug. 30.]</p> +<p>The disaster of Baylen did not come alone. Napoleon's attack +upon Portugal had brought him within the striking-range of Great +Britain. On the 1st of August an English army, commanded by Sir +Arthur Wellesley, landed on the Portuguese coast at the mouth of +the Mondego. Junot, the first invader of the Peninsula, was still +at Lisbon; his forces in occupation of Portugal numbered nearly +30,000 men, but they were widely dispersed, and he was unable to +bring more than 13,000 men into the field against the 16,000 with +whom Wellesley moved upon Lisbon. Junot advanced to meet the +invader. A battle was fought at Vimieiro, thirty miles north of +Lisbon, on the 21st of August. The victory was gained by the +British; and had the first advantage been followed up, Junot's +army would scarcely have escaped capture. But the command had +passed out of Wellesley's hands. His superior officer, Sir Harry +Burrard, took up the direction of the army immediately the battle +ended, and Wellesley had to acquiesce in a suspension of +operations at a moment when the enemy seemed to be within his +grasp. Junot made the best use of his reprieve. He entered into +negotiations for the evacuation of Portugal, and obtained the +most favourable terms in the Convention of Cintra, signed on the +30th of August. The French army was permitted to return to France +with its arms and baggage. Wellesley, who had strongly condemned +the inaction of his superior officers after the battle of the +21st, agreed with them that, after the enemy had once been +permitted to escape, the evacuation of Portugal was the best +result which the English could obtain. <a name="FNanchor149"> </a><a href="#Footnote_149"><sup>[149]</sup></a> +Junot's troops were accordingly conveyed to French ports at the +expense of the British Government, to the great displeasure of +the public, who expected to see the marshal and his army brought +prisoners into Portsmouth. The English were as ill-humoured with +their victory as the French with their defeat. When on the point +of sending Junot to a court-martial for his capitulation, +Napoleon learnt that the British Government had ordered its own +generals to be brought to trial for permitting the enemy to +escape them.</p> +<p>[Effect of Spanish rising on Europe.]</p> +<p>[War-party in Austria and Prussia.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon and Prussia.]</p> +<p>If the Convention of Cintra gained little glory for England, +the tidings of the successful uprising of the Spanish people +against Napoleon, and of Dupont's capitulation at Baylen, created +the deepest impression in every country of Europe that still +entertained the thought of resistance to France. The first great +disaster had befallen Napoleon's arms. It had been inflicted by a +nation without a government, without a policy, without a plan +beyond that of the liberation of its fatherland from the +foreigner. What Coalition after Coalition had failed to effect, +the patriotism and energy of a single people deserted by its +rulers seemed about to accomplish. The victory of the regular +troops at Baylen was but a part of that great national movement +in which every isolated outbreak had had its share in dividing +and paralysing the Emperor's force. The capacity of untrained +popular levies to resist practised troops might be exaggerated in +the first outburst of wonder and admiration caused by the Spanish +rising; but the difference made in the nature of the struggle by +the spirit of popular resentment and determination was one upon +which mistake was impossible. A sudden light broke in upon the +politicians of Austria and Prussia, and explained the +powerlessness of those Coalitions in which the wars had always +been the affair of the Cabinets, and never the affair of the +people. What the Spanish nation had effected for itself against +Napoleon was not impossible for the German nation, if once a +national movement like that of Spain sprang up among the German +race. "I do not see," wrote Blücher some time afterwards, +"why we should not think ourselves as good as the Spaniards." The +best men in the Austrian and Prussian Governments began to look +forward to the kindling of popular spirit as the surest means for +combating the tyranny of Napoleon. Military preparations were +pushed forward in Austria with unprecedented energy and on a +scale rivalling that of France itself. In Prussia the party of +Stein determined upon a renewal of the war, and decided to risk +the extinction of the Prussian State rather than submit to the +extortions by which Napoleon was completing the ruin of their +country. It was among the patriots of Northern Germany that the +course of the Spanish struggle excited the deepest emotion, and +gave rise to the most resolute purpose of striking for European +liberty.</p> +<p>Since the nominal restoration of peace between France and +Prussia by the cession of half the Prussian kingdom, not a month +had passed without the infliction of some gross injustice upon +the conquered nation. The evacuation of the country had in the +first instance been made conditional upon the payment of certain +requisitions in arrear. While the amount of this sum was being +settled, all Prussia, except Königsberg, remained in the +hands of the French, and 157,000 French soldiers lived at free +quarters upon the unfortunate inhabitants. At the end of the year +1807 King Frederick William was informed that, besides paying to +Napoleon 60,000,000 francs in money, and ceding domain lands of +the same value, he must continue to support 40,000 French troops +in five garrison-towns upon the Oder. Such was the dismay caused +by this announcement, that Stein quitted Königsberg, now the +seat of government, and passed three months at the head-quarters +of the French at Berlin, endeavouring to frame some settlement +less disastrous to his country. Count Daru, Napoleon's +administrator in Prussia, treated the Minister with respect, and +accepted his proposal for the evacuation of Prussian territory on +payment of a fixed sum to the French. But the agreement required +Napoleon's ratification, and for this Stein waited in vain. <a +name="FNanchor150"> </a><a href="#Footnote_150"><sup>[150]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Stein urges war.]</p> +<p>[Demands of Napoleon, Sept., 1808.]</p> +<p>Month after month dragged on, and Napoleon made no reply. At +length the victories of the Spanish insurrection in the summer of +1808 forced the Emperor to draw in his troops from beyond the +Elbe. He placed a bold front upon his necessities, and demanded +from the Prussian Government, as the price of evacuation, a still +larger sum than that which had been named in the previous winter: +he insisted that the Prussian army should be limited to 40,000 +men, and the formation of the Landwehr abandoned; and he required +the support of a Prussian corps of 16,000 men, in the event of +hostilities breaking out between France and Austria. Not even on +these conditions was Prussia offered the complete evacuation of +her territory. Napoleon still insisted on holding the three +principal fortresses on the Oder with a garrison of 10,000 men. +Such was the treaty proposed to the Prussian Court (September, +1808) at a time when every soldierly spirit thrilled with the +tidings from Spain, and every statesman was convinced by the +events of the last few months that Napoleon's treaties were but +stages in a progression of wrongs. Stein and Scharnhorst urged +the King to arm the nation for a struggle as desperate as that of +Spain, and to delay only until Napoleon himself was busied in the +warfare of the Peninsula. Continued submission was ruin; revolt +was at least not hopeless. However forlorn the condition of +Prussia, its alliances were of the most formidable character. +Austria was arming without disguise; Great Britain had intervened +in the warfare of the Peninsula with an efficiency hitherto +unknown in its military operations; Spain, on the estimate of +Napoleon himself, required an army of 200,000 men. Since the +beginning of the Spanish insurrection Stein had occupied himself +with the organisation of a general outbreak throughout Northern +Germany. Rightly or wrongly, he believed the train to be now +laid, and encouraged the King of Prussia to count upon the +support of a popular insurrection against the French in all the +territories which they had taken from Prussia, from Hanover, and +from Hesse.</p> +<p>[Stein resigns, Nov. 24. Proscribed by Napoleon.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon and Alexander meet at Erfurt, Oct. 7, 1808.]</p> +<p>In one point alone Stein was completely misinformed. He +believed that Alexander, in spite of the Treaty of Tilsit, would +not be unwilling to see the storm burst upon Napoleon, and that +in the event of another general war the forces of Russia would +more probably be employed against France than in its favour. The +illusion was a fatal one. Alexander was still the accomplice of +Napoleon. For the sake of the Danubian Principalities, Alexander +was willing to hold central Europe in check while Napoleon +crushed the Spaniards, and to stifle every bolder impulse in the +simple King of Prussia. Napoleon himself dreaded the general +explosion of Europe before Spain was conquered, and drew closer +to his Russian ally. Difficulties that had been placed in the way +of the Russian annexation of Roumania vanished. The Czar and the +Emperor determined to display to all Europe the intimacy of their +union by a festal meeting at Erfurt in the midst of their victims +and their dependents. The whole tribe of vassal German sovereigns +was summoned to the meeting-place; representatives attended from +the Courts of Vienna and Berlin. On the 7th of October Napoleon +and Alexander made their entry into Erfurt. Pageants and +festivities required the attendance of the crowned and titled +rabble for several days; but the only serious business was the +settlement of a treaty confirming the alliance of France and +Russia, and the notification of the Czar to the envoy of the King +of Prussia that his master must accept the terms demanded by +Napoleon, and relinquish the idea of a struggle with France. <a +name="FNanchor151"> </a><a href="#Footnote_151"><sup>[151]</sup></a> Count Goltz, the Prussian +envoy, unwillingly signed the treaty which gave Prussia but a +partial evacuation at so dear a cost, and wrote to the King that +no course now remained for him but to abandon himself to +unreserved dependence upon France, and to permit Stein and the +patriotic party to retire from the direction of the State. Unless +the King could summon up courage to declare war in defiance of +Alexander, there was, in fact, no alternative left open to him. +Napoleon had discovered Stein's plans for raising an insurrection +in Germany several weeks before, and had given vent to the most +furious outburst of wrath against Stein in the presence of the +Prussian Ambassador at Erfurt. If the great struggle on which +Stein's whole heart and soul were set was to be relinquished, if +Spain was to be crushed before Prussia moved an arm, and Austria +was to be left to fight its inevitable battle alone, then the +presence of Stein at the head of the Prussian State was only a +snare to Europe, a peril to Prussia, and a misery to himself. +Stein asked for and received his dismissal. (Nov. 24, 1808.)</p> +<p>Stein's retirement averted the wrath of Napoleon from the King +of Prussia; but the whole malignity of that Corsican nature broke +out against the high-spirited patriot as soon as fresh victories +had released Napoleon from the ill-endured necessity of +self-control. On the 16th of December, when Madrid had again +passed into the possession of the French, an imperial order +appeared, which gave the measure of Napoleon's hatred of the +fallen Minister. Stein was denounced as the enemy of the Empire; +his property was confiscated; he was ordered to be seized by the +troops of the Emperor or his allies wherever they could lay their +hands upon him. As in the days of Roman tyranny, the west of +Europe could now afford no asylum to the enemies of the Emperor. +Russia and Austria remained the only refuge of the exile. Stein +escaped into Bohemia; and, as the crowning humiliation of the +Prussian State, its police were forced to pursue as a criminal +the statesman whose fortitude had still made it possible in the +darkest days for Prussian patriots not to despair of their +country.</p> +<p>[Misgovernment of the Spanish Junta.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon goes to Spain, Nov., 1808.]</p> +<p>Central Europe secured by the negotiations with Alexander at +Erfurt, Napoleon was now able to place himself at the head of the +French forces in Spain without fear of any immediate attack from +the side of Germany. Since the victory of Baylen the Spaniards +had made little progress either towards good government or +towards a good military administration. The provincial Juntas had +consented to subordinate themselves to a central committee chosen +from among their own members; but this new supreme authority, +which held its meetings at Aranjuez, proved one of the worst +governments that even Spain itself had ever endured. It numbered +thirty persons, twenty-eight of whom were priests, nobles, or <a +name="FNanchor152">officials.</a> <a href="#Footnote_152"><sup>[152]</sup></a> Its qualities were those +engrained in Spanish official life. In legislation it attempted +absolutely nothing but the restoration of the Inquisition and the +protection of Church lands; its administration was confined to a +foolish interference with the better generals, and the +acquisition of enormous supplies of war from Great Britain, which +were either stolen by contractors or allowed to fall into the +hands of the French. While the members of the Junta discussed the +titles of honour which were to attach to them collectively and +individually, and voted themselves salaries equal to those of +Napoleon's generals, the armies fell into a state of destitution +which scarcely any but Spanish troops would have been capable of +enduring. The energy of the humbler classes alone prolonged the +military existence of the insurrection; the Government organised +nothing, comprehended nothing. Its part in the national movement +was confined to a system of begging and boasting, which +demoralised the Spaniards, and bewildered the agents and generals +of England who first attempted the difficult task of assisting +the Spaniards to help themselves. When the approach of army after +army, the levies of Germany, Poland, Holland, and Italy, in +addition to Napoleon's own veteran troops of Austerlitz and Jena, +gave to the rest of the world some idea of the enormous force +which Napoleon was about to throw on to Spain, the Spanish +Government could form no better design than to repeat the +movement of Baylen against Napoleon himself on the banks of the +Ebro.</p> +<p>[Napoleon enters Madrid, Dec. 4.]</p> +<p>[Campaign on the Ebro, Nov., 1808.]</p> +<p>The Emperor for the first time crossed the Pyrenees in the +beginning of November, 1808. The victory of the Spaniards in the +summer had forced the invaders to retire into the district +between the Ebro and the Pyrenees, and the Ebro now formed the +dividing-line between the hostile armies. It was the intention of +Napoleon to roll back the extremes of the Spanish line to the +east and the west, and, breaking through its centre, to move +straight upon Burgos and Madrid. The Spaniards, for their part, +were not content to act upon the defensive. When Napoleon arrived +at Vittoria on the 5th of November, the left wing of the Spanish +army under General Blake had already received orders to move +eastwards from the upper waters of the Ebro, and to cut the +French off from their communication with the Pyrenees. The +movement was exactly that which Napoleon desired; for in +executing it, Blake had only to march far enough eastwards to +find himself completely surrounded by French divisions. A +premature movement of the French generals themselves alone saved +Blake from total destruction. He was attacked and defeated at +Espinosa, on the upper Ebro, before he had advanced far enough to +lose his line of retreat (Nov. 10); and, after suffering great +losses, he succeeded in leading off a remnant of his army into +the mountains of Asturias. In the centre, Soult drove the enemy +before him, and captured Burgos. Of the army which was to have +cleared Spain of the French, nothing now remained but a corps on +the right at Tudela, commanded by Palafox. The destruction of +this body was committed by the Emperor to Lannes and Ney. Ney was +ordered to take a long march southwards in order to cut off the +retreat of the Spaniards; he found it impossible, however, to +execute his march within the time prescribed; and Palafox, beaten +by Lannes at Tudela, made good his retreat into Saragossa. A +series of accidents had thus saved the divisions of the Spanish +army from actual capture, but there no longer existed a force +capable of meeting the enemy in the field. Napoleon moved forward +from Burgos upon Madrid. The rest of his march was a triumph. The +batteries defending the mountain-pass of Somo Sierra were +captured by a charge of Polish cavalry; and the capital itself +surrendered, after a short artillery fire, on the 4th of +December, four weeks after the opening of the campaign.</p> +<p>[Campaign of Sir John Moore.]</p> +<p>An English army was slowly and painfully making its way +towards the Ebro at the time when Napoleon broke in pieces the +Spanish line of defence. On the 14th of October Sir John Moore +had assumed the command of 20,000 British troops at Lisbon. He +was instructed to march to the neighbourhood of Burgos, and to +co-operate with the Spanish generals upon the Ebro. According to +the habit of the English, no allowance was made for the movements +of the enemy while their own were under consideration; and the +mountain-country which Moore had to traverse placed additional +obstacles in the way of an expedition at least a month too late +in its starting. Moore believed it to be impossible to carry his +artillery over the direct road from Lisbon to Salamanca, and sent +it round by way of Madrid, while he himself advanced through +Ciudad Rodrigo, reaching Salamanca on the 13th of November. Here, +while still waiting for his artillery, rumours reached him of the +destruction of Blake's army at Espinosa, and of the fall of +Burgos. Later came the report of Palafox's overthrow at Tudela. +Yet even now Moore could get no trustworthy information from the +Spanish authorities. He remained for some time in suspense, and +finally determined to retreat into Portugal. Orders were sent to +Sir David Baird, who was approaching with reinforcements from +Corunna, to turn back towards the northern coast. Scarcely had +Moore formed this decision, when despatches arrived from Frere, +the British agent at Madrid, stating that the Spaniards were +about to defend the capital to the last extremity, and that Moore +would be responsible for the ruin of Spain and the disgrace of +England if he failed to advance to its relief. To the great joy +of his soldiers, Moore gave orders for a forward march. The army +advanced upon Valladolid, with the view of attacking the French +upon their line of communication, while the siege of the capital +engaged them in front. Baird was again ordered southwards. It was +not until the 14th of December, ten days after Madrid had passed +into the hands of the French, that Moore received intelligence of +its fall. Neither the Spanish Government nor the British agent +who had caused Moore to advance took the trouble to inform him of +the surrender of the capital; he learnt it from an intercepted +French despatch. From the same despatch Moore learnt that to the +north of him, at Saldanha, on the river Carrion, there lay a +comparatively small French force under the command of Soult. The +information was enough for Moore, heart-sick at the mockery to +which his army had been subjected, and burning for decisive +action. He turned northwards, and marched against Soult, in the +hope of surprising him before the news of his danger could reach +Napoleon in the capital.</p> +<p>[Napoleon marches against Moore, Dec. 19.]</p> +<p>[Retreat of the English.]</p> +<p>[Corunna, Jan. 16, 1809.]</p> +<p>On the 19th of December a report reached Madrid that Moore had +suspended his retreat on Portugal. Napoleon instantly divined the +actual movement of the English, and hurried from Madrid against +Moore at the head of 40,000 men. Moore had met Baird on the 20th +at Mayorga; on the 23rd the united British divisions reached +Sahagun, scarcely a day's march from Soult at Saldanha. Here the +English commander learnt that Napoleon himself was on his track. +Escape was a question of hours. Napoleon had pushed across the +Guadarama mountains in forced marches through snow and storm. Had +his vanguard been able to seize the bridge over the river Esla at +Benavente before the English crossed it, Moore would have been +cut off from all possibility of escape. The English reached the +river first and blew up the bridge. This rescued them from +immediate danger. The defence of the river gave Moore's army a +start which rendered the superiority of Napoleon's numbers of +little effect. For a while Napoleon followed Moore towards the +northern coast. On the 1st of January, 1809, he wrote an order +which showed that he looked upon Moore's escape as now +inevitable, and on the next day he quitted the army, leaving to +his marshals the honour of toiling after Moore to the coast, and +of seizing some thousands of frozen or drunken British +stragglers. Moore himself pushed on towards Corunna with a +rapidity which was dearly paid for by the demoralisation of his +army. The sufferings and the excesses of the troops were +frightful; only the rear-guard, which had to face the enemy, +preserved soldierly order. At length Moore found it necessary to +halt and take up position, in order to restore the discipline of +his army. He turned upon Soult at Lugo, and offered battle for +two successive days; but the French general declined an +engagement; and Moore, satisfied with having recruited his +troops, continued his march upon Corunna. Soult still followed. +On January 11th the English army reached the sea; but the ships +which were to convey them back to England were nowhere to be +seen. A battle was inevitable, and Moore drew up his troops, +14,000 in number, on a range of low hills outside the town to +await the attack of the French. On the 16th, when the fleet had +now come into harbour, Soult gave battle. The French were +defeated at every point of their attack. Moore fell at the moment +of his victory, conscious that the army which he had so bravely +led had nothing more to fear. The embarkation was effected that +night; on the next day the fleet put out to sea.</p> +<p>[Siege of Saragossa, Dec., 1808.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon leaves Spain, Jan 19, 1809.]</p> +<p>Napoleon quitted Spain on the 19th of January, 1809, leaving +his brother Joseph again in possession of the capital, and an +army of 300,000 men under the best generals of France engaged +with the remnants of a defeated force which had never reached +half that number. No brilliant victories remained to be won; no +enemy remained in the field important enough to require the +presence of Napoleon. Difficulties of transit and the hostility +of the people might render the subjugation of Spain a slower +process than the subjugation of Prussia or Italy; but, to all +appearance, the ultimate success of the Emperor's plans was +certain, and the worst that lay before his lieutenants was a +series of wearisome and obscure exertions against an +inconsiderable foe. Yet, before the Emperor had been many weeks +in Paris, a report reached him from Marshal Lannes which told of +some strange form of military capacity among the people whose +armies were so contemptible in the field. The city of Saragossa, +after successfully resisting its besiegers in the summer of 1808, +had been a second time invested after the defeats of the Spanish +armies upon the Ebro. <a name="FNanchor153"> </a><a href="#Footnote_153"><sup>[153]</sup></a> The besiegers themselves +were suffering from extreme scarcity when, on the 22nd of +January, 1809, Lannes took up the command. Lannes immediately +called up all the troops within reach, and pressed the battering +operations with the utmost vigour. On the 29th, the walls of +Saragossa were stormed in four different places.</p> +<p>[Defeats of the Spaniards, March, 1809.]</p> +<p>According to all ordinary precedents of war, the French were +now in possession of the city. But the besiegers found that their +real work was only beginning. The streets were trenched and +barricaded; every dwelling was converted into a fortress; for +twenty days the French were forced to besiege house by house. In +the centre of the town the popular leaders erected a gallows, and +there they hanged every one who flinched from meeting the enemy. +Disease was added to the horrors of warfare. In the cellars, +where the women and children crowded in filth and darkness, a +malignant pestilence broke out, which, at the beginning of +February, raised the deaths to five hundred a day. The dead +bodies were unburied; in that poisoned atmosphere the slightest +wound produced mortification and death. At length the powers of +the defenders sank. A fourth part of the town had been won by the +French; of the townspeople and peasants who were within the walls +at the beginning of the siege, it is said that thirty thousand +had perished; the remainder could only prolong their defence to +fall in a few days more before disease or the enemy. Even now +there were members of the Junta who wished to fight as long as a +man remained, but they were outnumbered. On the 20th of February +what was left of Saragossa capitulated. Its resistance gave to +the bravest of Napoleon's soldiers an impression of horror and +dismay new even to men who had passed through seventeen years of +revolutionary warfare, but it failed to retard Napoleon's armies +in the conquest of Spain. No attempt was made to relieve the +heroic or ferocious city. Everywhere the tide of French conquest +appeared to be steadily making its advance. Soult invaded +Portugal; in combination with him, two armies moved from Madrid +upon the southern and the south-western provinces of Spain. +Oporto fell on the 28th of March; in the same week the Spanish +forces covering the south were decisively beaten at Ciudad Real +and at Medellin upon the line of the Guadiana. The hopes of +Europe fell. Spain itself could expect no second Saragossa. It +appeared as if the complete subjugation of the Peninsula could +now only be delayed by the mistakes of the French generals +themselves, and by the untimely removal of that controlling will +which had hitherto made every movement a step forward in +conquest.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_IX."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Austria preparing for war-The war to be one on behalf of the +German Nation-Patriotic Movement in Prussia-Expected Insurrection +in North Germany-Plans of Campaign-Austrian Manifesto to the +Germans-Rising of the Tyrolese-Defeats of the Archduke Charles in +Bavaria-French in Vienna-Attempts of Dörnberg and +Schill-Battle of Aspern-Second Passage of the Danube-Battle of +Wagram-Armistice of Znaim-Austria waiting for events-Wellesley in +Spain-He gains the Battle of Talavera, but retreats-Expedition +against Antwerp fails-Austria makes Peace-Treaty of Vienna-Real +Effects of the War of 1809-Austria after 1809-Metternich- +Marriage of Napoleon with Marie Louise-Severance of Napoleon and +Alexander-Napoleon annexes the Papal States, Holland, La Valais, +and the North German Coast-The Napoleonic Empire: Its Benefits +and Wrongs-The Czar withdraws from Napoleon's Commercial +System-War with Russia imminent-Wellington in Portugal: Lines of +Torres Vedras; Massena's Campaign of 1810, and retreat-Soult in +Andalusia-Wellington's Campaign of 1810-Capture of Ciudad Rodrigo +and Badajoz-Salamanca.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Austria preparing for war, 1808-9.]</p> +<p>Napoleon, quitting Spain in the third week of January, 1809, +travelled to Paris with the utmost haste. He believed Austria to +be on the point of declaring war; and on the very day of his +arrival at the capital he called out the contingents of the +Rhenish Federation. In the course of the next few weeks, however, +he formed the opinion that Austria would either decline +hostilities altogether, or at least find it impossible to declare +war before the middle of May. For once the efforts of Austria +outstripped the calculations of her enemy. Count Stadion, the +earnest and enlightened statesman who had held power in Austria +since the Peace of Presburg, had steadily prepared for a renewal +of the struggle with France. He was convinced that Napoleon would +soon enter upon new enterprises of conquest, and still farther +extend his empire at the expense of Austria, unless attacked +before Spain had fallen under his dominion. Metternich, now +Austrian Ambassador at Paris, reported that Napoleon was +intending to divide Turkey as soon as he had conquered Spain; +and, although he advised delay, he agreed with the Cabinet at +Vienna that Austria must sooner or later strike in self-defence. +<a name="FNanchor154"> </a><a href="#Footnote_154"><sup>[154]</sup></a> Stadion, more sanguine, was +only prevented from declaring war in 1808 by the counsels of the +Archduke Charles and of other generals who were engaged in +bringing the immense mass of new levies into military formation. +Charles himself attached little value to the patriotic enthusiasm +which, since the outbreak of the Spanish insurrection, had sprung +up in the German provinces of Austria. He saw the approach of war +with more apprehension than pleasure; but, however faint his own +hopes, he laboured earnestly in creating for Austria a force far +superior to anything that she had possessed before, and infused +into the mass of the army that confident and patriotic spirit +which he saw in others rather than felt in himself. By the +beginning of March, 1809, Austria had 260,000 men ready to take +the field.</p> +<p>[The war of 1809 to be a war for Germany.]</p> +<p>The war now breaking out was to be a war for the German +nation, as the struggle of the Spaniards had been a struggle for +Spain. The animated appeals of the Emperor's generals formed a +singular contrast to the silence with which the Austrian Cabinet +had hitherto entered into its wars. The Hapsburg sovereign now +stood before the world less as the inheritor of an ancient empire +and the representative of the Balance of Power than as the +disinterested champion of the German race. On the part of the +Emperor himself the language of devotion for Germany was scarcely +more than ironical. Francis belonged to an age and to a system in +which the idea of nationality had no existence; and, like other +sovereigns, he regarded his possessions as a sort of superior +property which ought to be defended by obedient domestic dogs +against marauding foreign wolves. The same personal view of +public affairs had hitherto satisfied the Austrians. It had been +enough for them to be addressed as the dutiful children of a wise +and affectionate father. The Emperor spoke the familiar Viennese +dialect; he was as homely in his notions and his prejudices as +any beerseller in his dominions; his subjects might see him at +almost any hour of the day or night; and out of the somewhat +tough material of his character popular imagination had no +difficulty in framing an idol of parental geniality and wisdom. +Fifteen years of failure and mismanagement had, however, impaired +the beauty of the domestic fiction; and although old-fashioned +Austrians, like Haydn, the composer of the Austrian Hymn, were +ready to go down to the grave invoking a blessing on their +gracious master, the Emperor himself and his confidants were +shrewd enough to see that the newly-excited sense of German +patriotism would put them in possession of a force which they +could hardly evoke by the old methods.</p> +<p>[Austrian Parties.]</p> +<p>One element of reality lay in the professions which were not +for the most part meant very seriously. There was probably now no +statesman in Austria who any longer felt a jealousy of the power +of Prussia. With Count Stadion and his few real supporters the +restoration of Germany was a genuine and deeply-cherished desire; +with the majority of Austrian politicians the interests of +Austria herself seemed at least for the present to require the +liberation of North Germany. Thus the impassioned appeals of the +Archduke Charles to all men of German race to rise against their +foreign oppressor, and against their native princes who betrayed +the interests of the Fatherland, gained the sanction of a Court +hitherto very little inclined to form an alliance with popular +agitation. If the chaotic disorder of the Austrian Government had +been better understood in Europe, less importance would have been +attached to this sudden change in its tone. No one in the higher +ranks at Vienna was bound by the action of his colleagues. The +Emperor, though industrious, had not the capacity to enforce any +coherent system of government. His brothers caballed one against +another, and against the persons who figured as responsible +ministers. State-papers were brought by soldiers to the Emperor +for his signature without the knowledge of his advisers. The very +manifestos which seemed to herald a new era for Germany owed most +of their vigour to the literary men who were entrusted with their +composition. <a name="FNanchor155"> </a><a href="#Footnote_155"><sup>[155]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Patriotic movement in Prussia.]</p> +<p>[Governing classes in South Germany on the side of +Napoleon.]</p> +<p>The answer likely to be rendered by Germany to the appeal of +Austria was uncertain. In the Rhenish Federation there were +undoubted signs of discontent with French rule among the common +people; but the official classes were universally on the side of +Napoleon, who had given them their posts and their salaries; +while the troops, and especially the officers, who remembered the +time when they had been mocked by the Austrians as "harlequins" +and "nose-bags," were won by the kindness of the great conqueror, +who organised them under the hands of his own generals, and gave +them the companionship of his own victorious legions. Little +could be expected from districts where to the mass of the +population the old régime of German independence had meant +nothing more than attendance at the manor-court of a knight, or +the occasional spectacle of a ducal wedding, or a deferred +interest in the droning jobbery of some hereditary +town-councillor. In Northern Germany there was far more prospect +of a national insurrection. There the spirit of Stein and of +those who had worked with him was making itself felt, in spite of +the fall of the Minister. Scharnhorst's reforms had made the +Prussian army a school of patriotism, and the work of statesmen +and soldiers was promoted by men who spoke to the feelings and +the intelligence of the nation. Literature lost its indifference +to nationality and to home. The philosopher Fichte, the poet +Arndt, the theologian Schleiermacher pressed the claims of +Germany and of the manlier virtues upon a middle class singularly +open to literary influences, singularly wanting in the experience +and the impulses of active public life. <a name="FNanchor156"> </a><a href="#Footnote_156"><sup>[156]</sup></a> In +the Kingdom of Westphalia preparations for an insurrection +against the French were made by officers who had served in the +Prussian and the Hessian armies. In Prussia itself, by the side +of many nobler agencies, the newly-founded Masonic society of the +Tugendbund, or League of Virtue, made the cause of the Fatherland +popular among thousands to whom it was an agreeable novelty to +belong to any society at all. No spontaneous, irresistible +uprising, like that which Europe had seen in the Spanish +Peninsula, was to be expected among the unimpulsive population of +the North German plains; but the military circles of Prussia were +generally in favour of war, and an insurrection of the population +west of the Elbe was not improbable in the event of Napoleon's +army being defeated by Austria in the field. King Frederick +William, too timid to resolve upon war himself, too timid even to +look with satisfaction upon the bold attitude of Austria, had +every reason for striking, if once the balance should incline +against Napoleon: even against his own inclination it was +possible that the ardour of his soldiers might force him into +war.</p> +<p>[Plans of campaign.]</p> +<p>So strong were the hopes of a general rising in Northern +Germany, that the Austrian Government to some extent based its +plans for the campaign on this event. In the ordinary course of +hostilities between France and Austria the line of operations in +Germany is the valley of the Danube; but in preparing for the war +of 1809 the Austrian Government massed its forces in the +north-west of Bohemia, with the object of throwing them directly +upon Central Germany. The French troops which were now evacuating +Prussia were still on their way westwards at the time when +Austria was ready to open the campaign. Davoust, with about +60,000 men, was in Northern Bavaria, separated by a great +distance from the nearest French divisions in Baden and on the +Rhine. By a sudden incursion of the main army of Austria across +the Bohemian mountains, followed by an uprising in Northern +Germany, Davoust and his scattered detachments could hardly +escape destruction. Such was the original plan of the campaign, +and it was probably a wise one in the present exceptional +superiority of the Austrian preparations over those of France. +For the first time since the creation of the Consulate it +appeared as if the opening advantages of the war must inevitably +be upon the side of the enemies of France. Napoleon had +underrated both the energy and the resources of his adversary. By +the middle of March, when the Austrians were ready to descend +upon Davoust from Bohemia, Napoleon's first troops had hardly +crossed the Rhine. Fortunately for the French commander, the +Austrian Government, at the moment of delivering its well-planned +blow, was seized with fear at its own boldness. Recollections of +Hohenlinden and Ulm filled anxious minds with the thought that +the valley of the Danube was insufficiently defended; and on the +20th of March, when the army was on the point of breaking into +Northern Bavaria, orders were given to divert the line of march +to the south, and to enter the Rhenish Confederacy by the roads +of the Danube and the Inn. Thus the fruit of so much energy, and +of the enemy's rare neglectfulness, was sacrificed at the last +moment. It was not until the 9th of April that the Austrian +movement southward was completed, and that the army lay upon the +line of the Inn, ready to attack Napoleon in the territory of his +principal German ally.</p> +<p>[Austrian manifesto to the Germans.]</p> +<p>The proclamations now published by the Emperor and the +Archduke bore striking testimony to the influence of the Spanish +insurrection in exciting the sense of national right, and +awakening the Governments of Europe to the force which this +placed in their hands. For the first time in history a manifesto +was addressed "to the German nation." The contrast drawn in the +Archduke's address to his army between the Spanish patriots dying +in the defence of their country, and the German +vassal-contingents dragged by Napoleon into Spain to deprive a +gallant nation of its freedom, was one of the most just and the +most telling that tyranny has ever given to the leaders of a +righteous cause. <a name="FNanchor157"> </a><a href="#Footnote_157"><sup>[157]</sup></a> The Emperor's address "to +the German nation" breathed the same spirit. It was not difficult +for the politicians of the Rhenish Federation to ridicule the +sudden enthusiasm for liberty and nationality shown by a +Government which up to the present time had dreaded nothing so +much as the excitement of popular movements; but, however +unconcernedly the Emperor and the old school of Austrian +statesmen might adopt patriotic phrases which they had no +intention to remember when the struggle was over, such language +was a reality in the effect which it produced upon the thousands +who, both in Austria and other parts of Germany, now for the +first time heard the summons to unite in defence of a common +Fatherland.</p> +<p>[Austrians invade Bavaria, April 9, 1809.]</p> +<p>[Rising of the Tyrol, April, 1809.]</p> +<p>[Its causes religious.]</p> +<p>The leading divisions of the Archduke's army crossed the Inn +on the 9th of April. Besides the forces intended for the invasion +of Bavaria, which numbered 170,000 men, the Austrian Government +had formed two smaller armies, with which the Princes Ferdinand +and John were to take up the offensive in the Grand Duchy of +Warsaw and in Northern Italy. On every side Austria was first in +the field; but even before its regular forces could encounter the +enemy, a popular outbreak of the kind that the Government had +invoked wrested from the French the whole of an important +province. While the army crossed the Inn, the Tyrolese people +rose, and overpowered the French and Bavarian detachments +stationed in their country. The Tyrol had been taken from Austria +at the Peace of Presburg, and attached to Napoleon's vassal +kingdom of Bavaria. In geographical position and in relationship +of blood the Tyrolese were as closely connected with the +Bavarians as with the Austrians; and the annexation would +probably have caused no lasting discontent if the Bavarian +Government had condescended to take some account of the character +of its new subjects. Under the rule of Austria the Tyrolese had +enjoyed many privileges. They were exempt from military service, +except in their own militia; they paid few taxes; they possessed +forms of self-government which were at least popular enough to be +regretted after they had been lost. The people adored their +bishops and clergy. Nowhere could the Church exhibit a more +winning example of unbroken accord between a simple people and a +Catholic Crown. Protestantism and the unholy activities of reason +had never brought trouble into the land. The people believed +exactly what the priests told them, and delighted in the +innumerable holidays provided by the Church. They had so little +cupidity that no bribe could induce a Tyrolese peasant to inform +the French of any movement; they had so little intelligence that, +when their own courage and stout-heartedness had won their first +battle, they persuaded one another that they had been led by a +Saint on a white horse. Grievances of a substantial character +were not wanting under the new Bavarian rule; but it was less the +increased taxation and the enforcement of military service that +exasperated the people than the attacks made by the Government +upon the property and rights of the Church. Montgelas, the +reforming Bavarian minister, treated the Tyrolese bishops with as +little ceremony as the Swabian knights. The State laid claim to +all advowsons; and upon the refusal of the bishops to give up +their patronage, the bishops themselves were banished and their +revenues sequestrated. A passion for uniformity and common sense +prompted the Government to revive the Emperor Joseph's edicts +against pilgrimages and Church holidays. It became a +police-offence to shut up a shop on a saint's day, or to wear a +gay dress at a festival. Bavarian soldiers closed the churches at +the end of a prescribed number of masses. At a sale of Church +property, ordered by the Government, some of the sacred vessels +were permitted to fall into the hands of the Jews.</p> +<p>These were the wrongs that fired the simple Tyrolese. They +could have borne the visits of the tax-gatherer and the lists of +conscription; they could not bear that their priests should be +overruled, or that their observances should be limited to those +sufficient for ordinary Catholics. Yet, with all its aspect of +unreason, the question in the Tyrol was also part of that larger +question whether Napoleon's pleasure should be the rule of +European life, or nations should have some voice in the disposal +of their own affairs. The Tyrolese were not more superstitious, +and they were certainty much less cruel, than the Spaniards. They +fought for ecclesiastical absurdities; but their cause was also +the cause of national right, and the admiration which their +courage excited in Europe was well deserved.</p> +<p>[Tyrolese expel Bavarians and French, April 1809.]</p> +<p>Early in the year 1809 the Archduke John had met the leaders +of the Tyrolese peasantry, and planned the first movements of a +national insurrection. As soon as the Austrian army crossed the +Inn, the peasants thronged to their appointed meeting-places. +Scattered detachments of the Bavarians were surrounded, and on +the 12th of April the main body of the Tyrolese, numbering about +15,000 men, advanced upon Innsbruck. The town was invested; the +Bavarian garrison, consisting of 3,000 regular troops, found +itself forced to surrender after a severe engagement. On the next +morning a French column, on the march from Italy to the Danube, +approached Innsbruck, totally unaware of the events of the +preceding day. The Tyrolese closed behind it as it advanced. It +was not until the column was close to the town that its +commander, General Brisson, discovered that Innsbruck had fallen +into an enemy's hands. Retreat was impossible; ammunition was +wanting for a battle; and Brisson had no choice but to surrender +to the peasants, who had already proved more than a match for the +Bavarian regular troops. The Tyrolese had done their work without +the help of a single Austrian regiment. In five days the weak +fabric of Bavarian rule had been thrown to the ground. The French +only maintained themselves in the lower valley of the Adige: and +before the end of April their last positions at Trent and +Roveredo were evacuated, and no foreign soldier remained on +Tyrolese soil.</p> +<p>[Campaign of Archduke Charles in Bavaria.]</p> +<p>The operations of the Austrian commanders upon the Inn formed +a melancholy contrast to the activity of the mountaineers. In +spite of the delay of three weeks in opening the campaign, +Davoust had still not effected his junction with the French +troops in Southern Bavaria, and a rapid movement of the Austrians +might even now have overwhelmed his isolated divisions at +Ratisbon. Napoleon himself had remained in Paris till the last +moment, instructing Berthier, the chief of the staff, to +concentrate the vanguard at Ratisbon, if by the 15th of April the +enemy had not crossed the Inn, but to draw back to the line of +the Lech if the enemy crossed the Inn before that <a name="FNanchor158">day.</a><a href="#Footnote_158"><sup>[158]</sup></a> The Archduke entered Bavaria +on the 9th; but, instead of retiring to the Lech, Berthier +allowed the army to be scattered over an area sixty miles broad, +from Ratisbon to points above Augsburg. Davoust lay at Ratisbon, +a certain prey if the Archduke pushed forwards with vigour and +thrust his army between the northern and the southern positions +of the French. But nothing could change the sluggishness of the +Austrian march. The Archduke was six days in moving from the Inn +to the Isar; and before the order was given for an advance upon +Ratisbon, Napoleon himself had arrived at Donauwörth, and +taken the command out of the hands of his feeble lieutenant.</p> +<p>[Napoleon restores superiority of French, April 18, 19.]</p> +<p>It needed all the Emperor's energy to snatch victory from the +enemy's grasp. Davoust was bidden to fall back from Ratisbon to +Neustadt; the most pressing orders were sent to Massena, who +commanded the right at Augsburg, to push forward to the +north-east in the direction of his colleague, before the +Austrians could throw the mass of their forces upon Davoust's +weak corps. Both generals understood the urgency of the command. +Davoust set out from Ratisbon on the morning of the 19th. He was +attacked by the Archduke, but so feebly and irresolutely that, +with all their superiority in numbers, the Austrians failed to +overpower the enemy at any one point. Massena, immediately after +receiving his orders, hurried from Augsburg north-eastwards, +while Napoleon himself advanced into the mid-space between the +two generals, and brought the right and left wings of the French +army into communication with one another. In two days after the +Emperor's arrival all the advantages of the Austrians were gone: +the French, so lately exposed to destruction, formed a +concentrated mass in the presence of a scattered enemy. The issue +of the campaign was decided by the movements of these two days. +Napoleon was again at the head of 150,000 men; the Archduke, +already baulked in his first attack upon Davoust, was seized with +unworthy terror when he found that Napoleon himself was before +him, and resigned himself to anticipations of ruin.</p> +<p>[Austrian defeats at Landshut and Eggmühl, April 22.]</p> +<p>[French enter Vienna, May 13.]</p> +<p>A series of manoeuvres and engagements in the finest style of +Napoleonic warfare filled the next three days with French +victories and Austrian disasters. On April the 20th the long line +of the Archduke's army was cut in halves by an attack at +Abensberg. The left was driven across the Isar at Landshut; the +right, commanded by the Archduke himself, was overpowered at +Eggmühl on the 22nd, and forced northwards. The unbroken +mass of the French army now thrust itself between the two +defeated wings of the enemy. The only road remaining open to the +Archduke was that through Ratisbon to the north of the Danube. In +five days, although no engagement of the first order had taken +place between the French and Austrian armies, Charles had lost +60,000 men; the mass of his army was retreating into Bohemia, and +the road to Vienna lay scarcely less open than after Mack's +capitulation at Ulm four years before. A desperate battle fought +against the advancing French at Edelsberg by the weak divisions +that had remained on the south of the Danube, proved that the +disasters of the campaign were due to the faults of the general, +not to the men whom he commanded. But whatever hopes of ultimate +success might still be based on the gallant temper of the army, +it was impossible to prevent the fall of the capital. The French, +leaving the Archduke on the north of the Danube, pressed forwards +along the direct route from the Inn to Vienna. The capital was +bombarded and occupied. On the 13th of May Napoleon again took up +his quarters in the palace of the Austrian monarchs where he had +signed the Peace of 1806. The divisions which had fallen back +before him along the southern road crossed the Danube at Vienna, +and joined the Archduke on the bank of the river opposite the +capital.</p> +<p>[Attempts of Dörnberg and Schill in Northern Germany, +April, 1809.]</p> +<p>The disasters of the Bavarian campaign involved the sacrifice +of all that had resulted from Austrian victories elsewhere, and +of all that might have been won by a general insurrection in +Northern Germany. In Poland and in Italy the war had opened +favourably for Austria. Warsaw had been seized; Eugene +Beauharnais, the Viceroy of Italy, had been defeated by the +Archduke John at Sacile, in Venetia; but it was impossible to +pursue these advantages when the capital itself was on the point +of falling into the hands of the enemy. The invading armies +halted, and ere long the Archduke John commenced his retreat into +the mountains. In Northern Germany no popular uprising could be +expected when once Austria had been defeated. The only movements +that took place were undertaken by soldiers, and undertaken +before the disasters in Bavaria became known. The leaders in this +military conspiracy were Dörnberg, an officer in the service +of King Jerome of Westphalia, and Schill, the Prussian cavalry +leader who had so brilliantly distinguished himself in the +defence of Colberg. Dörnberg had taken service under Jerome +with the design of raising Jerome's own army against him. It had +been agreed by the conspirators that at the same moment +Dörnberg should raise the Hessian standard in Westphalia, +and Schill, marching from Berlin with any part of the Prussian +army that would follow him, should proclaim war against the +French in defiance of the Prussian Government. Dörnberg had +made sure of the support of his own regiment; but at the last +moment the plot was discovered, and he was transferred to the +command of a body of men upon whom he could not rely. He placed +himself at the head of a band of peasants, and raised the +standard of insurrection. King Jerome's troops met the +solicitations of their countrymen with a volley of bullets. +Dörnberg fled for his life; and the revolt ended on the day +after it had begun (April 23). Schill, unconscious of +Dörnberg's ruin, and deceived by reports of Austrian +victories upon the Danube, led out his regiment from Berlin as if +for a day's manoeuvring, and then summoned his men to follow him +in raising a national insurrection against Napoleon. The soldiers +answered Schill's eloquent words with shouts of applause; the +march was continued westwards, and Schill crossed the Elbe, +intending to fall upon the communications of Napoleon's army, +already, as he believed, staggering under the blows delivered by +the Archduke in the valley of the Danube.</p> +<p>[Schill at Stralsund, May 23.]</p> +<p>On reaching Halle, Schill learnt of the overthrow of the +Archduke and of Dörnberg's ruin in Westphalia. All hope of +success in the enterprise on which he had quitted Berlin was +dashed to the ground. The possibility of raising a popular +insurrection vanished. Schill, however, had gone too far to +recede; and even now it was not too late to join the armies of +Napoleon's enemies. Schill might move into Bohemia, or to some +point on the northern coast where he would be within reach of +English vessels. But in any case quick and steady decision was +necessary; and this Schill could not attain. Though brave even to +recklessness, and gifted with qualities which made him the idol +of the public, Schill lacked the disinterestedness and +self-mastery which calm the judgment in time of trial. The sudden +ruin of his hopes left him without a plan. He wasted day after +day in purposeless marches, while the enemy collected a force to +overwhelm him. His influence over his men became impaired; the +denunciations of the Prussian Government prevented other soldiers +from joining him. At length Schill determined to recross the +Elbe, and to throw himself into the coast town of Stralsund, in +Swedish Pomerania. He marched through Mecklenburg, and suddenly +appeared before Stralsund at moment when the French cannoneers in +garrison were firing a salvo in honour of Napoleon's entry into +Vienna. A hand-to-hand fight gave Schill possession of the town, +with all its stores. For a moment it seemed as if Stralsund might +become a second Saragossa; but the French were at hand before it +was possible to create works of defence. Schill had but eighteen +hundred men, half of whom were cavalry; he understood nothing of +military science, and would listen to no counsels. A week after +his entry into Stralsund the town was stormed by a force four +times more numerous than its defenders. Capitulation was no word +for the man who had dared to make a private war upon Napoleon; +Schill could only set the example of an heroic death. <a name="FNanchor159"> </a><a href="#Footnote_159"><sup>[159]</sup></a> +The officers who were not so fortunate as to fall with their +leader were shot in cold blood, after trial by a French +court-martial. Six hundred common soldiers who surrendered were +sent to the galleys of Toulon to sicken among French thieves and +murderers. The cruelty of the conqueror, the heroism of the +conquered, gave to Schill's ill-planned venture the importance of +a great act of patriotic martyrdom. Another example had been +given of self-sacrifice in the just cause. Schill's faults were +forgotten; his memory deepened the passion with which all the +braver spirits of Germany now looked for the day of reckoning +with their oppressor. <a name="FNanchor160"> </a><a href="#Footnote_160"><sup>[160]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Napoleon crosses the Danube, May 20.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Aspern, May 21, 22.]</p> +<p>Napoleon had finished the first act of the war of 1809 by the +occupation of Vienna; but no peace was possible until the +Austrian army, which lay upon the opposite bank of the river, had +been attacked and beaten. Four miles below Vienna the Danube is +divided into two streams by the island of Lobau: the southern +stream is the main channel of the river, the northern is only a +hundred and fifty yards broad. It was here that Napoleon +determined to make the passage. The broad arm of the Danube, +sheltered by the island from the enemy's fire, was easily bridged +by boats; the passage from the island to the northern bank, +though liable to be disputed by the Austrians, was facilitated by +the narrowing of the stream. On the 18th of May, Napoleon, +supposing himself to have made good the connection between the +island and the southern bank, began to bridge the northern arm of +the river. His movements were observed by the enemy, but no +opposition was offered. On the 20th a body of 40,000 French +crossed to the northern bank, and occupied the villages of Aspern +and Essling. This was the movement for which the Archduke +Charles, who had now 80,000 men under arms, had been waiting. +Early on the 21st a mass of heavily-laden barges was let loose by +the Austrians above the island. The waters of the Danube were +swollen by the melting of the snows, and at midday the bridges of +the French over the broad arm of the river were swept away. A +little later, dense Austrian columns were seen advancing upon the +villages of Aspern and Essling, where the French, cut off from +their supports, had to meet an overpowering enemy in front, with +an impassable river in their rear. The attack began at four in +the afternoon; when night fell the French had been driven out of +Aspern, though they still held the Austrians at bay in their +other position at Essling. During the night the long bridges were +repaired; forty thousand additional troops moved across the +island to the northern bank of the Danube; and the engagement was +renewed, now between equal numbers, on the following morning. +Five times the village of Aspern was lost and won. In the midst +of the struggle the long bridges were again carried away. Unable +to break the enemy, unable to bring up any new forces from +Vienna, Napoleon ordered a retreat. The army was slowly withdrawn +into the island of Lobau. There for the next two days it lay +without food and without ammunition, severed from Vienna, and +exposed to certain destruction if the Archduke could have thrown +his army across the narrow arm of the river and renewed the +engagement. But the Austrians were in no condition to follow up +their victory. Their losses were enormous; their stores were +exhausted. The moments in which a single stroke might have +overthrown the whole fabric of Napoleon's power were spent in +forced inaction. By the third day after the battle of Aspern the +communications between the island and the mainland were restored, +and Napoleon's energy had brought the army out of immediate +danger.</p> +<p>[Effect on Europe.]</p> +<p>[Brunswick invades Saxony.]</p> +<p>Nevertheless, although the worst was averted, and the French +now lay secure in their island fortress, the defeat of Aspern +changed the position of Napoleon in the eyes of all Europe. The +belief in his invincibility was destroyed; he had suffered a +defeat in person, at the head of his finest troops, from an enemy +little superior in strength to himself. The disasters of the +Austrians in the opening of the campaign were forgotten; +everywhere the hopes of resistance woke into new life. Prussian +statesmen urged their King to promise his support if Austria +should gain one more victory. Other enemies were ready to fall +upon Napoleon without waiting for this condition. England +collected an immense armament destined for an attack upon some +point of the northern coast. Germany, lately mute and nerveless, +gave threatening signs. The Duke of Brunswick, driven from his +inheritance after his father's death at Jena, invaded the +dominions of Napoleon's vassal, the King of Saxony, and expelled +him from his capital. Popular insurrections broke out in +Würtemberg and in Westphalia, and proved the rising force of +national feeling even in districts where the cause of Germany +lately seemed so hopelessly lost.</p> +<p>[Napoleon's preparations for the second passage of the Danube, +June.]</p> +<p>[French cross the Danube, July 4.]</p> +<p>But Napoleon concerned himself little with these remoter +enemies. Every energy of his mind was bent to the one great issue +on which victory depended, the passage of the Danube. His chances +of success were still good, if the French troops watching the +enemy between Vienna and the Adriatic could be brought up in time +for the final struggle. The Archduke Charles was in no hurry for +a battle, believing that every hour increased the probability of +an attack upon Napoleon by England or Prussia, or insurgent +Germany. Never was the difference between Napoleon and his ablest +adversaries more strikingly displayed than in the work which was +accomplished by him during this same interval. He had determined +that in the next battle his army should march across the Danube +as safely and as rapidly as it could march along the streets of +Vienna. Two solid bridges were built on piles across the broad +arm of the river; no less than six bridges of rafts were made +ready to be thrown across the narrow arm when the moment arrived +for the attack. By the end of June all the outlying divisions of +the French army had gathered to the great rallying-point; a +hundred and eighty thousand men were in the island, or ready to +enter it; every movement, every position to be occupied by each +member of this vast mass in its passage and advance, was fixed +down to the minutest details. Napoleon had decided to cross from +the eastern, not from the northern side of the island, and thus +to pass outside the fortifications which the Archduke had erected +on the former battle-field. Towards midnight on the 4th of July, +in the midst of a violent storm, the six bridges were +successively swung across the river. The artillery opened fire. +One army corps after another, each drawn up opposite to its own +bridge, marched to the northern shore, and by sunrise nearly the +whole of Napoleon's force deployed on the left bank of the +Danube. The river had been converted into a great highway; the +fortifications which had been erected by the Archduke were turned +by the eastward direction of the passage. All that remained for +the Austrian commander was to fight a pitched battle on ground +that was now at least thoroughly familiar to him. Charles had +taken up a good position on the hills that look over the village +of Wagram. Here, with 130,000 men, he awaited the attack of the +French. The first attack was made in the afternoon after the +crossing of the river. It failed; and the French army lay +stretched during the night between the river and the hills, while +the Archduke prepared to descend upon their left on the morrow, +and to force himself between the enemy and the bridges behind +them.</p> +<p>[Battle of Wagram, July 5, 6.]</p> +<p>[Armistice of Znaim, July 12.]</p> +<p>Early on the morning of the 6th the two largest armies that +had ever been brought face to face in Europe began their +onslaught. Spectators from the steeples of Vienna saw the fire of +the French little by little receding on their left, and dense +masses of the Austrians pressing on towards the bridges, on whose +safety the existence of the French army depended. But ere long +the forward movement stopped. Napoleon had thrown an overpowering +force against the Austrian centre, and the Archduke found himself +compelled to recall his victorious divisions and defend his own +threatened line. Gradually the superior numbers of the French +forced the enemy back. The Archduke John, who had been ordered up +from Presburg, failed to appear on the field; and at two o'clock +Charles ordered a retreat. The order of the Austrians was +unbroken; they had captured more prisoners than they had lost; +their retreat was covered by so powerful an artillery that the +French could make no pursuit. The victory was no doubt +Napoleon's, but it was a victory that had nothing in common with +Jena and Austerlitz. Nothing was lost by the Austrians at Wagram +but their positions and the reputation of their general. The army +was still in fighting-order, with the fortresses of Bohemia +behind it. Whether Austria would continue the war depended on the +action of the other European Powers. If Great Britain +successfully landed an armament in Northern Germany or dealt any +overwhelming blow in Spain, if Prussia declared war on Napoleon, +Austria might fight on. If the other Powers failed, Austria, must +make peace. The armistice of Znaim, concluded on the 12th of +July, was recognised on all sides as a mere device to gain time. +There was a pause in the great struggle in the central Continent. +Its renewal or its termination depended upon the issue of events +at a distance.</p> +<p>[Wellesley invades Spain, June, 1809.]</p> +<p>[Talavera, July 27.]</p> +<p>[Wellesley retreats to Portugal.]</p> +<p>For the moment the eyes of all Europe were fixed upon the +British army in Spain. Sir Arthur Wellesley, who took command at +Lisbon in the spring, had driven Soult out of Oporto, and was +advancing by the valley of the Tagus upon the Spanish capital. +Some appearance of additional strength was given to him by the +support of a Spanish army under the command of General Cuesta. +Wellesley's march had, however, been delayed by the neglect and +bad faith of the Spanish Government, and time had been given to +Soult to collect a large force in the neighbourhood of Salamanca, +ready either to fall upon Wellesley from the north, or to unite +with another French army which lay at Talavera, if its commander, +Victor, had the wisdom to postpone an engagement. The English +general knew nothing of Soult's presence on his flank: he +continued his march towards Madrid along the valley of the Tagus, +and finally drew up for battle at Talavera, when Victor, after +retreating before Cuesta to some distance, hunted back his +Spanish pursuer to the point from which he had <a name="FNanchor161">started.</a><a href="#Footnote_161"><sup>[161]</sup></a> The first attack was made by +Victor upon the English positions at evening on the 27th of July. +Next morning the assault was renewed, and the battle became +general. Wellesley gained a complete victory, but the English +themselves suffered heavily, and the army remained in its +position. Within the next few days Soult was discovered to be +descending from the mountains between Salamanca and the Tagus. A +force superior to Wellesley's own threatened to close upon him +from the rear, and to hem him in between two fires. The +sacrifices of Talavera proved to have been made in vain. +Wellesley had no choice but to abandon his advance upon the +Spanish capital, and to fall back upon Portugal by the roads +south of the Tagus. In spite of the defeat of Victor, the French +were the winners of the campaign. Madrid was still secure; the +fabric of French rule in the Spanish Peninsula was still +unshaken. The tidings of Wellesley's retreat reached Napoleon and +the Austrian negotiators, damping the hopes of Austria, and +easing Napoleon's fears. Austria's continuance of the war now +depended upon the success or failure of the long-expected descent +of an English army upon the northern coast of Europe.</p> +<p>Three months before the Austrian Government declared war upon +Napoleon, it had acquainted Great Britain with its own plans, and +urged the Cabinet to dispatch an English force to Northern +Germany. Such a force, landing at the time of the battle of +Aspern, would certainly have aroused both Prussia and the country +between the Elbe and the Maine. But the difference between a +movement executed in time and one executed weeks and months too +late was still unknown at the English War Office. The Ministry +did not even begin their preparations till the middle of June, +and then they determined, in pursuance of a plan made some years +earlier, to attack the French fleet and docks at Antwerp, and to +ignore that patriotic movement in Northern Germany from which +they had so much to hope.</p> +<p>[British Expedition against Antwerp, July, 1809.]</p> +<p>[Total failure.]</p> +<p>On the 28th of July, two months after the battle of Aspern and +three weeks after the battle of Wagram, a fleet of thirty-seven +ships of the line, with innumerable transports and gunboats, set +sail from Dover for the Schelde. Forty thousand troops were on +board; the commander of the expedition was the Earl of Chatham, a +court-favourite in whom Nature avenged herself upon Great Britain +for what she had given to this country in his father and his +younger brother. The troops were landed on the island of +Walcheren. Instead of pushing forward to Antwerp with all +possible haste, and surprising it before any preparations could +be made for its defence, Lord Chatham placed half his army on the +banks of various canals, and with the other half proceeded to +invest Flushing. On the 16th of August this unfortunate town +surrendered, after a bombardment that had reduced it to a mass of +ruins. During the next ten days the English commander advanced +about as many miles, and then discovered that for all prospect of +taking Antwerp he might as well have remained in England. Whilst +Chatham was groping about in Walcheren, the fortifications of +Antwerp were restored, the fleet carried up the river, and a mass +of troops collected sufficient to defend the town against a +regular siege. Defeat stared the English in the face. At the end +of August the general recommended the Government to recall the +expedition, only leaving a force of 15,000 soldiers to occupy the +marshes of Walcheren. Chatham's recommendations were accepted; +and on a spot so notoriously pestiferous that Napoleon had +refused to permit a single French soldier to serve there on +garrison duty, <a name="FNanchor162"> </a><a href="#Footnote_162"><sup>[162]</sup></a> an English army-corps, which +might at least have earned the same honour as Schill and +Brunswick in Northern Germany, was left to perish of fever and +ague. When two thousand soldiers were in their graves, the rest +were recalled to England.</p> +<p>[Austria makes peace.]</p> +<p>Great Britain had failed to weaken or to alarm Napoleon; the +King of Prussia made no movement on behalf of the losing cause; +and the Austrian Government unwillingly found itself compelled to +accept conditions of peace. It was not so much a deficiency in +its forces as the universal distrust of its generals that made it +impossible for Austria to continue the war. The soldiers had +fought as bravely as the French, but in vain. "If we had a +million soldiers," it was said, "we must make peace; for we have +no one to command them." Count Stadion, who was for carrying on +the war to the bitter end, despaired of throwing his own +energetic courage into the men who surrounded the Emperor, and +withdrew from public affairs. For week after week the Emperor +fluctuated between the acceptance of Napoleon's hard conditions +and the renewal of a struggle which was likely to involve his own +dethronement as well as the total conquest of the Austrian State. +At length Napoleon's demands were presented in the form of an +ultimatum. In his distress the Emperor's thoughts turned towards +the Minister who, eight years before, had been so strong, so +resolute, when all around him wavered. Thugut, now seventy-six +years old, was living in retirement. The Emperor sent one of his +generals to ask his opinion on peace or war. "I thought to find +him," reported the general, "broken in mind and body; but the +fire of his spirit is in its full force." Thugut's reply did +honour to his foresight: "Make peace at any price. The existence +of the Austrian monarchy is at stake: the dissolution of the +French Empire is not far off." On the 14th of October the Emperor +Francis accepted his conqueror's terms, and signed conditions of +peace. <a name="FNanchor163"> </a><a href="#Footnote_163"><sup>[163]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Peace of Vienna, Oct. 14, 1809.]</p> +<p>[Real effects of the war of 1809.]</p> +<p>The Treaty of Vienna, the last which Napoleon signed as a +conqueror, took from the Austrian Empire 50,000 square miles of +territory and more than 4,000,000 inhabitants. Salzburg, with +part of Upper Austria, was ceded to Bavaria; Western Galicia, the +territory gained by Austria in the final partition of Poland, was +transferred to the Grand-Duchy of Warsaw; part of Carinthia, with +the whole of the country lying between the Adriatic and the Save +as far as the frontier of Bosnia, was annexed to Napoleon's own +Empire, under the title of the Illyrian Provinces. Austria was +cut off from the sea, and the dominion of Napoleon extended +without a break to the borders of Turkey. Bavaria and Saxony, the +outposts of French sovereignty in Central Europe, were enriched +at the expense of the Power which had called Germany to arms; +Austria, which at the beginning of the Revolutionary War had +owned territory upon the Rhine and exercised a predominating +influence over all Italy, seemed now to be finally excluded both +from Germany and the Mediterranean. Yet, however striking the +change of frontier which gave to Napoleon continuous dominion +from the Straits of Calais to the border of Bosnia, the victories +of France in 1809 brought in their train none of those great +moral changes which had hitherto made each French conquest a +stage in European progress. The campaign of 1796 had aroused the +hope of national independence in Italy; the settlements of 1801 +and 1806 had put an end to Feudalism in Western Germany; the +victories of 1809 originated nothing but a change of frontier +such as the next war might obliterate and undo. All that was +permanent in the effects of the year 1809 was due, not to any new +creations of Napoleon, but to the spirit of resistance which +France had at length excited in Europe. The revolt of the Tyrol, +the exploits of Brunswick and Schill, gave a stimulus to German +patriotism which survived the defeat of Austria. Austria itself, +though overpowered, had inflicted a deadly injury upon Napoleon, +by withdrawing him from Spain at the moment when he might have +completed its conquest, and by enabling Wellesley to gain a +footing in the Peninsula. Napoleon appeared to have gathered a +richer spoil from the victories of 1809 than from any of his +previous wars; in reality he had never surrounded himself with so +many dangers. Russia was alienated by the annexation of West +Galicia to the Polish Grand Duchy of Warsaw; Northern Germany had +profited by the examples of courage and patriotism shown so +largely in 1809 on behalf of the Fatherland; Spain, supported by +Wellesley's army, was still far from submission. The old +indifference which had smoothed the way for the earlier French +conquests was no longer the characteristic of Europe. The +estrangement of Russia, the growth of national spirit in Germany +and in Spain, involved a danger to Napoleon's power which far +outweighed the visible results of his victory.</p> +<p>[Austria and the Tyrol.]</p> +<p>Austria itself could only acquiesce in defeat: nor perhaps +would the permanent interests of Europe have been promoted by its +success. The championship of Germany which it assumed at the +beginning of the war would no doubt have resulted in the +temporary establishment of some form of German union under +Austrian leadership, if the event of the war had been different; +but the sovereign of Hungary and Croatia could never be the true +head of the German people; and the conduct of the Austrian +Government after the peace of 1809 gave little reason to regret +its failure to revive a Teutonic Empire. No portion of the +Emperor's subjects had fought for him with such determined +loyalty as the Tyrolese. After having been the first to throw off +the yoke of the stranger, they had again and again freed their +country when Napoleon's generals supposed all resistance +overcome; and in return for their efforts the Emperor had +solemnly assured them that he would never accept a peace which +did not restore them to his Empire. If fair dealing was due +anywhere it was due from the Court of Austria to the Tyrolese. +Yet the only reward of the simple courage of these mountaineers +was that the war-party at head-quarters recklessly employed them +as a means of prolonging, hostilities after the armistice of +Znaim, and that up to the moment when peace was signed they were +left in the belief that the Emperor meant to keep his promise, +Austria, however, could not ruin herself to please the Tyrolese. +Circumstances were changed; and the phrases of patriotism which +had excited so much rejoicing at the beginning of the war were +now fallen out of fashion at Vienna. Nothing more was heard about +the rights of nations and the deliverance of Germany. Austria had +made a great venture and failed; and the Government rather +resumed than abandoned its normal attitude in turning its back +upon the professions of 1809.</p> +<p>[Austrian policy after 1809.]</p> +<p>[Metternich.]</p> +<p>Henceforward the policy of Austria was one of calculation, +untinged by national sympathies. France had been a cruel enemy; +yet if there was a prospect of winning something for Austria by a +French alliance, considerations of sentiment could not be allowed +to stand in the way. A statesman who, like Count Stadion, had +identified the interests of Austria with the liberation of +Germany, was no fitting helmsman for the State in the shifting +course that now lay before it. A diplomatist was called to power +who had hitherto by Napoleon's own desire represented the +Austrian State at Paris. Count Metternich, the new Chief +Minister, was the son of a Rhenish nobleman who had held high +office under the Austrian crown. His youth had been passed at +Coblentz, and his character and tastes were those which in the +eighteenth century had marked the court-circles of the little +Rhenish Principalities, French in their outer life, unconscious +of the instinct of nationality, polished and seductive in that +personal management which passed for the highest type of +statesmanship. Metternich had been ambassador at Dresden and at +Berlin before he went to Paris. Napoleon had requested that he +might be transferred to the Court of the Tuileries, on account of +the marked personal courtesy shown by Metternich to the French +ambassador at Berlin during the war between France and Austria in +1805. Metternich carried with him all the friendliness of +personal intercourse which Napoleon expected in him, but he also +carried with him a calm and penetrating self-possession, and the +conviction that Napoleon would give Europe no rest until his +power was greatly diminished. He served Austria well at Paris, +and in the negotiations for peace which followed the battle of +Wagram he took a leading part. After the disasters of 1809, when +war was impossible and isolation ruin, no statesman could so well +serve Austria as one who had never confessed himself the enemy of +any Power; and, with the full approval of Napoleon, the late +Ambassador at Paris was placed at the head of the Austrian +State.</p> +<p>[Marriage of Napoleon with Marie Louise, 1810.]</p> +<p>[Severance of Napoleon and Alexander.]</p> +<p>Metternich's first undertaking gave singular evidence of the +flexibility of system which was henceforward to guard Austria's +interests. Before the grass had grown over the graves at Wagram, +the Emperor Francis was persuaded to give his daughter in +marriage to Napoleon. For some time past Napoleon had determined +on divorcing Josephine and allying himself to one of the reigning +houses of the Continent. His first advances were made at St. +Petersburg; but the Czar hesitated to form a connection which his +subjects would view as a dishonour; and the opportunity was +seized by the less fastidious Austrians as soon as the fancies of +the imperial suitor turned towards Vienna. The Emperor Francis, +who had been bullied by Napoleon upon the field of Austerlitz, +ridiculed and insulted in every proclamation issued during the +late campaign, gave up his daughter for what was called the good +of his people, and reconciled himself to a son-in-law who had +taken so many provinces for his dowry. Peace had not been +proclaimed four months when the treaty was signed which united +the House of Bonaparte to the family of Marie Antoinette. The +Archduke Charles represented Napoleon in the espousals; the +Archbishop of Vienna anointed the bride with the same sacred oil +with which he had consecrated the banners of 1809; the servile +press which narrated the wedding festivities found no space to +mention that the Emperor's bravest subject, the Tyrolese leader +Hofer, was executed by Napoleon as a brigand in the interval +between the contract and the celebration of the marriage. Old +Austrian families, members of the only aristocracy upon the +Continent that still possessed political weight and a political +tradition, lamented the Emperor's consent to a union which their +prejudices called a mis-alliance, and their consciences an +adultery; but the object of Metternich was attained. The +friendship between France and Russia, which had inflicted so much +evil on the Continent since the Peace of Tilsit, was dissolved; +the sword of Napoleon was turned away from Austria for at least +some years; the restoration of the lost provinces of the Hapsburg +seemed not impossible, now that Napoleon and Alexander were left +face to face in Europe, and the alliance of Austria had become so +important to the power which had hitherto enriched itself at +Austria's expense.</p> +<p>[Napoleon annexes Papal States, May, 1809.]</p> +<p>Napoleon crowned his new bride, and felt himself at length the +equal of the Hapsburgs and the Bourbons. Except in Spain, his +arms were no longer resisted upon the Continent, and the period +immediately succeeding the Peace of Vienna was that which brought +the Napoleonic Empire to its widest bounds. Already, in the pride +of the first victories of 1809, Napoleon had completed his +aggressions upon the Papal sovereignty by declaring the +Ecclesiastical States to be united to the French Empire (May 17, +1809). The Pope retorted upon his despoiler with a Bull of +Excommunication; but the spiritual terrors were among the least +formidable of those then active in Europe, and the sanctity of +the Pontiff did not prevent Napoleon's soldiers from arresting +him in the Quirinal, and carrying him as a prisoner to Savona. +Here Pius VII., was detained for the next three years. The Roman +States received the laws and the civil organisation of <a name="FNanchor164">France.</a> <a href="#Footnote_164"><sup>[164]</sup></a> Bishops and clergy who +refused the oath of fidelity to Napoleon were imprisoned or +exiled; the monasteries and convents were dissolved; the +cardinals and great officers, along with the archives and the +whole apparatus of ecclesiastical rule, were carried to Paris. In +relation to the future of European Catholicism, the breach +between Napoleon and Pius VII., was a more important event than +was understood at the time; its immediate and visible result was +that there was one sovereign the fewer in Europe, and one more +province opened to the French conscription.</p> +<p>[Napoleon annexes, Holland, July, 1810.]</p> +<p>The next of Napoleon's vassals who lost his throne was the +King of Holland. Like Joseph in Spain, and like Murat in Naples, +Louis Bonaparte had made an honest effort to govern for the +benefit of his subjects. He had endeavoured to lighten the +burdens which Napoleon laid upon the Dutch nation, already +deprived of its colonies, its commerce, and its independence; and +every plea which Louis had made for his subjects had been treated +by Napoleon as a breach of duty towards himself. The offence of +the unfortunate King of Holland became unpardonable when he +neglected to enforce the orders of Napoleon against the admission +of English goods. Louis was summoned to Paris, and compelled to +sign a treaty, ceding part of his dominions and placing his +custom-houses in the hands of French officers. He returned to +Holland, but affairs grew worse and worse. French troops overran +the country; Napoleon's letters were each more menacing than the +last; and at length Louis fled from his dominions (July 1, 1810), +and delivered himself from a royalty which had proved the most +intolerable kind of servitude. A week later Holland was +incorporated with the French Empire.</p> +<p>[Annexation of Le Valais, and of the North German coast.]</p> +<p>Two more annexations followed before the end of the year. The +Republic of the Valais was declared to have neglected the duty +imposed upon it of repairing the road over the Simplon, and +forfeited its independence. The North German coast district, +comprising the Hanse towns, Oldenburg, and part of the Kingdom of +Westphalia, was annexed to the French Empire, with the alleged +object of more effectually shutting out British goods from the +ports of the Elbe and the Weser. Hamburg, however, and most of +the territory now incorporated with France, had been occupied by +French troops ever since the war of 1806, and the legal change in +its position scarcely made its subjection more complete. Had the +history of this annexation been written by men of the +peasant-class, it would probably have been described in terms of +unmixed thankfulness and praise. In the Decree introducing the +French principle of the free tenure of land, thirty-six distinct +forms of feudal service are enumerated, as abolished without +compensation. <a name="FNanchor165"> </a><a href="#Footnote_165"><sup>[165]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Extent of Napoleon's Empire and Dependencies, 1810.]</p> +<p>Napoleon's dominion had now reached its widest bounds. The +frontier of the Empire began at Lübeck on the Baltic, +touched the Rhine at Wesel, and followed the river and the Jura +mountains to the foot of the Lake of Geneva; then, crossing the +Alps above the source of the Rhone, it ran with the rivers Sesia +and Po to a point nearly opposite Mantua, mounted to the +watershed of the Apennines, and descended to the Mediterranean at +Terracina. The late Ecclesiastical States were formed into the +two Departments of the Tiber and of Trasimene; Tuscany, also +divided into French Departments, and represented in the French +Legislative Body, gave the title of Archduchess and the +ceremonial of a Court to Napoleon's sister Eliza; the Kingdom of +Italy, formed by Lombardy, Venice, and the country east of the +Apennines as far south as Ascoli, belonged to Napoleon himself, +but was not constitutionally united with the French Empire. On +the east of the Adriatic the Illyrian Provinces extended +Napoleon's rule to the borders of Bosnia and Montenegro. Outside +the frontier of this great Empire an order of feudatories ruled +in Italy, in Germany, and in Poland. Murat, King of Naples, and +the client-princes of the Confederation of the Rhine, holding all +Germany up to the frontiers of Prussia and Austria, as well as +the Grand-Duchy of Warsaw, were nominally sovereigns within their +own dominions; but they held their dignities at Napoleon's +pleasure, and the population and revenues of their States were at +his service.</p> +<p>[Benefits of Napoleon's rule.]</p> +<p>[Wrongs of Napoleon's rule.]</p> +<p>[Commercial blockade.]</p> +<p>The close of the year 1810 saw the last changes effected which +Europe was destined to receive at the hands of Napoleon. The +fabric of his sovereignty was raised upon the ruins of all that +was obsolete and forceless upon the western Continent; the +benefits as well as the wrongs or his supremacy were now seen in +their widest operation. All Italy, the northern districts of +Germany which were incorporated with the Empire, and a great part +of the Confederate Territory of the Rhine, received in the Code +Napoleon a law which, to an extent hitherto unknown in Europe, +brought social justice into the daily affairs of life. The +privileges of the noble, the feudal burdens of the peasant, the +monopolies of the guilds, passed away, in most instances for +ever. The comfort and improvement of mankind were vindicated as +the true aim of property by the abolition of the devices which +convert the soil into an instrument of family pride, and by the +enforcement of a fair division of inheritances among the children +of the possessor. Legal process, both civil and criminal, was +brought within the comprehension of ordinary citizens, and +submitted to the test of publicity. These were among the fruits +of an earlier enlightenment which Napoleon's supremacy bestowed +upon a great part of Europe. The price which was paid for them +was the suppression of every vestige of liberty, the +conscription, and the Continental blockade. On the whole, the +yoke was patiently borne. The Italians and the Germans of the +Rhenish Confederacy cared little what Government they obeyed; +their recruits who were sent to be killed by the Austrians or the +Spaniards felt it no especial hardship to fight Napoleon's +battles. More galling was the pressure of Napoleon's commercial +system and of the agencies by which he attempted to enforce it. +In the hope of ruining the trade of Great Britain, Napoleon +spared no severity against the owners of anything that had +touched British hands, and deprived the Continent of its entire +supply of colonial produce, with the exception of such as was +imported at enormous charges by traders licensed by himself. The +possession of English goods became a capital offence. In the +great trading towns a system of permanent terrorism was put in +force against the merchants. Soldiers ransacked their houses; +their letters were opened; spies dogged their steps. It was in +Hamburg, where Davoust exercised a sort of independent +sovereignty, that the violence and injustice of the Napoleonic +commercial system was seen in its most repulsive form; in the +greater part of the Empire it was felt more in the general +decline of trade and in a multitude of annoying privations than +in acts of obtrusive cruelty. <a name="FNanchor166"> </a><a href="#Footnote_166"><sup>[166]</sup></a> The French were themselves +compelled to extract sugar from beetroot, and to substitute +chicory for coffee; the Germans, less favoured by nature, and +less rapid in adaptation, thirsted and sulked. Even in such +torpid communities as Saxony political discontent was at length +engendered by bodily discomfort. Men who were proof against all +the patriotic exaltation of Stein and Fichte felt that there must +be something wrong in a system which sent up the price of coffee +to five shillings a pound, and reduced the tobacconist to +exclusive dependence upon the market-gardener.</p> +<p>[The Czar withdraws from Napoleon's commercial system, Dec., +1810.]</p> +<p>[France and Russia preparing for war, 1811.]</p> +<p>It was not, however, by its effects upon Napoleon's German +vassals that the Continental system contributed to the fall of +its author. Whatever the discontent of these communities, they +obeyed Napoleon as long as he was victorious, and abandoned him +only when his cause was lost. Its real political importance lay +in the hostility which it excited between France and Russia. The +Czar, who had attached himself to Napoleon's commercial system at +the Peace of Tilsit, withdrew from it in the year succeeding the +Peace of Vienna. The trade of the Russian Empire had been ruined +by the closure of its ports to British vessels and British goods. +Napoleon had broken his promise to Russia by adding West Galicia +to the Polish Duchy of Warsaw; and the Czar refused to sacrifice +the wealth of his subjects any longer in the interest of an +insincere ally. At the end of the year 1810 an order was +published at St. Petersburg, opening the harbours of Russia to +all ships bearing a neutral flag, and imposing a duty upon many +of the products of France. This edict was scarcely less than a +direct challenge to the French Emperor. Napoleon exaggerated the +effect of his Continental prohibitions upon English traffic. He +imagined that the command of the European coast-line, and nothing +short of this, would enable him to exhaust his enemy; and he was +prepared to risk a war with Russia rather than permit it to +frustrate his long-cherished hopes. Already in the Austrian +marriage Napoleon had marked the severance of his interests from +those of Alexander. An attempted compromise upon the affairs of +Poland produced only new alienation and distrust; an open affront +was offered to Alexander in the annexation of the Duchy of +Oldenburg, whose sovereign was a member of his own family. The +last event was immediately followed by the publication of the new +Russian tariff. In the spring of 1811 Napoleon had determined +upon war. With Spain still unsubdued, he had no motive to hurry +on hostilities; Alexander on his part was still less ready for +action; and the forms of diplomatic intercourse were in +consequence maintained for some time longer at Paris and St. +Petersburg. But the true nature of the situation was shown by the +immense levies that were ordered both in France and Russia; and +the rest of the year was spent in preparations for the campaign +which was destined to decide the fate of Europe.</p> +<p>[Affairs in Spain and Portugal, 1809-1812.]</p> +<p>[Lines of Torres Vedras, 1809-1810.]</p> +<p>We have seen that during the period of more than two years +that elapsed between the Peace of Vienna and the outbreak of war +with Russia, Napoleon had no enemy in arms upon the Continent +except in the Spanish Peninsula. Had the Emperor himself taken up +the command in Spain, he would probably within a few months have +crushed both the Spanish armies and their English ally. A fatal +error in judgment made him willing to look on from a distance +whilst his generals engaged with this last foe. The disputes with +the Pope and the King of Holland might well have been adjourned +for another year; but Napoleon felt no suspicions that the +conquest of the Spanish Peninsula was too difficult a task for +his marshals; nor perhaps would it have been so if Wellington had +been like any of the generals whom Napoleon had himself +encountered. The French forces in the Peninsula numbered over +300,000 men: in spite of the victory of Talavera, the English had +been forced to retreat into Portugal. But the warfare of +Wellington was a different thing from that even of the best +Austrian or Russian commanders. From the time of the retreat from +Talavera he had foreseen that Portugal would be invaded by an +army far outnumbering his own; and he planned a scheme of defence +as original, as strongly marked with true military insight, as +Napoleon's own most daring schemes of attack. Behind Lisbon a +rugged mountainous tract stretches from the Tagus to the sea: +here, while the English army wintered in the neighbourhood of +Almeida, Wellington employed thousands of Portuguese labourers in +turning the promontory into one vast fortress. No rumour of the +operation was allowed to reach the enemy. A double series of +fortifications, known as the Lines of Torres Vedras, followed the +mountain-bastion on the north of Lisbon, and left no single point +open between the Tagus and the sea. This was the barrier to which +Wellington meant in the last resort to draw his assailants, +whilst the country was swept of everything that might sustain an +invading army, and the irregular troops of Portugal closed in +upon its rear. <a name="FNanchor167"> </a><a href="#Footnote_167"><sup>[167]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Retreat of Massena, 1810-11.]</p> +<p>[Massena's campaign against Wellington, 1810.]</p> +<p>In June, 1810, Marshal Massena, who had won the highest +distinction at Aspern and Wagram, arrived in Spain, and took up +the command of the army destined for the conquest of Portugal. +Ciudad Rodrigo was invested: Wellington, too weak to effect its +relief, too wise to jeopardise his army for the sake of Spanish +praise, lay motionless while this great fortress fell into the +hands of the invader. In September, the French, 70,000 strong, +entered Portugal. Wellington retreated down the valley of the +Mondego, devastating the country. At length he halted at Busaco +and gave battle (September 27). The French were defeated; the +victory gave the Portuguese full confidence in the English +leader; but other roads were open to the invader, and Wellington +continued his retreat. Massena followed, and heard for the first +time of the fortifications of Torres Vedras when he was within +five days' march of them. On nearing the mountain-barrier, +Massena searched in vain for an unprotected point. Fifty thousand +English and Portuguese regular troops, besides a multitude of +Portuguese militia, were collected behind the lines; with the +present number of the French an assault was hopeless. Massena +waited for reinforcements. It was with the utmost difficulty that +he could keep his army from starving; at length, when the country +was utterly exhausted, he commenced his retreat (Nov. 14). +Wellington descended from the heights, but his marching force was +still too weak to risk a pitched battle. Massena halted and took +post at Santarem, on the Tagus. Here, and in the neighbouring +valley of the Zezere, he maintained himself during the winter. +But in March, 1811, reinforcements arrived from England: +Wellington moved forward against his enemy, and the retreat of +the French began in real earnest. Massena made his way +northwards, hard pressed by the English, and devastating the +country with merciless severity in order to retard pursuit. Fire +and ruin marked the track of the retreating army; but such were +the sufferings of the French themselves, both during the invasion +and the retreat, that when Massena re-entered Spain, after a +campaign in which only one pitched battle had been fought, his +loss exceeded 30,000 men.</p> +<p>[Soult conquers Spain as far as Cadiz.]</p> +<p>[Wellington's campaign of 1811.]</p> +<p>Other French armies, in spite of a most destructive guerilla +warfare, were in the meantime completing the conquest of the +south and the east of Spain. Soult captured Seville, and began to +lay siege to Cadiz. Here, at the end of 1810, an order reached +him from Napoleon to move to the support of Massena. Leaving +Victor in command at Cadiz, Soult marched northwards, routed the +Spaniards, and conquered the fortress of Badajoz, commanding the +southern road into Portugal. Massena, however, was already in +retreat, and Soult's own advance was cut short by intelligence +that Graham, the English general in Cadiz, had broken out upon +the besiegers and inflicted a heavy defeat. Soult returned to +Cadiz and resumed the blockade. Wellington, thus freed from +danger of attack from the south, and believing Massena to be +thoroughly disabled, considered that the time had come for a +forward movement into Spain. It was necessary for him to capture +the fortresses of Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo on the northern +road, and to secure his own communications with Portugal by +wresting back Badajoz from the French. He left a small force to +besiege Almeida, and moved to Elvas to make arrangements with +Beresford for the siege of Badajoz. But before the English +commander had deemed it possible, the energy of Massena had +restored his troops to efficiency; and the two armies of Massena +and Soult were now ready to assail the English on the north and +the south. Massena marched against the corps investing Almeida. +Wellington hastened back to meet him, and fought a battle at +Fuentes d'Onoro. The French were defeated; Almeida passed into +the hands of the English. In the south, Soult advanced to the +relief of Badajoz. He was overthrown by Beresford in the bloody +engagement of Albuera (May 16th); but his junction with the army +of the north, which was now transferred from Massena to Marmont, +forced the English to raise the siege; and Wellington, after +audaciously offering battle to the combined French armies, +retired within the Portuguese frontier, and marched northwards +with the design of laying siege to Ciudad Rodrigo. Again +outnumbered by the French, he was compelled to retire to +cantonments on the Coa.</p> +<p>[Capture of Ciudad Rodrigo, Jan. 19, 1812.]</p> +<p>[Capture of Badajoz, April 6.]</p> +<p>Throughout the autumn months, which were spent in forced +inaction, Wellington held patiently to his belief that the French +would be unable to keep their armies long united, on account of +the scarcity of food. His calculations were correct, and at the +close of the year 1811 the English were again superior in the +field. Wellington moved against Ciudad Rodrigo, and took it by +storm on the 19th of January, 1812. The road into Spain was +opened; it only remained to secure Portugal itself by the capture +of Badajoz. Wellington crossed the Tagus on the 8th of March, and +completed the investment of Badajoz ten days later. It was +necessary to gain possession of the city, at whatever cost, +before Soult could advance to its relief. On the night of the 6th +of April Wellington gave orders for the assault. The fury of the +attack, the ferocity of the English soldiers in the moment of +their victory, have made the storm of Badajoz conspicuous amongst +the most terrible events of war. But the purpose of Wellington +was effected; the base of the English army in Portugal was +secured from all possibility of attack; and at the moment when +Napoleon was summoning his veteran regiments from beyond the +Pyrenees for the invasion of Russia, the English commander, +master of the frontier fortresses of Spain, was preparing to +overwhelm the weakened armies in the Peninsula, and to drive the +French from Madrid.</p> +<p>[Wellington invades Spain, June 1812.]</p> +<p>[Salamanca, July 22.]</p> +<p>[Wellington retires to Portugal.]</p> +<p>It was in the summer of 1812, when Napoleon was now upon the +point of opening the Russian campaign, that Wellington advanced +against Marmont's positions in the north of Spain and the French +lines of communication with the capital. Marmont fell back and +allowed Wellington to pass Salamanca; but on reaching the Douro +he turned upon his adversary, and by a succession of swift and +skilful marches brought the English into some danger of losing +their communications with Portugal. Wellington himself now +retreated as far as Salamanca, and there gave battle (July 22). A +decisive victory freed the English army from its peril, and +annihilated all the advantages gained by Marmont's strategy and +speed. The French were so heavily defeated that they had to fall +back on Burgos. Wellington marched upon Madrid. At his approach +King Joseph fled from the capital, and ordered Soult to evacuate +Andalusia, and to meet him at Valencia, on the eastern coast. +Wellington entered Madrid amidst the wild rejoicing of the +Spaniards, and then turned northwards to complete the destruction +of the army which he had beaten at Salamanca. But the hour of his +final success was not yet come. His advance upon Madrid, though +wise as a political measure, had given the French northern army +time to rally. He was checked by the obstinate defence of Burgos; +and finding the French strengthened by the very abandonment of +territory which his victory had forced upon them, he retired to +Portugal, giving to King Joseph a few months' more precarious +enjoyment of his vassal-sovereignty before his final and +irrevocable overthrow.</p> +<p>[The war excites a constitutional movement in Spain.]</p> +<p>In Spain itself the struggle of the nation for its +independence had produced a political revolution as little +foreseen by the Spaniards as by Napoleon himself when the +conflict began. When, in 1808, the people had taken up arms for +its native dynasty, the voices of those who demanded a reform in +the abuses of the Bourbon government had scarcely been heard amid +the tumult of loyal enthusiasm for Ferdinand. There existed, +however, a group of liberally-minded men in Spain; and as soon as +the invasion of the French and the subsequent successes of the +Spaniards had overthrown both the old repressive system of the +Bourbons and that which Napoleon attempted to put in its place, +the opinions of these men, hitherto scarcely known outside the +circle of their own acquaintances, suddenly became a power in the +country through the liberation of the press. Jovellanos, an +upright and large-minded statesman, who had suffered a long +imprisonment in the last reign in consequence of his labours in +the cause of progress, now represented in the Central Junta the +party of constitutional reform. The Junta itself acted with but +little insight or sincerity. A majority of its members neither +desired nor understood the great changes in government which +Jovellanos advocated; yet the Junta itself was an irregular and +revolutionary body, and was forced to appeal to the nation in +order to hold its ground against the old legal Councils of the +monarchy, which possessed not only a better formal right, but all +the habits of authority. The victories of Napoleon at the end of +1808, and the threatening attitude both of the old official +bodies and of the new provincial governments which had sprung up +in every part of the kingdom, extorted from the Junta in the +spring of 1809 a declaration in favour of the assembling of the +Cortes, or National Parliament, in the following year. Once made, +the declaration could not be nullified or withdrawn. It was in +vain that the Junta, alarmed at the progress of popular opinions, +restored the censorship of the press, and attempted to suppress +the liberal journals. The current of political agitation swept +steadily on; and before the end of the year 1809 the conflict of +parties, which Spain was henceforward to experience in common +with the other Mediterranean States, had fairly begun. <a name="FNanchor168"> </a><a href="#Footnote_168"><sup>[168]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Spanish Liberals in 1809 and 1810.]</p> +<p>The Spanish Liberals of 1809 made the same attack upon +despotic power, and upheld the same theories of popular right, as +the leaders of the French nation twenty years before. Against +them was ranged the whole force of Spanish officialism, soon to +be supported by the overwhelming power of the clergy. In the +outset, however, the Liberals carefully avoided infringing on the +prerogatives of the Church. Thus accommodating its policy to the +Catholic spirit of the nation, the party of reform gathered +strength throughout the year 1809, as disaster after disaster +excited the wrath of the people against both the past and the +present holders of power. It was determined by the Junta that the +Cortes should assemble on the 1st of March, 1810. According to +the ancient usage of Spain, each of the Three Estates, the +Clergy, the Nobles, and the Commons, would have been represented +in the Cortes by a separate assembly. The opponents of reform +pressed for the maintenance of this mediæval order, the +Liberals declared for a single Chamber; the Junta, guided by +Jovellanos, adopted a middle course, and decided that the higher +clergy and nobles should be jointly represented by one Chamber, +the Commons by a second. Writs of election had already been +issued, when the Junta, driven to Cadiz by the advance of the +French armies, and assailed alike by Liberals, by reactionists, +and by city mobs, ended its ineffective career, and resigned its +powers into the hands of a Regency composed of five persons (Jan. +30, 1810). Had the Regency immediately taken steps to assemble +the Cortes, Spain would probably have been content with the +moderate reforms which two Chambers, formed according to the +plans of Jovellanos, would have been likely to sanction. The +Regency, however, preferred to keep power in its own hands and +ignored the promise which the Junta had given to the nation. Its +policy of obstruction, which was continued for months after the +time when the Cortes ought to have assembled, threw the Liberal +party into the hands of men of extremes, and prepared the way for +revolution instead of reform. It was only when the report reached +Spain that Ferdinand was about to marry the daughter of King +Joseph, and to accept the succession to the Spanish crown from +the usurper himself, that the Regency consented to convoke the +Cortes. But it was now no longer possible to create an Upper +House to serve as a check upon the popular Assembly. A single +Chamber was elected, and elected in great part within the walls +of Cadiz itself; for the representatives of districts where the +presence of French soldiery rendered election impossible were +chosen by refugees from those districts within Cadiz, amid the +tumults of political passion which stir a great city in time of +war and revolution.</p> +<p>[Constitution made by the Cortes, 1812.]</p> +<p>On the 24th of September, 1810, the Cortes opened. Its first +act was to declare the sovereignty of the people, its next act to +declare the freedom of the Press. In every debate a spirit of +bitter hatred towards the old system of government and of deep +distrust towards Ferdinand himself revealed itself in the +speeches of the Liberal deputies, although no one in the Assembly +dared to avow the least want of loyalty towards the exiled House. +The Liberals knew how passionate was the love of the Spanish +people for their Prince; but they resolved that, if Ferdinand +returned to his throne, he should return without the power to +revive the old abuses of Bourbon rule. In this spirit the +Assembly proceeded to frame a Constitution for Spain. The Crown +was treated as the antagonist and corrupter of the people; its +administrative powers were jealously reduced; it was confronted +by an Assembly to be elected every two years, and the members of +this Assembly were prohibited both from holding office under the +Crown, and from presenting themselves for re-election at the end +of their two years' service. To a Representative Body thus +excluded from all possibility of gaining any practical +acquaintance with public affairs was entrusted not only the right +of making laws, but the control of every branch of government. +The executive was reduced to a mere cypher.</p> +<p>[The Clergy against the Constitution.]</p> +<p>Such was the Constitution which, under the fire of the French +artillery now encompassing Cadiz, the Cortes of Spain proclaimed +in the spring of the year 1812. Its principles had excited the +most vehement opposition within the Assembly itself; by the +nation, or at least that part of it which was in communication +with Cadiz, it appeared to be received with enthusiasm. The +Liberals, who had triumphed over their opponents in the debates +in the Assembly, believed that their own victory was the victory +of the Spanish people over the forces of despotism. But before +the first rejoicings were over, ominous signs appeared of the +strength of the opposite party, and of the incapacity of the +Liberals themselves to form any effective Government. The +fanaticism of the clergy was excited by a law partly ratifying +the suppression of monasteries begun by Joseph Bonaparte; the +enactments of the Cortes regarding the censorship of religious +writings threw the Church into open revolt. In declaring the +freedom of the Press, the Cortes had expressly guarded themselves +against extending this freedom to religious discussion; the +clergy now demanded the restoration of the powers of the +Inquisition, which had been in abeyance since the beginning of +the war. The Cortes were willing to grant to the Bishops the +right of condemning any writing as heretical, and they were +willing to enforce by means of the ordinary tribunals the law +which declared the Catholic religion to be the only one permitted +in Spain; but they declined to restore the jurisdiction of the +Holy Office (Feb., 1813). Without this engine for the suppression +of all mental independence the priesthood of Spain conceived its +cause to be lost. The anathema of the Church went out against the +new order. Uniting with the partisans of absolutism, whom +Wellington, provoked by the extravagances of the Liberals, now +took under his protection, the clergy excited an ignorant people +against its own emancipators, and awaited the time when the +return of Ferdinand, and a combination of all the interests +hostile to reform, should overthrow the Constitution which the +Liberals fondly imagined to have given freedom to Spain.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_X."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c10">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>War approaching between France and Russia-Policy of +Prussia-Hardenberg's Ministry-Prussia forced into Alliance with +Napoleon-Austrian Alliance- Napoleon's Preparations-He enters +Russia-Alexander and Bernadotte-Plan of the Russians to fight a +Battle at Drissa frustrated-They retreat on Witepsk-Sufferings of +the French-French enter Smolensko-Battle of Borodino-Evacuation +of Moscow-Moscow fired-The Retreat from Moscow-The French at +Smolensko-Advance of Russian Armies from North and South- Battle +of Krasnoi-Passage of the Beresina-The French reach the Niemen- +York's Convention with the Russians-The Czar and Stein-Russian +Army enters Prussia-Stein raises East Prussia-Treaty of +Kalisch-Prussia declares War-Enthusiasm of the Nation-Idea of +German Unity-The Landwehr.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Austria and Prussia in 1811.]</p> +<p>[Hardenberg's Ministry.]</p> +<p>War between France and Russia was known to be imminent as +early as the spring of 1811. The approach of the conflict was +watched with the deepest anxiety by the two States of central +Europe which still retained some degree of independence. The +Governments of Berlin and Vienna had been drawn together by +misfortune. The same ultimate deliverance formed the secret hope +of both; but their danger was too great to permit them to combine +in open resistance to Napoleon's will. In spite of a tacit +understanding between the two powers, each was compelled for the +present to accept the conditions necessary to secure its own +existence. The situation of Prussia in especial was one of the +utmost danger. Its territory lay directly between the French +Empire and Russia; its fortresses were in the hands of Napoleon, +its resources were certain to be seized by one or other of the +hostile armies. Neutrality was impossible, however much desired +by Prussia itself; and the only question to be decided by the +Government was whether Prussia should enter the war as the ally +of France or of Russia. Had the party of Stein been in power, +Prussia would have taken arms against Napoleon at every risk. +Stein, however, was in exile his friends, though strong in the +army, were not masters of the Government; the foreign policy of +the country was directed by a statesman who trusted more to time +and prudent management than to desperate resolves. Hardenberg had +been recalled to office in 1810, and permitted to resume the +great measures of civil reform which had been broken off two +years before. The machinery of Government was reconstructed upon +principles that had been laid down by Stein; agrarian reform was +carried still farther by the abolition of peasant's service, and +the partition of peasant's land between the occupant and his +lord; an experiment, though a very ill-managed one, was made in +the forms of constitutional Government by the convocation of +three successive assemblies of the Notables. On the part of the +privileged orders Hardenberg encountered the most bitter +opposition; his own love of absolute power prevented him from +winning popular confidence by any real approach towards a +Representative System. Nor was the foreign policy of the Minister +of a character to excite enthusiasm. A true patriot at heart, he +seemed at times to be destitute of patriotism, when he was in +fact only destitute of the power to reveal his real motives.</p> +<p>[Hardenberg's foreign policy, 1811.]</p> +<p>Convinced that Prussia could not remain neutral in the coming +war, and believing some relief from its present burdens to be +absolutely necessary, Hardenberg determined in the first instance +to offer Prussia's support to Napoleon, demanding in return for +it a reduction of the payments still due to France, and the +removal of the limits imposed upon the Prussian army. <a name="FNanchor169"> </a><a href="#Footnote_169"><sup>[169]</sup></a> +The offer of the Prussian alliance reached Napoleon in the spring +of 1811: he maintained an obstinate silence. While the Prussian +envoy at Paris vainly waited for an audience, masses of troops +advanced from the Rhine towards the Prussian frontier, and the +French garrisons on the Oder were raised far beyond their +stipulated strength. In July the envoy returned from Paris, +announcing that Napoleon declined even to enter upon a discussion +of the terms proposed by Hardenberg. King Frederick William now +wrote to the Czar, proposing an alliance between Prussia and +Russia. It was not long before the report of Hardenberg's +military preparations reached Paris. Napoleon announced that if +they were not immediately suspended he should order Davoust to +march on Berlin; and he presented a counter-proposition for a +Prussian alliance, which was in fact one of unqualified +submission. The Government had to decide between accepting a +treaty which placed Prussia among Napoleon's vassals, or certain +war. Hardenberg, expecting favourable news from St. Petersburg, +pronounced in favour of war; but the Czar, though anxious for the +support of Prussia, had determined on a defensive plan of +operations, and declared that he could send no troops beyond the +Russian frontier.</p> +<p>[Prussia accepts alliance with Napoleon Feb, 1812.]</p> +<p>Prussia was thus left to face Napoleon alone. Hardenberg +shrank from the responsibility of proclaiming a war for life or +death, and a treaty was signed which added the people of +Frederick the Great to that inglorious crowd which fought at +Napoleon's orders against whatever remained of independence and +nationality in Europe. <a name="FNanchor170"> </a><a href="#Footnote_170"><sup>[170]</sup></a> (Feb. 24th, 1812.) Prussia +undertook to supply Napoleon with 20,000 men for the impending +campaign, and to raise no levies and to give no orders to its +troops without Napoleon's consent. Such was the bitter +termination of all those patriotic hopes and efforts which had +carried Prussia through its darkest days. Hardenberg himself +might make a merit of bending before the storm, and of preserving +for Prussia the means of striking when the time should come; but +the simpler instincts of the patriotic party felt his submission +to be the very surrender of national existence. Stein in his +exile denounced the Minister with unsparing bitterness. +Scharnhorst resigned his post; many of the best officers in the +Prussian army quitted the service of King Frederick William in +order to join the Russians in the last struggle for European +liberty.</p> +<p>[Alliance of Austria with Napoleon.]</p> +<p>The alliance which Napoleon pressed upon Austria was not of +the same humiliating character as that which Prussia was forced +to accept. Both Metternich and the Emperor Francis would have +preferred to remain neutral, for the country was suffering from a +fearful State-bankruptcy, and the Government had been compelled +to reduce its paper money, in which all debts and salaries were +payable, to a fifth of its nominal value. Napoleon, however, +insisted on Austria's co-operation. The family-relations of the +two Emperors pointed to a close alliance, and the reward which +Napoleon held out to Austria, the restoration of the Illyrian +provinces, was one of the utmost value. Nor was the Austrian +contingent to be treated, like the Prussian, as a mere French +army-corps. Its operations were to be separate from those of the +French, and its command was to be held by an Austrian general, +subordinate only to Napoleon himself. On these terms Metternich +was not unwilling to enter the campaign. He satisfied his +scruples by inventing a strange diplomatic form in which Austria +was still described as a neutral, although she took part in the +war, <a name="FNanchor171"> </a><a href="#Footnote_171"><sup>[171]</sup></a> and felt as little +compunction in uniting with France as in explaining to the Courts +of St. Petersburg and Berlin that the union was a hypocritical +one. The Sovereign who was about to be attacked by Napoleon, and +the Sovereigns who sent their troops to Napoleon's support, +perfectly well understood one another's position. The Prussian +corps, watched and outnumbered by the French, might have to fight +the Russians because they could not help it; the Austrians, +directed by their own commander, would do no serious harm to the +Russians so long as the Russians did no harm to them. Should the +Czar succeed in giving a good account of his adversary, he would +have no difficulty in coming to a settlement with his adversary's +forced allies.</p> +<p>[Preparations of Napoleon for invasion of Russia.]</p> +<p>The Treaties which gave to Napoleon the hollow support of +Austria and Prussia were signed early in the year 1812. During +the next three months all Northern Germany was covered with +enormous masses of troops and waggon-trains, on their way from +the Rhine to the Vistula. No expedition had ever been organised +on anything approaching to the scale of the invasion of Russia. +In all the wars of the French since 1793 the enemy's country had +furnished their armies with supplies, and the generals had +trusted to their own exertions for everything but guns and +ammunition. Such a method could not, however, be followed in an +invasion of Russia. The country beyond the Niemen was no +well-stocked garden, like Lombardy or Bavaria. Provisions for a +mass of 450,000 men, with all the means of transport for carrying +them far into Russia, had to be collected at Dantzig and the +fortresses of the Vistula. No mercy was shown to the unfortunate +countries whose position now made them Napoleon's harvest-field +and storehouse. Prussia was forced to supplement its military +assistance with colossal grants of supplies. The whole of +Napoleon's troops upon the march through Germany lived at the +expense of the towns and villages through which they passed; in +Westphalia such was the ruin caused by military requisitions that +King Jerome wrote to Napoleon, warning him to fear the despair of +men who had nothing more to lose. <a name="FNanchor172"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_172"><sup>[172]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Napoleon crosses Russian frontier, June, 1812.]</p> +<p>[Alexander and Bernadotte.]</p> +<p>At length the vast stores were collected, and the invading +army reached the Vistula. Napoleon himself quitted Paris on the +9th of May, and received the homage of the Austrian and Prussian +Sovereigns at Dresden. The eastward movement of the army +continued. The Polish and East Prussian districts which had been +the scene of the combats of 1807 were again traversed by French +columns. On the 23rd of June the order was given to cross the +Niemen and enter Russian territory. Out of 600,000 troops whom +Napoleon had organised for this campaign, 450,000 were actually +upon the frontier. Of these, 380,000 formed the central army, +under Napoleon's own command, at Kowno, on the Niemen; to the +north, at Tilsit, there was formed a corps of 32,000, which +included the contingent furnished by Prussia; the Austrians, +under Schwarzenburg, with a small French division, lay to the +south, on the borders of Galicia. Against the main army of +Napoleon, the real invading force, the Russians could only bring +up 150,000 men. These were formed into the First and Second +Armies of the West. The First, or Northern Army, with which the +Czar himself was present, numbered about 100,000, under the +command of Barclay de Tolly; the Second Army, half that strength, +was led by Prince Bagration. In Southern Poland and on the Lower +Niemen the French auxiliary corps were faced by weak divisions. +In all, the Russians had only 220,000 men to oppose to more than +double that number of the enemy. The principal reinforcements +which they had to expect were from the armies hitherto engaged +with the Turks upon the Danube. Alexander found it necessary to +make peace with the Porte at the cost of a part of the spoils of +Tilsit. The Danubian provinces, with the exception of Bessarabia, +were restored to the Sultan, in order that Russia might withdraw +its forces from the south. Bernadotte, Crown Prince of Sweden, +who was threatened with the loss of his own dominions in the +event of Napoleon's victory, concluded an alliance with the Czar. +In return for the co-operation of a Swedish army, Alexander +undertook, with an indifference to national right worthy of +Napoleon himself, to wrest Norway from Denmark, and to annex it +to the Swedish crown.</p> +<p>[Russians intend to fight at Drissa.]</p> +<p>[Russian armies severed, and retreat on Witepsk.]</p> +<p>The head-quarters of the Russian army were at Wilna when +Napoleon crossed the Niemen. It was unknown whether the French +intended to advance upon Moscow or upon St. Petersburg; nor had +any systematic plan of the campaign been adopted by the Czar. The +idea of falling back before the enemy was indeed familiar in +Russia since the war between Peter the Great and Charles XII. of +Sweden, and there was no want of good counsel in favour of a +defensive warfare; <a name="FNanchor173"> </a><a href="#Footnote_173"><sup>[173]</sup></a> but neither the Czar nor any +one of his generals understood the simple theory of a retreat in +which no battles at all should be fought. The most that was +understood by a defensive system was the occupation of an +entrenched position for battle, and a retreat to a second line of +entrenchments before the engagement was repeated. The actual +course of the campaign was no result of a profound design; it +resulted from the disagreements of the general's plans, and the +frustration of them all. It was intended in the first instance to +fight a battle at Drissa, on the river Dwina. In this position, +which was supposed to cover the roads both to Moscow and St. +Petersburg, a great entrenched camp had been formed, and here the +Russian army was to make its first stand against Napoleon. +Accordingly, as soon as the French crossed the Niemen, both +Barclay and Bagration were ordered by the Czar to fall back upon +Drissa. But the movements of the French army were too rapid for +the Russian commanders to effect their junction. Bagration, who +lay at some distance to the south, was cut off from his +colleague, and forced to retreat along the eastern road towards +Witepsk. Barclay reached Drissa in safety, but he knew himself to +be unable to hold it alone against 300,000 men. He evacuated the +lines without waiting for the approach of the French, and fell +back in the direction taken by the second army. The first +movement of defence had thus failed, and the Czar now quitted the +camp, leaving to Barclay the command of the whole Russian +forces.</p> +<p>[Collapse of the French transport.]</p> +<p>[Barclay and Bagration unite at Smolensko, Aug. 3.]</p> +<p>Napoleon entered Wilna, the capital of Russian Poland, on the +28th of June. The last Russian detachments had only left it a few +hours before; but the French were in no condition for immediate +pursuit. Before the army reached the Niemen the unparalleled +difficulties of the campaign had become only too clear. The vast +waggon-trains broke down on the highways. The stores were +abundant, but the animals which had to transport them died of +exhaustion. No human genius, no perfection of foresight and care, +could have achieved the enormous task which Napoleon had +undertaken. In spite of a year's preparations the French suffered +from hunger and thirst from the moment that they set foot on +Russian soil. Thirty thousand stragglers had left the army before +it reached Wilna; twenty-five thousand sick were in the +hospitals; the transports were at an unknown distance in the +rear. At the end of six days' march from the Niemen, Napoleon +found himself compelled to halt for nearly three weeks. The army +did not leave Wilna till the 16th of July, when Barclay had +already evacuated the camp at Drissa. When at length a march +became possible, Napoleon moved upon the Upper Dwina, hoping to +intercept Barclay upon the road to Witepsk; but difficulties of +transport again brought him to a halt, and the Russian commander +reached Witepsk before his adversary. Here Barclay drew up for +battle, supposing Bagration's army to be but a short distance to +the south. In the course of the night intelligence arrived that +Bagration's army was nowhere near the rallying-point, but had +been driven back towards Smolensko. Barclay immediately gave up +the thought of fighting a battle, and took the road to Smolensko +himself, leaving his watch-fires burning. His movement was +unperceived by the French; the retreat was made in good order; +and the two severed Russian armies at length effected their +junction at a point three hundred miles distant from the +frontier.</p> +<p>[The French waste away.]</p> +<p>[French enter Smolensko, Aug. 18.]</p> +<p>[Barclay superseded by Kutusoff.]</p> +<p>Napoleon, disappointed of battle, entered Witepsk on the +evening after the Russians had abandoned it (July 28). Barclay's +escape was, for the French, a disaster of the first magnitude, +since it extinguished all hope of crushing the larger of the two +Russian armies by overwhelming numbers in one great and decisive +engagement. The march of the French during the last twelve days +showed at what cost every further step must be made. Since +quitting Wilna the 50,000 sick and stragglers had risen to +100,000. Fever and disease struck down whole regiments. The +provisioning of the army was beyond all human power. Of the +200,000 men who still remained, it might almost be calculated in +how many weeks the last would perish. So fearful was the prospect +that Napoleon himself thought of abandoning any further advance +until the next year, and of permitting the army to enter into +winter-quarters upon the Dwina. But the conviction that all +Russian resistance would end with the capture of Moscow hurried +him on. The army left Witepsk on the 13th of August, and followed +the Russians to Smolensko. Here the entire Russian army clamoured +for battle. Barclay stood alone in perceiving the necessity for +retreat. The generals caballed against him; the soldiers were on +the point of mutiny; the Czar himself wrote to express his +impatience for an attack upon the French. Barclay nevertheless +persisted in his resolution to abandon Smolensko. He so far +yielded to the army as to permit the rearguard to engage in a +bloody struggle with the French when they assaulted the town; but +the evacuation was completed under cover of night; and when the +French made their entrance into Smolensko on the next morning +they found it deserted and in rums. The surrender of Smolensko +was the last sacrifice that Barclay could extort from Russian +pride. He no longer opposed the universal cry for battle, and the +retreat was continued only with the intention of halting at the +first strong position. Barclay himself was surveying a +battleground when he heard that the command had been taken out of +his hands. The Czar had been forced by national indignation at +the loss of Smolensko to remove this able soldier, who was a +Livonian by birth, and to transfer the command to Kutusoff, a +thorough Russian, whom a life-time spent in victories over the +Turk had made, in spite of his defeat at Austerlitz, the idol of +the nation.</p> +<p>[The French advance from Smolensko.]</p> +<p>When Kutusoff reached the camp, the prolonged miseries of the +French advance had already reduced the invaders to the number of +the army opposed to them. As far as Smolensko the French had at +least not suffered from the hostility of the population, who were +Poles, not Russians; but on reaching Smolensko they entered a +country where every peasant was a fanatical enemy. The villages +were burnt down by their inhabitants, the corn destroyed, and the +cattle driven into the woods. Every day's march onward from +Smolensko cost the French three thousand men. On reaching the +river Moskwa in the first week of September, a hundred and +seventy-five thousand out of Napoleon's three hundred and eighty +thousand soldiers were in the hospitals, or missing, or dead. +About sixty thousand guarded the line of march. The Russians, on +the other hand, had received reinforcements which covered their +losses at Smolensko; and although detachments had been sent to +support the army of Riga, Kutusoff was still able to place over +one hundred thousand men in the field.</p> +<p>[Battle of Borodino, Sept. 7.]</p> +<p>[Evacuation of Moscow. French enter Moscow, Sept. 14.]</p> +<p>On the 5th of September the Russian army drew up for battle at +Borodino, on the Moskwa, seventy miles west of the capital. At +early morning on the 7th the French advanced to the attack. The +battle was, in proportion to its numbers, the most sanguinary of +modern times. Forty thousand French, thirty thousand Russians +were struck down. At the close of the day the French were in +possession of the enemy's ground, but the Russians, unbroken in +their order, had only retreated to a second line of defence. Both +sides claimed the victory; neither had won it. It was no +catastrophe such as Napoleon required for the decision of the +war, it was no triumph sufficient to save Russia from the +necessity of abandoning its capital. Kutusoff had sustained too +heavy a loss to face the French beneath the walls of Moscow. +Peace was no nearer for the 70,000 men who had been killed or +wounded in the fight. The French steadily advanced; the Russians +retreated to Moscow, and evacuated the capital when their +generals decided that they could not encounter the French +assault. The Holy City was left undefended before the invader. +But the departure of the army was the smallest part of the +evacuation. The inhabitants, partly of their own free will, +partly under the compulsion of the Governor, abandoned the city +in a mass. No gloomy or excited crowd, as at Vienna and Berlin, +thronged the streets to witness the entrance of the great +conqueror, when on the 14th of September Napoleon took possession +of Moscow. His troops marched through silent and deserted +streets. In the solitude of the Kremlin Napoleon received the +homage of a few foreigners, who alone could be collected by his +servants to tender to him the submission of the city.</p> +<p>[Moscow fired.]</p> +<p>But the worst was yet to come. On the night after Napoleon's +entry, fires broke out in different parts of Moscow. They were +ascribed at first to accident; but when on the next day the +French saw the flames gaining ground in every direction, and +found that all the means for extinguishing fire had been removed +from the city, they understood the doom to which Moscow had been +devoted by its own defenders. Count Rostopchin, the governor, had +determined on the destruction of Moscow without the knowledge of +the Czar. The doors of the prisons were thrown open. Rostopchin +gave the signal by setting fire to his own palace, and let loose +his bands of incendiaries over the city. For five days the flames +rose and fell; and when, on the evening of the 20th, the last +fires ceased, three-fourths of Moscow lay in ruins.</p> +<p>[Napoleon at Moscow, Sept. 14-Oct. 19.]</p> +<p>Such was the prize for which Napoleon had sacrificed 200,000 +men, and engulfed the weak remnant of his army six hundred miles +deep in an enemy's country. Throughout all the terrors of the +advance Napoleon had held fast to the belief that Alexander's +resistance would end with the fall of his capital. The events +that accompanied the entry of the French into Moscow shook his +confidence; yet even now Napoleon could not believe that the Czar +remained firm against all thoughts of peace. His experience in +all earlier wars had given him confidence in the power of one +conspicuous disaster to unhinge the resolution of kings. His +trust in the deepening impression made by the fall of Moscow was +fostered by negotiations begun by Kutusoff for the very purpose +of delaying the French retreat. For five weeks Napoleon remained +at Moscow as if spell-bound, unable to convince himself of his +powerlessness to break Alexander's determination, unable to face +a retreat which would display to all Europe the failure of his +arms and the termination of his career of victory. At length the +approach of winter forced him to action. It was impossible to +provision the army at Moscow during the winter months, even if +there had been nothing to fear from the enemy. Even the mocking +overtures of Kutusoff had ceased. The frightful reality could no +longer be concealed. On the 19th of October the order for retreat +was given. It was not the destruction of Moscow, but the +departure of its inhabitants, that had brought the conqueror to +ruin. Above two thousand houses were still standing; but whether +the buildings remained or perished made little difference; the +whole value of the capital to Napoleon was lost when the +inhabitants, whom he could have forced to procure supplies for +his army, disappeared. Vienna and Berlin had been of such +incalculable service to Napoleon because the whole native +administration placed itself under his orders, and every rich and +important citizen became a hostage for the activity of the rest. +When the French gained Moscow, they gained nothing beyond the +supplies which were at that moment in the city. All was lost to +Napoleon when the class who in other capitals had been his +instruments fled at his approach. The conflagration of Moscow +acted upon all Europe as a signal of inextinguishable national +hatred; as a military operation, it neither accelerated the +retreat of Napoleon nor added to the miseries which his army had +to undergo.</p> +<p>[Napoleon leaves Moscow, Oct. 19.]</p> +<p>[Forced to retreat by the same road.]</p> +<p>The French forces which quitted Moscow in October numbered +about 100,000 men. Reinforcements had come in during the +occupation of the city, and the health of the soldiers had been +in some degree restored by a month's rest. Everything now +depended upon gaining a line of retreat where food could be +found. Though but a fourth part of the army which entered Russia +in the summer, the army which left Moscow was still large enough +to protect itself against the enemy, if allowed to retreat +through a fresh country; if forced back upon the devastated line +of its advance it was impossible for it to escape destruction. +Napoleon therefore determined to make for Kaluga, on the south of +Moscow, and to endeavour to gain a road to Smolensko far distant +from that by which he had come. The army moved from Moscow in a +southern direction. But its route had been foreseen by Kutusoff. +At the end of four days' march it was met by a Russian corps at +Jaroslavitz. A bloody struggle left the French in possession of +the road: they continued their advance; but it was only to find +that Kutusoff, with his full strength, had occupied a line of +heights farther south, and barred the way to Kaluga. The effort +of an assault was beyond the powers of the French. Napoleon +surveyed the enemy's position, and recognised the fatal necessity +of abandoning the march southwards and returning to the wasted +road by which he had advanced. The meaning of the backward +movement was quickly understood by the army. From the moment of +quitting Jaroslavitz, disorder and despair increased with every +march. Thirty thousand men were lost upon the road before a +pursuer appeared in sight. When, on the 2nd of November, the army +reached Wiazma, it numbered no more than 65,000 men.</p> +<p>[Kutusoff follows by parallel road.]</p> +<p>Kutusoff was unadventurous in pursuit. The necessity of moving +his army along a parallel road south of the French, in order to +avoid starvation, diminished the opportunities for attack; but +the general himself disliked risking his forces, and preferred to +see the enemy's destruction effected by the elements. At Wiazma, +where, on the 3rd of November, the French were for the first time +attacked in force, Kutusoff's own delay alone saved them from +total ruin. In spite of heavy loss the French kept possession of +the road, and secured their retreat to Smolensko, where stores of +food had been accumulated, and where other and less exhausted +French troops were at hand.</p> +<p>[Frost, Nov. 6.]</p> +<p>[French reach Smolensko, Nov. 9.]</p> +<p>Up to the 6th of November the weather had been sunny and dry. +On the 6th the long-delayed terrors of Russian winter broke upon +the pursuers and the pursued. Snow darkened the air and hid the +last traces of vegetation from the starving cavalry trains. The +temperature sank at times to forty degrees of frost. Death came, +sometimes in the unfelt release from misery, sometimes in +horrible forms of mutilation and disease. Both armies were +exposed to the same sufferings; but the Russians had at least +such succour as their countrymen could give; where the French +sank, they died. The order of war disappeared under conditions +which made life itself the accident of a meal or of a place by +the camp-fire. Though most of the French soldiery continued to +carry their arms, the Guard alone kept its separate formation; +the other regiments marched in confused masses. From the 9th to +the 13th of November these starving bands arrived one after +another at Smolensko, expecting that here their sufferings would +end. But the organisation for distributing the stores accumulated +in Smolensko no longer existed. The perishing crowds were left to +find shelter where they could; sacks of corn were thrown to them +for food.</p> +<p>[Russian armies from north and south attempt to cut off French +retreat.]</p> +<p>[Krasnoi, Nov. 17.]</p> +<p>It was impossible for Napoleon to give his wearied soldiers +rest, for new Russian armies were advancing from the north and +the south to cut off their retreat. From the Danube and from the +Baltic Sea troops were pressing forward to their meeting-point +upon the rear of the invader. Witgenstein, moving southwards at +the head of the army of the Dwina, had overpowered the French +corps stationed upon that river, and made himself master of +Witepsk. The army of Bucharest, which had been toiling northwards +ever since the beginning of August, had advanced to within a few +days' march of its meeting-point with the army of the Dwina upon +the line of Napoleon's communications. Before Napoleon reached +Smolensko he sent orders to Victor, who was at Smolensko with +some reserves, to march against Witgenstein and drive him back +upon the Dwina. Victor set out on his mission. During the short +halt of Napoleon in Smolensko, Kutusoff pushed forward to the +west of the French, and took post at Krasnoi, thirty miles +farther along the road by which Napoleon had to pass. The retreat +of the French seemed to be actually cut off. Had the Russian +general dared to face Napoleon and his Guards, he might have held +the French in check until the arrival of the two auxiliary armies +from the north and south enabled him to capture Napoleon and his +entire force. Kutusoff, however, preferred a partial and certain +victory to a struggle with Napoleon for life or death. He +permitted Napoleon and the Guard to pass by unattacked, and then +fell upon the hinder divisions of the French army. (Nov. 17.) +These unfortunate troops were successively cut to pieces. +Twenty-six thousand were made prisoners. Ney, with a part of the +rear-guard, only escaped by crossing the Dnieper on the ice. Of +the army that had quitted Moscow there now remained but 10,000 +combatants and 20,000 followers. Kutusoff himself was brought to +such a state of exhaustion that he could carry the pursuit no +further, and entered into quarters upon the Dnieper.</p> +<p>[Victor joins Napoleon.]</p> +<p>[Passage of the Beresina, Nov. 28th.]</p> +<p>It was a few days after the battle at Krasnoi that the +divisions of Victor, coming from the direction of the Dwina, +suddenly encountered the remnant of Napoleon's army. Though aware +that Napoleon was in retreat, they knew nothing of the calamities +that had befallen him, and were struck with amazement when, in +the middle of a forest, they met with what seemed more like a +miserable troop of captives than an army upon the march. Victor's +soldiers of a mere auxiliary corps found themselves more than +double the effective strength of the whole army of Moscow. Their +arrival again placed Napoleon at the head of 30,000 disciplined +troops, and gave the French a gleam of victory in the last and +seemingly most hopeless struggle in the campaign. Admiral +Tchitchagoff, in command of the army marching from the Danube, +had at length reached the line of Napoleon's retreat, and +established himself at Borisov, where the road through Poland +crosses the river Beresina. The bridge was destroyed by the +Russians, and Tchitchagoff opened communication with +Witgenstein's army, which lay only a few miles to the north. It +appeared as if the retreat of the French was now finally +intercepted, and the surrender of Napoleon inevitable. Yet even +in this hopeless situation the military skill and daring of the +French worked with something of its ancient power. The army +reached the Beresina; Napoleon succeeded in withdrawing the enemy +from the real point of passage; bridges were thrown across the +river, and after desperate fighting a great part of the army made +good its footing upon the western bank (Nov. 28). But the losses +even among the effective troops were enormous. The fate of the +miserable crowd that followed them, torn by the cannon-fire of +the Russians, and precipitated into the river by the breaking of +one of the bridges, has made the passage of the Beresina a +synonym for the utmost degree of human woe.</p> +<p>[French reach the Niemen, Dec. 13.]</p> +<p>This was the last engagement fought by the army. The Guards +still preserved their order: Marshal Ney still found soldiers +capable of turning upon the pursuer with his own steady and +unflagging courage; but the bulk of the army struggled forward in +confused crowds, harassed by the Cossacks, and laying down their +arms by thousands before the enemy. The frost, which had broken +up on the 19th, returned on the 30th of November with even +greater severity. Twenty thousand fresh troops which joined the +army between the Beresina and Wilna scarcely arrested the process +of dissolution. On the 3rd of December Napoleon quitted the army. +Wilna itself was abandoned with all its stores; and when at +length the fugitives reached the Niemen, they numbered little +more than twenty thousand. Here, six months earlier, three +hundred and eighty thousand men had crossed with Napoleon. A +hundred thousand more had joined the army in the course of its +retreat. Of all this host, not the twentieth part reached the +Prussian frontier. A hundred and seventy thousand remained +prisoners in the hands of the Russians; a greater number had +perished. Of the twenty thousand men who now beheld the Niemen, +probably not seven thousand had crossed with Napoleon. In the +presence of a catastrophe so overwhelming and so unparalleled the +Russian generals might well be content with their own share in +the work of destruction. Yet the event proved that Kutusoff had +done ill in sparing the extremest effort to capture or annihilate +his foe. Not only was Napoleon's own escape the pledge of +continued war, but the remnant that escaped with him possessed a +military value out of all proportion to its insignificant +numbers. The best of the army were the last to succumb. Out of +those few thousands who endured to the end, a very large +proportion were veteran officers, who immediately took their +place at the head of Napoleon's newly-raised armies, and gave to +them a military efficiency soon to be bitterly proved by Europe +on many a German battle-field.</p> +<p>[York's convention with the Russians, Dec. 30.]</p> +<p>[York and the Prussian contingent at Riga.]</p> +<p>Four hundred thousand men were lost to a conqueror who could +still stake the lives of half a million more. The material power +of Napoleon, though largely, was not fatally diminished by the +Russian campaign; it was through its moral effect, first proved +in the action of Prussia, that the retreat from Moscow created a +new order of things in Europe. The Prussian contingent, commanded +by General von York, lay in front of Riga, where it formed part +of the French subsidiary army-corps led by Marshal Macdonald. +Early in November the Russian governor of Riga addressed himself +to York, assuring him that Napoleon was ruined, and soliciting +York himself to take up arms against Macdonald. <a name="FNanchor174"> </a><a href="#Footnote_174"><sup>[174]</sup></a> +York had no evidence, beyond the word of the Russian commander, +of the extent of Napoleon's losses; and even if the facts were as +stated, it was by no means clear that the Czar might not be +inclined to take vengeance on Prussia on account of its alliance +with Napoleon. York returned a guarded answer to the Russian, and +sent an officer to Wilna to ascertain the real state of the +French army. On the 8th of December the officer returned, and +described what he had himself seen. Soon afterwards the Russian +commandant produced a letter from the Czar, declaring his +intention to deal with Prussia as a friend, not as an enemy. On +these points all doubt was removed; York's decision was thrown +upon himself. York was a rigid soldier of the old Prussian type, +dominated by the idea of military duty. The act to which the +Russian commander invited him, and which the younger officers +were ready to hail as the liberation of Prussia, might be branded +by his sovereign as desertion and treason. Whatever scruples and +perplexity might be felt in such a situation by a loyal and +obedient soldier were felt by York. He nevertheless chose the +course which seemed to be for his country's good; and having +chosen it, he accepted all the consequences which it involved. On +the 30th of December a convention was signed at Tauroggen, which, +under the guise of a truce, practically withdrew the Prussian +army from Napoleon, and gave the Russians possession of +Königsberg. The momentous character of the act was +recognised by Napoleon as soon as the news reached Paris. York's +force was the strongest military body upon the Russian frontier; +united with Macdonald, it would have forced the Russian pursuit +to stop at the Niemen; abandoning Napoleon, it brought his +enemies on to the Vistula, and threatened incalculable danger by +its example to all the rest of Germany. For the moment, however, +Napoleon could count upon the spiritless obedience of King +Frederick William. In the midst of the French regiments that +garrisoned Berlin, the King wrote orders pronouncing York's +convention null and void, and ordering York himself to be tried +by court-martial. The news reached the loyal soldier: he received +it with grief, but maintained his resolution to act for his +country's good. "With bleeding heart," he wrote, "I burst the +bond of obedience, and carry on the war upon my own +responsibility. The army desires war with France; the nation +desires it; the King himself desires it, but his will is not +free. The army must make his will free."</p> +<p>[The Czar and Stein.]</p> +<p>[Alexander enters Prussia, Jan., 1813.]</p> +<p>York's act was nothing less than the turning-point in Prussian +history. Another Prussian, at this great crisis of Europe, played +as great, though not so conspicuous, a part. Before the outbreak +of the Russian war, the Czar had requested the exile Stein to +come to St. Petersburg to aid him with his counsels during the +struggle with Napoleon. Stein gladly accepted the call; and +throughout the campaign he encouraged the Czar in the resolute +resistance which the Russian nation itself required of its +Government. So long as French soldiers remained on Russian soil, +there was indeed little need for a foreigner to stimulate the +Czar's energies; but when the pursuit had gloriously ended on the +Niemen, the case became very different. Kutusoff and the generals +were disinclined to carry the war into Germany. The Russian army +had itself lost three-fourths of its numbers; Russian honour was +satisfied; the liberation of Western Europe might be left to +Western Europe itself. Among the politicians who surrounded +Alexander, there were a considerable number, including the first +minister Romanzoff, who still believed in the good policy of a +French alliance. These were the influences with which Stein had +to contend, when the question arose whether Russia should rest +satisfied with its own victories, or summon all Europe to unite +in overthrowing Napoleon's tyranny. No record remains of the +stages by which Alexander's mind rose to the clear and firm +conception of a single European interest against Napoleon; +indications exist that it was Stein's personal influence which +most largely affected his decision. Even in the darkest moments +of the war, when the forces of Russia seemed wholly incapable of +checking Napoleon's advance, Stein had never abandoned his scheme +for raising the German nation against Napoleon. The confidence +with which he had assured Alexander of ultimate victory over the +invader had been thoroughly justified; the triumph which he had +predicted had come with a rapidity and completeness even +surpassing his hopes. For a moment Alexander identified himself +with the statesman who, in the midst of Germany's humiliation, +had been so resolute, so far-sighted, so aspiring. <a name="FNanchor175"> </a><a href="#Footnote_175"><sup>[175]</sup></a> +The minister of the peace-party was dismissed: Alexander ordered +his troops to advance into Prussia, and charged Stein himself to +assume the government of the Prussian districts occupied by +Russian armies. Stein's mission was to arm the Landwehr, and to +gather all the resources of the country for war against France; +his powers were to continue until some definite arrangement +should be made between the King of Prussia and the Czar.</p> +<p>[Stein's commission from Alexander.]</p> +<p>[Province of East Prussia arms, Jan., 1813.]</p> +<p>Armed with this commission from a foreign sovereign, Stein +appeared at Königsberg on the 22nd of January, 1813, and +published an order requiring the governor of the province of East +Prussia to convoke an assembly for the purpose of arming the +people. Stein would have desired York to appear as President of +the Assembly; but York, like most of the Prussian officials, was +alarmed and indignant at Stein's assumption of power in Prussia +as the representative of the Russian Czar, and hesitated to +connect himself with so revolutionary a measure as the arming of +the people. It was only upon condition that Stein himself should +not appear in the Assembly that York consented to recognise its +powers. The Assembly met. York entered the house, and spoke a few +soul-stirring words. His undisguised declaration of war with +France was received with enthusiastic cheers. A plan for the +formation of a Landwehr, based on Scharnhorst's plans of 1808, +was laid before the Assembly, and accepted. Forty thousand men +were called to arms in a province which included nothing west of +the Vistula. The nation itself had begun the war, and left its +Government no choice but to follow. Stein's task was fulfilled; +and he retired to the quarters of Alexander, unwilling to mar by +the appearance of foreign intervention the work to which the +Prussian nation had now committed itself beyond power of recall. +It was the fortune of the Prussian State, while its King +dissembled before the French in Berlin, to possess a soldier +brave enough to emancipate its army, and a citizen bold enough to +usurp the government of its provinces. Frederick William forgave +York his intrepidity; Stein's action was never forgiven by the +timid and jealous sovereign whose subjects he had summoned to arm +themselves for their country's deliverance.</p> +<p>[Policy of Hardenberg.]</p> +<p>[Treaty of Kalisch, Feb. 27.]</p> +<p>The Government of Berlin, which since the beginning of the +Revolutionary War had neither been able to fight, nor to deceive, +nor to be honest, was at length forced by circumstances into a +certain effectiveness in all three forms of action. In the +interval between the first tidings of Napoleon's disasters and +the announcement of York's convention with the Russians, +Hardenberg had been assuring Napoleon of his devotion, and +collecting troops which he carefully prevented from joining him. +<a name="FNanchor176"> </a><a href="#Footnote_176"><sup>[176]</sup></a> The desire of the King was +to gain concessions without taking part in the war either against +Napoleon or on his side. When, however, the balance turned more +decidedly against Napoleon, he grew bolder; and the news of +York's defection, though it seriously embarrassed the Cabinet for +the moment, practically decided it in favour of war with France. +The messenger who was sent to remove York from his command +received private instructions to fall into the hands of the +Russians, and to inform the Czar that, if his troops advanced as +far as the Oder, King Frederick William would be ready to +conclude an alliance. Every post that arrived from East Prussia +strengthened the warlike resolutions of the Government. At length +the King ventured on the decisive step of quitting Berlin and +placing himself at Breslau (Jan. 25). At Berlin he was in the +power of the French; at Breslau he was within easy reach of +Alexander. The significance of the journey could not be mistaken: +it was immediately followed by open preparation for war with +France. On February 3rd there appeared an edict inviting +volunteers to enrol themselves: a week later all exemptions from +military service were abolished, and the entire male population +of Prussia between the ages of seventeen and twenty-four was +declared liable to serve. General Knesebeck was sent to the +headquarters of the Czar, which were now between Warsaw and +Kalisch, to conclude a treaty of alliance. Knesebeck demanded +securities for the restoration to Prussia of all the Polish +territory which it had possessed before 1806; the Czar, unwilling +either to grant this condition or to lose the Prussian alliance, +kept Knesebeck at his quarters, and sent Stein with a Russian +plenipotentiary to Breslau to conclude the treaty with Hardenberg +himself. Stein and Hardenberg met at Breslau on the 26th of +February. Hardenberg accepted the Czar's terms, and the treaty, +known as the Treaty of Kalisch, <a name="FNanchor177"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_177"><sup>[177]</sup></a> was signed on the +following day. By this treaty, without guaranteeing the +restoration of Prussian Poland, Russia undertook not to lay down +its arms until the Prussian State as a whole was restored to the +area and strength which it had possessed before 1806. For this +purpose annexations were promised in Northern Germany. With +regard to Poland, Russia promised no more than to permit Prussia +to retain what it had received in 1772, together with a strip of +territory to connect this district with Silesia. The meaning of +the agreement was that Prussia should abandon to Russia the +greater part of its late Polish provinces, and receive an +equivalent German territory in its stead. The Treaty of Kalisch +virtually surrendered to the Czar all that Prussia had gained in +the partitions of Poland made in 1793 and in 1795. The sacrifice +was deemed a most severe one by every Prussian politician, and +was accepted only as a less evil than the loss of Russia's +friendship, and a renewed submission to Napoleon. No single +statesman, not even Stein himself, appears to have understood +that in exchanging its Polish conquests for German annexations, +in turning to the German west instead of to the alien Slavonic +east, Prussia was in fact taking the very step which made it the +possible head of a future united Germany.</p> +<p>[French retreat to the Elbe.]</p> +<p>War was still undeclared upon Napoleon by King Frederick +William, but throughout the month of February the light cavalry +of the Russians pushed forward unhindered through Prussian +territory towards the Oder, and crowds of volunteers, marching +through Berlin on their way to the camps in Silesia, gave the +French clear signs of the storm that was about to burst upon <a +name="FNanchor178">them.</a><a href="#Footnote_178"><sup>[178]</sup></a> The remnant of Napoleon's +army, now commanded by Eugene Beauharnais, had fallen back step +by step to the Oder. Here, resting on the fortresses, it might +probably have checked the Russian advance; but the heart of +Eugene failed; the line of the Oder was abandoned, and the +retreat continued to Berlin and the Elbe. The Cossacks followed. +On the 20th of February they actually entered Berlin and fought +with the French in the streets. The French garrison was far +superior in force; but the appearance of the Cossacks caused such +a ferment that, although the alliance between France and Prussia +was still in nominal existence, the French troops expected to be +cut to pieces by the people. For some days they continued to +bivouac in the streets, and as soon as it became known that a +regular Russian force had reached the Oder, Eugene determined to +evacuate Berlin. On the 4th of March the last French soldier +quitted the Prussian capital. The Cossacks rode through the town +as the French left it, and fought with their rear-guard. Some +days later Witgenstein appeared with Russian infantry. On March +17th York made his triumphal entry at the head of his corps, +himself cold and rigid in the midst of tumultuous outbursts of +patriotic joy.</p> +<p>[King of Prussia declares war March 17.]</p> +<p>It was on this same day that King Frederick William issued his +proclamation to the Prussian people, declaring that war had begun +with France, and summoning the nation to enter upon the struggle +as one that must end either in victory or in total destruction. +The proclamation was such as became a monarch conscious that his +own faint-heartedness had been the principal cause of Prussia's +humiliation. It was simple and unboastful, admitting that the +King had made every effort to preserve the French alliance, and +ascribing the necessity for war to the intolerable wrongs +inflicted by Napoleon in spite of Prussia's fulfilment of its +treaty-obligations. The appeal to the great memories of Prussia's +earlier sovereigns, and to the example of Russia, Spain, and all +countries which in present or in earlier times had fought for +their independence against a stronger foe, was worthy of the +truthful and modest tone in which the King spoke of the +misfortunes of Prussia under his own rule.</p> +<p>[Spirit of the Prussian nation.]</p> +<p>[Idea of Germany unity.]</p> +<p>But no exhortations were necessary to fire the spirit of the +Prussian people. Seven years of suffering and humiliation had +done their work. The old apathy of all classes had vanished under +the pressure of a bitter sense of wrong. If among the Court party +of Berlin and the Conservative landowners there existed a secret +dread of the awakening of popular forces, the suspicion could not +be now avowed. A movement as penetrating and as universal as that +which France had experienced in 1792 swept through the Prussian +State. It had required the experience of years of wretchedness, +the intrusion of the French soldier upon the peace of the family, +the sight of the homestead swept bare of its stock to supply the +invaders of Russia, the memory of Schill's companions shot in +cold blood for the cause of the Fatherland, before the Prussian +nation caught that flame which had spontaneously burst out in +France, in Spain, and in Russia at the first shock of foreign +aggression. But the passion of the Prussian people, if it had +taken long to kindle, was deep, steadfast, and rational. It was +undisgraced by the frenzies of 1792, or by the religious +fanaticism of the Spanish war of liberation; where religion +entered into the struggle, it heightened the spirit of +self-sacrifice rather than that of hatred to the enemy. Nor was +it a thing of small moment to the future of Europe that in every +leading mind the cause of Prussia was identified with the cause +of the whole German race. The actual condition of Germany +warranted no such conclusion, for Saxony, Bavaria, and the whole +of the Rhenish Federation still followed Napoleon: but the spirit +and the ideas which became a living force when at length the +contest with Napoleon broke out were those of men like Stein, who +in the depths of Germany's humiliation had created the bright and +noble image of a common Fatherland. It was no more given to Stein +to see his hopes fulfilled than it was given to Mirabeau to +establish constitutional liberty in France, or to the Italian +patriots of 1797 to create a united Italy. A group of States +where kings like Frederick William and Francis, ministers like +Hardenberg and Metternich, governed millions of people totally +destitute of political instincts and training, was not to be +suddenly transformed into a free nation by the genius of an +individual or the patriotism of a single epoch. But if the work +of German union was one which, even in the barren form of +military empire, required the efforts of two more generations, +the ideals of 1813 were no transient and ineffective fancy. Time +was on the side of those who called the Prussian monarchy the +true centre round which Germany could gather. If in the sequel +Prussia was slow to recognise its own opportunities, the fault +was less with patriots who hoped too much than with kings and +ministers who dared too little.</p> +<p>[Formation of the Landwehr.]</p> +<p>For the moment, the measures of the Prussian Government were +worthy of the spirit shown by the nation. Scharnhorst's military +system had given Prussia 100,000 trained soldiers ready to join +the existing army of 45,000. The scheme for the formation of a +Landwehr, though not yet carried into effect, needed only to +receive the sanction of the King. On the same day that Frederick +William issued his proclamation to the people, he decreed the +formation of the Landwehr and the Landsturm. The latter force, +which was intended in case of necessity to imitate the peasant +warfare of Spain and La Vendée, had no occasion to act: +the Landwehr, though its arming was delayed by the poverty and +exhaustion of the country, gradually became a most formidable +reserve, and sent its battalions to fight by the side of the +regulars in some of the greatest engagements in the war. It was +the want of arms and money, not of willing soldiers, that +prevented Prussia from instantly attacking Napoleon with 200,000 +men. The conscription was scarcely needed from the immense number +of volunteers who joined the ranks. Though the completion of the +Prussian armaments required some months more, Prussia did not +need to stand upon the defensive. An army of 50,000 men was ready +to cross the Elbe immediately on the arrival of the Russians, and +to open the next campaign in the territory of Napoleon's allies +of the Rhenish Federation.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XI."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>The War of Liberation-Blücher crosses the Elbe-Battle of +Lützen-The Allies retreat to Silesia-Battle of +Bautzen-Armistice-Napoleon intends to intimidate Austria-Mistaken +as to the Forces of Austria-Metternich's Policy-Treaty of +Reichenbach-Austria offers its Mediation-Congress of +Prague-Austria enters the War-Armies and Plans of Napoleon and +the Allies-Campaign of August-Battles of Dresden, Grosbeeren, the +Katzbach, and Kulm-Effect of these Actions-Battle of +Dennewitz-German Policy of Austria favourable to the Princes of +the Rhenish Confederacy-Frustrated Hopes of German Unity-Battle +of Leipzig-The Allies reach the Rhine- Offers of Peace at +Frankfort-Plan of Invasion of France-Backwardness of Austria-The +Allies enter France-Campaign of 1814-Congress of Châtillon- +Napoleon moves to the rear of the Allies-The Allies advance on +Paris- Capitulation of Paris-Entry of the Allies-Dethronement of +Napoleon- Restoration of the Bourbons-The Charta-Treaty of +Paris-Territorial Effects of the War, 1792-1814-Every Power +except France had gained-France relatively weaker in +Europe-Summary of the Permanent Effects of this Period on +Europe.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Napoleon in 1813.]</p> +<p>The first three months of the year 1813 were spent by Napoleon +in vigorous preparation for a campaign in Northern Germany. +Immediately after receiving the news of York's convention with +the Russians he had ordered a levy of 350,000 men. It was in vain +that Frederick William and Hardenberg affected to disavow the +general as a traitor; Napoleon divined the national character of +York's act, and laid his account for a war against the combined +forces of Prussia and Russia. In spite of the catastrophe of the +last campaign, Napoleon was still stronger than his enemies. +Italy and the Rhenish Federation had never wavered in their +allegiance; Austria, though a cold ally, had at least shown no +signs of hostility. The resources of an empire of forty million +inhabitants were still at Napoleon's command. It was in the youth +and inexperience of the new soldiers, and in the scarcity of good +officers, <a name="FNanchor179"> </a><a href="#Footnote_179"><sup>[179]</sup></a> that the losses of the +previous year showed their most visible effect. Lads of +seventeen, commanded in great part by officers who had never been +through a campaign, took the place of the soldiers who had fought +at Friedland and Wagram. They were as brave as their +predecessors, but they failed in bodily strength and endurance. +Against them came the remnant of the men who had pursued Napoleon +from Moscow, and a Prussian army which was but the vanguard of an +armed nation. Nevertheless, Napoleon had no cause to expect +defeat, provided that Austria remained on his side. Though the +Prussian nation entered upon the conflict in the most determined +spirit, a war on the Elbe against Russia and Prussia combined was +a less desperate venture than a war with Russia alone beyond the +Niemen.</p> +<p>[Blücher crosses the Elbe, March, 1813.]</p> +<p>When King Frederick William published his declaration of war +(March 17), the army of Eugène had already fallen back as +far west as Magdeburg, leaving garrisons in most of the +fortresses between the Elbe and the Russian frontier. Napoleon +was massing troops on the Main, and preparing for an advance in +force, when the Prussians, commanded by Blücher, and some +weak divisions of the Russian army, pushed forward to the Elbe. +On the 18th of March the Cossacks appeared in the suburbs of +Dresden, on the right bank of the river. Davoust, who was in +command of the French garrison, blew up two arches of the bridge, +and retired to Magdeburg: Blücher soon afterwards entered +Dresden, and called upon the Saxon nation to rise against +Napoleon. But he spoke to deaf ears. The common people were +indifferent; the officials waited to see which side would +conquer. Blücher could scarcely obtain provisions for his +army; he passed on westwards, and came into the neighbourhood of +Leipzig. Here he found himself forced to halt, and to wait for +his allies. Though a detachment of the Russian army under +Witgenstein had already crossed the Elbe, the main army, with +Kutusoff, was still lingering at Kalisch on the Polish frontier, +where it had arrived six weeks before. As yet the Prussians had +only 50,000 men ready for action; until the Russians came up, it +was unsafe to advance far beyond the Elbe. Blücher counted +every moment lost that kept him from battle: the Russian +commander-in-chief, sated with glory and sinking beneath the +infirmities of a veteran, could scarcely be induced to sign an +order of march. At length Kutusoff's illness placed the command +in younger hands. His strength failed him during the march from +Poland; he was left dying in Silesia; and on the 24th of April +the Czar and the King of Prussia led forward his veteran troops +into Dresden.</p> +<p>[Napoleon enters Dresden, May 14.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Lützen, May 2.]</p> +<p>Napoleon was now known to be approaching with considerable +force by the roads of the Saale. A pitched battle west of the +Elbe was necessary before the Allies could hope to win over any +of the States of the Rhenish Confederacy; the flat country beyond +Leipzig offered the best possible field for cavalry, in which the +Allies were strong and Napoleon extremely deficient. It was +accordingly determined to unite all the divisions of the army +with Blücher on the west of Leipzig, and to attack the +French as soon as they descended from the hilly country of the +Saale, and began their march across the Saxon plain. The Allies +took post at Lützen: the French advanced, and at midday on +the 2nd of May the battle of Lützen began. Till evening, +victory inclined to the Allies. The Prussian soldiery fought with +the utmost spirit; for the first time in Napoleon's campaigns, +the French infantry proved weaker than an enemy when fighting +against them in equal numbers. But the generalship of Napoleon +turned the scale. Seventy thousand of the French were thrown upon +fifty thousand of the Allies; the battle was fought in village +streets and gardens, where cavalry were useless; and at the close +of the day, though the losses on each side were equal, the Allies +were forced from the positions which they had gained. Such a +result was equivalent to a lost battle. Napoleon's junction with +the army of Eugène at Magdeburg was now inevitable, unless +a second engagement was fought and won. No course remained to the +Allies but to stake everything upon a renewed attack, or to +retire behind the Elbe and meet the reinforcements assembling in +Silesia. King Frederick William declared for a second battle; <a +name="FNanchor180"> </a><a href="#Footnote_180"><sup>[180]</sup></a> he was over-ruled, and the +retreat commenced. Napoleon entered Dresden on May 14th. No +attempt was made by the Allies to hold the line of the Elbe; all +the sanguine hopes with which Blücher and his comrades had +advanced to attack Napoleon within the borders of the Rhenish +Confederacy were dashed to the ground. The Fatherland remained +divided against itself. Saxony and the rest of the vassal States +were secured to France by the victory of Lützen; the +liberation of Germany was only to be wrought by prolonged and +obstinate warfare, and by the wholesale sacrifice of Prussian +life.</p> +<p>[Armistice, June 4.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Bautzen, May 21.]</p> +<p>It was with deep disappointment, but not with any wavering of +purpose, that the allied generals fell back before Napoleon +towards the Silesian fortresses. The Prussian troops which had +hitherto taken part in the war were not the third part of those +which the Government was arming; new Russian divisions were on +the march from Poland. As the Allies moved eastwards from the +Elbe, both their own forces and those of Napoleon gathered +strength. The retreat stopped at Bautzen, on the river Spree; and +here, on the 19th of May, 90,000 of the Allies and the same +number of the French drew up in order of battle. The Allies held +a long, broken chain of hills behind the river, and the ground +lying between these hills and the village of Bautzen. On the 20th +the French began the attack, and won the passage of the river. In +spite of the approach of Ney with 40,000 more troops, the Czar +and the King of Prussia determined to continue the battle on the +following day. The struggle of the 21st was of the same obstinate +and indecisive character as that at Lützen. Twenty-five +thousand French had been killed or wounded before the day was +over, but the bad generalship of the Allies had again given +Napoleon the victory. The Prussian and Russian commanders were +all at variance; Alexander, who had to decide in their +contentions, possessed no real military faculty. It was not for +want of brave fighting and steadfastness before the enemy that +Bautzen was lost. The Allies retreated in perfect order, and +without the loss of a single gun. Napoleon followed, forcing his +wearied regiments to ceaseless exertion, in the hope of ruining +by pursuit an enemy whom he could not overthrow in battle. In a +few more days the discord of the allied generals and the +sufferings of the troops would probably have made them unable to +resist Napoleon's army, weakened as it was. But the conqueror +himself halted in the moment of victory. On the 4th of June an +armistice of seven weeks arrested the pursuit, and brought the +first act of the War of Liberation to a close.</p> +<p>[Napoleon and Austria.]</p> +<p>Napoleon's motive for granting this interval to his enemies, +the most fatal step in his whole career, has been vaguely sought +among the general reasons for military delay; as a matter of +fact, Napoleon was thinking neither of the condition of his own +army nor of that of the Allies when he broke off hostilities, but +of the probable action of the Court of Vienna. <a name="FNanchor181"> </a><a href="#Footnote_181"><sup>[181]</sup></a> "I +shall grant a truce," he wrote to the Viceroy of Italy (June 2, +1813), "on account of the armaments of Austria, and in order to +gain time to bring up the Italian army to Laibach to threaten +Vienna." Austria had indeed resolved to regain, either by war or +negotiation, the provinces which it had lost in 1809. It was now +preparing to offer its mediation, but it was also preparing to +join the Allies in case Napoleon rejected its demands. Metternich +was anxious to attain his object, if possible, without war. The +Austrian State was bankrupt; its army had greatly deteriorated +since 1809; Metternich himself dreaded both the ambition of +Russia and what he considered the revolutionary schemes of the +German patriots. It was his object not to drive Napoleon from his +throne, but to establish a European system in which neither +France nor Russia should be absolutely dominant. Soon after the +retreat from Moscow the Cabinet of Vienna had informed Napoleon, +though in the most friendly terms, that Austria could not longer +remain in the position of a dependent ally. <a name="FNanchor182"> </a><a href="#Footnote_182"><sup>[182]</sup></a> +Metternich stated, and not insincerely, that by certain +concessions Napoleon might still count on Austria's friendship; +but at the same time he negotiated with the allied Powers, and +encouraged them to believe that Austria would, under certain +circumstances, strike on their behalf. The course of the campaign +of May was singularly favourable to Metternich's policy. Napoleon +had not won a decided victory; the Allies, on the other hand, +were so far from success that Austria could set almost any price +it pleased upon its alliance. By the beginning of June it had +become a settled matter in the Austrian Cabinet that Napoleon +must be made to resign the Illyrian Provinces conquered in 1809 +and the districts of North Germany annexed in 1810; but it was +still the hope of the Government to obtain this result by +peaceful means. Napoleon saw that Austria was about to change its +attitude, but he had by no means penetrated the real intentions +of Metternich. He credited the Viennese Government with a +stronger sentiment of hostility towards himself than it actually +possessed; at the same time he failed to appreciate the fixed and +settled character of its purpose. He believed that the action of +Austria would depend simply upon the means which he possessed to +intimidate it; that, if the army of Italy were absent, Austria +would attack him; that, on the other hand, if he could gain time +to bring the army of Italy into Carniola, Austria would keep the +peace. It was with this belief, and solely for the purpose of +bringing up a force to menace Austria, that Napoleon stayed his +hand against the Prussian and Russian armies after the battle of +Bautzen, and gave time for the gathering of the immense forces +which were destined to effect his destruction.</p> +<p>[Metternich offers Austria's mediation.]</p> +<p>Immediately after the conclusion of the armistice of June 4th, +Metternich invited Napoleon to accept Austria's mediation for a +general peace. The settlement which Metternich contemplated was a +very different one from that on which Stein and the Prussian +patriots had set their hopes. Austria was willing to leave to +Napoleon the whole of Italy and Holland, the frontier of the +Rhine, and the Protectorate of Western Germany: all that was +required by Metternich, as arbiter of Europe, was the restoration +of the provinces taken from Austria after the war of 1809, the +reinstatement of Prussia in Western Poland, and the abandonment +by France of the North-German district annexed in 1810. But to +Napoleon the greater or less extent of the concessions asked by +Austria was a matter of no moment. He was determined to make no +concessions at all, and he entered into negotiations only for the +purpose of disguising from Austria the real object with which he +had granted the armistice. While Napoleon affected to be weighing +the proposals of Austria, he was in fact calculating the number +of marches which would place the Italian army on the Austrian +frontier; this once effected, he expected to hear nothing more of +Metternich's demands.</p> +<p>[Napoleon deceived as to the forces of Austria.]</p> +<p>It was a game of deceit; but there was no one who was so +thoroughly deceived as Napoleon himself. By some extraordinary +miscalculation on the part of his secret agents, he was led to +believe that the whole force of Austria, both in +the north and the south, amounted to only 100,000 men, <a name="FNanchor183"> </a><a href="#Footnote_183"><sup>[183]</sup></a> +and it was on this estimate that he had formed his plans of +intimidation. In reality Austria had double that number of men +ready to take the field. By degrees Napoleon saw reason to +suspect himself in error. On the 11th of July he wrote to his +Foreign Minister, Maret, bitterly reproaching him with the +failure of the secret service to gain any trustworthy +information. It was not too late to accept Metternich's terms. +Yet even now, when the design of intimidating Austria had proved +an utter delusion, and Napoleon was convinced that Austria would +fight, and fight with very powerful forces, his pride and his +invincible belief in his own superiority prevented him from +drawing back. He made an attempt to enter upon a separate +negotiation with Russia, and, when this failed, he resolved to +face the conflict with the whole of Europe.</p> +<p>[Treaty of Reichenbach, June 27.]</p> +<p>There was no longer any uncertainty among Napoleon's enemies. +On the 27th of June, Austria had signed a treaty at Reichenbach, +pledging itself to join the allied Powers in the event of +Napoleon rejecting the conditions to be proposed by Austria as +mediator; and the conditions so to be proposed were fixed by the +same treaty. They were the following:-The suppression of the +Duchy of Warsaw; the restoration to Austria of the Illyrian +Provinces; and the surrender by Napoleon of the North-German +district annexed to his Empire in 1810. Terms more hostile to +France than these Austria declined to embody in its mediation. +The Elbe might still sever Prussia from its German provinces lost +in 1807; Napoleon might still retain, as chief of the Rhenish +Confederacy, his sovereignty over the greater part of the German +race.</p> +<p>[Austria enters the war, Aug. 10.]</p> +<p>[Congress of Prague, July 15-Aug. 10.]</p> +<p>From the moment when these conditions were fixed, there was +nothing which the Prussian generals so much dreaded as that +Napoleon might accept them, and so rob the Allies of the chance +of crushing him by means of Austria's support. But their fears +were groundless. The counsels of Napoleon were exactly those +which his worst enemies would have desired him to adopt. War, and +nothing but war, was his fixed resolve. He affected to entertain +Austria's propositions, and sent his envoy Caulaincourt to a +Congress which Austria summoned at Prague; but it was only for +the purpose of gaining a few more weeks of preparation. The +Congress met; the armistice was prolonged to the 10th of August. +Caulaincourt, however, was given no power to close with Austria's +demands. He was ignorant that he had only been sent to Prague in +order to gain time. He saw the storm gathering: unable to believe +that Napoleon intended to fight all Europe rather than make the +concessions demanded of him, he imagined that his master still +felt some doubt whether Austria and the other Powers meant to +adhere to their word. As the day drew nigh which closed the +armistice and the period given for a reply to Austria's +ultimatum, Caulaincourt implored Napoleon not to deceive himself +with hopes that Austria would draw back. Napoleon had no such +hope; he knew well that Austria would declare war, and he +accepted the issue. Caulaincourt heard nothing more. At midnight +on the 10th of August the Congress declared itself dissolved. +Before the dawn of the next morning the army in Silesia saw the +blaze of the beacon-fires which told that negotiation was at an +end, and that Austria was entering the war on the side of the +Allies. <a name="FNanchor184"> </a><a href="#Footnote_184"><sup>[184]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Armies of Napoleon and the Allies.]</p> +<p>Seven days' notice was necessary before the commencement of +actual hostilities. Napoleon, himself stationed at Dresden, held +all the lower course of the Elbe; and his generals had long had +orders to be ready to march on the morning of the 18th. Forces +had come up from all parts of the Empire, raising the French army +at the front to 300,000 men; but, for the first time in +Napoleon's career, his enemies had won from a pause in war +results even surpassing his own. The strength of the Prussian and +Russian armies was now enormously different from what it had been +at Lützen and Bautzen. The Prussian Landwehr, then a +weaponless and ill-clad militia drilling in the villages, was now +fully armed, and in great part at the front. New Russian +divisions had reached Silesia. Austria took the field with a +force as numerous as that which had checked Napoleon in 1809. At +the close of the armistice, 350,000 men actually faced the French +positions upon the Elbe; 300,000 more were on the march, or +watching the German fortresses and the frontier of Italy. The +allied troops operating against Napoleon were divided into three +armies. In the north, between Wittenberg and Berlin, Bernadotte +commanded 60,000 Russians and Prussians, in addition to his own +Swedish contingent. Blücher was placed at the head of +100,000 Russians and Prussians in Silesia. The Austrians remained +undivided, and formed, together with some Russian and Prussian +divisions, the great army of Bohemia, 200,000 strong, under the +command of Schwarzenberg. The plan of the campaign had been +agreed upon by the Allies soon after the Treaty of Reichenbach +had been made with Austria. It was a sound, though not a daring +one.</p> +<p>[Plan of the Allies.]</p> +<p>The three armies, now forming an arc from Wittenberg to the +north of Bohemia, were to converge upon the line of Napoleon's +communications behind Dresden; if separately attacked, their +generals were to avoid all hazardous engagements, and to +manoeuvre so as to weary the enemy and preserve their own general +relations, as far as possible, unchanged. Blücher, as the +most exposed, was expected to content himself the longest with +the defensive; the great army of Bohemia, after securing the +mountain-passes between Bohemia and Saxony, might safely turn +Napoleon's position at Dresden, and so draw the two weaker armies +towards it for one vast and combined engagement in the plain of +Leipzig.</p> +<p>[Napoleon's plan of attack.]</p> +<p>In outline, the plan of the Allies was that which Napoleon +expected them to adopt. His own design was to anticipate it by an +offensive of extraordinary suddenness and effect. Hostilities +could not begin before the morning of the 18th of August; by the +21st or the 22nd, Napoleon calculated that he should have +captured Berlin. Oudinot, who was at Wittenberg with 80,000 men, +had received orders to advance upon the Prussian capital at the +moment that the armistice expired, and to force it, if necessary +by bombardment, into immediate surrender. The effect of this +blow, as Napoleon supposed, would be to disperse the entire +reserve-force of the Prussian monarchy, and paralyse the action +of its army in the field. While Oudinot marched on Berlin, +Blücher was to be attacked in Silesia, and prevented from +rendering any assistance either on the north or on the south. The +mass of Napoleon's forces, centred at Dresden, and keeping watch +upon the movements of the army of Bohemia, would either fight a +great battle, or, if the Allies made a false movement, march +straight upon Prague, the centre of Austria's supplies, and reach +it before the enemy. All the daring imagination of Napoleon's +earlier campaigns displayed itself in such a project, which, if +successful, would have terminated the war within ten days; but +this imagination was no longer, as in those earlier campaigns, +identical with insight into real possibilities. The success of +Napoleon's plan involved the surprise or total defeat of +Bernadotte before Berlin, the disablement of Blücher, and a +victory, or a strategical success equivalent to a victory, over +the vast army of the south. It demanded of a soldiery, inferior +to the enemy in numerical strength, the personal superiority +which had belonged to the men of Jena and Austerlitz, when in +fact the French regiments of conscripts had ceased to be a match +for equal numbers of the enemy. But no experience could alter +Napoleon's fixed belief in the fatuity of all warfare except his +own. After the havoc of Borodino, after the even struggles of +Lützen and Bautzen, he still reasoned as if he had before +him the armies of Brunswick and Mack. His plan assumed the +certainty of success in each of its parts; for the failure of a +single operation hazarded all the rest, by requiring the transfer +of reinforcements from armies already too weak for the tasks +assigned to them. Nevertheless, the utmost that Napoleon would +acknowledge was that the execution of his design needed energy. +He still underrated the force which Austria had brought into the +field against him. Though ignorant of the real position and +strength of the army in Bohemia, and compelled to wait for the +enemy's movements before striking on this side, he already in +imagination saw the war decided by the fall of the Prussian +capital.</p> +<p>[Triple movement, Aug. 18-26.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Dresden, Aug. 26, 27.]</p> +<p>[Battles of Grossbeeren, Aug. 23, and the Katzbach, Aug. +26.]</p> +<p>On the 18th of August the forward movement began. Oudinot +advanced from Wittenberg towards Berlin; Napoleon himself hurried +into Silesia, intending to deal Blücher one heavy blow, and +instantly to return and place himself before Schwarzenberg. On +the 21st, and following days, the Prussian general was attacked +and driven eastwards. Napoleon committed the pursuit to +Macdonald, and hastened back to Dresden, already threatened by +the advance of the Austrians from Bohemia. Schwarzenberg and the +allied sovereigns, as soon as they heard that Napoleon had gone +to seek Blücher in Silesia, had in fact abandoned their +cautious plans, and determined to make an assault upon Dresden +with the Bohemian army alone. But it was in vain that they tried +to surprise Napoleon. He was back at Dresden on the 25th, and +ready for the attack. Never were Napoleon's hopes higher than on +this day. His success in Silesia had filled him with confidence. +He imagined Oudinot to be already in Berlin; and the advance of +Schwarzenberg against Dresden gave him the very opportunity which +he desired for crushing the Bohemian army in one great battle, +before it could draw support either from Blücher or from +Bernadotte. Another Austerlitz seemed to be at hand. Napoleon +wrote to Paris that he should be in Prague before the enemy; and, +while he completed his defences in front of Dresden, he ordered +Vandamme, with 40,000 men, to cross the Elbe at Königstein, +and force his way south-westwards on to the roads into Bohemia, +in the rear of the Great Army, in order to destroy its magazines +and menace its line of retreat on Prague. On August 26th +Schwarzenberg's host assailed the positions of Napoleon on the +slopes and gardens outside Dresden. Austrians, Russians, and +Prussians all took part in the attack. Moreau, the victor of +Hohenlinden, stood by the side of the Emperor Alexander, whom he +had come to help against his own countrymen. He lived only to +witness one of the last and greatest victories of France. The +attack was everywhere repelled: the Austrian divisions were not +only beaten, but disgraced and overthrown. At the end of two +days' fighting the Allies were in full retreat, leaving 20,000 +prisoners in the hands of Napoleon. It was a moment when the +hearts of the bravest sank, and when hope itself might well +vanish, as the rumour passed through the Prussian regiments that +Metternich was again in friendly communication with Napoleon. But +in the midst of Napoleon's triumph intelligence arrived which +robbed it of all its worth. Oudinot, instead of conquering +Berlin, had been defeated by the Prussians of Bernadotte's army +at Grossbeeren (Aug. 23), and driven back upon the Elbe. +Blücher had turned upon Macdonald in Silesia, and completely +overthrown his army on the river Katzbach, at the very moment +when the Allies were making their assault upon Dresden. It was +vain to think of a march upon Prague, or of the annihilation of +the Austrians, when on the north and the east Napoleon's troops +were meeting with nothing but disaster. The divisions which had +been intended to support Vandamme's movement from Königstein +upon the rear of the Great Army were retained in the +neighbourhood of Dresden, in order to be within reach of the +points where their aid might be needed. Vandamme, ignorant of his +isolation, was left with scarcely 40,000 men to encounter the +Great Army in its retreat.</p> +<p>[Battle of Kulm, Aug. 29, 30.]</p> +<p>He threw himself upon a Russian corps at Kulm, in the Bohemian +mountains, on the morning of the 29th. The Russians, at first few +in number, held their ground during the day; in the night, and +after the battle had recommenced on the morrow, vast masses of +the allied troops poured in. The French fought desperately, but +were overwhelmed. Vandamme himself was made prisoner, with 10,000 +of his men. The whole of the stores and most of the cannon of his +army remained in the enemy's hands.</p> +<p>[Effect of the twelve days, Aug. 18-30.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Dennewitz, Sept. 6.]</p> +<p>The victory at Kulm secured the Bohemian army from pursuit, +and almost extinguished the effects of its defeat at Dresden. +Thanks to the successes of Blücher and of Bernadotte's +Prussian generals, which prevented Napoleon from throwing all his +forces on to the rear of the Great Army, Schwarzenberg's rash +attack had proved of no worse significance than an unsuccessful +raid. The Austrians were again in the situation assigned to them +in the original plan of the campaign, and capable of resuming +their advance into the interior of Saxony: Blücher and the +northern commanders had not only escaped separate destruction, +but won great victories over the French: Napoleon, weakened by +the loss of 100,000 men, remained exactly where he had been at +the beginning of the campaign. Had the triple movement by which +he meant to overwhelm his adversaries been capable of execution, +it would now have been fully executed. The balance, however, had +turned against Napoleon; and the twelve days from the 18th to the +29th of August, though marked by no catastrophe like Leipzig or +Waterloo, were in fact the decisive period in the struggle of +Europe against Napoleon. The attack by which he intended to +prevent the junction of the three armies had been made, and had +failed. Nothing now remained for him but to repeat the same +movements with a discouraged force against an emboldened enemy, +or to quit the line of the Elbe, and prepare for one vast and +decisive encounter with all three armies combined. Napoleon drove +from his mind the thought of failure; he ordered Ney to take +command of Oudinot's army, and to lead it again, in increased +strength, upon Berlin; he himself hastened to Macdonald's beaten +troops in Silesia, and rallied them for a new assault upon +Blücher. All was in vain. Ney, advancing on Berlin, was met +by the Prussian general Billow at Dennewitz, and totally routed +(Sept. 6): Blücher, finding that Napoleon himself was before +him, skilfully avoided battle, and forced his adversary to waste +in fruitless marches the brief interval which he had snatched from +his watch on Schwarzenberg. Each conflict with the enemy, each +vain and exhausting march, told that the superiority had passed +from the French to their foes, and that Napoleon's retreat was +now only a matter of time. "These creatures have learnt +something," said Napoleon in the bitterness of his heart, as he +saw the columns of Blücher manoeuvring out of his grasp. +Ney's report of his own overthrow at Dennewitz sounded like an +omen of the ruin of Waterloo. "I have been totally defeated," he +wrote, "and do not yet know whether my army has re-assembled. The +spirit of the generals and officers is shattered. To command in +such conditions is but half to command. I had rather be a common +grenadier."</p> +<p>[Metternich.]</p> +<p>[German policy of Stein and of Austria.]</p> +<p>The accession of Austria had turned the scale in favour of the +Allies; it rested only with the allied generals themselves to +terminate the warfare round Dresden, and to lead their armies +into the heart of Saxony. For a while the course of the war +flagged, and military interests gave place to political. It was +in the interval between the first great battles and the final +advance on Leipzig that the future of Germany was fixed by the +three allied Powers. In the excitement of the last twelve months +little thought had been given, except by Stein and his friends, +to the political form to be set in the place of the Napoleonic +Federation of the Rhine. Stein, in the midst of the Russian +campaign, had hoped for a universal rising of the German people +against Napoleon, and had proposed the dethronement of all the +German princes who supported his cause. His policy had received +the general approval of Alexander, and, on the entrance of the +Russian army into Germany, a manifesto had been issued appealing +to the whole German nation, and warning the vassals of Napoleon +that they could only save themselves by submission. <a name="FNanchor185"> </a><a href="#Footnote_185"><sup>[185]</sup></a> A +committee had been appointed by the allied sovereigns, under the +presidency of Stein himself, to administer the revenues of all +Confederate territory that should be occupied by the allied +armies. Whether the reigning Houses should be actually expelled +might remain in uncertainty; but it was the fixed hope of Stein +and his friends that those princes who were permitted to retain +their thrones would be permitted to retain them only as officers +in a great German Empire, without sovereign rights either over +their own subjects or in relation to foreign States. The Kings of +Bavaria and Würtemberg had gained their titles and much of +their despotic power at home from Napoleon; their independence of +the Head of Germany had made them nothing more than the +instruments of a foreign conqueror. Under whatever form the +central authority might be revived, Stein desired that it should +be the true and only sovereign Power in Germany, a Power to which +every German might appeal against the oppression of a minor +Government, and in which the whole nation should find its +representative before the rest of Europe. In the face of such a +central authority, whether an elected Parliament or an Imperial +Council, the minor princes could at best retain but a fragment of +their powers; and such was the theory accepted at the allied +head-quarters down to the time when Austria proffered its +mediation and support. Then everything changed. The views of the +Austrian Government upon the future system of Germany were in +direct opposition to those of Stein's party. Metternich dreaded +the thought of popular agitation, and looked upon Stein, with his +idea of a National Parliament and his plans for dethroning the +Rhenish princes, as little better than the Jacobins of 1792. The +offer of a restored imperial dignity in Germany was declined by +the Emperor of Austria at the instance of his Minister. With +characteristic sense of present difficulties, and blindness to +the great forces which really contained their solution, +Metternich argued that the minor princes would only be driven +into the arms of the foreigner by the establishment of any +supreme German Power. They would probably desert Napoleon if the +Allies guaranteed to them everything that they at present +possessed; they would be freed from all future temptation to +attach themselves to France if Austria contented itself with a +diplomatic influence and with the ties of a well-constructed +system of treaties. In spite of the influence of Stein with the +Emperor Alexander, Metternich's views prevailed. Austria had so +deliberately kept itself in balance during the first part of the +year 1813, that the Allies were now willing to concede +everything, both in this matter and in others, in return for its +support. Nothing more was heard of the dethronement of the +Confederate princes, or even of the limitation of their powers. +It was agreed by the Treaty of Teplitz, signed by Prussia, +Russia, and Austria on September 9th, that every State of the +Rhenish Confederacy should be placed in a position of absolute +independence. Negotiations were opened with the King of Bavaria, +whose army had steadily fought on the side of Napoleon in every +campaign since 1806. Instead of being outlawed as a criminal, he +was welcomed as an ally. The Treaty of Ried, signed on the 3rd of +October, guaranteed to the King of Bavaria, in return for his +desertion of Napoleon, full sovereign rights, and the whole of +the territory which he had received from Napoleon, except the +Tyrol and the Austrian district on the Inn. What had been +accorded to the King of Bavaria could not be refused to the rest +of Napoleon's vassals who were willing to make their peace with +the Allies in time. Germany was thus left at the mercy of a score +of petty Cabinets. It was seen by the patriotic party in Prussia +at what price the alliance of Austria had been purchased. Austria +had indeed made it possible to conquer Napoleon, but it had also +made an end of all prospect of the union of the German +nation.</p> +<p>[Allies cross the Elbe, Oct. 3.]</p> +<p>Till the last days of September the position of the hostile +armies round Dresden remained little changed, Napoleon +unweariedly repeated his attacks, now on one side, now on +another, but without result. The Allies on their part seemed +rooted to the soil. Bernadotte, balanced between the desire to +obtain Norway from the Allies and a foolish hope of being called +to the throne of France, was bent on doing the French as little +harm as possible; Schwarzenberg, himself an indifferent general, +was distracted by the councillors of all the three monarchs; +Blücher alone pressed for decided and rapid action. At +length the Prussian commander gained permission to march +northwards, and unite his army with Bernadotte's in a forward +movement across the Elbe. The long-expected Russian reserves, led +by Bennigsen, reached the Bohemian mountains; and at the +beginning of October the operation began which was to collect the +whole of the allied forces in the plain of Leipzig. Blücher +forced the passage of the Elbe at Wartenburg. It was not until +Napoleon learnt that the army of Silesia had actually crossed the +river that he finally quitted Dresden. Then, hastening +northwards, he threw himself upon the Prussian general; but +Blücher again avoided battle, as he had done in Silesia; and +on the 7th of October his army united with Bernadotte's, which +had crossed the Elbe two days before.</p> +<p>The enemy was closing in upon Napoleon. Obstinately as he had +held on to the line of the Elbe, he could hold on no longer. In +the frustration of all his hopes there flashed across his mind +the wild project of a march eastwards to the Oder, and the +gathering of all the besieged garrisons for a campaign in which +the enemy should stand between himself and France; but the dream +lasted only long enough to gain a record. Napoleon ventured no +more than to send a corps back to the Elbe to threaten Berlin, in +the hope of tempting Blücher and Bernadotte to abandon the +advance which they had now begun in co-operation with the great +army of Schwarzenberg. From the 10th to the 14th of October, +Napoleon lingered at Düben, between Dresden and Leipzig, +restlessly expecting to hear of Blücher's or Bernadotte's +retreat. The only definite information that he could gain was +that Schwarzenberg was pressing on towards the west. At length he +fell back to Leipzig, believing that Blücher, but not +Bernadotte, was advancing to meet Schwarzenberg and take part in +a great engagement. As he entered Leipzig on October 14th the +cannon of Schwarzenberg was heard on the south.</p> +<p>[Battle of Leipzig. Oct 16-19.]</p> +<p>Napoleon drew up for battle. The number of his troops in +position around the city was 170,000: about 15,000 others lay +within call. He placed Marmont and Ney on the north of Leipzig at +the village of Möckern, to meet the expected onslaught of +Blücher; and himself, with the great mass of his army, took +post on the south, facing Schwarzenberg. On the morning of the +16th, Schwarzenberg began the attack. His numbers did not exceed +150,000, for the greater part of the Russian army was a march in +the rear. The battle was an even one. The Austrians failed to +gain ground: with one more army-corps Napoleon saw that he could +overpower the enemy. He was still without intelligence of +Blücher's actual appearance in the north; and in the rash +hope that Blücher's coming might be delayed, he sent orders +to Ney and Marmont to leave their positions and hurry to the +south to throw themselves upon Schwarzenberg. Ney obeyed. +Marmont, when the order reached him, was actually receiving +Blücher's first fire. He determined to remain and defend the +village of Möckern, though left without support. York, +commanding the vanguard of Blücher's army, assailed him with +the utmost fury. A third part of the troops engaged on each side +were killed or wounded before the day closed; but in the end the +victory of the Prussians was complete. It was the only triumph +won by the Allies on this first day of the battle, but it turned +the scale against Napoleon. Marmont's corps was destroyed; Ney, +divided between Napoleon and Marmont, had rendered no effective +help to either. Schwarzenberg, saved from a great disaster, +needed only to wait for Bernadotte and the Russian reserves, and +to renew the battle with an additional force of 100,000 men.</p> +<p>[Storm of Leipzig, 19th. French retreat.]</p> +<p>[Battle of the 18th.]</p> +<p>In the course of the night Napoleon sent proposals for peace. +It was in the vain hope of receiving some friendly answer from +his father-in-law, the Austrian Emperor, that he delayed making +his retreat during the next day, while it might still have been +unmolested. No answer was returned to his letter. In the evening +of the 17th, Bennigsen's army reached the field of battle. Next +morning began that vast and decisive encounter known in the +language of Germany as "the battle of the nations," the greatest +battle in all authentic history, the culmination of all the +military effort of the Napoleonic age. Not less than 300,000 men +fought on the side of the Allies; Napoleon's own forces numbered +170,000. The battle raged all round Leipzig, except on the west, +where no attempt was made to interpose between Napoleon and the +line of his retreat. As in the first engagement, the decisive +successes were those of Blücher, now tardily aided by +Bernadotte, on the north; Schwarzenberg's divisions, on the south +side of the town, fought steadily, but without gaining much +ground. But there was no longer any doubt as to the issue of the +struggle. If Napoleon could not break the Allies in the first +engagement, he had no chance against them now when they had been +joined by 100,000 more men. The storm of attack grew wilder and +wilder: there were no new forces to call up for the defence. +Before the day was half over Napoleon drew in his outer line, and +began to make dispositions for a retreat from Leipzig. At evening +long trains of wounded from the hospitals passed through the +western gates of the city along the road towards the Rhine. In +the darkness of night the whole army was withdrawn from its +positions, and dense masses poured into the town, until every +street was blocked with confused and impenetrable crowds of +cavalry and infantry. The leading divisions moved out of the +gates before sunrise. As the throng lessened, some degree of +order was restored, and the troops which Napoleon intended to +cover the retreat took their places under the walls of Leipzig. +The Allies advanced to the storm on the morning of the 19th. The +French were driven into the town; the victorious enemy pressed on +towards the rear of the retreating columns. In the midst of the +struggle an explosion was heard above the roar of the battle. The +bridge over the Elster, the only outlet from Leipzig to the west, +had been blown up by -the mistake of a French soldier before the +rear-guard began to cross. The mass of fugitives, driven from the +streets of the town, found before them an impassable river. Some +swam to the opposite bank or perished in attempting to do so; the +rest, to the number of 15,000, laid down their arms. This was the +end of the battle. Napoleon had lost in the three days 40,000 +killed and wounded, 260 guns, and 30,000 prisoners. The killed +and wounded of the Allies reached the enormous sum of 54,000.</p> +<p>[Conditions of peace offered to Napoleon at Frankfort, Nov. +9th.]</p> +<p>[Allies follow Napoleon to the Rhine.]</p> +<p>The campaign was at an end. Napoleon led off a large army, but +one that was in no condition to turn upon its pursuers. At each +stage in the retreat thousands of fever-stricken wretches were +left to terrify even the pursuing army with the dread of their +infection. It was only when the French found the road to +Frankfort blocked at Hanau by a Bavarian force that they rallied +to the order of battle. The Bavarians were cut to pieces; the +road was opened; and, a fortnight after the Battle of Leipzig, +Napoleon, with the remnant of his great army, re-crossed the +Rhine. Behind him the fabric of his Empire fell to the ground. +Jerome fled from Westphalia; <a name="FNanchor186"> </a><a href="#Footnote_186"><sup>[186]</sup></a> the princes of the Rhenish +Confederacy came one after another to make their peace with the +Allies; Bülow, with the army which had conquered Ney at +Dennewitz, marched through the north of Germany to the +deliverance of Holland. Three days after Napoleon had crossed the +Rhine the Czar reached Frankfort; and here, on the 7th of +November, a military council was held, in which Blücher and +Gneisenau, against almost all the other generals, advocated an +immediate invasion of France. The soldiers, however, had time to +re-consider their opinions, for, on the 9th, it was decided by +the representatives of the Powers to send an offer of peace to +Napoleon, and the operations of the war were suspended by common +consent. The condition on which peace was offered to Napoleon was +the surrender of the conquests of France beyond the Alps and the +Rhine. The Allies were still willing to permit the Emperor to +retain Belgium, Savoy, and the Rhenish Provinces; they declined, +however, to enter into any negotiation until Napoleon had +accepted this basis of peace; and they demanded a distinct reply +before the end of the month of November.</p> +<p>[Offer of peace withdrawn, Dec. 1.]</p> +<p>[Plan of invasion of France.]</p> +<p>[Allies enter France, Jan., 1814.]</p> +<p>Napoleon, who had now arrived in Paris, and saw around him all +the signs of power, returned indefinite answers. The month ended +without the reply which the Allies required; and on the 1st of +December the offer of peace was declared to be withdrawn. It was +still undecided whether the war should take the form of an actual +invasion of France. The memory of Brunswick's campaign of 1792, +and of the disasters of the first coalition in 1793, even now +exercised a powerful influence over men's minds. Austria was +unwilling to drive Napoleon to extremities, or to give to Russia +and Prussia the increased influence which they would gain in +Europe from the total overthrow of Napoleon's power. It was +ultimately determined that the allied armies should enter France, +but that the Austrians, instead of crossing the north-eastern +frontier, should make a détour by Switzerland, and gain +the plateau of Langres in Champagne, from which the rivers Seine, +Marne, and Aube, with the roads following their valleys, descend +in the direction of the capital. The plateau of Langres was said +to be of such strategical importance that its occupation by an +invader would immediately force Napoleon to make peace. As a +matter of fact, the plateau was of no strategical importance +whatever; but the Austrians desired to occupy it, partly with the +view of guarding against any attack from the direction of Italy +and Lyons, partly from their want of the heavy artillery +necessary for besieging the fortresses farther north, <a name="FNanchor187"> </a><a href="#Footnote_187"><sup>[187]</sup></a> +and from a just appreciation of the dangers of a campaign +conducted in a hostile country intersected by several rivers. +Anything was welcomed by Metternich that seemed likely to avert, +or even to postpone, a struggle with Napoleon for life or death. +Blücher correctly judged the march through Switzerland to be +mere procrastination. He was himself permitted to take the +straight road into France, though his movements were retarded in +order to keep pace with the cautious steps of Schwarzenberg. On +the last day of the year 1813 the Prussian general crossed the +Rhine near Coblentz; on the 18th of January, 1814, the Austrian +army, having advanced from Switzerland by Belfort and Vesoul, +reached its halting-place on the plateau of Langres. Here the +march stopped; and here it was expected that terms of peace would +be proposed by Napoleon.</p> +<p>[Wellington entering France from the south.]</p> +<p>It was not on the eastern side alone that the invader was now +entering France. Wellington had passed the Pyrenees. His last +victorious march into the north of Spain began on the day when +the Prussian and Russian armies were defeated by Napoleon at +Bautzen (May 21, 1813). During the armistice of Dresden, a week +before Austria signed the treaty which fixed the conditions of +its armed mediation, he had gained an overwhelming triumph at +Vittoria over King Joseph and the French army, as it retreated +with all the spoils gathered in five years' occupation of Spain +(June 21). A series of bloody engagements had given the English +the passes of the Pyrenees in those same days of August and +September that saw the allied armies close around Napoleon at +Dresden; and when, after the catastrophe of Leipzig, the wreck of +Napoleon's host was retreating beyond the Rhine, Soult, the +defender of the Pyrenees, was driven by the British general from +his entrenchments on the Nivelle, and forced back under the walls +of Bayonne.</p> +<p>[French armies unable to hold the frontier.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon's plan of defence.]</p> +<p>Twenty years had passed since, in the tempestuous morn of the +Revolution, Hoche swept the armies of the first coalition across +the Alsatian frontier. Since then, French soldiers had visited +every capital, and watered every soil with their blood; but no +foreign soldier had set foot on French soil. Now the cruel goads +of Napoleon's military glory had spent the nation's strength, and +the force no longer existed which could bar the way to its +gathered enemies. The armies placed upon the eastern frontier had +to fall back before an enemy five times more numerous than +themselves. Napoleon had not expected that the Allies would enter +France before the spring. With three months given him for +organisation, he could have made the frontier-armies strong +enough to maintain their actual positions; the winter advance of +the Allies compelled him to abandon the border districts of +France, and to concentrate his defence in Champagne, between the +Marne, the Seine, and the Aube. This district was one which +offered extraordinary advantages to a great general acting +against an irresolute and ill-commanded enemy. By holding the +bridges over the three rivers, and drawing his own supplies along +the central road from Paris to Arcis-sur-Aube, Napoleon could +securely throw the bulk of his forces from one side to the other +against the flank of the Allies, while his own movements were +covered by the rivers, which could not be passed except at the +bridges. A capable commander at the head of the Allies would have +employed the same river-strategy against Napoleon himself, after +conquering one or two points of passage by main force; but +Napoleon had nothing of the kind to fear from Schwarzenberg; and +if the Austrian head-quarters continued to control the movements +of the allied armies, it was even now doubtful whether the +campaign would close at Paris or on the Rhine.</p> +<p>[Campaign of 1814.]</p> +<p>For some days after the arrival of the monarchs and +diplomatists at Langres (Jan. 22), Metternich and the more +timorous among the generals opposed any further advance into +France, and argued that the army had already gained all it needed +by the occupation of the border provinces. It was only upon the +threat of the Czar to continue the war by himself that the +Austrians consented to move forward upon Paris. After several +days had been lost in discussion, the advance from Langres was +begun. Orders were given to Blücher, who had pushed back the +French divisions commanded by Marmont and Mortier, and who was +now near St. Dizier on the Marne, to meet the Great Army at +Brienne. This was the situation of the Allies when, on the 25th +of January, Napoleon left Paris, and placed himself at +Châlons on the Marne, at the head of his left wing, having +his right at Troyes and at Arcis, guarding the bridges over the +Seine and the Aube. Napoleon knew that Blücher was moving +towards the Austrians; he hoped to hold the Prussian general in +check at St. Dizier, and to throw himself upon the heads of +Schwarzenberg's columns as they moved towards the Aube. +Blücher, however, had already passed St. Dizier when +Napoleon reached it. Napoleon pursued, and overtook the Prussians +at Brienne. After an indecisive battle, Blücher fell back +towards Schwarzenberg. The allied armies effected their junction, +and Blücher, now supported by the Austrians, turned and +marched down the right bank of the Aube to meet Napoleon. +Napoleon, though far outnumbered, accepted battle. He was +attacked at La Rothière close above Brienne, and defeated +with heavy loss (Feb. 1). A vigorous pursuit would probably have +ended the war; but the Austrians held back. Schwarzenberg +believed peace to be already gained, and condemned all further +action as useless waste of life. In spite of the protests of the +Emperor Alexander, he allowed Napoleon to retire unmolested. +Schwarzenberg's inaction was no mere error in military judgment. +There was a direct conflict between the Czar and the Austrian +Cabinet as to the end to be obtained by the war. Alexander +already insisted on the dethronement of Napoleon; the Austrian +Government would have been content to leave Napoleon in power if +he would accept a peace giving France no worse a frontier than it +had possessed in 1791. Castlereagh, who had come from England, +and Hardenberg were as yet inclined to support Metternich's +policy, although the whole Prussian army, the public opinion of +Great Britain, and the counsels of Stein and all the bolder +Prussian statesmen, were on the side of the Czar. <a name="FNanchor188"> </a><a href="#Footnote_188"><sup>[188]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Congress of Châtillon, Feb. 5-9.]</p> +<p>Already the influence of the peace-party was so far in the +ascendant that negotiations had been opened with Napoleon. +Representatives of all the Powers assembled at Châtillon, +in Burgundy; and there, towards the end of January, Caulaincourt +appeared on behalf of France. The first sitting took place on the +5th of February; on the following day Caulaincourt received full +powers from Napoleon to conclude peace. The Allies laid down as +the condition of peace the limitation of France to the frontiers +of 1791. Had Caulaincourt dared to conclude peace instantly on +these terms, Napoleon would have retained his throne; but he was +aware that Napoleon had only granted him full powers in +consequence of the disastrous battle of La Rothière, and +he feared to be disavowed by his master as soon as the army had +escaped from danger. Instead of simply accepting the Allies' +offer, he raised questions as to the future of Italy and Germany. +The moment was lost; on the 9th of February the Czar recalled his +envoy from Châtillon, and the sittings of the Congress were +broken off.</p> +<p>[Defeats of Blücher on the Marne Feb. 10-14.]</p> +<p>[Montereau, Feb 18.]</p> +<p>[Austrians fall back towards Langres.]</p> +<p>Schwarzenberg was now slowly and unwillingly moving forwards +along the Seine towards Troyes. Blücher was permitted to +return to the Marne, and to advance upon Paris by an independent +line of march. He crossed the country between the Aube and the +Marne, and joined some divisions which he had left behind him on +the latter river. But his dispositions were outrageously +careless: his troops were scattered over a space of sixty miles +from Châlons westward, as if he had no enemy to guard +against except the weak divisions commanded by Mortier and +Marmont, which had uniformly fallen back before his advance. +Suddenly Napoleon himself appeared at the centre of the long +Prussian line at Champaubert. He had hastened northwards in +pursuit of Blücher with 30,000 men, as soon as Schwarzenberg +entered Troyes; and on February 10th a weak Russian corps that +lay in the centre of Blücher's column was overwhelmed before +it was known the Emperor had left the Seine. Then, turning +leftwards, Napoleon overthrew the Prussian vanguard at +Montmirail, and two days later attacked and defeated Blücher +himself, who was bringing up the remainder of his troops in total +ignorance of the enemy with whom he had to deal. In four days +Blücher's army, which numbered 70,000 men, had thrice been +defeated in detail by a force of 30,000. Blücher was +compelled to fall back upon Châlons; Napoleon instantly +returned to the support of Oudinot's division, which he had left +in front of Schwarzenberg. In order to relieve Blücher, the +Austrians had pushed forward on the Seine beyond Montereau. +Within three days after the battle with Blücher, Napoleon +was back upon the Seine, and attacking the heads of the Austrian +column. On the 18th of February he gained so decisive a victory +at Montereau that Schwarzenberg abandoned the advance, and fell +back upon Troyes, sending word to Blücher to come southwards +again and help him to fight a great battle. Blücher moved +off with admirable energy, and came into the neighbourhood of +Troyes within a week after his defeats upon the Marne. But the +design of fighting a great battle was given up. The +disinclination of the Austrians to vigorous action was too strong +to be overcome; and it was finally determined that Schwarzenberg +should fall back almost to the plateau of Langres, leaving +Blücher to unite with the troops of Bülow which had +conquered Holland, and to operate on the enemy's flank and +rear.</p> +<p>[Congress of Châtillon resumed, Feb. 17-March 15.]</p> +<p>The effect of Napoleon's sudden victories on the Marne was +instantly seen in the councils of the allied sovereigns. +Alexander, who had withdrawn his envoy from Châtillon, +could no longer hold out against negotiations with Napoleon. He +restored the powers of his envoy, and the Congress re-assembled. +But Napoleon already saw himself in imagination driving the +invaders beyond the Rhine, and sent orders to Caulaincourt to +insist upon the terms proposed at Frankfort, which left to France +both the Rhenish Provinces and Belgium. At the same time he +attempted to open a private negotiation with his father-in-law +the Emperor of Austria, and to detach him from the cause of the +Allies. The attempt failed; the demands now made by Caulaincourt +overcame even the peaceful inclinations of the Austrian Minister; +and on the 1st of March the Allies signed a new treaty at +Chaumont, pledging themselves to conclude no peace with Napoleon +that did not restore the frontier of 1791, and to maintain a +defensive alliance against France for a period of twenty years. +<a name="FNanchor189"> </a><a href="#Footnote_189"><sup>[189]</sup></a> Caulaincourt continued for +another fortnight at Châtillon, instructed by Napoleon to +prolong the negotiations, but forbidden to accept the only +conditions which the Allies were willing to grant.</p> +<p>[Napoleon follows Blücher to the north. Battle of Laon, +March 10.]</p> +<p>Blücher was now on his way northwards to join the +so-called army of Bernadotte upon the Aisne. Since the Battle of +Leipzig, Bernadotte himself had taken no part in the movements of +the army nominally under his command. The Netherlands had been +conquered by Bülow and the Russian general Winzingerode, and +these officers were now pushing southwards in order to take part +with Blücher in a movement against Paris. Napoleon +calculated that the fortress of Soissons would bar the way to the +northern army, and enable him to attack and crush Blücher +before he could effect a junction with his colleagues. He set out +in pursuit of the Prussians, still hoping for a second series of +victories like those he had won upon the Marne. But the cowardice +of the commander of Soissons ruined his chances of success. The +fortress surrendered to the Russians at the first summons. +Blücher met the advanced guard of the northern army upon the +Aisne on the 4th of March, and continued his march towards Laon +for the purpose of uniting with its divisions which lay in the +rear. The French followed, but the only advantage gained by +Napoleon was a victory over a detached Russian corps at Craonne. +Marmont was defeated with heavy loss by a sally of Blücher +from his strong position on the hill of Laon (March 10); and the +Emperor himself, unable to restore the fortune of the battle, +fell back upon Soissons, and thence marched southward to throw +himself again upon the line of the southern army.</p> +<p>[Napoleon marches to the rear of the Allies, March 23.]</p> +<p>[The Allies advance on Paris.]</p> +<p>Schwarzenberg had once more begun to move forward on the news +of Blücher's victory at Laon. His troops were so widely +dispersed that Napoleon might even now have cut the line in +halves had he known Schwarzenberg's real position. But he made a +détour in order to meet Oudinot's corps, and gave the +Austrians time to concentrate at Arcis-sur-Aube. Here, on the +20th of March, Napoleon found himself in face of an army of +100,000 men. His own army was less than a third of that number; +yet with unalterable contempt for the enemy he risked another +battle. No decided issue was reached in the first day's fighting, +and Napoleon remained in position, expecting that Schwarzenberg +would retreat during the night. But on the morrow the Austrians +were still fronting him. Schwarzenberg had at length learnt his +own real superiority, and resolved to assist the enemy no longer +by a wretched system of retreat. A single act of firmness on the +part of the Austrian commander showed Napoleon that the war of +battles was at an end. He abandoned all hope of resisting the +invaders in front: it only remained for him to throw himself on +to their rear, and, in company with the frontier-garrisons and +the army of Lyons, to attack their communications with Germany. +The plan was no unreasonable one, if Paris could either have +sustained a siege or have fallen into the enemy's hands without +terminating the war. But the Allies rightly judged that +Napoleon's power would be extinct from the moment that Paris +submitted. They received the intelligence of the Emperor's march +to the east, and declined to follow him. The armies of +Schwarzenberg and Blücher approached one another, and moved +together on Paris. It was at Vitry, on March 27th, that Napoleon +first discovered that the troops which had appeared to be +following his eastward movement were but a detachment of cavalry, +and that the allied armies were in full march upon the capital. +He instantly called up every division within reach, and pushed +forward by forced marches for the Seine, hoping to fall upon +Schwarzenberg's rear before the allied vanguard could reach +Paris. But at each hour of the march it became more evident that +the enemy was far in advance. For two days Napoleon urged his men +forward; at length, unable to bear the intolerable suspense, he +quitted the army on the morning of the 30th, and drove forward at +the utmost speed along the road through Fontainebleau to the +capital. As day sank, he met reports of a battle already begun. +When he reached the village of Fromenteau, fifteen miles from +Paris, at ten o'clock at night, he heard that Paris had actually +surrendered.</p> +<p>[Attack on Paris, March 30.]</p> +<p>[Capitulation of Marmont.]</p> +<p>[Allies enter Paris, March 31.]</p> +<p>The Allies had pressed forward without taking any notice of +Napoleon's movements, and at early morning on the 30th they had +opened the attack on the north-eastern heights of Paris. Marmont, +with the fragments of a beaten army and some weak divisions of +the National Guard, had but 35,000 men to oppose to three times +that number of the enemy. The Government had taken no steps to +arm the people, or to prolong resistance after the outside line +of defence was lost, although the erection of barricades would +have held the Allies in check until Napoleon arrived with his +army. While Marmont fought in the outer suburbs, masses of the +people were drawn up on Montmartre, expecting the Emperor's +appearance, and the spectacle of a great and decisive battle. But +the firing in the outskirts stopped soon after noon: it was +announced that Marmont had capitulated. The report struck the +people with stupor and fury. They had vainly been demanding arms +since early morning; and even after the capitulation unsigned +papers were handed about by men of the working classes, +advocating further resistance. <a name="FNanchor190"> </a><a href="#Footnote_190"><sup>[190]</sup></a> But the people no longer +knew how to follow leaders of its own. Napoleon had trained +France to look only to himself: his absence left the masses, who +were still eager to fight for France, helpless in the presence of +the conqueror: there were enemies enough of the Government among +the richer classes to make the entry of the foreigner into Paris +a scene of actual joy and exultation. To such an extent had the +spirit of caste and the malignant delight in Napoleon's ruin +overpowered the love of France among the party of the old +noblesse, that upon the entry of the allied forces into Paris on +the 31st of March hundreds of aristocratic women kissed the +hands, or the very boots and horses, of the leaders of the train, +and cheered the Cossacks who escorted a band of French prisoners, +bleeding and exhausted, through the streets.</p> +<p>[Napoleon dethroned, April 2.]</p> +<p>Napoleon's reign was indeed at an end. Since the rupture of +the Congress of Châtillon on the 18th of March, the Allies +had determined to make his dethronement a condition of peace. As +the end approached, it was seen that no successor was possible +but the chief of the House of Bourbon, although Austria would +perhaps have consented to the establishment of a Regency under +the Empress Marie Louise, and the Czar had for a time entertained +the project of placing Bernadotte at the head of the French +State. Immediately after the entry into Paris it was determined +to raise the exile Louis XVIII. to the throne. The politicians of +the Empire who followed Talleyrand were not unwilling to unite +with the conquerors, and with the small party of Royalist +noblesse, in recalling the Bourbon dynasty. Alexander, who was +the real master of the situation, rightly judged Talleyrand to be +the man most capable of enlisting the public opinion of France on +the side of the new order. He took up his abode at Talleyrand's +house, and employed this dexterous statesman as the advocate both +of the policy of the Allies, and of the principles of +constitutional liberty, which at this time Alexander himself +sincerely befriended. A Provisional Government was appointed +under Talleyrand's leadership. On the 2nd of April the Senate +proclaimed the dethronement of Napoleon. On the 6th it published +a Constitution, and recalled the House of Bourbon.</p> +<p>Louis XVIII. was still in England: his brother, the Count of +Artois, had joined the invaders in France and assumed the title +of Lieutenant of the Kingdom; but the influence of Alexander was +necessary to force this obstinate and unteachable man into +anything like a constitutional position. The Provisional +Government invited the Count to take up the administration until +the King's arrival, in virtue of a decree of the Senate. D'Artois +declined to recognise the Senate's competency, and claimed the +Lieutenancy of the Kingdom as his brother's representative. The +Senate refusing to admit the Count's divine right, some unmeaning +words were exchanged when d'Artois entered Paris; and the +Provisional Government, disregarding the claims of the Royal +Lieutenant, continued in the full exercise of its powers. At +length the Czar insisted that d'Artois should give way. The +decree of the Senate was accordingly accepted by him at the +Tuileries on the 14th of April; the Provisional Government +retired, and a Council of State was formed, in which Talleyrand +still continued to exercise the real powers of government. In the +address made by d'Artois on this occasion, he stated that +although the King had not empowered him to accept the +Constitution made by the Senate on the 6th of April, he +entertained no doubt that the King would accept the principles +embodied in that Constitution, which were those of Representative +Government, of the freedom of the press, and of the +responsibility of ministers. A week after d'Artois' declaration, +Louis XVIII. arrived in France.</p> +<p>[Louis XVIII. and the Czar.]</p> +<p>[Louis XVIII. enters Paris, May 3.]</p> +<p>Louis XVIII., though capable of adapting himself in practice +to a constitutional system, had never permitted himself to +question the divine right of the House of Bourbon to sovereign +power. The exiles who surrounded him were slow to understand the +needs of the time. They recommended the King to reject the +Constitution. Louis made an ambiguous answer when the Legislative +Body met him at Compiègne and invited an expression of the +royal policy. It was again necessary for the Czar to interfere, +and to explain to the King that France could no longer be an +absolute monarchy. Louis, however, was a better arguer than the +Count of Artois. He reasoned as a man whom the sovereigns of +Europe had felt it their duty to restore without any request from +himself. If the Senate of Napoleon, he urged, had the right to +give France a Constitution, he himself ought never to have been +brought from his peaceful English home. He was willing to grant a +free Constitution to his people in exercise of his own royal +rights, but he could not recognise one created by the servants of +an usurper. Alexander was but half satisfied with the liberal +professions of Louis: he did not, however, insist on his +acceptance of the Constitution drawn up by the Senate, but he +informed him that until the promises made by d'Artois were +confirmed by a royal proclamation, there would be no entry into +Paris. The King at length signed a proclamation written by +Talleyrand, and made his festal entry into the capital on the 3rd +of May.</p> +<p>[Feeling of Paris.]</p> +<p>The promises of Louis himself, the unbroken courtesy and +friendliness shown by the Allies to Paris since their victory a +month before, had almost extinguished the popular feeling of +hostility towards a dynasty which owed its recall to the +overthrow of French armies. The foreign leaders themselves had +begun to excite a certain admiration and interest. Alexander was +considered, and with good reason, as a generous enemy; the +simplicity of the King of Prussia, his misfortunes, his +well-remembered gallantry at the Battle of Jena, gained him +general sympathy. It needed but little on the part of the +returning Bourbons to convert the interest and curiosity of Paris +into affection. The cortège which entered the capital with +Louis XVIII. brought back, in a singular motley of obsolete and +of foreign costumes, the bearers of many unforgotten names. The +look of the King himself, as he drove through Paris, pleased the +people. The childless father of the murdered Duke of Enghien +gained the pitying attention of those few who knew the face of a +man twenty-five years an exile. But there was one among the +members of the returning families whom every heart in Paris went +out to meet. The daughter of Louis XVI., who had shared the +captivity of her parents and of her brother, the sole survivor of +her deeply-wronged house, now returned as Duchess of +Angoulême. The uniquely mournful history of her girlhood, +and her subsequent marriage with her cousin, the son of the Count +of Artois, made her the natural object of a warmer sympathy than +could attach to either of the brothers of Louis XVI. But +adversity had imprinted its lines too deeply upon the features +and the disposition of this joyless woman for a moment's light to +return. Her voice and her aspect repelled the affection which +thousands were eager to offer to her. Before the close of the +first days of the restored monarchy, it was felt that the +Bourbons had brought back no single person among them who was +capable of winning the French nation's love.</p> +<p>[Napoleon sent to Elba.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon.]</p> +<p>The recall of the ancient line had been allowed to appear to +the world as the work of France itself; Napoleon's fate could +only be fixed by his conquerors. After the fall of Paris, +Napoleon remained at Fontainebleau awaiting events. The soldiers +and the younger officers of his army were still ready to fight +for him; the marshals, however, were utterly weary, and +determined that France should no longer suffer for the sake of a +single man. They informed Napoleon that he must abdicate. +Yielding to their pressure, Napoleon, on the 3rd of April, drew +up an act of abdication in favour of his infant son, and sent it +by Caulaincourt to the allied sovereigns at Paris. The document +was rejected by the Allies; Caulaincourt returned with the +intelligence that Napoleon must renounce the throne for himself +and all his family. For a moment the Emperor thought of renewing +the war; but the marshals refused their aid more resolutely than +before, and, on the 6th of April, Napoleon signed an +unconditional surrender of the throne for himself and his heirs. +He was permitted by the Allies to retain the unmeaning title of +Emperor, and to carry with him a body-guard and a considerable +revenue to the island of Elba, henceforward to be his +principality and his prison. The choice of this island, within +easy reach of France and Italy, and too extensive to be guarded +without a large fleet, was due to Alexander's ill-judged +generosity towards Napoleon, and to a promise made to Marmont +that the liberty of the Emperor should be respected. Alexander +was not left without warning of the probable effects of his +leniency. Sir Charles Stewart, military representative of Great +Britain at the allied head-quarters, urged both his own and the +allied Governments to substitute some more distant island for +Elba, if they desired to save Europe from a renewed Napoleonic +war, and France from the misery of a second invasion. The Allies, +though not without misgivings, adhered to their original plan, +and left it to time to justify the predictions of their +adviser.</p> +<p>[Treaty of Paris, May 30.]</p> +<p>It was well known what would be the terms of peace, now that +Napoleon was removed from the throne. The Allies had no intention +of depriving France of any of the territory that it had held +before 1792: the conclusion of a definitive Treaty was only +postponed until the Constitution, which Alexander required King +Louis XVIII. to grant, had been drawn up by a royal commission +and approved by the King. On the 27th of May the draft of this +Constitution, known as the Charta, was laid before the King, and +sanctioned by him; on the 30th, the Treaty of Paris was signed by +the representatives of France and of all the great Powers. <a +name="FNanchor191"> </a><a href="#Footnote_191"><sup>[191]</sup></a> France, surrendering all its +conquests, accepted the frontier of the 1st of January, 1792, +with a slight addition of territory on the side of Savoy and at +points on its northern and eastern border. It paid no indemnity. +It was permitted to retain all the works of art accumulated by +twenty years of rapine, except the trophies carried from the +Brandenburg Gate of Berlin and the spoils of the Library of +Vienna. It received back nearly all the colonies which had been +taken from it by Great Britain. By the clauses of the Treaty +disposing of the territory that had formed the Empire and the +dependencies of Napoleon, Holland was restored to the House of +Orange, with the provision that its territory should be largely +increased; Switzerland was declared independent; it was +stipulated that Italy, with the exception of the Austrian +Provinces, should consist of independent States, and that Germany +should remain distributed among a multitude of sovereigns, +independent, but united by a Federal tie. The navigation of the +Rhine was thrown open. By a special agreement with Great Britain +the French Government undertook to unite its efforts to those of +England in procuring the suppression of the Slave-trade by all +the Powers, and pledged itself to abolish the Slave-trade among +French subjects within five years at the latest. For the +settlement of all European questions not included in the Treaty +of Paris it was agreed that a Congress of the Powers should, +within two months, assemble at Vienna. These were the public +articles of the Treaty of Paris. Secret clauses provided that the +Allies-that is, the Allies independently of France-should control +the distributions of territory to be made at the Congress; that +Austria should receive Venetia and all Northern Italy as far as +the Ticino; that Genoa should be given to the King of Sardinia; +and that the Southern Netherlands should be united into a single +kingdom with Holland, and thus form a solid bulwark against +France on the north. No mention was made of Naples, whose +sovereign, Murat, had abandoned Napoleon and allied himself with +Austria, but without fulfilling in good faith the engagements +into which he had entered against his former master. A nominal +friend of the Allies, he knew that he had played a double game, +and that his sovereignty, though not yet threatened, was +insecure. <a name="FNanchor192"> </a><a href="#Footnote_192"><sup>[192]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Territorial arrangements of 1814.]</p> +<p>Much yet remained to be settled by the Congress at Vienna, but +in the Treaty of Paris two at least of the great Powers saw the +objects attained for which they had straggled so persistently +through all the earlier years of the war, and which at a later +time had appeared to pass almost out of the range of possibility. +England saw the Netherlands once more converted into a barrier +against France, and Antwerp held by friendly hands. Austria +reaped the full reward of its cool and well-balanced diplomacy +during the crisis of 1813, in the annexation of an Italian +territory that made it the real mistress of the Peninsula. +Castlereagh and every other English politician felt that Europe +had done itself small honour in handing Venice back to the +Hapsburg; but this had been the condition exacted by Metternich +at Prague before he consented to throw the sword of Austria into +the trembling scale; <a name="FNanchor193"> </a><a href="#Footnote_193"><sup>[193]</sup></a> and the Republican +traditions both of Venice and of Genoa counted for little among +the statesmen of 1814, in comparison with the divine right of a +Duke of Modena or a Prince of Hesse Cassel. <a name="FNanchor194"> </a><a href="#Footnote_194"><sup>[194]</sup></a> +France itself, though stripped of the dominion won by twenty +years of warfare, was permitted to retain, for the benefit of a +restored line of kings, the whole of its ancient territory, and +the spoil of all the galleries and museums of Western Europe. It +would have been no unnatural wrong if the conquerors of 1814 had +dealt with the soil of France as France had dealt with other +lands; it would have been an act of bare justice to restore to +its rightful owners the pillage that had been brought to Paris, +and to recover from the French treasury a part of the enormous +sums which Napoleon had extorted from conquered States. But the +Courts were too well satisfied with their victory to enter into a +strict account upon secondary matters; and a prudent regard on +the part of the Allies to the prospects of the House of Bourbon +saved France from experiencing what it had inflicted upon +others.</p> +<p>[All the Powers except France gained territory by the war, +1792-1814.]</p> +<p>The policy which now restored to France the frontier of 1792 +was viewed with a very different feeling in France and in all +other countries. Europe looked with a kind of wonder upon its own +generosity; France forgot the unparalleled provocations which it +had offered to mankind, and only remembered that Belgium and the +Rhenish Provinces had formed part of the Republic and the Empire +for nearly twenty years. These early conquests of the Republic, +which no one had attempted to wrest from France since 1795, had +undoubtedly been the equivalent for which, in the days of the +Directory, Austria had been permitted to extend itself in Italy, +and Prussia in Germany. In the opinion of men who sincerely +condemned Napoleon's distant conquests, the territory between +France and the Rhine was no more than France might legitimately +demand, as a counterpoise to the vast accessions falling to one +or other of the Continental Powers out of the territory of +Poland, Venice, and the body of suppressed States in Germany. +Poland, excluding the districts taken from it before 1792, +contained a population twice as great as that of Belgium and the +Rhenish Provinces together: Venice carried with it, in addition +to a commanding province on the Italian mainland, the Eastern +Adriatic Coast as far as Ragusa. If it were true that the +proportionate increase of power formed the only solid principle +of European policy, France sustained a grievous injury in +receiving back the limits of 1791, when every other State on the +Continent was permitted to retain the territory, or an equivalent +for the territory, which it had gained in the great changes that +took place between 1791 and 1814. But in fact there had never +been a time during the last hundred and fifty years when France, +under an energetic Government, had not possessed a force +threatening to all its neighbours. France, reduced to its ancient +limits, was still the equal, and far more than the equal, of any +of the Continental Powers, with all that they had gained during +the Revolutionary War. It remained the first of European nations, +though no longer, as in the eighteenth century, the one great +nation of the western continent. Its efforts after universal +empire had aroused other nations into life. Had the course of +French conquest ceased before Napoleon grasped power, France +would have retained its frontier of the Rhine, and long have +exercised an unbounded influence over both Germany and Italy, +through the incomparably juster and brighter social life which +the Revolution, combined with all that France had inherited from +the past, enabled it to display to those countries. Napoleon, in +the attempt to impose his rule upon all Europe, created a power +in Germany whose military future was to be not less solid than +that of France itself, and left to Europe, in the accord of his +enemies, a firmer security against French attack than any that +the efforts of statesmen had ever framed.</p> +<p>[Permanent effect on Europe of period 1792-1814.]</p> +<p>[National sense excited in Germany and Italy.]</p> +<p>The league of the older monarchies had proved stronger in the +end than the genius and the ambition of a single man. But if, in +the service of Napoleon, France had exhausted its wealth, sunk +its fleets, and sacrificed a million lives, only that it might +lose all its earlier conquests, and resume limits which it had +outgrown before Napoleon held his first command, it was not thus +with the work which, for or against itself, France had effected +in Europe during the movements of the last twenty years. In the +course of the epoch now ending the whole of the Continent up to +the frontiers of Austria and Russia had gained the two fruitful +ideas of nationality and political freedom. There were now two +nations in Europe where before there had been but aggregates of +artificial States. Germany and Italy were no longer mere +geographical expressions: in both countries, though in a very +unequal degree, the newly-aroused sense of nationality had +brought with it the claim for unity and independence. In Germany, +Prussia had set a great example, and was hereafter to reap its +reward; in Italy there had been no State and no statesman to take +the lead either in throwing off Napoleon's rule, or in forcing +him, as the price of support, to give to his Italian kingdom a +really national government. Failing to act for itself, the +population of all Italy, except Naples, was parcelled out between +Austria and the ancient dynasties; but the old days of passive +submission to the foreigner were gone for ever, and time was to +show whether those were the dreamers who thought of a united +Italy, or those who thought that Metternich's statesmanship had +for ever settled the fate of Venice and of Milan.</p> +<p>[Desire for political liberty.]</p> +<p>The second legacy of the Revolutionary epoch, the idea of +constitutional freedom, which in 1789 had been as much wanting in +Spain, where national spirit was the strongest, as in those +German States where it was the weakest, had been excited in Italy +by the events of 1796 and 1798, in Spain by the disappearance of +the Bourbon king and the self-directed struggle of the nation +against the invader; in Prussia it had been introduced by the +Government itself when Stein was at the head of the State. "It is +impossible," wrote Lord Castlereagh in the spring of 1814, "not +to perceive a great moral change coming on in Europe, and that +the principles of freedom are in full operation." <a name="FNanchor195"> </a><a href="#Footnote_195"><sup>[195]</sup></a> +There was in fact scarcely a Court in Europe which was not now +declaring its intention to frame a Constitution. The professions +might be lightly made; the desire and the capacity for +self-government might still be limited to a narrower class than +the friends of liberty imagined; but the seed was sown, and a +movement had begun which was to gather strength during the next +thirty years of European history, while one revolution after +another proved that Governments could no longer with safety +disregard the rights of their subjects.</p> +<p>[Social changes.]</p> +<p>Lastly, in all the territory that had formed Napoleon's Empire +and dependencies, and also in Prussia, legal changes had been +made in the rights and relations of the different classes of +society, so important as almost to create a new type of social +life. Within the Empire itself the Code Napoléon, +conferring upon the subjects of France the benefits which the +French had already won for themselves, had superseded a society +resting on class-privilege, on feudal service, and on the +despotism of custom, by a society resting on equality before the +law, on freedom of contract, and on the unshackled ownership and +enjoyment of land, whether the holder possessed an acre or a +league. The principles of the French Code, if not the Code +itself, had been introduced into Napoleon's kingdom of Italy, +into Naples, and into almost all the German dependencies of +France. In Prussia the reforms of Stein and Hardenberg had been +directed, though less boldly, towards the same end; and when, +after 1814, the Rhenish Provinces were annexed to Prussia by the +Congress of Vienna, the Government was wise enough and liberal +enough to leave these districts in the enjoyment of the laws +which France had given them, and not to risk a comparison between +even the best Prussian legislation and the Code Napoleon. In +other territory now severed from France and restored to German or +Italian princes, attempts were not wanting to obliterate the new +order and to re-introduce the burdens and confusions of the old +regime. But these reactions, even where unopposed for a time, +were too much in conflict with the spirit of the age to gain more +than a temporary and precarious success. The people had begun to +know good and evil: examples of a free social order were too +close at hand to render it possible for any part of the western +continent to relapse for any very long period into the condition +of the eighteenth century.</p> +<p>[Limits.]</p> +<p>It was indeed within a distinct limit that the Revolutionary +epoch effected its work of political and social change. Neither +England nor Austria received the slightest impulse to progress. +England, on the contrary, suspended almost all internal +improvement during the course of the war; the domestic policy of +the Austrian Court, so energetic in the reign immediately +preceding the Revolution, became for the next twenty years, +except where it was a policy of repression, a policy of pure +vacancy and inaction. But in all other States of Western Europe +the period which reached its close with Napoleon's fall left deep +and lasting traces behind it. Like other great epochs of change, +it bore its own peculiar character. It was not, like the +Renaissance and the Reformation, a time when new worlds of faith +and knowledge transformed the whole scope and conception of human +life; it was not, like our own age, a time when scientific +discovery and increased means of communication silently altered +the physical conditions of existence; it was a time of changes +directly political in their nature, and directly effected by the +political agencies of legislation and of war. In the perspective +of history the Napoleonic age will take its true place among +other, and perhaps greater, epochs. Its elements of mere violence +and disturbance will fill less space in the eyes of mankind; its +permanent creations, more. As an epoch of purely political +energy, concentrating the work of generations within the compass +of twenty five years, it will perhaps scarcely find a +parallel.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XII."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>The Restoration of 1814-Norway-Naples-Westphalia-Spain-The +Spanish Constitution overthrown: Victory of the +Clergy-Restoration in France-The Charta-Encroachments of the +Nobles and Clergy-Growing Hostility to the Bourbons-Congress of +Vienna-Talleyrand and the Four Powers-The Polish Question-The +Saxon Question-Theory of Legitimacy-Secret Alliance against +Russia and Prussia-Compromise-The Rhenish Provinces-Napoleon +leaves Elba and lands in France-His Declarations-Napoleon at +Grenoble, at Lyon, at Paris-The Congress of Vienna unites Europe +against France-Murat's Action in Italy-The Acte Additionnel-The +Champ de Mai-Napoleon takes up the offensive-Battles of Ligny, +Quatre Bras, Waterloo-Affairs at Paris-Napoleon sent to St. +Helena-Wellington and Fouché-Arguments on the proposed +Cession of French Territory-Treaty of Holy Alliance-Second Treaty +of Paris-Conclusion of the Work of the Congress of Vienna- +Federation of Germany-Estimate of the Congress of Vienna and of +the Treaties of 1815-The Slave Trade.</p> +<br> + +<p>Of all the events which, in the more recent history of +mankind, have struck the minds of nations with awe, and appeared +to reveal in its direct operation a power overruling the highest +human effort, there is none equal in grandeur and terror to the +annihilation of Napoleon's army in the invasion of Russia. It was +natural that a generation which had seen State after State +overthrown, and each new violation of right followed by an +apparent consolidation of the conqueror's strength, should view +in the catastrophe of 1812 the hand of Providence visibly +outstretched for the deliverance of Europe. <a name="FNanchor196"> </a><a href="#Footnote_196"><sup>[196]</sup></a> +Since that time many years have passed. Perils which then seemed +to envelop the future of mankind now appear in part illusory; +sacrifices then counted cheap have proved of heavy cost. The +history of the two last generations shows that not everything was +lost to Europe in passing subjection to a usurper, nor everything +gained by the victory of his opponents. It is now not easy to +suppress the doubt whether the permanent interests of mankind +would not have been best served by Napoleon's success in 1812. +His empire had already attained dimensions that rendered its +ultimate disruption certain: less depended upon the postponement +or the acceleration of its downfall than on the order of things +ready to take its place. The victory of Napoleon in 1812 would +have been followed by the establishment of a Polish kingdom in +the provinces taken from Russia. From no generosity in the +conqueror, from no sympathy on his part with a fallen people, but +from the necessities of his political situation, Poland must have +been so organised as to render it the bulwark of French supremacy +in the East. The serf would have been emancipated. The just +hatred of the peasant to the noble, which made the partition of +1772 easy, and has proved fatal to every Polish uprising from +that time to the present, would have been appeased by an agrarian +reform executed with Napoleon's own unrivalled energy and +intelligence, and ushered in with brighter hopes than have at any +time in the history of Poland lit the dark shades of +peasant-life. The motives which in 1807 had led Napoleon to stay +his hand, and to content himself with half-measures of +emancipation in the Duchy of Warsaw <a name="FNanchor197"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_197"><sup>[197]</sup></a>, could have had no +place after 1812, when Russia remained by his side, a mutilated +but inexorable enemy, ever on the watch to turn to its own +advantage the first murmurs of popular discontent beyond the +border. Political independence, the heritage of the Polish noble, +might have been withheld, but the blessing of landed independence +would have been bestowed on the mass of the Polish people. In the +course of some years this restored kingdom, though governed by a +member of the house of Bonaparte, would probably have gained +sufficient internal strength to survive the downfall of +Napoleon's Empire or his own decease. England, Austria, and +Turkey would have found it no impossible task to prevent its +absorption by Alexander at the re-settlement of Europe, if indeed +the collapse of Russia had not been followed by the overthrow of +the Porte, and the establishment of a Greek, a Bulgarian, and a +Roumanian Kingdom under the supremacy of France. By the side of +the three absolute monarchs of Central and Eastern Europe there +would have remained, upon Napoleon's downfall, at least one +people in possession of the tradition of liberty: and from the +example of Poland, raised from the deep but not incurable +degradation of its social life, the rulers of Russia might have +gained courage to emancipate the serf, without waiting for the +lapse of another half-century and the occurrence of a second +ruinous war. To compare a possible sequence of events with the +real course of history, to estimate the good lost and evil got +through events which at the time seemed to vindicate the moral +governance of the world, is no idle exercise of the imagination. +It may serve to give caution to the judgment: it may guard us +against an arbitrary and fanciful interpretation of the actual. +The generation which witnessed the fall of Napoleon is not the +only one which has seen Providence in the fulfilment of its own +desire, and in the storm-cloud of nature and history has traced +with too sanguine gaze the sacred lineaments of human equity and +love.</p> +<p>[Settlement of 1814.]</p> +<p>[Norway.]</p> +<p>[Naples.]</p> +<p>The Empire of Napoleon had indeed passed away. The conquests +won by the first soldiers of the Republic were lost to France +along with all the latest spoils of its Emperor; but the +restoration which was effected in 1814 was no restoration of the +political order which had existed on the Continent before the +outbreak of the Revolutionary War. The Powers which had +overthrown Napoleon had been partakers, each in its own season, +in the system of aggrandisement which had obliterated the old +frontiers of Europe. Russia had gained Finland, Bessarabia, and +the greater part of Poland; Austria had won Venice, Dalmatia, and +Salzburg; Prussia had received between the years 1792 and 1806 an +extension of territory in Poland and Northern Germany that more +than doubled its area. It was now no part of the policy of the +victorious Courts to reinstate the governments which they had +themselves dispossessed: the settlement of 1814, in so far as it +deserved the name of a restoration, was confined to the territory +taken from Napoleon and from princes of his house. Here, though +the claims of Republics and Ecclesiastical Princes were +forgotten, the titles of the old dynasties were freely +recognised. In France itself, in the Spanish Peninsula, in +Holland, Westphalia, Piedmont, and Tuscany, the banished houses +resumed their sovereignty. It cost the Allies nothing to restore +these countries to their hereditary rulers, and it enabled them +to describe the work of 1814 in general terms as the restoration +of lawful government and national independence. But the claims of +legitimacy, as well as of national right, were, as a matter of +fact, only remembered where there existed no motive to disregard +them; where they conflicted with arrangements of policy, they +received small consideration. Norway, which formed part of the +Danish monarchy, had been promised by Alexander to Bernadotte, +Crown Prince of Sweden, in 1812, in return for his support +against Napoleon, and the bargain had been ratified by the +Allies. As soon as Napoleon was overthrown, Bernadotte claimed +his reward. It was in vain that the Norwegians, abandoned by +their king, declared themselves independent, and protested +against being handed over like a flock of sheep by the liberators +of Europe. The Allies held to their contract; a British fleet was +sent to assist Bernadotte in overpowering his new subjects, and +after a brief resistance the Norwegians found themselves +compelled to submit to their fate <a name="FNanchor198">(April-Aug., 1814).</a> <a href="#Footnote_198"><sup>[198]</sup></a> At the other extremity of +Europe a second of Napoleon's generals still held his throne +among the restored legitimate monarchs. Murat, King of Naples, +had forsaken Napoleon in time to make peace and alliance with +Austria. Great Britain, though entering into a military +convention, had not been a party to this treaty; and it had +declared that its own subsequent support of Murat would depend +upon the condition that he should honourably exert himself in +Italy against Napoleon's forces. This condition Murat had not +fulfilled. The British Government was, however, but gradually +supplied with proofs of his treachery; nor was Lord Liverpool, +the Prime Minister, inclined to raise new difficulties at Vienna +by pressing the claim of Ferdinand of Sicily to his territories +on the mainland. <a name="FNanchor199"> </a><a href="#Footnote_199"><sup>[199]</sup></a> Talleyrand, on behalf of the +restored Bourbons of Paris, intended to throw all his strength +into a diplomatic attack upon Murat before the end of the +Congress; but for the present Murat's chances seemed to be +superior to those of his rival. Southern Italy thus continued in +the hands of a soldier of fortune, who, unlike Bernadotte, was +secretly the friend of Napoleon, and ready to support him in any +attempt to regain his throne.</p> +<p>[Restoration in Westphalia.]</p> +<p>The engagement of the Allies towards Bernadotte, added to the +stipulations of the Peace of Paris, left little to be decided by +the Congress of Vienna beyond the fate of Poland, Saxony, and +Naples, and the form of political union to be established in +Germany. It had been agreed that the Congress should assemble +within two months after the signature of the Peace of Paris: this +interval, however, proved to be insufficient, and the autumn had +set in before the first diplomatists arrived at Vienna, and began +the conferences which preceded the formal opening of the +Congress. In the meantime a singular spectacle was offered to +Europe by the Courts whose restoration was the subject of so much +official thanksgiving. Before King Louis XVIII. returned to +Paris, the exiled dynasties had regained their thrones in +Northern Germany and in Spain. The process of reaction had begun +in Hanover and in Hesse as soon as the battle of Leipzig had +dissolved the Kingdom of Westphalia and driven Napoleon across +the Rhine. Hanover indeed did not enjoy the bodily presence of +its Sovereign: its character was oligarchical, and the reaction +here was more the affair of the privileged classes than of the +Government. In Hesse a prince returned who was the very +embodiment of divine right, a prince who had sturdily fought +against French demagogues in 1792, and over whose stubborn, +despotic nature the revolutions of a whole generation and the +loss of his own dominions since the battle of Jena had passed +without leaving a trace. The Elector was seventy years old when, +at the end of the year 1813, his faithful subjects dragged his +carriage in triumph into the streets of Cassel. On the day after +his arrival he gave orders that the Hessian soldiery who had been +sent on furlough after the battle of Jena should present +themselves, every man in the garrison-town where he had stood on +the 1st of November, 1806. A few weeks later all the reforms of +the last seven years were swept away together. The Code Napoleon +ceased to be the law of the land; the old oppressive distinctions +of caste, with the special courts for the privileged orders, came +again into force, in defiance of the spirit of the age. The +feudal burdens of the peasantry were revived, the purchasers of +State-lands compelled to relinquish the land without receiving +back any of their purchase-money. The decimal coinage was driven +out of the country. The old system of taxation, with its +iniquitous exemptions, was renewed. All promotions, all grants of +rank made by Jerome's Government were annulled: every officer, +every public servant resumed the station which he had occupied on +the 1st of November, 1806. The very pigtails and powder of the +common soldier under the old regime were <a name="FNanchor200">revived.</a> <a href="#Footnote_200"><sup>[200]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Restoration in Spain.]</p> +<p>The Hessians and their neighbours in North-Western Germany had +from of old been treated with very little ceremony by their +rulers; and if they welcomed back a family which had been +accustomed to hire them out at so much a head to fight against +the Hindoos or by the side of the North American Indians, it only +proved that they preferred their native taskmasters to Jerome +Bonaparte and his French crew of revellers and usurers. The next +scene in the European reaction was a far more mournful one. +Ferdinand of Spain had no sooner re-crossed the Pyrenees in the +spring of 1814, than, convinced of his power by the transports of +popular enthusiasm that attended his progress through Northern +Spain, he determined to overthrow the Constitution of 1812, and +to re-establish the absolute monarchy which had existed before +the war. The courtiers and ecclesiastics who gathered round the +King dispelled any scruples that he might have felt in lifting +his hand against a settlement accepted by the nation. They +represented to him that the Cortes of 1812-which, whatever their +faults, had been recognised as the legitimate Government of Spain +by both England and Russia-consisted of a handful of desperate +men, collected from the streets of Cadiz, who had taken upon +themselves to insult the Crown, to rob the Church, and to imperil +the existence of the Catholic Faith. On the entry of the King +into Valencia, the cathedral clergy expressed the wishes of their +order in the address of homage which they offered to Ferdinand. +"We beg your Majesty," their spokesman concluded, "to take the +most vigorous measures for the restoration of the Inquisition, +and of the ecclesiastical system that existed in Spain before +your Majesty's departure." "These," replied the King, "are my own +wishes, and I will not rest until they are fulfilled." <a name="FNanchor201"> </a><a href="#Footnote_201"><sup>[201]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Spanish Constitution overthrown.]</p> +<p>The victory of the clergy was soon declared. On the 11th of +May the King issued a manifesto at Valencia, proclaiming the +Constitution of 1812 and every decree of the Cortes null and +void, and denouncing the penalties of high treason against +everyone who should defend the Constitution by act, word, or +writing. A variety of promises, made only to be broken, +accompanied this assertion of the rights of the Crown. The King +pledged himself to summon new Cortes as soon as public order +should be restored, to submit the expenditure to the control of +the nation, and to maintain inviolate the security of person and +property. It was a significant comment upon Ferdinand's +professions of Liberalism that on the very day on which the +proclamation was issued the censorship of the Press was restored. +But the King had not miscalculated his power over the Spanish +people. The same storm of wild, unreasoning loyalty which had +followed Ferdinand's reappearance in Spain followed the overthrow +of the Constitution. The mass of the Spaniards were ignorant of +the very meaning of political liberty: they adored the King as a +savage adores his fetish: their passions were at the call of a +priesthood as brutish and unscrupulous as that which in 1798 had +excited the Lazzaroni of Naples against the Republicans of +Southern Italy. No sooner had Ferdinand set the example, by +arresting thirty of the most distinguished of the Liberals, than +tumults broke out in every part of the country against +Constitutionalist magistrates and citizens. Mobs, headed by +priests bearing the standard of the Inquisition, destroyed the +tablets erected in honour of the Constitution of 1812, and burned +Liberal writings in bonfires in the market-places. The prisons +were filled with men who, but a short time before, had been the +objects of popular adulation.</p> +<p>[The clergy in power.]</p> +<p>Whatever pledges of allegiance had been given to the +Constitution of 1812, it was clear that this Constitution had no +real hold on the nation, and that Ferdinand fulfilled the wish of +the majority of Spaniards in overthrowing it. A wise and +energetic sovereign would perhaps have allowed himself to use +this outburst of religious fanaticism for the purpose of +substituting some better order for the imprudent arrangements of +1812. Ferdinand, an ignorant, hypocritical buffoon, with no more +notion of political justice or generosity than the beasts of the +field, could only substitute for the fallen Cortes a government +by palace-favourites and confessors. It was in vain, that the +representatives of Great Britain urged the King to fulfil his +constitutional promises, and to liberate the persons who had +unjustly been thrown into prison. <a name="FNanchor202"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_202"><sup>[202]</sup></a> The clergy were masters +of Spain and of the King: their influence daily outweighed even +that of Ferdinand's own Ministers, when, under the pressure of +financial necessity, the Ministers began to offer some resistance +to the exorbitant demands of the priesthood. On the 23rd of May +the King signed an edict restoring all monasteries throughout +Spain, and reinstating them in their lands. On the 24th of June +the clergy were declared exempt from taxation. On the 21st of +July the Church won its crowning triumph in the re-establishment +of the Inquisition. In the meantime the army was left without +pay, in some places actually without food. The country was at the +mercy of bands of guerillas, who, since the disappearance of the +enemy, had turned into common brigands, and preyed upon their own +countrymen. Commerce was extinct; agriculture abandoned; +innumerable villages were lying in ruins; the population was +barbarised by the savage warfare with which for years past it had +avenged its own sufferings upon the invader. Of all the countries +of Europe, Spain was the one in which the events of the +Revolutionary epoch seemed to have left an effect most nearly +approaching to unmixed evil.</p> +<p>[Restoration in France.]</p> +<p>In comparison with the reaction in the Spanish Peninsula the +reaction in France was sober and dignified. Louis XVIII. was at +least a scholar and a man of the world. In the old days, among +companions whose names were now almost forgotten, he had revelled +in Voltaire and dallied with the fashionable Liberalism of the +time. In his exile he had played the king with some dignity; he +was even believed to have learnt some political wisdom by his six +years' residence in England. If he had not <a name="FNanchor203">character,</a> <a href="#Footnote_203"><sup>[203]</sup></a> he had at least some tact +and some sense of humour; and if not a profound philosopher, he +was at least an accomplished epicurean. He hated the zealotry of +his brother, the Count of Artois. He was more inclined to quiz +the emigrants than to sacrifice anything on their behalf; and the +whole bent of his mind made him but an insincere ally of the +priesthood, who indeed could hardly expect to enjoy such an orgy +in France as their brethren were celebrating in Spain. The King, +however, was unable to impart his own indifference to the +emigrants who returned with him, nor had he imagination enough to +identify himself, as King of France, with the military glories of +the nation and with the democratic army that had won them. Louis +held high notions of the royal prerogative: this would not in +itself have prevented him from being a successful ruler, if he +had been capable of governing in the interest of the nation at +large. There were few Republicans remaining in France; the +centralised institutions of the Empire remained in full vigour; +and although the last months of Napoleon's rule had excited among +the educated classes a strong spirit of constitutional +opposition, an able and patriotic Bourbon accepting his new +position, and wielding power for the benefit of the people and +not of a class, might perhaps have exercised an authority not +much inferior to that possessed by the Crown before 1789. But +Louis, though rational, was inexperienced and supine. He was +ready enough to admit into his Ministry and to retain in +administrative posts throughout the country men who had served +under Napoleon; but when the emigrants and the nobles, led by the +Count of Artois, pushed themselves to the front of the public +service, and treated the restoration of the Bourbons as the +victory of their own order, the King offered but a faint +resistance, and allowed the narrowest class-interests to +discredit a monarchy whose own better traditions identified it +not with an aristocracy but with the State.</p> +<p>[The Charta.]</p> +<p>The Constitution promulgated by King Louis XVIII. on the 4th +of June, 1814, and known as the Charta, <a name="FNanchor204"> </a><a href="#Footnote_204"><sup>[204]</sup></a> +was well received by the French nation. Though far less liberal +than the Constitution accepted by Louis XVI. in 1791, it gave to +the French a measure of representative government to which they +had been strangers under Napoleon. It created two legislative +chambers, the Upper House consisting of peers who were nominated +by the Crown at its pleasure, whether for life-peerages or +hereditary dignity; the Lower House formed by national election, +but by election restricted by so high a property-qualification <a +name="FNanchor205"> </a><a href="#Footnote_205"><sup>[205]</sup></a> that not one person in two +hundred possessed a vote. The Crown reserved to itself the sole +power of proposing laws. In spite of this serious limitation of +the competence of the two houses, the Lower Chamber possessed, in +its right of refusing taxes and of discussing and rejecting all +measures laid before it, a reality of power such as no +representative body had possessed in France since the beginning +of the Consulate. The Napoleonic nobility was placed on an +equality with the old noblesse of France, though neither enjoyed, +as nobles, anything more than a titular distinction. <a name="FNanchor206"> </a><a href="#Footnote_206"><sup>[206]</sup></a> +Purchasers of landed property sold by the State since the +beginning of the Revolution were guaranteed in their possessions. +The principles of religious freedom, of equality before the law, +and of the admissibility of all classes to public employment, +which had taken such deep root during the Republic and the +Empire, were declared to form part of the public law of France; +and by the side of these deeply-cherished rights the Charta of +King Louis XVIII. placed, though in a qualified form, the +long-forgotten principle of the freedom of the Press.</p> +<p>[Encroachments of Nobles.]</p> +<p>Under such a Constitution there was little room for the old +noblesse to arrogate to itself any legal superiority over the +mass of the French nation. What was wanting in law might, +however, in the opinion of the Count of Artois and his friends, +be effected by administration. Of all the institutions of France +the most thoroughly national and the most thoroughly democratic +was the army; it was accordingly against the army that the +noblesse directed its first efforts. Financial difficulties made +a large reduction in the forces necessary. Fourteen thousand +officers and sergeants were accordingly dismissed on half-pay; +but no sooner had this measure of economy been effected than a +multitude of emigrants who had served against the Republic in the +army of the Prince of Condé or in La Vendée were +rewarded with all degrees of military rank. Naval officers who +had quitted the service of France and entered that of its enemies +were reinstated with the rank which they had held in foreign +navies. <a name="FNanchor207"> </a><a href="#Footnote_207"><sup>[207]</sup></a> The tricolor, under which +every battle of France had been fought from Jemappes to +Montmartre, was superseded by the white flag of the House of +Bourbon, under which no living soldier had marched to victory. +General Dupont, known only by his capitulation at Baylen in 1808, +was appointed Minister of War. The Imperial Guard was removed +from service at the Palace, and the so-called Military Household +of the old Bourbon monarchy revived, with the privileges and the +insignia belonging to the period before 1775. Young nobles who +had never seen a shot fired crowded into this favoured corps, +where the musketeer and the trooper held the rank and the pay of +a lieutenant in the army. While in every village of France some +battered soldier of Napoleon cursed the Government that had +driven him from his comrades, the Court revived at Paris all the +details of military ceremonial that could be gathered from old +almanacks, from the records of court-tailors, and from the +memories of decayed gallants. As if to convince the public that +nothing had happened during the last twenty-two years, the aged +Marquis de Chansenets, who had been Governor of the Tuileries on +the 10th of August, 1792, and had then escaped by hiding among +the bodies of the dead, <a name="FNanchor208"> </a><a href="#Footnote_208"><sup>[208]</sup></a> resumed his place at the +head of the officers of the Palace.</p> +<p>[Encroachments of the clergy.]</p> +<p>[Growing hostility to the Bourbons.]</p> +<p>These were but petty triumphs for the emigrants and nobles, +but they were sufficient to make the restored monarchy unpopular. +Equally injurious was their behaviour in insulting the families +of Napoleon's generals, in persecuting men who had taken part in +the great movement of 1789, and in intimidating the +peasant-owners of land that had been confiscated and sold by the +State. Nor were the priesthood backward in discrediting the +Government of Louis XVIII. in the service of their own order. It +might be vain to think of recovering the Church-lands, or of +introducing the Inquisition into France, but the Court might at +least be brought to invest itself with the odour of sanctity, and +the parish-priest might be made as formidable a person within his +own village as the mayor or the agent of the police-minister. +Louis XVIII. was himself sceptical and self-indulgent. This, +however, did not prevent him from publishing a letter to the +Bishops placing his kingdom under the especial protection of the +Virgin Mary, and from escorting the image of the patron-saint +through the streets of Paris in a procession in which Marshal +Soult and other regenerate Jacobins of the Court braved the +ridicule of the populace by acting as candle-bearers. Another +sign of the King's submission to the clergy was the publication +of an edict which forbade buying and selling on Sundays and +festivals.</p> +<p>Whatever the benefits of a freely-observed day of rest, this +enactment, which was not submitted to the Chambers, passed for an +arrogant piece of interference on the part of the clergy with +national habits; and while it caused no inconvenience to the +rich, it inflicted substantial loss upon a numerous and voluble +class of petty traders. The wrongs done to the French nation by +the priests and emigrants who rose to power in 1814 were indeed +the merest trifle in comparison with the wrongs which it had +uncomplainingly borne at the hands of Napoleon. But the glory of +the Empire, the strength and genius of its absolute rule, were +gone. In its place there was a family which had been dissociated +from France during twenty years, which had returned only to ally +itself with an unpopular and dreaded caste, and to prove that +even the unexpected warmth with which it had been welcomed home +could not prevent it from becoming, at the end of a few months, +utterly alien and uninteresting. The indifference of the nation +would not have endangered the Bourbon monarchy if the army had +been won over by the King. But here the Court had excited the +bitterest enmity. The accord which for a moment had seemed +possible even to Republicans of the type of Carnot had vanished +at a touch. <a name="FNanchor209"> </a><a href="#Footnote_209"><sup>[209]</sup></a> Rumours of military +conspiracies grew stronger with every month. Wellington, now +British Ambassador at Paris, warned his Government of the changed +feeling of the capital, of the gatherings of disbanded officers, +of possible attacks upon the Tuileries. "The truth is," he wrote, +"that the King of France without the army is no King." Wellington +saw the more immediate danger: <a name="FNanchor210"> </a><a href="#Footnote_210"><sup>[210]</sup></a> he failed to see the depth +and universality of the movement passing over France, which +before the end of the year 1814 had destroyed the hold of the +Bourbon monarchy except in those provinces where it had always +found support, and prepared the nation at large to welcome back +the ruler who so lately seemed to have fallen for ever.</p> +<p>[Congress of Vienna, Sept., 1814.]</p> +<p>Paris and Madrid divided for some months after the conclusion +of peace the attention of the political world. At the end of +September the centre of European interest passed to Vienna. The +great council of the Powers, so long delayed, was at length +assembled. The Czar of Russia, the Kings of Prussia, Denmark, +Bavaria, and Würtemberg, and nearly all the statesmen of +eminence in Europe, gathered round the Emperor Francis and his +Minister, Metternich, to whom by common consent the presidency of +the Congress was offered. Lord Castlereagh represented England, +and Talleyrand France. Rasumoffsky and other Russian diplomatists +acted under the immediate directions of their master, who on some +occasions even entered into personal correspondence with the +Ministers of the other Powers. Hardenberg stood in a somewhat +freer relation to King Frederick William; Stein was present, but +without official place. The subordinate envoys and attaches of +the greater Courts, added to a host of petty princes and the +representatives who came from the minor Powers, or from +communities which had ceased to possess any political existence +at all, crowded Vienna. In order to relieve the antagonisms which +had already come too clearly into view, Metternich determined to +entertain his visitors in the most magnificent fashion; and +although the Austrian State was bankrupt, and in some districts +the people were severely suffering, a sum of about £10,000 +a day was for some time devoted to this purpose. The splendour +and the gaieties of Metternich were emulated by his guests; and +the guardians of Europe enjoyed or endured for months together a +succession of fêtes, banquets, dances, and excursions, +varied, through the zeal of Talleyrand to ingratiate himself with +his new master, by a Mass of great solemnity on the anniversary +of the execution of Louis XVI. <a name="FNanchor211"> </a><a href="#Footnote_211"><sup>[211]</sup></a> One incident lights the +faded and insipid record of vanished pageants and defunct +gallantries. Beethoven was in Vienna. The Government placed the +great Assembly-rooms at his disposal, and enabled the composer to +gratify a harmless humour by sending invitations in his own name +to each of the Sovereigns and grandees then in Vienna. Much +personal homage, some substantial kindness from these gaudy +creatures of the hour, made the period of the Congress a bright +page in that wayward and afflicted life whose poverty has +enriched mankind with such immortal gifts.</p> +<p>[Talleyrand and the four Powers.]</p> +<p>The Congress had need of its distractions, for the +difficulties which faced it were so great that, even after the +arrival of the Sovereigns, it was found necessary to postpone the +opening of the regular sittings until November. By the secret +articles of the Peace of Paris, the Allies had reserved to +themselves the disposal of all vacant territory, although their +conclusions required to be formally sanctioned by the Congress at +large. The Ministers of Austria, England, Prussia, and Russia +accordingly determined at the outset to decide upon all +territorial questions among themselves, and only after their +decisions were completely formed to submit them to France and the +other Powers. <a name="FNanchor212"> </a><a href="#Footnote_212"><sup>[212]</sup></a> Talleyrand, on hearing of +this arrangement, protested that France itself was now one of the +Allies, and demanded that the whole body of European States +should at once meet in open Congress. The four Courts held to +their determination, and began their preliminary sittings without +Talleyrand. But the French statesman had, under the form of a +paradox, really stated the true political situation. The greater +Powers were so deeply divided in their aims that their old bond +of common interest, the interest of union against France, was now +less powerful than the impulse that made them seek the support of +France against one another. Two men had come to the Congress with +a definite aim: Alexander had resolved to gain the Duchy of +Warsaw, and to form it, with or without some part of Russian +Poland, into a Polish kingdom, attached to his own crown: +Talleyrand had determined, either on the question of Poland, or +on the question of Saxony, which arose out of it, to break allied +Europe into halves, and to range France by the side of two of the +great Powers against the two others. The course of events +favoured for a while the design of the Minister: Talleyrand +himself prosecuted his plan with an ability which, but for the +untimely return of Napoleon from Elba, would have left France, +without a war, the arbiter and the leading Power of Europe.</p> +<p>[Polish question.]</p> +<p>Since the Russian victories of 1812, the Emperor Alexander had +made no secret of his intention to restore a Polish Kingdom and a +Polish nationality. <a name="FNanchor213"> </a><a href="#Footnote_213"><sup>[213]</sup></a> Like many other designs of +this prince, the project combined a keen desire for personal +glorification with a real generosity of feeling. Alexander was +thoroughly sincere in his wish not only to make the Poles again a +people, but to give them a Parliament and a free Constitution. +The King of Poland, however, was to be no independent prince, but +Alexander himself: although the Duchy of Warsaw, the chief if not +the sole component of the proposed new kingdom, had belonged to +Austria and Prussia after the last partition of Poland, and +extended into the heart of the Prussian monarchy. Alexander +insisted on his anxiety to atone for the crime of Catherine in +dismembering Poland: the atonement, however, was to be made at +the sole cost of those whom Catherine had allowed to share the +booty. Among the other Governments, the Ministry of Great Britain +would gladly have seen a Polish State established in a really +independent form; <a name="FNanchor214"> </a><a href="#Footnote_214"><sup>[214]</sup></a> failing this, it desired +that the Duchy of Warsaw should be divided, as formerly, between +Austria and Prussia. Metternich was anxious that the fortress of +Cracow, at any rate, should not fall into the hands of the Czar. +Stein and Hardenberg, and even Alexander's own Russian +counsellors, earnestly opposed the Czar's project, not only on +account of the claims of Prussia on Warsaw, but from dread of the +agitation likely to be produced by a Polish Parliament among all +Poles outside the new State. King Frederick William, however, was +unaccustomed to dispute the wishes of his ally; and the Czar's +offer of Saxony in substitution for Warsaw gave to the Prussian +Ministers, who were more in earnest than their master, at least +the prospect of receiving a valuable equivalent for what they +might surrender.</p> +<p>[Saxon question.]</p> +<p>By the Treaty of Kalisch, made when Prussia united its arms +with those of Russia against Napoleon (Feb. 27th, 1813), the Czar +had undertaken to restore the Prussian monarchy to an extent +equal to that which it had possessed in 1805. It was known before +the opening of the Congress that the Czar proposed to do this by +handing over to King Frederick William the whole of Saxony, whose +Sovereign, unlike his colleagues in the Rhenish Confederacy, had +supported Napoleon up to his final overthrow at Leipzig. Since +that time the King of Saxony had been held a prisoner, and his +dominions had been occupied by the Allies. The Saxon question had +thus already gained the attention of all the European +Governments, and each of the Ministers now at Vienna brought with +him some more or less distinct view upon the subject. +Castlereagh, who was instructed to foster the union of Prussia +and Austria against Alexander's threatening ambition, was willing +that Prussia should annex Saxony if in return it would assist him +in keeping Russia out of Warsaw: <a name="FNanchor215"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_215"><sup>[215]</sup></a> Metternich disliked the +annexation, but offered no serious objection, provided that in +Western Germany Prussia would keep to the north of the Main: +Talleyrand alone made the defence of the King of Saxony the very +centre of his policy, and subordinated all other aims to this. +His instructions, like those of Castlereagh, gave priority to the +Polish question; <a name="FNanchor216"> </a><a href="#Footnote_216"><sup>[216]</sup></a> but Talleyrand saw that +Saxony, not Poland, was the lever by which he could throw half of +Europe on to the side of France; and before the four Allied +Courts had come to any single conclusion, the French statesman +had succeeded, on what at first passed for a subordinate point, +in breaking up their concert.</p> +<p>[Talleyrand's action on Saxony.]</p> +<p>For a while the Ministers of Austria, Prussia, and England +appeared to be acting in harmony; and throughout the month of +October all three endeavoured to shake the purpose of Alexander +regarding Warsaw. <a name="FNanchor217"> </a><a href="#Footnote_217"><sup>[217]</sup></a> Talleyrand, however, foresaw +that the efforts of Prussia in this direction would not last very +long, and he wrote to Louis XVIII. asking for his permission to +make a definite offer of armed assistance to Austria in case of +need. Events took the turn which Talleyrand expected. Early in +November the King of Prussia completely yielded to Alexander, and +ordered Hardenberg to withdraw his opposition to the Russian +project. Metternich thus found himself abandoned on the Polish +question by Prussia; and at the same moment the answer of King +Louis XVIII. arrived, and enabled Talleyrand to assure the +Austrian Minister that, if resistance to Russia and Prussia +should become necessary, he might count on the support of a +French army. Metternich now completely changed his position on +the Saxon question, and wrote to Hardenberg (Dec. 10) stating +that, inasmuch as Prussia had chosen to sacrifice Warsaw, the +Emperor Francis absolutely forbade the annexation of more than a +fifth part of the kingdom of Saxony. Castlereagh, disgusted with +the obstinacy of Russia and the subserviency of King Frederick +William, forgave Talleyrand for not supporting him earlier, and +cordially entered into this new plan for thwarting the Northern +Powers. The leading member of the late Rhenish Confederacy, the +King of Bavaria, threw himself with eagerness into the struggle +against Prussia and against German unity. In proportion as Stein +and the patriots of 1813 urged the claims of German nationality +under Prussian leadership against the forfeited rights of a Court +which had always served on Napoleon's side, the politicians of +the Rhenish Confederacy declaimed against the ambition and the +Jacobinism of Prussia, and called upon Europe to defend the +united principles of hereditary right and of national +independence in the person of the King of Saxony.</p> +<p>[Theory of Legitimacy.]</p> +<p>Talleyrand's object was attained. He had isolated Russia and +Prussia, and had drawn to his own side not only England and +Austria but the whole body of the minor German States. Nothing +was wanting but a phrase, or an idea, which should consecrate the +new league in the opinion of Europe as a league of principle, and +bind the Allies, in matters still remaining open, to the support +of the interests of the House of Bourbon. Talleyrand had made his +theory ready. In notes to Castlereagh and <a name="FNanchor218">Metternich,</a><a href="#Footnote_218"><sup>[218]</sup></a> he declared that the whole +drama of the last twenty years had been one great struggle +between revolution and established right, a struggle at first +between Republicanism and Monarchy, afterwards between usurping +dynasties and legitimate dynasties. The overthrow of Napoleon had +been the victory of the principle of legitimacy; the task of +England and Austria was now to extend the work of restitution to +all Europe, and to defend the principle against new threatened +aggressions. In the note to Castlereagh, Talleyrand added a +practical corollary. "To finish the revolution, the principle of +legitimacy must triumph without exception. The kingdom of Saxony +must be preserved; the kingdom of Naples must return to its +legitimate king."</p> +<p>[Alliance against Russia and Prussia, Jan. 3, 1815.]</p> +<p>As an historical summary of the Napoleonic wars, Talleyrand's +doctrine was baseless. No one but Pitt had cared about the fate +of the Bourbons; no one would have hesitated to make peace with +Napoleon, if Napoleon would have accepted terms of peace. The +manifesto was not, however, intended to meet a scientific +criticism. In the English Foreign Office it was correctly +described as a piece of drollery; and Metternich was too familiar +with the language of principles himself to attach much meaning to +it in the mouth of anyone else. Talleyrand, however, kept a grave +countenance. With inimitable composure the old Minister of the +Directory wrote to Louis XVIII. lamenting that Castlereagh did +not appear to care much about the principle of legitimacy, and in +fact did not quite comprehend it; <a name="FNanchor219"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_219"><sup>[219]</sup></a> and he added his fear +that this moral dimness on the part of the English Minister arose +from the dealing of his countrymen with Tippoo Sahib. But for +Europe at large,-for the English Liberal party, who looked upon +the Saxons and the Prussians as two distinct nations, and for the +Tories, who forgot that Napoleon had made the Elector of Saxony a +king; for the Emperor of Austria, who had no wish to see the +Prussian frontier brought nearer to Prague; above all, for the +minor German courts who dreaded every approach towards German +unity,-Talleyrand's watchword was the best that could have been +invented. His counsel prospered. On the 3rd of January, 1815, +after a rash threat of war uttered by Hardenberg, a secret treaty +<a name="FNanchor220"> </a><a href="#Footnote_220"><sup>[220]</sup></a> was signed by the +representatives of France, England, and Austria, pledging these +Powers to take the field, if necessary, against Russia and +Prussia in defence of the principles of the Peace of Paris. The +plan of the campaign was drawn up, the number of the forces +fixed. Bavaria had already armed; Piedmont, Hanover, and even the +Ottoman Porte, were named as future members of the alliance.</p> +<p>[Compromise on Polish and Saxon questions.]</p> +<p>[Prussia gains Rhenish Provinces.]</p> +<p>It would perhaps be unfair to the French Minister to believe +that he actually desired to kindle a war on this gigantic scale. +Talleyrand had not, like Napoleon, a love for war for its own +sake. His object was rather to raise France from its position as +a conquered and isolated Power; to surround it with allies; to +make the House of Bourbon the representatives of a policy +interesting to a great part of Europe; and, having thus undone +the worst results of Napoleon's rule, to trust to some future +complication for the recovery of Belgium and the frontier of the +Rhine. Nor was Talleyrand's German policy adopted solely as the +instrument of a passing intrigue. He appears to have had a true +sense of the capacity of Prussia to transform Germany into a +great military nation; and the policy of alliance with Austria +and protection of the minor States which he pursued in 1814 was +that which he had advocated throughout his career. The conclusion +of the secret treaty of January 3rd marked the definite success +of his plans. France was forthwith admitted into the council +hitherto known as that of the Four Courts, and from this time its +influence visibly affected the action of Russia and Prussia, +reports of the secret treaty having reached the Czar immediately +after its signature. <a name="FNanchor221"> </a><a href="#Footnote_221"><sup>[221]</sup></a> The spirit of compromise now +began to animate the Congress. Alexander had already won a +virtual decision in his favour on the Polish question, but he +abated something of his claims, and while gaining the lion's +share of the Duchy of Warsaw, he ultimately consented that +Cracow, which threatened the Austrian frontier, should be formed +into an independent Republic, and that Prussia should receive the +fortresses of Dantzic and Thorn on the Vistula, with the district +lying between Thorn and the border of <a name="FNanchor222">Silesia.</a><a href="#Footnote_222"><sup>[222]</sup></a> This was little for +Alexander to abandon; on the Saxon question the allies of +Talleyrand gained most that they demanded. The King of Saxony was +restored to his throne, and permitted to retain Dresden and about +half of his dominions. Prussia received the remainder. In lieu of +a further expansion in Saxony, Prussia was awarded territory on +the left bank of the Rhine, which, with its recovered Westphalian +provinces, restored the monarchy to an area and population equal +to that which it had possessed in 1805. But the dominion given to +Prussia beyond the Rhine, though considered at the time to be a +poor equivalent for the second half of Saxony, was in reality a +gift of far greater value. It made Prussia, in defence of its own +soil, the guardian and bulwark of Germany against France. It +brought an element into the life of the State in striking +contrast with the aristocratic and Protestant type predominant in +the older Prussian provinces,-a Catholic population, liberal in +its political opinions, and habituated by twenty years' union +with France to the democratic tendencies of French social life. +It gave to Prussia something more in common with Bavaria and the +South, and qualified it, as it had not been qualified before, for +its future task of uniting Germany under its own leadership.</p> +<p>[Napoleon leaves Elba, Feb. 26.]</p> +<p>[Lands in France, March 1.]</p> +<p>The Polish and Saxon difficulties, which had threatened the +peace of Europe, were virtually settled before the end of the +month of January. Early in February Lord Castlereagh left Vienna, +to give an account of his labours and to justify his policy +before the English House of Commons. His place at the Congress +was taken by the Duke of Wellington. There remained the question +of Naples, the formation of a Federal Constitution for Germany, +and several matters of minor political importance, none of which +endangered the good understanding of the Powers. Suddenly the +action of the Congress was interrupted by the most startling +intelligence. On the night of March 6th Metternich was roused +from sleep to receive a despatch informing him that Napoleon had +quitted Elba. The news had taken eight days to reach Vienna. +Napoleon had set sail on the 26th of February. In the silence of +his exile he had watched the progress of events in France: he had +convinced himself of the strength of the popular reaction against +the priests and emigrants; and the latest intelligence which he +had received from Vienna led him to believe that the Congress +itself was on the point of breaking up. There was at least some +chance of success in an attempt to regain his throne; and, the +decision once formed, Napoleon executed it with characteristic +audacity and despatch. Talleyrand, on hearing that Napoleon had +left Elba, declared that he would only cross into Italy and there +raise the standard of Italian independence: instead of doing +this, Napoleon made straight for France, with the whole of his +guard, eleven hundred in number, embarked on a little flotilla of +seven ships. The voyage lasted three days: no French or English +vessels capable of offering resistance met the squadron. On the +1st of March Napoleon landed at the bay of Jouan, three miles to +the west of Antibes. A detachment of his guards called upon the +commandant of Antibes to deliver up the town to the Emperor; the +commandant refused, and the troops bivouacked that evening, with +Napoleon among them, in the olive-woods by the shore of the +Mediterranean.</p> +<p>[Moves on Grenoble.]</p> +<p>[Troops at La Mure.]</p> +<p>Before daybreak began the march that was to end in Paris. +Instead of following the coast road of Provence, which would have +brought him to Toulon and Marseilles, where most of the +population were fiercely Royalist, <a name="FNanchor223"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_223"><sup>[223]</sup></a> and where Massena and +other great officers might have offered resistance, Napoleon +struck northwards into the mountains, intending to descend upon +Lyons by way of Grenoble. There were few troops in this district, +and no generals capable of influencing them. The peasantry of +Dauphiné were in great part holders of land that had been taken +from the Church and the nobles: they were exasperated against the +Bourbons, and, like the peasantry of France generally, they +identified the glory of the country which they loved with the +name and the person of Napoleon. As the little band penetrated +into the mountains the villagers thronged around them, and by +offering their carts and horses enabled Napoleon to march +continuously over steep and snowy roads at the rate of forty +miles a day. No troops appeared to dispute these mountain +passages: it was not until the close of the fifth day's march +that Napoleon's mounted guard, pressing on in front of the +marching column, encountered, in the village of La Mure, twenty +miles south of Grenoble, a regiment of infantry wearing the white +cockade of the House of Bourbon. The two bodies of troops mingled +and conversed in the street: the officer commanding the royal +infantry fearing the effect on his men, led them back on the road +towards Grenoble. Napoleon's lancers also retired, and the night +passed without further communication. At noon on the following +day the lancers, again advancing towards Grenoble, found the +infantry drawn up to defend the road. They called out that +Napoleon was at hand, and begged the infantry not to fire. +Presently Napoleon's column came in sight; one of his +<i>aides-de-camp</i> rode to the front of the royal troops, +addressed them, and pointed out Napoleon. The regiment was +already wavering, the officer commanding had already given the +order of retreat, when the men saw their Emperor advancing +towards them. They saw his face, they heard his voice: in another +moment the ranks were broken, and the soldiers were pressing with +shouts and tears round the leader whom nature had created with +such transcendent capacity for evil, and endowed with such +surpassing power of attracting love.</p> +<p>[Enters Grenoble, March 7.]</p> +<p>[Declaration of his purpose.]</p> +<p>Everything was decided by this first encounter. "In six days," +said Napoleon, "we shall be in the Tuileries." The next pledge of +victory came swiftly. Colonel Labédoyère, commander +of the 7th Regiment of the Line, had openly declared for Napoleon +in Grenoble, and appeared on the road at the head of his men a +few hours after the meeting at La Mure. Napoleon reached Grenoble +the same evening. The town had been in tumult all day. The +Préfet fled: the general in command sent part of his +troops away, and closed the gates. On Napoleon's approach the +population thronged the ramparts with torches; the gates were +burst open; Napoleon was borne through the town in triumph by a +wild and intermingled crowd of soldiers and workpeople. The whole +mass of the poorer classes of the town welcomed him with +enthusiasm: the middle classes, though hostile to the Church and +the Bourbons, saw too clearly the dangers to France involved in +Napoleon's return to feel the same joy. <a name="FNanchor224"> </a><a href="#Footnote_224"><sup>[224]</sup></a> +They remained in the background, neither welcoming Napoleon nor +interfering with the welcome offered him by others. Thus the +night passed. On the morning of the next day Napoleon received +the magistrates and principal inhabitants of the town, and +addressed them in terms which formed the substance of every +subsequent declaration of his policy. "He had come," he said, "to +save France from the outrages of the returning nobles; to secure +to the peasant the possession of his land; to uphold the rights +won in 1789 against a minority which sought to re-establish the +privileges of caste and the feudal burdens of the last century. +France had made trial of the Bourbons: it had done well to do so; +but the experiment had failed. The Bourbon monarchy had proved +incapable of detaching itself from its worst supports, the +priests and nobles: only the dynasty which owed its throne to the +Revolution could maintain the social work of the Revolution. As +for himself, he had learnt wisdom by misfortune. He renounced +conquest. He should give France peace without and liberty within. +He accepted the Treaty of Paris and the frontiers of 1792. Freed +from the necessities which had forced him in earlier days to +found a military Empire, he recognised and bowed to the desire of +the French nation for constitutional government. He should +henceforth govern only as a constitutional sovereign, and seek +only to leave a constitutional crown to his son."</p> +<p>[Feeling of the various classes.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon enters Lyons, March 10.]</p> +<p>This language was excellently chosen. It satisfied the +peasants and the workmen, who wished to see the nobles crushed, +and it showed at least a comprehension of the feelings uppermost +in the minds of the wealthier and more educated middle classes, +the longing for peace, and the aspiration towards political +liberty. It was also calculated to temper the unwelcome +impression that an exiled ruler was being forced upon France by +the soldiery. The military movement was indeed overwhelmingly +decisive, yet the popular movement was scarcely less so. The +Royalists were furious, but impotent to act; thoughtful men in +all classes held back, with sad apprehensions of returning war +and calamity; <a name="FNanchor225"> </a><a href="#Footnote_225"><sup>[225]</sup></a> but from the time when +Napoleon left Grenoble, the nation at large was on his side. +There was nowhere an effective centre of resistance. The +Préfets and other civil officers appointed under the +Empire still for the most part held their posts; they knew +themselves to be threatened by the Bourbonist reaction, but they +had not yet been displaced; their professions of loyalty to Louis +XVIII. were forced, their instincts of obedience to their old +master, even if they wished to have done with him, profound. From +this class, whose cowardice and servility find too many parallels +in history, <a name="FNanchor226"> </a><a href="#Footnote_226"><sup>[226]</sup></a> Napoleon had little to fear. +Among the marshals and higher officers charged with the defence +of the monarchy, those who sincerely desired to serve the +Bourbons found themselves powerless in the midst of their troops. +Macdonald, who commanded at Lyons, had to fly from his men, in +order to escape being made a prisoner. The Count of Artois, who +had come to join him, discovered that the only service he could +render to the cause of his family was to take himself out of +sight. Napoleon entered Lyons on the 10th of March, and now +formally resumed his rank and functions as Emperor. His first +edicts renewed that appeal to the ideas and passions of the +Revolution which had been the key-note of every one of his public +utterances since leaving Elba. Treating the episode of Bourbon +restoration as null and void, the edicts of Lyons expelled from +France every emigrant who had returned without the permission of +the Republic or the Emperor; they drove from the army the whole +mass of officers intruded by the Government of Louis XVIII.; they +invalidated every appointment and every dismissal made in the +magistracy since the 1st of April, 1814; and, reverting to the +law of the Constituent Assembly of 1789, abolished all nobility +except that which had been conferred by the Emperor himself.</p> +<p>[Marshal Ney.]</p> +<p>[The Chambers in Paris.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon enters Paris, March 20.]</p> +<p>From this time all was over. Marshal Ney, who had set out from +Paris protesting that Napoleon deserved to be confined in an iron +cage, <a name="FNanchor227"> </a><a href="#Footnote_227"><sup>[227]</sup></a> found, when at some distance +from Lyons, that the nation and army were on the side of the +Emperor, and proclaimed his own adherence to him in an address to +his troops. The two Chambers of Legislature, which had been +prorogued, were summoned by King Louis XVIII. as soon as the news +of Napoleon's landing reached the capital. The Chambers met on +the 13th of March. The constitutionalist party, though they had +opposed various measures of King Louis' Government as +reactionary, were sincerely loyal to the Charta, and hastened, in +the cause of constitutional liberty, to offer to the King their +cordial support in resisting Bonaparte's military despotism. The +King came down to the Legislative Chamber, and, in a scene +concerted with his brother, the Count of Artois, made, with great +dramatic effect, a declaration of fidelity to the Constitution. +Lafayette and the chiefs of the Parliamentary Liberals hoped to +raise a sufficient force from the National Guard of Paris to hold +Napoleon in check. The project, however, came to nought. The +National Guard, which represented the middle classes of Paris, +was decidedly in favour of the Charta and Constitutional +Government; but it had no leaders, no fighting-organisation, and +no military spirit. The regular troops who were sent out against +Napoleon mounted the tricolor as soon as they were out of sight +of Paris, and joined their comrades. The courtiers passed from +threats to consternation and helplessness. On the night of March +19th King Louis fled from the Tuileries. Napoleon entered the +capital the next evening, welcomed with acclamations by the +soldiers and populace, but not with that general rejoicing which +had met him at Lyons, and at many of the smaller towns through +which he had passed.</p> +<p>[Congress of Vienna outlaws Napoleon.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon's preparations for defence.]</p> +<p>France was won: Europe remained behind. On the 13th of March +the Ministers of all the Great Powers, assembled at Vienna, +published a manifesto denouncing Napoleon Bonaparte as the common +enemy of mankind, and declaring him an outlaw. The whole +political structure which had been reared with so much skill by +Talleyrand vanished away. France was again alone, with all Europe +combined against it. Affairs reverted to the position in which +they had stood in the month of March, 1814, when the Treaty of +Chaumont was signed, which bound the Powers to sustain their +armed concert against France, if necessary, for a period of +twenty years. That treaty was now formally renewed. <a name="FNanchor228"> </a><a href="#Footnote_228"><sup>[228]</sup></a> +The four great Powers undertook to employ their whole available +resources against Bonaparte until he should be absolutely unable +to create disturbance, and each pledged itself to keep +permanently in the field a force of at least a hundred and fifty +thousand men. The presence of the Duke of Wellington at Vienna +enabled the Allies to decide without delay upon the general plan +for their invasion of France. It was resolved to group the allied +troops in three masses; one, composed of the English and the +Prussians under Wellington and Blücher, to enter France by +the Netherlands; the two others, commanded by the Czar and Prince +Schwarzenberg, to advance from the middle and upper Rhine. +Nowhere was there the least sign of political indecision. The +couriers sent by Napoleon with messages of amity to the various +Courts were turned back at the frontiers with their despatches +undelivered. It was in vain for the Emperor to attempt to keep up +any illusion that peace was possible. After a brief interval he +himself acquainted France with the true resolution of his +enemies. The most strenuous efforts were made for defence. The +old soldiers were called from their homes. Factories of arms and +ammunition began their hurried work in the principal towns. The +Emperor organised with an energy and a command of detail never +surpassed at any period of his life; the nature of the situation +lent a new character to his genius, and evoked in the +organisation of systematic defence all that imagination and +resource which had dazzled the world in his schemes of invasion +and surprise. Nor, as hitherto, was the nation to be the mere +spectator of his exploits. The population of France, its National +Guard, its <i>levée en masse</i>, as well as its armies +and its Emperor, was to drive the foreigner from French soil. +Every operation of defensive warfare, from the accumulation of +artillery round the capital to the gathering of forest-guards and +free-shooters in the thickets of the Vosges and the Ardennes, +occupied in its turn the thoughts of Napoleon. <a name="FNanchor229"> </a><a href="#Footnote_229"><sup>[229]</sup></a> +Had France shared his resolution or his madness, had the Allies +found at the outset no chief superior to their Austrian leader in +1814, the war on which they were now about to enter would have +been one of immense difficulty and risk, its ultimate issue +perhaps doubtful.</p> +<p>[Campaign and fall of Murat, April, 1815]</p> +<p>Before Napoleon or his adversaries were ready to move, +hostilities broke out in Italy. Murat, King of Naples, had during +the winter of 1814 been represented at Vienna by an envoy: he was +aware of the efforts made by Talleyrand to expel him from his +throne, and knew that the Government of Great Britain, convinced +of his own treachery during the pretended combination with the +Allies in 1814, now inclined to act with France. <a name="FNanchor230"> </a><a href="#Footnote_230"><sup>[230]</sup></a> +The instinct of self-preservation led him to risk everything in +raising the standard of Italian independence, rather than await +the loss of his kingdom; and the return of Napoleon precipitated +his fall. At the moment when Napoleon was about to leave Elba, +Murat, who knew his intention, asked the permission of Austria to +move a body of troops through Northern Italy for the alleged +purpose of attacking the French Bourbons, who were preparing to +restore his rival, Ferdinand. Austria declared that it should +treat the entry either of French or of Neapolitan troops into +Northern Italy as an act of war. Murat, as soon as Napoleon's +landing in France became known, protested to the Allies that he +intended to remain faithful to them, but he also sent assurances +of friendship to Napoleon, and forthwith invaded the Papal +States. He acted without waiting for Napoleon's instructions, and +probably with the intention of winning all Italy for himself even +if Napoleon should victoriously re-establish his Empire. On the +10th of April, Austria declared war against him. Murat pressed +forward and entered Bologna, now openly proclaiming the unity and +independence of Italy. The feeling of the towns and of the +educated classes generally seemed to be in his favour, but no +national rising took place. After some indecisive encounters with +the Austrians, Murat retreated. As he fell back towards the +Neapolitan frontier, his troops melted away. The enterprise ended +in swift and total ruin; and on the 22nd of May an English and +Austrian force took possession of the city of Naples in the name +of King Ferdinand. Murat, leaving his family behind him, fled to +France, and sought in vain to gain a place by the side of +Napoleon in his last great struggle, and to retrieve as a soldier +the honour which he had lost as a king. <a name="FNanchor231"> </a><a href="#Footnote_231"><sup>[231]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Acte Additionnel, April 23, 1815.]</p> +<p>In the midst of his preparations for war with all Europe, +Napoleon found it necessary to give some satisfaction to that +desire for liberty which was again so strong in France. He would +gladly have deferred all political change until victory over the +foreigner had restored his own undisputed ascendency over men's +minds; he was resolved at any rate not to be harassed by a +Constituent Assembly, like that of 1789, at the moment of his +greatest peril; and the action of King Louis XVIII. in granting +liberty by Charta gave him a precedent for creating a +Constitution by an Edict supplementary to the existing laws of +the Empire. Among the Liberal politicians who had declared for +King Louis XVIII. while Napoleon was approaching Paris, one of +the most eminent was Benjamin Constant, who had published an +article attacking the Emperor with great severity on the very day +when he entered the capital. Napoleon now invited Constant to the +Tuileries, assured him that he no longer either desired or +considered it possible to maintain an absolute rule in France, +and requested Constant himself to undertake the task of drawing +up a Constitution. Constant, believing the Emperor to be in some +degree sincere, accepted the proposals made to him, and, at the +cost of some personal consistency, entered upon the work, in +which Napoleon by no means allowed him entire freedom. <a name="FNanchor232"> </a><a href="#Footnote_232"><sup>[232]</sup></a> +The result of Constant's labours was the Decree known as the Acte +Additionnel of 1815. The leading provisions of this Act resembled +those of the Charta: both professed to establish a representative +Government and the responsibility of Ministers; both contained +the usual phrases guaranteeing freedom of religion and security +of person and property. The principal differences were that the +Chamber of Peers was now made wholly hereditary, and that the +Emperor absolutely refused to admit the clause of the Charta +abolishing confiscation as a penalty for political offences. On +the other hand, Constant definitely extinguished the censorship +of the Press, and provided some real guarantee for the free +expression of opinion by enacting that Press-offences should be +judged only in the ordinary Jury-courts. Constant was sanguine +enough to believe that the document which he had composed would +reduce Napoleon to the condition of a constitutional king. As a +Liberal statesman, he pressed the Emperor to submit the scheme to +a Representative Assembly, where it could be examined and +amended. This Napoleon refused to do, preferring to resort to the +fiction of a Plébiscite for the purpose of procuring some +kind of national sanction for his Edict. The Act was published on +the 23rd of April, 1815. Voting lists were then opened in all the +Departments, and the population of France, most of whom were +unable to read or write, were invited to answer Yes or No to the +question whether they approved of Napoleon's plan for giving his +subjects Parliamentary government.</p> +<p>[The Chambers summoned for June.]</p> +<p>There would have been no difficulty in obtaining some millions +of votes for any absurdity that the Emperor might be pleased to +lay before the French people; but among the educated minority who +had political theories of their own, the publication of this +reform by Edict produced the worst possible impression. No +stronger evidence, it was said, could have been given of the +Emperor's insincerity than the dictatorial form in which he +affected to bestow liberty upon France. Scarcely a voice was +raised in favour of the new Constitution. The measure had in fact +failed of its effect. Napoleon's object was to excite an +enthusiasm that should lead the entire nation, the educated +classes as well as the peasantry, to rally round him in a +struggle with the foreigner for life or death: he found, on the +contrary, that he had actually injured his cause. The hostility +of public opinion was so serious that Napoleon judged it wise to +make advances to the Liberal party, and sent his brother Joseph +to Lafayette, to ascertain on what terms he might gain his +support. <a name="FNanchor233"> </a><a href="#Footnote_233"><sup>[233]</sup></a> Lafayette, strongly +condemning the form of the Acte Additionnel, stated that the +Emperor could only restore public confidence by immediately +convoking the Chambers. This was exactly what Napoleon desired to +avoid, until he had defeated the English and Prussians; nor in +fact had the vote of the nation accepting the new Constitution +yet been given. But the urgency of the need overcame the +Emperor's inclinations and the forms of law. Lafayette's demand +was granted: orders were issued for an immediate election, and +the meeting of the Chambers fixed for the beginning of June, a +few days earlier than the probable departure of the Emperor to +open hostilities on the northern frontier.</p> +<p>[Elections.]</p> +<p>Lafayette's counsel had been given in sincerity, but Napoleon +gained little by following it. The nation at large had nothing of +the faith in the elections which was felt by Lafayette and his +friends. In some places not a single person appeared at the poll: +in most, the candidates were elected by a few scores of voters. +The Royalists absented themselves on principle: the population +generally thought only of the coming war, and let the professed +politicians conduct the business of the day by themselves. Among +the deputies chosen there were several who had sat in the earlier +Assemblies of the Revolution; and, mingled with placemen and +soldiers of the Empire, a considerable body of men whose known +object was to reduce Napoleon's power. One interest alone was +unrepresented-that of the Bourbon family, which so lately seemed +to have been called to the task of uniting the old and the new +France around itself.</p> +<p>[Champ de Mai.]</p> +<p>Napoleon, troubling himself little about the elections, +laboured incessantly at his preparations for war, and by the end +of May two hundred thousand men were ready to take the field. The +delay of the Allies, though necessary, enabled their adversary to +take up the offensive. It was the intention of the Emperor to +leave a comparatively small force to watch the eastern frontier, +and himself, at the head of a hundred and twenty-five thousand +men, to fall upon Wellington and Blücher in the Netherlands, +and crush them before they could unite their forces. With this +object the greater part of the army was gradually massed on the +northern roads at points between Paris, Lille, and Maubeuge. Two +acts of State remained to be performed by the Emperor before he +quitted the capital; the inauguration of the new Constitution and +the opening of the Chambers of Legislature. The first, which had +been fixed for the 26th of May, and announced as a revival of the +old Frankish Champ de Mai, was postponed till the beginning of +the following month. On the 1st of June the solemnity was +performed with extraordinary pomp and splendour, on that same +Champ de Mars where, twenty-five years before, the grandest and +most affecting of all the festivals of the Revolution, the Act of +Federation, had been celebrated by King Louis XVI. and his +people. Deputations from each of the constituencies of France, +from the army, and from every public body, surrounded the Emperor +in a great amphitheatre enclosed at the southern end of the +plain: outside there were ranged twenty thousand soldiers of the +Guard and other regiments; and behind them spread the dense crowd +of Paris. When the total of the votes given in the +Plébiscite had been summed up and declared, the Emperor +took the oath to the Constitution, and delivered one of his +masterpieces of political rhetoric. The great officers of State +took the oath in their turn: mass was celebrated, and Napoleon, +leaving the enclosed space, then presented their standards to the +soldiery in the Champ de Mars, addressing some brief, +soul-stirring word to each regiment as it passed. The spectacle +was magnificent, but except among the soldiers themselves a sense +of sadness and disappointment passed over the whole assembly. The +speech of the Emperor showed that he was still the despot at +heart: the applause was forced: all was felt to be ridiculous, +all unreal. <a name="FNanchor234"> </a><a href="#Footnote_234"><sup>[234]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Plan of Napoleon.]</p> +<p>The opening of the Legislative Chambers took place a few days +later, and on the night of the 11th of June Napoleon started for +the northern frontier. The situation of the forces opposed to him +in this his last campaign strikingly resembled that which had +given him his first Italian victory in 1796. Then the Austrians +and Sardinians, resting on opposite bases, covered the approaches +to the Sardinian capital, and invited the assailant to break +through their centre and drive the two defeated wings along +diverging and severed paths of retreat. Now the English and the +Prussians covered Brussels, the English resting westward on +Ostend, the Prussians eastward on Cologne, and barely joining +hands in the middle of a series of posts nearly eighty miles +long. The Emperor followed the strategy of 1796. He determined to +enter Belgium by the central road of Charleroi, and to throw his +main force upon Blücher, whose retreat, if once he should be +severed from his colleague, would carry him eastwards towards +Liège, and place him outside the area of hostilities round +Brussels. Blücher driven eastwards, Napoleon believed that +he might not only push the English commander out of Brussels, but +possibly, by a movement westwards, intercept him from the sea and +cut off his communication with Great Britain. <a name="FNanchor235"> </a><a href="#Footnote_235"><sup>[235]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Situation of the armies.]</p> +<p>On the night of the 13th of June, the French army, numbering a +hundred and twenty-nine thousand men, had completed its +concentration, and lay gathered round Beaumont and Philippeville. +Wellington was at Brussels; his troops, which consisted of +thirty-five thousand English and about sixty thousand Dutch, +Germans, and <a name="FNanchor236">Belgians,</a> <a href="#Footnote_236"><sup>[236]</sup></a> guarded the country west of +the Charleroi road as far as Oudenarde on the Scheldt. +Blücher's headquarters were at Namur; he had a hundred and +twenty thousand Prussians under his command, who were posted +between Charleroi, Namur, and Liège. Both the English and +Prussian generals were aware that very large French forces had +been brought close to the frontier, but Wellington imagined +Napoleon to be still in Paris, and believed that the war would be +opened by a forward movement of Prince Schwarzenberg into Alsace. +It was also his fixed conviction that if Napoleon entered Belgium +he would throw himself not upon the Allied centre, but upon the +extreme right of the English towards the sea. <a name="FNanchor237"> </a><a href="#Footnote_237"><sup>[237]</sup></a> In +the course of the 14th, the Prussian outposts reported that the +French were massed round Beaumont: later in the same day there +were clear signs of an advance upon Charleroi. Early next morning +the attack on Charleroi began. The Prussians were driven out of +it, and retreated in the direction of Ligny, whither Blücher +now brought up all the forces within his reach. It was unknown to +Wellington until the afternoon of the 15th that the French had +made any movement whatever: on receiving the news of their +advance, he ordered a concentrating movement of all his forces +eastward, in order to cover the road to Brussels and to +co-operate with the Prussian general. A small division of the +British army took post at Quatre Bras that night, and on the +morning of the 16th Wellington himself rode to Ligny, and +promised his assistance to Blücher, whose troops were +already drawn up and awaiting the attack of the French.</p> +<p>[Ligny, June 16.]</p> +<p>But the march of the invader was too rapid for the English to +reach the field of battle. Already, on returning to Quatre Bras +in the afternoon, Wellington found his own troops hotly engaged. +Napoleon had sent Ney along the road to Brussels to hold the +English in check and, if possible, to enter the capital, while he +himself, with seventy thousand men, attacked Blücher. The +Prussian general had succeeded in bringing up a force superior in +number to his assailants; but the French army, which consisted in +a great part of veterans recalled to the ranks, was of finer +quality than any that Napoleon had led since the campaign of +Moscow, and it was in vain that Blücher and his soldiers met +them with all the gallantry and even more than the fury of 1813. +There was murderous hand-to-hand fighting in the villages where +the Prussians had taken up their position: now the defenders, now +the assailants gave way: but at last the Prussians, with a loss +of thirteen thousand men, withdrew from the combat, and left the +battle-field in possession of the enemy. If the conquerors had +followed up the pursuit that night, the cause of the Allies would +have been ruined. The effort of battle had, however, been too +great, or the estimate which Napoleon made of his adversary's +rallying power was too low. He seems to have assumed that +Blücher must necessarily retreat eastwards towards Namur; +while in reality the Prussian was straining every nerve to escape +northwards, and to restore his severed communication with his +ally.</p> +<p>[Quatre Bras, June 16.]</p> +<p>At Quatre Bras the issue of the day was unfavourable to the +French. Ney missed his opportunity of seizing this important +point before it was occupied by the British in any force; and +when the battle began the British infantry-squares unflinchingly +bore the attack of Ney's cavalry, and drove them back again and +again with their volleys, until successive reinforcements had +made the numbers on both sides even. At the close of the day the +French marshal, baffled and disheartened, drew back his troops to +their original position. The army-corps of General d'Erlon, which +Napoleon had placed between himself and Ney in order that it +might act wherever there was the greatest need, was first +withdrawn from Ney to assist at Ligny, and then, as it was +entering into action at Ligny, recalled to Quatre Bras, where it +arrived only after the battle was over. Its presence in either +field would probably have altered the issue of the campaign.</p> +<p>[Prussian movement.]</p> +<p>Blücher, on the night of the 16th, lay disabled and +almost senseless; his lieutenant, Gneisenau, not only saved the +army, but repaired, and more than repaired, all its losses by a +memorable movement northwards that brought the Prussians again +into communication with the British. Napoleon, after an +unexplained inaction during the night of the 16th and the morning +of the 17th, committed the pursuit of the Prussians to Marshal +Grouchy, ordering him never to let the enemy out of his sight; +but Blücher and Gneisenau had already made their escape, and +had concentrated so large a body in the neighbourhood of Wavre, +that Grouchy could not now have prevented a force superior to his +own from uniting with the English, even if he had known the exact +movements of each of the three armies, and, with a true +presentiment of his master's danger, had attempted to rejoin him +on the morrow.</p> +<p>Wellington, who had both anticipated that Blücher would +be beaten at Ligny, and assured himself that the Prussian would +make good his retreat northwards, moved on the 17th from Quatre +Bras to Waterloo, now followed by Napoleon and the mass of the +French army. At Waterloo he drew up for battle, trusting to the +promise of the gallant Prussian that he would advance in that +direction on the following day. Blücher, in so doing, +exposed himself to the risk of having his communications severed +and half his army captured, if Napoleon should either change the +direction of his main attack and bend eastwards, or should crush +Wellington before the arrival of the Prussians, and seize the +road from Brussels to Louvain with a victorious force. Such +considerations would have driven a commander like Schwarzenberg +back to Liège, but they were thrown to the winds by +Blücher and Gneisenau. In just reliance on his colleague's +energy, Wellington, with thirty thousand English and forty +thousand Dutch, Germans, and Belgians, awaited the attack of +Napoleon, at the head of seventy-four thousand veteran soldiers. +The English position extended two miles along the brow of a +gentle slope of cornfields, and crossed at right angles the great +road from Charleroi to Brussels; the château of Hugomont, +some way down the slope on the right, and the farmhouse of La +Haye Sainte, on the high-road in front of the left centre, served +as fortified outposts. The French formed on the opposite and +corresponding slope; the country was so open that, but for the +heavy rain on the evening of the 17th, artillery could have moved +over almost any part of the field with perfect freedom.</p> +<p>[Waterloo, June 18.]</p> +<p>At eleven o'clock on Sunday, the 18th of June, the battle +began. Napoleon, unconscious of the gathering of the Prussians on +his right, and unacquainted with the obstinacy of English troops, +believed the victory already thrown into his hands by +Wellington's hardihood. His plan was to burst through the left of +the English line near La Haye Sainte, and thus to drive +Wellington westwards and place the whole French army between its +two defeated enemies. The first movement was an assault on the +buildings of Hugomont, made for the purpose of diverting +Wellington from the true point of attack. The English commander +sent detachments to this outpost sufficient to defend it, but no +more. After two hours' indecisive fighting and a heavy cannonade, +Ney ordered D'Erlon's corps forward to the great onslaught on the +centre and left. As the French column pressed up the slope, +General Picton charged at the head of a brigade. The English +leader was among the first to fall, but his men drove the enemy +back, and at the same time the Scots Greys, sweeping down from +the left, cut right through both the French infantry and their +cavalry supports, and, charging far up the opposite slope, +reached and disabled forty of Ney's guns, before they were in +their turn overpowered and driven back by the French dragoons. +The English lost heavily, but the onslaught of the enemy had +totally failed, and thousands of prisoners remained behind. There +was a pause in the infantry combat; and again the artillery of +Napoleon battered the English centre, while Ney marshalled fresh +troops for a new and greater effort. About two o'clock the attack +was renewed on the left. La Haye Sainte was carried, and vast +masses of cavalry pressed up the English slope, and rode over the +plateau to the very front of the English line. Wellington sent no +cavalry to meet them, but trusted, and trusted justly, to the +patience and endurance of the infantry themselves, who, hour +after hour, held their ground, unmoved by the rush of the enemy's +horse and the terrible spectacle of havoc and death in their own +ranks; for all through the afternoon the artillery of Napoleon +poured its fire wherever the line was left open, or the assault +of the French cavalry rolled back.</p> +<p>At last the approach of the Prussians visibly told. Napoleon +had seen their vanguard early in the day, and had detached Count +Lobau with seven thousand men to hold them in check; but the +little Prussian corps gradually swelled to an army, and as the +day wore on it was found necessary to reinforce Count Lobau with +some of the finest divisions of the French infantry. Still +reports came in of new Prussian columns approaching. At six +o'clock Napoleon prepared to throw his utmost strength into one +grand final attack upon the British, and to sweep them away +before the battle became general with their allies. Two columns +of the Imperial Guard, supported by every available regiment, +moved from the right and left towards the English centre. The +column on the right, unchecked by the storm of Wellington's +cannon-shot from front and flank, pushed to the very ridge of the +British slope, and came within forty yards of the cross-road +where the English Guard lay hidden. Then Wellington gave the +order to fire. The French recoiled; the English advanced at the +charge, and drove the enemy down the hill, returning themselves +for a while to their own position. The left column of the French +Guard attacked with equal bravery, and met with the same fate. +Then, while the French were seeking to re-form at the bottom of +the hill, Wellington commanded a general advance. The whole line +of the British infantry and cavalry swept down into the valley; +before them the baffled and sorely-stricken host of the enemy +broke into a confused mass; only the battalions of the old Guard, +which had halted in the rear of the attacking columns, remained +firm together. Blücher, from the east, dealt the death-blow, +and, pressing on to the road by which the French were escaping, +turned the defeat into utter ruin and dispersion. The pursuit, +which Wellington's troops were too exhausted to attempt, was +carried on throughout the night by the Prussian cavalry with +memorable ardour and terrible success. Before the morning the +French army was no more than a rabble of fugitives.</p> +<p>[Napoleon at Paris.]</p> +<p>[Allies enter Paris, July 7.]</p> +<p>Napoleon fled to Philippeville, and made some ineffectual +attempts both there and at Laon to fix a rallying point for his +vanished forces. From Laon he hastened to Paris, which he reached +at sunrise on the 21st. His bulletin describing the defeat of +Waterloo was read to the Chambers on the same morning. The Lower +House immediately declared against the Emperor, and demanded his +abdication. Unless Napoleon seized the dictatorship his cause was +lost. Carnot and Lucien Bonaparte urged him to dismiss the +Chambers and to stake all on his own strong will; but they found +no support among the Emperor's counsellors. On the next day +Napoleon abdicated in favour of his son. But it was in vain that +he attempted to impose an absent successor upon France, and to +maintain his own Ministers in power. It was equally in vain that +Carnot, filled with the memories of 1793, called upon the +Assembly to continue the war and to provide for the defence of +Paris. A Provisional Government entered upon office. Days were +spent in inaction and debate while the Allies advanced through +France. On the 28th of June, the Prussians appeared on the north +of the capital; and, as the English followed, they moved to the +south of the Seine, out of the range of the fortifications with +which Napoleon had covered the side of St. Denis and Montmartre. +Davoust, with almost all the generals in Paris, declared defence +to be impossible. On the 3rd of July, a capitulation was signed. +The remnants of the French army were required to withdraw beyond +the Loire. The Provisional Government dissolved itself; the +Allied troops entered the capital and on the following day the +Members of the Chamber of Deputies, on arriving at their Hall of +Assembly, found the gates closed, and a detachment of soldiers in +possession. France was not, even as a matter of form, consulted +as to its future government. Louis XVIII. was summarily restored +to his throne. Napoleon, who had gone to Rochefort with the +intention of sailing to the United States, lingered at Rochefort +until escape was no longer possible, and then embarked on the +British ship <i>Bellerophon</i>, commending himself, as a second +Themistocles, to the generosity of the Prince Regent of England. +He who had declared that the lives of a million men were nothing +to him <a name="FNanchor238"> </a><a href="#Footnote_238"><sup>[238]</sup></a> trusted to the folly or the +impotence of the English nation to provide him with some +agreeable asylum until he could again break loose and deluge +Europe with blood. But the lesson of 1814 had been learnt. Some +island in the ocean far beyond the equator formed the only prison +for a man whom no European sovereign could venture to guard, and +whom no fortress-walls could have withdrawn from the attention of +mankind. Napoleon was conveyed to St. Helena. There, until at the +end of six years death removed him, he experienced some trifling +share of the human misery that he had despised.</p> +<p>[Wellington and Fouché.]</p> +<p>Victory had come so swiftly that the Allied Governments were +unprepared with terms of peace. The Czar and the Emperor of +Austria were still at Heidelberg when the battle of Waterloo was +fought; they had advanced no further than Nancy when the news +reached them that Paris had surrendered. Both now hastened to the +capital, where Wellington was already exercising the authority to +which his extraordinary successes as well as his great political +superiority over all the representatives of the Allies then +present, entitled him. Before the entry of the English and +Prussian troops into Paris he had persuaded Louis XVIII. to sever +himself from the party of reaction by calling to office the +regicide Fouché, head of the existing Provisional +Government. Fouché had been guilty of the most atrocious +crimes at Lyons in 1793; he had done some of the worst work of +each succeeding government in France; and, after returning to his +old place as Napoleon's Minister of Police during the Hundred +Days, he had intrigued as early as possible for the restoration +of Louis XVIII., if indeed he had not held treasonable +communication with the enemy during the campaign. His sole claim +to power was that every gendarme and every informer in France had +at some time acted as his agent, and that, as a regicide in +office, he might possibly reconcile Jacobins and Bonapartists to +the second return of the Bourbon family. Such was the man whom, +in association with Talleyrand, the Duke of Wellington found +himself compelled to propose as Minister to Louis XVIII. The +appointment, it was said, was humiliating, but it was necessary; +and with the approval of the Count of Artois the King invited +this blood-stained eavesdropper to an interview and placed him in +office. Need subdued the scruples of the courtiers: it could not +subdue the resentment of that grief-hardened daughter of Louis +XVI. whom Napoleon termed the only man of her family. The Duchess +of Angoulême might have forgiven the Jacobin Fouché +the massacres at Lyons: she refused to speak to a Minister whom +she termed one of the murderers of her father.</p> +<p>[Disagreement on terms of peace.]</p> +<p>Fouché had entered into a private negotiation with +Wellington while the English were on the outskirts of Paris, and +while the authorised envoys of the Assembly were engaged +elsewhere. Wellington's motive for recommending him to the King +was the indifference or hostility felt by some of the Allies to +Louis XVIII. personally, which led the Duke to believe that if +Louis did not regain his throne before the arrival of the +sovereigns he might never regain it at all. <a name="FNanchor239"> </a><a href="#Footnote_239"><sup>[239]</sup></a> +Fouché was the one man who could at that moment throw open +the road to the Tuileries. If his overtures were rejected, he +might either permit Carnot to offer some desperate resistance +outside Paris, or might retire himself with the army and the +Assembly beyond the Loire, and there set up a Republican +Government. With Fouché and Talleyrand united in office +under Louis XVIII., there was no fear either of a continuance of +the war or of the suggestion of a change of dynasty on the part +of any of the Allies. By means of the Duke's independent action +Louis XVIII. was already in possession when the Czar arrived at +Paris, and nothing now prevented the definite conclusion of peace +but the disagreement of the Allies themselves as to the terms to +be exacted. Prussia, which had suffered so bitterly from +Napoleon, demanded that Europe should not a second time deceive +itself with the hollow guarantee of a Bourbon restoration, but +should gain a real security for peace by detaching Alsace and +Lorraine, as well as a line of northern fortresses, from the +French monarchy. Lord Liverpool, Prime Minister of England, +stated it to be the prevailing opinion in this country that +France might fairly be stripped of the principal conquests made +by Louis XIV.; but he added that if Napoleon, who was then at +large, should become a prisoner, England would waive a permanent +cession of territory, on condition that France should be occupied +by foreign armies until it had, at its own cost, restored the +barrier-fortresses of the Netherlands. <a name="FNanchor240"> </a><a href="#Footnote_240"><sup>[240]</sup></a> +Metternich for a while held much the same language as the +Prussian Minister: Alexander alone declared from the first +against any reduction of the territory of France, and appealed to +the declarations of the Powers that the sole object of the war +was the destruction of Napoleon and the maintenance of the order +established by the Peace of Paris.</p> +<p>[Arguments for and against cessions.]</p> +<p>[Prussia isolated.]</p> +<p>[Second Treaty of Paris, Nov. 20.]</p> +<p>The arguments for and against the severance of the +border-provinces from France were drawn at great length by +diplomatists, but all that was essential in them was capable of +being very briefly put. On the one side, it was urged by Stein +and Hardenberg that the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814 with +an undiminished territory had not prevented France from placing +itself at the end of a few months under the rule of the military +despot whose life was one series of attacks on his neighbours: +that the expectation of long-continued peace, under whatever +dynasty, was a vain one so long as the French possessed a chain +of fortresses enabling them at any moment to throw large armies +into Germany or the Netherlands: and finally, that inasmuch as +Germany, and not England or Russia, was exposed to these +irruptions, Germany had the first right to have its interests +consulted in providing for the public security. On the other +side, it was argued by the Emperor Alexander, and with far +greater force by the Duke of Wellington, <a name="FNanchor241"> </a><a href="#Footnote_241"><sup>[241]</sup></a> +that the position of the Bourbons would be absolutely hopeless if +their restoration, besides being the work of foreign armies, was +accompanied by the loss of French provinces: that the French +nation, although it had submitted to Napoleon, had not as a +matter of fact offered the resistance to the Allies which it was +perfectly capable of offering: and that the danger of any new +aggressive or revolutionary movement might be effectually averted +by keeping part of France occupied by the Allied forces until the +nation had settled down into tranquillity under an efficient +government. Notes embodying these arguments were exchanged +between the Ministers of the great Powers during the months of +July and August. The British Cabinet, which had at first inclined +to the Prussian view, accepted the calm judgment of Wellington, +and transferred itself to the side of the Czar. Metternich went +with the majority. Hardenberg, thus left alone, abandoned point +after point in his demands, and consented at last that France +should cede little more than the border-strips which had been +added by the Peace of 1814 to its frontier of 1791. +Chambéry and the rest of French Savoy, Landau and +Saarlouis on the German side, Philippeville and some other posts +on the Belgian frontier, were fixed upon as the territory to be +surrendered. The resolution of the Allied Governments was made +known to Louis XVIII. towards the end of September. Negotiation +on details dragged on for two months more, while France itself +underwent a change of Ministry; and the definitive Treaty of +Peace, known as the second Treaty of Paris, was not signed until +November the 20th. France escaped without substantial loss of +territory; it was, however, compelled to pay indemnities +amounting in all to about £40,000,000; to consent to the +occupation of its northern provinces by an Allied force of +150,000 men for a period not exceeding five years; and to defray +the cost of this occupation out of its own revenues. The works of +art taken from other nations, which the Allies had allowed France +to retain in 1814, had already been restored to their rightful +owners. No act of the conquerors in 1815 excited more bitter or +more unreasonable complaint.</p> +<p>[Treaty of Holy Alliance, Sept. 26.]</p> +<p>It was in the interval between the entry of the Allies into +Paris and the definitive conclusion of peace that a treaty was +signed which has gained a celebrity in singular contrast with its +real insignificance, the Treaty of Holy Alliance. Since the +terrible events of 1812 the Czar's mind had taken a strongly +religious tinge. His private life continued loose as before; his +devotion was both very well satisfied with itself and a prey to +mysticism and imposture in others; but, if alloyed with many +weaknesses, it was at least sincere, and, like Alexander's other +feelings, it naturally sought expression in forms which seemed +theatrical to stronger natures. Alexander had rendered many +public acts of homage to religion in the intervals of diplomatic +and military success in the year 1814; and after the second +capture of Paris he drew up a profession of religious and +political faith, embodying, as he thought, those high principles +by which the Sovereigns of Europe, delivered from the iniquities +of Napoleon, were henceforth to maintain the reign of peace and +righteousness on <a name="FNanchor242">earth.</a><a href="#Footnote_242"><sup>[242]</sup></a> This document, which +resembled the pledge of a religious brotherhood, formed the draft +of the Treaty of the Holy Alliance. The engagement, as one +binding on the conscience, was for the consideration of the +Sovereigns alone, not of their Ministers; and in presenting it to +the Emperor Francis and King Frederick William, the Czar is said +to have acted with an air of great mystery. The King of Prussia, +a pious man, signed the treaty in seriousness; the Emperor of +Austria, who possessed a matter-of-fact humour, said that if the +paper related to doctrines of religion, he must refer it to his +confessor, if to secrets of State, to Prince Metternich. What the +confessor may have thought of the Czar's political evangel is not +known: the opinion delivered by the Minister was not a +sympathetic one. "It is verbiage," said Metternich; and his +master, though unwillingly, signed the treaty. With England the +case was still worse. As the Prince Regent was not in Paris, +Alexander had to confide the articles of the Holy Alliance to +Lord Castlereagh. Of all things in the world the most +incomprehensible to Castlereagh was religious enthusiasm. "The +fact is," he wrote home to the English Premier, "that the +Emperor's mind is not completely sound." <a name="FNanchor243"> </a><a href="#Footnote_243"><sup>[243]</sup></a> +Apart, however, from the Czar's sanity or insanity, it was +impossible for the Prince Regent, or for any person except the +responsible Minister, to sign a treaty, whether it meant anything +or nothing, in the name of Great Britain. Castlereagh was in +great perplexity. On the one hand, he feared to wound a powerful +ally; on the other, he dared not violate the forms of the +Constitution. A compromise was invented. The Treaty of the Holy +Alliance was not graced with the name of the Prince Regent, but +the Czar received a letter declaring that his principles had the +personal approval of this great authority on religion and +morality. The Kings of Naples and Sardinia were the next to +subscribe, and in due time the names of the witty glutton, Louis +XVIII., and of the abject Ferdinand of Spain were added. Two +potentates alone received no invitation from the Czar to enter +the League: the Pope, because he possessed too much authority +within the Christian Church, and the Sultan, because he possessed +none at all.</p> +<p>[Treaty between the Four Powers, Nov. 20.]</p> +<p>Such was the history of the Treaty of Holy Alliance, of which, +it may be safely said, no single person connected with it, except +the Czar and the King of Prussia, thought without a smile. The +common belief that this Treaty formed the basis of a great +monarchical combination against Liberal principles is erroneous; +for, in the first place, no such combination existed before the +year 1818; and, in the second place, the Czar, who was the author +of the Treaty, was at this time the zealous friend of Liberalism +both in his own and in other countries. The concert of the Powers +was indeed provided for by articles signed on the same day as the +Peace of Paris; but this concert, which, unlike the Holy +Alliance, included England, was directed towards the perpetual +exclusion of Napoleon from power, and the maintenance of the +established Government in France. The Allies pledged themselves +to act in union if revolution or usurpation should again convulse +France and endanger the repose of other States, and undertook to +resist with their whole force any attack that might be made upon +the army of occupation. The federative unity which for a moment +Europe seemed to have gained from the struggle against Napoleon, +and the belief existing in some quarters in its long continuance, +were strikingly shown in the last article of this Quadruple +Treaty, which provided that, after the holding of a Congress at +the end of three or more years, the Sovereigns or Ministers of +all the four great Powers should renew their meetings at fixed +intervals, for the purpose of consulting upon their common +interests, and considering the measures best fitted to secure the +repose and prosperity of nations, and the continuance of the +peace of Europe. <a name="FNanchor244"> </a><a href="#Footnote_244"><sup>[244]</sup></a></p> +<p>[German Federation.]</p> +<p>Thus terminated, certainly without any undue severity, yet not +without some loss to the conquered nation, the work of 1815 in +France. In the meantime the Congress of Vienna, though +interrupted by the renewal of war, had resumed and completed its +labours. One subject of the first importance remained unsettled +when Napoleon returned, the federal organisation of Germany. This +work had been referred by the Powers in the autumn of 1814 to a +purely German committee, composed of the representatives of +Austria and Prussia and of three of the Minor States; but the +first meetings of the committee only showed how difficult was the +problem, and how little the inclination in most quarters to solve +it. The objects with which statesmen like Stein demanded an +effective federation were thoroughly plain and practical. They +sought, in the first place, that Germany should be rendered +capable of defending itself against the foreigner; and in the +second place, that the subjects of the minor princes, who had +been made absolute rulers by Napoleon, should now be guaranteed +against despotic oppression. To secure Germany from being again +conquered by France, it was necessary that the members of the +League, great and small, should abandon something of their +separate sovereignty, and create a central authority with the +sole right of making war and alliances. To protect the subjects +of the minor princes from the abuse of power, it was necessary +that certain definite civil rights and a measure of +representative government should be assured by Federal Law to the +inhabitants of every German State, and enforced by the central +authority on the appeal of subjects against their Sovereigns. +There was a moment when some such form of German union had seemed +to be close at hand, the moment when Prussia began its final +struggle with Napoleon, and the commander of the Czar's army +threatened the German vassals of France with the loss of their +thrones (Feb., 1813). But even then no statesman had satisfied +himself how Prussia and Austria were to unite in submission to a +Federal Government; and from the time when Austria made terms +with the vassal princes little hope of establishing a really +effective authority at the centre of Germany remained. Stein, at +the Congress of Vienna, once more proposed to restore the title +and the long-vanished powers of the Emperor; but he found no +inclination on the part of Metternich to promote his schemes for +German unity, while some of the minor princes flatly refused to +abandon any fraction of their sovereignty over their own +subjects. The difficulties in the way of establishing a Federal +State were great, perhaps insuperable; the statesmen anxious for +it few in number; the interests opposed to it all but universal. +Stein saw that the work was intended to be unsubstantial, and +withdrew himself from it before its completion. The Act of +Federation, <a name="FNanchor245"> </a><a href="#Footnote_245"><sup>[245]</sup></a> which was signed on the 8th +of June, created a Federal Diet, forbade the members of the +League to enter into alliances against the common interest, and +declared that in each State, Constitutions should be established. +But it left the various Sovereigns virtually independent of the +League; it gave the nomination of members of the Diet to the +Governments absolutely, without a vestige of popular election; +and it contained no provision for enforcing in any individual +State, whose ruler might choose to disregard it, the principle of +constitutional rule. Whether the Federation would in any degree +have protected Germany in case of attack by France or Russia is +matter for conjecture, since a long period of peace followed the +year 1815; but so far was it from securing liberty to the Minor +States, that in the hands of Metternich the Diet, impotent for +every other purpose, became an instrument for the persecution of +liberal opinion and for the suppression of the freedom of the +press.</p> +<p>[Final Act of the Congress, June 10.]</p> +<p>German affairs, as usual, were the last to be settled at the +Congress; when these were at length disposed of, the Congress +embodied the entire mass of its resolutions in one great Final +Act <a name="FNanchor246"> </a><a href="#Footnote_246"><sup>[246]</sup></a> of a hundred and twenty-one +articles, which was signed a few days before the battle of +Waterloo was fought. This Act, together with the second Treaty of +Paris, formed the public law with which Europe emerged from the +warfare of a quarter of a century, and entered upon a period +which proved, even more than it was expected to prove, one of +long-lasting peace. Standing on the boundary-line between two +ages, the legislation of Vienna forms a landmark in history. The +provisions of the Congress have sometimes been criticised as if +that body had been an assemblage of philosophers, bent only on +advancing the course of human progress, and endowed with the +power of subduing the selfish impulses of every Government in +Europe. As a matter of fact the Congress was an arena where +national and dynastic interests struggled for satisfaction by +every means short of actual war. To inquire whether the Congress +accomplished all that it was possible to accomplish for Europe is +to inquire whether Governments at that moment forgot all their +own ambitions and opportunities, and thought only of the welfare +of mankind. Russia would not have given up Poland without war; +Austria would not have given up Lombardy and Venice without war. +The only measures of 1814-15 in which the common interest was +really the dominant motive were those adopted either with the +view of strengthening the States immediately exposed to attack by +France, or in the hope of sparing France itself the occasion for +new conflicts. The union of Holland and Belgium, and the +annexation of the Genoese Republic to Sardinia, were the means +adopted for the former end; for the latter, the relinquishment of +all claims to Alsace and Lorraine. These were the measures in +which the statesmen of 1814-15 acted with their hands free, and +by these their foresight may fairly be judged. Of the union of +Belgium to Holland it is not too much to say that, although +planned by Pitt, and treasured by every succeeding Ministry as +one of his wisest schemes, it was wholly useless and inexpedient. +The tranquillity of Western Europe was preserved during fifteen +years, not by yoking together discordant nationalities, but by +the general desire to avoid war; and as soon as France seriously +demanded the liberation of Belgium from Holland, it had to be +granted. Nor can it be believed that the addition of the hostile +and discontented population of Genoa to the kingdom of Piedmont +would have saved that monarchy from invasion if war had again +arisen. The annexation of Genoa was indeed fruitful of results, +but not of results which Pitt and his successors had anticipated. +It was intended to strengthen the House of Savoy for the purpose +of resistance to France: <a name="FNanchor247"> </a><a href="#Footnote_247"><sup>[247]</sup></a> it did strengthen the House +of Savoy, but as the champion of Italy against Austria. It was +intended to withdraw the busy trading city Genoa from the +influences of French democracy: in reality it brought a strong +element of innovation into the Piedmontese State itself, giving, +on the one hand, a bolder and more national spirit to its +Government, and, on the other hand, elevating to the ideal of a +united Italy those who, like the Genoese Mazzini, were now no +longer born to be the citizens of a free Republic. In sacrificing +the ancient liberty of Genoa, the Congress itself unwittingly +began the series of changes which was to refute the famous saying +of Metternich, that Italy was but a geographical expression.</p> +<p>[Alsace and Lorraine.]</p> +<p>But if the policy of 1814-15 in the affairs of Belgium and +Piedmont only proves how little an average collection of +statesmen can see into the future, the policy which, in spite of +Waterloo, left France in possession of an undiminished territory, +does no discredit to the foresight, as it certainly does the +highest honour to the justice and forbearance of Wellington, +whose counsels then turned the scale. The wisdom of the +resolution has indeed been frequently impugned. German statesmen +held then, and have held ever since, that the opportunity of +disarming France once for all of its weapons of attack was +wantonly thrown away. Hardenberg, when his arguments for +annexation of the frontier-fortresses were set aside, predicted +that streams of blood would hereafter flow for the conquest of +Alsace and Lorraine, <a name="FNanchor248"> </a><a href="#Footnote_248"><sup>[248]</sup></a> and his prediction has been +fulfilled. Yet no one perhaps would have been more astonished +than Hardenberg himself, could he have known that fifty-five +years of peace between France and Prussia would precede the next +great struggle. When the same period of peace shall have followed +the acquisition of Metz and Strasburg by Prussia, it will be time +to condemn the settlement of 1815 as containing the germ of +future wars; till then, the effects of that settlement in +maintaining peace are entitled to recognition. It is impossible +to deny that the Allies, in leaving to France the whole of its +territory in 1815, avoided inflicting the most galling of all +tokens of defeat upon a spirited and still most powerful nation. +The loss of Belgium and the frontier of the Rhine was keenly +enough felt for thirty years to come, and made no insignificant +part of the French people ready at any moment to rush into war; +how much greater the power of the war-cry, how hopeless the task +of restraint, if to the other motives for war there had been +added the liberation of two of the most valued provinces of +France. Without this the danger was great enough. Thrice at least +in the next thirty years the balance seemed to be turning against +the continuance of peace. An offensive alliance between France +and Russia was within view when the Bourbon monarchy fell; the +first years of Louis Philippe all but saw the revolutionary party +plunge France into war for Belgium and for Italy; ten years later +the dismissal of a Ministry alone prevented the outbreak of +hostilities on the distant affairs of Syria. Had Alsace and +Lorraine at this time been in the hands of disunited Germany, it +is hard to believe that the Bourbon dynasty would not have +averted, or sought to avert, its fall by a popular war, or that +the victory of Louis Philippe over the war-party, difficult even +when there was no French soil to reconquer, would have been +possible. The time indeed came when a new Bonaparte turned to +enterprises of aggression the resources which Europe had left +unimpaired to his country; but to assume that the cessions +proposed in 1815 would have made France unable to move, with or +without allies, half a century afterwards, is to make a confident +guess in a doubtful matter; and, with Germany in the condition in +which it remained after 1815, it is at least as likely that the +annexation of Alsace and Lorraine would have led to the early +reconquest of the Rhenish provinces by France, or to a war +between Austria and Prussia, as that it would have prolonged the +period of European peace beyond that distant limit which it +actually reached.</p> +<p>[English efforts at the Congress to abolish the +slave-trade.]</p> +<p>Among the subjects which were pressed upon the Congress of +Vienna there was one in which the pursuit of national interests +and calculations of policy bore no part, the abolition of the +African slave-trade. The British people, who, after twenty years +of combat in the cause of Europe, had earned so good a right to +ask something of their allies, probably attached a deeper +importance to this question than to any in the whole range of +European affairs, with the single exception of the personal +overthrow of Napoleon. Since the triumph of Wiberforce's cause in +the Parliament of 1807, and the extinction of English +slave-traffic, the anger with which the nation viewed this +detestable cruelty, too long tolerated by itself, had become more +and more vehement and widespread. By the year 1814 the utterances +of public opinion were so loud and urgent that the Government, +though free from enthusiasm itself, was forced to place the +international prohibition of the slave-trade in the front rank of +its demands. There were politicians on the Continent credulous +enough to believe that this outcry of the heart and the +conscience of the nation was but a piece of commercial hypocrisy. +Talleyrand, with far different insight, but not with more +sympathy, spoke of the state of the English people as one of +frenzy. <a name="FNanchor249"> </a><a href="#Footnote_249"><sup>[249]</sup></a> Something had already been +effected at foreign courts. Sweden had been led to prohibit +slave-traffic in 1813, Holland in the following year. Portugal +had been restrained by treaty from trading north of the line. +France had pledged itself in the first Treaty of Paris to abolish +the commerce within five years. Spain alone remained unfettered, +and it was indeed intolerable that the English slavers should +have been forced to abandon their execrable gains only that they +should fall into the hands of the subjects of King Ferdinand. It +might be true that the Spanish colonies required a larger supply +of slaves than they possessed; but Spain had at any rate not the +excuse that it was asked to surrender an old and profitable +branch of commerce. It was solely through the abolition of the +English slave-trade that Spain possessed any slave-trade +whatever. Before the year 1807 no Spanish ship had been seen on +the coast of Africa for a century, except one in 1798 fitted out +by Godoy. <a name="FNanchor250"> </a><a href="#Footnote_250"><sup>[250]</sup></a> As for the French trade, +that had been extinguished by the capture of Senegal and Goree; +and along the two thousand miles of coast from Cape Blanco to +Cape Formosa a legitimate commerce with the natives was gradually +springing up in place of the desolating traffic in flesh and +blood. It was hoped by the English people that Castlereagh would +succeed in obtaining a universal and immediate prohibition of the +slave-trade by all the Powers assembled at Vienna. The Minister +was not wanting in perseverance, but he failed to achieve this +result. France, while claiming a short delay elsewhere, professed +itself willing, like Portugal, to abolish at once the traffic +north of the line; but the Government on which England had +perhaps the greatest claim, that of Spain, absolutely refused to +accept this restriction, or to bind itself to a final prohibition +before the end of eight years. Castlereagh then proposed that a +Council of Ambassadors at London and Paris should be charged with +the international duty of expediting the close of the +slave-trade; the measure which he had in view being the +punishment of slave-dealing States by a general exclusion of +their exports. Against this Spain and Portugal made a formal +protest, treating the threat as almost equivalent to one of war. +The project dropped, and the Minister of England had to content +himself with obtaining from the Congress a solemn condemnation of +the slave-trade, as contrary to the principles of civilisation +and human right (Feb., 1815).</p> +<p>The work was carried a step further by Napoleon's return from +Elba. Napoleon understood the impatience of the English people, +and believed that he could make no higher bid for its friendship +than by abandoning the reserves made by Talleyrand at the +Congress, and abolishing the French slave-trade at once and for +all. This was accomplished; and the Bourbon ally of England, on +his second restoration could not undo what had been done by the +usurper. Spain and Portugal alone continued to pursue-the former +country without restriction, the latter on the south of the +line-a commerce branded by the united voice of Europe as +infamous. The Governments of these countries alleged in their +justification that Great Britain itself had resisted the passing +of the prohibitory law until its colonies were far better +supplied with slaves than those of its rivals now were. This was +true, but it was not the whole truth. The whole truth was not +known, the sincerity of English feeling was not appreciated, +until, twenty years later, the nation devoted a part of its +wealth to release the slave from servitude, and the English race +from the reproach of slave holding. Judged by the West Indian +Emancipation of 1833, the Spanish appeal to English history +sounds almost ludicrous. But the remembrance of the long years +throughout which the advocates of justice encountered opposition +in England should temper the severity of our condemnation of the +countries which still defended a bad interest. The light broke +late upon ourselves: the darkness that still lingered elsewhere +had too long been our own.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XIII."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Concert of Europe after 1815-Spirit of the Foreign Policy of +Alexander, of Metternich, and of the English +Ministry-Metternich's action in Italy, England's in Sicily and +Spain-The Reaction in France-Richelieu and the New +Chamber-Execution of Ney-Imprisonments and persecutions-Conduct +of the Ultra-Royalists in Parliament-Contests on the Electoral +Bill and the Budget-The Chamber prorogued-Affair of +Grenoble-Dissolution of the Chamber-Electoral Law and Financial +Settlement of 1817-Character of the first years of peace in +Europe generally-Promise of a Constitution in Prussia-Hardenberg +opposed by the partisans of autocracy and privilege-Schmalz's +Pamphlet-Delay of Constitutional Reform in Germany at large-The +Wartburg Festival-Progress of Reaction-The Czar now inclines to +repression-Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle-Evacuation of +France-Growing influence of Metternich in Europe-His action on +Prussia-Murder of Kotzebue-The Carlsbad Conference and measures +of repression in Germany-Richelieu and Decazes-Murder of the Duke +of Berry-Progress of the reaction in France-General causes of the +victory of reaction in Europe.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Concert of Europe regarding France.]</p> +<p>For nearly twenty years the career of Bonaparte had given to +European history the unity of interest which belongs to a single +life. This unity does not immediately disappear on the +disappearance of his mighty figure. The Powers of Europe had been +too closely involved in the common struggle, their interests were +too deeply concerned in the maintenance of the newly-established +order, for the thoughts of Governments to be withdrawn from +foreign affairs, and the currents of national policy to fall at +once apart into separate channels. The Allied forces continued to +occupy France with Wellington as commander-in-chief; the defence +of the Bourbon monarchy had been declared the cause of Europe at +large; the conditions under which the numbers of the army of +occupation might be reduced, or the period of occupation +shortened, remained to be fixed by the Allies themselves. France +thus formed the object of a common European deliberation; nor was +the concert of the Powers without its peculiar organ. An +International Council was created at Paris, consisting of the +Ambassadors of the four great Courts. The forms of a coalition +were, for the first time, preserved after the conclusion of +peace. Communications were addressed to the Government of Louis +XVIII., in the name of all the Powers together. The Council of +Ambassadors met at regular intervals, and not only transacted +business relating to the army of occupation and the payment of +indemnities, but discussed the domestic policy of the French +Government, and the situation of parties or the signs of +political opinion in the Assembly and the nation.</p> +<p>[Action of the Powers outside France.]</p> +<p>In thus watching over the restored Bourbon monarchy, the +Courts of Europe were doing no more than they had bound +themselves to do by treaty. Paris, however, was not the only +field for a busy diplomacy. In most of the minor capitals of +Europe each of the Great Powers had its own supposed interests to +pursue, or its own principles of government to inculcate. An age +of transition seemed to have begun. Constitutions had been +promised in many States, and created in some; in Spain and in +Sicily they had reached the third stage, that of suppression. It +was not likely that the statesmen who had succeeded to Napoleon's +power in Europe should hold themselves entirely aloof from the +affairs of their weaker neighbours, least of all when a +neighbouring agitation might endanger themselves. In one respect +the intentions of the British, the Austrian, and the Russian +Governments were identical, and continued to be so, namely, in +the determination to countenance no revolutionary movement. +Revolution, owing to the experience of 1793, had come to be +regarded as synonymous with aggressive warfare. Jacobins, +anarchists, disturbers of the public peace, were only different +names for one and the same class of international criminals, who +were indeed indigenous to France, but might equally endanger the +peace of mankind in other countries. Against these fomenters of +mischief all the Courts were at one.</p> +<p>[Alexander.]</p> +<p>Here, however, agreement ceased. It was admitted that between +revolutionary disturbance and the enjoyment of constitutional +liberty a wide interval existed, and the statesmen of the leading +Powers held by no means the same views as to the true relation +between nations and their rulers. The most liberal in theory +among the Sovereigns of 1815 was the Emperor Alexander. Already, +in the summer of 1815, he had declared the Duchy of Warsaw to be +restored to independence and nationality, under the title of the +Kingdom of Poland; and before the end of the year he had granted +it a Constitution, which created certain representative +assemblies, and provided the new kingdom with an army and an +administration of its own, into which no person not a Pole could +enter. The promised introduction of Parliamentary life into +Poland was but the first of a series of reforms dimly planned by +Alexander, which was to culminate in the bestowal of a +Constitution upon Russia itself, and the emancipation of the +serf. <a name="FNanchor251"> </a><a href="#Footnote_251"><sup>[251]</sup></a> Animated by hopes like these +for his own people, hopes which, while they lasted, were not +merely sincere but ardent, Alexander was also friendly to the +cause of constitutional government in other countries. Ambition +mingled with disinterested impulses in the foreign policy of the +Czar. It was impossible that Alexander should forget the league +into which England and Austria had so lately entered against him. +He was anxious to keep France on his side; he was not inclined to +forego the satisfaction of weakening Austria by supporting +national hopes in Italy; <a name="FNanchor252"> </a><a href="#Footnote_252"><sup>[252]</sup></a> and he hoped to create some +counterpoise to England's maritime power by allying Russia with a +strengthened and better-administered Spain. Agents of the Czar +abounded in Italy and in Germany, but in no capital was the +Ambassador of Russia more active than in Madrid. General +Tatistcheff, who was appointed to this post in 1814, became the +terror of all his colleagues and of the Cabinet of London from +his extraordinary activity in intrigue; but in relation to the +internal affairs of Spain his influence was beneficial; and it +was frequently directed towards the support of reforming +Ministers, whom King Ferdinand, if free from foreign pressure, +would speedily have sacrificed to the pleasure of his favourites +and confessors.</p> +<p>[Metternich.]</p> +<p>[Metternich's policy in Germany.]</p> +<p>[In Italy.]</p> +<p>In the eyes of Prince Metternich, the all-powerful Minister of +Austria, Alexander was little better than a Jacobin. The Austrian +State, though its frontiers had been five times changed since +1792, had continued in a remarkable degree free from the impulse +to internal change. The Emperor Francis was the personification +of resistance to progress; the Minister owed his unrivalled +position not more to his own skilful statesmanship in the great +crisis of 1813 than to a genuine accord with the feelings of his +master. If Francis was not a man of intellect, Metternich was +certainly a man of character; and for a considerable period they +succeeded in impressing the stamp of their own strongly-marked +Austrian policy upon Europe. The force of their influence sprang +from no remote source; it was due mainly to a steady intolerance +of all principles not their own. Metternich described his system +with equal simplicity and precision as an attempt neither to +innovate nor to go back to the past, but to keep things as they +were. In the old Austrian dominions this was not difficult to do, +for things had no tendency to move and remained fixed of +themselves; <a name="FNanchor253"> </a><a href="#Footnote_253"><sup>[253]</sup></a> but on the outside, both on +the north and on the south, ideas were at work which, according +to Metternich, ought never to have entered the world, but, having +unfortunately gained admittance, made it the task of Governments +to resist their influence by all available means. Stein and the +leaders of the Prussian War of Liberation had agitated Germany +with hopes of national unity, of Parliaments, and of the +impulsion of the executive powers of State by public opinion. +Against these northern innovators, Metternich had already won an +important victory in the formation of the Federal Constitution. +The weakness and timidity of the King of Prussia made it probable +that, although he was now promising his subjects a Constitution, +he might at no distant date be led to unite with other German +Governments in a system of repression, and in placing Liberalism +under the ban of the Diet. In Italy, according to the +conservative statesman, the same dangers existed and the same +remedies were required. Austria, through the acquisition of +Venice, now possessed four times as large a territory beyond the +Alps as it had possessed before 1792; but the population was no +longer the quiescent and contented folk that it had been in the +days of Maria Theresa. Napoleon's kingdom and army of Italy had +taught the people warfare, and given them political aims and a +more masculine spirit. Metternich's own generals had promised the +Italians independence when they entered the country in 1814; +Murat's raid a year later had actually been undertaken in the +name of Italian unity. These were disagreeable incidents, and +signs were not wanting of the existence of a revolutionary spirit +in the Italian provinces of Austria, especially among the +officers who had served under Napoleon. Metternich was perfectly +clear as to the duties of his Government. The Italians might have +a Viceroy to keep Court at Milan, a body of native officials to +conduct their minor affairs, and a mock Congregation or Council, +without any rights, powers, or functions whatever; if this did +not satisfy them, they were a rebellious people, and government +must be conducted by means of spies, police, and the dungeons of +the <a name="FNanchor254">Spielberg.</a><a href="#Footnote_254"><sup>[254]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Scheme of an Austrian Protectorate over Italy.]</p> +<p>On this system, backed by great military force, there was +nothing to fear from the malcontents of Lombardy and Venice: it +remained for Metternich to extend the same security to the rest +of the peninsula, and by a series of treaties to effect the +double end of exterminating constitutional government and of +establishing an Austrian Protectorate over the entire country, +from the Alps to the Sicilian Straits. The design was so +ambitious that Metternich had not dared to disclose it at the +Congress of Vienna; it was in fact a direct violation of the +Treaty of Paris, and of the resolution of the Congress, that +Italy, outside the possessions of Austria, should consist of +independent States. The first Sovereign over whom the net was +cast was Ferdinand of Naples. On the 15th of June, 1815, +immediately after the overthrow of Murat, King Ferdinand signed a +Treaty of Alliance with Austria, which contained a secret clause, +pledging the King to introduce no change into his recovered +kingdom inconsistent with its own old monarchical principles, or +with the principles which had been adopted by the Emperor of +Austria for the government of his Italian provinces. <a name="FNanchor255"> </a><a href="#Footnote_255"><sup>[255]</sup></a> +Ferdinand, two years before, had been compelled by Great Britain +to grant Sicily a Constitution, and was at this very moment +promising one to Naples. The Sicilian Constitution was now +tacitly condemned; the Neapolitans were duped. By a further +secret clause, the two contracting Sovereigns undertook to +communicate to one another everything that should come to their +knowledge affecting the security and tranquillity of the Italian +peninsula; in other words, the spies and the police of Ferdinand +were now added to Metternich's staff in Lombardy. Tuscany, +Modena, and Parma entered into much the same condition of +vassalage; but the scheme for a universal federation of Italy +under Austria's leadership failed through the resistance of +Piedmont and of the Pope. Pius VII. resented the attempts of +Austria, begun in 1797 and repeated at the Congress of Vienna, to +deprive the Holy See of Bologna and Ravenna. The King of +Sardinia, though pressed by England to accept Metternich's offer +of alliance, maintained with great decision the independence of +his country, and found in the support of the Czar a more potent +argument than any that he could have drawn from treaties. <a +name="FNanchor256"> </a><a href="#Footnote_256"><sup>[256]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Spirit of England's foreign policy.]</p> +<p>The part played by the British Government at this epoch has +been severely judged not only by the later opinion of England +itself, but by the historical writers of almost every nation in +Europe. It is perhaps fortunate for the fame of Pitt that he did +not live to witness the accomplishment of the work in which he +had laboured for thirteen years. The glory of a just and +courageous struggle against Napoleon's tyranny remains with Pitt; +the opprobrium of a settlement hostile to liberty has fallen on +his successors. Yet there is no good ground for believing that +Pitt would have attached a higher value to the rights or +inclinations of individual communities than his successors did in +re-adjusting the balance of power; on the contrary, he himself +first proposed to destroy the Republic of Genoa, and to place +Catholic Belgium under the Protestant Crown of Holland; nor was +any principle dearer to him than that of aggrandising the House +of Austria as a counterpoise to the power of France. <a name="FNanchor257"> </a><a href="#Footnote_257"><sup>[257]</sup></a> +The Ministry of 1815 was indeed but too faithfully walking in the +path into which Pitt had been driven by the King and the nation +in 1793. Resistance to France had become the one absorbing care, +the beginning and end of English statesmanship. Government at +home had sunk to a narrow and unfeeling opposition to the +attempts made from time to time to humanise the mass of the +people, to reform an atrocious criminal law, to mitigate the +civil wrongs inflicted in the name and the interest of a +State-religion. No one in the Cabinet doubted that authority, as +such, must be wiser than inexperienced popular desire, least of +all the statesman who now, in conjunction with the Duke of +Wellington, controlled the policy of Great Britain upon the +Continent. Lord Castlereagh had no sympathy with cruelty or +oppression in Continental rulers; he had just as little belief in +the value of free institutions to their subjects. <a name="FNanchor258"> </a><a href="#Footnote_258"><sup>[258]</sup></a> +The nature of his influence, which has been drawn sometimes in +too dark colours, may be fairly gathered from the course of +action which he followed in regard to Sicily and to Spain.</p> +<p>[In Sicily.]</p> +<p>In Sicily the representative of Great Britain, Lord William +Bentinck, had forced King Ferdinand, who could not have +maintained himself for an hour without the arms and money of +England, to establish in 1813 a Parliament framed on the model of +our own. The Parliament had not proved a wise or a capable body, +but its faults were certainly not equal to those of King +Ferdinand, and its re-construction under England's auspices would +have been an affair of no great difficulty. Ferdinand, however, +had always detested free institutions, and as soon as he regained +the throne of Naples he determined to have done with the Sicilian +Parliament. A correspondence on the intended change took place +between Lord Castlereagh and A'Court, the Ambassador who had now +succeeded Lord William Bentinck. <a name="FNanchor259"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_259"><sup>[259]</sup></a> That the British +Government, which had protected the Sicilian Crown against +Napoleon at the height of his power, could have protected the +Sicilian Constitution against King Ferdinand's edicts without +detaching a single man-of-war's boat, is not open to doubt. +Castlereagh, however, who for years past had been paying, +stimulating, or rebuking every Government in Europe, and who had +actually sent the British fleet to make the Norwegians submit to +Bernadotte, now suddenly adopted the principle of +non-intervention, and declared that, so long as Ferdinand did not +persecute the Sicilians who at the invitation of England had +taken part in political life, or reduce the privileges of Sicily +below those which had existed prior to 1813, Great Britain would +not interfere with his action. These stipulations were inserted +in order to satisfy the House of Commons, and to avert the charge +that England had not only abandoned the Sicilian Constitution, +but consented to a change which left the Sicilians in a worse +condition than if England had never intervened in their affairs. +Lord Castlereagh shut his eyes to the confession involved, that +he was leaving the Sicilians to a ruler who, but for such +restraint, might be expected to destroy every vestige of public +right, and to take the same bloody and unscrupulous revenge upon +his subjects which he had taken when Nelson restored him to power +in 1799.</p> +<p>[Action of England in Spain.]</p> +<p>The action of the British Government in Spain showed an equal +readiness to commit the future to the wisdom of Courts. Lord +Castlereagh was made acquainted with the Spanish Ferdinand's +design of abolishing the Constitution on his return in the year +1814. "So far," he replied, "as the mere existence of the +Constitution is at stake, it is impossible to believe that any +change tranquilly effected can well be worse." <a name="FNanchor260"> </a><a href="#Footnote_260"><sup>[260]</sup></a> In +this case the interposition of England would perhaps not have +availed against a reactionary clergy and nation: Castlereagh, +was, moreover, deceived by Ferdinand's professions that he had no +desire to restore absolute government. He credited the King with +the same kind of moderation which had led Louis XVIII. to accept +the Charta in France, and looked forward to the maintenance of a +constitutional régime, though under conditions more +favourable to the executive power and to the influence of the +great landed proprietors and <a name="FNanchor261">clergy.</a><a +href="#Footnote_261"><sup>[261]</sup></a> Events soon proved what +value was to be attached to the word of the King; the flood of +reaction and vengeance broke over the country; and from this time +the British Government, half confessing and half excusing +Ferdinand's misdeeds, exerted itself to check the outrages of +despotism, and to mitigate the lot of those who were now its +victims. In the interest of the restored monarchies themselves, +as much as from a regard to the public opinion of Great Britain, +the Ambassadors of England urged moderation upon all the Bourbon +Courts. This, however, was also done by Metternich, who neither +took pleasure in cruelty, nor desired to see new revolutions +produced by the extravagances of priests and emigrants. It was +not altogether without cause that the belief arose that there was +little to choose, in reference to the constitutional liberties of +other States, between the sentiments of Austria and those of the +Ministers of free England. A difference, however, did exist. +Metternich actually prohibited the Sovereigns over whom his +influence extended from granting their subjects liberty: England, +believing the Sovereigns to be more liberal than they were, did +not interfere to preserve constitutions from destruction.</p> +<p>[Outrages of the Royalists in the south of France, +June-August.]</p> +<p>Such was the general character of the influence now exercised +by the three leading Powers of Europe. Prussia, which had neither +a fleet like England, an Italian connection like Austria, nor an +ambitious Sovereign like Russia, concerned itself little with +distant States, and limited its direct action to the affairs of +France, in which it possessed a substantial interest, inasmuch as +the indemnities due from Louis XVIII. had yet to be paid. The +possibility of recovering these sums depended upon the +maintenance of peace and order in France; and from the first it +was recognised by every Government in Europe that the principal +danger to peace and order arose from the conduct of the Count of +Artois and his friends, the party of reaction. The +counterrevolutionary movement began in mere riot and outrage. No +sooner had the news of the battle of Waterloo reached the south +of France than the Royalist mob of Marseilles drove the garrison +out of the town, and attacked the quarter inhabited by the +Mameluke families whom Napoleon had brought from Egypt. Thirteen +of these unfortunate persons, and about as many Bonapartist +citizens, were murdered. <a name="FNanchor262"> </a><a href="#Footnote_262"><sup>[262]</sup></a> A few weeks later Nismes was +given over to anarchy and pillage. Religious fanaticism here +stimulated the passion of political revenge. The middle class in +Nismes itself and a portion of the surrounding population were +Protestant, and had hailed Napoleon's return from Elba as a +deliverance from the ascendancy of priests, and from the +threatened revival of the persecutions which they had suffered +under the old Bourbon monarchy. The Catholics, who were much more +numerous, included the lowest class in the town, the larger +landed proprietors of the district, and above half of the +peasantry. Bands of volunteers had been formed by the Duke of +Angoulême at the beginning of the Hundred Days, in the hope +of sustaining a civil war against Napoleon. After capitulating to +the Emperor's generals, some companies had been attacked by +villagers and hunted down like wild beasts. The bands now +reassembled and entered Nismes. The garrison, after firing upon +them, were forced to give up their arms, and in this defenceless +state a considerable number of the soldiers were shot down (July +17). On the next day the leaders of the armed mob began to use +their victory. For several weeks murder and outrage, deliberately +planned and publicly announced, kept not only Nismes itself, but +a wide extent of the surrounding country in constant terror. The +Government acted slowly and feebly; the local authorities were +intimidated; and, in spite of the remonstrances of Wellington and +the Russian Ambassador, security was not restored until the +Allies took the matter into their own hands, and a detachment of +Austrian troops occupied the Department of the Gard. Other +districts in the south of France witnessed the same outbreaks of +Royalist ferocity. Avignon was disgraced by the murder of Marshal +Brune, conqueror of the Russians and English in the Dutch +campaign of 1799, an honest soldier, who after suffering +Napoleon's neglect in the time of prosperity, had undertaken the +heavy task of governing Marseilles during the Hundred Days. At +Toulouse, General Ramel, himself a Royalist, was mortally wounded +by a band of assassins, and savagely mutilated while lying +disabled and expiring.</p> +<p>[Elections of 1815.]</p> +<p>Crimes like these were the counterpart of the September +massacres of 1792; and the terrorism exercised by the Royalists +in 1815 has been compared, as a whole, with the Republican Reign +of Terror twenty-two years earlier. But the comparison does +little credit to the historical sense of those who suggested it. +The barbarities of 1815 were strictly local: shocking as they +were, they scarcely amounted in all to an average day's work of +Carrier or Fouché in 1794; and the action of the +established Government, though culpably weak, was not itself +criminal. A second and more dangerous stage of reaction began, +however, when the work of popular vengeance closed. Elections for +a new Chamber of Deputies were held at the end of August. The +Liberals and the adherents of Napoleon, paralysed by the +disasters of France and the invaders' presence, gave up all as +lost: the Ministers of Louis XVIII. abstained from the usual +electoral manoeuvres, Talleyrand through carelessness, +Fouché from a desire to see parties evenly balanced: the +ultra-Royalists alone had extended their organisation over +France, and threw themselves into the contest with the utmost +passion and energy. Numerically weak, they had the immense forces +of the local administration on their side. The Préfets had +gone over heart and soul to the cause of the Count of Artois, who +indeed represented to them that he was acting under the King's +own directions. The result was that an Assembly was elected to +which France has seen only one parallel since, namely in the +Parliament of 1871, elected when invaders again occupied the +country, and the despotism of a second Bonaparte had ended in the +same immeasurable calamity. The bulk of the candidates returned +were country gentlemen whose names had never been heard of in +public life since 1789, men who had resigned themselves to +inaction and obscurity under the Republic and the Empire, and +whose one political idea was to reverse the injuries done by the +Revolution to their caste and to their Church. They were +Royalists because a Bourbon monarchy alone could satisfy their +claims: they called themselves ultra-Royalists, but they were so +only in the sense that they required the monarchy to recognise no +ally but themselves. They had already shown before Napoleon's +return that their real chief was the Count of Artois, not the +King; in what form their ultra-Royalism would exhibit itself in +case the King should not submit to be their instrument remained +to be proved.</p> +<p>[Fall of Talleyrand and Fouché.]</p> +<p>[Richelieu's Ministry, Sept., 1815.]</p> +<p>The first result of the elections was the downfall of +Talleyrand's Liberal Ministry. The Count of Artois and the +courtiers, who had been glad enough to secure Fouché's +services while their own triumph was doubtful, now joined in the +outcry of the country gentlemen again this monster of iniquity. +Talleyrand promptly disencumbered himself of his old friend, and +prepared to meet the new Parliament as an ultra-Royalist; but in +the eyes of the victorious party Talleyrand himself, the married +priest and the reputed accomplice in the murder of the Duke of +Enghien, was little better than his regicide colleague; and +before the Assembly met he was forced to retire from power.</p> +<p>[Richelieu's Ministry, Sept. 1815.]</p> +<p>His successor, the Duc de Richelieu, was recommended to Louis +XVIII. by the Czar. Richelieu had quitted France early in the +Revolution, and, unlike most of the emigrants, had played a +distinguished part in the country which gave him refuge. Winning +his first laurels in the siege of Ismail under Suvaroff, he had +subsequently been made Governor of the Euxine provinces of +Russia, and the flourishing town of Odessa had sprung up under +his rule. His reputation as an administrator was high; his +personal character singularly noble and disinterested. Though the +English Government looked at first with apprehension upon a +Minister so closely connected with the Czar of Russia, +Richelieu's honesty and truthfulness soon gained him the respect +of every foreign Court. His relation to Alexander proved of great +service to France in lightening the burden of the army of +occupation; his equity, his acquaintance with the real ends of +monarchical government, made him, though no lover of liberty, a +valuable Minister in face of an Assembly which represented +nothing but the passions and the ideas of a reactionary class. +But Richelieu had been too long absent from France to grasp the +details of administration with a steady hand. The men, the +parties of 1815, were new to him: it is said that he was not +acquainted by sight with most of his colleagues when he appointed +them to their posts. The Ministry in consequence was not at unity +within itself. Some of its members, like Decazes, were more +liberal than their chief; others, like Clarke and Vaublanc, old +servants of Napoleon now turned ultra-Royalists, were eager to +make themselves the instruments of the Count of Artois, and to +carry into the work of government the enthusiasm of revenge which +had already found voice in the elections.</p> +<p>[Violence of the Chamber of 1815.]</p> +<p>The session opened on the 7th of October. Twenty-nine of the +peers, who had joined Napoleon during the Hundred Days, were +excluded from the House, and replaced by adherents of the +Bourbons; nevertheless the peers as a body opposed themselves to +extreme reaction, and, in spite of Chateaubriand's sanguinary +harangues, supported the moderate policy of Richelieu against the +majority of the Lower House. The first demand of the Chamber of +Deputies was for retribution upon <a name="FNanchor263">traitors;</a><a href="#Footnote_263"><sup>[263]</sup></a> their first conflict with +the Government of Louis XVIII. arose upon the measures which were +brought forward by the Ministry for the preservation of public +security and the punishment of seditious acts. The Ministers were +attacked, not because their measures were too severe, but because +they were not severe enough. While taking power to imprison all +suspected persons without trial, or to expel them from their +homes, Decazes, the Police-Minister, proposed to punish +incitements to sedition by fines and terms of imprisonment +varying according to the gravity of the offence. So mild a +penalty excited the wrath of men whose fathers and brothers had +perished on the guillotine. Some cried out for death, others for +banishment to Cayenne. When it was pointed out that the +infliction of capital punishment for the mere attempt at sedition +would place this on a level with armed rebellion, it was answered +that a distinction might be maintained by adding in the latter +case the ancient punishment of parricide, the amputation of the +hand. Extravagances like this belonged rather to the individuals +than to a party; but the vehemence of the Chamber forced the +Government to submit to a revision of its measure. Transportation +to Cayenne, but not death, was ultimately included among the +penalties for seditious acts. The Minister of Justice, M. +Barbé-Marbois, who had himself been transported to Cayenne +by the Jacobins in 1797, was able to satisfy the Chamber from his +own experience that they were not erring on the side of mercy. <a +name="FNanchor264"> </a><a href="#Footnote_264"><sup>[264]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Ney executed, Dec. 7.]</p> +<p>It was in the midst of these heated debates that Marshal Ney +was brought to trial for high treason. A so-called Edict of +Amnesty had been published by the King on the 24th of July, +containing the names of nineteen persons who were to be tried by +courts-martial on capital charges, and of thirty-eight others who +were to be either exiled or brought to justice, as the Chamber +might determine. Ney was included in the first category. +Opportunities for escape had been given to him by the Government, +as indeed they had to almost every other person on the list. King +Louis XVIII. well understood that his Government was not likely +to be permanently strengthened by the execution of some of the +most distinguished men in France; the emigrants, however, and +especially the Duchess of Angoulême, were merciless, and +the English Government acted a deplorable part. "One can never +feel that the King is secure on his throne," wrote Lord +Liverpool, "until he has dared to spill traitors' blood." It is +not that many examples would be necessary; but the daring to make +a few will alone manifest any strength in the Government. <a +name="FNanchor265"> </a><a href="#Footnote_265"><sup>[265]</sup></a> Labédoyère had +already been executed. On the 9th of November Ney was brought +before a court-martial, at which Castlereagh and his wife had the +bad taste to be present. The court-martial, headed by Ney's old +comrade Jourdan, declared itself incompetent to judge a peer of +France accused of high treason, <a name="FNanchor266"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_266"><sup>[266]</sup></a> Ney was accordingly +tried before the House of Peers. The verdict was a foregone +conclusion, and indeed the legal guilt of the Marshal could +hardly be denied. Had the men who sat in judgment upon him been a +body of Vendean peasants who had braved fire and sword for the +Bourbon cause, the sentence of death might have been pronounced +with pure, though stern lips: it remains a deep disgrace to +France that among the peers who voted not only for Ney's +condemnation but for his death, there were some who had +themselves accepted office and pay from Napoleon during the +Hundred Days. A word from Wellington would still have saved the +Marshal's life, but in interceding for Ney the Duke would have +placed himself in direct opposition to the action of his own +Government. When the Premier had dug the grave, it was not for +Wellington to rescue the prisoner. It is permissible to hope that +he, who had so vehemently reproached Blücher for his +intention to put Napoleon to death if he should fall into his +hands, would have asked clemency for Ney had he considered +himself at liberty to obey the promptings of his own nature. The +responsibility for Marshal Ney's death rests, more than upon any +other individual, upon Lord Liverpool.</p> +<p>On the 7th of December the sentence was executed. Ney was shot +at early morning in an unfrequented spot, and the Government +congratulated itself that it had escaped the dangers of a popular +demonstration and heard the last of a disagreeable business. +Never was there a greater mistake. No crime committed in the +Reign of Terror attached a deeper popular opprobrium to its +authors than the execution of Ney did to the Bourbon family. The +victim, a brave but rough half-German <a name="FNanchor267">soldier,</a><a href="#Footnote_267"><sup>[267]</sup></a> rose in popular legend +almost to the height of the Emperor himself. His heroism in the +retreat from Moscow became, and with justice, a more glorious +memory than Davoust's victory at Jena or Moreau's at Hohenlinden. +Side by side with the thought that the Bourbons had been brought +back by foreign arms, the remembrance sank deep into the heart of +the French people that this family had put to death "the bravest +of the brave." It would have been no common good fortune for +Louis XVIII. to have pardoned or visited with light punishment a +great soldier whose political feebleness had led him to an act of +treason, condoned by the nation at large. Exile would not have +made the transgressor a martyr. But the common sense of mankind +condemns Ney's execution: the public opinion of France has never +forgiven it.</p> +<p>[Amnesty Bill, Dec 8.]</p> +<p>On the day after the great example was made, Richelieu brought +forward the Amnesty Bill of the Government in the House of +Representatives. The King, while claiming full right of pardon, +desired that the Chamber should be associated with him in its +exercise, and submitted a project of law securing from +prosecution all persons not included in the list published on +July 24th. Measures of a very different character had already +been introduced under the same title into the Chamber. Though the +initiative in legislation belonged by virtue of the Charta to the +Crown, resolutions might be moved by members in the shape of +petition or address, and under this form the leaders of the +majority had drawn up schemes for the wholesale proscription of +Napoleon's adherents. It was proposed by M. la Bourdonnaye to +bring to trial all the great civil and military officers who, +during the Hundred Days, had constituted the Government of the +usurper; all generals, préfets, and commanders of +garrisons, who had obeyed Napoleon before a certain day, to be +named by the Assembly; and all voters for the death of Louis XVI. +who had recognised Napoleon by signing the Acte Additionnel. The +language in which these prosecutions were urged was the echo of +that which had justified the bloodshed of 1793; its violence was +due partly to the fancy that Napoleon's return was no sudden and +unexpected act, but the work of a set of conspirators in high +places, who were still plotting the overthrow of the <a name="FNanchor268">monarchy.</a><a href="#Footnote_268"><sup>[268]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Persecution of suspected persons over all France.]</p> +<p>It was in vain that Richelieu intervened with the expression +of the King's own wishes, and recalled the example of forgiveness +shown in the testament of Louis XVI. The committee which was +appointed to report on the projects of amnesty brought up a +scheme little different from that of La Bourdonnaye, and added to +it the iniquitous proposal that civil actions should be brought +against all condemned persons for the damages sustained by the +State through Napoleon's return. This was to make a mock of the +clause in the Charta which abolished confiscation. The report of +the committee caused the utmost dismay both in France itself and +among the representatives of foreign Powers at Paris. The +conflict between the men of reaction and the Government had +openly broken out; Richelieu's Ministry, the guarantee of peace, +seemed to be on the point of falling. On the 2nd of January, +1816, the Chamber proceeded to discuss the Bill of the Government +and the amendments of the committee. The debate lasted four days; +it was only by the repeated use of the King's own name that the +Ministers succeeded in gaining a majority of nine votes against +the two principal categories of exception appended to the amnesty +by their opponents. The proposal to restore confiscation under +the form of civil actions was rejected by a much greater +majority, but on the vote affecting the regicides the Government +was defeated. This indeed was considered of no great moment. +Richelieu, content with having averted measures which would have +exposed several hundred persons to death, exile, or pecuniary +ruin, consented to banish from France the regicides who had +acknowledged Napoleon, along with the thirty-eight persons named +in the second list of July 24th. Among other well-known men, +Carnot, who had rendered such great services to his country, went +to die in exile. Of the seventeen companions of Ney and +Labédoyère in the first list of July 24th, most had +escaped from France; one alone suffered death. <a name="FNanchor269"> </a><a href="#Footnote_269"><sup>[269]</sup></a> +But the persons originally excluded from the amnesty and the +regicides exiled by the Assembly formed but a small part of those +on whom the vengeance of the Royalists fell; for it was provided +that the amnesty-law should apply to no one against whom +proceedings had been taken before the formal promulgation of the +law. The prisons were already crowded with accused persons, who +thus remained exposed to punishment; and after the law had +actually passed the Chamber, telegraph-signals were sent over the +country by Clarke, the Minister of War, ordering the immediate +accusation of several others. One distinguished soldier at least, +General Travot, was sentenced to death on proceedings thus +instituted between the passing and the promulgation of the law of +<a name="FNanchor270">amnesty.</a><a href="#Footnote_270"><sup>[270]</sup></a> Executions, however, were +not numerous except in the south of France, but an enormous +number of persons were imprisoned or driven from their homes, +some by judgment of the law-courts, some by the exercise of the +powers conferred on the administration by the law of Public +Security. <a name="FNanchor271"> </a><a href="#Footnote_271"><sup>[271]</sup></a> The central government +indeed had less part in this species of persecution than the +Préfets and other local authorities, though within their +own departments Clarke and Vaublanc set an example which others +were not slow to follow. Royalist committees were formed all over +the country, and assumed the same kind of irregular control over +the officials of their districts as had been practised by the +Jacobin committees of 1793. Thousands of persons employed in all +grades of the public service, in schools and colleges as well as +in the civil administration, in the law-courts as well as in the +army and navy, were dismissed from their posts. The new-comers +were professed agents of the reaction; those who were permitted +to retain their offices strove to outdo their colleagues in their +renegade zeal for the new order. It was seen again, as it had +been seen under the Republic and under the Empire, that if virtue +has limits, servility has none. The same men who had hunted down +the peasant for sheltering his children from Napoleon's +conscription now hunted down those who were stigmatised as +Bonapartists. The clergy threw in their lot with the victorious +party, and denounced to the magistrates their parishioners who +treated them with disrespect. <a name="FNanchor272"> </a><a href="#Footnote_272"><sup>[272]</sup></a> Darker pages exist in French +history than the reaction of 1815, none more contemptible. It is +the deepest condemnation of the violence of the Republic and the +despotism of the Empire that the generation formed by it should +have produced the class who could exhibit, and the public who +could tolerate, the prodigies of baseness which attended the +second Bourbon restoration.</p> +<p>[The reactionists adopt Parliamentary theory.]</p> +<p>Within the Chamber of Deputies the Ultra-Royalist majority had +gained Parliamentary experience in the debates on the Amnesty +Bill and the Law of Public Security: their own policy now took a +definite shape, and to outbursts of passion there succeeded the +attempt to realise ideas. Hatred of the Revolution and all its +works was still the dominant impulse of the Assembly; but +whatever may have been the earlier desire of the Ultra-Royalist +noblesse, it was no longer their intention to restore the +political system that existed before 1789. They would in that +case have desired to restore absolute monarchy, and to surrender +the power which seemed at length to have fallen into the hands of +their own class. With Artois on the throne this might have been +possible, for Artois, though heir to the crown, was still what he +had been in his youth, the chief of a party: with Louis XVIII. +and Richelieu at the head of the State, the Ultra-Royalists +became the adversaries of royal prerogative and the champions of +the rights of Parliament. Before the Revolution the noblesse had +possessed privileges; it had not possessed political power. The +Constitution of 1814 had unexpectedly given it, under +representative forms, the influence denied to it under the old +monarchy. New political vistas opened; and the men who had +hitherto made St. Louis and Henry IV. the subject of their +declamations, now sought to extend the rights of Parliament to +the utmost, and to perpetuate in succeeding assemblies the rule +of the present majority. An electoral law favourable to the great +landed proprietors was the first necessity. This indeed was but a +means to an end; another and a greater end might be attained +directly, the restoration of a landed Church, and of the civil +and social ascendancy of the clergy.</p> +<p>[Ecclesiastical schemes of the reaction.]</p> +<p>It had been admitted by King Louis XVIII. that the clause in +the Charta relating to elections required modification, and on +this point the Ultra-Royalists in the Chamber were content to +wait for the proposals of the Government. In their ecclesiastical +policy they did not maintain the same reserve. Resolutions in +favour of the State-Church were discussed in the form of +petitions to be presented to the Crown. It was proposed to make +the clergy, as they had been before the Revolution, the sole +keepers of registers of birth and marriage; to double the annual +payment made to them by the State; to permit property of all +kinds to be acquired by the Church by gift or will; to restore +all Church lands not yet sold by the State; and, finally, to +abolish the University of France, and to place all schools and +colleges throughout the country under the control of the Bishops. +One central postulate not only passed the Chamber, but was +accepted by the Government and became law. Divorce was absolutely +abolished; and for two generations after 1816 no possible +aggravation of wrong sufficed in France to release either husband +or wife from the mockery of a marriage-tie. The power to accept +donations or legacies was granted to the clergy, subject, +however, in every case to the approval of the Crown. The +allowance made to them out of the revenues of the State was +increased by the amount of certain pensions as they should fall +in, a concession which fell very far short of the demands of the +Chamber. In all, the advantages won for the Church were scarcely +proportioned to the zeal displayed in its cause. The most +important question, the disposal of the unsold Church lands, +remained to be determined when the Chamber should enter upon the +discussion of the Budget.</p> +<p>[Electoral Bill, Dec. 18, 1815.]</p> +<p>The Electoral Bill of the Government, from which the +Ultra-Royalists expected so much, was introduced at the end of +the year 1815. It showed in a singular manner the confusion of +ideas existing within the Ministry as to the nature of the +Parliamentary liberty now supposed to belong to France. The +ex-préfet Vaublanc, to whom the framing of the measure was +entrusted, though he imagined himself purged from the traditions +of Napoleonism, could conceive of no relation between the +executive and the legislative power but that which exists between +a substance and its shadow. It never entered his mind that the +representative institutions granted by the Charta were intended +to bring an independent force to bear upon the Government, or +that the nation should be treated as more than a fringe round the +compact and lasting body of the administration. The language in +which Vaublanc introduced his measure was grotesquely candid. +Montesquieu, he said, had pointed out that powers must be +subordinate; therefore the electoral power must be controlled by +the King's Government. <a name="FNanchor273"> </a><a href="#Footnote_273"><sup>[273]</sup></a> By the side of the electors +in the Canton and the Department there was accordingly placed, in +the Ministerial scheme, an array of officials numerous enough to +carry the elections, if indeed they did not actually outnumber +the private voters. The franchise was confined to the sixty +richest persons in each Canton: these, with the officials of the +district, were to elect the voters of the Department, who, with a +similar contingent of officials, were to choose the Deputies. +Re-affirming the principle laid down in the Constitution of 1795 +and repeated in the Charta, Vaublanc proposed that a fifth part +of the Assembly should retire each year.</p> +<p>[Counter-project of Villèle.]</p> +<p>If the Minister had intended to give the Ultra-Royalists the +best possible means of exalting the peculiar policy of their +class into something like a real defence of liberty, he could not +have framed a more fitting measure. The creation of constituent +bodies out of mayors, crown-advocates, and justices of the peace, +was described, and with truth, as a mere Napoleonic juggle. The +limitation of the franchise to a fixed number of rich persons was +condemned as illiberal and contrary to the spirit of the Charta: +the system of yearly renovation by fifths, which threatened to +curtail the reign of the present majority, was attributed to the +dread of any complete expression of public opinion. It was +evident that the Bill of the Government would either be rejected +or altered in such a manner as to give it a totally different +character. In the Committee of the Chamber which undertook the +task of drawing up amendments, the influence was first felt of a +man who was soon to become the chief and guiding spirit of the +Ultra-Royalist party. M. de Villèle, spokesman of the +Committee, had in his youth been an officer in the navy of Louis +XVI. On the dethronement of the King he had quitted the service, +and settled in the Isle of Bourbon, where he gained some wealth +and an acquaintance with details of business and finance rare +among the French landed gentry. Returning to France under the +Empire, he took up his abode near Toulouse, his native place, and +was made Mayor of that city on Napoleon's second downfall. +Villèle's politics gained a strong and original colour +from his personal experience and the character of the province in +which he lived. The south was the only part of France known to +him. There the reactionary movement of 1815 had been a really +popular one, and the chief difficulty of the Government, at the +end of the Hundred Days, had been to protect the Bonapartists +from violence. Villèle believed that throughout France the +wealthier men among the peasantry were as ready to follow the +priests and nobles as they were in Provence and La Vendée. +His conception of the government of the future was the rule of a +landed aristocracy, resting, in its struggle against monarchical +centralisation and against the Liberalism of the middle class, on +the conservative and religious instincts of the peasantry. +Instead of excluding popular forces, Villèle welcomed them +as allies. He proposed to lower the franchise to one-sixth of the +sum named in the Charta, and, while retaining a system of +double-election, to give a vote in the primary assemblies to +every Frenchman paying annual taxes to the amount of fifty +francs. In constituencies so large as to include all the more +substantial peasantry, while sufficiently limited to exclude the +ill-paid populace in towns, Villèle believed that the +Church and the noblesse would on the whole control the elections. +In the interest of the present majority he rejected the system of +renovation by fifths proposed by the Government, and demanded +that the present Chamber should continue unchanged until its +dissolution, and the succeeding Chamber be elected entire.</p> +<p>[Result of debates on Electoral Bill.]</p> +<p>Villèle's scheme, if carried, would in all probability +have failed at the first trial. The districts in which the +reaction of 1815 was popular were not so large as he supposed: in +the greater part of France the peasantry would not have obeyed +the nobles except under intimidation. This was suspected by the +majority, in spite of the confident language in which they spoke +of the will of the nation as identical with their own. +Villèle's boldness alarmed them: they anticipated that +these great constituencies of peasants, if really left masters of +the elections, would be more likely to return a body of Jacobins +and Bonapartists than one of hereditary landlords. It was not +necessary, however, to sacrifice the well-sounding principle of a +low franchise, for the democratic vote at the first stage of the +elections might effectively be neutralised by putting the second +stage into the hands of the chief proprietors. The Assembly had +in fact only to imitate the example of the Government, and to +appoint a body of persons who should vote, as of right, by the +side of the electors chosen in the primary assemblies. The +Government in its own interest had designated a troop of +officials as electors: the Assembly, on the contrary, resolved +that in the Electoral College of each Department, numbering in +all about 150 persons, the fifty principal landowners of the +Department should be entitled to vote, whether they had been +nominated by the primary constituencies or not. Modified by this +proviso, the project of Villèle passed the Assembly. The +Government saw that under the disguise of a series of amendments +a measure directly antagonistic to their own had been carried. +The franchise had been altered; the real control of the elections +placed in the hands of the very party which was now in open +opposition to the King and his Ministers. No compromise was +possible between the law proposed by the Government and that +passed by the Assembly. The Government appealed to the Chamber of +Peers. The Peers threw out the amendments of the Lower House. A +provisional measure was then introduced by Richelieu for the sake +of providing France with at least some temporary rule for the +conduct of elections. It failed; and the constitutional +legislation of the country came to a dead-lock, while the +Government and the Assembly stood face to face, and it became +evident that one or the other must fall. The Ministers of the +Great Powers at Paris, who watched over the restored dynasty, +debated whether or not they should recommend the King to resort +to the extreme measure of a dissolution.</p> +<p>[Contest on the Budget.]</p> +<p>[The Chambers prorogued, April 29.]</p> +<p>The Electoral Bill was not the only object of conflict between +Richelieu's Ministry and the Chamber, nor indeed the principal +one. The Budget excited fiercer passions, and raised greater +issues. It was for no mere scheme of finance that the Government +had to fight, but against a violation of public faith which would +have left France insolvent and creditless in the face of the +Powers who still held its territory in pledge. The debt incurred +by the nation since 1813 was still unfunded. That part of it +which had been raised before the summer of 1814 had been secured +by law upon the unsold forests formerly belonging to the Church, +and upon the Communal lands which Napoleon had made the property +of the State: the remainder, which included the loans made during +the Hundred Days, had no specified security. It was now proposed +by the Government to place the whole of the unfunded debt upon +the same level, and to provide for its payment by selling the +so-called Church forests. The project excited the bitterest +opposition on the side of the Count of Artois and his friends. If +there was one object which the clerical and reactionary party +pursued with religious fervour, it was the restoration of the +Church lands: if there was one class which they had no scruple in +impoverishing, it was the class that had lent money to Napoleon. +Instead of paying the debts of the State, the Committee of the +Chamber proposed to repeal the law of September, 1814, which +pledged the Church forests, and to compel both the earlier and +the later holders of the unfunded debt to accept stock in +satisfaction of their claims, though the stock was worth less +than two-thirds of its nominal value. The resolution was in fact +one for the repudiation of a third part of the unfunded debt. +Richelieu, seeing in what fashion his measure was about to be +transformed, determined upon withdrawing it altogether: the +majority in the Chamber, intent on executing its own policy and +that of the Count of Artois, refused to recognise the withdrawal. +Such a step was at once an insult and a usurpation of power. So +great was the scandal and alarm caused by the scenes in the +Chamber, that the Duke of Wellington, at the instance of the +Ambassadors, presented a note to King Louis XVIII. requiring him +in plain terms to put a stop to the machinations of his brother. +<a name="FNanchor274"> </a><a href="#Footnote_274"><sup>[274]</sup></a> The interference of the +foreigner provoked the Ultra-Royalists, and failed to excite +energetic action on the part of King Louis, who dreaded the sour +countenance of the Duchess of Angoulême more than he did +Wellington's reproofs. In the end the question of a settlement of +the unfunded debt was allowed to remain open. The Government was +unable to carry the sale of the Church forests, the Chamber did +not succeed in its project of confiscation. The Budget for the +year, greatly altered in the interest of the landed proprietors, +was at length brought into shape. A resolution of the Lower House +restoring the unsold forests to the Church was ignored by the +Crown; and the Government, having obtained the means of carrying +on the public services, gladly abstained from further +legislation, and on the 29th of April ended the turmoil which +surrounded it by proroguing the Chambers.</p> +<p>[Rising at Grenoble, May 6th. Executions.]</p> +<p>It was hoped that with the close of the Session the system of +imprisonment and surveillance which prevailed in the Departments +would be brought to an end. Vaublanc, the Minister of coercion, +was removed from office. But the troubles of France were not yet +over. On the 6th of May, a rising of peasants took place at +Grenoble. According to the report of General Donnadieu, commander +of the garrison, which brought the news to the Government, the +revolt had only been put down after the most desperate fighting. +"The corpses of the King's enemies," said the General in his +despatch, "cover all the roads for a league round Grenoble." <a +name="FNanchor275"> </a><a href="#Footnote_275"><sup>[275]</sup></a> It was soon known that +twenty-four prisoners had been condemned to death by +court-martial, and sixteen of these actually executed: the +court-martial recommended the other eight to the clemency of the +Government. But the despatches of Donnadieu had thrown the +Cabinet into a panic. Decazes, the most liberal of the Ministers, +himself signed the hasty order requiring the remaining prisoners +to be put to death. They perished; and when it was too late the +Government learnt that Donnadieu's narrative was a mass of the +grossest exaggerations, and that the affair which he had +represented as an insurrection of the whole Department was +conducted by about 300 peasants, half of whom were unarmed. The +violence and illegality with which the General proceeded to +establish a régime of military law soon brought him into +collision with the Government. He became the hero of the +Ultra-Royalists; but the Ministry, which was unwilling to make a +public confession that it had needlessly put eight persons to +death, had to bear the odium of an act of cruelty for which +Donnadieu was really responsible. The part into which Decazes had +been entrapped probably strengthened the determination of this +Minister, who was now gaining great influence over the King, to +strike with energy against the Ultra-Royalist faction. From this +time he steadily led the King towards the only measure which +could free the country from the rule of the Count of Artois and +the reactionists-the dissolution of Parliament.</p> +<p>[Decazes.]</p> +<p>[Dissolution of the Chamber, Sept. 5, 1816.]</p> +<p>Louis XVIII. depended much on the society of some personal +favourite. Decazes was young and an agreeable companion; his +business as Police-Minister gave him the opportunity of amusing +the King with anecdotes and gossip much more congenial to the old +man's taste than discussions on finance or constitutional law. +Louis came to regard Decazes almost as a son, and gratified his +own studious inclination by teaching him English. The Minister's +enemies said that he won the King's heart by taking private +lessons from some obscure Briton, and attributing his +extraordinary progress to the skill of his royal master. But +Decazes had a more effective retort than witticism. He opened the +letters of the Ultra-Royalists and laid them before the King. +Louis found that these loyal subjects jested upon his +infirmities, called him a dupe in the hands of Jacobins, and +grumbled at him for so long delaying the happy hour when Artois +should ascend the throne. Humorous as Louis was, he was not +altogether pleased to read that he "ought either to open his eyes +or to close them for ever." At the same time the reports of +Decazes' local agents proved that the Ultra-Royalist party were +in reality weak in numbers and unpopular throughout the greater +part of the country. The project of a dissolution was laid before +the Ministers and some of the King's confidants. Though the +Ambassadors were not consulted on the measure, it was certain +that they would not resist it. No word of the Ministerial plot +reached the rival camp of Artois. The King gained courage, and on +the 5th of September signed the Ordonnance which appealed from +the Parliament to the nation, and, to the anger and consternation +of the Ultra-Royalists, made an end of the intractable Chamber a +few weeks before the time which had been fixed for its +re-assembling.</p> +<p>[Electoral law, 1817.]</p> +<p>France was well rid of a body of men who had been elected at a +moment of despair, and who would either have prolonged the +occupation of the country by foreign armies, or have plunged the +nation into civil war. The elections which followed were +favourable to the Government. The questions fruitlessly agitated +in the Assembly of 1815 were settled to the satisfaction of the +public in the new Parliament. An electoral law was passed, which, +while it retained the high franchise fixed by the Charta, and the +rule of renewing the Chamber by fifths, gave life and value to +the representative system by making the elections direct. Though +the constituent body of all France scarcely numbered under this +arrangement a hundred thousand persons, it was extensive enough +to contain a majority hostile to the reactionary policy of the +Church and the noblesse. The men who had made wealth by banking, +commerce, or manufactures, the so-called higher bourgeoisie, +greatly exceeded in number the larger landed proprietors; and +although they were not usually democratic in their opinions, they +were liberal, and keenly attached to the modern as against the +old institutions of France, inasmuch as their industrial +interests and their own personal importance depended upon the +maintenance of the victory won in 1789 against aristocratic +privilege and monopoly. So strong was the hostility between the +civic middle class and the landed noblesse, that the +Ultra-Royalists in the Chamber sought, as they had done in the +year before, to extend the franchise to the peasantry, in the +hope of overpowering wealth with numbers. The electoral law, +however, passed both Houses in the form in which it had been +drawn up by the Government. Though deemed narrow and oligarchical +by the next generation, it was considered, and with justice, as a +great victory won by liberalism at the time. The middle class of +Great Britain had to wait for fifteen years before it obtained +anything like the weight in the representation given to the +middle class of France by the law of 1817.</p> +<p>[Establishment of financial credit.]</p> +<p>Not many of the persons who had been imprisoned under the +provisional acts of the last year now remained in confinement. It +was considered necessary to prolong the Laws of Public Security, +and they were re-enacted, but under a much softened form. It +remained for the new Chamber to restore the financial credit of +the country by making some equitable arrangement for securing the +capital and paying the interest of the unfunded debt. Projects of +repudiation now gained no hearing. Richelieu consented to make an +annual allowance to the Church, equivalent to the rental of the +Church forests; but the forests themselves were made security for +the debt, and the power of sale was granted to the Government. +Pending such repayment of the capital, the holders of unfunded +debt received stock, calculated at its real, not at its titular, +value. The effect of this measure was at once evident. The +Government was enabled to enter into negotiations for a loan, +which promised it the means of paying the indemnities due to the +foreign Powers. On this payment depended the possibility of +withdrawing the army of occupation. Though Wellington at first +offered some resistance, thirty thousand men were removed in the +spring of 1817; and the Czar allowed Richelieu to hope that, if +no further difficulties should arise, the complete evacuation of +French territory might take place in the following year.</p> +<p>[Character of the years 1816-18.]</p> +<p>Thus the dangers with which reactionary passion had threatened +France appeared to be passing away. The partial renovation of the +Chamber which took place in the autumn of 1817 still further +strengthened the Ministry of Richelieu and weakened the +Ultra-Royalist opposition. A few more months passed, and before +the third anniversary of Waterloo, the Czar was ready to advise +the entire withdrawal of foreign armies from France. An +invitation was issued to the Powers to meet in Conference at +Aix-la-Chapelle. There was no longer any doubt that the five +years' occupation, contemplated when the second Treaty of Paris +was made, would be abandoned. The good will of Alexander, the +friendliness of his Ambassador, Pozzo di Borgo, who, as a native +of Corsica, had himself been a French subject, and who now +aspired to become Minister of France, were powerful influences in +favour of Louis XVIII. and his kingdom; much, however, of the +speedy restoration of confidence was due to the temperate rule of +Richelieu. The nation itself, far from suffering from Napoleon's +fall, regained something of the spontaneous energy so rich in +1789, so wanting at a later period. The cloud of military +disaster lifted; new mental and political life began; and under +the dynasty forced back by foreign arms France awoke to an +activity unknown to it while its chief gave laws to Europe. +Parliamentary debate offered the means of legal opposition to +those who bore no friendship to the Court: conspiracy, though it +alarmed at the moment, had become the resort only of the obscure +and the powerless. Groups of able men were gathering around +recognised leaders, or uniting in defence of a common political +creed. The Press, dumb under Napoleon except for purposes of +sycophancy, gradually became a power in the land. Even the +dishonest eloquence of Chateaubriand, enforcing the principles of +legal and constitutional liberty on behalf of a party which would +fain have used every weapon of despotism in its own interest, +proved that the leaden weight that had so long crushed thought +and expression existed no more.</p> +<p>[Prussia after 1815.]</p> +<p>[Edict promising a Constitution, May 22, 1815.]</p> +<p>But if the years between 1815 and 1819 were in France years of +hope and progress, it was not so with Europe generally. In +England they were years of almost unparalleled suffering and +discontent; in Italy the rule of Austria grew more and more +anti-national; in Prussia, though a vigorous local and financial +administration hastened the recovery of the impoverished land, +the hopes of liberty declined beneath the reviving energy of the +nobles and the resistance of the friends of absolutism. When +Stein had summoned the Prussian people to take up arms for their +Fatherland, he had believed that neither Frederick William nor +Alexander would allow Prussia to remain without free institutions +after the battle was won. The keener spirits in the War of +Liberation had scarcely distinguished between the cause of +national independence and that of internal liberty. They returned +from the battle-fields of Saxony and France, knowing that the +Prussian nation had unsparingly offered up life and wealth at the +call of patriotism, and believing that a patriot-king would +rejoice to crown his triumph by inaugurating German freedom. For +a while the hope seemed near fulfilment. On the 22nd of May, +1815, Frederick William published an ordinance, declaring that a +Representation of the People should be established. <a name="FNanchor276"> </a><a href="#Footnote_276"><sup>[276]</sup></a> +For this end the King stated that the existing Provincial Estates +should be re-organised, and new ones founded where none existed, +and that out of the Provincial Estates the Assembly of +Representatives of the country should be chosen. It was added +that a commission would be appointed, to organise under +Hardenberg's presidency the system of representation, and to draw +up a written Constitution. The right of discussing all +legislative measures affecting person or property was promised to +the Assembly. Though foreign affairs seemed to be directly +excluded from parliamentary debate, and the language of the Edict +suggested that the representative body would only have a +consultative voice, without the power either of originating or of +rejecting laws, these reservations only showed the caution +natural on the part of a Government divesting itself for the +first time of absolute power. Guarded as it was, the scheme laid +down by the King would hardly have displeased the men who had +done the most to make constitutional rule in Prussia +possible.</p> +<p>[Resistance of feudal and autocratic parties.]</p> +<p>But the promise of Frederick William was destined to remain +unfulfilled. It was no good omen for Prussia that Stein, who had +rendered such glorious services to his country and to all Europe, +was suffered to retire from public life. The old court-party at +Berlin, politicians who had been forced to make way for more +popular men, landowners who had never pardoned the liberation of +the serf, all the interests of absolutism and class-privilege +which had disappeared for a moment in the great struggle for +national existence, gradually re-asserted their influence over +the King, and undermined the authority of Hardenberg, himself +sinking into old age amid circumstances of private life that left +to old age little of its honour. To decide even in principle upon +the basis to be given to the new Prussian Constitution would have +taxed all the foresight and all the constructive skill of the +most experienced statesman; for by the side of the ancient +dominion of the Hohenzollerns there were now the Rhenish and the +Saxon Provinces, alien in spirit and of doubtful loyalty, in +addition to Polish territory and smaller German districts +acquired at intervals between 1792 and 1815. Hardenberg was right +in endeavouring to link the Constitution with something that had +come down from the past; but the decision that the General +Assembly should be formed out of the Provincial Estates was +probably an injudicious one; for these Estates, in their present +form, were mainly corporations of nobles, and the spirit which +animated them was at once the spirit of class-privilege and of an +intensely strong localism. Hardenberg had not only occasioned an +unnecessary delay by basing the representative system upon a +reform of the Provincial Estates, but had exposed himself to +sharp attacks from these very bodies, to whom nothing was more +odious than the absorption of their own dignity by a General +Assembly. It became evident that the process of forming a +Constitution would be a tedious one; and in the meantime the +opponents of the popular movement opened their attack upon the +men and the ideas whose influence in the war of Liberation +appeared to have made so great a break between the German present +and the past.</p> +<p>[Schmalz's pamphlet, 1815.]</p> +<p>The first public utterance of the reaction was a pamphlet +issued in July, 1815, by Schmalz, a jurist of some eminence, and +brother-in-law of Scharnhorst, the re-organiser of the army. +Schmalz, contradicting a statement which attributed to him a +highly honourable part in the patriotic movement of 1808, +attacked the Tugendbund, and other political associations dating +from that epoch, in language of extreme violence. In the stiff +and peremptory manner of the old Prussian bureaucracy, he denied +that popular enthusiasm had anything whatever to do with the +victory of 1813, <a name="FNanchor277"> </a><a href="#Footnote_277"><sup>[277]</sup></a> attributing the recovery of +the nation firstly to its submission to the French alliance in +1812, and secondly to the quiet sense of duty with which, when +the time came, it took up arms in obedience to the King. Then, +passing on to the present aims of the political societies, he +accused them of intending to overthrow all established +governments, and to force unity upon Germany by means of +revolution, murder, and pillage. Stein was not mentioned by name, +but the warning was given to men of eminence who encouraged +Jacobinical societies, that in such combinations the giants end +by serving the dwarfs. Schmalz's pamphlet, which was written with +a strength and terseness of style very unusual in Germany, made a +deep impression, and excited great indignation in Liberal +circles. It was answered, among other writers, by Niebuhr; and +the controversy thickened until King Frederick William, in the +interest of public tranquillity, ordered that no more should be +said on either side. It was in accordance with Prussian feeling +that the King should thus interfere to stop the quarrels of his +subjects. There would have been nothing unseemly in an act of +impartial repression. But the King made it impossible to regard +his act as of this character. Without consulting Hardenberg, he +conferred a decoration upon the author of the controversy. +Far-sighted men saw the true bearing of the act. They warned +Hardenberg that, if he passed over this slight, he would soon +have to pass over others more serious, and urged him to insist +upon the removal of the counsellors on whose advice the King had +acted. <a name="FNanchor278"> </a><a href="#Footnote_278"><sup>[278]</sup></a> But the Minister disliked +painful measures. He probably believed that no influence could +ever supplant his own with the King, and looked too lightly upon +the growth of a body of opponents, who, whether in open or in +concealed hostility to himself, were bent upon hindering the +fulfilment of the constitutional reforms which he had at +heart.</p> +<p>[The promised Constitutions delayed in Germany.]</p> +<p>In the Edict of the 22nd of May, 1815, the King had ordered +that the work of framing a Constitution should be begun in the +following September. Delays, however, arose; and when the +commission was at length appointed, its leading members were +directed to travel over the country in order to collect opinions +upon the form of representation required. Two years passed before +even this preliminary operation began. In the meantime very +little progress had been made towards the establishment of +constitutional government in Germany at large. One prince alone, +the Grand Duke of Weimar, already eminent in Europe from his +connection with Goethe and Schiller, loyally accepted the idea of +a free State, and brought representative institutions into actual +working. In Hesse, the Elector summoned the Estates, only to +dismiss them with contumely when they resisted his extortions. In +most of the minor States contests or negotiations took place +between the Sovereigns and the ancient Orders, which led to +little or no result. The Federal Diet, which ought to have +applied itself to the determination of certain principles of +public right common to all Germany, remained inactive. Though +hope had not yet fallen, a sense of discontent arose, especially +among the literary class which had shown such enthusiasm in the +War of Liberation. It was characteristic of Germany that the +demand for free government came not from a group of soldiers, as +in Spain, not from merchants and men of business, as in England, +but from professors and students, and from journalists, who were +but professors in another form. The middle class generally were +indifferent: the higher nobility, and the knights who had lost +their semi-independence in 1803, sought for the restoration of +privileges which were really incompatible with any +State-government whatever. The advocacy of constitutional rule +and of German unity was left, in default of Prussian initiative, +to the ardent spirits of the Universities and the Press, who +naturally exhibited in the treatment of political problems more +fluency than knowledge, and more zeal than discretion. Jena, in +the dominion of the Duke of Weimar, became, on account of the +freedom of printing which existed there, the centre of the new +Liberal journalism. Its University took the lead in the +Teutonising movement which had been inaugurated by Fichte twelve +years before in the days of Germany's humiliation, and which had +now received so vigorous an impulse from the victory won over the +foreigner.</p> +<p>[The Wartburg Festival, Oct., 1817.]</p> +<p>On the 18th of October, 1817, the students of Jena, with +deputations from all the Protestant Universities of Germany, held +a festival at Eisenach, to celebrate the double anniversary of +the Reformation and of the battle of Leipzig. Five hundred young +patriots, among them scholars who had been decorated for bravery +at Waterloo, bound their brows with oak-leaves, and assembled +within the venerable hall of Luther's Wartburg Castle; sang, +prayed, preached, and were preached to; dined; drank to German +liberty, the jewel of life, to Dr. Martin Luther, the man of God, +and to the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar; then descended to Eisenach, +fraternised with the Landsturm in the market-place, and attended +divine service in the parish church without mishap. In the +evening they edified the townspeople with gymnastics, which were +now the recognised symbol of German vigour, and lighted a great +bonfire on the hill opposite the castle. Throughout the official +part of the ceremony a reverential spirit prevailed; a few rash +words were, however, uttered against promise-breaking kings, and +some of the hardier spirits took advantage of the bonfire to +consign to the flames, in imitation of Luther's dealing with the +Pope's Bull, a quantity of what they deemed un-German and +illiberal writings. Among these was Schmalz's pamphlet. They also +burnt a soldier's strait-jacket, a pigtail, and a corporal's +cane, emblems of the military brutalism of past times which were +now being revived in Westphalia. <a name="FNanchor279"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_279"><sup>[279]</sup></a> Insignificant as the +whole affair was, it excited a singular alarm not only in Germany +but at foreign Courts. Richelieu wrote from Paris to inquire +whether revolution was breaking out. The King of Prussia sent +Hardenberg to Weimar to make investigations on the spot. +Metternich, who saw conspiracy and revolution everywhere and in +everything, congratulated himself that his less sagacious +neighbours were at length awakening to their danger. The first +result of the Wartburg scandal was that the Duke of Weimar had to +curtail the liberties of his subjects. Its further effects became +only too evident as time went on. It left behind it throughout +Germany the impression that there were forces of disorder at work +in the Press and in the Universities which must be crushed at all +cost by the firm hand of Government; and it deepened the anxiety +with which King Frederick William was already regarding the +promises of liberty which he had made to the Prussian people two +years before.</p> +<p>[Alexander in 1818.]</p> +<p>Twelve months passed between the Wartburg festival and the +beginning of the Conferences at Aix-la-Chapelle. In the interval +a more important person than the King of Prussia went over to the +side of reaction. Up to the summer of 1818, the Czar appeared to +have abated nothing of his zeal for constitutional government. In +the spring of that year, he summoned the Polish Diet; addressed +them in a speech so enthusiastic as to alarm not only the Court +of Vienna but all his own counsellors; and stated in the clearest +possible language his intention of extending the benefits of a +representative system to the whole Russian Empire. <a name="FNanchor280"> </a><a href="#Footnote_280"><sup>[280]</sup></a> At +the close of the brief session he thanked the Polish Deputies for +their boldness in throwing out a measure proposed by himself. +Alexander's popular rhetoric at Warsaw might perhaps be not +incompatible with a settled purpose to permit no encroachment on +authority either there or elsewhere; but the change in his tone +was so great when he appeared at Aix-la-Chapelle a few months +afterwards, that some strange and sudden cause has been thought +necessary to explain it. It is said that during the Czar's +residence at Moscow, in June, 1818, the revelation was made to +him of the existence of a mass of secret societies in the army, +whose aim was the overthrow of his own Government. Alexander's +father had died by the hands of murderers: his own temperament, +sanguine and emotional, would make the effects of such a +discovery, in the midst of all his benevolent hopes for Russia, +poignant to the last degree. It is not inconsistent either with +his character or with earlier events in his personal history that +the Czar should have yielded to a single shock of feeling, and +have changed in a moment from the liberator to the despot. But +the evidence of what passed in his mind is wanting. Hearsay, +conjecture, gossip, abound; <a name="FNanchor281"> </a><a href="#Footnote_281"><sup>[281]</sup></a> the one man who could have +told all has left no word. This only is certain, that from the +close of the year 1818, the future, hitherto bright with dreams +of peaceful progress, became in Alexander's view a battle-field +between the forces of order and anarchy. The task imposed by +Providence on himself and other kings was no longer to spread +knowledge and liberty among mankind, but to defend existing +authority, and even authority that was oppressive and +un-Christian, against the madness that was known as popular +right.</p> +<p>[Conferences of Aix-la-Chapelle, Oct., 1818.]</p> +<p>[France evacuated.]</p> +<p>[Proposed Quintuple Alliance.]</p> +<p>[Canning.]</p> +<p>At the end of September, 1818, the Sovereigns or Ministers of +the Great Powers assembled at Aix-la-Chapelle, and the +Conferences began. The first question to be decided was whether +the Allied Army might safely be withdrawn from France; the +second, in what form the concert of Europe should hereafter be +maintained. On the first question there was no disagreement: the +evacuation of France was resolved upon and promptly executed. The +second question was a more difficult one. Richelieu, on behalf of +King Louis XVIII., represented that France now stood on the same +footing as any other European Power, and proposed that the +Quadruple Alliance of 1815 should be converted into a genuine +European federation by adding France to it as a fifth member. The +plan had been communicated to the English Government, and would +probably have received its assent but for the strong opposition +raised by Canning within the Cabinet. Canning took a gloomy but a +true view of the proposed concert of the Powers. He foresaw that +it would really amount to a combination of governments against +liberty. Therefore, while recognising the existing engagements of +this country, he urged that England ought to join in no +combination except that to which it had already pledged itself, +namely, the combination made with the definite object of +resisting French disturbance. To combine with three Powers to +prevent Napoleon or the Jacobins from again becoming masters of +France was a reasonable act of policy: to combine with all the +Great Powers of Europe against nothing in particular was to place +the country on the side of governments against peoples, and to +involve England in any enterprise of repression which the Courts +might think fit to undertake. Canning's warning opened the eyes +of his colleagues to the view which was likely to be taken of +such a general alliance by Parliament and by public opinion. Lord +Castlereagh was forbidden to make this country a party to any +abstract union of Governments. In memorable words the Prime +Minister described the true grounds for the decision: "We must +recollect in the whole of this business, and ought to make our +Allies feel, that the general and European discussion of these +questions will be in the British Parliament." <a name="FNanchor282"> </a><a href="#Footnote_282"><sup>[282]</sup></a> +Fear of the rising voice of the nation, no longer forced by +military necessities to sanction every measure of its rulers, +compelled Lords Liverpool and Castlereagh to take account of +scruples which were not their own. On the same grounds, while the +Ministry agreed that Continental difficulties which might +hereafter arise ought to be settled by a friendly discussion +among the Great Powers, it declined to elevate this occasional +deliberation into a system, and to assent to the periodical +meeting of a Congress. Peace might or might not be promoted by +the frequent gatherings of Sovereigns and statesmen; but a +council so formed, if permanent in its nature, would necessarily +extinguish the independence of every minor State, and hand over +the government of all Europe to the Great Courts, if only they +could agree with one another.</p> +<p>[Declarations and Secret Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.]</p> +<p>It was the refusal of England to enter into a general league +that determined the form in which the results of the Conference +of 1818 were embodied. In the first place the Quadruple Alliance +against French revolution was renewed, and with such seriousness +that the military centres were fixed, at which, in case of any +outbreak, the troops of each of the Great Powers should assemble. +<a name="FNanchor283"> </a><a href="#Footnote_283"><sup>[283]</sup></a> This Treaty, however, was +kept secret, in order not to add to the difficulties of +Richelieu. The published documents breathed another spirit. <a +name="FNanchor284"> </a><a href="#Footnote_284"><sup>[284]</sup></a> Without announcing an actual +alliance with King Louis XVIII., the Courts, including England, +declared that through the restoration of legitimate and +constitutional monarchy France had regained its place in the +councils of Europe, and that it would hereafter co-operate in +maintaining the general peace. For this end meetings of the +sovereigns or their ministers might be necessary; such meetings +would, however, be arranged by the ordinary modes of negotiation, +nor would the affairs of any minor State be discussed by the +Great Powers, except at the direct invitation of that State, +whose representatives would then be admitted to the sittings. In +these guarded words the intention of forming a permanent and +organised Court of Control over Europe was disclaimed. A +manifesto, addressed to the world at large, declared that the +sovereigns of the five great States had no other object in their +union than the maintenance of peace on the basis of existing +treaties. They had formed no new political combinations; their +rule was the observance of international law; their object the +prosperity and moral welfare of their subjects.</p> +<p>[Repressive tone of the Conference.]</p> +<p>[Metternich and Austrian principles henceforth dominant.]</p> +<p>The earnestness with which the statesmen of 1818, while +accepting the conditions laid down by England, persevered in the +project of a joint regulation of European affairs may suggest the +question whether the plan which they had at heart would not in +truth have operated to the benefit of mankind. The answer is, +that the value of any International Council depends firstly on +the intelligence which it is likely to possess, and secondly on +the degree in which it is really representative. Experience +proved that the Congresses which followed 1818 possessed but a +limited intelligence, and that they represented nothing at all +but authority. The meeting at Aix-la-Chapelle was itself the +turning-point in the constitutional history of Europe. Though no +open declaration was made against constitutional forms, every +Sovereign and every minister who attended the Conference left it +with the resolution to draw the reins of government tighter. A +note of alarm had been sounded. Conspiracies in Belgium, an +attempt on the life of Wellington, rumours of a plot to rescue +Napoleon from St. Helena, combined with the outcry against the +German Universities and the whispered tales from Moscow in +filling the minds of statesmen with apprehensions. The change +which had taken place in Alexander himself was of the most +serious moment. Up to this time Metternich, the leader of +European Conservatism, had felt that in the Czar there were +sympathies with Liberalism and enlightenment which made the +future of Europe doubtful. <a name="FNanchor285"> </a><a href="#Footnote_285"><sup>[285]</sup></a> To check the dissolution of +existing power, to suppress all tendency to change, was the +habitual object of Austria, and the Czar was the one person who +had seemed likely to prevent the principles of Austria from +becoming the law of Europe. Elsewhere Metternich had little to +fear in the way of opposition. Hardenberg, broken in health and +ill-supported by his King, had ceased to be a power. Yielding to +the apprehensions of Frederick William, perhaps with the hope of +dispelling them at some future time, he took his place among the +alarmists of the day, and suffered the German policy of Prussia, +to which so great a future lay open a few years before, to become +the mere reflex of Austrian inaction and repression. <a name="FNanchor286"> </a><a href="#Footnote_286"><sup>[286]</sup></a> +England, so long as it was represented on the Continent by +Castlereagh and Wellington, scarcely counted for anything on the +side of liberty. The sudden change in Alexander removed the one +check that stood in Austria's way; and from this time Metternich +exercised an authority in Europe such as few statesmen have ever +possessed. His influence, overborne by that of the Czar during +1814 and 1815, struck root at the Conference of Aix-la-Chapelle, +maintained itself unimpaired during five eventful years, and sank +only when the death of Lord Castlereagh allowed the real voice of +England once more to be heard, and Canning, too late to forbid +the work of repression in Italy and in Spain, inaugurated, after +an interval of forced neutrality, that worthier concert which +established the independence of Greece.</p> +<p>[Metternich's advice to Prussia, 1818.]</p> +<p>If it is the mark of a clever statesman to know where to press +and where to give way, Metternich certainly proved himself one in +1818. Before the end of the Conference he delivered to Hardenberg +and to the King of Prussia two papers containing a complete set +of recommendations for the management of Prussian affairs. The +contents of these documents were singular enough: it is still +more singular that they form the history of what actually took +place in Prussia during the succeeding years. Starting with the +assumption that the party of revolution had found its lever in +the promise of King Frederick William to create a Representative +System, Metternich demonstrated in polite language to the very +men who had made this promise, that any central Representation +would inevitably overthrow the Prussian State; pointed out that +the King's dominions consisted of seven Provinces; and +recommended Frederick William to fulfil his promise only by +giving to each Province a Diet for the discussion of its own +local concerns. Having thus warned the King against creating a +National Parliament, like that which had thrown France into +revolution in 1789, Metternich exhibited the specific dangers of +the moment and the means of overcoming them. These dangers were +Universities, Gymnastic establishments, and the Press. "The +revolutionists," he said, "despairing of effecting their aim +themselves, have formed the settled plan of educating the next +generation for revolution. The Gymnastic establishment is a +preparatory school for University disorders. The University +seizes the youth as he leaves boyhood, and gives him a +revolutionary training. This mischief is common to all Germany, +and must be checked by joint action of the Governments. Gymnasia, +on the contrary, were invented at Berlin, and spring from Berlin. +For these, palliative measures are no longer sufficient. It has +become a duty of State for the King of Prussia to destroy the +evil. The whole institution in every shape must be closed and +uprooted." With regard to the abuse of the Press, Metternich +contented himself with saying that a difference ought to be made +between substantial books and mere pamphlets or journals; and +that the regulation of the Press throughout Germany at large +could only be effected by an agreement between Austria and +Prussia. <a name="FNanchor287"> </a><a href="#Footnote_287"><sup>[287]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Stourdza's pamphlet.]</p> +<p>With a million men under arms, the Sovereigns who had +overthrown Napoleon trembled because thirty or forty journalists +and professors pitched their rhetoric rather too high, and +because wise heads did not grow upon schoolboys' shoulders. The +Emperor Francis, whose imagination had failed to rise to the +glories of the Holy Alliance, alone seems to have had some +suspicion of the absurdity of the present alarms. <a name="FNanchor288"> </a><a href="#Footnote_288"><sup>[288]</sup></a> +The Czar distinguished himself by his zeal against the lecturers +who were turning the world upside down. As if Metternich had not +frightened the Congress enough already, the Czar distributed at +Aix-la-Chapelle a pamphlet published by one Stourdza, a +Moldavian, which described Germany as on the brink of revolution, +and enumerated half a score of mortal disorders which racked that +unfortunate country. The chief of all was the vicious system of +the Universities, which instead of duly developing the vessel of +the Christian State from the cradle of Moses, <a name="FNanchor289"> </a><a href="#Footnote_289"><sup>[289]</sup></a> +brought up young men to be despisers of law and instruments of a +licentious Press. The ingenious Moldavian, whose expressions in +some places bear a singular resemblance to those of Alexander, +while in others they are actually identical with reflections of +Metternich's not then published, went on to enlighten the German +Governments as to the best means of rescuing their subjects from +their perilous condition. Certain fiscal and administrative +changes were briefly suggested, but the main reform urged was +exactly that propounded by Metternich, the enforcement of a +better discipline and of a more rigidly-prescribed course of +study at the Universities, along with the supervision of all +journals and periodical literature.</p> +<p>[The murder of Kotzebue, March 23, 1819.]</p> +<p>Stourdza's pamphlet, in which loose reasoning was accompanied +by the coarsest invective, would have gained little attention if +it had depended on its own merits or on the reputation of its +author: it became a different matter when it was known to +represent the views of the Czar. A vehement but natural outcry +arose at the Universities against this interference of the +foreigner with German domestic affairs. National independence, it +seemed, had been won in the deadly struggle against France only +in order that internal liberty, the promised fruit of this +independence, should be sacrificed at the bidding of Russia. The +Czar himself was out of reach: the vengeance of outraged +patriotism fell upon an insignificant person who had the +misfortune to be regarded as his principal agent. A dramatic +author then famous, now forgotten, August Kotzebue, held the +office of Russian agent in Central Germany, and conducted a +newspaper whose object was to throw ridicule on the national +movement of the day, and especially on those associations of +students where German enthusiasm reached its climax. Many +circumstances embittered popular feeling against this man, and +caused him to be regarded less as a legitimate enemy than as a +traitor and an apostate. Kotzebue had himself been a student at +Jena, and at one time had turned liberal sentiments to practical +account in his plays. Literary jealousies and wounded vanity had +subsequently alienated him from his country, and made him the +willing and acrid hireling of a foreign Court. The reports which, +as Russian agent, he sent to St. Petersburg were doubtless as +offensive as the attacks on the Universities which he published +in his journal; but it was an extravagant compliment to the man +to imagine that he was the real author of the Czar's desertion +from Liberalism to reaction. This, however, was the common +belief, and it cost Kotzebue dear. A student from Erlangen, Carl +Sand, who had accompanied the standard at the Wartburg festival, +formed the silent resolve of sacrificing his own life in order to +punish the enemy of his country. Sand was a man of pure and +devout, though ill-balanced character. His earlier life marked +him as one whose whole being was absorbed by what he considered a +divine call. He thought of the Greeks who, even in their fallen +estate, had so often died to free their country from Turkish +oppression, and formed the deplorable conclusion that by +murdering a decayed dramatist he could strike some great blow +against the powers of evil. <a name="FNanchor290"> </a><a href="#Footnote_290"><sup>[290]</sup></a> He sought the unfortunate +Kotzebue in the midst of his family, stabbed him to the heart, +and then turned his weapon against himself. Recovering from his +wounds, he was condemned to death, and perished, after a year's +interval, on the scaffold, calling God to witness that he died +for Germany to be free.</p> +<p>[Action of Metternich.]</p> +<p>The effects of Sand's act were very great, and their real +nature was at once recognised. Hardenberg, the moment that he +heard of Kotzebue's death, exclaimed that a Prussian Constitution +had now become impossible. Metternich, who had thought the Czar +mad because he desired to found a peaceful alliance of Sovereigns +on religious principles, was not likely to make allowance for a +kind of piety that sent young rebels over the country on missions +of murder. The Austrian statesman was in Rome when the news of +Kotzebue's assassination reached him. He saw that the time had +come for united action throughout Germany, and, without making +any public utterance, drew up a scheme of repressive measures, +and sent out proposals for a gathering of the Ministers of all +the principal German Courts. In the summer he travelled slowly +northwards, met the King of Prussia at Teplitz, in Bohemia, and +shortly afterwards opened the intended Conference of Ministers in +the neighbouring town of Carlsbad. A number of innocent persons +had already, at his instigation, been arrested in Prussia and +other States, under circumstances deeply discreditable to +Government. Private papers were seized, and garbled extracts from +them published in official prints as proof of guilt. <a name="FNanchor291"> </a><a href="#Footnote_291"><sup>[291]</sup></a> +"By the help of God," Metternich wrote, "I hope to defeat the +German Revolution, just as I vanquished the conqueror of the +world. The revolutionists thought me far away, because I was five +hundred leagues off. They deceived themselves; I have been in the +midst of them, and now I am striking my blows." <a name="FNanchor292"> </a><a href="#Footnote_292"><sup>[292]</sup></a> +Metternich's plan was to enforce throughout Germany, by means of +legislation in the Federal Diet, the principle which he had +already privately commended to the King of Prussia. There were +two distinct objects of policy before him: the first, to prevent +the formation in any German State of an assembly representing the +whole community, like the English House of Commons or the French +Chamber of Deputies; the second, to establish a general system of +censorship over the Press and over the Universities, and to +create a central authority, vested, as the representative of the +Diet, with inquisitorial powers.</p> +<p>[The South-Western States become constitutional as Prussia +relapses.]</p> +<p>[Bavarian Constitution, May 26, 1818.]</p> +<p>The first of these objects, the prevention of general +assemblies, had been rendered more difficult by recent acts of +the Governments of Bavaria and Baden. A singular change had taken +place in the relation between Prussia and the Minor States which +had formerly constituted the Federation of the Rhine. When, at +the Congress of Vienna, Prussian statesmen had endeavoured to +limit the arbitrary rule of petty sovereigns by charging the Diet +with the protection of constitutional right over all Germany, the +Kings of Bavaria and Würtemberg had stoutly refused to part +with sovereign power. To submit to a law of liberty, as it then +seemed, was to lose their own separate existence, and to reduce +themselves to dependence upon the Jacobins of Berlin. This +apprehension governed the policy of the Minor Courts from 1813 to +1815. But since that time events had taken an unexpected turn. +Prussia, which once threatened to excite popular movement over +all Germany in its own interest, had now accepted Metternich's +guidance, and made its representative in the Diet the mouthpiece +of Austrian interest and policy. It was no longer from Berlin but +from Vienna that the separate existence of the Minor States was +threatened. The two great Courts were uniting against the +independence of their weaker neighbours. The danger of any +popular invasion of kingly rights in the name of German unity had +passed away, and the safety of the lesser sovereigns seemed now +to lie not in resisting the spirit of constitutional reform but +in appealing to it. In proportion as Prussia abandoned itself to +Metternich's direction, the Governments of the South-Western +States familiarised themselves with the idea of a popular +representation; and at the very time when the conservative +programme was being drawn up for the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, +the King of Bavaria published a Constitution. Baden followed +after a short interval, and in each of these States, although the +Legislature was divided into two Chambers, the representation +established was not merely provincial, according to Metternich's +plan, or wholly on the principle of separate Estates or Orders, +as before the Revolution, but to some extent on the type of +England and France, where the Lower Chamber, in theory, +represented the public at large. This was enough to make +Metternich condemn the new Constitutions as radically bad and +revolutionary. <a name="FNanchor293"> </a><a href="#Footnote_293"><sup>[293]</sup></a> He was, however, conscious +of the difficulty of making a direct attack upon them. This task +he reserved for a later time. His policy at present was to obtain +a declaration from the Diet which should prevent any other +Government within the League from following in the same path; +while, by means of Press-laws, supervision of the Universities, +and a central commission of inquiry, he expected to make the +position of rebellious professors and agitators so desperate that +the forces of disorder, themselves not deeply rooted in German +nature, would presently disappear.</p> +<p>[Conference of Carlsbad, Aug., 1819.]</p> +<p>The Conference of Ministers at Carlsbad, which in the memory +of the German people is justly associated with the suppression of +their liberty for an entire generation, began and ended in the +month of August, 1819. Though attended by the representatives of +eight German Governments, it did little more than register the +conclusions which Metternich had already formed. <a name="FNanchor294"> </a><a href="#Footnote_294"><sup>[294]</sup></a> +The zeal with which the envoy of Prussia supported every +repressive measure made it useless for the Ministers of the Minor +Courts to offer an open opposition. Nothing more was required +than that the Diet should formally sanction the propositions thus +privately accepted by all the leading Ministers. On the 20th of +September this sanction was given. The Diet, which had sat for +three years without framing a single useful law, ratified all +Metternich's oppressive enactments in as many hours. It was +ordered that in every State within the Federation the Government +should take measures for preventing the publication of any +journal or pamphlet except after licence given, and each +Government was declared responsible to the Federation at large +for any objectionable writing published within its own territory. +The Sovereigns were required to appoint civil commissioners at +the Universities, whose duty it should be to enforce public order +and to give a salutary direction to the teaching of the +professors. They were also required to dismiss all professors who +should overstep the bounds of their duty, and such dismissed +persons were prohibited from being employed in any other State. +It was enacted that within fifteen days of the passing of the +decree an extraordinary Commission should assemble at Mainz to +investigate the origin and extent of the secret revolutionary +societies which threatened the safety of the Federation. The +Commission was empowered to examine and, if necessary, to arrest +any subject of any German State. All law-courts and other +authorities were required to furnish it with information and with +documents, and to undertake all inquiries which the Commission +might order. The Commission, however, was not a law-court itself: +its duty was to report to the Diet, which would then create such +judicial machinery as might be necessary. <a name="FNanchor295"> </a><a href="#Footnote_295"><sup>[295]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Supplementary Act of Vienna, June, 1820.]</p> +<p>These measures were of an exceptional, and purported to be of +a temporary, character. There were, however, other articles which +Metternich intended to raise to the rank of organic laws, and to +incorporate with the Act of 1815, which formed the basis of the +German Federation. The conferences of Ministers were accordingly +resumed after a short interval, but at Vienna instead of at +Carlsbad. They lasted for several months, a stronger opposition +being now made by the Minor States than before. A second body of +federal law was at length drawn up, and accepted by the Diet on +the 8th of June, 1820. <a name="FNanchor296"> </a><a href="#Footnote_296"><sup>[296]</sup></a> The most important of its +provisions was that which related to the Constitutions admissible +within the German League. It was declared that in every State, +with the exception of the four free cities, supreme power resided +in the Sovereign and in him alone, and that no Constitution might +do more than bind the Sovereign to co-operate with the Estates in +certain definite acts of government. <a name="FNanchor297"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_297"><sup>[297]</sup></a></p> +<p>In cases where a Government either appealed for help against +rebellious subjects, or was notoriously unable to exert +authority, the Diet charged itself with the duty of maintaining +public order.</p> +<p>[The reaction in Prussia.]</p> +<p>From this time whatever liberty existed in Germany was to be +found in the Minor States, in Bavaria and Baden, and in +Würtemberg, which received a Constitution a few days before +the enrolment of the decrees of Carlsbad. In Prussia the reaction +carried everything before it. Humboldt, the best and most liberal +of the Ministers, resigned, protesting in vain against the +ignominious part which the King had determined to play. He was +followed by those of his colleagues whose principles were dearer +to them than their places. Hardenberg remained in office, a dying +man, isolated, neglected, thwarted; clinging to some last hope of +redeeming his promises to the Prussian people, yet jealous of all +who could have given him true aid; dishonouring by tenacity of +place a career associated with so much of his country's glory, +and ennobled in earlier days by so much fortitude in time of +evil. There gathered around the King a body of men who could see +in the great patriotic efforts and reforms of the last decade +nothing but an encroachment of demagogues on the rights of power. +They were willing that Prussia should receive its orders from +Metternich and serve a foreign Court in the work of repression, +rather than that it should take its place at the head of all +Germany on the condition of becoming a free and constitutional +State. <a name="FNanchor298"> </a><a href="#Footnote_298"><sup>[298]</sup></a> The stigma of disloyalty was +attached to all who had kindled popular enthusiasm in 1808 and +1812. To have served the nation was to have sinned against the +Government. Stein was protected by his great name from attack, +but not from calumny. His friend Arndt, whose songs and addresses +had so powerfully moved the heart of Germany during the War of +Liberation, was subjected to repeated legal process, and, +although unconvicted of any offence, was suspended from the +exercise of his professorship for twenty years. Other persons, +whose fault at the most was to have worked for German unity, were +brought before special tribunals, and after long trial either +refused a public acquittal or sentenced to actual imprisonment. +Free teaching, free discussion, ceased. The barrier of authority +closed every avenue of political thought. Everywhere the agent of +the State prescribed an orthodox opinion, and took note of those +who raised a dissentient voice.</p> +<p>[The Commission at Mainz.]</p> +<p>The pretext made at Carlsbad for this crusade against liberty, +which was more energetically carried out in Prussia than +elsewhere, was the existence of a conspiracy or agitation for the +overthrow of Governments and of the present constitution of the +German League. It was stated that proofs existed of the intention +to establish by force a Republic one and indivisible, like that +of France in 1793. But the very Commission which was instituted +by the Carlsbad Ministers to investigate the origin and nature of +this conspiracy disproved its existence. The Commission assembled +at Mainz, examined several hundred persons and many thousand +documents, and after two years' labour delivered a report to the +Diet. The report went back to the time of Fichte's lectures and +the formation of the Tugendbund in 1808, traced the progress of +all the students' associations and other patriotic societies from +that time to 1820; and, while exhibiting in the worst possible +light the aims and conduct of the advocates of German unity, +acknowledged that scarcely a single proof had been discovered of +treasonable practice, and that the loyalty of the mass of the +people was itself a sufficient guarantee against the impulses of +the evil-minded. <a name="FNanchor299"> </a><a href="#Footnote_299"><sup>[299]</sup></a> Such was the impression of +triviality and imposture produced at the Diet by this report, +that the representatives of several States proposed that the +Commission should forthwith be dissolved as useless and +unnecessary. This, however, could not be tolerated by Metternich +and his new disciples. The Commission was allowed to continue in +existence, and with it the regime of silence and repression. The +measures which had been accepted at Carlsbad as temporary and +provisional became more and more a part of the habitual system of +government. Prosecutions succeeded one another; letters were +opened; spies attended the lectures of professors and the +meetings of students; the newspapers were everywhere prohibited +from discussing German affairs. In a country where there were so +many printers and so many readers journalism could not altogether +expire. It was still permissible to give the news and to offer an +opinion about foreign lands: and for years to come the Germans, +like beggars regaling themselves with the scents from rich men's +kitchens, <a name="FNanchor300"> </a><a href="#Footnote_300"><sup>[300]</sup></a> followed every stage of the +political struggles that were agitating France, England, and +Spain, while they were not allowed to express a desire or to +formulate a grievance of their own.</p> +<p>[Prussian Provincial Estates, June, 1823.]</p> +<p>[Redeeming features of Prussian absolutism.]</p> +<p>In the year 1822 Hardenberg died. All hope of a fulfilment of +the promises made in Prussia in 1815 had already become extinct. +Not many months after the Minister's death, King Frederick +William established the Provincial Estates which had been +recommended to him by Metternich, and announced that the creation +of a central representative system would be postponed until such +time as the King should think fit to introduce it. This meant +that the project was finally abandoned; and Prussia in +consequence remained without a Parliament until the Revolution of +1848 was at the door. The Provincial Estates, with which the King +affected to temper absolute rule, met only once in three years. +Their function was to express an opinion upon local matters when +consulted by the Government: their enemies said that they were +aristocratic and did harm, their partizans could not pretend that +they did much good. In the bitterness of spirit with which, at a +later time, the friends of liberty denounced the betrayal of the +cause of freedom by the Prussian Court, a darker colour has +perhaps been introduced into the history of this period than +really belongs to it. The wrongs sustained by the Prussian nation +have been compared to those inflicted by the despotism of Spain. +But, however contemptible the timidity of King Frederick William, +however odious the ingratitude shown to the truest friends of +King and people, the Government of 1819 is not correctly +represented in such a parallel. To identify the thousand +varieties of wrong under the common name of oppression, is to +mistake words for things, and to miss the characteristic features +which distinguish nations from one another. The greatest evils +which a Government can inflict upon its subjects are probably +religious persecution, wasteful taxation, and the denial of +justice in the daily affairs of life. None of these were present +in Prussia during the darkest days of reaction. The hand of +oppression fell heavily on some of the best and some of the most +enlightened men; it violated interests so precious as those of +free criticism and free discussion of public affairs; but the +great mass of the action of Government was never on the side of +evil. The ordinary course of justice was still pure, the +administration conscientious and thrifty. The system of popular +education, which for the first time placed Prussia in advance of +Saxony and other German States, dates from these years of warfare +against liberty. A reactionary despotism built the schools and +framed the laws whose reproduction in free England half a century +later is justly regarded as the chief of all the liberal measures +of our day. So strong, so lasting, was that vital tradition which +made monarchy in Prussia an instrument for the execution of great +public ends.</p> +<p>[A new Liberalism grows up in Germany after 1820.]</p> +<p>[Interest in France.]</p> +<p>But the old harmony between rulers and subjects in Germany +perished in the system of coercion which Metternich established +in 1819. Patient as the Germans were, loyal as they had proved +themselves to Frederick William and to worse princes through good +and evil, the galling disappointment of noble hopes, the +silencing of the Press, the dissolution of societies,- calumnies, +expulsions, prosecutions,-embittered many an honest mind against +authority. The Commission of Mainz did not find conspirators, but +it made them. As years went by, and all the means of legitimately +working for the improvement of German public life were one after +another extinguished, men of ardent character thought of more +violent methods. Secret societies, such as Metternich had +imagined, came into actual being. <a name="FNanchor301"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_301"><sup>[301]</sup></a> And among those who +neither sank into apathy and despair nor enrolled themselves +against existing power, a new body of ideas supplanted the old +loyal belief in the regeneration of Germany by its princes. The +Parliamentary struggles of France, the revolutionary movements in +Italy and in Spain which began at this epoch, drew the +imagination away from that pictured restoration of a free +Teutonic past which had proved so barren of result, and set in +its place the idea of a modern universal or European Liberalism. +The hatred against France, especially among the younger men, +disappeared. A distinction was made between the tyrant Napoleon +and the people who were now giving to the rest of the Continent +the example of a free and animated public life, and illuminating +the age with a political literature so systematic and so +ingenious that it seemed almost like a political philosophy. The +debates in the French Assembly, the writings of French +publicists, became the school of the Germans. Paris regained in +foreign eyes something of the interest that it had possessed in +1789. Each victory or defeat of the French popular cause awoke +the joy or the sorrow of German Liberals, to whom all was blank +at home: and when at length the throne of the Bourbons fell, the +signal for deliverance seemed to have sounded in many a city +beyond the Rhine.</p> +<p>[France after 1818.]</p> +<p>[Richelieu resigns, Dec., 1818. Decazes keeps power.]</p> +<p>We have seen that in Central Europe the balance between +liberty and reaction, wavering in 1815, definitely fell to the +side of reaction at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. It remains +to trace the course of events which in France itself suspended +the peaceful progress of the nation, and threw power for some +years into the hands of a faction which belonged to the past. The +measures carried by Decazes in 1817, which gave so much +satisfaction to the French, were by no means viewed with the same +approval either at London or at Vienna. The two principal of +these were the Electoral Law, and a plan of military +reorganisation which brought back great numbers of Napoleon's old +officers and soldiers to the army. Richelieu, though responsible +as the head of the Ministry, felt very grave fears as to the +results of this legislation. He had already become anxious and +distressed when the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle met; and the +events which took place in France during his absence, as well as +the communications which passed between himself and the foreign +Ministers, convinced him that a change of internal policy was +necessary. The busy mind of Metternich had already been scheming +against French Liberalism. Alarmed at the energy shown by +Decazes, the Austrian statesman had formed the design of +reconciling Artois and the Ultra-Royalists to the King's +Government; and he now urged Richelieu, if his old opponents +could be brought to reason, to place himself at the head of a +coalition of all the conservative elements in the State. <a name="FNanchor302"> </a><a href="#Footnote_302"><sup>[302]</sup></a> +While the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle was sitting, the partial +elections for the year 1818, the second under the new Electoral +Law, took place. Among the deputies returned there were some who +passed for determined enemies of the Bourbon restoration, +especially Lafayette, whose name was so closely associated with +the humiliations of the Court in 1789. Richelieu received the +news with dismay, and on his return to Paris took steps which +ended in the dismissal of Decazes, and the offer of a seat in the +Cabinet to Villèle, the Ultra-Royalist leader. But the +attempted combination failed. Richelieu accordingly withdrew from +office; and a new Ministry was formed, of which Decazes, who had +proved himself more powerful than his assailants, was the real +though not the nominal chief.</p> +<p>[Election of Grégoire, Sept., 1819.]</p> +<p>The victory of the young and popular statesman was seen with +extreme displeasure by all the foreign Courts, nor was his +success an enduring one. For awhile the current of Liberal +opinion in France and the favour of King Louis XVIII. enabled +Decazes to hold his own against the combinations of his opponents +and the ill-will of all the most powerful men in Europe. An +attack made on the Electoral Law by the Upper House was defeated +by the creation of sixty new Peers, among whom there were several +who had been expelled in 1815. But the forces of Liberalism soon +passed beyond the Minister's own control, and his steady +dependence upon Louis XVIII. now raised against him as resolute +an opposition among the enemies of the House of Bourbon as among +the Ultra-Royalists. In the elections of 1819 the candidates of +the Ministry were beaten by men of more pronounced opinions. +Among the new members there was one whose victory caused great +astonishment and alarm. The ex-bishop Grégoire, one of the +authors of the destruction of the old French Church in 1790, and +mover of the resolution which established the Republic in 1792, +was brought forward from his retirement and elected Deputy by the +town of Grenoble. To understand the panic caused by this election +we must recall, not the events of the Revolution, but the legends +of them which were current in 1819. The history of +Grégoire by no means justifies the outcry which was raised +against him; his real actions, however, formed the smallest part +of the things that were alleged or believed by his enemies. It +was said he had applauded the execution of King Louis XVI., when +he had in fact protested against it: <a name="FNanchor303"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_303"><sup>[303]</sup></a> his courageous +adherence to the character of a Christian priest throughout the +worst days of the Convention, his labours in organising the +Constitutional Church when the choice lay between that and +national atheism, were nothing, or worse than nothing, in the +eyes of men who felt themselves to be the despoiled heirs of that +rich and aristocratic landed society, called the Feudal Church, +which Grégoire had been so active in breaking up. +Unluckily for himself, Grégoire, though humane in action, +had not abstained from the rhodomontades against kings in general +which were the fashion in 1793. Louis XVIII., forgetting that he +had himself lately made the regicide Fouché a Minister, +interpreted Grégoire's election by the people of Grenoble, +to which the Ultra-Royalists had cunningly contributed, as a +threat against the Bourbon family. He showed the displeasure +usual with him when any slight was offered to his personal +dignity, and drew nearer to his brother Artois and the +Ultra-Royalists, whom he had hitherto shunned as his favourite +Minister's worst enemies. Decazes, true to his character as the +King's friend, now confessed that he had gone too far in the +legislation of 1817, and that the Electoral Law, under which such +a monster as Grégoire could gain a seat, required to be +altered. A project of law was sketched, designed to restore the +preponderance in the constituencies to the landed aristocracy. +Grégoire's election was itself invalidated; and the +Ministers who refused to follow Decazes in his new policy of +compromise were dismissed from their posts.</p> +<p>[Murder of the Duke of Berry, Feb. 13, 1820.]</p> +<p>[Reaction sets in.]</p> +<p>[Fall of Decazes. Richelieu Minister, Feb., 1820.]</p> +<p>A few months more passed, and an event occurred which might +have driven a stronger Government than that of Louis XVIII. into +excesses of reaction. The heirs to the Crown next in succession +to the Count of Artois were his two sons, the Dukes of +Angoulême and Berry. Angoulême was childless; the +Duke of Berry was the sole hope of the elder Bourbon line, which, +if he should die without a son, would, as a reigning house, +become extinct, the Crown of France not descending to a female. +<a name="FNanchor304"> </a><a href="#Footnote_304"><sup>[304]</sup></a> The circumstance which made +Berry's life so dear to Royalists made his destruction the +all-absorbing purpose of an obscure fanatic, who abhorred the +Bourbon family as the lasting symbol of the foreigner's victory +over France. Louvel, a working man, had followed Napoleon to +exile in Elba. After returning to his country he had dogged the +footsteps of the Bourbon princes for years together, waiting for +the chance of murder. On the night of the 13th of February, 1820, +he seized the Duke of Berry as he was leaving the Opera House, +and plunged a knife into his breast. The Duke lingered for some +hours, and expired early the next morning in the presence of King +Louis XVIII., the Princes, and all the Ministers. Terrible as the +act was, it was the act of a single resolute mind: no human being +had known of Louvel's intention. But it was impossible that +political passion should await the quiet investigation of a +law-court. No murder ever produced a stronger outburst of +indignation among the governing classes, or was more skilfully +turned to the advantage of party. The Liberals felt that their +cause was lost. While fanatical Ultra-Royalists, abandoning +themselves to a credulity worthy of the Reign of Terror, accused +Decazes himself of complicity with the assassin, their leaders +fixed upon the policy which was to be imposed on the King. It was +in vain that Decazes brought forward his reactionary Electoral +Law, and proposed to invest the officers of State with arbitrary +powers of arrest and to re-establish the censorship of the Press. +The Count of Artois insisted upon the dismissal of the Minister, +as the only consolation which could be given to him for the +murder of his son The King yielded; and, as an Ultra-Royalist +administration was not yet possible, Richelieu unwillingly +returned to office, assured by Artois that his friends had no +other desire than to support his own firm and temperate rule.</p> +<p>[Progress of the reaction in France.]</p> +<p>[Ultra-Royalist Ministry, Dec., 1821.]</p> +<p>[The Congregation.]</p> +<p>Returning to power under such circumstances, Richelieu became, +in spite of himself, the Minister of reaction. The Press was +fettered, the legal safeguards of personal liberty were +suspended, the electoral system was transformed by a measure +which gave a double vote to men of large property. So violent +were the passions which this retrograde march of Government +excited, that for a moment Paris seemed to be on the verge of +revolution. Tumultuous scenes occurred in the streets; but the +troops, on whom everything depended, obeyed the orders given to +them, and the danger passed away. The first elections under the +new system reduced the Liberal party to impotence, and brought +back to the Chamber a number of men who had sat in the +reactionary Parliament of 1816. Villèle and other +Ultra-Royalists were invited to join Richelieu's Cabinet. For +awhile it seemed as if the passions of Church and aristocracy +might submit to the curb of a practical statesmanship, friendly, +if not devoted, to their own interests. But restraint was soon +cast aside. The Count of Artois saw the road to power open, and +broke his promise of supporting the Minister who had taken office +at his request. Censured and thwarted in the Chamber of Deputies, +Richelieu confessed that he had undertaken a hopeless task, and +bade farewell to public life. King Louis, now nearing the grave, +could struggle no longer against the brother who was waiting to +ascend his throne. The next Ministry was nominated not by the +King but by Artois. Around Villèle, the real head of the +Cabinet, there was placed a body of men who represented not the +new France, or even that small portion of it which was called to +exercise the active rights of citizenship, but the social +principles of a past age, and that Catholic or Ultramontane +revival which was now freshening the surface but not stirring the +depths of the great mass of French religious indifference. A +religious society known as the Congregation, which had struck its +first roots under the storm of Republican persecution, and grown +up during the Empire, a solitary yet unobserved rallying-place +for Catholic opponents of Napoleon's despotism, now expanded into +a great organism of government. The highest in blood and in +office sought membership in it: its patronage raised ambitious +men to the stations they desired, its hostility made itself felt +against the small as well as against the great. The spirit which +now gained the ascendancy in French government was clerical even +more than it was aristocratic. It was monarchical too, but rather +from dislike to the secularist tone of Liberalism and from trust +in the orthodoxy of the Count of Artois than from any fixed +belief in absolutist principles. There might be good reason to +oppose King Louis XVIII.; but what priest, what noble, could +doubt the divine right of a prince who was ready to compensate +the impoverished emigrants out of the public funds, and to commit +the whole system of public education to the hands of the +clergy?</p> +<p>[Bourbon rule before and after 1821.]</p> +<p>In the middle class of France, which from this time began to +feel itself in opposition to the Bourbon Government, there had +been no moral change corresponding to that which made so great a +difference between the governing authority of 1819 and that of +1822. Public opinion, though strongly affected, was not converted +into something permanently unlike itself by the murder of the +Duke of Berry. The courtiers, the devotees, the great ladies, who +had laid a bold hand upon power, had not the nation on their +side, although for a while the nation bore their sway +submissively. But the fate of the Bourbon monarchy was in fact +decided when Artois and his confidants became its +representatives. France might have forgotten that the Bourbons +owed their throne to foreign victories; it could not be governed +in perpetuity by what was called the <i>Parti Prêtre</i>. +Twenty years taken from the burden of age borne by Louis XVIII., +twenty years of power given to Decazes, might have prolonged the +rule of the restored family perhaps for some generations. If +military pride found small satisfaction in the contrast between +the Napoleonic age and that which immediately succeeded it, there +were enough parents who valued the blood of their children, there +were enough speakers and writers who valued the liberty of +discussion, enough capitalists who valued quiet times, for the +new order to be recognised as no unhopeful one. France has indeed +seldom had a better government than it possessed between 1816 and +1820, nor could an equal period be readily named during which the +French nation, as a whole, enjoyed greater happiness.</p> +<p>[General causes of the victory of reaction in Europe.]</p> +<p>Political reaction had reached its full tide in Europe +generally about five years after the end of the great war. The +phenomena were by no means the same in all countries, nor were +the accidents of personal influence without a large share in the +determination of events: yet, underlying all differences, we may +trace the operation of certain great causes which were not +limited by the boundaries of individual States. The classes in +which any fixed belief in constitutional government existed were +nowhere very large; outside the circle of state officials there +was scarcely any one who had had experience in the conduct of +public affairs. In some countries, as in Russia and Prussia, the +conception of progress towards self-government had belonged in +the first instance to the holders of power: it had exercised the +imagination of a Czar, or appealed to the understanding of a +Prussian Minister, eager, in the extremity of ruin, to develop +every element of worth and manliness existing within his nation. +The cooling of a warm fancy, the disappearance of external +dangers, the very agitation which arose when the idea of liberty +passed from the rulers to their subjects, sufficed to check the +course of reform. And by the side of the Kings and Ministers who +for a moment had attached themselves to constitutional theories +there stood the old privileged orders, or what remained of them, +the true party of reaction, eager to fan the first misgivings and +alarms of Sovereigns, and to arrest a development more +prejudicial to their own power and importance than to the dignity +and security of the Crown. Further, there existed throughout +Europe the fatal and ineradicable tradition of the convulsions of +the first Revolution, and of the horrors of 1793. No votary of +absolutism, no halting and disquieted friend of freedom, could +ever be at a loss for images of woe in presaging the results of +popular sovereignty; and the action of one or two infatuated +assassins owed its wide influence on Europe chiefly to the +ancient name and memory of Jacobinism.</p> +<p>There was also in the very fact that Europe had been restored +to peace by the united efforts of all the governments something +adverse to the success of a constitutional or a Liberal party in +any State. Constitutional systems had indeed been much praised at +the Congress of Vienna; but the group of men who actually +controlled Europe in 1815, and who during the five succeeding +years continued in correspondence and in close personal +intercourse with one another, had, with one exception, passed +their lives in the atmosphere of absolute government, and learnt +to regard the conduct of all great affairs as the business of a +small number of very eminent individuals. Castlereagh, the one +Minister of a constitutional State, belonged to a party which, to +a degree almost unequalled in Europe, identified political duty +with the principle of hostility to change. It is indeed in the +correspondence of the English Minister himself, and in relation +to subjects of purely domestic government in England, that the +community of thought which now existed between all the leading +statesmen of Europe finds its most singular exhibition. Both +Metternich and Hardenberg took as much interest in the +suppression of Lancashire Radicalism, and in the measures of +coercion which the British Government thought it necessary to +pass in the year 1819, as in the chastisement of rebellious +pamphleteers upon the Rhine, and in the dissolution of the +students' clubs at Jena. It was indeed no very great matter for +the English people, who were now close upon an era of reform, +that Castlereagh received the congratulations of Vienna and +Berlin for suspending the Habeas Corpus Act and the right of +public meeting, <a name="FNanchor305"> </a><a href="#Footnote_305"><sup>[305]</sup></a> or that Metternich believed +that no one but himself knew the real import of the shouts with +which the London mob greeted Sir Francis Burdett. <a name="FNanchor306"> </a><a href="#Footnote_306"><sup>[306]</sup></a> +Neither the impending reform of the English Criminal Law nor the +emancipation of Irish Catholics resulted from the enlightenment +of foreign Courts, or could be hindered by their indifference. +But on the Continent of Europe the progress towards +constitutional freedom was indeed likely to be a slow and a +chequered one when the Ministers of absolutism formed so close +and intimate a band, when the nations contained within them such +small bodies of men in any degree versed in public affairs, and +when the institutions on which it was proposed to base the +liberty of the future were so destitute of that strength which +springs from connection with the past.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XIV."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Movements in the Mediterranean States beginning in 1820-Spain +from 1814 to 1820-The South American Colonies-The Army at Cadiz: +Action of Quiroga and Riego-Movement at Corunna-Ferdinand accepts +the Constitution of 1812-Naples from 1815 to 1820-The +Court-party, the Muratists, the Carbonari-The Spanish +Constitution proclaimed at Naples-Constitutional movement in +Portugal-Alexander's proposal with regard to Spain-The Conference +and Declaration of Troppau-Protest of England-Conference of +Laibach-The Austrians invade Naples and restore absolute +Monarchy- Insurrection in Piedmont, which fails-Spain from 1820 +to 1822-Death of Castlereagh-The Congress of Verona-Policy of +England-The French invade Spain-Restoration of absolute Monarchy, +and violence of the reaction- England prohibits the conquest of +the Spanish Colonies by France, and subsequently recognises their +independence-Affairs in Portugal-Canning sends troops to +Lisbon-The Policy of Canning-Estimate of his place in the history +of Europe.</p> +<br> + +<p>[The Mediterranean movements, beginning in 1820.]</p> +<p>When the guardians of Europe, at the end of the first three +years of peace, scanned from their council-chamber at +Aix-la-Chapelle that goodly heritage which, under Providence, +their own parental care was henceforth to guard against the +assaults of malice and revolution, they had fixed their gaze +chiefly on France, Germany, and the Netherlands, as the regions +most threatened by the spirit of change. The forecast was not an +accurate one. In each of these countries Government proved during +the succeeding years to be much more than a match for its real or +imaginary foes: it was in the Mediterranean States, which had +excited comparatively little anxiety, that the first successful +attack was made upon established power. Three movements arose +successively in the three southern peninsulas, at the time when +Metternich was enjoying the silence which he had imposed upon +Germany, and the Ultra-Royalists of France were making good the +advantage which the crime of an individual and the imprudence of +a party had thrown into their hands. In Spain and in Italy a body +of soldiers rose on behalf of constitutional government: in +Greece a nation rose against the rule of the foreigner. In all +three countries the issue of these movements was, after a longer +or shorter interval, determined by the Northern Powers. All three +movements were at first treated as identical in their character, +and all alike condemned as the work of Jacobinism. But the course +of events, and a change of persons in the government of one great +State, brought about a truer view of the nature of the struggle +in Greece. The ultimate action of Europe in the affairs of that +country was different from its action in the affairs of Italy and +Spain. It is now only remembered as an instance of political +recklessness or stupidity that a conflict of race against race +and of religion against religion should for a while have been +confused by some of the leading Ministers of Europe with the +attempt of a party to make the form of domestic government more +liberal. The Hellenic rising had indeed no feature in common with +the revolutions of Naples and Cadiz; and, although in order of +time the opening of the Greek movement long preceded the close of +the Spanish movement, the historian, who has neither the +politician's motive for making a confusion, nor the protection of +his excuse of ignorance, must in this case neglect the accidents +of chronology, and treat the two as altogether apart.</p> +<p>[Spain between 1814 and 1820.]</p> +<p>King Ferdinand of Spain, after overthrowing the Constitution +which he found in existence on his return to his country, had +conducted himself as if his object had been to show to what +lengths a legitimate monarch might abuse the fidelity of his +subjects and defy the public opinion of Europe. The leaders of +the Cortes, whom he had arrested in 1814, after being declared +innocent by one tribunal after another were sentenced to long +terms of imprisonment by an arbitrary decree of the King, without +even the pretence of judicial forms. Men who had been conspicuous +in the struggle of the nation against Napoleon were neglected or +disgraced; many of the highest posts were filled by politicians +who had played a double part, or had even served under the +invader. Priests and courtiers intrigued for influence over the +King; even when a capable Minister was placed in power through +the pressure of the ambassadors, and the King's name was set to +edicts of administrative reform, these edicts were made a dead +letter by the powerful band who lived upon the corruption of the +public service. Nothing was sacred except the interest of the +clergy; this, however, was enough to keep the rural population on +the King's side. The peasant, who knew that his house would not +now be burnt by the French, and who heard that true religion had +at length triumphed over its enemies, understood, and cared to +understand, nothing more. Rumours of kingly misgovernment and +oppression scarcely reached his ears. Ferdinand was still the +child of Spain and of the Church; his return had been the return +of peace; his rule was the victory of the Catholic faith.</p> +<p>[The nation satisfied: the officers discontented.]</p> +<p>But the acquiescence of the mass of the people was not shared +by the officers of the army and the educated classes in the +towns. The overthrow of the Constitution was from the first +condemned by soldiers who had won distinction under the +government of the Cortes; and a series of military rebellion, +though isolated and on the smallest scale, showed that the course +on which Ferdinand had entered was not altogether free from +danger. The attempts of General Mina in 1814, and of Porlier and +Lacy in succeeding years, to raise the soldiery on behalf of the +Constitution, failed, through the indifference of the soldiery +themselves, and the power which the priesthood exercised in +garrison-towns. Discontent made its way in the army by slow +degrees; and the ultimate declaration of a military party against +the existing Government was due at least as much to Ferdinand's +absurd system of favouritism, and to the wretched condition into +which the army had been thrown, as to an attachment to the memory +or the principles of constitutional rule. Misgovernment made the +treasury bankrupt; soldiers and sailors received no pay for years +together; and the hatred with which the Spanish people had now +come to regard military service is curiously shown by an order of +the Government that all the beggars in Madrid and other great +towns should be seized on a certain night (July 23, 1816), and +enrolled in the army. <a name="FNanchor307"> </a><a href="#Footnote_307"><sup>[307]</sup></a> But the very beggars were +more than a match for Ferdinand's administration. They heard of +the fate in store for them, and mysteriously disappeared, so +frustrating a measure by which it had been calculated that Spain +would gain sixty thousand warriors.</p> +<p>[Struggle of Spain with its colonies, 1810-1820.]</p> +<p>The military revolution which at length broke out in the year +1820 was closely connected with the struggle for independence now +being made by the American colonies of Spain; and in its turn it +affected the course of this struggle and its final result. The +colonies had refused to accept the rule either of Joseph +Bonaparte or of the Cortes of Cadiz when their legitimate +sovereign was dispossessed by Napoleon. While acting for the most +part in Ferdinand's name, they had engaged in a struggle with the +National Government of Spain. They had tasted independence; and +although after the restoration of Ferdinand they would probably +have recognised the rights of the Spanish Crown if certain +concessions had been made, they were not disposed to return to +the condition of inferiority in which they had been held during +the last century, or to submit to rulers who proved themselves as +cruel and vindictive in moments of victory as they were incapable +of understanding the needs of the time. The struggle accordingly +continued. Regiment after regiment was sent from Spain, to perish +of fever, of forced marches, or on the field. The Government of +King Ferdinand, despairing of its own resources, looked around +for help among the European Powers. England would have lent its +mediation, and possibly even armed assistance, if the Court of +Madrid would have granted a reasonable amount of freedom to the +colonies, and have opened their ports to British commerce. This, +however, was not in accordance with the views of Ferdinand's +advisers. Strange as it may appear, the Spanish Government +demanded that the alliance of Sovereigns, which had been framed +for the purpose of resisting the principle of rebellion and +disorder in Europe, should intervene against its revolted +subjects on the other side of the Atlantic, and it implied that +England, if acting at all, should act as the instrument of the +Alliance. <a name="FNanchor308"> </a><a href="#Footnote_308"><sup>[308]</sup></a> Encouragement was given to +the design by the Courts of Paris and St. Petersburg. Whether a +continent claimed its independence, or a German schoolboy wore a +forbidden ribbon in his cap, the chiefs of the Holy Alliance now +assumed the frown of offended Providence, and prepared to +interpose their own superior power and wisdom to save a misguided +world from the consequences of its own folly. Alexander had +indeed for a time hoped that the means of subduing the colonies +might be supplied by himself; and in his zeal to supplant England +in the good graces of Ferdinand he sold the King a fleet of war +on very moderate terms. To the scandal of Europe the ships, when +they reached Cadiz, turned out to be thoroughly rotten and +unseaworthy. As it was certain that the Czar's fleet and the +Spanish soldiers, however holy their mission, would all go to the +bottom together as soon as they encountered the waves of the +Atlantic, the expedition was postponed, and the affairs of +America were brought before the Conference of Aix-la-Chapelle. +The Envoys of Russia and France submitted a paper, in which, +anticipating the storm-warnings of more recent times, they +described the dangers to which monarchical Europe would be +exposed from the growth of a federation of republics in America; +and they suggested that Wellington, as "the man of Europe," +should go to Madrid, to preside over a negotiation between the +Court of Spain and all the ambassadors with reference to the +terms to be offered to the Transatlantic States. <a name="FNanchor309"> </a><a href="#Footnote_309"><sup>[309]</sup></a> +England, however, in spite of Lord Castlereagh's dread of +revolutionary contagion, adhered to the principles which it had +already laid down; and as the counsellors of King Ferdinand +declined to change their policy, Spain was left to subdue its +colonies by itself.</p> +<p>[Conspiracy in the Army of Cadiz.]</p> +<p>It was in the army assembled at Cadiz for embarkation in the +summer of 1819 that the conspiracy against Ferdinand's Government +found its leaders. Secret societies had now spread themselves +over the principal Spanish towns, and looked to the soldiery on +the coast for the signal of revolt. Abisbal, commander at Cadiz, +intending to make himself safe against all contingencies, +encouraged for awhile the plots of the discontented officers: +then, foreseeing the failure of the movement, he arrested the +principal men by a stratagem, and went off to Madrid, to reveal +the conspiracy to the Court and to take credit for saving the +King's crown (July, 1819). <a name="FNanchor310"> </a><a href="#Footnote_310"><sup>[310]</sup></a> If the army could have been +immediately despatched to America, the danger would possibly have +passed away. This, however, was prevented by an outbreak of +yellow fever, which made it necessary to send the troops into +cantonments for several months. The conspirators gained time to +renew their plans. The common soldiers, who had hitherto been +faithful to the Government, heard in their own squalor and +inaction the fearful stories of the few sick and wounded who +returned from beyond the seas, and learnt to regard the order of +embarkation as a sentence of death. Several battalions were won +over to the cause of constitutional liberty by their commanders. +The leaders imprisoned a few months before were again in +communication with their followers. After the treachery of +Abisbal, it was agreed to carry out the revolt without the +assistance of generals or grandees. The leaders chosen were two +colonels, Quiroga and Riego, of whom the former was in nominal +confinement in a monastery near Medina Sidonia, twenty miles east +of Cadiz, while Riego was stationed at Cabezas, a few marches +distant on the great road to Seville. The first day of the year +1820 was fixed for the insurrection. It was determined that Riego +should descend upon the head-quarters, which were at Arcos, and +arrest the generals before they could hear anything of the +movement, while Quiroga, moving from the east, gathered up the +battalions stationed on the road, and threw himself into Cadiz, +there to await his colleague's approach.</p> +<p>[Action of Quiroga and Riego, Jan. 1820.]</p> +<p>The first step in the enterprise proved successful. Riego, +proclaiming the Constitution of 1812, surprised the headquarters, +seized the generals, and rallied several companies to his +standard. Quiroga, however, though he gained possession of San +Fernando, at the eastern end of the peninsula of Leon, on which +Cadiz is situated, failed to make his entrance into Cadiz. The +commandant, hearing of the capture of the head-quarters, had +closed the city gates, and arrested the principal inhabitants +whom he suspected of being concerned in the plot. The troops +within the town showed no sign of mutiny. Riego, when he arrived +at the peninsula of Leon, found that only five thousand men in +all had joined the good cause, while Cadiz, with a considerable +garrison and fortifications of great strength, stood hostile +before him. He accordingly set off with a small force to visit +and win over the other regiments which were lying in the +neighbouring towns and villages. The commanders, however, while +not venturing to attack the mutineers, drew off their troops to a +distance, and prevented them from entering into any communication +with Riego. The adventurous soldier, leaving Quiroga in the +peninsula of Leon, then marched into the interior of Andalusia +(January 27), endeavouring to raise the inhabitants of the towns. +But the small numbers of his band, and the knowledge that Cadiz +and the greater part of the army still held by the Government, +prevented the inhabitants from joining the insurrection, even +where they received Riego with kindness and supplied the wants of +his soldiers. During week after week the little column traversed +the country, now cut off from retreat, exhausted by forced +marches in drenching rain, and harassed by far stronger forces +sent in pursuit. The last town that Riego entered was Cordova. +The enemy was close behind him. No halt was possible. He led his +band, now numbering only two hundred men, into the mountains, and +there bade them disperse (March 11).</p> +<p>[Corunna proclaims the Constitution Feb. 20.]</p> +<p>[Abisbal's defection March 4.]</p> +<p>With Quiroga lying inactive in the peninsula of Leon and Riego +hunted from village to village, it seemed as if the insurrection +which they had begun could only end in the ruin of its leaders. +But the movement had in fact effected its object. While the +courtiers around King Ferdinand, unwarned by the news from Cadiz, +continued their intrigues against one another, the rumour of +rebellion spread over the country. If no great success had been +achieved by the rebels, it was also certain that no great blow +had been struck by the Government. The example of bold action had +been set; the shock given at one end of the peninsula was felt at +the other; and a fortnight before Riego's band dispersed, the +garrison and the citizens of Corunna together declared for the +Constitution (February 20). From Corunna the revolutionary +movement spread to Ferrol and to all the other coast-towns of +Galicia. The news reached Madrid, terrifying the Government, and +exciting the spirit of insurrection in the capital itself. The +King summoned a council of the leading men around him. The wisest +of them advised him to publish a moderate Constitution, and, by +convoking a Parliament immediately, to stay the movement, which +would otherwise result in the restoration of the Assembly and the +Constitution of 1812. They also urged the King to abolish the +Inquisition forthwith. Ferdinand's brother, Don Carlos, the head +of the clerical party, succeeded in preventing both measures. +Though the generals in all quarters of Spain wrote that they +could not answer for the troops, there were still hopes of +keeping down the country by force of arms. Abisbal, who was at +Madrid, was ordered to move with reinforcements towards the army +in the south. He set out, protesting to the King that he knew the +way to deal with rebels. When he reached Ocaña he +proclaimed the Constitution himself (March 4).</p> +<p>[Ferdinand accepts the Constitution 1812, March 9.]</p> +<p>It was now clear that the cause of absolute monarchy was lost. +The ferment in Madrid increased. On the night of the 6th of March +all the great bodies of State assembled for council in the King's +palace, and early on the 7th Ferdinand published a proclamation, +stating that he had determined to summon the Cortes immediately. +This declaration satisfied no one, for the Cortes designed by the +King might be the mere revival of a mediæval form, and the +history of 1814 showed how little value was to be attached to +Ferdinand's promises. Crowds gathered in the great squares of +Madrid, crying for the Constitution of 1812. The statement of the +Minister of War that the Guard was on the point of joining the +people now overcame even the resistance of Don Carlos and the +confessors; and after a day wasted in dispute, Ferdinand +announced to his people that he was ready to take the oath to the +Constitution which they desired. The next day was given up to +public rejoicings; the book of the Constitution was carried in +procession through the city with the honours paid to the Holy +Sacrament, and all political prisoners were set at liberty. The +prison of the Inquisition was sacked, the instruments of torture +broken in pieces. On the 9th the leaders of the agitation took +steps to make the King fulfil his promise. A mob invaded the +court and threshold of the palace. At their demand the municipal +council of 1814 was restored; its members were sent, in company +with six deputies chosen by the populace, to receive the pledges +of the King. Ferdinand, all smiles and bows, while he looked +forward to the day when force or intrigue should make him again +absolute master of Spain, and enable him to take vengeance upon +the men who were humiliating, him, took the oath of fidelity to +the Constitution of 1812. <a name="FNanchor311"> </a><a href="#Footnote_311"><sup>[311]</sup></a> New Ministers were +immediately called to office, and a provisional Junta was placed +by their side as the representative of the public until the new +Cortes should be duly elected.</p> +<p>[Condition of Naples, 1815-1820.]</p> +<p>Tidings of the Spanish revolution passed rapidly over Europe, +disquieting the courts and everywhere reviving the hopes of the +friends of popular right. Before four months had passed, the +constitutional movement begun in Cadiz was taken up in Southern +Italy. The kingdom of Naples was one of those States which had +profited the most by French conquest. During the nine years that +its crown was held by Joseph Bonaparte and Murat, the laws and +institutions which accompanied Napoleon's supremacy had rudely +broken up the ancient fixity of confusions which passed for +government, and had aroused no insignificant forces of new social +life. The feudal tenure of land, and with it something of the +feudal structure of society, had passed away: the monasteries had +been dissolved; the French civil code, and a criminal code based +upon that of France, had taken the place of a thousand +conflicting customs and jurisdictions; taxation had been made, if +not light, yet equitable and simple; justice was regular, and the +same for baron and peasant; brigandage had been extinguished; +and, for the first time in many centuries, the presence of a +rational and uniform administration was felt over all the south +of Italy. Nor on the restoration of King Ferdinand had any +reaction been permitted to take place like that which in a moment +destroyed the work of reform in Spain and in Westphalia. England +and Austria insisted that there should be neither vengeance nor +counterrevolution. Queen Marie Caroline, the principal agent in +the cruelties of 1799, was dead; Ferdinand himself was old and +indolent, and willing to leave affairs in the hands of Ministers +more intelligent than himself. Hence the laws and the +administrative system of Murat remained on the whole unchanged. +<a name="FNanchor312"> </a><a href="#Footnote_312"><sup>[312]</sup></a> As in France, a Bourbon +Sovereign placed himself at the head of a political order +fashioned by Napoleon and the Revolution. Where changes in the +law were made, or acts of State revoked, it was for the most part +in consequence of an understanding with the Holy See. Thus, while +no attempt was made to eject the purchasers of Church-lands, the +lands not actually sold were given back to the Church; a +considerable number of monasteries were restored; education was +allowed to fall again into the hands of the clergy; the Jesuits +were recalled, and the Church regained its jurisdiction in +marriage-causes, as well as the right of suppressing writings at +variance with the Catholic faith.</p> +<p>[Hostility between the Court party and the Muratists.]</p> +<p>But the legal and recognised changes which followed +Ferdinand's return by no means expressed the whole change in the +operation of government. If there were not two conflicting +systems at work, there were two conflicting bodies of partisans +in the State. Like the emigrants who returned with Louis XVIII., +a multitude of Neapolitans, high and low, who had either +accompanied the King in his exile to Sicily or fought for him on +the mainland in 1799 and 1806, now expected their reward. In +their interest the efficiency of the public service was +sacrificed and the course of justice perverted. Men who had +committed notorious crimes escaped punishment if they had been +numbered among the King's friends; the generals and officials who +had served under Murat, though not removed from their posts, were +treated with discourtesy and suspicion. It was in the army most +of all that the antagonism of the two parties was felt. A medal +was struck for service in Sicily, and every year spent there in +inaction was reckoned as two in computing seniority. Thus the +younger officers of Murat found their way blocked by a troop of +idlers, and at the same time their prospects suffered from the +honest attempts made by Ministers to reduce the military +expenditure. Discontent existed in every rank. The generals were +familiar with the idea of political change, for during the last +years of Murat's reign they had themselves thought of compelling +him to grant a Constitution: the younger officers and the +sergeants were in great part members of the secret society of the +Carbonari, which in the course of the last few years had grown +with the weakness of the Government, and had now become the +principal power in the Neapolitan kingdom.</p> +<p>[The Carbonari.]</p> +<p>The origin of this society, which derived its name and its +symbolism from the trade of the charcoal-burner, as Freemasonry +from that of the builder, is uncertain. Whether its first aim was +resistance to Bourbon tyranny after 1799, or the expulsion of the +French and Austrians from Italy, in the year 1814 it was actively +working for constitutional government in opposition to Murat, and +receiving encouragement from Sicily, where Ferdinand was then +playing the part of constitutional King. The maintenance of +absolute government by the restored Bourbon Court severed the +bond which for a time existed between legitimate monarchy and +conspiracy; and the lodges of the Carbonari, now extending +themselves over the country with great rapidity, became so many +centres of agitation against despotic rule. By the year 1819 it +was reckoned that one person out of every twenty-five in the +kingdom of Naples had joined the society. Its members were drawn +from all classes, most numerously perhaps from the middle class +in the towns; but even priests had been initiated, and there was +no branch of the public service that had not Carbonari in its +ranks. The Government, apprehending danger from the extension of +the sect, tried to counteract it by founding a rival society of +Calderari, or Braziers, in which every miscreant who before 1815 +had murdered and robbed in the name of King Ferdinand and the +Catholic faith received a welcome. But though the number of such +persons was not small, the growth of this fraternity remained far +behind that of its model; and the chief result of the competition +was that intrigue and mystery gained a greater charm than ever +for the Italians, and that all confidence in Government perished, +under the sense that there was a hidden power in the land which +was only awaiting the due moment to put forth its strength in +revolutionary action.</p> +<p>[Morelli's movement, July 2, 1820.]</p> +<p>After the proclamation of the Spanish Constitution, an +outbreak in the kingdom of Naples had become inevitable. The +Carbonari of Salerno, where the sect had its headquarters, had +intended to rise at the beginning of June; their action, however, +was postponed for some months, and it was anticipated by the +daring movement of a few sergeants belonging to a cavalry +regiment stationed at Nola, and of a lieutenant, named Morelli, +whom they had persuaded to place himself at their head. Leading +out a squadron of a hundred and fifty men in the direction of +Avellino on the morning of July 2nd, Morelli proclaimed the +Constitution. One of the soldiers alone left the band; force or +persuasion kept others to the Standard, though they disapproved +of the enterprise. The inhabitants of the populous places that +lie between Nola and Avellino welcomed the squadron, or at least +offered it no opposition: the officer commanding at Avellino came +himself to meet Morelli, and promised him assistance. The band +encamped that night in a village; on the next day they entered +Avellino, where the troops and townspeople, headed by the bishop +and officers, declared in their favour. From Avellino the news of +the movement spread quickly over the surrounding country. The +Carbonari were everywhere prepared for revolt; and before the +Government had taken a single step in its own defence, the +Constitution had been joyfully and peacefully accepted, not only +by the people but by the militia and the regular troops, +throughout the greater part of the district that lies to the east +of Naples.</p> +<p>[Affairs at Naples, July 2-7.]</p> +<p>The King was on board ship in the bay, when, in the afternoon +of July 2nd, intelligence came of Morelli's revolt at Nola. +Nothing was done by the Ministry on that day, although Morelli +and his band might have been captured in a few hours if any +resolute officer, with a few trustworthy troops, had been sent +against them. On the next morning, when the garrison of Avellino +had already joined the mutineers, and taken up a strong position +commanding the road from Naples, General Carrascosa was sent, not +to reduce the insurgents-for no troops were given to him-but to +pardon, to bribe, and to coax them into <a name="FNanchor313">submission.</a> <a href="#Footnote_313"><sup>[313]</sup></a> Carrascosa failed to effect +any good; other generals, who, during the following days, +attempted to attack the mutineers, found that their troops would +not follow them, and that the feeling of opposition to the +Government, though it nowhere broke into lawlessness, was +universal in the army as well as the nation. If the people +generally understood little of politics, they had learnt enough +to dislike arbitrary taxation and the power of arbitrary arrest. +Not a single hand or voice was anywhere raised in defence of +absolutism. Escaping from Naples, where he was watched by the +Government, General Pepe, who was at once the chief man among the +Carbonari and military commandant of the province in which +Avellino lies, went to place himself at the head of the +revolution. Naples itself had hitherto remained quiet, but on the +night of July 6th a deputation from the Carbonari informed the +King that they could no longer preserve tranquillity in the city +unless a Constitution was granted. The King, without waiting for +morning, published an edict declaring that a Constitution should +be drawn up within eight days; immediately afterwards he +appointed a new Ministry, and, feigning illness, committed the +exercise of royal authority to his son, the Duke of Calabria.</p> +<p>[Ferdinand takes the Oath to the Spanish Constitution, July +13.]</p> +<p>Ferdinand's action was taken by the people as a stratagem. He +had employed the device of a temporary abdication some years +before in cajoling the Sicilians; and the delay of eight days +seemed unnecessary to ardent souls who knew that a Spanish +Constitution was in existence and did not know of its defects in +practice. There was also on the side of the Carbonari the telling +argument that Ferdinand, as a possible successor to his nephew, +the childless King of Spain, actually had signed the Spanish +Constitution in order to preserve his own contingent rights to +that crown. What Ferdinand had accepted as Infante of Spain he +might well accept as King of Naples. The cry was therefore for +the immediate proclamation of the Spanish Constitution of 1812. +The court yielded, and the Duke of Calabria, as viceroy, +published an edict making this Constitution the law of the +kingdom of the Two Sicilies. But the tumult continued, for deceit +was still feared, until the edict appeared again, signed by the +King himself. Then all was rejoicing. Pepe, at the head of a +large body of troops, militia and Carbonari, made a triumphal +entry into the city, and, in company with Morelli and other +leaders of the military rebellion, was hypocritically thanked by +the Viceroy for his services to the nation. On the 13th of July +the King, a hale but venerable-looking man of seventy, took the +oath to the Constitution before the altar in the royal chapel. +The form of words had been written out for him; but Ferdinand was +fond of theatrical acts of religion, and did not content himself +with reading certain solemn phrases. Raising his eyes to the +crucifix above the altar, he uttered aloud a prayer that if the +oath was not sincerely taken the vengeance of God might fall upon +his head. Then, after blessing and embracing his sons, the +venerable monarch wrote to the Emperor of Austria, protesting +that all that he did was done under constraint, and that his +obligations were null and void. <a name="FNanchor314"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_314"><sup>[314]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Affairs in Portugal, 1807-1820.]</p> +<p>A month more passed, and in a third kingdom absolute +government fell before the combined action of soldiers and +people. The Court of Lisbon had migrated to Brazil in 1807, when +the troops of Napoleon first appeared upon the Tagus, and +Portugal had since then been governed by a Regency, acting in the +name of the absent Sovereign. The events of the Peninsular War +had reduced Portugal almost to the condition of a dependency of +Great Britain. Marshal Beresford, the English commander-in-chief +of its army, kept his post when the war was over, and with him +there remained a great number of English officers who had led the +Portuguese regiments in Wellington's campaigns. The presence of +these English soldiers was unwelcome, and commercial rivalry +embittered the natural feeling of impatience towards an ally who +remained as master rather than guest. Up to the year 1807 the +entire trade with Brazil had been confined by law to Portuguese +merchants; when, however, the Court had established itself beyond +the Atlantic, it had opened the ports of Brazil to British ships, +in return for the assistance given by our own country against +Napoleon. Both England and Brazil profited by the new commerce, +but the Portuguese traders, who had of old had the monopoly, were +ruined. The change in the seat of government was in fact seen to +be nothing less than a reversal of the old relations between the +European country and its colony. Hitherto Brazil had been +governed in the interests of Portugal; but with a Sovereign fixed +at Rio Janeiro, it was almost inevitable that Portugal should be +governed in the interests of Brazil. Declining trade, the misery +and impoverishment resulting from a long war, resentment against +a Court which could not be induced to return to the kingdom and +against a foreigner who could not be induced to quit it, filled +the army and all classes in the nation with discontent. +Conspiracies were discovered as early as 1817, and the +conspirators punished with all the barbarous ferocity of the +Middle Ages. Beresford, who had not sufficient tact to prevent +the execution of a sentence ordering twelve persons to be +strangled, beheaded, and then burnt in the streets of Lisbon, +found, during the two succeeding years, that the state of the +country was becoming worse and worse. In the spring of 1820, when +the Spanish revolution had made some change in the neighbouring +kingdom, either for good or evil, inevitable, Beresford set out +for Rio Janeiro, intending to acquaint the King with the real +condition of affairs, and to use his personal efforts in +hastening the return of the Court to Lisbon. Before he could +recross the Atlantic, the Government which he left behind him at +Lisbon had fallen.</p> +<p>[Revolution at Oporto, August 1820.]</p> +<p>The grievances of the Portuguese army made it the natural +centre of disaffection, but the military conspirators had their +friends among all classes. On the 24th of August, 1820, the +signal of revolt was given at Oporto. Priests and magistrates, as +well as the town-population, united with officers of the army in +declaring against the Regency, and in establishing a provisional +Junta, charged with the duty of carrying on the government in the +name of the King until the Cortes should assemble and frame a +Constitution. No resistance was offered by any of the civil or +military authorities at Oporto. The Junta entered upon its +functions, and began by dismissing all English officers, and +making up the arrears of pay due to the soldiers. As soon as the +news of the revolt reached Lisbon, the Regency itself volunteered +to summon the Cortes, and attempted to conciliate the remainder +of the army by imitating the measures of the Junta of Oporto. <a +name="FNanchor315"> </a><a href="#Footnote_315"><sup>[315]</sup></a> The troops, however, +declined to act against their comrades, and on the 15th of +September the Regency was deposed, and a provisional Junta +installed in the capital. Beresford, who now returned from +Brazil, was forbidden to set foot on Portuguese soil. The two +rival governing-committees of Lisbon and Oporto coalesced; and +after an interval of confusion the elections to the Cortes were +held, resulting in the return of a body of men whose loyalty to +the Crown was not impaired by their hostility to the Regency. The +King, when the first tidings of the constitutional movement +reached Brazil, gave a qualified consent to the summoning of the +Cortes which was announced by the Regency, and promised to return +to Europe. Beresford, continuing his voyage to England without +landing at Lisbon, found that the Government of this country had +no disposition to interfere with the domestic affairs of its +ally.</p> +<p>[Alexander proposes joint action with regard to Spain, April, +1820.]</p> +<p>It was the boast of the Spanish and Italian Liberals that the +revolutions effected in 1820 were undisgraced by the scenes of +outrage which had followed the capture of the Bastille and the +overthrow of French absolutism thirty years before. <a name="FNanchor316"> </a><a href="#Footnote_316"><sup>[316]</sup></a> +The gentler character of these southern movements proved, +however, no extenuation in the eyes of the leading statesmen of +Europe: on the contrary, the declaration of soldiers in favour of +a Constitution seemed in some quarters more ominous of evil than +any excess of popular violence. The alarm was first sounded at +St. Petersburg. As soon as the Czar heard of Riego's proceedings +at Cadiz, he began to meditate intervention; and when it was +known that Ferdinand had been forced to accept the Constitution +of 1812, he ordered his ambassadors to propose that all the Great +Powers, acting through their Ministers at Paris, should address a +remonstrance to the representative of Spain, requiring the Cortes +to disavow the crime of the 8th of March, by which they had been +called into being, and to offer a pledge of obedience to their +King by enacting the most rigorous laws against sedition and +revolt. <a name="FNanchor317"> </a><a href="#Footnote_317"><sup>[317]</sup></a> In that case, and in that +alone, the Czar desired to add, would the Powers maintain their +relations of confidence and amity with Spain.</p> +<p>[England prevents joint diplomatic intervention.]</p> +<p>This Russian proposal was viewed with some suspicion at +Vienna; it was answered with a direct and energetic negative from +London. Canning was still in the Ministry. The words with which +in 1818 he had protested against a league between England and +autocracy were still ringing in the ears of his colleagues. Lord +Liverpool's Government knew itself to be unpopular in the +country; every consideration of policy as well as of +self-interest bade it resist the beginnings of an intervention +which, if confined to words, was certain to be useless, and, if +supported by action, was likely to end in that alliance between +France and Russia which had been the nightmare of English +statesmen ever since 1814, and in a second occupation of Spain by +the very generals whom Wellington had spent so many years in +dislodging. Castlereagh replied to the Czar's note in terms which +made it clear that England would never give its sanction to a +collective interference with Spain. <a name="FNanchor318"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_318"><sup>[318]</sup></a> Richelieu, the nominal +head of the French Government, felt too little confidence in his +position to act without the concurrence of Great Britain; and the +crusade of absolutism against Spanish liberty was in consequence +postponed until the victory of the Ultra-Royalists at Paris was +complete, and the overthrow of Richelieu had brought to the head +of the French State a group of men who felt no scruple in +entering upon an aggressive war.</p> +<p>[Naples and the Great Powers.]</p> +<p>[Austria.]</p> +<p>[England admits Austrian but not joint intervention.]</p> +<p>But the shelter of circumstances which for a while protected +Spain from the foreigner did not extend to Italy, when in its +turn the Neapolitan revolution called a northern enemy into the +field. Though the kingdom of the Two Sicilies was in itself much +less important than Spain, the established order of the Continent +was more directly threatened by a change in its government. No +European State was exposed to the same danger from a revolution +in Madrid as Austria from a revolution in Naples. The Czar had +invoked the action of the Courts against Spain, not because his +own dominions were in peril, but because the principle of +monarchical right was violated: with Austria the danger pressed +nearer home. The establishment of constitutional liberty in +Naples was almost certain to be followed by an insurrection in +the Papal States and a national uprising in the Venetian +provinces; and among all the bad results of Austria's false +position in Italy, one of the worst was that in self-defence it +was bound to resist every step made towards political liberty +beyond its own frontier. The dismay with which Metternich heard +of the collapse of absolute government at Naples <a name="FNanchor319"> </a><a href="#Footnote_319"><sup>[319]</sup></a> +was understood and even shared by the English Ministry, who at +this moment were deprived of their best guide by Canning's +withdrawal. Austria, in peace just as much as in war, had +uniformly been held to be the natural ally of England against the +two aggressive Courts of Paris and St. Petersburg. It seemed +perfectly right and natural to Lord Castlereagh that Austria, +when its own interests were endangered by the establishment of +popular sovereignty at Naples, should intervene to restore King +Ferdinand's power; the more so as the secret treaty of 1815, by +which Metternich had bound this sovereign to maintain absolute +monarchy, had been communicated to the ambassador of Great +Britain, and had received his approval. But the right to +intervene in Italy belonged, according to Lord Castlereagh, to +Austria alone. The Sovereigns of Europe had no more claim, as a +body, to interfere with Naples than they had to interfere with +Spain. Therefore, while the English Government sanctioned and +even desired the intervention of Austria, as a State acting in +protection of its own interests against revolution in a +neighbouring country, it refused to sanction any joint +intervention of the European Powers, and declared itself opposed +to the meeting of a Congress where any such intervention might be +discussed. <a name="FNanchor320"> </a><a href="#Footnote_320"><sup>[320]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Conference at Troppau, Oct. 1820.]</p> +<p>Had Metternich been free to follow his own impulses, he would +have thrown an army into Southern Italy as soon as soldiers and +stores could be collected, and have made an end of King +Ferdinand's troubles forthwith. It was, however, impossible for +him to disregard the wishes of the Czar, and to abandon all at +once the system of corporate action, which was supposed to have +done such great things for Europe. <a name="FNanchor321"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_321"><sup>[321]</sup></a> A meeting of sovereigns +and Ministers was accordingly arranged, and at the end of October +the Emperor of Austria received the Czar and King Frederick +William in the little town of Troppau, in Moravia. France had +itself first recommended the summoning of a Congress to deal with +Neapolitan affairs, and it was believed for a while that England +would be isolated in its resistance to a joint intervention. But +before the Congress assembled, the firm language of the English +Ministry had drawn Richelieu over to its side; <a name="FNanchor322"> </a><a href="#Footnote_322"><sup>[322]</sup></a> +and although one of the two French envoys made himself the agent +of the Ultra-Royalist faction, it was not possible for him to +unite his country with the three Eastern Courts. France, through +the weakness of its Government and the dissension between its +representatives, counted for nothing at the Congress. England +sent its ambassador from Vienna, but with instructions to act as +an observer and little more; and in consequence the meeting at +Troppau resolved itself into a gathering of the three Eastern +autocrats and their Ministers. As Prussia had ceased to have any +independent foreign policy whatever, Metternich needed only to +make certain of the support of the Czar in order to range on his +side the entire force of eastern and central Europe in the +restoration of Neapolitan despotism.</p> +<p>[Contest between Metternich and Capodistrias.]</p> +<p>[Circular of Troppau, Dec. 8, 1820.]</p> +<p>[The principle of intervention laid down by three Courts.]</p> +<p>The plan of the Austrian statesman was not, however, to be +realised without some effort. Alexander had watched with jealousy +Metternich's recent assumption of a dictatorship over the minor +German Courts; he had never admitted Austria's right to dominate +in Italy; and even now some vestiges of his old attachment to +liberal theories made him look for a better solution of the +Neapolitan problem than in that restoration of despotism pure and +simple which Austria desired. While condemning every attempt of a +people to establish its own liberties, Alexander still believed +that in some countries sovereigns would do well to make their +subjects a grant of what he called sage and liberal institutions. +It would have pleased him best if the Neapolitans could have been +induced by peaceful means to abandon their Constitution, and to +accept in return certain chartered rights as a gift from their +King; and the concurrence of the two Western Powers might in this +case possibly have been regained. This project of a compromise, +by which Ferdinand would have been freed from his secret +engagement with Austria, was exactly what Metternich desired to +frustrate. He found himself matched, and not for the first time, +against a statesman who was even more subtle than himself. This +was Count Capodistrias, a Greek who from a private position had +risen to be Foreign Minister of Russia, and was destined to +become the first sovereign, in reality if not in title, of his +native land. Capodistrias, the sympathetic partner of the Czar's +earlier hopes, had not travelled so fast as his master along the +reactionary road. He still represented what had been the Italian +policy of Alexander some years before, and sought to prevent the +re-establishment of absolute rule at Naples, at least by the +armed intervention of Austria. Metternich's first object was to +discredit the Minister in the eyes of his sovereign. It is said +that he touched the Czar's keenest fears in a conversation +relating to a mutiny that had just taken place among the troops +at St. Petersburg, and so in one private interview cut the ground +from under Capodistrias' feet; he also humoured the Czar by +reviving that monarch's own favourite scheme for a mutual +guarantee of all the Powers against revolution in any part of +Europe. Alexander had proposed in 1818 that the Courts should +declare resistance to authority in any country to be a violation +of European peace, entitling the Allied Powers, if they should +think fit, to suppress it by force of arms. This doctrine, which +would have empowered the Czar to throw the armies of a coalition +upon London if the Reform Bill had been carried by force, had +hitherto failed to gain international acceptance owing to the +opposition of Great Britain. It was now formally accepted by +Austria and Prussia. Alexander saw the federative system of +European monarchy, with its principle of collective intervention, +recognised as an established fact by at least three of the great +Powers; <a name="FNanchor323"> </a><a href="#Footnote_323"><sup>[323]</sup></a> and in return he permitted +Metternich to lay down the lines which, in the case of Naples, +this intervention should follow. It was determined to invite King +Ferdinand to meet his brother-sovereigns at Laibach, in the +Austrian province of Carniola, and through him to address a +summons to the Neapolitan people, requiring them, in the name of +the three Powers, and under threat of invasion, to abandon their +Constitution. This determination was announced, as a settled +matter, to the envoys of England and France; and a circular was +issued from Troppau by the three Powers to all the Courts of +Europe (Dec. 8), embodying the doctrine of federative +intervention, and expressing a hope that England and France would +approve its immediate application in the case of Naples. <a name="FNanchor324"> </a><a href="#Footnote_324"><sup>[324]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Protest of England.]</p> +<p>There was no ground whatever for this hope with regard to +England. On the contrary, in proportion as the three Courts +strengthened their union and insisted on their claim to joint +jurisdiction over Europe, they drove England away from them. Lord +Castlereagh had at first promised the moral support of this +country to Austria in its enterprise against Naples; but when +this enterprise ceased to be the affair of Austria alone, and +became part of the police-system of the three despotisms, it was +no longer possible for the English Government to view it with +approval or even with silence. The promise of a moral support was +withdrawn: England declared that it stood strictly neutral with +regard to Naples, and protested against the doctrine contained in +the Troppau circular, that a change of government in any State +gave the Allied Powers the right to intervene. <a name="FNanchor325"> </a><a href="#Footnote_325"><sup>[325]</sup></a></p> +<p>France made no such protest; but it was still hoped at Paris +that an Austrian invasion of Southern Italy, so irritating to +French pride, might be averted. King Louis XVIII. endeavoured, +but in vain, to act the part of mediator, and to reconcile the +Neapolitan House of Bourbon at once with its own subjects and +with the Northern Powers.</p> +<p>[Conference at Laibach, Jan., 1821.]</p> +<p>The summons went out from the Congress to King Ferdinand to +appear at Laibach. It found him enjoying all the popularity of a +constitutional King, surrounded by Ministers who had governed +under Murat, exchanging compliments with a democratic Parliament, +lavishing distinctions upon the men who had overthrown his +authority, and swearing to everything that was set before him. As +the Constitution prohibited the King from leaving the country +without the consent of the Legislature, it was necessary for +Ferdinand to communicate to Parliament the invitation which he +had received from the Powers, and to take a vote of the Assembly +on the subject of his journey. Ferdinand's Ministers possessed +some political experience; they recognised that it would be +impossible to maintain the existing Constitution against the +hostility of three great States, and hoped that the Parliament +would consent to Ferdinand's departure on condition that he +pledged himself to uphold certain specified principles of free +government. A message to the Assembly was accordingly made +public, in which the King expressed his desire to mediate with +the Powers on this basis. But the Ministers had not reckoned with +the passions of the people. As soon as it became known that +Ferdinand was about to set out, the leaders of the Carbonari +mustered their bands. A host of violent men streamed into Naples +from the surrounding country. The Parliament was intimidated, and +Ferdinand was prohibited from leaving Naples until he had sworn +to maintain the Constitution actually in force, that, namely, +which Naples had borrowed from Spain. Ferdinand, whose only +object was to escape from the country as quickly as possible, +took the oath with his usual effusions of patriotism. He then set +out for Leghorn, intending to cross from thence into Northern +Italy. No sooner had he reached the Tuscan port than he addressed +a letter to each of the five principal sovereigns of Europe, +declaring that his last acts were just as much null and void as +all his earlier ones. He made no attempt to justify, or to +excuse, or even to explain his conduct; nor is there the least +reason to suppose that he considered the perjuries of a prince to +require a justification. "These sorry protests," wrote the +secretary of the Congress of Troppau, "will happily remain +secret. No Cabinet will be anxious to draw them from the +sepulchre of its archives. Till then there is not much harm +done."</p> +<p>[Ferdinand at Laibach.]</p> +<p>[Demands of the Allies on Naples.]</p> +<p>Ferdinand reached Laibach, where the Czar rewarded him for the +fatigues of his journey by a present of some Russian bears. His +arrival was peculiarly agreeable to Metternich, whose intentions +corresponded exactly with his own; and the fact that he had been +compelled to swear to maintain the Spanish Constitution at Naples +acted favourably for the Austrian Minister, inasmuch as it +enabled him to say to all the world that negotiation was now out +of the question. <a name="FNanchor326"> </a><a href="#Footnote_326"><sup>[326]</sup></a> Capodistrias, brought face +to face with failure, twisted about, according to his rival's +expression, like a devil in holy water, but all in vain. It was +decided that Ferdinand should be restored as absolute monarch by +an Austrian army, and that, whether the Neapolitans resisted or +submitted, their country should be occupied by Austrian troops +for some years to come. The only difficulty remaining was to vest +King Ferdinand's conduct in some respectable disguise. +Capodistrias, when nothing else was to be gained, offered to +invent an entire correspondence, in which Ferdinand should +proudly uphold the Constitution to which he had sworn, and +protest against the determination of the Powers to force the +sceptre of absolutism back into his hand. <a name="FNanchor327"> </a><a href="#Footnote_327"><sup>[327]</sup></a> +This device, however, was thought too transparent. A letter was +sent in the King's name to his son, the Duke of Calabria, stating +that he had found the three Powers determined not to tolerate an +order of things sprung from revolution; that submission alone +would avert war; but that even in case of submission certain +securities for order, meaning the occupation of the country by an +Austrian army, would be exacted. The letter concluded with the +usual promises of reform and good government. It reached Naples +on the 9th of February, 1821. No answer was either expected or +desired. On the 6th the order had been given to the Austrian army +to cross the Po.</p> +<p>[State of Naples and Sicily.]</p> +<p>[The Austrians enter Naples, March 24, 1821.]</p> +<p>[Third Neapolitan restoration.]</p> +<p>There was little reason to fear any serious resistance on the +part of the Neapolitans. The administration of the State was +thoroughly disorganised; the agitation of the secret societies +had destroyed all spirit of obedience among the soldiers; a great +part of the army was absent in Sicily, keeping guard over a +people who, under wiser management, might have doubled the force +which Naples now opposed to the invader. When the despotic +government of Ferdinand was overthrown, the island of Sicily, or +that part of it which was represented by Palermo, had claimed the +separate political existence which it had possessed between 1806 +and 1815, offering to remain united to Naples in the person of +the sovereign, but demanding a National Parliament and a National +Constitution of its own. The revolutionary Ministers of Naples +had, however, no more sympathy with the wishes of the Sicilians +than the Spanish Liberals of 1812 had with those of the American +Colonists. They required the islanders to accept the same rights +and duties as any other province of the Neapolitan kingdom, and, +on their refusal, sent over a considerable force and laid siege +to <a name="FNanchor328">Palermo.</a><a href="#Footnote_328"><sup>[328]</sup></a> The contest soon ended in +the submission of the Sicilians, but it was found necessary to +keep twelve thousand troops on the island in order to prevent a +new revolt. The whole regular army of Naples numbered little more +than forty thousand; and although bodies of Carbonari and of the +so-called Militia set out to join the colours of General Pepe and +to fight for liberty, they remained for the most part a +disorderly mob, without either arms or discipline. The invading +army of Austria, fifty thousand strong, not only possessed an +immense superiority in organisation and military spirit, but +actually outnumbered the forces of the defence. At the first +encounter, which took place at Rieti, in the Papal States, the +Neapolitans were put to the rout. Their army melted away, as it +had in Murat's campaign in 1815. Nothing was heard among officers +and men but accusations of treachery; not a single strong point +was defended; and on the 24th of March the Austrians made their +entry into Naples. Ferdinand, halting at Florence, sent on before +him the worst instruments of his former despotism. It was indeed +impossible for these men to renew, under Austrian protection, the +scenes of reckless bloodshed which had followed the restoration +of 1799; and a great number of compromised persons had already +been provided with the means of escape. But the hand of vengeance +was not easily stayed. Courts-martial and commissions of judges +began in all parts of the kingdom to sentence to imprisonment and +death. An attempted insurrection in Sicily and some desperate +acts of rebellion in Southern Italy cost the principal actors +their lives; and when an amnesty was at length proclaimed, an +exception was made against those who were now called the +deserters, and who were lately called the Sacred Band, of Nola, +that is to say, the soldiers who had first risen for the +Constitution. Morelli, who had received the Viceroy's treacherous +thanks for his conduct, was executed, along with one of his +companions; the rest were sent in chains to labour among felons. +Hundreds of persons were left lying, condemned or uncondemned, in +prison; others, in spite of the amnesty, were driven from their +native land; and that great, long-lasting stream of fugitives now +began to pour into England, which, in the early memories of many +who are not yet old, has associated the name of Italian with the +image of an exile and a sufferer.</p> +<p>[Insurrection in Piedmont, March 10.]</p> +<p>There was a moment in the campaign of Austria against Naples +when the invading army was threatened with the most serious +danger. An insurrection broke out in Piedmont, and the troops of +that country attempted to unite with the patriotic party of +Lombardy in a movement which would have thrown all Northern Italy +upon the rear of the Austrians. In the first excess of alarm, the +Czar ordered a hundred thousand Russians to cross the Galician +frontier, and to march in the direction of the Adriatic. It +proved unnecessary, however, to continue this advance. The +Piedmontese army was divided against itself; part proclaimed the +Spanish Constitution, and, on the abdication of the King, called +upon his cousin, the Regent, Charles Albert of Carignano, to +march against the Austrians; part adhered to the rightful heir, +the King's brother, Charles Felix, who was absent at Modena, and +who, with an honesty in strong contrast to the frauds of the +Neapolitan Court, refused to temporise with rebels, or to make +any compromise with the Constitution. The scruples of the Prince +of Carignano, after he had gone some way with the military party +of action, paralysed the movement of Northern Italy. Unsupported +by Piedmontese troops, the conspirators of Milan failed to raise +any open insurrection. Austrian soldiers thronged westwards from +the Venetian fortresses, and entered Piedmont itself; the +collapse of the Neapolitan army destroyed the hopes of the +bravest patriots; and the only result of the Piedmontese movement +was that the grasp of Austria closed more tightly on its subject +provinces, while the martyrs of Italian freedom passed out of the +sight of the world, out of the range of all human communication, +buried for years to come in the silent, unvisited prison of the +North. <a name="FNanchor329"> </a><a href="#Footnote_329"><sup>[329]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The French Ultra-Royalists urging attack on Spain.]</p> +<p>Thus the victory of absolutism was completed, and the law was +laid down to Europe that a people seeking its liberties elsewhere +than in the grace and spontaneous generosity of its legitimate +sovereign became a fit object of attack for the armies of the +three Great Powers. It will be seen in a later chapter how +Metternich persuaded the Czar to include under the anathema +issued by the Congress of Laibach (May, 1821) <a name="FNanchor330"> </a><a href="#Footnote_330"><sup>[330]</sup></a> +the outbreak of the Greeks, which at this moment began, and how +Lord Castlereagh supported the Austrian Minister in denying to +these rebels against the Sultan all right or claim to the +consideration of Europe. Spain was for the present left +unmolested; but the military operations of 1821 prepared the way +for a similar crusade against that country by occasioning the +downfall of Richelieu's Ministry, and throwing the government of +France entirely into the hands of the Ultra-Royalists. All +parties in the French Chamber, whether they condemned or approved +the suppression of Neapolitan liberty, censured a policy which +had kept France in inaction, and made Austria supreme in Italy. +The Ultra-Royalists profited by the general discontent to +overthrow the Minister whom they had promised to support (Dec., +1821); and from this time a war with Spain, conducted either by +France alone or in combination with the three Eastern Powers, +became the dearest hope of the rank and file of the dominant +faction. Villèle, their nominal chief, remained what he +had been before, a statesman among fanatics, and desired to +maintain the attitude of observation as long as this should be +possible. A body of troops had been stationed on the southern +frontier in 1820 to prevent all intercourse with the Spanish +districts afflicted with the yellow fever. This epidemic had +passed away, but the number of the troops was now raised to a +hundred thousand. It was, however, the hope of Villèle +that hostilities might be averted unless the Spaniards should +themselves provoke a combat, or, by resorting to extreme measures +against King Ferdinand, should compel Louis XVIII. to intervene +on behalf of his kinsman. The more violent section of the French +Cabinet, represented by Montmorency, the Foreign Minister, called +for an immediate march on Madrid, or proposed to delay operations +only until France should secure the support of the other +Continental Powers.</p> +<p>[Spain from 1820 to 1822.]</p> +<p>[Ferdinand plots with the Serviles against the +Constitution.]</p> +<p>The condition of Spain in the year 1822 gave ample +encouragement to those who longed to employ the arms of France in +the royalist cause. The hopes of peaceful reform, which for the +first few months after the revolution had been shared even by +foreign politicians at Madrid, had long vanished. In the moment +of popular victory Ferdinand had brought the leaders of the +Cortes from their prisons and placed them in office. These men +showed a dignified forgetfulness of the injuries which they had +suffered. Misfortune had calmed their impetuosity, and taught +them more of the real condition of the Spanish people. They +entered upon their task with seriousness and good faith, and +would have proved the best friends of constitutional monarchy if +Ferdinand had had the least intention of co-operating with them +loyally. But they found themselves encountered from the first by +a double enemy. The clergy, who had overthrown the Constitution +six years before, intrigued or openly declared against it as soon +as it was revived; the more violent of the Liberals, with Riego +at their head, abandoned themselves to extravagances like those +of the club-orators of Paris in 1791, and did their best to make +any peaceable administration impossible. After combating these +anarchists, or Exaltados, with some success, the Ministry was +forced to call in their aid, when, at the instigation of the +Papal Nuncio, the King placed his veto upon a law dissolving most +of the monasteries <a name="FNanchor331"> </a><a href="#Footnote_331"><sup>[331]</sup></a> (Oct., 1820). Ferdinand now +openly combined with the enemies of the Constitution, and +attempted to transfer the command of the army to one of his own +agents. The plot failed; the Ministry sent the alarm over the +whole country, and Ferdinand stood convicted before his people as +a conspirator against the Constitution which he had sworn to +defend. The agitation of the clubs, which the Ministry had +hitherto suppressed, broke out anew. A storm of accusations +assailed Ferdinand himself. He was compelled at the end of the +year 1820 to banish from Madrid most of the persons who had been +his confidants; and although his dethronement was not yet +proposed, he had already become, far more than Louis XVI. of +France under similar conditions, the recognised enemy of the +revolution, and the suspected patron of every treason against the +nation.</p> +<p>[The Ministry between the Exaltados and Serviles, 1821.]</p> +<p>[Attempted coup d'état, July 6, 1822.]</p> +<p>[Royalists revolt in the north.]</p> +<p>The attack of the despotic Courts on Naples in the spring of +1821 heightened the fury of parties in Spain, encouraging the +Serviles, or Absolutists, in their plots, and forcing the +Ministry to yield to the cry for more violent measures against +the enemies of the Constitution. In the south of Spain the +Exaltados gained possession of the principal military and civil +commands, and openly refused obedience to the central +administration when it attempted to interfere with their action +Seville, Carthagena, and Cadiz acted as if they were independent +Republics and even spoke of separation from Spain. Defied by its +own subordinates in the provinces, and unable to look to the King +for any sincere support, the moderate governing party lost all +hold upon the nation. In the Cortes elected in 1822 the Exaltados +formed the majority, and Riego was appointed President. Ferdinand +now began to concert measures of action with the French +Ultra-Royalists. The Serviles, led by priests, and supported by +French money, broke into open rebellion in the north. When the +session of the Cortes ended, the King attempted to overthrow his +enemies by military force. Three battalions of the Royal Guard, +which had been withdrawn from Madrid, received secret orders to +march upon the capital (July 6, 1822), where Ferdinand was +expected to place himself at their head. They were, however, met +and defeated in the streets by other regiments, and Ferdinand, +vainly attempting to dissociate himself from the action of his +partisans, found his crown, if not his life, in peril. He wrote +to Louis XVIII. that he was a prisoner. Though the French King +gave nothing more than good counsel, the Ultra-Royalists in the +French Cabinet and in the army now strained every nerve to +accelerate a war between the two countries. The Spanish +Absolutists seized the town of Seo d'Urgel, and there set up a +provisional government. Civil war spread over the northern +provinces. The Ministry, which was now formed of Riego's friends, +demanded and obtained from the Cortes dictatorial powers like +those which the French Committee of Public Safety had wielded in +1793, but with far other result. Spain found no Danton, no +Carnot, at this crisis, when the very highest powers of intellect +and will would have been necessary to arouse and to arm a people +far less disposed to fight for liberty than the French were in +1793. One man alone, General Mina, checked and overthrew the +rebel leaders of the north with an activity superior to their +own. The Government, boastful and violent in its measures, +effected scarcely anything in the organisation of a national +force, or in preparing the means of resistance against those +foreign armies with whose attack the country was now plainly +threatened.</p> +<p>[England and the Congress of 1822.]</p> +<p>When the Congress of Laibach broke up in the spring of 1821. +its members determined to renew their meeting in the following +year, in order to decide whether the Austrian army might then be +withdrawn from Naples, and to discuss other questions affecting +their common interests. The progress of the Greek insurrection +and a growing strife between Russia and Turkey had since then +thrown all Italian difficulties into the shade. The Eastern +question stood in the front rank of European politics; next in +importance came the affairs of Spain. It was certain that these, +far more than the occupation of Naples, would supply the real +business of the Congress of 1822. England had a far greater +interest in both questions than in the Italian negotiations of +the two previous years. It was felt that the system of abstention +which England had then followed could be pursued no longer, and +that the country must be represented not by some casual and +wandering diplomatist, but by its leading Minister, Lord +Castlereagh. The intentions of the other Powers in regard to +Spain were matter of doubt; it was the fixed policy of Great +Britain to leave the Spanish revolution in Europe to run its own +course, and to persuade the other Powers to do the same. But the +difficulties connected with Spain did not stop at the Spanish +frontier. The South American colonies had now in great part +secured their independence. They had developed a trade with Great +Britain which made it impossible for this country to ignore their +flag and the decisions of their law courts. The British +navigation-laws had already been modified by Parliament in favour +of their shipping; and although it was no business of the English +Government to grant a formal title to communities which had made +themselves free, the practical recognition of the American States +by the appointment of diplomatic agents could in several cases +not be justly delayed. Therefore, without interfering with any +colonies which were still fighting or still negotiating with +Spain, the British Minister proposed to inform the Allied +cabinets of the intention of this country to accredit agents to +some of the South American Republics, and to recommend to them +the adoption of a similar policy.</p> +<p>[Death of Castlereagh, Aug. 12, 1822.]</p> +<p>Such was the tenour of the instructions which, a few weeks +before his expected departure for the Continent, Castlereagh drew +up for his own guidance, and submitted to the Cabinet and the +King. <a name="FNanchor332"> </a><a href="#Footnote_332"><sup>[332]</sup></a> Had he lived to fulfil the +mission with which he was charged, the recognition of the South +American Republics, which adds so bright a ray to the fame of +Canning, would probably have been the work of the man who, more +than any other, is associated in popular belief with the +traditions of a hated and outworn system of oppression. Two more +years of life, two more years of change in the relations of +England to the Continent, would have given Castlereagh a +different figure in the history both of Greece and of America. No +English statesman in modern times has been so severely judged. +Circumstances, down to the close of his career, withheld from +Castlereagh the opportunities which fell to his successor; ties +from which others were free made it hard for him to accelerate +the breach with the Allies of 1814. Antagonists showed +Castlereagh no mercy, no justice. The man whom Byron disgraced +himself by ridiculing after his death possessed in a rich measure +the qualities which, in private life, attract esteem and love. +His public life, if tainted in earlier days by the low political +morality of the time, rose high above that of every Continental +statesman of similar rank, with the single exception of Stein. +The best testimony to his integrity is the irritation which it +caused to Talleyrand. <a name="FNanchor333"> </a><a href="#Footnote_333"><sup>[333]</sup></a> If the consciousness of +labour unflaggingly pursued in the public cause, and animated on +the whole by a pure and earnest purpose, could have calmed the +distress of a breaking mind, the decline of Castlereagh's days +might have been one of peace. His countrymen would have +recognised that, if blind to the rights of nations, Castlereagh +had set to foreign rulers the example of truth and good faith. +But the burden of his life was too heavy to bear. Mists of +despondency obscured the outlines of the real world, and struck +chill into his heart. Death, self-invoked, brought relief to the +over-wrought brain, and laid Castlereagh, with all his cares, in +everlasting sleep.</p> +<p>[Canning Foreign Secretary. Wellington deputed to the +Congress, Sept., 1822.]</p> +<p>[Congress of Verona, Oct., 1822.]</p> +<p>The vacant post was filled by Canning, by far the most gifted +of the band of statesmen who had begun their public life in the +school of Pitt. Wellington undertook to represent England at the +Congress of 1822, which was now about to open at Vienna. His +departure was, however, delayed for several weeks, and the +preliminary meeting, at which it had been intended to transact +all business not relating to Italy, was almost over before his +arrival. Wellington accordingly travelled on to Verona, where +Italian affairs were to be dealt with; and the Italian +Conference, which the British Government had not intended to +recognise, thus became the real Congress of 1822. Anxious as Lord +Castlereagh had been on the question of foreign interference with +Spain, he hardly understood the imminence of the danger. In +passing through Paris, Wellington learnt for the first time that +a French or European invasion of Spain would be the foremost +object of discussion among the Powers; and on reaching Verona he +made the unwelcome discovery that the Czar was bent upon sending +a Russian army to take part, as the mandatary of Europe, in +overthrowing the Spanish Constitution. Alexander's desire was to +obtain a joint declaration from the Congress like that which had +been issued against Naples by the three Courts at Troppau, but +one even more formidable, since France might be expected in the +present case to give its concurrence, which had been withheld +before. France indeed occupied, according to the absolutist +theory of the day, the same position in regard to a Jacobin Spain +as Austria in regard to a Jacobin Naples, and might perhaps claim +to play the leading military part in the crusade of repression. +But the work was likely to be a much more difficult one than that +of 1821. The French troops, said the Czar, were not trustworthy; +and there was a party in France which might take advantage of the +war to proclaim the second Napoleon or the Republic. King Louis +XVIII. could not therefore be allowed to grapple with Spain +alone. It was necessary that the principal force employed by the +alliance should be one whose loyalty and military qualities were +above suspicion: the generals who had marched from Moscow to +Paris were not likely to fail beyond the Pyrenees: and a campaign +of the Russian army in Western Europe promised to relieve the +Czar of some of the discontent of his soldiers, who had been +turned back after entering Galicia in the previous year, and who +had not been allowed to assist their fellow-believers in Greece +in their struggle against the Sultan. <a name="FNanchor334"> </a><a href="#Footnote_334"><sup>[334]</sup></a></p> +<p>[No joint declaration by made by the Congress against +Spain.]</p> +<p>Wellington had ascertained, while in Paris, that King Louis +XVIII. and Villèle were determined under no circumstances +to give Russian troops a passage through France. His knowledge of +this fact enabled him to speak with some confidence to Alexander. +It was the earnest desire of the English Government to avert war, +and its first object was therefore to prevent the Congress, as a +body, from sending an ultimatum to Spain. If all the Powers +united in a declaration like that of Troppau, war was inevitable; +if France were left to settle its own disputes with its +neighbour, English mediation might possibly preserve peace. The +statement of Wellington, that England would rather sever itself +from the great alliance than consent to a joint declaration +against Spain, had no doubt its effect in preventing such a +declaration being proposed; but a still weightier reason against +it was the direct contradiction between the intentions of the +French Government and those of the Czar. If the Czar was +determined to be the soldier of Europe, while on the other hand +King Louis absolutely denied him a passage through France, it was +impossible that the Congress should threaten Spain with a +collective attack. No great expenditure of diplomacy was +therefore necessary to prevent the summary framing of a decree +against Spain like that which had been framed against Naples two +years before. In the first despatches which he sent back to +England Wellington expressed his belief that the deliberations of +the Powers would end in a decision to leave the Spaniards to +themselves.</p> +<p>[Course of the negotiation against Spain.]</p> +<p>But the danger was only averted in appearance. The impulse to +war was too strong among the French Ultra-Royalists for the +Congress to keep silence on Spanish affairs. Villèle +indeed still hoped for peace, and, unlike other members of his +Cabinet, he desired that, if war should arise, France should +maintain entire freedom of action, and enter upon the struggle as +an independent Power, not as the instrument of the European +concert. This did not prevent him, however, from desiring to +ascertain what assistance would be forthcoming, if France should +be hard pressed by its enemy. Instructions were given to the +French envoys at Verona to sound the Allies on this question. <a +name="FNanchor335"> </a><a href="#Footnote_335"><sup>[335]</sup></a> It was out of the inquiry so +suggested that a negotiation sprang which virtually combined all +Europe against Spain. The envoy Montmorency, acting in the spirit +of the war party, demanded of all the Powers whether, in the +event of France withdrawing its ambassador from Madrid, they +would do the same, and whether, in case of war, France would +receive their moral and material support. Wellington in his reply +protested against the framing of hypothetical cases; the other +envoys answered Montmorency's questions in the affirmative. The +next step was taken by Metternich, who urged that certain +definite acts of the Spanish people or Government ought to be +specified as rendering war obligatory on France and its allies, +and also that, with a view of strengthening the Royalist party in +Spain, notes ought to be presented by all the ambassadors at +Madrid, demanding a change in the Constitution. This proposal was +in its turn submitted to Wellington and rejected by him. It was +accepted by the other plenipotentiaries, and the acts of the +Spanish people were specified on which war should necessarily +follow. These were, the commission of any act of violence against +a member of the royal family, the deposition of the King, or an +attempt to change the dynasty. A secret clause was added to the +second part of the agreement, to the effect that if the Spanish +Government made no satisfactory answer to the notes requiring a +change in the Constitution, all the ambassadors should be +immediately withdrawn. A draft of the notes to be presented was +sketched; and Montmorency, who thought that he had probably gone +too far in his stipulations, returned to Paris to submit the +drafts to the King before handing them over to the ambassadors at +Paris for transmission to Madrid.</p> +<p>[Villèle and Montmorency.]</p> +<p>[Speech of Louis XVIII., Jan. 27, 1823.]</p> +<p>It was with great dissatisfaction that Villèle saw how +his colleague had committed France to the direction of the three +Eastern Powers. There was no likelihood that the Spanish +Government would make the least concession of the kind required, +and in that case France stood pledged, if the action of +Montmorency was ratified, to withdraw its ambassador from Madrid +at once. Villèle accordingly addressed himself to the +ambassadors at Paris, asking that the despatch of the notes might +be postponed. No notice was taken of his request: the notes were +despatched forthwith. Roused by this slight, Villèle +appealed to the King not to submit to the dictation of foreign +Courts. Louis XVIII. declared in his favour against all the rest +of the Cabinet, and Montmorency had to retire from office. But +the decision of the King meant that he disapproved of the +negotiations of Verona as shackling the movements of France, not +that he had freed himself from the influence of the war-party. +Chateaubriand, the most reckless agitator for hostilities, was +appointed Foreign Minister. The mediation of Great Britain was +rejected; <a name="FNanchor336"> </a><a href="#Footnote_336"><sup>[336]</sup></a> and in his speech at the +opening of the Chambers of 1823, King Louis himself virtually +published the declaration of war.</p> +<p>[England in 1823.]</p> +<p>[French invasion of Spain, April, 1823.]</p> +<p>The ambassadors of the three Eastern Courts had already +presented their notes at Madrid demanding a change in the +Constitution; and, after receiving a high-spirited answer from +the Ministers, they had quitted the country. Canning, while using +every diplomatic effort to prevent an unjust war, had made it +clear to the Spaniards that England could not render them armed +assistance. The reasons against such an intervention were indeed +overwhelming. Russia, Austria, and Prussia would have taken the +field rather than have permitted the Spanish Constitution to +triumph; and although, if leagued with Spain in a really national +defence like that of 1808, Great Britain might perhaps have +protected the Peninsula against all the Powers of Europe +combined, it was far otherwise when the cause at stake was one to +which a majority of the Spanish nation had shown itself to be +indifferent, and against which the northern provinces had +actually taken up arms. The Government and the Cortes were +therefore left to defend themselves as best they could against +their enemies. They displayed their weakness by enacting laws of +extreme severity against deserters, and by retiring, along with +the recalcitrant King, from Madrid to Seville. On the 7th of +April the French troops, led by the Duke of Angoulême, +crossed the frontier. The priests and a great part of the +peasantry welcomed them as deliverers: the forces opposed to them +fell back without striking a blow. As the invader advanced +towards the capital, gangs of royalists, often led by monks, +spread such terror and devastation over the northern provinces +that the presence of foreign troops became the only safeguard for +the peaceable inhabitants. <a name="FNanchor337"> </a><a href="#Footnote_337"><sup>[337]</sup></a> Madrid itself was threatened +by the corps of a freebooter named Bessières. The +commandant sent his surrender to the French while they were still +at some distance, begging them to advance as quickly as possible +in order to save the city from pillage. The message had scarcely +been sent when Bessières and his bandits appeared in the +suburbs. The governor drove them back, and kept the royalist mob +within the city at bay for four days more. On the 23rd of May the +advance-guard of the French army entered the capital.</p> +<p>[Angoulême and the Regency, and the ambassadors.]</p> +<p>It had been the desire of King Louis XVIII. and +Angoulême to save Spain from the violence of royalist and +priestly fanaticism. On reaching Madrid, Angoulême intended +to appoint a provisional, government himself; he was, however, +compelled by orders from Paris to leave the election in the hands +of the Council of Castille, and a Regency came into power whose +first acts showed in what spirit the victory of the French was to +be used. Edicts were issued declaring all the acts of the Cortes +affecting the monastic orders to be null and void, dismissing all +officials appointed since March 7, 1820, and subjecting to +examination those who, then being in office, had not resigned +their posts. <a name="FNanchor338"> </a><a href="#Footnote_338"><sup>[338]</sup></a> The arrival of the +ambassadors of the three Eastern Powers encouraged the Regency in +their antagonism to the French commander. It was believed that +the Cabinet of Paris was unwilling to restore King Ferdinand as +an absolute monarch, and intended to obtain from him the grant of +institutions resembling those of the French Charta. Any such +limitation of absolute power was, however, an object of horror to +the three despotic Courts. Their ambassadors formed themselves +into a council with the express object of resisting the supposed +policy of Angoulême. The Regency grew bolder, and gave the +signal for general retribution upon the Liberals by publishing an +order depriving all persons who had served in the voluntary +militia since March, 1820, of their offices, pensions, and +titles. The work inaugurated in the capital was carried much +further in the provinces. The friends of the Constitution, and +even soldiers who were protected by their capitulation with the +French, were thrown into prison by the new local authorities. The +violence of the reaction reached such a height that +Angoulême, now on the march to Cadiz, was compelled to +publish an ordinance forbidding arrests to be made without the +consent of a French commanding officer, and ordering his generals +to release the persons who had been arbitrarily imprisoned. The +council of ambassadors, blind in their jealousy of France to the +danger of an uncontrolled restoration, drew up a protest against +his ordinance, and desired that the officers of the Regency +should be left to work their will.</p> +<p>[The Cortes at Cadiz.]</p> +<p>[Ferdinand liberated, Oct. 1.]</p> +<p>After spending some weeks in idle debates at Seville, the +Cortes had been compelled by the appearance of the French on the +Sierra Morena to retire to Cadiz. As King Ferdinand refused to +accompany them, he was declared temporarily insane, and forced to +make the journey (June 12). Angoulême, following the French +vanguard after a considerable interval, appeared before Cadiz in +August, and sent a note to King Ferdinand, recommending him to +publish an amnesty, and to promise the restoration of the +mediæval Cortes. It was hoped that the terms suggested in +this note might be accepted by the Government in Cadiz as a basis +of peace, and so render an attack upon the city unnecessary. The +Ministry, however, returned a defiant answer in the King's name. +The siege of Cadiz accordingly began in earnest. On the 30th of +August the fort of the Trocadero was stormed; three weeks later +the city was bombarded. In reply to all proposals for negotiation +Angoulême stated that he could only treat when King +Ferdinand was within his own lines. There was not the least hope +of prolonging the defence of Cadiz with success, for the combat +was dying out even in those few districts of Spain where the +constitutional troops had fought with energy. Ferdinand himself +pretended that he bore no grudge against his Ministers, and that +the Liberals had nothing to fear from his release. On the 30th of +September he signed, as if with great satisfaction, an absolute +and universal amnesty. <a name="FNanchor339"> </a><a href="#Footnote_339"><sup>[339]</sup></a> On the following day he was +conveyed with his family across the bay to Angoulême's +head-quarters.</p> +<p>[Violence of the Restoration.]</p> +<p>The war was over: the real results of the French invasion now +came into sight. Ferdinand had not been twelve hours in the +French camp when, surrounded by monks and royalist desperadoes, +he published a proclamation invalidating every act of the +constitutional Government of the last three years, on the ground +that his sanction had been given under constraint. The same +proclamation ratified the acts of the Regency of Madrid. As the +Regency of Madrid had declared all persons concerned in the +removal of the King to Cadiz to be liable to the penalties of +high treason, Ferdinand had in fact ratified a sentence of death +against several of the men from whom he had just parted in +friendship. <a name="FNanchor340"> </a><a href="#Footnote_340"><sup>[340]</sup></a> Many of these victims of the +King's perfidy were sent into safety by the French. But +Angoulême was powerless to influence Ferdinand's policy and +conduct. Don Saez, the King's confessor, was made First Secretary +of State. On the 4th of October an edict was issued banishing for +ever from Madrid, and from the country fifty miles round it, +every person who during the last three years had sat in the +Cortes, or who had been a Minister, counsellor of State, judge, +commander, official in any public office, magistrate, or officer +in the so-called voluntary militia. It was ordered that +throughout Spain a solemn service should be celebrated in +expiation of the insults offered to the Holy Sacrament; that +missions should be sent over the land to combat the pernicious +and heretical doctrines associated with the late outbreak, and +that the bishops should relegate to monasteries of the strictest +observance the priests who had acted as the agents of an impious +faction. <a name="FNanchor341"> </a><a href="#Footnote_341"><sup>[341]</sup></a> Thus the war of revenge was +openly declared against the defeated party. It was in vain that +Angoulême indignantly reproached the King, and that the +ambassadors of the three Eastern Courts pressed him to draw up at +least some kind of amnesty. Ferdinand travelled slowly towards +Madrid, saying that he could take no such step until he reached +the capital. On the 7th of November, Riego was hanged. Thousands +of persons were thrown into prison, or compelled to fly from the +country. Except where order was preserved by the French, life and +property were at the mercy of royalist mobs and the priests who +led them; and although the influence of the Russian statesman +Pozzo di Borgo at length brought a respectable Ministry into +office, this only roused the fury of the clerical party, and led +to a cry for the deposition of the King, and for the elevation of +his more fanatical brother, Don Carlos, to the throne. Military +commissions were instituted at the beginning of 1824 for the +trial of accused persons, and a pretended amnesty, published six +months later, included in its fifteen classes of exception the +participators in almost every act of the revolution. Ordinance +followed upon ordinance, multiplying the acts punishable with +death, and exterminating the literature which was believed to be +the source of all religious and social heterodoxy. Every movement +of life was watched by the police; every expression of political +opinion was made high treason. Young men were shot for being +freemasons; women were sent to prison for ten years for +possessing a portrait of Riego. The relation of the restored +Government to its subjects was in fact that which belonged to a +state of civil war. Insurrections arose among the fanatics who +were now taking the name of the Carlist or Apostolic party, as +well as among a despairing remnant of the Constitutionalists. +After a feeble outbreak of the latter at Tarifa, a hundred and +twelve persons were put to death by the military commissions +within eighteen days. <a name="FNanchor342"> </a><a href="#Footnote_342"><sup>[342]</sup></a> It was not until the summer +of 1825 that the jurisdiction of these tribunals and the Reign of +Terror ended.</p> +<p>[England prohibits the conquest of Spanish colonies by France +or its allies.]</p> +<p>[England recognises the independence of the colonies. +1824-5.]</p> +<p>France had won a cheap and inglorious victory. The three +Eastern Courts had seen their principle of absolutism triumph at +the cost of everything that makes government morally better than +anarchy. One consolation remained for those who felt that there +was little hope for freedom on the Continent of Europe. The +crusade against Spanish liberty had put an end for ever to the +possibility of a joint conquest of Spanish America in the +interest of despotism. The attitude of England was no longer what +it had been in 1818. When the Czar had proposed at the Congress +of Aix-la-Chapelle that the allied monarchs should suppress the +republican principle beyond the seas, Castlereagh had only stated +that England could bear no part in such an enterprise; he had not +said that England would effectually prevent others from +attempting it. This was the resolution by which Canning, isolated +and baffled by the conspiracy of Verona, proved that England +could still do something to protect its own interest and the +interests of mankind against a league of autocrats. There is +indeed little doubt that the independence of the Spanish colonies +would have been recognised by Great Britain soon after the war of +1823, whoever might have been our Minister for Foreign Affairs, +but this recognition was a different matter in the hands of +Canning from what it would have been in the hands of his +predecessor. The contrast between the two men was one of spirit +rather than of avowed rules of action. Where Castlereagh offered +apologies to the Continental sovereigns, Canning uttered defiance +<a name="FNanchor343"> </a><a href="#Footnote_343"><sup>[343]</sup></a> The treaties of 1815, which +connected England so closely with the foreign courts, were no +work of his; though he sought not to repudiate them, he delighted +to show that in spite of them England has still its own policy, +its own sympathies, its own traditions. In face of the council of +kings and its assumption of universal jurisdiction, he publicly +described himself as an enthusiast for the independence of +nations. If others saw little evidence that France intended to +recompense itself for its services to Ferdinand by appropriating +some of his rebellious colonies, Canning was quick to lay hold of +every suspicious circumstance. At the beginning of the war of +1823 he gave a formal warning to the ambassador of Louis XVIII. +that France would not be permitted to bring any of these +provinces under its dominion, whether by conquest or cession. <a +name="FNanchor344"> </a><a href="#Footnote_344"><sup>[344]</sup></a> When the war was over, he +rejected the invitation of Ferdinand's Government to take part in +a conference at Paris, where the affairs of South America were to +be laid before the Allied Powers. <a name="FNanchor345"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_345"><sup>[345]</sup></a> What these Powers might +or might not think on the subject of America was now a matter of +indifference, for the policy of England was fixed, and it was +useless to debate upon a conclusion that could not be altered. +British consular agents were appointed in most of the colonies +before the close of the year 1823; and after some interval the +independence of Buenos Ayres, Colombia, and Mexico were formally +recognised by the conclusion of commercial treaties. "I called +the New World into existence," cried Canning, when reproached +with permitting the French occupation of Spain, "in order to +redress the balance of the Old." The boast, famous in our +Parliamentary history, has left an erroneous impression of the +part really played by Canning at this crisis. He did not call the +New World into existence; he did not even assist it in winning +independence, as France had assisted the United States fifty +years before; but when this independence had been won, he threw +over it the aegis of Great Britain, declaring that no other +European Power should reimpose the yoke which Spain had not been +able to maintain.</p> +<p>[Affairs in Portugal.]</p> +<p>[Constitution granted by Pedro, May, 1826.]</p> +<p>The overthrow of the Spanish Constitution by foreign arms led +to a series of events in Portugal which forced England to a more +direct intervention in the Peninsula than had yet been necessary, +and heightened the conflict that had sprung up between its policy +and that of Continental absolutism. The same parties and the same +passions, political and religious, existed in Portugal as in +Spain, and the enemies of the Constitution found the same support +at foreign Courts. The King of Portugal, John VI., was a weak but +not ill-meaning man; his wife, who was a sister of Ferdinand of +Spain, and his son Don Miguel were the chiefs of the conspiracy +against the Cortes. In June, 1823, a military revolt, arranged by +Miguel, brought the existing form of government to an end: the +King promised, however, when dissolving the Cortes, that a +Constitution should be bestowed by himself upon Portugal; and he +seems to have intended to keep his word. The ambassadors of +France and Austria were, however, busy in throwing hindrances in +the way, and Don Miguel prepared to use violence to prevent his +father from making any concession to the Liberals. King John, in +fear for his life, applied to England for troops; Canning +declined to land soldiers at Lisbon, but sent a squadron, with +orders to give the King protection. The winter of 1823 was passed +in intrigues; in May, 1824, Miguel arrested the Ministers and +surrounded the King's palace with troops. After several days of +confusion King John made his escape to the British ships, and +Miguel, who was alternately cowardly and audacious, then made his +submission, and was ordered to leave the country. King John died +in the spring of 1826 without having granted a Constitution. +Pedro, his eldest son, had already been made Emperor of Brazil; +and, as it was impossible that Portugal and Brazil could again be +united, it was arranged that Pedro's daughter, when of sufficient +age, should marry her uncle Miguel, and so save Portugal from the +danger of a contested succession. Before renouncing the crown of +Portugal, Pedro granted a Constitution to that country. A Regency +had already been appointed by King John, in which neither the +Queen-dowager nor Miguel was included.</p> +<p>[Desertion of Portuguese soldiery, 1826.]</p> +<p>[Spain permits the deserters to attack Portugal.]</p> +<p>[Canning sends troops to Lisbon, Dec., 1826.]</p> +<p>Miguel had gone to Vienna. Although a sort of Caliban in +character and understanding, this Prince met with the welcome due +to a kinsman of the Imperial house, and to a representative of +the good cause of absolutism. He was received by Metternich with +great interest, and his fortunes were taken under the protection +of the Austrian Court. In due time, it was hoped this savage and +ignorant churl would do yeoman's service to Austrian principles +in the Peninsula. But the Regency and the new Constitution of +Portugal had not to wait for the tardy operation of Metternich's +covert hostility. The soldiery who had risen at Miguel's bidding +in 1823 now proclaimed him King, and deserted to Spanish soil. +Within the Spanish frontier they were received by Ferdinand's +representatives with open arms. The demands made by the +Portuguese ambassador at Madrid for their dispersion and for the +surrender of their weapons were evaded. The cause of these armed +bands on the frontier became the cause of the Clerical and +Ultra-Royalist party over all Europe. Money was sent to them from +France and Austria. They were joined by troops of Spanish +Carlists or Apostolicals; they were fed, clothed, and organised, +if not by the Spanish Government itself, at least by those over +whose action the Spanish Government exercised control. <a name="FNanchor346"> </a><a href="#Footnote_346"><sup>[346]</sup></a> +Thus raised to considerable military strength, they made +incursions into Portugal, and at last attempted a regular +invasion. The Regency of Lisbon, justly treating these outrages +as the act of the Spanish Government, and appealing to the +treaties which bound Great Britain to defend Portugal against +foreign attack, demanded the assistance of this country. More was +involved in the action taken by Canning than a possible contest +with Spain; the seriousness of the danger lay in the fact that +Spain was still occupied by French armies, and that a war with +Spain might, and probably would, involve a war with France, if +not with other Continental Powers. But the English Ministry +waited only for the confirmation of the alleged facts by their +own ambassador. The treaty-rights of Portugal were undoubted; the +temper of the English Parliament and nation, strained to the +utmost by the events of the last three years, was such that a war +against Ferdinand and against the destroyers of Spanish liberty +would have caused more rejoicing than alarm. Nine days after the +formal demand of the Portuguese arrived, four days after their +complaint was substantiated by the report of our ambassador, +Canning announced to the House of Commons that British troops +were actually on the way to Lisbon. In words that alarmed many of +his own party, and roused the bitter indignation of every +Continental Court, Canning warned those whose acts threatened to +force England into war, that the war, if war arose, would be a +war of opinion, and that England, however earnestly she might +endeavour to avoid it, could not avoid seeing ranked under her +banner all the restless and discontented of any nation with which +she might come into conflict. As for the Portuguese Constitution +which formed the real object of the Spanish attack, it had not, +Canning said, been given at the instance of Great Britain, but he +prayed that Heaven might prosper it. It was impossible to doubt +that a Minister who spoke thus, and who, even under expressions +of regret, hinted at any alliance with the revolutionary elements +in France and Spain, was formidably in earnest. The words and the +action of Canning produced the effect which he desired. The +Government of Ferdinand discovered the means of checking the +activity of the Apostolicals: the presence of the British troops +at Lisbon enabled the Portuguese Regency to throw all its forces +upon the invaders and to drive them from the country. They were +disbanded when they re-crossed the Spanish frontier; the French +Court loudly condemned their immoral enterprise; and the +Constitution of Portugal seemed, at least for the moment, to have +triumphed over its open and its secret enemies.</p> +<p>[The policy of Canning.]</p> +<p>The tone of the English Government had indeed changed since +the time when Metternich could express a public hope that the +three Eastern Powers would have the approval of this country in +their attack upon the Constitution of Naples. In 1820 such a +profession might perhaps have passed for a mistake; in 1826 it +would have been a palpable absurdity. Both in England and on the +Continent it was felt that the difference between the earlier and +the later spirit of our policy was summed up in the contrast +between Canning and Castlereagh. It has become an article of +historical faith that Castlereagh's melancholy death brought one +period of our foreign policy to a close and inaugurated another: +it has been said that Canning liberated England from its +Continental connexions; it has even been claimed for him that he +performed for Europe no less a task than the dissolution of the +Holy <a name="FNanchor347">Alliance.</a><a href="#Footnote_347"><sup>[347]</sup></a> The figure of Canning is +indeed one that will for ever fill a great space in European +history; and the more that is known of the opposition which he +encountered both from his sovereign and from his great rival +Wellington, the greater must be our admiration for his clear, +strong mind, and for the conquering force of his character. But +the legend which represents English policy as taking an +absolutely new departure in 1822 does not correspond to the truth +of history. Canning was a member of the Cabinet from 1816 to +1820; it is a poor compliment to him to suppose that he either +exercised no influence upon his colleagues or acquiesced in a +policy of which he disapproved; and the history of the Congress +of Aix-la-Chapelle proves that his counsels had even at that time +gained the ascendant. The admission made by Castlereagh in 1820, +after Canning had left the Cabinet, that Austria, as a +neighbouring and endangered State, had a right to suppress the +revolutionary constitution of Naples, would probably not have +gained Canning's assent; in all other points, the action of our +Government at Troppau and Laibach might have been his own. +Canning loved to speak of his system as one of neutrality, and of +non-interference in that struggle between the principles of +despotism and of democracy which seemed to be spreading over +Europe. He avowed his sympathy for Spain as the object of an +unjust and unprovoked war, but he most solemnly warned the +Spaniards not to expect English assistance. He prayed that the +Constitution of Portugal might prosper, but he expressly +disclaimed all connection with its origin, and defended Portugal +not because it was a Constitutional State, but because England +was bound by treaties to defend it against foreign invasion. The +arguments against intervention on behalf of Spain which Canning +addressed to the English sympathisers with that country might +have been uttered by Castlereagh; the denial of the right of +foreign Powers to attack the Spanish Constitution, with which +Castlereagh headed his own instructions for Verona, might have +been written by Canning.</p> +<p>[Canning and the European concert.]</p> +<p>The statements that Canning withdrew England from the +Continental system, and that he dissolved the Holy Alliance, +cannot be accepted without large correction. The general +relations existing between the Great Powers were based, not on +the ridiculous and obsolete treaty of Holy Alliance, but on the +Acts which were signed at the Conference of Aix-la-Chapelle. The +first of these was the secret Quadruple Treaty which bound +England and the three Eastern Powers to attack France in case a +revolution in that country should endanger the peace of Europe; +the second was the general declaration of all the five Powers +that they would act in amity and take counsel with one another. +From the first of these alliances Canning certainly did not +withdraw England. He would perhaps have done so in 1823 if the +Quadruple Treaty had bound England to maintain the House of +Bourbon on the French throne; but it had been expressly stated +that the deposition of the Bourbons would not necessarily and in +itself be considered by England as endangering the peace of +Europe. This treaty remained in full force up to Canning's death; +and if a revolutionary army had marched from Paris upon Antwerp, +he would certainly have claimed the assistance of the three +Eastern Powers. With respect to the general concert of Europe, +established or confirmed by the declaration of Aix-la-Chapelle, +this had always been one of varying extent and solidity. Both +France and England had held themselves aloof at Troppau. The +federative action was strongest and most mischievous not before +but after the death of Castlereagh, and in the period that +followed the Congress of Verona; for though the war against Spain +was conducted by France alone, the three Eastern Powers had +virtually made themselves responsible for the success of the +enterprise, and it was the influence of their ambassadors at +Paris and Madrid which prevented any restrictions from being +imposed upon Ferdinand's restored sovereignty.</p> +<p>Canning is invested with a spurious glory when it is said that +his action in Spain and in Portugal broke up the league of the +Continental Courts. Canning indeed shaped the policy of our own +country with equal independence and wisdom, but the political +centre of Europe was at this time not London but Vienna. The +keystone of the European fabric was the union of Austria and +Russia, and this union was endangered, not by anything that could +take place in the Spanish Peninsula, but by the conflicting +interests of these two great States in regard to the Ottoman +Empire. From the moment when the Treaty of Paris was signed, +every Austrian politician fixed his gaze upon the roads leading +to the Lower Danube, and anxiously noted the signs of coming war, +or of continued peace, between Russia and the Porte. <a name="FNanchor348"> </a><a href="#Footnote_348"><sup>[348]</sup></a> It +was the triumph of Metternich to have diverted the Czar's +thoughts during the succeeding years from his grievances against +Turkey, and to have baffled the Russian diplomatists and generals +who, like Capodistrias, sought to spur on their master to +enterprises of Eastern conquest. At the Congress of Verona the +shifting and incoherent manoeuvres of Austrian statecraft can +indeed only be understood on the supposition that Metternich was +thinking all the time less of Spain than of Turkey, and +struggling at whatever cost to maintain that personal influence +over Alexander which had hitherto prevented the outbreak of war +in the East. But the antagonism so long suppressed broke out at +last. The progress of the Greek insurrection brought Austria and +Russia not indeed into war, but into the most embittered +hostility with one another. It was on this rock that the ungainly +craft which men called the Holy Alliance at length struck and +went to pieces. Canning played his part well in the question of +the East, but he did not create this question. There were forces +at work which, without his intervention, would probably have made +an end of the despotic amities of 1815. It is not necessary to +the title of a great statesman that he should have called into +being the elements which make a new political order possible; it +is sufficient praise that he should have known how to turn them +to account.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XV."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c15">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Condition of Greece: its Races and Institutions-The Greek +Church-Communal System-The Ægæan Islands-The +Phanariots-Greek Intellectual Revival; Koraes-Beginning of Greek +National Movement; Contact of Greece with the French Revolution +and Napoleon-The Hetæria Philike-Hypsilanti's Attempt in +the Danubian Provinces; its Failure-Revolt of the Morea: +Massacres: Execution of Gregorius, and Terrorism at +Constantinople-Attitude of Russia, Austria, and England-Extension +of the Revolt: Affairs at Hydra-The Greek Leaders-Fall of +Tripolitza-The Massacre of Chios- Failure of the Turks in the +Campaign of 1822-Dissensions of the Greeks-Mahmud calls upon +Mehemet Ali for Aid-Ibrahim conquers Crete and invades the +Morea-Siege of Missolonghi-Philhellenism in Europe-Russian +Proposal for Intervention-Conspiracies in Russia: Death of +Alexander: Accession of Nicholas-Military Insurrection at St. +Petersburg- Anglo-Russian Protocol-Treaty between England, +Russia, and France-Death of Canning-Navarino-War between Russia +and Turkey-Campaigns of 1828 and 1829-Treaty of +Adrianople-Capodistrias President of Greece-Leopold accepts and +then declines the Greek Crown-Murder of Capodistrias-Otho, King +of Greece.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Greece in the Napoleonic age.]</p> +<p>Of the Christian races which at the beginning of the third +decade of this century peopled the European provinces of the +Ottoman Empire, the Greek was that which had been least visibly +affected by the political and military events of the Napoleonic +age. Servia, after a long struggle, had in the year 1817 gained +local autonomy under its own princes, although Turkish troops +still garrisoned its fortresses, and the sovereignty of the +Sultan was acknowledged by the payment of tribute. The Romanic +districts, Wallachia and Moldavia, which, in the famous interview +of Tilsit, Napoleon had bidden the Czar to make his own, were +restored by Russia to the Porte in the Treaty of Bucharest in +1812, but under conditions which virtually established a Russian +protectorate. Greece, with the exception of the Ionian Islands, +had neither been the scene of any military operations, nor formed +the subject of any treaty. Yet the age of the French Revolution +and of the Napoleonic wars had silently wrought in the Greek +nation the last of a great series of changes which fitted it to +take its place among the free peoples of Europe. The signs were +there from which those who could read the future might have +gathered that the political resurrection of Greece was near at +hand. There were some who, with equal insight and patriotism, +sought during this period to lay the intellectual foundation for +that national independence which they foresaw that their children +would win with the sword.</p> +<p>[Greece in the eighteenth century.]</p> +<p>The forward movement of the Greek nation may be said, in +general terms, to have become visible during the first half of +the eighteenth century. Serfage had then disappeared; the peasant +was either a free-holder, or a farmer paying a rent in kind for +his land. In the gradual and unobserved emancipation of the +labouring class the first condition of national revival had +already been fulfilled. The peasantry had been formed which, when +the conflict with the Turk broke out, bore the brunt of the long +struggle. In comparison with the Prussian serf, the Greek +cultivator at the beginning of the eighteenth century was an +independent man: in comparison with the English labourer, he was +well fed and well housed. The evils to which the Greek population +was exposed, wherever Greeks and Turks lived together, were those +which brutalised or degraded the Christian races in every Ottoman +province. There was no redress for injury inflicted by a +Mohammedan official or neighbour. If a wealthy Turk murdered a +Greek in the fields, burnt down his house, and outraged his +family, there was no court where the offender could be brought to +justice. The term by which the Turk described his Christian +neighbour was "our rayah," that is, "our subject." A Mohammedan +landowner might terrorise the entire population around him, carry +off the women, flog and imprison the men, and yet feel that he +had committed no offence against the law; for no law existed but +the Koran, and no Turkish court of justice but that of the Kadi, +where the complaint of the Christian passed for nothing.</p> +<p>This was the monstrous relation that existed between the +dominant and the subject nationalities, not in Greece only, but +in every part of the Ottoman Empire where Mohammedans and +Christians inhabited the same districts. The second great and +general evil was the extortion practised by the tax-gatherers, +and this fell upon the poorer Mohammedans equally with the +Christians, except in regard to the poll-tax, or haratsch, the +badge of servitude, which was levied on Christians alone. All +land paid tithe to the State; and until the tax-gatherer had paid +his visit it was not permitted to the peasant to cut the ripe +crop. This rule enabled the tax-gatherer, whether a Mohammedan or +a Christian, to inflict ruin upon those who did not bribe himself +or his masters; for by merely postponing his visit he could +destroy the value of the harvest. Round this central institution +of tyranny and waste, there gathered, except in the districts +protected by municipal privileges, every form of corruption +natural to a society where the State heard no appeals, and made +no inquiry into the processes employed by those to whom it sold +the taxes. What was possible in the way of extortion was best +seen in the phenomenon of well-built villages being left +tenantless, and the population of rich districts dying out in a +time of peace, without pestilence, without insurrection, without +any greater wrong on the part of the Sultan's government than +that normal indifference which permitted the existence of a +community to depend upon the moderation or the caprice of the +individual possessors of force.</p> +<p>[Origin of modern Greece Byzantine, not classic.]</p> +<p>[Slavonic and Albanian elements.]</p> +<p>Such was the framework, or, as it may be said, the common-law +of the mixed Turkish and Christian society of the Ottoman Empire. +On this background we have now to trace the social and political +features which stood out in Greek life, which preserved the race +from losing its separate nationality, and which made the ultimate +recovery of its independence possible. In the first outburst of +sympathy and delight with which every generous heart in western +Europe hailed the standard of Hellenic freedom upraised in 1821, +the twenty centuries which separated the Greece of literature +from the Greece of to-day were strangely forgotten. The +imagination went straight back to Socrates and Leonidas, and +pictured in the islander or the hillsman who rose against Mahmud +II. the counterpart of those glorious beings who gave to Europe +the ideals of intellectual energy, of plastic beauty, and of +poetic truth. The illusion was a happy one, if it excited on +behalf of a brave people an interest which Servia or Montenegro +might have failed to gain; but it led to a reaction when +disappointments came; it gave inordinate importance to the +question of the physical descent of the Greeks; and it produced a +false impression of the causes which had led up to the war of +independence, and of the qualities, the habits, the bonds of +union, which exercised the greatest power over the nation. These +were, to a great extent, unlike anything existing in the ancient +world; they had originated in Byzantine, not in classic Greece; +and where the scenes of old Hellenic history appeared to be +repeating themselves, it was due more to the continuing influence +of the same seas and the same mountains than to the survival of +any political fragments of the past. The Greek population had +received a strong Slavonic infusion many centuries before. More +recently, Albanian settlers had expelled the inhabitants from +certain districts both in the mainland and in the Morea. Attica, +Boeotia, Corinth, and Argolis were at the outbreak of the war of +independence peopled in the main by a race of Albanian descent, +who still used, along with some Greek, the Albanian <a name="FNanchor349">language.</a><a href="#Footnote_349"><sup>[349]</sup></a> The sense of a separate +nationality was, however, weak among these settlers, who, unlike +some small Albanian communities in the west of the Morea, were +Christians, not Mohammedans. Neighbourhood, commerce, identity of +religion and similarity of local institutions were turning these +Albanians into Greeks; and no community of pure Hellenic descent +played a greater part in the national war, or exhibited more of +the maritime energy and daring which we associate peculiarly with +the Hellenic name, than the islanders of Hydra and Spetza, who +had crossed from the Albanian parts of the Morea and taken +possession of these desert rocks not a hundred years before. The +same phenomenon of an assimilation of Greeks and Albanians was +seen in southern Epirus, the border-ground between the two races. +The Suliotes, Albanian mountaineers, whose military exploits form +one of the most extraordinary chapters in history, showed signs +of Greek influences before the Greek war of independence began, +and in this war they made no distinction between the Greek cause +and their own. Even the rule of the ferocious Ali Pasha at Janina +had been favourable to the extension of Greek civilisation in +Epirus. Under this Mohammedan tyrant Janina contained more +schools than Athens. The Greek population of the district +increased; and in the sense of a common religious antagonism to +the Mohammedan, the Greek and the Albanian Christians in Epirus +forgot their difference of race.</p> +<p>[The Greek Church.]</p> +<p>[Lower clergy.]</p> +<p>[The Patriarch an imperial functionary.]</p> +<p>[The Bishops civil magistrates.]</p> +<p>The central element in modern Greek life was the religious +profession of the Orthodox Eastern Church. Where, as in parts of +Crete, the Greek adopted Mohammedanism, all the other elements of +his nationality together did not prevent him from amalgamating +with the Turk. The sound and popular forces of the Church +belonged to the lower clergy, who, unlike the priests of the +Roman Church, were married and shared the life of the people. If +ignorant and bigoted, they were nevertheless the real guardians +of national spirit; and if their creed was a superstition rather +than a religion, it at least kept the Greeks in a wholesome +antagonism to the superstition of their masters. The higher +clergy stood in many respects in a different position. The +Patriarch of Constantinople was a great officer of the Porte. His +dignities and his civil jurisdiction had been restored and even +enlarged by the Mohammedan conquerors of the Greek Empire, with +the express object of employing the Church as a means of securing +obedience to themselves: and it was quite in keeping with the +history of this great office that, when the Greek national +insurrection at last broke out, the Patriarch Gregorius IV. +should have consented, though unwillingly, to launch the curse of +the Church against it. The Patriarch gained his office by +purchase, or through intrigues at the Divan; he paid an enormous +annual backsheesh for it; and he was liable to be murdered or +deposed as soon as his Mussulman patrons lost favour with the +Sultan, or a higher bid was made for his office by a rival +ecclesiastic. To satisfy the claims of the Palace the Patriarch +was compelled to be an extortioner himself. The bishoprics in +their turn were sold in his ante-chambers, and the Bishops made +up the purchase-money by fleecing their clergy. But in spite of a +deserved reputation for venality, the Bishops in Greece exercised +very great influence, both as ecclesiastics and as civil +magistrates. Whether their jurisdiction in lawsuits between +Christians arose from the custom of referring disputes to their +arbitration or was expressly granted to them by the Sultan, they +virtually displaced in all Greek communities the court of the +Kadi, and afforded the merchant or the farmer a tribunal where +his own law was administered in his own language. Even a +Mohammedan in dispute with a Christian would sometimes consent to +bring the matter before the Bishops' Court rather than enforce +his right to obtain the dilatory and capricious decision of an +Ottoman judge.</p> +<p>[Communal organisation.]</p> +<p>[The Morea.]</p> +<p>The condition of the Greeks living in the country that now +forms the Hellenic Kingdom and in the Ægæan Islands +exhibited strong local contrasts. It was, however, common to all +that, while the Turk held the powers of State in his hand, the +details of local administration in each district were left to the +inhabitants, the Turk caring nothing about these matters so long +as the due amount of taxes was paid and the due supply of sailors +provided. The apportionment of taxes among households and +villages seems to have been the germ of self-government from +which several types of municipal organisation, some of them of +great importance in the history of the Greek nation, developed. +In the Paschalik of the Morea the taxes were usually farmed by +the Voivodes, or Beys, the Turkish governors of the twenty-three +provinces into which the Morea was divided. But in each village +or township the inhabitants elected officers called Proestoi, +who, besides collecting the taxes and managing the affairs of +their own communities, met in a district-assembly, and there +determined what share of the district-taxation each community +should bear. One Greek officer, called Primate, and one +Mohammedan, called Ayan, were elected to represent the district, +and to take part in the council of the Pasha of the Morea, who +resided at Tripolitza. <a name="FNanchor350"> </a><a href="#Footnote_350"><sup>[350]</sup></a> The Primates exercised +considerable power. Created originally by the Porte to expedite +the collection of the revenue, they became a Greek aristocracy. +They were indeed an aristocracy of no very noble kind. Agents of +a tyrannical master, they shared the vices of the tyrant and of +the slave. Often farmers of the taxes themselves, obsequious and +intriguing in the palace of the Pasha at Tripolitza, grasping and +despotic in their native districts, they were described as a +species of Christian Turk. But whatever their vices, they saved +the Greeks from being left without leaders. They formed a class +accustomed to act in common, conversant with details of +administration, and especially with the machinery for collecting +and distributing supplies. It was this financial experience of +the Primates of the Morea which gave to the rebellion of the +Greeks what little unity of organisation it exhibited in its +earliest stage.</p> +<p>[Northern Greece. The Armatoli and the Klephts.]</p> +<p>On the north of the Gulf of Corinth the features of the +communal system were less distinct than in the Morea. There was, +however, in the mountain-country of Ætolia and Pindus a +rough military organisation which had done great service to +Greece in keeping alive the national spirit and habits of +personal independence. The Turks had found a local militia +established in this wild region at the time of their conquest, +and had not interfered with it for some centuries. The Armatoli, +or native soldiery, recruited from peasants, shepherds, and +muleteers, kept Mohammedan influences at a distance, until, in +the eighteenth century, the Sultans made it a fixed rule of +policy to diminish their numbers and to reduce the power of their +captains. Before 1820 the Armatoli had become comparatively few +and weak; but as they declined, bands of Klephts, or brigands, +grew in importance; and the mountaineer who was no longer allowed +to practise arms as a guardian of order, enlisted himself among +the robbers. Like the freebooters of our own northern border, +these brigands became the heroes of song. Though they plundered +the Greek as well as the Mohammedan, the national spirit approved +their exploits. It was, no doubt, something, that the physical +energy of the marauder and the habit of encountering danger +should not be wholly on the side of the Turk and the Albanian. +But the influence of the Klephts in sustaining Greek nationality +has been overrated. They had but recently become numerous, and +the earlier organisation of the northern Armatoli was that to +which the sound and vigorous character of the Greek peasantry in +these regions, the finest part of the Greek race on the mainland, +was really due. <a name="FNanchor351"> </a><a href="#Footnote_351"><sup>[351]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Ægæan Islands.]</p> +<p>[Chios.]</p> +<p>In the islands of the Ægæan the condition of the +Greeks was on the whole happy and prosperous. Some of these +islands had no Turkish population; in others the caprice of a +Sultana, the goodwill of the Capitan Pasha who governed the +Archipelago, or the judicious offer of a sum of money when money +was wanted by the Porte, had so lightened the burden of Ottoman +sovereignty, that the Greek island-community possessed more +liberty than was to be found in any part of Europe, except +Switzerland. The taxes payable to the central government, +including the haratsch or poll-tax levied on all Christians, had +often been commuted for a fixed sum, which was raised without the +interposition of the Turkish tax-gatherer. In Hydra, Spetza, and +Psara, the so-called nautical islands, the supremacy of the Turk +was felt only in the obligation to furnish sailors to the Ottoman +navy, and in the payment of a tribute of about £100 per +annum. The government of these three islands was entirely in the +hands of the inhabitants. In Chios, though a considerable +Mussulman population existed by the side of the Greek, there was +every sign of peace and prosperity. Each island bore its own +peculiar social character, and had its municipal institutions of +more or less value. The Hydriote was quarrelsome, turbulent, +quick to use the knife, but outspoken, honest in dealing, and an +excellent sailor. The picture of Chian life, as drawn even by +those who have judged the Greeks most severely, is one of +singular beauty and interest; the picture of a self-governing +society in which the family trained the citizen in its own bosom, +and in which, while commerce enriched all, the industry of the +poor within their homes and in their gardens was refined by the +practice of an art. The skill which gave its value to the +embroidery and to the dyes of Chios was exercised by those who +also worked the hand-loom and cultivated the mastic and the rose. +The taste and the labour of man requited nature's gifts of sky, +soil, and sea; and in the pursuit of occupations which +stimulated, not deadened, the faculties of the worker, idleness +and intemperance were alike unknown. <a name="FNanchor352"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_352"><sup>[352]</sup></a> How bright a scene of +industry, when compared with the grime and squalor of the English +factory-town, where the human and the inanimate machine grind out +their yearly mountains of iron-ware and calico, in order that the +employer may vie with his neighbours in soulless ostentation, and +the workman consume his millions upon millions in drink.</p> +<p>[The Greeks have ecclesiastical power in other Turkish +provinces.]</p> +<p>The territory where the Greeks formed the great majority of +the population included, beyond the boundaries of the present +Hellenic Kingdom, the islands adjacent to the coast of Asia +Minor, Crete, and the Chalcidic peninsula in Macedonia. But the +activity of the race was not confined within these limits. If the +Greek was a subject in his own country, he was master in the +lands of some of his neighbours. A Greek might exercise power +over other Christian subjects of the Porte either as an +ecclesiastic, or as the delegate of the Sultan in certain fixed +branches of the administration. The authority of the Patriarch of +Constantinople was recognised over the whole of the European +provinces of Turkey, except Servia. The Bishops in all these +provinces were Greeks; the services of the Church were conducted +in the Greek tongue; the revenues of the greater part of the +Church-lands, and the fees of all the ecclesiastical courts, went +into Greek pockets. In things religious, and in that wide range +of civil affairs which in communities belonging to the Eastern +Church appertains to the higher religious office, the Greeks had +in fact regained the ascendancy which they had possessed under +the Byzantine Empire. The dream of the Churchman was not the +creation of an independent kingdom of Greece, but the restoration +of the Eastern Empire under Greek supremacy. When it was seen +that the Slav and the Rouman came to the Greek for law, for +commercial training, for religious teaching, and looked to the +Patriarch of Constantinople as the ultimate judge of all +disputes, it was natural that the belief should arise that, when +the Turk passed away, the Greek would step into his place. But +the influence of the Greeks, great as it appeared to be, did not +in reality reach below the surface, except in Epirus. The bishops +were felt to be foreigners and extortioners. There was no real +process of assimilation at work, either in Bulgaria or in the +Danubian Provinces. The slow and plodding Bulgarian peasant, too +stupid for the Greek to think of him as a rival, preserved his +own unchanging tastes and nationality, sang to his children the +songs which he had learnt from his parents, and forgot the Greek +which he had heard in the Church when he re-entered his home. <a +name="FNanchor353"> </a><a href="#Footnote_353"><sup>[353]</sup></a> In Roumania, the only +feeling towards the Greek intruder was one of intense hatred.</p> +<p>[The Phanariot officials of the Porte.]</p> +<p>[Greek Hospodars.]</p> +<p>Four great offices of the Ottoman Empire were always held by +Greeks. These were the offices of <a name="FNanchor354">Dragoman,</a><a href="#Footnote_354"><sup>[354]</sup></a> or Secretary, of the Porte, +Dragoman of the Fleet, and the governorships, called +Hospodariates, of Wallachia and Moldavia. The varied business of +the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the administration of its +revenues, the conduct of its law-courts, had drawn a multitude of +pushing and well-educated Greeks to the quarter of Constantinople +called the Phanar, in which the palace of the Patriarch is +situated. Merchants and professional men inhabited the same +district. These Greeks of the capital, the so-called Phanariots, +gradually made their way into the Ottoman administration as +Turkish energy declined, and the conquering race found that it +could no longer dispense with the weapons of calculation and +diplomacy. The Treaty of Carlowitz, made in 1699, after the +unsuccessful war in which the Turks laid siege to Vienna, was +negotiated on behalf of the Porte by Alexander Maurokordatos, a +Chian by birth, who had become physician to the Sultan and was +virtually the Foreign Minister of Turkey. His sons, Nicholas and +Constantine, were made Hospodars of Wallachia and Moldavia early +in the eighteenth century; and from this time forward, until the +outbreak of the Greek insurrection, the governorships of the +Roumanian provinces were entrusted to Phanariot families. The +result was that a troop of Greek adventurers passed to the north +of the Danube, and seized upon every office of profit in these +unfortunate lands. There were indeed individuals among the +Hospodars, especially among the Maurokordati, who rendered good +service to their Roumanian subjects; but on the whole the +Phanariot rule was grasping, dishonest, and cruel. <a name="FNanchor355"> </a><a href="#Footnote_355"><sup>[355]</sup></a> +Its importance in relation to Greece was not that it Hellenised +the Danubian countries, for that it signally failed to do; but +that it raised the standard of Greek education, and enlarged the +range of Greek thought, by opening a political and administrative +career to ambitious men. The connection of the Phanariots with +education was indeed an exceedingly close one. Alexander +Maurokordatos was the ardent and generous founder of schools for +the instruction of his countrymen in Constantinople as well as in +other cities, and for the improvement of the existing language of +Greece. His example was freely followed throughout the eighteenth +century. It is, indeed, one of the best features in the Greek +character that the owner of wealth has so often been, and still +so often is, the promoter of the culture of his race. As in +Germany in the last century, and in Hungary and Bohemia at a more +recent date, the national revival of Greece was preceded by a +striking revival of interest in the national language.</p> +<p>[Greek intellectual movement in the eighteenth century.]</p> +<p>The knowledge of ancient Greek was never wholly lost among the +priesthood, but it had become useless. Nothing was read but the +ecclesiastic commonplace of a pedantic age; and in the schools +kept by the clergy before the eighteenth century the ancient +language was taught only as a means of imparting divinity. The +educational movement promoted by men like Maurokordatos had a +double end; it revived the knowledge of the great age of Greece +through its literature, and it taught the Greek to regard the +speech which he actually used not as a mere barbarous patois +which each district had made for itself, but as a language +different indeed from that of the ancient world, yet governed by +its own laws, and capable of performing the same functions as any +other modern tongue. It was now that the Greek learnt to call +himself Hellen, the name of his forefathers, instead of Romaios, +a Roman. As the new schools grew up and the old ones were +renovated or transformed, education ceased to be merely literary. +In the second half of the eighteenth century science returned in +a humble form to the land that had given it birth, and the range +of instruction was widened by men who had studied law, physics, +and moral philosophy at foreign Universities. Something of the +liberal spirit of the inquirers of Western Europe arose among the +best Greek teachers. Though no attack was made upon the doctrines +of the Church, and no direct attack was made upon the authority +of the Sultan, the duty of religious toleration was proclaimed in +a land where bigotry had hitherto reigned supreme, and the +political freedom of ancient Greece was held up as a glorious +ideal to a less happy age. Some of the higher clergy and of the +Phanariot instruments of Turkish rule took fright at the +independent spirit of the new learning, and for a while it seemed +as if the intellectual as well as the political progress of +Greece might be endangered by ecclesiastical ill-will. But the +attachment of the Greek people to the Church was so strong and so +universal that, although satire might be directed against the +Bishops, a breach with the Church formed no part of the design of +any patriot. The antagonism between episcopal and national +feeling, strongest about the end of the eighteenth century, +declined during succeeding years, and had almost disappeared +before the outbreak of the war of liberation.</p> +<p>[Koraes, 1748-1833.]</p> +<p>[The language of Modern Greece.]</p> +<p>The greatest scholar of modern Greece was also one of its +greatest patriots. Koraes, known as the legislator of the Greek +language, was born in 1748, of Chian parents settled at Smyrna. +The love of learning, combined with an extreme independence of +character, made residence insupportable to him in a land where +the Turk was always within sight, and where few opportunities +existed for gaining wide knowledge. His parents permitted him to +spend some years at Amsterdam, where a branch of their business +was established. Recalled to Smyrna at the age of thirty, Koraes +almost abandoned human society. The hand of a beautiful heiress +could not tempt him from the austere and solitary life of the +scholar; and quitting his home, he passed through the medical +school of Montpellier, and settled at Paris. He was here when the +French Revolution began. The inspiration of that time gave to his +vast learning and inborn energy a directly patriotic aim. For +forty years Koraes pursued the work of serving Greece by the +means open to the scholar. The political writings in which he +addressed the Greeks themselves or appealed to foreigners in +favour of Greece, admirable as they are, do not form the basis of +his fame. The peculiar task of Koraes was to give to the reviving +Greek nation the national literature and the form of expression +which every civilised people reckons among its most cherished +bonds of unity. Master, down to the minutest details, of the +entire range of Greek writings, and of the history of the Greek +language from classical times down to our own century, Koraes was +able to select the Hellenic authors, Christian as well as Pagan, +whose works were best suited for his countrymen in their actual +condition, and to illustrate them as no one could who had not +himself been born and bred among Greeks. This was one side of +Koraes' literary task. The other was to direct the language of +the future Hellenic kingdom into its true course. Classical +writing was still understood by the educated in Greece, but the +spoken language of the people was something widely different. +Turkish and Albanian influences had barbarised the vocabulary; +centuries of ignorance had given play to every natural +irregularity of local dialect. When the restoration of Greek +independence came within view, there were some who proposed to +revive artificially each form used in the ancient language, and +thus, without any real blending, to add the old to the new: +others, seeing this to be impossible, desired that the common +idiom, corrupt as it was, should be accepted as a literary +language. Koraes chose the middle and the rational path. Taking +the best written Greek of the day as his material, he recommended +that the forms of classical Greek, where they were not wholly +obsolete, should be fixed in the grammar of the language. While +ridiculing the attempt to restore modes of expression which, even +in the written language, had wholly passed out of use, he +proposed to expunge all words that were in fact not Greek at all, +but foreign, and to replace them by terms formed according to the +natural laws of the language. The Greek, therefore, which Koraes +desired to see his countrymen recognise as their language, and +which he himself used in his writings, was the written Greek of +the most cultivated persons of his time, purged of its foreign +elements, and methodised by a constant reference to a classical +model, which, however, it was not to imitate pedantically. The +correctness of this theory has been proved by its complete +success. The patois which, if it had been recognised as the +language of the Greek kingdom, would now have made Herodotus and +Plato foreign authors in Athens, is indeed still preserved in +familiar conversation, but it is little used in writing and not +taught in schools. A language year by year more closely +approximating in its forms to that of classical Greece unites the +Greeks both with their past and among themselves, and serves as +the instrument of a widening Hellenic civilization in the Eastern +Mediterranean. The political object of Koraes has been completely +attained. No people in Europe is now prouder of its native +tongue, or turns it to better account in education, than his +countrymen. In literature, the renovated language has still its +work before it. The lyric poetry that has been written in Greece +since the time of Koraes is not wanting, if a foreigner may +express an opinion, in tenderness and grace The writer who shall +ennoble Greek prose with the energy and directness of the ancient +style has yet to arise <a name="FNanchor356"> </a><a href="#Footnote_356"><sup>[356]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Development of Greek commerce, 1750-1820.]</p> +<p>[The Treaty of Kainardji, 1774.]</p> +<p>The intellectual advance of the Greeks in the eighteenth +century was closely connected with the development of their +commerce, and this in its turn was connected with events in the +greater cycle of European history. A period of comparative peace +and order in the Levantine waters, following the final expulsion +of the Venetians from the Morea in 1718, gave play to the natural +aptitude of the Greek islanders for coasting-trade. Then ships, +still small and unfit to venture on long voyages, plied between +the harbours in the Ægæan and in the Black Sea, and +brought profit to their owners in spite of the imposition of +burdens from which not only many of the Mussulman subjects of the +Sultan, but foreign nations protected by commercial treaties, +were free. It was at this epoch, after Venice had lost its +commercial supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean, that Russia +began to exercise a direct influence upon the fortunes of Greece. +The Empress Catherine had formed the design of conquering +Constantinople, and intended, under the title of Protectress of +the Christian Church, to use the Greeks as her allies. In the war +which broke out between Russia and Turkey in 1768, a Russian +expeditionary force landed in the Morea, and the Greeks were +persuaded to take up arms. The Moreotes themselves paid dearly +for the trust which they had placed in the orthodox Empress. They +were virtually abandoned to the vengeance of their oppressors; +but to Greece at large the conditions on which peace was made +proved of immense benefit. The Treaty of Kainardji, signed in +1774, gave Russia the express right to make representations at +Constantinople on behalf of the Christian inhabitants of the +Danubian provinces; it also bound the Sultan to observe certain +conditions in his treatment of the Greek islanders. Out of these +clauses, Russian diplomacy constructed a general right of +interference on behalf of any Christian subjects of the Porte. +The Treaty also opened the Black Sea to Russian ships of +commerce, and conferred upon Russia the commercial privileges of +the most favoured <a name="FNanchor357">nation.</a><a href="#Footnote_357"><sup>[357]</sup></a> The result of this compact +was a very remarkable one. The Russian Government permitted +hundreds of Greek shipowners to hoist its own flag, and so +changed the footing of Greek merchantmen in every port of the +Ottoman Empire. The burdens which had placed the Greek trader at +a disadvantage, when compared with the Mohammedan, vanished. A +host of Russian consular agents, often Greeks themselves, was +scattered over the Levant. Eager for opportunities of attaching +the Greeks to their Russian patrons, quick to make their +newly-won power felt by the Turks, these men extracted a definite +meaning from the clauses of the Treaty of Kainardji, by which the +Porte had bound itself to observe the rights of its Christian +subjects. The sense of security in the course of their business, +no less than the emancipation from commercial fetters, gave an +immense impulse to Greek traders. Their ships were enlarged; +voyages, hitherto limited to the Levant, were extended to England +and even to America; and a considerable armament of cannon was +placed on board each ship for defence against the attack of +Algerian pirates.</p> +<p>[Foundation of Odessa, 1792.]</p> +<p>[Death of Rhegas, 1798.]</p> +<p>[Influence of the French Revolution on Greece.]</p> +<p>Before the end of the eighteenth century another war between +Turkey and Russia, resulting in the cession of the district of +Oczakoff on the northern shore of the Black Sea, made the Greeks +both carriers and vendors of the corn-export of Southern Russia. +The city of Odessa was founded on the ceded territory. The +merchants who raised it to its sudden prosperity were not +Russians but Greeks; and in the course of a single generation +many a Greek trading-house, which had hitherto deemed the sum of +£3,000 to be a large capital, rose to an opulence little +behind that of the great London firms. Profiting by the +neutrality of Turkey or its alliance with England during a great +part of the revolutionary war, the Greeks succeeded to much of +the Mediterranean trade that was lost by France and its +dependencies. The increasing intelligence of the people was shown +in the fact that foreigners were no longer employed by Greek +merchants as their travelling agents in distant countries; there +were countrymen enough of their own who could negotiate with an +Englishman or a Dane in his own language. The richest Greeks were +no doubt those of Odessa and Salonica, not of Hellas proper; but +even the little islands of Hydra and Spetza, the refuge of the +Moreotes whom Catherine had forsaken in 1770, now became +communities of no small wealth and spirit. Psara, which was +purely Greek, formed with these Albanian colonies the nucleus of +an Ægæan naval Power. The Ottoman Government, cowed +by its recent defeats, and perhaps glad to see the means of +increasing its resources, made no attempt to check the growth of +the Hellenic armed marine. Under the very eyes of the Sultan, the +Hydriote and Psarian captains, men as venturesome as the +sea-kings of ancient Greece, accumulated the artillery which was +hereafter to hold its own against many an Ottoman man-of-war, and +to sweep the Turkish merchantmen from the Ægæan. +Eighteen years before the Greek insurrection broke out, Koraes, +calling the attention of Western Europe to the progress made by +his country, wrote the following significant words:-"If the +Ottoman Government could have foreseen that the Greeks would +create a merchant-navy, composed of several hundred vessels, most +of them regularly armed, it would have crushed the movement at +its commencement. It is impossible to calculate the effects which +may result from the creation of this marine, or the influence +which it may exert both upon the destiny of the oppressed nation +and upon that of its oppressors." <a name="FNanchor358"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_358"><sup>[358]</sup></a> Like its classic +sisterland in the Mediterranean, Greece was stirred by the +far-sounding voices of the French Revolution. The Declaration of +the Rights of Man, the revival of a supposed antique +Republicanism, the victories of Hoche and Bonaparte, successively +kindled the enthusiasm of a race already restless under the +Turkish yoke. France drew to itself some of the hopes that had +hitherto been fixed entirely upon Russia. Images and ideas of +classic freedom invaded the domain where the Church had hitherto +been all in all; the very sailors began to call their boats by +the names of Spartan and Athenian heroes, as well as by those of +saints and martyrs. In 1797 Venice fell, and Bonaparte seized its +Greek possessions, the Ionian Islands. There was something of the +forms of liberation in the establishment of French rule; the +inhabitants of Zante were at least permitted to make a bonfire of +the stately wigs worn by their Venetian masters. Great changes +seemed to be near at hand. It was not yet understood that France +fought for empire, not for justice; and the man who, above all +others, represented the early spirit of the revolution among the +Greeks, the poet Rhegas, looked to Bonaparte to give the signal +for the rising of the whole of the Christian populations subject +to Mohammedan rule. Rhegas, if he was not a wise politician, was +a thoroughly brave man, and he was able to serve his country as a +martyr. While engaged in Austria in conspiracies against the +Sultan's Government, and probably in intrigues with Bernadotte, +French ambassador at Vienna, he was arrested by the agents of +Thugut, and handed over to the Turks. He was put to death at +Belgrade, with five of his companions, in May, 1798. The songs of +Rhegas soon passed through every household in Greece. They were a +precious treasure to his countrymen, and they have immortalised +his name as a patriot. But the work which he had begun languished +for a time after his death. The series of events which followed +Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt extinguished the hope of the +liberation of Greece by the French Republic. Among the higher +Greek clergy the alliance with the godless followers of Voltaire +was seen with no favourable eye. The Porte was even able to find +a Christian Patriarch to set his name to a pastoral, warning the +faithful against the sin of rebellion, and reminding them that, +while Satan was creating the Lutherans and Calvinists, the +infinite mercy of God had raised up the Ottoman Power in order +that the Orthodox Church might be preserved pure from the +heresies of the West. <a name="FNanchor359"> </a><a href="#Footnote_359"><sup>[359]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Ionian Islands. 1798-1815.]</p> +<p>[Ali Pasha, 1798-1821.]</p> +<p>From the year 1798 down to the Peace of Paris, Greece was more +affected by the vicissitudes of the Ionian Islands and by the +growth of dominion of Ali Pasha in Albania than by the earlier +revolutionary ideas. France was deprived of its spoils by the +combined Turkish and Russian fleets in the coalition of 1799, and +the Ionian Islands were made into a Republic under the protection +of the Czar and the Sultan. It was in the native administration +of Corfu that the career of Capodistrias began. At the peace of +Tilsit the Czar gave these islands back to Napoleon, and +Capodistrias, whose ability had gained general attention, +accepted an invitation to enter the Russian service. The islands +were then successively beleaguered and conquered by the English, +with the exception of Corfu; and after the fall of Napoleon they +became a British dependency. Thus the three greatest Powers of +Europe were during the first years of this century in constant +rivalry on the east of the Adriatic, and a host of Greeks, some +fugitives, some adventurers, found employment among their armed +forces. The most famous chieftain in the war of liberation, +Theodore Kolokotrones, a Klepht of the Morea, was for some years +major of a Greek regiment in the pay of England. In the meantime +Ali Pasha, on the neighbouring mainland, neither rested himself +nor allowed any of his neighbours to rest. The Suliotes, +vanquished after years of heroic defence, migrated in a body to +the Ionian Islands in 1804. Every Klepht and Armatole of the +Epirote border had fought at some time either for Ali or against +him; for in the extension of his violent and crafty rule Ali was +a friend to-day and an enemy to-morrow alike to Greek, Turk, and +Albanian. When his power was at its height, Ali's court at Janina +was as much Greek as it was Mohammedan: soldiers, merchants, +professors, all, as it was said, with a longer or a shorter rope +round their necks, played their part in the society of the +Epirote capital. <a name="FNanchor360"> </a><a href="#Footnote_360"><sup>[360]</sup></a> Among the officers of Ali's +army there were some who were soon to be the military rivals of +Kolokotrones in the Greek insurrection: Ali's physician, Dr. +Kolettes, was gaining an experience and an influence among these +men which afterwards placed him at the head of the Government. +For good or for evil, it was felt that the establishment of a +virtually independent kingdom of Albania must deeply affect the +fate of Greece; and when at length Ali openly defied the Sultan, +and Turkish armies closed round his castle at Janina, the +conflict between the Porte and its most powerful vassal gave the +Greeks the signal to strike for their own independence.</p> +<p>[The Hetæria Philike.]</p> +<p>The secret society, which under the name of Hetæria +Philike, or association of friends, inaugurated the rebellion of +Greece, was founded in 1814, after it had become clear that the +Congress of Vienna would take no steps on behalf of the Christian +subjects of the Porte. The founders of this society were traders +of Odessa, and its earliest members seem to have been drawn more +from the Greeks in Russia and in the Danubian provinces than from +those of Greece Proper. The object of the conspiracy was the +expulsion of the Turk from Europe, and the re-establishment of a +Greek Eastern Empire. It was pretended by the council of +directors that the Emperor Alexander had secretly joined them; +and the ingenious fiction was circulated that a society for the +preservation of Greek antiquities, for which Capodistrias had +gained the patronage of the Czar and other eminent men at the +Congress of Vienna, was in fact this political association in +disguise. The real chiefs of the conspiracy always spoke of +themselves as acting under the instructions of a nameless +superior power. They were as little troubled by scruple in thus +deceiving their followers as they were in planning a general +massacre of the Turks, and in murdering their own agents when +they wished to have them out of the way. The ultimate design of +the Hetæria was an unsound one, and its operations were +based upon an imposture; but in exciting the Greeks against +Turkish rule, and in inspiring confidence in its own resources +and authority, it was completely successful. In the course of six +years every Greek of note, both in Greece itself and in the +adjacent countries, had joined the association. The Turkish +Government had received warnings of the danger which threatened +it, but disregarded them until revolt was on the point of +breaking out. The very improvement in the condition of the +Christians, the absence of any crying oppression or outrage in +Greece during late years, probably lulled the anxieties of Sultan +Mahmud, who, terrible as he afterwards proved himself, had not +hitherto been without sympathy for the Rayah. But the history of +France, no less than the history of Greece, shows that it is not +the excess, but the sense, of wrong that produces revolution. A +people may be so crushed by oppression as to suffer all +conceivable misery with patience. It is when the pulse has again +begun to beat strong, when the eye is fixed no longer on the +ground, and the knowledge of good and evil again burns in the +heart, that the right and the duty of resistance is felt.</p> +<p>[Capodistrias and Hypsilanti.]</p> +<p>Early in 1820 the ferment in Greece had become so general that +the chiefs of the Hetæria were compelled to seek at St. +Petersburg for the Russian leader who had as yet existed only in +their imagination. There was no dispute as to the person to whom +the task of restoring the Eastern Empire rightfully belonged. +Capodistrias, at once a Greek and Foreign Minister of Russia, +stood in the front rank of European statesmen; he was known to +love the Greek cause; he was believed to possess the strong +personal affection of the Emperor Alexander. The deputies of the +Hetæria besought him to place himself at its head. +Capodistrias, however, knew better than any other man the force +of those influences which would dissuade the Czar from assisting +Greece. He had himself published a pamphlet in the preceding year +recommending his countrymen to take no rash step; and, apart from +all personal considerations, he probably believed that he could +serve Greece better as Minister of Russia than by connecting +himself with any dangerous enterprise. He rejected the offers of +the Hetærists, who then turned to a soldier of some +distinction in the Russian army, Prince Alexander Hypsilanti, a +Greek exile, whose grandfather, after governing Wallachia as +Hospodar, had been put to death by the Turks for complicity with +the designs of Rhegas. It is said that Capodistrias encouraged +Hypsilanti to attempt the task which he had himself declined, and +that he allowed him to believe that if Greece once rose in arms +the assistance of Russia could not long be withheld. <a name="FNanchor361"> </a><a href="#Footnote_361"><sup>[361]</sup></a> +Hypsilanti, sacrificing his hopes of the recovery of a great +private fortune through the intercession of the Czar at +Constantinople, placed himself at the head of the Hetæria, +and entered upon a career, for which, with the exception of +personal courage proved in the campaigns against Napoleon, he +seems to have possessed no single qualification.</p> +<p>[The Herærist plan.]</p> +<p>In October, 1820, the leading Hetærists met in council +at Ismail to decide whether the insurrection against the Turk +should begin in Greece itself or in the Danubian provinces. Most +of the Greek officers in the service of Sutsos, the Hospodar of +Moldavia, were ready to join the revolt. With the exception of a +few companies serving as police, there were no Turkish soldiers +north of the Danube, the Sultan having bound himself by the +Treaty of Bucharest to send no troops into the Principalities +without the Czar's consent. It does not appear that the +Hetærists had yet formed any calculation as to the probable +action of the Roumanian people: they had certainly no reason to +believe that this race bore good-will to the Greeks, or that it +would make any effort to place a Greek upon the Sultan's throne. +The conspirators at Ismail were so far on the right track that +they decided that the outbreak should begin, not on the Danube, +but in Peloponnesus. Hypsilanti, however, full of the belief that +Russia would support him, reversed this conclusion, and +determined to raise his standard in Moldavia. <a name="FNanchor362"> </a><a href="#Footnote_362"><sup>[362]</sup></a> +And now for the first time some account was taken of the +Roumanian population. It was known that the mass of the people +groaned under the feudal oppression of the Boyards, or +landowners, and that the Boyards themselves detested the +government of the Greek Hospodars. A plan found favour among +Hypsilanti's advisers that the Wallachian peasantry should first +be called to arms by a native leader for the redress of their own +grievances, and that the Greeks should then step in and take +control of the insurrectionary movement. Theodor Wladimiresco, a +Roumanian who had served in the Russian army, was ready to raise +the standard of revolt among his countrymen. It did not occur to +the Hetærists that Wladimiresco might have a purpose of his +own, or that the Roumanian population might prefer to see the +Greek adventure fail. No sovereign by divine right had a firmer +belief in his prerogative within his own dominions than +Hypsilanti in his power to command or outwit Roumanians, Slavs, +and all other Christian subjects of the Sultan.</p> +<p>[Hypsilanti in Roumania March, 1821.]</p> +<p>The feint of a native rising was planned and executed. In +February, 1821, while Hypsilanti waited on the Russian frontier, +Wladimiresco proclaimed the abolition of feudal services, and +marched with a horde of peasants upon Bucharest. On the 16th of +March the Hetærists began their own insurrection by a deed +of blood that disgraced the Christian cause. Karavias, a +conspirator commanding the Greek troops of the Hospodar at +Galatz, let loose his soldiers and murdered every Turk who could +be hunted down. Hypsilanti crossed the Pruth next day, and +appeared at Jassy with a few hundred followers. A proclamation +was published in which the Prince called upon all Christian +subjects of the Porte to rise, and declared that a great European +Power, meaning Russia, supported him in his enterprise. Sutsos, +the Hospodar, at once handed over all the apparatus of +government, and supplied the insurgents with a large sum of +money. Two thousand armed men, some of them regular troops, +gathered round Hypsilanti at Jassy. The roads to the Danube lay +open before him; the resources of Moldavia were at his disposal; +and had he at once thrown a force into Galatz and Ibraila, he +might perhaps have made it difficult for Turkish troops to gain a +footing on the north of the Danube.</p> +<p>[The Czar disavows the movement.]</p> +<p>But the incapacity of the leader became evident from the +moment when he began his enterprise. He loitered for a week at +Jassy, holding court and conferring titles, and then, setting out +for Bucharest, wasted three weeks more upon the road. In the +meantime the news of the insurrection, and of the fraudulent use +that had been made of his own name, reached the Czar, who was now +engaged at the Congress of Laibach. Alexander was at this moment +abandoning himself heart and soul to Metternich's reactionary +influence, and ordering his generals to make ready a hundred +thousand men to put down the revolution in Piedmont. He received +with dismay a letter from Hypsilanti invoking his aid in a rising +which was first described in the phrases of the Holy Alliance as +the result of a divine inspiration, and then exhibited as a +master-work of secret societies and widespread conspiracy. A +stern answer was sent back. Hypsilanti was dismissed from the +Russian service; he was ordered to lay down his arms, and a +manifesto was published by the Russian Consul at Jassy declaring +that the Czar repudiated and condemned the enterprise with which +his name had been connected. The Patriarch of Constantinople, +helpless in the presence of Sultan Mahmud, now issued a ban of +excommunication against the leader and all his followers. Some +weeks later the Congress of Laibach officially branded the Greek +revolt as a work of the same anarchical spirit which had produced +the revolutions of Italy and Spain. <a name="FNanchor363"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_363"><sup>[363]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The enterprise fails.]</p> +<p>The disavowal of the Hetærist enterprise by the Czar was +fatal to its success. Hypsilanti, indeed, put on a bold +countenance and pretended that the public utterances of the +Russian Court were a mere blind, and in contradiction to the +private instructions given him by the Czar; but no one believed +him. The Roumanians, when they knew that aid was not coming from +Russia, held aloof, or treated insurgents as enemies. Turkish +troops crossed the Danube, and Hypsilanti fell back from +Bucharest towards the Austrian frontier. Wladimiresco followed +him, not however to assist him in his struggle, but to cut off +his retreat and to betray him to the enemy. It was in vain that +the bravest of Hypsilanti's followers, Georgakis, a Greek from +Olympus, sought the Wallachian at his own headquarters, exposed +his treason to the Hetærist officers who surrounded him, +and carried him, a doomed man, to the Greek camp. Wladimiresco's +death was soon avenged. The Turks advanced. Hypsilanti was +defeated in a series of encounters, and fled ignobly from his +followers, to seek a refuge, and to find a prison, in Austria. +Bands of his soldiers, forsaken by their leader, sold their lives +dearly in a hopeless struggle. At Skuleni, on the Pruth, a troop +of four hundred men refused to cross to Russian soil until they +had given battle to the enemy. Standing at bay, they met the +onslaught of ten times their number of pursuers. Georgakis, who +had sworn that he would never fall alive into the enemy's hands, +kept his word. Surrounded by Turkish troops in the tower of a +monastery, he threw open the doors for those of his comrades who +could to escape, and then setting fire to a chest of powder, +perished in the explosion, together with his assailants.</p> +<p>[Revolt of Morea, April 2, 1891.]</p> +<p>The Hetærist invasion of the Principalities had ended in +total failure, and with it there passed away for ever the dream +of re-establishing the Eastern Empire under Greek ascendancy. But +while this enterprise, planned in vain reliance upon foreign aid +and in blind assumption of leadership over an alien race, +collapsed through the indifference of a people to whom the Greeks +were known only as oppressors, that genuine uprising of the Greek +nation, which, in spite of the nullity of its leaders, in spite +of the crimes, the disunion, the perversity of a race awaking +from centuries of servitude, was to add one more to the free +peoples of Europe, broke out in the real home of the Hellenes, in +the Morea and the islands of the Ægæan. Soon after +Hypsilanti's appearance in Moldavia the Turkish governor of the +Morea, anticipating a general rebellion of the Greeks, had +summoned the Primates of his province to Tripolitza, with the +view of seizing them as hostages. The Primates of the northern +district set out, but halted on their way, debating whether they +should raise the standard of insurrection or wait for events. +While they lingered irresolutely at Kalavryta the decision passed +out of their hands, and the people rose throughout the Morea. The +revolt of the Moreot Greeks against their oppressors was from the +first, and with set purpose, a war of extermination. "The Turk," +they sang in their war-songs, "shall live no longer, neither in +Morea nor in the whole earth." This terrible resolution was, +during the first weeks of the revolt, carried into literal +effect. The Turks who did not fly from their country-houses to +the towns where there were garrisons or citadels to defend them, +were attacked and murdered with their entire families, men, women +and children. This was the first act of the revolution; and +within a few weeks after the 2nd of April, on which the first +outbreaks occurred, the open country was swept clear of its +Ottoman population, which had numbered about 25,000, and the +residue of the lately dominant race was collected within the +walls of Patras, Tripolitza, and other towns, which the Greeks +forthwith began to beleaguer. <a name="FNanchor364"> </a><a href="#Footnote_364"><sup>[364]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Terrorism at Constantinople.]</p> +<p>[Execution of the Patriarch, April 22.]</p> +<p>The news of the revolt of the Morea and of the massacre of +Mohammedans reached Constantinople, striking terror into the +politicians of the Turkish capital, and rousing the Sultan Mahmud +to a vengeance tiger-like in its ferocity, but deliberate and +calculated like every bloody deed of this resolute and able +sovereign. Reprisals had already been made upon the Greeks at +Constantinople for the acts of Hypsilanti, and a number of +innocent persons had been put to death by the executioner, but no +general attack upon the Christians had been suggested, nor had +the work of punishment passed out of the hands of the government +itself. Now, however, the fury of the Mohammedan populace was let +loose upon the infidel. The Sultan called upon his subjects to +arm themselves in defence of their faith. Executions were +redoubled; soldiers and mobs devastated Greek settlements on the +Bosphorus; and on the most sacred day of the Greek Church a blow +was struck which sent a thrill over Eastern Europe. The Patriarch +of Constantinople had celebrated the service which ushers in the +dawn of Easter Sunday, when he was summoned by the Dragoman of +the Porte to appear before a Synod hastily assembled. There an +order of the Sultan was read declaring Gregorius IV. a traitor, +and degrading him from his office. The Synod was commanded to +elect his successor. It did so. While the new Archbishop was +receiving his investiture, Gregorius was led out, and was hanged, +still wearing his sacred robes, at the gate of his palace. His +body remained during Easter Sunday and the two following days at +the place of execution. It was then given to the Jews to be +insulted, dragged through the streets, and cast into the sea. The +Archbishops of Adrianople, Salonica, and Tirnovo suffered death +on the same Easter Sunday. The body of Gregorius, floating in the +waves, was picked up by a Greek ship and carried to Odessa. +Brought, as it was believed, by a miracle to Christian soil, the +relics of the Patriarch received at the hands of the Russian +government the funeral honours of a martyr. Gregorius had no +doubt had dealings with the Hetærists; but he was put to +death untried; and whatever may have been the real extent of his +offence, he was executed not for this but in order to strike +terror into the Sultan's Christian subjects.</p> +<p>[Massacre of Christians, April-October.]</p> +<p>[Effect on Russia.]</p> +<p>[Russian ambassador leaves Constantinople, July 27.]</p> +<p>During the succeeding months, in Asia Minor as well as in +Macedonia and at Constantinople itself, there were wholesale +massacres of the Christians, and the churches of the Greeks were +pillaged or destroyed by their enemies, both Jews and Turks. +Smyrna, Adrianople, and Salonica, in so far as these towns were +Greek, were put to the sack; thousands of the inhabitants were +slain by the armed mobs who held command, or were sold into +slavery. It was only the fear of a war with Russia which at +length forced Sultan Mahmud to stop these deeds of outrage and to +restore some of the conditions of civilised life in the part of +his dominions which was not in revolt. The Russian army and +nation would have avenged the execution of the Patriarch by +immediate war if popular instincts had governed its ruler. +Strogonoff, the ambassador at Constantinople, at once proposed to +the envoys of the other Powers to unite in calling up war-ships +for the protection of the Christians. Joint action was, however, +declined by Lord Strangford, the representative of England, and +the Porte was encouraged by the attitude of this politician to +treat the threats of Strogonoff with indifference. There was an +interval during which the destiny of a great part of Eastern +Europe depended upon the fluctuations of a single infirm will. +The Czar had thoroughly identified himself while at Laibach with +the principles and the policy of European conservatism, and had +assented to the declaration in which Metternich placed the Greek +rebellion, together with the Spanish and Italian insurrections, +under the ban of Europe. Returning to St. Petersburg, Alexander, +in spite of the veil that intercepts from every sovereign the +real thoughts and utterances of his people, found himself within +the range of widely different influences. Russian passions were +not roused by what might pass in Italy or Spain. The Russian +priest, the soldier, the peasant understood nothing of theories +of federal intervention, and of the connection between Neapolitan +despotism and the treaties of 1815: but his blood boiled when he +heard that the chief priest of his Church had been murdered by +the Sultan, and that a handful of his brethren were fighting for +their faith unhelped. Alexander felt to some extent the throb of +national spirit. There had been a time in his life when a single +hour of strong emotion or of overpowering persuasion had made him +renounce every obligation and unite with Napoleon against his own +allies; and there were those who in 1821 believed that the Czar +would as suddenly break loose from his engagements with +Metternich and throw himself, with a fanatical army and nation, +into a crusade against the Turk. Sultan Mahmud had himself given +to the Russian party of action a ground for denouncing him in the +name of Russian honour and interests independently of all that +related to Greece. In order to prevent the escape of suspected +persons, the Porte had ordered Russian vessels to be searched at +Constantinople, and it had forced all corn-ships coming from the +Euxine to discharge their cargoes at the Bosphorus, under the +apprehension that the corn-supplies of the capital would be cut +off by Greek vessels in command of the Ægæan. +Further, Russia had by treaty the right to insist that the +Danubian Principalities should be governed by their civil +authorities, the Hospodars, and not by Turkish Pashas, +insurrection in Wallachia had been put down, but the rule of +Hospodars had not been restored; Turkish generals, at the head of +their forces, still administered their provinces under military +law. On all these points Russia had at least the semblance of +grievances of its own. The outrages which shocked all Europe were +not the only wrong which Russian pride called upon the Czar to +redress. The influence of Capodistrias revived at St. Petersburg. +A despatch was sent to Constantinople declaring that the Porte +had begun a war for life or death with the Christian religion, +and that its continued existence among the Powers of Europe must +depend upon its undertaking to restore the churches which had +been destroyed, to guarantee the inviolability of Christian +worship in the future, and to discriminate in its punishments +between the innocent and the guilty. Presenting ultimatum from +his master, Strogonoff, in accordance with his instructions, +demanded a written answer within eight days. No such answer came. +On the 27th of July the ambassador quitted Constantinople. War +seemed to be on the point of breaking out.</p> +<p>[Eastern policy of Austria.]</p> +<p>The capital where these events were watched with the greatest +apprehension was Vienna. The fortunes of the Ottoman Empire have +always been most intimately connected with those of Austria; and +although the long struggle of the House of Hapsburg with Napoleon +and its wars in recent times with Prussia and with Italy have +made the western aspect of Austrian policy more prominent and +more familiar than its eastern one, the eastern interests of the +monarchy have always been at least as important in the eyes of +its actual rulers. Before the year 1720 Austria, not Russia, was +the great enemy of Turkey and the aggressive Power of the east of +Europe. After 1780 the Emperor Joseph had united with Catherine +of Russia in a plan for dividing the Sultan's dominions in +Europe, and actually waged a war for this purpose. In 1795 the +alliance, with the same object, had been prospectively revived by +Thugut; in 1809, after the Treaty of Tilsit, Metternich had +determined in the last resort to combine with Napoleon and +Alexander in dismembering Turkey, if all diplomatic means should +fail to prevent a joint attack on the Porte by France and Russia. +But this resolution had been adopted by Metternich only as a +matter of necessity, and in view of a combination which +threatened to reduce Austria to the position of a vassal State. +Metternich's own definite and consistent policy after 1814 was +the maintenance of the Ottoman Empire. His statesmanship was, as +a rule, governed by fear; and his fear of Alexander was second +only to his old fear of Napoleon. Times were changed since Joseph +and Thugut could hope to enter upon a game of aggression with +Russia upon equal terms. The Austrian army had been beaten in +every battle that it had fought during nearly twenty years. +Province after province had been severed from it, without, except +in the Tyrol, raising a hand in its support; and when in 1821 the +Minister compared Austria's actual Empire and position in Europe, +won and maintained in great part by his own diplomacy, with the +ruin to which a series of wars had brought it ten years before, +he might well thank Heaven that international Congresses were +still so much in favour with the Courts, and tremble at the clash +of arms which from the remote Morea threatened to call Napoleon's +northern conquerors once more into the field <a name="FNanchor365"> </a><a href="#Footnote_365"><sup>[365]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Eastern policy of England.]</p> +<p>England was not, like Austria, exposed to actual danger by the +advance of Russia towards the Ægæan; but the growth +of Russian power had been viewed with alarm by English +politicians since 1788, when Pitt had formed a triple alliance +with Prussia and Holland for the purpose of defending the Porte +against the attacks of Catherine and Joseph. The interest of +Great Britain in the maintenance of the Ottoman Empire had not +been laid down as a principle before that date, nor was it then +acknowledged by the Whig party. It was asserted by Pitt from +considerations relating to the European balance of power, not, as +in our own times, with a direct reference to England's position +in India. The course of events from 1792 to 1807 made England and +Russia for awhile natural allies; but this friendship was turned +into hostility by the Treaty of Tilsit; and although after a few +years Alexander was again fighting for the same cause as Great +Britain, and the public opinion of this country enthusiastically +hailed the issue of the Moscow campaign, English statesmen never +forgot the interview upon the Niemen, and never, in the brightest +moments of victory, regarded Alexander without some secret +misgivings. During the campaign of 1814 in France, Castlereagh's +willingness to negotiate with Bonaparte was due in great part to +the fear that Alexander's high-wrought resolutions would collapse +before Napoleon could be thoroughly crushed, and that reaction +would carry him into a worse peace than that which he then +disdained. <a name="FNanchor366"> </a><a href="#Footnote_366"><sup>[366]</sup></a> The negotiations at the +Congress of Vienna brought Great Britain and Russia, as it has +been seen, into an antagonism which threatened to end in the +resort to arms; and the tension which then and for some time +afterwards existed between the two governments led English +Ministers to speak, certainly in exaggerated and misleading +language, of the mutual hostility of the English and the Russian +nations. From 1815 to 1821 the Czar had been jealously watched. +It had been rumoured over and over again that he was preparing to +invade the Ottoman Empire; and when the rebellion of the Greeks +broke out, the one thought of Castlereagh and his colleagues was +that Russia must be prevented from throwing itself into the fray, +and that the interests of Great Britain required that the +authority of the Sultan should as soon as possible be restored +throughout his dominions.</p> +<p>[Fears of new period of warfare.]</p> +<p>[Metternich and the Greeks.]</p> +<p>Both at London therefore and at Vienna the rebellion of Greece +was viewed by governments only as an unfortunate disturbance +which was likely to excite war between Russia and its neighbours, +and to imperil the peace of Europe at large. It may seem strange +that the spectacle of a nation rising to assert its independence +should not even have aroused the question whether its claims +deserved to be considered. But to do justice at least to the +English Ministers of 1821, it must be remembered how terrible, +how overpowering, were the memories left by the twenty years of +European war that had closed in 1815, and at how vast a cost to +mankind the regeneration of Greece would have been effected, if, +as then seemed probable, it had ranged the Great Powers again in +arms against one another, and re-kindled the spirit of military +aggression which for a whole generation had made Europe the prey +of rival coalitions. It is impossible to read the letter in which +Castlereagh pleaded with the Czar to sacrifice his own glory and +popularity to the preservation of European peace, without +perceiving in what profound earnestness the English statesman +sought to avert the renewal of an epoch of conflict, and how much +the apprehension of coming calamity predominated in his own mind +over the mere jealousy of an extension of Russian power. <a name="FNanchor367"> </a><a href="#Footnote_367"><sup>[367]</sup></a> If +Castlereagh had no thought for Greece itself, it was because the +larger interests of Europe wholly absorbed him, and because he +lacked the imagination and the insight to conceive of a better +adjustment of European affairs under the widening recognition of +national rights. The Minister of Austria, to whom at this crisis +Castlereagh looked as his natural ally, had no doubt the same +dread of a renewed convulsion of Europe, but in his case it was +mingled with considerations of a much narrower kind. It is not +correct to say that Metternich was indifferent to the Greek +cause; he actually hated it, because it gave a stimulus to the +liberal movement of Germany. In his empty and pedantic philosophy +of human action, Metternich linked together every form of +national aspiration and unrest as something presumptuous and +wanton. He understood nothing of the debt that mankind owes to +the spirit of freedom. He was just as ready to dogmatise upon the +wickedness of the English Reform Bill as he was to trace the hand +of Capodistrias in every tumult in Servia or the Morea: and even +if there had been no fear of Russian aggression in the +background, he would instinctively have condemned the Greek +revolt when he saw that the light-headed professors in the German +Universities were beginning to agitate in its favour, and that +the recalcitrant minor Courts regarded it with some degree of +sympathy.</p> +<p>[Alexander adheres to policy of peace.]</p> +<p>[Capdostrias retires, Aug 1822.]</p> +<p>The policy of Metternich in the Eastern Question had for its +object the maintenance of the existing order of things; and as it +was certain that some satisfaction or other must be given to +Russian pride, Metternich's counsel was that the grievances of +the Czar which were specifically Russian should be clearly +distinguished from questions relating to the independence of +Greece; and that on the former the Porte should be recommended to +agree with its adversary quickly, the good offices of Europe +being employed within given limits on the Czar's behalf; so that, +the Russian causes of complaint being removed, Alexander might +without loss of honour leave the Greeks to be subdued, and resume +the diplomatic relations with Constantinople which had been so +perilously severed by Strogonoff's departure. It remained for the +Czar to decide whether, as head of Russia and protector of the +Christians of the East, he would solve the Eastern Question by +his own sword, or whether, constant to the principle and ideal of +international action to which he had devoted himself since 1815, +he would commit his cause to the joint mediation of Europe, and +accept such solution of the problem as his allies might attain. +In the latter case it was clear that no blow would be struck on +behalf of Greece. For a year or more the balance wavered; at +length the note of triumph sounded in the Austrian Cabinet. +Capodistrias, the representative of the Greek cause at St. +Petersburg, rightly measured the force of the opposing impulses +in the Czar's mind. He saw that Alexander, interested as he was +in Italy and Spain, would never break with that federation of the +Courts which he had himself created, nor shake off the influences +of legitimism which had dominated him since the Congress of +Aix-la-Chapelle. Submitting when contention had become hopeless, +and anticipating his inevitable fall by a voluntary retirement +from public affairs, Capodistrias, still high in credit and +reputation, quitted St. Petersburg under the form leave of +absence, and withdrew to Geneva, there to await events, and to +enjoy the distinction of a patriot whom love for Greece had +constrained to abandon one of the most splendid positions in +Europe. Grave, melancholy, and austere, as one who suffered with +his country, Capodistrias remained in private life till the +vanquished cause had become the victorious one, and the liberated +Greek nation called him to place himself at its head.</p> +<p>[Extension of the Greek revolt.]</p> +<p>[Central Greece.]</p> +<p>[Fall of Ali Pasha, Feb., 1822.]</p> +<p>[Chalcidice.]</p> +<p>An international diplomatic campaign of vast activity and +duration began in the year 1821, but the contest of arms was +left, as Metternich desired, to the Greeks and the Turks alone. +The first act of the war was the insurrection of the Morea: the +second was the extension of this insurrection over parts of +Continental Greece and the Archipelago, and its summary +extinction by the Turk in certain districts, which in consequence +remained for the future outside the area of hostilities, and so +were not ultimately included in the Hellenic Kingdom. Central +Greece, that is, the country lying immediately north of the +Corinthian Gulf, broke into revolt a few weeks later than the +Morea. The rising against the Mohammedans was distinguished by +the same merciless spirit: the men were generally massacred; the +women, if not killed, were for the most part sold into slavery; +and when, after an interval of three years, Lord Byron came to +Missolonghi, he found that a miserable band of twenty-three +captive women formed the sole remnant of the Turkish population +of that town. Thessaly, with some exceptions, remained passive, +and its inaction was of the utmost service to the Turkish cause; +for Ali Pasha in Epirus was now being besieged by the Sultan's +armies, and if Thessaly had risen in the rear of these troops, +they could scarcely have escaped destruction. Khurshid, the +Ottoman commander conducting the siege of Janina, held firmly to +his task, in spite of the danger which threatened his +communications, and in spite of the circumstance that his whole +household had fallen into the hands of the Moreot insurgents. His +tenacity saved the border-provinces for the Ottoman Empire. No +combination was effected between Ali and the Greeks, and at the +beginning of 1822 the Albanian chieftain lost both his stronghold +and his life. In the remoter district of Chalcidice, on the +Macedonian coast, where the promontory of Athos and the two +parallel peninsulas run out into the Ægæan, and a +Greek population, clearly severed from the Slavic inhabitants of +the mainland, maintained its own communal and religious +organisation, the national revolt broke out under Hetærist +leaders. The monks of Mount Athos, like their neighbours, took up +arms. But there was little sympathy between the privileged chiefs +of these abbeys and the desperate men who had come to head the +revolt. The struggle was soon abandoned; and, partly by force of +arms, partly by negotiation, the authority of the Sultan was +restored without much difficulty throughout this region.</p> +<p>[The Ægæan Islands.]</p> +<p>The settlements of the Ægæan which first raised +the flag of Greek independence were the so-called Nautical +Islands, Hydra, Spetza, and Psara, where the absence of a Turkish +population and the enjoyment of a century of self-government had +allowed the bold qualities of an energetic maritime race to grow +to their full vigour. Hydra and Spetza were close to the Greek +coast, Psara was on the farther side of the archipelago, almost +within view of Asia Minor; so that in joining the insurrection +its inhabitants showed great heroism, for they were exposed to +the first attack of any Turkish force that could maintain itself +for a few hours at sea, and the whole adjacent mainland was the +recruiting-ground of the Sultan. At Hydra the revolt against the +Ottoman was connected with the internal struggles of the little +community, and these in their turn were connected with the great +economical changes of Europe which, at the opposite end of the +continent, and in a widely different society, led to the +enactment of the English Corn Laws, and to the strife of classes +which resulted from them. During Napoleon's wars the +carrying-trade of most nations had become extinct; little corn +reached England, and few besides Greek ships navigated the Euxine +and Mediterranean. When peace opened the markets and the ports of +all nations, just as the renewed importation of foreign corn +threatened to lower the profits of English farmers and the rents +of English landlords, so the reviving freedom of navigation made +an end of the monopoly of the Hydriote and Psarian merchantmen. +The shipowners formed an oligarchy in Hydra; the captains and +crews of their ships, though they shared the profits of each +voyage, were excluded from any share in the government of the +island. Failure of trade, want and inactivity, hence led to a +political opposition. The shipowners, wealthy and privileged men, +had no inclination to break with the Turk; the captains and +sailors, who had now nothing to lose, declared for Greek +independence. There was a struggle in which for awhile nothing +but the commonest impulses of need and rapacity came into play; +but the greater cause proved its power: Hydra threw in its lot +with Greece; and although private greed and ill-faith, as well as +great cruelty, too often disgraced both the Hydriote crews and +those of the other islands, the nucleus of a naval force was now +formed which made the achievement of Greek independence possible. +The three islands which led the way were soon followed by the +wealthier and more populous Samos and by the greater part of the +Archipelago. Crete, inhabited by a mixed Greek and Turkish +population, also took up arms, and was for years to come the +scene of a bloody and destructive warfare.</p> +<p>[The Greek leaders.]</p> +<p>Within the Morea the first shock of the revolt had made the +Greeks masters of everything outside the fortified towns. The +reduction of these places was at once undertaken by the +insurgents. Tripolitza, lately the seat of the Turkish +government, was the centre of operations, and in the +neighbourhood of this town the first provisional government of +the Greeks, called the Senate of Kaltesti, was established. +Demetrius Hypsilanti, a brother of the Hetærist leader, +whose failure in Roumania was not yet known, landed in the Morea +and claimed supreme power. He was tumultuously welcomed by the +peasant-soldiers, though the Primates, who had hitherto held +undisputed sway, bore him no good will. Two other men became +prominent at this time as leaders in the Greek war of liberation. +These were Maurokordatos, a descendant of the Hospodars of +Wallachia-a politician superior to all his rivals in knowledge +and breadth of view, but wanting in the faculty of action +required by the times-and Kolokotrones, a type of the rough +fighting Klepht; a mere savage in attainments, scarcely able to +read or write, cunning, grossly avaricious and faithless, +incapable of appreciating either military or moral discipline, +but a born soldier in his own irregular way, and a hero among +peasants as ignorant as himself. There was yet another, who, if +his character had been equal to his station, would have been +placed at the head of the government of the Morea. This was +Petrobei, chief of the family of Mauromichalis, ruler of the +rugged district of Maina, in the south-west of Peloponnesus, +where the Turk had never established more than nominal +sovereignty. A jovial, princely person, exercising among his +clansmen a mild Homeric sway, Petrobei, surrounded by his nine +vigorous sons, was the most picturesque figure in Greece. But he +had no genius for great things. A sovereignty, which in other +hands might have expanded to national dominion, remained with +Petrobei a mere ornament and curiosity; and the power of the +deeply-rooted clan-spirit of the Maina only made itself felt +when, at a later period, the organisation of a united Hellenic +State demanded its sacrifice.</p> +<p>[Fall of Tripolitza, Oct. 5, 1821.]</p> +<p>Anarchy, egotism, and ill-faith disgraced the Greek +insurrection from its beginning to its close. There were, indeed, +some men of unblemished honour among the leaders, and the +peasantry in the ranks fought with the most determined courage +year after year; but the action of most of those who figured as +representatives of the people brought discredit upon the national +cause. Their first successes were accompanied by gross treachery +and cruelty. Had the Greek leaders been Bourbon kings, nurtured +in all the sanctities of divine right, instead of tax-gatherers +and cattle-lifters, truants from the wild school of Turkish +violence and deceit, they could not have perjured themselves with +lighter hearts. On the surrender of Navarino, in August, 1821, +after a formal capitulation providing for the safety of its +Turkish inhabitants, men, women, and children were +indiscriminately massacred. The capture of Tripolitza, which took +place two months later, was changed from a peaceful triumph into +a scene of frightful slaughter by the avarice of individual +chiefs, who, while negotiations were pending, made their way into +the town, and bargained with rich inhabitants to give them +protection in return for their money and jewels. The soldiery, +who had undergone the labours of the siege for six months, saw +that their reward was being pilfered from them. Defying all +orders, and in the absence of Demetrius Hypsilanti, the +commander-in-chief, they rushed upon the fortifications of +Tripolitza, and carried them by storm. A general massacre of the +inhabitants followed. For three days the work of carnage was +continued in the streets and houses, until few out of a +population of many thousands remained living. According to the +testimony of Kolokotrones himself, the roads were so choked with +the dead, that as he rode from the gateway to the citadel his +horse's hoofs never touched the ground. <a name="FNanchor368"> </a><a href="#Footnote_368"><sup>[368]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Massacre of Chios, April-June, 1822.]</p> +<p>In the opening scenes of the Greek insurrection the barbarity +of Christians and of Ottomans was perhaps on a level. The Greek +revenged himself with the ferocity of the slave who breaks his +fetters; the Turk resorted to wholesale massacre and +extermination as the normal means of government in troubled +times. And as experience has shown that the savagery of the +European yields in one generation to the influences of civilised +rule, while the Turk remains as inhuman to-day as he was under +Mahmud II., so the history of 1822 proved that the most devilish +passions of the Greek were in the end but a poor match for +disciplined Turkish prowess in the work of butchery. It was no +easy matter for the Sultan to requite himself for the sack of +Tripolitza upon Kolokotrones and his victorious soldiers; but +there was a peaceful and inoffensive population elsewhere, which +offered all the conditions for free, unstinted, and unimperilled +vengeance which the Turk desires. A body of Samian troops had +landed in Chios, and endeavoured, but with little success, to +excite the inhabitants to revolt, the absence of the Greek fleet +rendering them an almost certain prey to the Sultan's troops on +the mainland. The Samian leader nevertheless refused to abandon +the enterprise, and laid siege to the citadel, in which there was +a Turkish garrison. Before this fortress could be reduced, a +relieving army of seven thousand Turks, with hosts of fanatical +volunteers, landed on the island. The Samians fled; the miserable +population of Chios was given up to massacre. For week after week +the soldiery and the roving hordes of Ottomans slew, pillaged, +and sold into slavery at their pleasure. In parts of the island +where the inhabitants took refuge in the monasteries, they were +slaughtered by thousands together; others, tempted back to their +homes by the promulgation of an amnesty, perished family by +family. The lot of those who were spared was almost more pitiable +than of those who died. The slave-markets of Egypt and Tunis were +glutted with Chian captives. The gentleness, the culture, the +moral worth of the Chian community made its fate the more +tragical. No district in Europe had exhibited a civilisation more +free from the vices of its type: on no community had there fallen +in modern times so terrible a catastrophe. The estimates of the +destruction of life at Chios are loosely framed; among the lowest +is that which sets the number of the slain and the enslaved at +thirty thousand. The island, lately thronging with life and +activity, became a thinly-populated place. After a long period of +depression and the slow return of some fraction of its former +prosperity, convulsions of nature have in our own day again made +Chios a ruin. A new life may arise when the Turk is no longer +master of its shores, but the old history of Chios is closed for +ever.</p> +<p>[Exploit of Kanaris, June 18th, 1822.]</p> +<p>The impression made upon public opinion in Europe by the +massacre of 1822 was a deep and lasting one, although it caused +no immediate change in the action of Governments. The general +feeling of sympathy for the Greeks and hatred for the Turks, +which ultimately forced the Governments to take up a different +policy, was intensified by a brilliant deed of daring by which a +Greek captain avenged the Chians upon their devastor, and by the +unexpected success gained by the insurgents on the mainland +against powerful armies of the Sultan. The Greek executive, which +was now headed by Maurokordatos, had been guilty of gross neglect +in not sending over the fleet in time to prevent the Turks from +landing in Chios. When once this landing had been effected, the +ships which afterwards arrived were powerless to prevent the +massacre, and nothing could be attempted except against the +Turkish fleet itself. The instrument of destruction employed by +the Greeks was the fire-ship, which had been used with success +against the Turk in these same waters in the war of 1770. The +sacred month of the Ramazan was closing, and on the night of June +18, Kara Ali, the Turkish commander, celebrated the festival of +Bairam with above a thousand men on board his flag-ship. The +vessel was illuminated with coloured lanterns. In the midst of +the festivities, Constantine Kanaris, a Psarian captain, brought +his fire-ship unobserved right up to the Turkish man-of-war, and +drove his bowsprit firmly into one of her portholes; then, after +setting fire to the combustibles, he stepped quietly into a +row-boat, and made away. A breeze was blowing, and in a moment +the Turkish crew were enveloped in a mass of flames. The powder +on board exploded; the boats were sunk; and the vessel, with its +doomed crew, burned to the water-edge, its companions sheering +off to save themselves from the shower of blazing fragments that +fell all around. Kara Ali was killed by a broken mast; a few of +his men saved their lives by swimming or were picked up by +rescuers; the rest perished. Such was the consternation caused by +the deed of Kanaris, that the Ottoman fleet forthwith quitted the +Ægæan waters, and took refuge under the guns of the +Dardanelles. Kanaris, unknown before, became from this exploit a +famous man in Europe. It was to no stroke of fortune or mere +audacity that he owed his success, but to the finest combination +of nerve and nautical skill. His feat, which others were +constantly attempting, but with little success, to imitate, was +repeated by him in the same year. He was the most brilliant of +Greek seamen, a simple and modest hero; and after his splendid +achievements in the war of liberation, he served his country well +in a political career. Down to his death in a hale old age, he +was with justice the idol and pride of the Greek nation.</p> +<p>[Double invasion of Greece 1822.]</p> +<p>[Destruction of the Philhellenes near Arta, July 16.]</p> +<p>[Unsuccessful siege of Missolonghi, Nov., 1822.]</p> +<p>The fall of the Albanian rebel, Ali Pasha, in the spring of +1822 made it possible for Sultan Mahmud, who had hitherto been +crippled by the resistance of Janina, to throw his whole +land-force against the Hellenic revolt; and the Greeks of the +mainland, who had as yet had to deal only with scattered +detachments or isolated garrisons, now found themselves exposed +to the attack of two powerful armies. Kurshid, the conqueror of +Ali Pasha, took up his headquarters at Larissa in Thessaly, and +from this base the two invading armies marched southwards on +diverging lines. The first, under Omer Brionis, was ordered to +make its way through Southern Epirus to the western entrance of +the Corinthian Gulf, and there to cross into the Morea; the +second, under Dramali, to reduce Central Greece, and enter the +Morea by the isthmus of Corinth; the conquest of Tripolitza and +the relief of the Turkish coast-fortresses which were still +uncaptured being the ultimate end to be accomplished by the two +armies in combination with one another and with the Ottoman +fleet. Not less than fifty thousand men were under the orders of +the Turkish commanders, the division of Dramali being by far the +larger of the two. Against this formidable enemy the Greeks +possessed poor means of defence, nor were their prospects +improved when Maurokordatos, the President, determined to take a +military command, and to place himself at the head of the troops +in Western Greece. There were indeed urgent reasons for striking +with all possible force in this quarter. The Suliotes, after +seventeen years of exile in Corfu, had returned to their +mountains, and were now making common cause with Greece. They +were both the military outwork of the insurrection, and the +political link between the Hellenes and the Christian communities +of Albania, whose action might become of decisive importance in +the struggle against the Turks. Maurokordatos rightly judged the +relief of Suli to be the first and most pressing duty of the +Government. Under a capable leader this effort would not have +been beyond the power of the Greeks; directed by a politician who +knew nothing of military affairs, it was perilous in the highest +degree. Maurokordatos, taking the command out of abler hands, +pushed his troops forward to the neighbourhood of Arta, +mismanaged everything, and after committing a most important post +to Botzares, an Albanian chieftain of doubtful fidelity, left two +small regiments exposed to the attack of the Turks in mass. One +of these regiments, called the corps of Philhellenes, was +composed of foreign officers who had volunteered to serve in the +Greek cause as common soldiers. Its discipline was far superior +to anything that existed among the Greeks themselves; and at its +head were men who had fought in Napoleon's campaigns. But this +corps, which might have become the nucleus of a regular army, was +sacrificed to the incapacity of the general and the treachery of +his confederate. Betrayed and abandoned by the Albanian, the +Philhellenes met the attack of the Turks gallantly, and almost +all perished. Maurokordatos and the remnant of the Greek troops +now retired to Missolonghi. The Suliotes, left to their own +resources, were once more compelled to quit their mountain home, +and to take refuge in Corfu. Their resistance, however, delayed +the Turks for some months, and it was not until the beginning of +November that the army of Omer Brionis, after conquering the +intermediate territory, appeared in front of Missolonghi. Here +the presence of Maurokordatos produced a better effect than in +the field. He declared that he would never leave the town as long +as a man remained to fight the Turks. Defences were erected, and +the besiegers kept at bay for two months. On the 6th of January, +1823, Brionis ordered an assault. It was beaten back with heavy +loss; and the Ottoman commander, hopeless of maintaining his +position throughout the winter, abandoned his artillery, and +retired into the interior of the country. <a name="FNanchor369"> </a><a href="#Footnote_369"><sup>[369]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Dramali passes the Isthmus of Corinth, July 1822.]</p> +<p>[His retreat and destruction, Aug., 1822.]</p> +<p>In the meantime Dramali had advanced from Thessaly with +twenty-four thousand infantry and six thousand cavalry, the most +formidable armament that had been seen in Greece since the final +struggle between the Turks and Venetians in 1715. At the terror +of his approach all hopes of resistance vanished. He marched +through Boeotia and Attica, devastating the country, and reached +the isthmus of Corinth in July, 1822. The mountain passes were +abandoned by the Greeks; the Government, whose seat was at Argos, +dispersed; and Dramali moved on to Nauplia, where the Turkish +garrison was on the point of surrendering to the Greeks. The +entrance to the Morea had been won; the very shadow of a Greek +government had disappeared, and the definite suppression of the +revolt seemed now to be close at hand. But two fatal errors of +the enemy saved the Greek cause. Dramali neglected to garrison +the passes through which he had advanced; and the commander of +the Ottoman fleet, which ought to have met the land-force at +Nauplia, disobeyed his instructions and sailed on to Patras. Two +Greeks, at this crisis of their country's history, proved +themselves equal to the call of events. Demetrius Hypsilanti, now +President of the Legislature, refused to fly with his colleagues, +and threw himself, with a few hundred men, into the Acropolis of +Argos. Kolokotrones, hastening to Tripolitza, called out every +man capable of bearing arms, and hurried back to Argos, where the +Turks were still held at bay by the defenders of the citadel. +Dramali could no longer think of marching into the interior of +the Morea. The gallantry of Demetrius had given time for the +assemblage of a considerable force, and the Ottoman general now +discovered the ruinous effect of his neglect to garrison the +passes in his rear. These were seized by Kolokotrones. The +summer-drought threatened the Turkish army with famine; the fleet +which would have rendered them independent of land-supplies was a +hundred miles away; and Dramali, who had lately seen all Greece +at his feet, now found himself compelled to force his way back +through the enemy to the isthmus of Corinth. The measures taken +by Kolokotrones to intercept his retreat were skilfully planned, +and had they been adequately executed not a man of the Ottoman +army would have escaped. It was only through the disorder and the +cupidity of the Greeks themselves that a portion of Dramali's +force succeeded in cutting its way back to Corinth. Baggage was +plundered while the retreating enemy ought to have been +annihilated, and divisions which ought to have co-operated in the +main attack sought trifling successes of their own. But the +losses and the demoralisation of the Turkish army were as ruinous +to it as total destruction. Dramali himself fell ill and died; +and the remnant of his troops which had escaped from the enemy's +hands perished in the neighbourhood of Corinth from sickness and +want.</p> +<p>[Greek Civil Wars, 1824.]</p> +<p>The decisive events of 1822 opened the eyes of European +Governments to the real character of the Greek national rising, +and to the probability of its ultimate success. The forces of +Turkey were exhausted for the moment, and during the succeeding +year no military operations could be undertaken by the Sultan on +anything like the same scale. It would perhaps have been better +for the Greeks themselves if the struggle had been more +continuously sustained. Nothing but foreign pressure could give +unity to the efforts of a race distracted by so many local +rivalries, and so many personal ambitions and animosities. +Scarcely was the extremity of danger passed when civil war began +among the Greeks themselves. Kolokotrones set himself up in +opposition to the Legislature, and seized on some of the strong +places in the Morea. This first outbreak of the so-called +military party against the civil authorities was, however, of no +great importance. The Primates of the Morea took part with the +representatives of the islands and of Central Greece against the +disturber of the peace, and an accommodation was soon arranged. +Konduriottes, a rich ship-owner of Hydra, was made President, +with Kolettes, a politician of great influence in Central Greece, +as his Minister. But in place of the earlier antagonism between +soldier and civilian, a new and more dangerous antagonism, that +of district against district, now threatened the existence of +Greece. The tendency of the new government to sacrifice +everything to the interest of the islands at once became evident. +Konduriottes was a thoroughly incompetent man, and made himself +ridiculous by appointing his friends, the Hydriote sea-captains, +to the highest military and civil posts. Rebellion again broke +out, and Kolokotrones was joined by his old antagonists, the +Primates of the Morea. A serious struggle ensued, and the +government, which was really conducted by Kolettes, displayed an +energy that surprised both its friends and its foes. The Morea +was invaded by a powerful force from Hydra. No mercy was shown to +the districts which supported the rebels. Kolokotrones was +thoroughly defeated, and compelled to give himself up to the +Government. He was carried to Hydra and thrown into prison, where +he remained until new peril again rendered his services +indispensable to Greece.</p> +<p>[Mahmud calls for the help of Egypt.]</p> +<p>After the destruction of Dramali's army and the failure of the +Ottoman navy to effect any result whatever, the Sultan appears to +have conceived a doubt whether the subjugation of Greece might +not in fact be a task beyond his own unaided power. Even if the +mainland were conquered, it was certain that the Turkish fleet +could never reduce the islands, nor prevent the passage of +supplies and reinforcements from these to the ports of the Morea. +Strenuous as Mahmud had hitherto shown himself in crushing his +vassals who, like Ali Pasha, attempted to establish an authority +independent of the central government, he now found himself +compelled to apply to the most dangerous of them all for +assistance. Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, had risen to power in +the disturbed time that followed the expulsion of Napoleon's +forces from Egypt. His fleet was more powerful than that of +Turkey. He had organised an army composed of Arabs, negroes, and +fellahs, and had introduced into it, by means of French officers, +the military system and discipline of Europe. The same reform had +been attempted in Turkey seventeen years before by Mahmud's +predecessor, Selim III., but it had been successfully resisted by +the soldiery of Constantinople, and Selim had paid for his +innovations with his life. Mahmud, silent and tenacious, had long +been planning the destruction of the Janissaries, the mutinous +and degraded representatives of a once irresistible force, who +would now neither fight themselves nor permit their rulers to +organise any more effective body of troops in their stead. It is +possible that the Sultan may have believed that a victory won +over the enemies of Islam by the re-modelled forces of Egypt +would facilitate the execution of his own plans of military +reform; it is also possible that he may not have been unwilling +to see his vassal's resources dissipated by a distant and +hazardous enterprise. Not without some profound conviction of the +urgency of the present need, not without some sinister +calculation as to the means of dealing with an eventual rival in +the future, was the offer of aggrandisement-if we may judge from +the whole tenor of Sultan Mahmud's career and policy-made to the +Pasha of Egypt by his jealous and far-seeing master. The Pasha +was invited to assume the supreme command of the Ottoman forces +by land and sea, and was promised the island of Crete in return +for his co-operation against the Hellenic revolt. Messages to +this effect reached Alexandria at the beginning of 1824. Mehemet, +whose ambition had no limits, welcomed the proposals of his +sovereign with ardour, and, while declining the command for +himself, accepted it on behalf of Ibrahim, his adopted son.</p> +<p>[Turkish-Egyptian plans.]</p> +<p>[Egyptians conquer Crete, April, 1824.]</p> +<p>[Destruction of Psara, July, 1824.]</p> +<p>The most vigorous preparations for war were now made at +Alexandria. The army was raised to 90,000 men, and new ships were +added to the navy from English dockyards. A scheme was framed for +the combined operation of the Egyptian and the Turkish forces +which appeared to render the ultimate conquest of Greece certain. +It was agreed that the island of Crete, which is not sixty miles +distant from the southern extremity of the Morea, should be +occupied by Ibrahim, and employed as his place of arms; that +simultaneous or joint attacks should then be made upon the +principal islands of the Ægæan; and that after the +capture of these strongholds and the destruction of the maritime +resources of the Greeks, Ibrahim's troops should pass over the +narrow sea between Crete and the Morea, and complete their work +by the reduction of the mainland, thus left destitute of all +chance of succour from without. Crete, like Sicily, is a natural +stepping-stone between Europe and Africa; and when once the +assistance of Egypt was invoked by the Sultan, it was obvious +that Crete became the position which above all others it was +necessary for the Greeks to watch and to defend. But the wretched +Government of Konduriottes was occupied with its domestic +struggles. The appeal of the Cretans for protection remained +unanswered, and in the spring of 1824 a strong Egyptian force +landed on this island, captured its fortresses, and suppressed +the resistance of the inhabitants with the most frightful +cruelty. The base of operations had been won, and the combined +attacks of the Egyptian and Turkish fleets upon the smaller +islands followed. Casos, about thirty miles east of Crete, was +surprised by the Egyptians, and its population exterminated. +Psara was selected for the attack of the Turkish fleet. Since the +beginning of the insurrection the Psariotes had been the scourge +and terror of the Ottoman coasts. The services that they had +rendered in the Greek navy had been priceless; and if there was +one spot of Greek soil which ought to have been protected as long +as a single boat's crew remained afloat, it was the little rock +of Psara. Yet, in spite of repeated warnings, the Greek +Government allowed the Turkish fleet to pass the Dardanelles +unobserved, and some clumsy feints were enough to blind it to the +real object of an expedition whose aim was known to all Europe. +There were ample means for succouring the islanders, as +subsequent events proved; but when the Turkish admiral, Khosrew, +with 10,000 men on board, appeared before Psara, the Greek fleet +was far away. The Psariotes themselves were over-confident. They +trusted to their batteries on land, and believed their rocks to +be impregnable. They were soon undeceived. While a corps of +Albanians scaled the cliffs behind the town, the Turks gained a +footing in front, and overwhelmed their gallant enemy by weight +of numbers. No mercy was asked or given. Eight thousand of the +Psarians were slain or carried away as slaves. Not more than +one-third of the population succeeded in escaping to the +neighbouring islands. <a name="FNanchor370"> </a><a href="#Footnote_370"><sup>[370]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Greek successes off the coast of Asia Minor, September, +1824.]</p> +<p>[Ibrahim reaches Crete. December, 1824.]</p> +<p>The first part of the Turko-Egyptian plan had thus been +successfully accomplished, and if Khosrew had attacked Samos +immediately after his first victory, this island would probably +have fallen before help could arrive. But, like other Turkish +commanders, Khosrew loved intervals of repose, and he now sailed +off to Mytilene to celebrate the festival of Bairam. In the +meantime the catastrophe of Psara had aroused the Hydriote +Government to a sense of its danger. A strong fleet was sent +across the Ægæan, and adequate measures were taken to +defend Samos both by land and sea. The Turkish fleet was attacked +with some success, and though Ibrahim with the Egyptian +contingent now reached the coast of Asia Minor, the Greeks proved +themselves superior to their adversaries combined. The operations +of the Mussulman commanders led to no result; they were harassed +and terrified by the Greek fireships; and when at length all hope +of a joint conquest of Samos had been abandoned, and Ibrahim set +sail for Crete to carry out his own final enterprise alone, he +was met on the high seas by the Greeks, and driven back to the +coast of Asia Minor. During the autumn of 1824 the disasters of +the preceding months were to some extent retrieved, and the +situation of the Egyptian fleet would have become one of some +peril if the Greeks had maintained their guard throughout the +winter. But they underrated the energy of Ibrahim, and +surrendered themselves to the belief that he would not repeat the +attempt to reach Crete until the following spring. Careless, or +deluded by false information, they returned to Hydra, and left +the seas unwatched. Ibrahim saw his opportunity, and, setting +sail for Crete at the beginning of December, he reached it +without falling in with the enemy.</p> +<p>[Ibrahim in the Morea, Feb., 1825.]</p> +<p>The snowy heights of Taygetus are visible on a clear winter's +day from the Cretan coast; yet, with their enemy actually in view +of them, the Greeks neglected to guard the passage to the Morea. +On the 22nd of February, 1825, Ibrahim crossed the sea unopposed +and landed five thousand men at Modon. He was even able to return +to Crete and bring over a second contingent of superior strength +before any steps were taken to hinder his movements. The fate of +the mainland was now settled. Ibrahim marched from Modon upon +Navarino, defeated the Greek forces on the way, and captured the +garrison placed in the Island of Sphakteria-the scene of the +first famous surrender of the Spartans-before the Greek fleet +could arrive to relieve it. The forts of Navarino then +capitulated, and Ibrahim pushed on his victorious march towards +the centre of the Morea. It was in vain that the old chief +Kolokotrones was brought from his prison at Hydra to take supreme +command. The conqueror of Dramali was unable to resist the +onslaught of Ibrahim's regiments, recruited from the fierce races +of the Soudan, and fighting with the same arms and under the same +discipline as the best troops in Europe. Kolokotrones was driven +back through Tripolitza, and retired as the Russians had retired +from Moscow, leaving a deserted capital behind him. Ibrahim gave +his troops no rest; he hurried onwards against Nauplia, and on +the 24th of June reached the summit of the mountain-pass that +looks down upon the Argolic Gulf. "Ah, little island," he cried, +as he saw the rock of Hydra stretched below him, "how long wilt +thou escape me?" At Nauplia itself the Egyptian commander rode up +to the very gates and scanned the defences, which he hoped to +carry at the first assault. Here, however, a check awaited him. +In the midst of general flight and panic, Demetrius Hypsilanti +was again the undaunted soldier. He threw himself with some few +hundreds of men into the mills of Lerna, and there beat back +Ibrahim's vanguard when it attempted to carry this post by storm. +The Egyptian recognised that with men like these in front of him +Nauplia could be reduced only by a regular siege. He retired for +a while upon Tripolitza, and thence sent out his harrying +columns, slaughtering and devastating in every direction. It +seemed to be his design not merely to exhaust the resources of +his enemy but to render the Morea a desert, and to exterminate +its population. In the very birthplace of European civilisation, +it was said, this savage, who had already been nominated Pasha of +the Morea, intended to extinguish the European race and name, and +to found for himself upon the ashes of Greece a new barbaric +state composed of African negroes and fellaheen. That such design +had actually been formed was denied by the Turkish government in +answer to official inquiries, and its existence was not capable +of proof. But the brutality of one age is the stupidity of the +next, and Ibrahim's violence recoiled upon himself. Nothing in +the whole struggle between the Sultan and the Greeks gave so +irresistible an argument to the Philhellenes throughout Europe, +or so directly overcame the scruples of Governments in regard to +an armed intervention in favour of Greece, as Ibrahim's alleged +policy of extermination and re-settlement. The days were past +when Europe could permit its weakest member to be torn from it +and added to the Mohammedan world.</p> +<p>[Siege of Missolonghi, April, 1825-April, 1826.]</p> +<p>One episode of the deepest tragic interest yet remained in the +Turko-Hellenic conflict before the Powers of Europe stepped in +and struck with weapons stronger than those which had fallen from +dying hands. The town of Missolonghi was now beleaguered by the +Turks, who had invaded Western Greece while Ibrahim was +overrunning the Morea. Missolonghi had already once been besieged +without success; and, as in the case of Saragossa, the first +deliverance appears to have inspired the townspeople with the +resolution, maintained even more heroically at Missolonghi than +at the Spanish city, to die rather than capitulate. From the time +when Reschid, the Turkish commander, opened the second attack by +land and sea in the spring of 1825, the garrison and the +inhabitants met every movement of the enemy with the most +obstinate resistance. It was in vain that Reschid broke through +the defences with his artillery, and threw mass after mass upon +the breaches which he made. For month after month the assaults of +the Turks were uniformly repelled, until at length the arrival of +a Hydriote squadron forced the Turkish fleet to retire from its +position, and made the situation of Reschid himself one of +considerable danger. And now, as winter approached, and the +guerilla bands in the rear of the besiegers grew more and more +active, the Egyptian army with its leader was called from the +Morea to carry out the task in which the Turks had failed. The +Hydriote sea-captains had departed, believing their presence to +be no longer needed; and although they subsequently returned for +a short time, their services were grudgingly rendered and +ineffective. Ibrahim, settling down to his work at the beginning +of 1826, conducted his operations with the utmost vigour, +boasting that he would accomplish in fourteen days what the Turks +could not effect in nine months. But his veteran soldiers were +thoroughly defeated when they met the Greeks hand to hand; and +the Egyptian, furious with his enemy, his allies, and his own +officers, confessed that Missolonghi could only be taken by +blockade. He now ordered a fleet of flat-bottomed boats to be +constructed and launched upon the lagoons that lie between +Missolonghi and the open sea. Missolonghi was thus completely +surrounded; and when the Greek admirals appeared for the last +time and endeavoured to force an entrance through the shallows, +they found the besieger in full command of waters inaccessible to +themselves, and after one unsuccessful effort abandoned +Missolonghi to its fate. In the third week of April, 1826, +exactly a year after the commencement of the siege, the supply of +food was exhausted. The resolution, long made, that the entire +population, men, women, and children, should fall by the enemy's +sword rather than surrender, was now actually carried out. On the +night of the 22nd of April all the Missolonghiots, with the +exception of those whom age, exhaustion, or illness made unable +to leave their homes, were drawn up in bands at the city gates, +the women armed and dressed as men, the children carrying +pistols. Preceded by a body of soldiers, they crossed the moat +under Turkish fire. The attack of the vanguard carried everything +before it, and a way was cut through the Turkish lines. But at +this moment some cry of confusion was mistaken by those who were +still on the bridges for an order to retreat. A portion of the +non-combatants returned into the town, and with them the +rearguard of the military escort. The leading divisions, however, +continued their march forward, and would have escaped with the +loss of some of the women and children, had not treachery already +made the Turkish commander acquainted with the routes which they +intended to follow. They had cleared the Turkish camp, and were +expecting to meet the bands of Greek armatoli, who had promised +to fall upon the enemy's rear, when, instead of friends, they +encountered troop after troop of Ottoman cavalry and of Albanians +placed in ambush along the road between Missolonghi and the +mountains. Here, exhausted and surprised, they were cut down +without mercy, and out of a body numbering several thousand not +more than fifteen hundred men, with a few women and children, +ultimately reached places of safety. Missolonghi itself was +entered by the Turks during the sortie. The soldiers who had +fallen back during the confusion on the bridges, proved that they +had not acted from cowardice. They fought unflinchingly to the +last, and three bands, establishing themselves in the three +powder magazines of the town, set fire to them when surrounded by +the Turks, and perished in the explosion Some thousands of women +and children were captured around and within the town, or +wandering on the mountains; but the Turks had few other +prisoners. The men were dead or free.</p> +<p>[Fall of the Acropolis of Athens, June 5, 1827.]</p> +<p>From Missolonghi the tide of Ottoman conquest rolled eastward, +and the Acropolis of Athens was in its turn the object of a long +and arduous siege. The Government, which now held scarcely any +territory on the mainland except Nauplia, where it was itself +threatened by Ibrahim, made the most vigorous efforts to prevent +the Acropolis from falling into Reschid's hands. All, however, +was in vain. The English officers, Church and Cochrane, who were +now placed at the head of the military and naval forces of +Greece, failed ignominiously in the attacks which they made on +Reschid's besieging army; and the garrison capitulated on June 5, +1827. But the time was past when the liberation of Greece could +be prevented by any Ottoman victory. The heroic defence of the +Missolonghiots had achieved its end. Greece had fought long +enough to enlist the Powers of Europe on its side; and in the +same month that Missolonghi fell the policy of non-intervention +was definitely abandoned by those Governments which were best +able to carry their intentions into effect. If the struggle had +ended during the first three years of the insurrection, no hand +would have been raised to prevent the restoration of the Sultan's +rule. Russia then lay as if spell-bound beneath the diplomacy of +the Holy Alliance; and although in the second year of the war the +death of Castlereagh and the accession of Canning to power had +given Greece a powerful friend instead of a powerful foe within +the British Ministry, it was long before England stirred from its +neutrality. Canning indeed made no secret of his sympathies for +Greece, and of his desire to give the weaker belligerent such +help as a neutral might afford; but when he took up office the +time had not come when intervention would have been useful or +possible. Changes in the policy of other great Powers and in the +situation of the belligerents themselves were, he considered, +necessary before the influence of England could be successfully +employed in establishing peace in the East.</p> +<p>[First Russian project of joint intervention, 12 Jan., +1824.]</p> +<p>A vigorous movement of public opinion in favour of Greece made +itself felt throughout Western Europe as the struggle continued; +and the vivid and romantic interest excited over the whole +civilised world by the death of Lord Byron in 1823, among the +people whom he had come to free, probably served the Greek cause +better than all that Byron could have achieved had his life been +prolonged. In France and England, where public opinion had great +influence on the action of the Government, as well as in Germany, +where it had none whatever, societies were formed for assisting +the Greeks with arms, stores, and money. The first proposal, +however, for a joint intervention in favour of Greece came from +St. Petersburg. The undisguised good-will of Canning towards the +insurgents led the Czar's Government to anticipate that England +itself might soon assume that championship of the Greek cause +which Russia, at the bidding of Metternich and of Canning's +predecessor, had up to that time declined. If the Greeks were to +be befriended, it was intolerable that others should play the +part of the patron. Accordingly, on the 12th of January, 1824, a +note was submitted in the Czar's name to all the Courts of +Europe, containing a plan for a settlement of the Greek question, +which it was proposed that the great Powers of Europe should +enforce upon Turkey either by means of an armed demonstration or +by the threat of breaking off all diplomatic relations. According +to this scheme, Greece, apart from the islands, was to be divided +into three Principalities, each tributary to the Sultan and +garrisoned by Turkish troops, but in other respects autonomous, +like the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The islands +were to retain their municipal organisation as before. In one +respect this scheme was superior to all that have succeeded it, +for it included in the territory of the Greeks both Crete and +Epirus; in all other respects it was framed in the interest of +Russia alone. Its object was simply to create a second group of +provinces, like those on the Danube, which should afford Russia a +constant opportunity for interfering with the Ottoman Empire, and +which at the same time should prevent the Greeks from +establishing an independent and self-supporting State. The design +cannot be called insidious, for its object was so palpable that +not a single politician in Europe was deceived by it; and a very +simple ruse of Metternich's was enough to draw from the Russian +Government an explicit declaration against the independence of +Greece, which was described by the Czar as a mere chimera. But of +all the parties concerned, the Greeks themselves were loudest in +denounciation of the Russian plan. Their Government sent a +protest against it to London, and was assured by Canning in reply +that the support of this country should never be given to any +scheme for disposing of the Greeks without their own consent. +Elsewhere the Czar's note was received with expressions of +politeness due to a Court which it might be dangerous to +contradict; and a series of conferences was opened at St. +Petersburg for the purpose of discussing propositions which no +one intended to carry into execution. Though Canning ordered the +British ambassador at St. Petersburg to dissociate himself from +these proceedings, the conferences dragged on, with long +adjournments, from the spring of 1824 to the summer of the +following year. <a name="FNanchor371"> </a><a href="#Footnote_371"><sup>[371]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Discontent and conspiracies in Russia.]</p> +<p>In the meantime a strong spirit of discontent was rising in +the Russian army and nation. The religious feeling no less than +the pride of the people was deeply wounded by Alexander's refusal +to aid the Greeks in their struggle, and by the pitiful results +of his attempted diplomatic concert. Alone among the European +nations the Russians understood the ecclesiastical character of +the Greek insurrection, and owed nothing of their sympathy with +it to the spell of classical literature and art. It is +characteristic of the strength of the religious element in the +political views of the Russian people, that the floods of the +Neva which overwhelmed St. Petersburg in the winter of 1825 +should have been regarded as a sign of divine anger at the Czar's +inaction in the struggle between the Crescent and the Cross. But +other causes of discontent were not wanting in Russia. Though +Alexander had forgotten his promises to introduce constitutional +rule, there were many, especially in the army, who had not done +so. Officers who served in the invasion of France in 1815, and in +the three years' occupation which followed it, returned from +Western Europe with ideas of social progress and of +constitutional rights which they could never have gathered in +their own country. And when the bright hopes which had been +excited by the recognition of these same ideas by the Czar passed +away, and Russia settled down into the routine of despotism and +corruption, the old unquestioning loyalty of the army was no +longer proof against the workings of the revolutionary spirit. In +a land where legal means of opposition to government and of the +initiation of reform were wholly wanting, discontent was forced +into its most dangerous form, that of military conspiracy. The +army was honeycombed with secret societies. Both in the north and +in the south of Russia men of influence worked among the younger +officers, and gained a strong body of adherents to their design +of establishing a constitution by force. The southern army +contained the most resolute and daring conspirators. These men +had definitely abandoned the hope of effecting any public reform +as long as Alexander lived, and they determined to sacrifice the +sovereign, as his father and others before him had been +sacrificed, to the political necessities of the time. If the +evidence subsequently given by those implicated in the conspiracy +is worthy of credit, a definite plan had been formed for the +assassination of the Czar in the presence of his troops at one of +the great reviews intended to be held in the south of Russia in +the autumn of 1825. On the death of the monarch a provisional +government was at once to be established, and a constitution +proclaimed.</p> +<p>[Death of the Czar, Dec. 1, 1825.]</p> +<p>Alexander, aware of the rising indignation of his people, and +irritated beyond endurance by the failure of his diplomatic +efforts, had dissolved the St. Petersburg Conferences in August, +1825, and declared that Russia would henceforth act according to +its own discretion. He quitted St. Petersburg and travelled to +the Black Sea, accompanied by some of the leaders of the +war-party. Here, plunged in a profound melancholy, conscious that +all his early hopes had only served to surround him with +conspirators, and that his sacrifice of Russia's military +interests to international peace had only rendered his country +impotent before all Europe, he still hesitated to make the final +determination between peace and war. A certain mystery hung over +his movements, his acts, and his intentions. Suddenly, while all +Europe waited for the signal that should end the interval of +suspense, the news was sent out from a lonely port on the Black +Sea that the Czar was dead. Alexander, still under fifty years of +age, had welcomed the illness which carried him from a world of +cares, and closed a career in which anguish and disappointment +had succeeded to such intoxicating glory and such unbounded hope. +Young as he still was for one who had reigned twenty-four years, +Alexander was of all men the most life-weary. Power, pleasure, +excitement, had lavished on him hours of such existence as none +but Napoleon among all his contemporaries had enjoyed. They had +left him nothing but the solace of religious resignation, and the +belief that a Power higher than his own might yet fulfil the +purposes in which he himself had failed. Ever in the midst of +great acts and great events, he had missed greatness himself. +Where he had been best was exactly where men inferior to himself +considered him to have been worst-in his hopes; and these hopes +he had himself abandoned and renounced. Strength, insight, unity +of purpose, the qualities which enable men to mould events, +appeared in him but momentarily or in semblance. For want of them +the large and fair horizon of his earlier years was first +obscured and then wholly blotted out from his view, till in the +end nothing but his pietism and his generosity distinguished him +from the politicians of repression whose instrument he had +become.</p> +<p>[Military insurrection at St. Petersburg, Dec 26, 1825.]</p> +<p>The sudden death of Alexander threw the Russian Court into the +greatest confusion, for it was not known who was to succeed him. +The heir to the throne was his brother Constantine, an ignorant +and brutal savage, who had just sufficient sense not to desire to +be Czar of Russia, though he considered himself good enough to +tyrannise over the Poles. Constantine had renounced his right to +the crown some years before, but the renunciation had not been +made public, nor had the Grand Duke Nicholas, Constantine's +younger brother, been made aware that the succession was +irrevocably fixed upon himself. Accordingly, when the news of +Alexander's death reached St. Petersburg, and the document +embodying Constantine's abdication was brought from the archives +by the officials to whose keeping it had been entrusted, Nicholas +refused to acknowledge it as binding, and caused the troops to +take the oath of allegiance to Constantine, who was then at +Warsaw. Constantine, on the other hand, proclaimed his brother +emperor. An interregnum of three weeks followed, during which +messages passed between Warsaw and St. Petersburg, Nicholas +positively refusing to accept the crown unless by his elder +brother's direct command. This at length arrived, and on the 26th +of December Nicholas assumed the rank of sovereign. But the +interval of uncertainty had been turned to good account by the +conspirators at St. Petersburg. The oath already taken by the +soldiers to Constantine enabled the officers who were concerned +in the plot to denounce Nicholas as a usurper, and to disguise +their real designs under the cloak of loyalty to the legitimate +Czar. Ignorant of the very meaning of a constitution, the common +soldiers mutinied because they were told to do so; and it is said +that they shouted the word Constitution, believing it to be the +name of Constantine's wife. When summoned to take the oath to +Nicholas, the Moscow Regiment refused it, and marched off to the +place in front of the Senate House, where it formed square, and +repulsed an attack made upon it by the Cavalry of the Guard. +Companies from other regiments now joined the mutineers, and +symptoms of insurrection began to show themselves among the civil +population. Nicholas himself did not display the energy of +character which distinguished him through all his later life; on +the contrary, his attitude was for some time rather that of +resignation than of self-confidence. Whether some doubt as to the +justice of his cause haunted him, or a trial like that to which +he was now exposed was necessary to bring to its full strength +the iron quality of his nature, it is certain that the conduct of +the new Czar during these critical hours gave to those around him +little indication of the indomitable will which was hence forth +to govern Russia. Though the great mass of the army remained +obedient, it was but slowly brought up to the scene of revolt. +Officers of high rank were sent to harangue the insurgents, and +one of these, General Miloradovitsch, a veteran of the Napoleonic +campaigns, was mortally wounded while endeavouring to make +himself heard. It was not until evening that the artillery was +ordered into action, and the command given by the Czar to fire +grape-shot among the insurgents. The effect was decisive. The +mutineers fled before a fire which they were unable to return, +and within a few minutes the insurrection was over. It had +possessed no chief of any military capacity; its leaders were +missing at the moment when a forward march or an attack on the +palace of the Czar might have given them the victory; and among +the soldiers at large there was not the least desire to take part +in any movement against the established system of Russia. The +only effect left by the conspiracy within Russia itself was seen +in the rigorous and uncompromising severity with which Nicholas +henceforward enforced the principle of autocratic rule. The +illusions of the previous reign were at an end. A man with the +education and the ideas of a drill-sergeant and the religious +assurance of a Covenanter was on the throne; rebellion had done +its worst against him; and woe to those who in future should +deviate a hair's breadth from their duty of implicit obedience to +the sovereign's all-sufficing power. <a name="FNanchor372"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_372"><sup>[372]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Anglo-Russian Protocol, April 4, 1826.]</p> +<p>It has been stated, and with some probability of truth, that +the military insurrection of 1825 disposed the new Czar to a more +vigorous policy abroad. The conspirators, when on their trial, +declared it to have been their intention to throw the army at +once into an attack upon the Turks; and in so doing they would +certainly have had the feeling of the nation on their side. +Nicholas himself had little or no sympathy for the Greeks. They +were a democratic people, and the freedom which they sought to +gain was nothing but anarchy. "Do not speak of the Greeks," he +said to the representative of a foreign power, "I call them the +rebels." Nevertheless, little as Nicholas wished to serve the +Greek democracy, both inclination and policy urged him to make an +end of his predecessor's faint-hearted system of negotiation, and +to bring the struggle in the East to a summary close. Canning had +already, in conversation with the Russian ambassador at London, +discussed a possible change of policy on the part of the two +rival Courts. He now saw that time had come for establishing new +relations between Great Britain and Russia, and for attempting +that co-operation in the East which he had held to be +impracticable during Alexander's reign. The Duke of Wellington +was sent to St. Petersburg, nominally to offer the usual +congratulations to the new sovereign, in reality to dissuade him +from going to war, and to propose either the separate +intervention of England or a joint intervention by England and +Russia on behalf of Greece. The mission was successful. It was in +vain that Metternich endeavoured to entangle the new Czar in the +diplomatic web that had so long held his predecessor. The spell +of the Holy Alliance was broken. Nicholas looked on the past +influence of Austria on the Eastern Question only with +resentment; he would hear of no more conferences of ambassadors; +and on the 4th of April, 1826, a Protocol was signed at St. +Petersburg, by which Great Britain and Russia fixed the +conditions under which the mediation of the former Power was to +be tendered to the Porte. Greece was to remain tributary to the +Sultan; it was, however, to be governed by its own elected +authorities, and to be completely independent in its commercial +relations. The policy known in our own day as that of +bag-and-baggage expulsion was to be carried out in a far more +extended sense than that in which it has been advocated by more +recent champions of the subject races of the East; the Protocol +of 1826 stipulating for the removal not only of Turkish officials +but of the entire surviving Turkish population of Greece. All +property belonging to the Turks, whether on the continent or in +the islands, was to be purchased by the Greeks. <a name="FNanchor373"> </a><a href="#Footnote_373"><sup>[373]</sup></a></p> +<p>Thus was the first step taken in the negotiations which ended +in the establishment of Hellenic independence. The Protocol, +which had been secretly signed, was submitted after some interval +to the other Courts of Europe. At Vienna it was received with the +utmost disgust. Metternich had at first declared the union of +England and Russia to be an impossibility. When this union was +actually established, no language was sufficiently strong to +express his mortification and his spite. At one moment he +declared that Canning was a revolutionist who had entrapped the +young and inexperienced Czar into an alliance with European +radicalism; at another, that England had made itself the +cat's-paw of Russian ambition. Not till now, he protested, could +Europe understand what it had lost in Castlereagh. Nor did +Metternich confine himself to lamentations. While his +representatives at Paris and Berlin spared no effort to excite +the suspicion of those Courts against the Anglo-Russian project +of intervention, the Austrian ambassador at London worked upon +King George's personal hostility to Canning, and conspired +against the Minister with that important section of the English +aristocracy which was still influenced by the traditional regard +for Austria. Berlin, however, was the only field where +Metternich's diplomacy still held its own. King Frederick William +had not yet had time to acquire the habit of submission to the +young Czar Nicholas, and was therefore saved the pain of deciding +which of two masters he should obey. In spite of his own sympathy +for the Greeks, he declined to connect Prussia with the proposed +joint-intervention, and remained passive, justifying this course +by the absence of any material interests of Prussia in the East. +Being neither a neighbour of the Ottoman Empire nor a maritime +Power, Prussia had in fact no direct means of making its +influence felt.</p> +<p>[Treaty between England, Russia and France, July, 1827.]</p> +<p>France, on whose action much more depended, was now governed +wholly in the interests of the Legitimist party. Louis XVIII. had +died in 1824, and the Count of Artois had succeeded to the +throne, under the title of Charles X. The principles of the +Legitimists would logically have made them defenders of the +hereditary rights of the Sultan against his rebellious subjects; +but the Sultan, unlike Ferdinand of Spain, was not a Bourbon nor +even a Christian; and in a case where the legitimate prince was +an infidel and the rebels were Christians, the conscience of the +most pious Legitimist might well recoil from the perilous task of +deciding between the divine rights of the Crown and the divine +rights of the Church, and choose, in so painful an emergency, the +simpler course of gratifying the national love of action. There +existed, both among Liberals and among Ultramontanes, a real +sympathy for Greece, and this interest was almost the only one in +which all French political sections felt that they had something +in common. Liberals rejoiced in the prospect of making a new free +State in Europe; Catholics, like Charles X. himself, remembered +Saint Louis and the Crusades; diplomatists understood the extreme +importance of the impending breach between Austria and Russia, +and of the opportunity of allying France with the latter Power. +Thus the natural and disinterested impulse of the greater part of +the public coincided exactly with the dictates of a far-seeing +policy; and the Government, in spite of its Legitimist principles +and of some assurances given to Metternich in person when he +visited Paris in 1825, determined to accept the policy of the +Anglo-Russian intervention in the East, and to participate in the +active measures about to be taken by the two Powers. The Protocol +of St. Petersburg formed the basis of a definitive treaty which +was signed at London in July, 1827. By this act England, Russia, +and France undertook to put an end to the conflict in the East, +which, through the injury done to the commerce of all nations, +had become a matter of European concern. The contending parties +were to be summoned to accept the mediation of the Powers and to +consent to an armistice. Greece was to be made autonomous, under +the paramount sovereignty of the Sultan; the Mohammedan +population of the Greek provinces was, as in the Protocol of St. +Petersburg, to be entirely removed; and the Greeks were to enter +upon possession of all Turkish property within their limits, +paying an indemnity to the former owners. Each of the three +contracting Governments pledged itself to seek no increase of +territory in the East, and no special commercial advantages. In +the secret articles of the treaty provisions were made for the +case of the rejection by the Turks of the proposed offer of +mediation. Should the armistice not be granted within one month, +the Powers agreed that they would announce to each belligerent +their intention to prevent further encounters, and that they +would take the necessary steps for enforcing this declaration, +without, however, taking part in hostilities themselves. +Instructions in conformity with the Treaty were to be sent to the +Admirals commanding the Mediterranean squadrons of the three +Powers. <a name="FNanchor374"> </a><a href="#Footnote_374"><sup>[374]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Death of Canning, August, 1827.]</p> +<p>[Policy of Canning.]</p> +<p>Scarcely was the Treaty of London signed when Canning died. He +had definitely broken from the policy of his predecessors, that +policy which, for the sake of guarding against Russia's advance, +had condemned the Christian races of the East to 1827. eternal +subjection to the Turk, and bound up Great Britain with the +Austrian system of resistance to the very principle and name of +national independence. Canning was no blind friend to Russia. As +keenly as any of his adversaries he appreciated the importance of +England's interests in the East; of all English statesmen of that +time he would have been the last to submit to any diminution of +England's just influence or power. But, unlike his predecessors, +he saw that there were great forces at work which, whether with +England's concurrence or in spite of it, would accomplish that +revolution in the East for which the time was now come; and he +was statesman enough not to acquiesce in the belief that the +welfare of England was in permanent and necessary antagonism to +the moral interests of mankind and the better spirit of the age. +Therefore, instead of attempting to maintain the integrity of the +Ottoman Empire, or holding aloof and resorting to threats and +armaments while Russia accomplished the liberation of Greece by +itself, he united with Russia in this work, and relied on +concerted action as the best preventive against the undue +extension of Russia's influence in the East. In committing +England to armed intervention, Canning no doubt hoped that the +settlement of the Greek question arranged by the Powers would be +peacefully accepted by the Sultan, and that a separate war +between Russia and the Porte, on this or any other issue, would +be averted. Neither of these hopes was realised. The +joint-intervention had to be enforced by arms, and no sooner had +the Allies struck their common blow than a war between Turkey and +Russia followed. How far the course of events might have been +modified had Canning's life not been cut short it is impossible +to say; but whether his statesmanship might or might not have +averted war on the Danube, the balance of results proved his +policy to have been the right one. Greece was established as an +independent State, to supply in the future a valuable element of +resistance to Slavic preponderance in the Levant; and the +encounter between Russia and Turkey, so long dreaded, produced +none of those disastrous effects which had been anticipated from +it. On the relative value of Canning's statesmanship as compared +with that of his predecessors, the mind of England and of Europe +has long been made up. He stands among those who have given to +this country its claim to the respect of mankind. His monument, +as well as his justification, is the existence of national +freedom in the East; and when half a century later a British +Government reverted to the principle of non-intervention, as it +had been understood by Castlereagh, and declined to enter into +any effective co-operation with Russia for the emancipation of +Bulgaria, even then, when the precedent of Canning's action in +1827 stood in direct and glaring contradiction to the policy of +the hour, no effective attempt was made by the leaders of the +party to which Canning had belonged to impugn his authority, or +to explain away his example. It might indeed be alleged that +Canning had not explicitly resolved on the application of force; +but those who could maintain that Canning would, like Wellington, +have used the language of apology and regret when Turkish +obstinacy had made it impossible to effect the object of his +intervention by any other means, had indeed read the history of +Canning's career in vain. <a name="FNanchor375"> </a><a href="#Footnote_375"><sup>[375]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Intervention of the Admirals, Sept., 1827.]</p> +<p>The death of Canning, which brought his rival, the Duke of +Wellington, after a short interval to the head of affairs, caused +at the moment no avowed change in the execution of his plans. In +accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of London the +mediation of the allied Powers was at once tendered to the +belligerents, and an armistice demanded. The armistice was +accepted by the Greeks; it was contemptuously refused by the +Turks. In consequence of this refusal the state of war continued, +as it would have been absurd to ask the Greeks to sit still and +be massacred because the enemy declined to lay down his arms. The +Turk being the party resisting the mediation agreed upon, it +became necessary to deprive him of the power of continuing +hostilities. Heavy reinforcements had just arrived from Egypt, +and an expedition was on the point of sailing from Navarino, the +gathering place of Ibrahim's forces, against Hydra, the capture +of which would have definitely made an end of the Greek +insurrection. Admiral Codrington, the commander of the British +fleet, and the French Admiral De Rigny, were now off the coast of +Greece. They addressed themselves to Ibrahim, and required from +him a promise that he would make no movement until further orders +should arrive from Constantinople. Ibrahim made this promise +verbally on the 25th of September. A few days later, however, +Ibrahim learnt that while he himself was compelled to be +inactive, the Greeks, continuing hostilities as they were +entitled to do, had won a brilliant naval victory under Captain +Hastings within the Gulf of Corinth. Unable to control his anger, +he sailed out from the harbour of Navarino, and made for Patras. +Codrington, who had stationed his fleet at Zante, heard of the +movement, and at once threw himself across the track of the +Egyptian, whom he compelled to turn back by an energetic threat +to sink his fleet. Had the French and Russian contingents been at +hand, Codrington would have taken advantage of Ibrahim's sortie +to cut him off from all Greek harbours, and to force him to +return direct to Alexandria, thus peaceably accomplishing the +object of the intervention. This, however, to the misfortune of +Ibrahim's seamen, the English admiral could not do alone. Ibrahim +re-entered Navarino, and there found the orders of the Sultan for +which it had been agreed that he should wait. These orders were +dictated by true Turkish infatuation. They bade Ibrahim continue +the subjugation of the Morea with the utmost vigour, and promised +him the assistance of Reschid Pasha, his rival in the siege of +Missolonghi. Ibrahim, perfectly reckless of the consequences, now +sent out his devastating columns again. No life, and nothing that +could support life, was spared. Not only were the crops ravaged, +but the fruit-trees, which are the permanent support of the +country, were cut down at the roots. Clouds of fire and smoke +from burning villages showed the English officers who approached +the coast in what spirit the Turk met their proposals for a +pacification. "It is supposed that if Ibrahim remained in +Greece," wrote Captain Hamilton, "more than a third of its +inhabitants would die of absolute starvation."</p> +<p>[Battle of Navarino, Oct. 20th, 1827.]</p> +<p>It became necessary to act quickly, the more so as the season +was far advanced, and a winter blockade of Ibrahim's fleet was +impossible. A message was sent to the Egyptian head-quarters, +requiring that hostilities should cease, that the Morea should be +evacuated, and the Turko-Egyptian fleet return to Constantinople +and Alexandria. In answer to this message there came back a +statement that Ibrahim had left Navarino for the interior of the +country, and that it was not known where to find him. Nothing now +remained for the admirals but to make their presence felt. On the +18th of October it was resolved that the English, French, and +Russian fleets, which were now united, should enter the harbour +of Navarino in battle order. The movement was called a +demonstration, and in so far as the admirals had not actually +determined upon making an attack, it was not directly a hostile +measure; but every gun was ready to open fire, and it was well +understood that any act of resistance on the part of the opposite +fleet would result in hostilities. Codrington, as senior officer, +took command of the allied squadron, and the instructions which +he gave to his colleagues for the event of a general engagement +concluded with Nelson's words, that no captain could do very +wrong who placed his ship alongside that of an enemy.</p> +<p>Thus, ready to strike hard, the English admiral sailed into +the harbour of Navarino at noon on October 20, followed by the +French and the Russians. The allied fleet advanced to within +pistol-shot of the Ottoman ships and there anchored. A little to +the windward of the position assigned to the English corvette +<i>Dartmouth</i> there lay a Turkish fire-ship. A request was +made that this dangerous vessel might be removed to a safer +distance; it was refused, and a boat's crew was then sent to cut +its cable. The boat was received with musketry fire. This was +answered by the <i>Dartmouth</i> and by a French ship, and the +battle soon became general. Codrington, still desirous to avoid +bloodshed, sent his pilot to Moharem Bey, who commanded in +Ibrahim's absence, proposing to withhold fire on both sides. +Moharem replied with cannon-shot, killing the pilot and striking +Codrington's own vessel. This exhausted the patience of the +English admiral, who forthwith made his adversary a mere wreck. +The entire fleets on both sides were now engaged. The Turks had a +superiority of eight hundred guns, and fought with courage. For +four hours the battle raged at close quarters in the land-locked +harbour, while twenty thousand of Ibrahim's soldiers watched from +the surrounding hills the struggle in which they could take no +part. But the result of the combat was never for a moment +doubtful. The confusion and bad discipline of the Turkish fleet +made it an easy prey. Vessel after vessel was sunk or blown to +pieces, and before evening fell the work of the allies was done. +When Ibrahim returned from his journey on the following day he +found the harbour of Navarino strewed with wrecks and dead +bodies. Four thousand of his seamen had fallen; the fleet which +was to have accomplished the reduction of Hydra was utterly <a +name="FNanchor376">ruined.</a><a href="#Footnote_376"><sup>[376]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Inaction of England after Navarino.]</p> +<p>Over all Greece it was at once felt that the nation was saved. +The intervention of the Powers had been sudden and decisive +beyond the most sanguine hopes; and though this intervention +might be intended to establish something less than the complete +independence of Greece, the violence of the first collision bade +fair to carry the work far beyond the bounds originally assigned +to it. The attitude of the Porte after the news of the battle of +Navarino reached Constantinople was exactly that which its worst +enemies might have desired. So far from abating anything in its +resistance to the mediation of the three Powers, it declared the +attack made upon its navy to be a crime and an outrage, and +claimed satisfaction for it from the ambassadors of the Allied +Powers. Arguments proved useless, and the united demand for an +armistice with the Greeks having been finally and contemptuously +refused, the ambassadors, in accordance with their instructions, +quitted the Turkish capital (Dec. 8). Had Canning been still +living, it is probable that the first blow of Navarino would have +been immediately followed by the measures necessary to make the +Sultan submit to the Treaty of London, and that the forces of +Great Britain would have been applied with sufficient vigour to +render any isolated action on the part of Russia both unnecessary +and impossible. But at this critical moment a paralysis fell over +the English Government. Canning's policy was so much his own, he +had dragged his colleagues so forcibly with him in spite of +themselves, that when his place was left empty no one had the +courage either to fulfil or to reverse his intentions, and the +men who succeeded him acted as if they were trespassers in the +fortress which Canning had taken by storm. The very ground on +which Wellington, no less than Canning, had justified the +agreement made with Russia in 1826 was the necessity of +preventing Russia from acting alone; and when Russian and Turkish +ships had actually fought at Navarino, and war was all but +formally declared, it became more imperative than ever that Great +Britain should keep the most vigorous hold upon its rival, and by +steady, consistent pressure let it be known to both Turks and +Russians that the terms of the Treaty of London and no others +must be enforced. To retire from action immediately after dealing +the Sultan one dire, irrevocable blow, without following up this +stroke or attaining the end agreed upon-to leave Russia to take +up the armed compulsion where England had dropped it, and to win +from its crippled adversary the gains of a private and isolated +war-was surely the weakest of all possible policies that could +have been adopted. Yet this was the policy followed by English +Ministers during that interval of transition and incoherence that +passed between Canning's death and the introduction of the Reform +Bill.</p> +<p>[War between Russia and Turkey, April, 1828.]</p> +<p>By the Russian Government nothing was more ardently desired +than a contest with Turkey, in which England and France, after +they had destroyed the Turkish fleet, should be mere on-lookers, +debarred by the folly of the Porte itself from prohibiting or +controlling hostilities between it and its neighbour. There might +indeed be some want of a pretext for war, since all the points of +contention between Russia and Turkey other than those relating to +Greece had been finally settled in Russia's favour by a Treaty +signed at Akerman in October, 1826. But the spirit of infatuation +had seized the Sultan, or a secret hope that the Western Powers +would in the last resort throw over the Court of St. Petersburg +led him to hurry on hostilities by a direct challenge to Russia. +A proclamation which reads like the work of some frantic dervish, +though said to have been composed by Mahmud himself, called the +Mussulman world to arms. Russia was denounced as the instigator +of the Greek rebellion, and the arch-enemy of Islam. The Treaty +of Akerman was declared to have been extorted by compulsion and +to have been signed only for the purpose of gaining time. "Russia +has imparted its own madness to the other Powers and persuaded +them to make an alliance to free the Rayah from his Ottoman +master. But the Turk does not count his enemies. The law forbids +the people of Islam to permit any injury to be done to their +religion; and if all the unbelievers together unite against them, +they will enter on the war as a sacred duty, and trust in God for +protection." This proclamation was followed by a levy of troops +and the expulsion of most of the Christian residents in +Constantinople. Russia needed no other pretext. The fanatical +outburst of the Sultan was treated by the Court of St. Petersburg +as if it had been the deliberate expression of some civilised +Power, and was answered on the 26th of April, 1828, by a +declaration of war. In order to soften the effect of this step +and to reap the full benefit of its subsisting relations with +France and England, Russia gave a provisional undertaking to +confine its operations as a belligerent to the mainland and the +Black Sea, and within the Mediterranean to act still as one of +the allied neutrals under the terms of the Treaty of London.</p> +<p>[Military condition of Turkey.]</p> +<p>The moment seized by Russia for the declaration of war was one +singularly favourable to itself and unfortunate for its +adversary. Not only had the Turkish fleet been destroyed by the +neutrals, but the old Turkish force of the Janissaries had been +destroyed by its own master, and the new-modelled regiments which +were to replace it had not yet been organised. The Sultan had +determined in 1826 to postpone his long-planned military reform +no longer, and to stake everything on one bold stroke against the +Janissaries. Troops enough were brought up from the other side of +the Bosphorus to make Mahmud certain of victory. The Janissaries +were summoned to contribute a proportion of their number to the +regiments about to be formed on the European pattern; and when +they proudly refused to do so and raised the standard of open +rebellion they were cut to pieces and exterminated by Mahmud's +Anatolian soldiers in the midst of Constantinople. <a name="FNanchor377"> </a><a href="#Footnote_377"><sup>[377]</sup></a> +The principal difficulty in the way of a reform of the Turkish +army was thus removed and the work of reorganisation was +earnestly taken in hand; but before there was time to complete it +the enemy entered the field. Mahmud had to meet the attack of +Russia with an army greatly diminished in number, and confused by +the admixture of European and Turkish discipline. The resources +of the empire were exhausted by the long struggle with Greece, +and, above all, the destruction of the Janissaries had left +behind it an exasperation which made the Sultan believe that +rebellion might at any moment break out in his own capital. +Nevertheless, in spite of its inherent weakness and of all the +disadvantages under which it entered into war, Turkey succeeded +in prolonging its resistance through two campaigns, and might, +with better counsels, have tried the fortune of a third.</p> +<p>[Military condition of Russia.]</p> +<p>The actual military resources of Russia were in 1828 much +below what they were believed to be by all Europe. The +destruction of Napoleon's army in 1812 and the subsequent +exploits of Alexander in the campaigns which ended in the capture +of Paris had left behind them an impression of Russian energy and +power which was far from corresponding with the reality, and +which, though disturbed by the events of 1828, had by no means +vanished at the time of the Crimean War. The courage and patience +of the Russian soldier were certainly not over-rated; but the +progress supposed to have been made in Russian military +organisation since the campaign of 1799, when it was regarded in +England and Austria as little above that of savages, was for the +most part imaginary. The proofs of a radically bad system-scanty +numbers, failing supplies, immense sickness-were never more +conspicuous than in 1828. Though Russia had been preparing for +war for at least seven years, scarcely seventy thousand soldiers +could be collected on the Pruth. The general was Wittgenstein, +one of the heroes of 1812, but now a veteran past effective work. +Nicholas came to the camp to make things worse by headstrong +interference. The best Russian officer, Paskiewitsch, was put in +command of the forces about to operate in Asia Minor, and there, +thrown on his own resources and free to create a system of his +own, he achieved results in strong contrast to the failure of the +Russian arms on the Danube.</p> +<p>[Campaign of 1828.]</p> +<p>In entering on the campaign of 1828, it was necessary for the +Czar to avoid giving any unnecessary causes of anxiety to +Austria, which had already made unsuccessful attempts to form a +coalition against him. The line of operations was therefore +removed as far as possible from the Austrian frontier; and after +the Roumanian principalities had been peacefully occupied, the +Danube was crossed at a short distance above the point where its +mouths divide (June 7). The Turks had no intention of meeting the +enemy in a pitched battle; they confined themselves to the +defence of fortresses, the form of warfare to which, since the +decline of the military art in Turkey, the patience and +abstemiousness of the race best fit them. Ibraila and Silistria +on the Danube, Varna and Shumla in the neighbourhood of the +Balkans, were their principal strongholds; of these Ibraila was +at once besieged by a considerable force, while Silistria was +watched by a weak contingent, and the vanguard of the Russian +army pushed on through the Dobrudscha towards the Black Sea, +where, with the capture of the minor coast-towns, it expected to +enter into communication with the fleet. The first few weeks of +the campaign were marked by considerable successes. Ibraila +capitulated on the 18th of June, and the military posts in the +Dobrudscha fell one after another into the hands of the invaders, +who met with no effective resistance in this district. But their +serious work was only now beginning. The Russian army, in spite +of its weakness, was divided into three parts, occupied severally +in front of Silistria, Shumla, and Varna. At Shumla the mass of +the Turkish army, under Omer Brionis, was concentrated. The force +brought against it by the invader was inadequate to its task, and +the attempts which were made to lure the Turkish army from its +entrenched camp into the open field proved unsuccessful. The +difficulties of the siege proved so great that Wittgenstein after +a while proposed to abandon offensive operations at this point, +and to leave a mere corps of observation before the enemy until +Varna should have fallen. This, however, was forbidden by the +Czar. As the Russians wasted away before Shumla with sickness and +fatigue, the Turks gained strength, and on the 24th of September +Omer broke out from his entrenchments and moved eastwards to the +relief of Varna. Nicholas again over-ruled his generals, and +ordered his cousin, Prince Eugene of Würtemberg, to attack +the advancing Ottomans with the troops then actually at his +disposal. Eugene did so, and suffered a severe defeat. A vigorous +movement of the Turks would probably have made an end of the +campaign, but Omer held back at the critical moment, and on the +10th of October Varna surrendered. This, however, was the only +conquest made by the Russians. The season was too far advanced +for them either to cross the Balkans or to push forward +operations against the uncaptured fortresses. Shumla and +Silistria remained in the hands of their defenders, and the +Russians, after suffering enormous losses in proportion to the +smallness of their numbers, withdrew to Varna and the Danube, to +resume the campaign in the spring of the following year. <a name="FNanchor378"> </a><a href="#Footnote_378"><sup>[378]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Campaign of 1829.]</p> +<p>The spirits of the Turks and of their European friends were +raised by the unexpected failure of the Czar's arms. Metternich +resumed his efforts to form a coalition, and tempted French +Ministers with the prospect of recovering the Rhenish provinces, +but in vain. The Sultan began negotiations, but broke them off +when he found that the events of the campaign had made no +difference in the enemy's tone. The prestige of Russia was in +fact at stake, and Nicholas would probably have faced a war with +Austria and Turkey combined rather than have made peace without +restoring the much-diminished reputation of his troops. The +winter was therefore spent in bringing up distant reserves. +Wittgenstein was removed from his command; the Czar withdrew from +military operations in which he had done nothing but mischief; +and Diebitsch, a Prussian by birth and training, was placed at +the head of the army, untrammelled by the sovereign presence or +counsels which had hampered his predecessor. The intention of the +new commander was to cross the Balkans as soon as Silistria +should have fallen, without waiting for the capture of Shumla. In +pursuance of this design the fleet was despatched early in the +spring of 1829 to seize a port beyond the mountain-range. +Diebitsch then placed a corps in front of Silistria, and made his +preparations for the southward march; but before any progress had +been made in the siege the Turks themselves took the field. +Reschid Pasha, now Grand Vizier, moved eastwards from Shumla at +the beginning of May against the weak Russian contingent that +still lay in winter quarters between that place and Varna. The +superiority of his force promised him an easy victory; but after +winning some unimportant successes, and advancing to a +considerable distance from his stronghold, he allowed himself to +be held at bay until Diebitsch, with the army of the Danube, was +ready to fall upon his rear. The errors of the Turks had given to +the Russian commander, who hastened across Bulgaria on hearing of +his colleague's peril, the choice of destroying their army, or of +seizing Shumla by a <i>coup-de-main</i>. Diebitsch determined +upon attacking his enemy in the open field, and on the 10th of +June Reschid's army, attempting to regain the roads to Shumla, +was put to total rout at Kulewtscha. A fortnight later Silistria +surrendered, and Diebitsch, reinforced by the troops that had +besieged that fortress, was now able to commence his march across +the Balkans.</p> +<p>[Crossing of the Balkans, July, 1829.]</p> +<p>Rumour magnified into hundreds of thousands the scanty columns +which for the first time carried the Russian flag over the Balkan +range. Resistance everywhere collapsed. The mountains were +crossed without difficulty, and on the 19th of August the +invaders appeared before Adrianople, which immediately +surrendered. Putting on the boldest countenance in order to +conceal his real weakness, Diebitsch now struck out right and +left, and sent detachments both to the Euxine and the Ægæan +coast. The fleet co-operated with him, and the ports of the Black +Sea, almost as far south as the Bosphorus, fell into the +invaders' hands. The centre of the army began to march upon +Constantinople. If the Sultan had known the real numbers of the +force which threatened his capital, a force not exceeding twenty +thousand men, he would probably have recognised that his +assailant's position was a more dangerous one than his own. +Diebitsch had advanced into the heart of the enemy's country with +a mere handful of men. Sickness was daily thinning his ranks; his +troops were dispersed over a wide area from sea to sea; and the +warlike tribes of Albania threatened to fall upon his +communications from the west. For a moment the Sultan spoke of +fighting upon the walls of Constantinople; but the fear of +rebellion within his own capital, the discovery of conspiracies, +and the disasters sustained by his arms in Asia, where Kars and +Erzeroum had fallen into the enemy's hands, soon led him to make +overtures of peace and to accept the moderate terms which the +Russian Government, aware of its own difficulties, was willing to +grant. It would have been folly for the Czar to stimulate the +growing suspicion of England and to court the attack of Austria +by prolonging hostilities; and although King Charles X. and the +French Cabinet, reverting to the ideas of Tilsit, proposed a +partition of the Ottoman Empire, and a general re-arrangement of +the map of Europe which would have given Belgium and the +Palatinate to France, the plan was originated too late to produce +any effect. <a name="FNanchor379"> </a><a href="#Footnote_379"><sup>[379]</sup></a> Russia had everything to +lose and nothing to gain by a European war. It had reduced Turkey +to submission, and might fairly hope to maintain its ascendency +at Constantinople during coming years without making any of those +great territorial changes which would have given its rivals a +pretext for intervening on the Sultan's behalf. Under the guise +of a generous forbearance the Czar extricated himself from a +dangerous position with credit and advantage. As much had been +won as could be maintained without hazard; and on the 14th of +September peace was concluded in Adrianople.</p> +<p>[Treaty of Adrianople, Sept. 14, 1829.]</p> +<p>The Treaty of Adrianople gave Russia a slight increase of +territory in Asia, incorporating with the Czar's dominions the +ports of Anapa and Poti on the eastern coast of the Black Sea; +but its most important provisions were those which confirmed and +extended the Protectorate exercised by the Czar over the Danubian +Principalities, and guaranteed the commercial rights of Russian +subjects throughout the Ottoman Empire both by land and sea. In +order more effectively to exclude the Sultan's influence from +Wallachia and Moldavia, the office of Hospodar, hitherto tenable +for seven years, was now made an appointment for life, and the +Sultan specifically engaged to permit no interference on the part +of his neighbouring Pashas with the affairs of these provinces. +No fortified point was to be retained by the Turks on the left +bank of the Danube; no Mussulman was to be permitted to reside +within the Principalities; and those possessing landed estates +there were to sell them within eighteen months. The Porte pledged +itself never again to detain Russian ships of commerce coming +from the Black Sea, and acknowledged that such an act would +amount to an infraction of treaties justifying Russia in having +recourse to reprisals. The Straits of Constantinople and the +Dardanelles were declared free and open to the merchant ships of +all Powers at peace with the Porte, upon the same conditions +which were stipulated for vessels under the Russian flag. The +same freedom of trade and navigation was recognised within the +Black Sea. All treaties and conventions hitherto concluded +between Turkey and Russia were recognised as in force, except in +so far as modified by the present agreement. The Porte further +gave its adhesion to the Treaty of London relating to Greece, and +to an Act entered into by the Allied Powers in March, 1829, for +regulating the Greek frontier. An indemnity in money was declared +to be owing to Russia; and as the amount of this remained to be +fixed by mutual agreement, the means were still left open to the +Russian Government for exercising a gentle pressure at +Constantinople, or for rewarding the compliance of the conquered. +<a name="FNanchor380"> </a><a href="#Footnote_380"><sup>[380]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Capodistrias elected President of Greece, April, 1827.]</p> +<p>The war between Turkey and Russia, while it left the European +frontier between the belligerents unchanged, exercised a two-fold +influence upon the settlement of Greece. On the one hand, by +exciting the fears and suspicions of Great Britain, it caused the +Government of our own country, under the Duke of Wellington, to +insist on the limitation of the Greek State to the narrowest +possible area; <a name="FNanchor381"> </a><a href="#Footnote_381"><sup>[381]</sup></a> on the other hand, by +reducing Turkey itself almost to the condition of a Russian +dependency, it led to the abandonment of the desire to maintain +the Sultan's supremacy in any form over the emancipated +provinces, and resulted in the establishment of an absolutely +independent Hellenic kingdom. An important change had taken place +within Greece itself just at the time when the allied Powers +determined upon intervention. The parts of the local leaders were +played out, and in April, 1827, Capodistrias, ex-Minister of +Russia, was elected President for seven years. Capodistrias +accepted the call. He was then, as he had been throughout the +insurrection, at a distance from Greece; and before making his +way thither, he visited the principal Courts of Europe, with the +view of ascertaining what moral or financial support he should be +likely to receive from them. His interview with the Czar Nicholas +led to a clear statement by that sovereign of the conditions +which he expected Capodistrias, in return for Russia's continued +friendship, to fulfil. Greece was to be rescued from revolution: +in other words, personal was to be substituted for popular +government. The State was to remain tributary to the Sultan: that +is, in both Greece and Turkey the door was to be kept open for +Russia's interference. Whether Capodistrias had any intention of +fulfilling the latter condition is doubtful. His love for Greece +and his own personal ambition prevented his regard for Russia, +strong though this might be, from making him the mere instrument +of the Court of St. Petersburg; and while outwardly acquiescing +in the Czar's decision that Greece should remain a tributary +State, he probably resolved from the first to aim at establishing +its complete independence. With regard to the Czar's demand that +the system of local self-government should be superseded within +Greece itself by one of autocratic rule, Capodistrias was in +harmony with his patron. He had been the Minister of a +centralised despotism himself. His experience was wholly that of +the official of an absolute sovereign; and although Capodistrias +had represented the more liberal tendencies of the Russian Court +when it was a question of arguing against Metternich about the +complete or the partial restoration of despotic rule in Italy, he +had no real acquaintance and no real sympathy with the action of +free institutions, and moved in the same circle of ideas as the +autocratic reformers of the eighteenth century, of whom Joseph +II. was the type. <a name="FNanchor382"> </a><a href="#Footnote_382"><sup>[382]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Protocols of Nov., 1828, and March, 1829.]</p> +<p>The Turks were still masters of the Morea when Capodistrias +reached Greece. The battle of Navarino had not caused Ibrahim to +relax his hold upon the fortresses, and it was deemed necessary +by the Allies to send a French army-corps to dislodge him from +his position. This expeditionary force, under General Maison, +landed in Greece in the summer of 1828, and Ibrahim, not wishing +to fight to the bitter end, contented himself with burning +Tripolitza to the ground and sowing it with salt, and then +withdrew. The war between Turkey and Russia had now begun. +Capodistrias assisted the Russian fleet in blockading the +Dardanelles, and thereby gained for himself the marked ill-will +of the British Government. At a conference held in London by the +representatives of France, England, and Russia, in November, +1828, it was resolved that the operations of the Allies should be +limited to the Morea and the islands. Capodistrias, in +consequence of this decision, took the most vigorous measures for +continuing the war against Turkey. What the allies refused to +guarantee must be won by force of arms; and during the winter of +1829, while Russia pressed upon Turkey from the Danube, +Capodistrias succeeded in reconquering Missolonghi and the whole +tract of country immediately to the north of the Gulf of Corinth. +The Porte, in prolonging its resistance after the November +conference, played as usual into its enemy's hands. The +negotiations at London were resumed in a spirit somewhat more +favourable to Greece, and a Protocol was signed on the 22nd of +March, 1829, extending the northern frontier of Greece up to a +line drawn from the Gulf of Arta to the Gulf of Volo. Greece, +according to this Protocol, was still to remain under the +Sultan's suzerainty: its ruler was to be a hereditary prince +belonging to one of the reigning European families, but not to +any of the three allied Courts. <a name="FNanchor383"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_383"><sup>[383]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Leopold accepts the Greek Crown, Feb., 1830.]</p> +<p>The mediation of Great Britain was now offered to the Porte +upon the terms thus laid down, and for the fourteenth time its +mediation was rejected. But the end was near at hand. Diebitsch +crossed the Balkans, and it was in vain that the Sultan then +proposed the terms which he had scouted in November. The Treaty +of Adrianople enforced the decisions of the March Protocol. +Greece escaped from a limitation of its frontier, which would +have left both Athens and Missolonghi Turkish territory. The +principle of the admission of the provinces north of the Gulf of +Corinth within the Hellenic State was established, and nothing +remained for the friends of the Porte but to cut down to the +narrowest possible area the district which had been loosely +indicated in the London Protocol. While Russia, satisfied with +its own successes against the Ottoman Empire and anxious to play +the part of patron of the conquered, ceased to interest itself in +Greece, the Government of Great Britain contested every inch of +territory proposed to be ceded to the new State, and finally +induced the Powers to agree upon a boundary-line which did not +even in letter fulfil the conditions of the treaty. Northern +Acarnania and part of Ætolia were severed from Greece, and +the frontier was drawn from the mouth of the river Achelous to a +spot near Thermopylae. On the other hand, as Russian influence +now appeared to be firmly established and likely to remain +paramount at Constantinople, the Western Powers had no motive to +maintain the Sultan's supremacy over Greece. This was accordingly +by common consent abandoned; and the Hellenic Kingdom, confined +within miserably narrow limits on the mainland, and including +neither Crete nor Samos among its islands, was ultimately offered +in full sovereignty to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, the widower +of Charlotte, daughter of George IV. After some negotiations, in +which Leopold vainly asked for a better frontier, he accepted the +Greek crown on the 11th of February, 1830.</p> +<p>[Government of Capodistrias.]</p> +<p>In the meantime, Capodistrias was struggling hard to govern +and to organise according to his own conceptions a land in which +every element of anarchy, ruin, and confusion appeared to be +arrayed against the restoration of civilised life. The country +was devastated, depopulated, and in some places utterly +barbarised. Out of a population of little more than a million, it +was reckoned that three hundred thousand had perished during the +conflict with the Turk. The whole fabric of political and social +order had to be erected anew; and, difficult as this task would +have been for the wisest ruler, it was rendered much more +difficult by the conflict between Capodistrias' own ideal and the +character of the people among whom he had to work. Communal or +local self-government lay at the very root of Greek nationality. +In many different forms this intense provincialism had maintained +itself unimpaired up to the end of the war, in spite of national +assemblies and national armaments. The Hydriote ship-owners, the +Primates of the Morea, the guerilla leaders of the north, had +each a type of life and a body of institutions as distinct as the +dialects which they spoke or the saints whom they cherished in +their local sanctuaries. If antagonistic in some respects to +national unity, this vigorous local life had nevertheless been a +source of national energy while Greece had still its independence +to win; and now that national independence was won, it might well +have been made the basis of a popular and effective system of +self-government. But to Capodistrias, as to greater men of that +age, the unity of the State meant the uniformity of all its +parts; and, shutting his eyes to all the obstacles in his path, +he set himself to create an administrative system as rigorously +centralised as that which France had received from Napoleon. +Conscious of his own intellectual superiority over his +countrymen, conscious of his own integrity and of the sacrifice +of all his personal wealth in his country's service, he put no +measure on his expressions of scorn for the freebooters and +peculators whom he believed to make up the Greek official world, +and he both acted and spoke as if, in the literal sense of the +words, all who ever came before him were thieves and robbers. The +peasants of the mainland, who had suffered scarcely less from +Klephts and Primates than from Turks, welcomed Capodistrias' +levelling despotism, and to the end his name was popular among +them; but among the classes which had supplied the leaders in the +long struggle for independence, and especially among the +ship-owners of the Archipelago, who felt the contempt expressed +by Capodistrias for their seven years' efforts to be grossly +unjust, a spirit of opposition arose which soon made it evident +that Capodistrias would need better instruments than those which +he had around him to carry out his task of remodelling +Greece.</p> +<p>[Leopold renounces the crown, May, 1830.]</p> +<p>It was in the midst of this growing antagonism that the news +reached Capodistrias that Leopold of Saxe-Coburg had been +appointed King of Greece. The resolution made by the Powers in +March, 1829, that the sovereign of Greece should belong to some +reigning house, had perhaps not wholly destroyed the hopes of +Capodistrias that he might become Prince or Hospodar of Greece +himself. There were difficulties in the way of filling the +throne, and these difficulties, after the appointment of Leopold, +Capodistrias certainly did not seek to lessen. His subtlety, his +command of the indirect methods of effecting a purpose, were so +great and so habitual to him that there was little chance of his +taking any overt step for preventing Leopold's accession to the +crown; there appears, however, to be evidence that he repressed +the indications of assent which the Greeks attempted to offer to +Leopold; and a series of letters written by him to that prince +was probably intended, though in the most guarded language, to +give Leopold the impression that the task which awaited him was a +hopeless one. Leopold himself, at the very time when he accepted +the crown, was wavering in his purpose. He saw with perfect +clearness that the territory granted to the Greek State was too +small to secure either its peace or its independence. The +severance of Acarnania and Northern Ætolia meant the +abandonment of the most energetic part of the Greek inland +population, and a probable state of incessant warfare upon the +northern frontier; the relinquishment of Crete meant that Greece, +bankrupt as it was, must maintain a navy to protect the south +coast of the Morea from Turkish attack. These considerations had +been urged upon the Powers by Leopold before he accepted the +crown, and he had been induced for the moment to withdraw them. +But he had never fully acquiesced in the arrangements imposed +upon him: he remained irresolute for some months; and at last, +whether led to this decision by the letters of Capodistrias or by +some other influences, he declared the conditions under which he +was called upon to rule Greece to be intolerable, and renounced +the crown (May, 1830). <a name="FNanchor384"> </a><a href="#Footnote_384"><sup>[384]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Government and death of Capodistrias.]</p> +<p>Capodistrias thus found himself delivered from his rival, and +again face to face with the task to which duty or ambition called +him. The candidature of Leopold had embittered the relations +between Capodistrias and all who confronted him in Greece, for it +gave him the means of measuring their hostility to himself by the +fervour of their addresses to this unknown foreigner. A dark +shadow fell over his government. As difficulties thickened and +resistance grew everywhere more determined, the President showed +himself harsher and less scrupulous in the choice of his means. +The men about him were untrustworthy; to crush them, he filled +the offices of government with relatives and creatures of his own +who were at once tyrannous and incapable. Thwarted and checked, +he met opposition by imprisonment and measures of violence, +suspended the law-courts, and introduced the espionage and the +police-system of St. Petersburg. At length armed rebellion broke +out, and while Miaoulis, the Hydriote admiral, blew up the best +ships of the Greek navy to prevent them falling into the +President's hands, the wild district of Maina, which had never +admitted the Turkish tax-gatherer, refused to pay taxes to the +Hellenic State. The revolt was summarily quelled by Capodistrias, +and several members of the family of Mauromichalis, including the +chief Petrobei, formerly feudal ruler of Maina, were arrested. +Some personal insult, imaginary or real, was moreover offered by +Capodistrias to this fallen foe, after the aged mother of +Petrobei, who had lost sixty-four kinsmen in the war against the +Turks, had begged for his release. The vendetta of the Maina was +aroused. A son and a nephew of Petrobei laid wait for the +President, and as he entered the Church of St. Spiridion at +Nauplia on the 9th of October, 1831, a pistol-shot and a blow +from a yataghan laid him dead on the ground. He had been warned +that his life was sought, but had refused to make any change in +his habits, or to allow himself to be attended by a guard.</p> +<p>[Otho King of Greece, Feb. 1, 1833.]</p> +<p>The death of Capodistrias excited sympathies and regrets which +to a great extent silenced criticism upon his government, and +which have made his name one of those most honoured by the Greek +nation. His fall threw the country into anarchy. An attempt was +made by his brother Augustine to retain autocratic power, but the +result was universal dissension and the interference of the +foreigner. At length the Powers united in finding a second +sovereign for Greece, and brought the weary scene of disorder to +a close. Prince Otho of Bavaria was sent to reign at Athens, and +with him there came a group of Bavarian officials to whom the +Courts of Europe persuaded themselves that the future of Greece +might be safely entrusted. A frontier somewhat better than that +which had been offered to Leopold was granted to the new +sovereign, but neither Crete, Thessaly, nor Epirus was included +within his kingdom. Thus hemmed in within intolerably narrow +limits, while burdened with the expenses of an independent state, +alike unable to meet the calls upon its national exchequer and to +exclude the intrigues of foreign Courts, Greece offered during +the next generation little that justified the hopes that had been +raised as to its future. But the belief of mankind in the +invigorating power of national independence is not wholly vain, +nor, even under the most hostile conditions, will the efforts of +a liberated people fail to attract the hope and the envy of those +branches of its race which still remain in subjection. Poor and +inglorious as the Greek kingdom was, it excited the restless +longings not only of Greeks under Turkish bondage, but of the +prosperous Ionian Islands under English rule; and in 1864 the +first step in the expansion of the Hellenic kingdom was +accomplished by the transfer of these islands from Great Britain +to Greece. Our own day has seen Greece further strengthened and +enriched by the annexation of Thessaly. The commercial and +educational development of the kingdom is now as vigorous as that +of any State in Europe: in agriculture and in manufacturing +industry it still lingers far behind. Following the example of +Cavour and the Sardinian statesmen who judged no cost too great +in preparing for Italian union, the rulers of Greece burden the +national finances with the support of an army and navy excessive +in comparison both with the resources and with the present +requirements of the State. To the ideal of a great political +future the material progress of the land has been largely +sacrificed. Whether, in the re-adjustment of frontiers which must +follow upon the gradual extrusion of the Turk from Eastern +Europe, Greece will gain from its expenditure advantages +proportionate to the undoubted evils which it has involved, the +future alone can decide.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XVI."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>France before 1830-Reign of Charles X.-Ministry of +Martignac-Ministry of Polignac-The Duke of Orleans-War in +Algiers-The July Ordinances- Revolution of July-Louis Philippe +King-Nature and Effects of the July Revolution-Affairs in +Belgium-The Belgian Revolution-The Great Powers-Intervention, and +Establishment of the Kingdom of Belgium-Affairs of +Poland-Insurrection at Warsaw-War between Russia and +Poland-Overthrow of the Poles: End of the Polish +Constitution-Affairs of Italy- Insurrection in the Papal +States-France and Austria-Austrian Intervention-Ancona occupied +by the French-Affairs of Germany-Prussia; the +Zollverein-Brunswick, Hanover, Saxony-The Palatinate-Reaction in +Germany-Exiles in Switzerland; Incursion into Savoy-Dispersion of +the Exiles-France under Louis Philippe: Successive Risings-Period +of Parliamentary Activity-England after 1830: The Reform +Bill.</p> +<br> + +<p>When the Congress of Vienna re-arranged the map of Europe +after Napoleon's fall, Lord Castlereagh expressed the opinion +that no prudent statesman would forecast a duration of more than +seven years for any settlement that might then be made. At the +end of a period twice as long the Treaties of 1815 were still the +public law of Europe. The grave had peacefully closed over +Napoleon; the revolutionary forces of France had given no sign of +returning life. As the Bourbon monarchy struck root, and the +elements of opposition grew daily weaker in France, the perils +that lately filled all minds appeared to grow obsolete, and the +very Power against which the anti-revolutionary treaties of 1815 +had been directed took its place, as of natural right, by the +side of Austria and Russia in the struggle against revolution. +The attack of Louis XVIII. upon the Spanish Constitutionalists +marked the complete reconciliation of France with the Continental +dynasties which had combined against it in 1815; and from this +time the Treaties of Chaumont and Aix-la-Chapelle, though their +provisions might be still unchallenged, ceased to represent the +actual relations existing between the Powers. There was no longer +a moral union of the Courts against a supposed French +revolutionary State; on the contrary, when Eastern affairs +reached their crisis, Russia detached itself from its Hapsburg +ally, and definitely allied itself with France. If after the +Peace of Adrianople any one Power stood isolated, it was Austria; +and if Europe was threatened by renewed aggression, it was not +under revolutionary leaders or with revolutionary watchwords, but +as the result of an alliance between Charles X. and the Czar of +Russia. After the Bourbon Cabinet had resolved to seek an +extension of French territory at whatever sacrifice of the +balance of power in the East, Europe could hardly expect that the +Court of St. Petersburg would long reject the advantages offered +to it. The frontiers of 1815 seemed likely to be obliterated by +an enterprise which would bring Russia to the Danube and France +to the Rhine. From this danger the settlement of 1815 was saved +by the course of events that took place within France itself. The +Revolution of 1830, insignificant in its immediate effects upon +the French people, largely influenced the governments and the +nations of Europe; and while within certain narrow limits it gave +a stimulus to constitutional liberty, its more general result was +to revive the union of the three Eastern Courts which had broken +down in 1826, and to reunite the principal members of the Holy +Alliance by the sense of a common interest against the Liberalism +of the West.</p> +<p>[Government of Charles X., 1824-1827.]</p> +<p>In the person of Charles X. reaction and clericalism had +ascended the French throne. The minister, Villèle, who had +won power in 1820 as the representative of the Ultra-Royalists, +had indeed learnt wisdom while in office, and down to the death +of Louis XVIII. in 1824 he had kept in check the more violent +section of his party. But he now retained his post only at the +price of compliance with the Court, and gave the authority of his +name to measures which his own judgment condemned. It was +characteristic of Charles X. and of the reactionaries around him +that out of trifling matters they provoked more exasperation than +a prudent Government would have aroused by changes of infinitely +greater importance. Thus in a sacrilege-law which was introduced +in 1825 they disgusted all reasonable men by attempting to revive +the barbarous mediæval punishment of amputation of the +hand; and in a measure conferring some fractional rights upon the +eldest son in cases of intestacy they alarmed the whole nation by +a preamble declaring the French principle of the equal division +of inheritances to be incompatible with monarchy. Coming from a +Government which had thus already forfeited public confidence, a +law granting the emigrants a compensation of £40,000,000 +for their estates which had been confiscated during the +Revolution excited the strongest opposition, although, apart from +questions of equity, it benefited the nation by for ever setting +at rest all doubt as to the title of the purchasers of the +confiscated lands. The financial operations by which, in order to +provide the vast sum allotted to the emigrants, the national debt +was converted from a five per cent, to a three per cent, stock, +alienated all stockholders and especially the powerful bankers of +Paris. But more than any single legislative act, the alliance of +the Government with the priestly order, and the encouragement +given by it to monastic corporations, whose existence in France +was contrary to law, offended the nation. The Jesuits were +indicted before the law-courts by Montlosier, himself a Royalist +and a member of the old noblesse. A vehement controversy sprang +up between the ecclesiastics and their opponents, in which the +Court was not spared. The Government, which had lately repealed +the law of censorship, now restored it by edict. The climax of +its unpopularity was reached; its hold upon the Chamber was gone, +and the very measure by which Villèle, when at the height +of his power, had endeavoured to give permanence to his +administration, proved its ruin. He had abolished the system of +partial renovation, by which one-fifth of the Chamber of Deputies +was annually returned, and substituted for it the English system +of septennial Parliaments with general elections. In 1827 King +Charles, believing his Ministers to be stronger in the country +than in the Chamber, exercised his prerogative of dissolution. +The result was the total defeat of the Government, and the return +of an assembly in which the Liberal opposition outnumbered the +partisans of the Court by three to one. Villèle's Ministry +now resigned. King Charles, unwilling to choose his successor +from the Parliamentary majority, thought for a moment of violent +resistance, but subsequently adopted other counsels, and, without +sincerely intending to bow to the national will, called to office +the Vicomte de Martignac, a member of the right centre, and the +representative of a policy of conciliation and moderate reform +(January 2, 1828).</p> +<p>[Ministry of Martignac, 1828-29.]</p> +<p>[Polignac Minister, Aug. 9, 1829.]</p> +<p>It was not the fault of this Minister that the last chance of +union between the French nation and the elder Bourbon line was +thrown away. Martignac brought forward a measure of +decentralisation conferring upon the local authorities powers +which, though limited, were larger than they had possessed at any +time since the foundation of the Consulate; and he appealed to +the Liberal sections of the Chamber to assist him in winning an +instalment of self-government which France might well have +accepted with satisfaction. But the spirit of opposition within +the Assembly was too strong for a coalition of moderate men, and +the Liberals made the success of Martignac's plan impossible by +insisting on concessions which the Minister was unable to grant. +The reactionists were ready to combine with their opponents. King +Charles himself was in secret antagonism to his Minister, and +watched with malicious joy his failure to control the majority in +the Chamber. Instead of throwing all his influence on to the side +of Martignac, and rallying all doubtful forces by the pronounced +support of the Crown, he welcomed Martignac's defeat as a proof +of the uselessness of all concessions, and dismissed the Minister +from office, declaring that the course of events had fulfilled +his own belief in the impossibility of governing in accord with a +Parliament. The names of the Ministers who were now called to +power excited anxiety and alarm not only in France but throughout +the political circles of Europe. They were the names of men known +as the most violent and embittered partisans of reaction; men +whose presence in the councils of the King could mean nothing but +a direct attack upon the existing Parliamentary system of France. +At the head was Jules Polignac, then French ambassador at London, +a man half-crazed with religious delusions, who had suffered a +long imprisonment for his share in Cadoudal's attempt to kill +Napoleon, and on his return to France in 1814 had refused to +swear to the Charta because it granted religious freedom to +non-Catholics. Among the subordinate members of the Ministry were +General Bourmont, who had deserted to the English at Waterloo, +and La Bourdonnaye, the champion of the reactionary Terrorists in +1816. <a name="FNanchor385"> </a><a href="#Footnote_385"><sup>[385]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Prospects in 1830. The Orleanists.]</p> +<p>The Ministry having been appointed immediately after the close +of the session of 1829, an interval of several months passed +before they were brought face to face with the Chambers. During +this interval the prospect of a conflict with the Crown became +familiar to the public mind, though no general impression existed +that an actual change of dynasty was close at hand. The +Bonapartists were without a leader, Napoleon's son, their natural +head, being in the power of the Austrian Court; the Republicans +were neither numerous nor well organised, and the fatal memories +of 1793 still weighed upon the nation; the great body of those +who contemplated resistance to King Charles X. looked only to a +Parliamentary struggle, or, in the last resort, to the refusal of +payment of taxes in case of a breach of the Constitution. There +was, however, a small and dexterous group of politicians which, +at a distance from all the old parties, schemed for the +dethronement of the reigning branch of the House of Bourbon, and +for the elevation of Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, to the +throne. The chief of this intrigue was Talleyrand. Slighted and +thwarted by the Court, the old diplomatist watched for the signs +of a falling Government, and when the familiar omens met his view +he turned to the quarter from which its successor was most likely +to arise. Louis Philippe stood high in credit with all circles of +Parliamentary Liberals. His history had been a strange and +eventful one. He was the son of that Orleans who, after calling +himself Égalité, and voting for the death of his +cousin, Louis XVI., had himself perished during the Reign of +Terror. Young Louis Philippe had been a member of the Jacobin +Club, and had fought for the Republic at Jemappes. Then, exiled +and reduced to penury, he had earned his bread by teaching +mathematics in Switzerland, and had been a wanderer in the new as +well as in the old world. After awhile his fortunes brightened. A +marriage with the daughter of Ferdinand of Sicily restored him to +those relations with the reigning houses of Europe which had been +forfeited by his father, and inspired him with the hope of +gaining a crown. During Napoleon's invasion of Spain he had +caballed with politicians in that country who were inclined to +accept a substitute for their absent sovereign; at another time +he had entertained hopes of being made king of the Ionian +Islands. After the peace of Paris, when the allied sovereigns and +their ministers visited England, Louis Philippe was sent over by +his father-in-law to intrigue among them against Murat, and in +pursuance of this object he made himself acquainted not only with +every foreign statesman then in London but with every leading +English politician. He afterwards settled in France, and was +reinstated in the vast possessions of the House of Orleans, +which, though confiscated, had not for the most part been sold +during the Revolution. His position at Paris under Louis XVIII. +and Charles X. was a peculiar one. Without taking any direct part +in politics or entering into any avowed opposition to the Court, +he made his home, the Palais Royale, a gathering-place for all +that was most distinguished in the new political and literary +society of the capital; and while the Tuileries affected the pomp +and the ceremoniousness of the old regime, the Duke of Orleans +moved with the familiarity of a citizen among citizens. He was a +clever, ready, sensible man, equal, as it seemed, to any +practical task likely to come in his way, but in reality void of +any deep insight, of any far-reaching aspiration, of any profound +conviction. His affectation of a straightforward middle-class +geniality covered a decided tendency towards intrigue and a +strong love of personal power. Later events indeed gave rise to +the belief that, while professing the utmost loyalty to Charles +X., Louis Philippe had been scheming to oust him from his throne; +but the evidence really points the other way, and indicates that, +whatever secret hopes may have suggested themselves to the Duke, +his strongest sentiment during the Revolution of 1830 was the +fear of being driven into exile himself, and of losing his +possessions. He was not indeed of a chivalrous nature; but when +the Crown came in his way, he was guilty of no worse offence than +some shabby evasions of promises.</p> +<p>[Meeting and Prorogation of the Chambers, March, 1830.]</p> +<p>Early in March, 1830, the French Chambers assembled after +their recess. The speech of King Charles at the opening of the +session was resolute and even threatening. It was answered by an +address from the Lower House, requesting him to dismiss his +Ministers. The deputation which presented this address was +received by the King in a style that left no doubt as to his +intentions, and on the following day the Chambers were prorogued +for six months. It was known that they would not be permitted to +meet again, and preparations for a renewed general election were +at once made with the utmost vigour by both parties throughout +France. The Court unsparingly applied all the means of pressure +familiar to French governments; it moreover expected to influence +public opinion by some striking success in arms or in diplomacy +abroad. The negotiations with Russia for the acquisition of +Belgium were still before the Cabinet, and a quarrel with the Dey +of Algiers gave Polignac the opportunity of beginning a war of +conquest in Africa. General Bourmont left the War Office, to wipe +out the infamy still attaching to his name by a campaign against +the Arabs; and the Government trusted that, even in the event of +defeat at the elections, the nation at large would at the most +critical moment be rallied to its side by an announcement of the +capture of Algiers.</p> +<p>[Polignac's project.]</p> +<p>While the dissolution of Parliament was impending, Polignac +laid before the King a memorial expressing his own views on the +courses open to Government in case of the elections proving +adverse. The Charta contained a clause which, in loose and +ill-chosen language, declared it to be the function of the King +"to make the regulations and ordinances necessary for the +execution of the laws and for the security of the State." These +words, which no doubt referred to the exercise of the King's +normal and constitutional powers, were interpreted by Polignac as +authorising the King to suspend the Constitution itself, if the +Representative Assembly should be at variance with the King's +Ministers. Polignac in fact entertained the same view of the +relation between executive and deliberative bodies as those +Jacobin directors who made the <i>coup-d'état</i> of +Fructidor, 1797; and the measures which he ultimately adopted +were, though in a softened form, those adopted by Barras and +Laréveillère after the Royalist elections in the +sixth year of the Republic. To suspend the Constitution was not, +he suggested, to violate the Charta, for the Charta empowered the +sovereign to issue the ordinances necessary for the security of +the State; and who but the sovereign and his advisers could be +the judges of this necessity? This was simple enough; there was +nevertheless among Polignac's colleagues some doubt both as to +the wisdom and as to the legality of his plans. King Charles who, +with all his bigotry, was anxious not to violate the letter of +the Charta, brooded long over the clause which defined the +sovereign's powers. At length he persuaded himself that his +Minister's interpretation was the correct one, accepted the +resignation of the dissentients within the Cabinet, and gave his +sanction to the course which Polignac recommended. <a name="FNanchor386"> </a><a href="#Footnote_386"><sup>[386]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Elections of 1830.]</p> +<p>The result of the general election, which took place in June, +surpassed all the hopes of the Opposition and all the fears of +the Court. The entire body of Deputies which had voted the +obnoxious address to the Crown in March was returned, and the +partisans of Government lost in addition fifty seats. The +Cabinet, which had not up to this time resolved upon the details +of its action, now deliberated upon several projects submitted to +it, and, after rejecting all plans that might have led to a +compromise, determined to declare the elections null and void, to +silence the press, and to supersede the existing electoral system +by one that should secure the mastery of the Government both at +the polling-booths and in the Chamber itself. All this was to be +done by Royal Edict, and before the meeting of the new +Parliament. The date fixed for the opening of the Chambers had +been placed as late as possible in order to give time to General +Bourmont to win the victory in Africa from which the Court +expected to reap so rich a harvest of prestige. On the 9th of +July news arrived that Algiers had fallen. The announcement, +which was everywhere made with the utmost pomp, fell flat on the +country. The conflict between the Court and the nation absorbed +all minds, and the rapturous congratulations of Bishops and +Prefects scarcely misled even the blind <i>côterie</i> of +the Tuileries. Public opinion was no doubt with the Opposition; +King Charles, however, had no belief that the populace of Paris, +which alone was to be dreaded as a fighting body, would take up +arms on behalf of the middle-class voters and journalists against +whom his Ordinances were to be directed. The populace neither +read nor voted: why should it concern itself with constitutional +law? Or why, in a matter that related only to the King and the +Bourgeoisie, should it not take part with the King against this +new and bastard aristocracy which lived on others' labour? +Politicians who could not fight were troublesome only when they +were permitted to speak and to write. There was force enough at +the King's command to close the gates of the Chamber of Deputies, +and to break up the printing-presses of the journals; and if King +Louis XVI. had at last fallen by the hands of men of violence, it +was only because he had made concessions at first to orators and +politicians. Therefore, without dreaming that an armed struggle +would be the immediate result of their action, King Charles and +Polignac determined to prevent the meeting of the Chamber, and to +publish, a week before the date fixed for its opening, the Edicts +which were to silence the brawl of faction and to vindicate +monarchical government in France.</p> +<p>[The Ordinances, July 26, 1830.]</p> +<p>Accordingly, on the 26th of July, a series of Ordinances +appeared in the <i>Moniteur</i>, signed by the King and +counter-signed by the Ministers. The first Ordinance forbade the +publication of any journal without royal permission; the second +dissolved the Chamber of Deputies; the third raised the +property-qualification of voters, established a system of +double-election, altered the duration of Parliaments, and +re-enacted the obsolete clause of the Charta confining the +initiative in all legislation to the Government. Other Ordinances +convoked a Chamber to be elected under the new rules, and called +to the Council of State a number of the most notorious +Ultra-Royalists and fanatics in France. Taken together, the +Ordinances left scarcely anything standing of the Constitutional +and Parliamentary system of the day. The blow fell first on the +press, and the first step in resistance was taken by the +journalists of Paris, who, under the leadership of the young +Thiers, editor of the <i>National</i>, published a protest +declaring that they would treat the Ordinances as illegal, and +calling upon the Chambers and nation to join in this resistance. +For a while the journalists seemed likely to stand alone. Paris +at large remained quiet, and a body of the recently elected +Deputies, to whom the journalists appealed as representatives of +the nation, proved themselves incapable of any action or decision +whatsoever. It was not from these timid politicians, but from a +body of obscure Republicans, that the impulse proceeded which +overthrew the Bourbon throne. Unrepresented in Parliament and +unrepresented in the press, there were a few active men who had +handed down the traditions of 1792, and who, in sympathy with the +Carbonari and other conspirators abroad, had during recent years +founded secret societies in Paris, and enlisted in the Republican +cause a certain number of workmen, of students, and of youths of +the middle classes. While the journalists discussed legal means +of resistance, and the Deputies awaited events, the Republican +leaders met and determined upon armed revolt. They were assisted, +probably without direct concert, by the printing firms and other +employers of labour, who, in view of the general suspension of +the newspapers, closed their establishments on the morning of +July 27, and turned their workmen into the streets.</p> +<p>[July 27.]</p> +<p>[July 28.]</p> +<p>Thus on the day after the appearance of the Edicts the aspect +of Paris changed. Crowds gathered, and revolutionary cries were +raised. Marmont, who was suddenly ordered to take command of the +troops, placed them around the Tuileries, and captured two +barricades which were erected in the neighbourhood; but the +populace was not yet armed, and no serious conflict took place. +In the evening Lafayette reached Paris, and the revolution had +now a real, though not an avowed, leader. A body of his adherents +met during the night at the office of the <i>National</i>, and, +in spite of Thiers' resistance, decided upon a general +insurrection. Thiers himself, who desired nothing but a legal and +Parliamentary attack upon Charles X., quitted Paris to await +events. The men who had out-voted him placed themselves in +communication with all the district committees of Paris, and +began the actual work of revolt by distributing arms. On the +morning of Wednesday, July 28th, the first armed bands attacked +and captured the arsenals and several private depôts of weapons +and ammunition. Barricades were erected everywhere. The +insurgents swelled from hundreds to thousands, and, converging on +the old rallying-point of the Commune of Paris, they seized the +Hôtel de Ville, and hoisted the tricolor flag on its roof. +Marmont wrote to the King, declaring the position to be most +serious, and advising concession; he then put his troops in +motion, and succeeded, after a severe conflict, in capturing +several points of vantage, and in expelling the rebels from the +Hôtel de Ville.</p> +<p>[July 29.]</p> +<p>In the meantime the Deputies, who were assembled at the house +of one of their number in pursuance of an agreement made on the +previous day, gained sufficient courage to adopt a protest +declaring that in spite of the Ordinances they were still the +legal representatives of the nation. They moreover sent a +deputation to Marmont, begging him to put a stop to the fighting, +and offering their assistance in restoring order if the King +would withdraw his Edicts. Marmont replied that he could do +nothing without the King's command, but he despatched a second +letter to St. Cloud, urging compliance. The only answer which he +received was a command to concentrate his troops and to act in +masses. The result of this was that the positions which had been +won by hard fighting were abandoned before evening, and that the +troops, famished and exhausted, were marched back through the +streets of Paris to the Tuileries. On the march some fraternised +with the people, others were surrounded and disarmed. All eastern +Paris now fell into the hands of the insurgents; the +middle-class, as in 1789 and 1792, remained inactive, and allowed +the contest to be decided by the populace and the soldiery. +Messages from the capital constantly reached St. Cloud, but the +King so little understood his danger and so confidently reckoned +on the victory of the troops in the Tuileries that he played +whist as usual during the evening; and when the Duc de Mortemart, +French Ambassador at St. Petersburg, arrived at nightfall, and +pressed for an audience, the King refused to receive him until +the next morning. When morning came, the march of the insurgents +against the Tuileries began. Position after position fell into +their hands. The regiments stationed in the Place Vendôme +abandoned their commander, and marched off to place themselves at +the disposal of the Deputies. Marmont ordered the Swiss Guard, +which had hitherto defended the Louvre, to replace them; and in +doing so he left the Louvre for a moment without any garrison. +The insurgents saw the building empty, and rushed into it. From +the windows they commanded the Court of the Tuileries, where the +troops in reserve were posted; and soon after mid-day all was +over. A few isolated battalions fought and perished, but the mass +of the soldiery with their commander fell back upon the Place de +la Concorde, and then evacuated Paris. <a name="FNanchor387"> </a><a href="#Footnote_387"><sup>[387]</sup></a></p> +<p>The Duke of Orleans was all this time in hiding. He had been +warned that the Court intended to arrest him, and, whether from +fear of the Court or of the populace, he had secreted himself at +a hunting-lodge in his woods, allowing none but his wife and his +sister to know where he was concealed. His partisans, of whom the +rich and popular banker, Laffitte, was the most influential among +the Deputies, were watching for an opportunity to bring forward +his name; but their chances of success seemed slight. The +Deputies at large wished only for the withdrawal of the +Ordinances, and were wholly averse from a change of dynasty. It +was only through the obstinacy of King Charles himself, and as +the result of a series of accidents, that the Crown passed from +the elder Bourbon line. King Charles would not hear of +withdrawing the Ordinances until the Tuileries had actually +fallen; he then gave way and charged the Duc de Mortemart to form +a new Ministry, drawn from the ranks of the Opposition. But +instead of formally repealing the Edicts by a public Decree, he +sent two messengers to Paris to communicate his change of purpose +to the Deputies by word of mouth. The messengers betook +themselves to the Hôtel de Ville, where a municipal +committee under Lafayette had been installed; and, when they +could produce no written authority for their statements, they +were referred by this committee to the general body of Deputies, +which was now sitting at Laffitte's house. The Deputies also +demanded a written guarantee. Laffitte and Thiers spoke in favour +of the Duke of Orleans, but the Assembly at large was still +willing to negotiate with Charles X., and only required the +presence of the Duc de Mortemart himself, and a copy of the +Decree repealing the Ordinances.</p> +<p>[July 30.]</p> +<p>It was now near midnight. The messengers returned to St. +Cloud, and were not permitted to deliver their intelligence until +the King awoke next morning. Charles then signed the necessary +document, and Mortemart set out for Paris; but the night's delay +had given the Orleanists time to act, and before the King was up +Thiers had placarded the streets of Paris with a proclamation +extolling Orleans as the prince devoted to the cause of the +Revolution, as the soldier of Jemappes, and the only +constitutional King now possible. Some hours after this manifesto +had appeared the Deputies again assembled at Laffitte's house, +and waited for the appearance of Mortemart. But they waited in +vain. Mortemart's carriage was stopped on the road from St. +Cloud, and he was compelled to make his way on foot by a long +circuit and across a score of barricades. When he approached +Laffitte's house, half dead with heat and fatigue, he found that +the Deputies had adjourned to the Palais Bourbon, and, instead of +following them, he ended his journey at the Luxemburg, where the +Peers were assembled. His absence was turned to good account by +the Orleanists. At the morning session the proposition was openly +made to call Louis Philippe to power; and when the Deputies +reassembled in the afternoon and the Minister still failed to +present himself, it was resolved to send a body of Peers and +Deputies to Louis Philippe to invite him to come to Paris and to +assume the office of Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. No +opposition was offered to this proposal in the House of Peers, +and a deputation accordingly set out to search for Louis Philippe +at his country house at Neuilly. The prince was not to be found; +but his sister, who received the deputation, undertook that he +should duly appear in Paris. She then communicated with her +brother in his hiding-place, and induced him, in spite of the +resistance of his wife, to set out for the capital. He arrived at +the Palais Royale late on the night of the 30th. Early the next +morning he received a deputation from the Assembly, and accepted +the powers which they offered him. A proclamation was then +published, announcing to the Parisians that in order to save the +country from anarchy and civil war the Duke of Orleans had +assumed the office of Lieutenant-General of the kingdom.</p> +<p>[The Hôtel de Ville.]</p> +<p>But there existed another authority in Paris beside the +Assembly of Representatives, and one that was not altogether +disposed to permit Louis Philippe and his satellites to reap the +fruits of the people's victory. Lafayette and the Municipal +Committee, which occupied the Hôtel de Ville, had +transformed themselves into a provisional government, and sat +surrounded by the armed mob which had captured the Tuileries two +days before. No single person who had fought in the streets had +risked his life for the sake of making Louis Philippe king; in so +far as the Parisians had fought for any definite political idea, +they had fought for the Republic. It was necessary to reconcile +both the populace and the provisional government to the +assumption of power by the new Regent; and with this object Louis +Philippe himself proceeded to the Hôtel de Ville, +accompanied by an escort of Deputies and Peers. It was a +hazardous moment when he entered the crowd on the Place de +Grève; but Louis Philippe's readiness of speech stood him +in good stead, and he made his way unhurt through the throng into +the building, where Lafayette received him. Compliments and +promises were showered upon this veteran of 1789, who presently +appeared on a balcony and embraced Louis Philippe, while the +Prince grasped the tricolor flag, the flag which had not waved in +Paris since 1815. The spectacle was successful. The multitude +shouted applause; and the few determined men who still doubted +the sincerity of a Bourbon and demanded the proclamation of the +Republic were put off with the promise of an ultimate appeal to +the French people.</p> +<p>[Charles X.]</p> +<p>In the meantime Charles X. had withdrawn to Rambouillet, +accompanied by the members of his family and by a considerable +body of troops. Here the news reached him that Orleans had +accepted from the Chambers the office of Lieutenant-General. It +was a severe blow to the old king, who, while others doubted of +Louis Philippe's loyalty, had still maintained his trust in this +prince's fidelity. For a moment he thought of retiring beyond the +Loire and risking a civil war; but the troops now began to +disperse, and Charles, recognising that his cause was hopeless, +abdicated together with the Dauphin in favour of his grandson the +young Chambord, then called Duc de Bordeaux. He wrote to Louis +Philippe, appointing him, as if on his own initiative, +Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, and required him to proclaim +Henry V. king, and to undertake the government during the new +sovereign's minority. It is doubtful whether Louis Philippe had +at this time formed any distinct resolve, and whether his answer +to Charles X. was inspired by mere good nature or by conscious +falsehood; for while replying officially that he would lay the +king's letter before the Chambers, he privately wrote to Charles +X. that he would retain his new office only until he could safely +place the Duc de Bordeaux upon the throne. Having thus soothed +the old man's pride, Louis Philippe requested him to hasten his +departure from the neighbourhood of Paris; and when Charles +ignored the message, he sent out some bands of the National Guard +to terrify him into flight. This device succeeded, and the royal +family, still preserving the melancholy ceremonial of a court, +moved slowly through France towards the western coast. At +Cherbourg they took ship and crossed to England, where they were +received as private persons. Among the British nation at large +the exiled Bourbons excited but little sympathy. They were, +however, permitted to take up their abode in the palace of +Holyrood, and here Charles X. resided for two years. But neither +the climate nor the society of the Scottish capital offered any +attraction to the old and failing chief of a fallen dynasty. He +sought a more congenial shelter in Austria, and died at Goritz in +November, 1836.</p> +<p>[Louis Philippe made King, Aug. 7.]</p> +<p>The first public notice of the abdication of King Charles was +given by Louis Philippe in the Chamber of Deputies, which was +convoked by him, as Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, on the 3rd +of August. In addressing the Deputies, Louis Philippe stated that +he had received a letter containing the abdication both of the +King and of the Dauphin, but he uttered no single word regarding +the Duc de Bordeaux, in whose favour both his grandfather and his +uncle had renounced their rights. Had Louis Philippe mentioned +that the abdications were in fact conditional, and had he +declared himself protector of the Duc de Bordeaux during his +minority, there is little doubt that the legitimate heir would +have been peaceably accepted both by the Chamber and by Paris. +Louis Philippe himself had up to this time done nothing that was +inconsistent with the assumption of a mere Regency; the Chamber +had not desired a change of dynasty; and, with the exception of +Lafayette, the men who had actually made the Revolution bore as +little goodwill to an Orleanist as to a Bourbon monarchy. But +from the time when Louis Philippe passed over in silence the +claims of the grandson of Charles X., his own accession to the +throne became inevitable. It was left to an obscure Deputy to +propose that the crown should be offered to Louis Philippe, +accompanied by certain conditions couched in the form of +modifications of the Charta. The proposal was carried in the +Chamber on the 7th of August, and the whole body of +representatives marched to the Palais Royale to acquaint the +prince with its resolution. Louis Philippe, after some +conventional expressions of regret, declared that he could not +resist the call of his country. When the Lower Chamber had thus +disposed of the crown, the House of Peers, which had proved +itself a nullity throughout the crisis, adopted the same +resolution, and tendered its congratulations in a similar +fashion. Two days later Louis Philippe took the oath to the +Charta as modified by the Assembly, and was proclaimed King of +the French.</p> +<p>[Nature of the Revolution of 1830.]</p> +<p>Thus ended a revolution, which, though greeted with enthusiasm +at the time, has lost much of its splendour and importance in the +later judgment of mankind. In comparison with the Revolution of +1789, the movement which overthrew the Bourbons in 1830 was a +mere flutter on the surface. It was unconnected with any great +change in men's ideas, and it left no great social or legislative +changes behind it. Occasioned by a breach of the constitution on +the part of the Executive Government, it resulted mainly in the +transfer of administrative power from one set of politicians to +another: the alterations which it introduced into the +constitution itself were of no great importance. France neither +had an absolute Government before 1830, nor had it a popular +Government afterwards. Instead of a representative of divine +right, attended by guards of nobles and counselled by Jesuit +confessors, there was now a citizen-king, who walked about the +streets of Paris with an umbrella under his arm and sent his sons +to the public schools, but who had at heart as keen a devotion to +dynastic interests as either of his predecessors, and a much +greater capacity for personal rule. The bonds which kept the +entire local administration of France in dependence upon the +central authority were not loosened; officialism remained as +strong as ever; the franchise was still limited to a mere +fraction of the nation. On the other hand, within the +administration itself the change wrought by the July Revolution +was real and lasting. It extinguished the political power of the +clerical interest. Not only were the Bishops removed from the +House of Peers, but throughout all departments of Government the +influence of the clergy, which had been so strong under Charles +X., vanished away. The State took a distinctly secular colour. +The system of public education was regulated with such +police-like exclusiveness that priests who insisted upon opening +schools of their own for Catholic teaching were enabled to figure +as champions of civil liberty and of freedom of opinion against +despotic power. The noblesse lost whatever political influence it +had regained during the Restoration. The few surviving Regicides +who had been banished in 1815 were recalled to France, among them +the terrorist Barrère, who was once more returned to the +Assembly. But the real winners in the Revolution of 1830 were not +the men of extremes, but the middle-class of France. This was the +class which Louis Philippe truly represented; and the force which +for eighteen years kept Louis Philippe on the throne was the +middle-class force of the National Guard of Paris. Against this +sober, prosaic, unimaginative power there struggled the hot and +restless spirit which had been let loose by the overthrow of the +Bourbon dynasty, and which, fired at once with the political +ideal of a Republic, with dreams of the regeneration of Europe by +French armies, and with the growing antagonism between the +labouring class and the owners of property, threatened for awhile +to overthrow the newly-constituted monarchy in France, and to +plunge Europe into war. The return of the tricolor flag, the +long-silenced strains of the Republic and the Empire, the sense +of victory with which men on the popular side witnessed the +expulsion of the dynasty which had been forced upon France after +Waterloo, revived that half-romantic military ardour which had +undertaken the liberation of Europe in 1792. France appeared once +more in the eyes of enthusiasts as the deliverer of nations. The +realities of the past epoch of French military aggression, its +robberies, its corruption, the execrations of its victims, were +forgotten; and when one people after another took up the shout of +liberty that was raised in Paris, and insurrections broke out in +every quarter of Europe, it was with difficulty that Louis +Philippe and the few men of caution about him could prevent the +French nation from rushing into war.</p> +<p>[Affairs in Belgium.]</p> +<p>The State first affected by the events of July was the kingdom +of the Netherlands. The creation of this kingdom, in which the +Belgian provinces formerly subject to Austria were united with +Holland to serve as an effective barrier against French +aggression on the north, had been one of Pitt's most cherished +schemes, and it had been carried into effect ten years after his +death by the Congress of Vienna. National and religious +incongruities had been little considered by the statesmen of that +day, and at the very moment of union the Catholic bishops of +Belgium had protested against a constitution which gave equal +toleration to all religions under the rule of a Protestant King. +The Belgians had been uninterruptedly united with France for the +twenty years preceding 1814; the French language was not only the +language of their literature, but the spoken language of the +upper classes; and though the Flemish portion of the population +was nearly related to the Dutch, this element had not then +asserted itself with the distinctness and energy which it has +since developed. The antagonism between the northern and the +southern Netherlands, though not insuperable, was sufficiently +great to make a harmonious union between the two countries a work +of difficulty, and the Government of The Hague had not taken the +right course to conciliate its opponents. The Belgians, though +more numerous, were represented by fewer members in the National +Assembly than the Dutch. Offices were filled by strangers from +Holland; finance was governed by a regard for Dutch interests; +and the Dutch language was made the official language for the +whole kingdom. But the chief grievances were undoubtedly +connected with the claims of the clerical party in Belgium to a +monopoly of spiritual power and the exclusive control of +education. The one really irreconcilable enemy of the Protestant +House of Orange was the Church; and the governing impulse in the +conflicts which preceded the dissolution of the kingdom of the +Netherlands in 1830 sprang from the same clerical interest which +had thrown Belgium into revolt against the Emperor Joseph forty +years before. There was again seen the same strange phenomenon of +a combination between the Church and a popular or even +revolutionary party. For the sake of an alliance against a +constitution distasteful to both, the clergy of Belgium accepted +the democratic principles of the political Opposition, and the +Opposition consented for a while to desist from their attacks +upon the Papacy. The contract was faithfully observed on both +sides until the object for which it was made was attained. <a +name="FNanchor388"> </a><a href="#Footnote_388"><sup>[388]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Belgian Revolution, August, 1830.]</p> +<p>For some months before the Revolution of July, 1830, the +antagonism between the Belgians and their Government had been so +violent that no great shock from outside was necessary to produce +an outbreak. The convulsions of Paris were at once felt at +Brussels, and on the 25th of August the performance of a +revolutionary opera in that city gave the signal for the +commencement of insurrection. From the capital the rebellion +spread from town to town throughout the southern Netherlands. The +King summoned the Estates General, and agreed to the +establishment of an administration for Belgium separate from that +of Holland: but the storm was not allayed; and the appearance of +a body of Dutch troops at Brussels was sufficient to dispel the +expectation of a peaceful settlement. Barricades were erected; a +conflict took place in the streets; and the troops, unable to +carry the city by assault, retired to the outskirts and kept up a +desultory attack for several days. They then withdrew, and a +provisional government, which was immediately established, +declared the independence of Belgium. For a moment there appeared +some possibility that the Crown Prince of Holland, who had from +the first assumed the part of mediator, might be accepted as +sovereign of the newly-formed State; but the growing violence of +the insurrection, the activity of French emissaries and +volunteers, and the bombardment of Antwerp by the Dutch soldiers +who garrisoned its citadel, made an end of all such hopes. +Belgium had won its independence, and its connection with the +House of Orange could be re-established only by force of +arms.</p> +<p>[France and the Belgian Revolution.]</p> +<p>[France and England.]</p> +<p>The accomplishment of this revolution in one of the smallest +Continental States threatened to involve all Europe in war. +Though not actually effected under the auspices of a French army, +it was undoubtedly to some extent effected in alliance with the +French revolutionary party. It broke up a kingdom established by +the European Treaties of 1814; and it was so closely connected +with the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy as to be scarcely +distinguishable from those cases in which the European Powers had +pledged themselves to call their armies into the field. Louis +Philippe, however, had been recognised by most of the European +Courts as the only possible alternative to a French Republic; and +a general disposition existed to second any sincere effort that +should be made by him to prevent the French nation from rushing +into war. This was especially the case with England; and it was +to England that Louis Philippe turned for co-operation in the +settlement of the Belgian question. Louis Philippe himself had +every possible reason for desiring to keep the peace. If war +broke out, France would be opposed to all the Continental Powers +together. Success was in the last degree improbable; it could +only be hoped for by a revival of the revolutionary methods and +propaganda of 1793; and failure, even for a moment, would +certainly cost him his throne, and possibly his life. His +interest no less than his temperament made him the strenuous, +though concealed, opponent of the war-party in the Assembly; and +he found in the old diplomatist who had served alike under the +Bourbons, the Republic, and the Empire, an ally thoroughly +capable of pursuing his own wise though unpopular policy of +friendship and co-operation with England. Talleyrand, while +others were crying for a revenge for Waterloo, saw that the first +necessity for France was to rescue it from its isolation; and as +at the Congress of Vienna he had detached Austria and England +from the two northern Courts, so now, before attempting to gain +any extension of territory, he sought to make France safe against +the hostility of the Continent by allying it with at least one +great Power. Russia had become an enemy instead of a friend. The +expulsion of the Bourbons had given mortal offence to the Czar +Nicholas, and neither Austria nor Prussia was likely to enter +into close relations with a Government founded upon revolution. +England alone seemed a possible ally, and it was to England that +the French statesman of peace turned in the Belgian crisis. +Talleyrand, now nearly eighty years old, came as ambassador to +London, where he had served in 1792. He addressed himself to +Wellington and to the new King, William IV., assuring them that, +under the Government of Louis Philippe, France would not seek to +use the Belgian revolution for its own aggrandisement; and, with +his old aptness in the invention of general principles to suit a +particular case, he laid down the principle of non-intervention +as one that ought for the future to govern the policy of Europe. +His efforts were successful. So complete an understanding was +established between France and England on the Belgian question, +that all fear of an armed intervention of the Eastern Courts on +behalf of the King of Holland, which would have rendered a war +with France inevitable, passed away. The regulation of Belgian +affairs was submitted to a Conference at London. Hostilities were +stopped, and the independence of the new kingdom was recognised +in principle by the Conference before the end of the year. A +Protocol defining the frontiers of Belgium and Holland, and +apportioning to each State its share in the national debt, was +signed by the representatives of the Powers in January, 1831. <a +name="FNanchor389"> </a><a href="#Footnote_389"><sup>[389]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Leopold elected King, June 4.]</p> +<p>Thus far, a crisis which threatened the peace of Europe had +been surmounted with unexpected ease. But the first stage of the +difficulty alone was passed; it still remained for the Powers to +provide a king for Belgium, and to gain the consent of the Dutch +and Belgian Governments to the territorial arrangements drawn up +for them. The Belgians themselves, with whom a connection with +France was popular, were disposed to elect as their sovereign the +Duc de Nemours, second son of Louis Philippe; and although Louis +Philippe officially refused his sanction to this scheme, which in +the eyes of all Europe would have turned Belgium into a French +dependency, he privately encouraged its prosecution after a +Bonapartist candidate, the son of Eugène Beauharnais, had +appeared in the field. The result was that the Duc de Nemours was +elected king on the 3rd of February, 1831. Against this +appointment the Conference of the Powers at London had already +pronounced its veto, and the British Government let it be +understood that it would resist any such extension of French +influence by force. Louis Philippe now finally refused the crown +for his son, and, the Bonapartist candidate being withdrawn, the +two rival Powers agreed in recommending Prince Leopold of +Saxe-Coburg, on the understanding that, if elected King of +Belgium, he should marry a daughter of Louis Philippe. The +Belgians fell in with the advice given them, and elected Leopold +on the 4th of June. He accepted the crown, subject to the +condition that the London Conference should modify in favour of +Belgium some of the provisions relating to the frontiers and to +the finances of the new State which had been laid down by the +Conference, and which the Belgian Government had hitherto refused +to accept.</p> +<p>[Settlement of the Belgian frontier.]</p> +<p>The difficulty of arranging the Belgian frontier arose +principally from the position of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. +This territory, though subject to Austria before the French +Revolution, had always been treated as distinct from the body of +the Austrian Netherlands. When, at the peace of 1814, it was +given to the King of Holland in substitution for the ancient +possessions of his family at Nassau, its old character as a +member of the German federal union was restored to it, so that +the King of Holland in respect of this portion of his dominions +became a German prince, and the fortress of Luxemburg, the +strongest in Europe after Gibraltar, was liable to occupation by +German troops. The population of the Duchy had, however, joined +the Belgians in their revolt, and, with the exception of the +fortress itself, the territory had passed into possession of the +Belgian Government. In spite of this actual overthrow of Dutch +rule, the Conference of London had attached such preponderating +importance to the military and international relations of +Luxemburg that it had excluded the whole of the Duchy from the +new Belgian State, and declared it still to form part of the +dominions of the King of Holland. The first demand of Leopold was +for the reversal or modification of this decision, and the Powers +so far gave way as to substitute for the declaration of January a +series of articles, in which the question of Luxemburg was +reserved for future settlement. The King of Holland had assented +to the January declaration; on hearing of its abandonment, he +took up arms, and threw fifty thousand men into Belgium. Leopold +appealed to France for assistance, and a French army immediately +crossed the frontier. The Dutch now withdrew, and the French in +their turn were recalled, after Leopold had signed a treaty +undertaking to raze the fortifications of five towns on his +southern border. The Conference again took up its work, and +produced a third scheme, in which the territory of Luxemburg was +divided between Holland and Belgium. This was accepted by +Belgium, and rejected by Holland. The consequence was that a +treaty was made between Leopold and the Powers; and at the +beginning of 1832 the kingdom of Belgium, as defined by the third +award of the Conference, was recognised by all the Courts, Lord +Palmerston on behalf of England resolutely refusing to France +even the slightest addition of territory, on the ground that, if +annexations once began, all security for the continuance of peace +would be at an end. On this wise and firm policy the concert of +Europe in the establishment of the Belgian kingdom was +successfully maintained; and it only remained for the Western +Powers to overcome the resistance of the King of Holland, who +still held the citadel of Antwerp and declined to listen either +to reason or authority. A French army corps was charged with the +task of besieging the citadel; an English fleet blockaded the +river Scheldt. After a severe bombardment the citadel +surrendered. Hostilities ceased, and negotiations for a +definitive settlement recommenced. As, however, the Belgians were +in actual occupation of all Luxemburg with the exception of the +fortress, they had no motive to accelerate a settlement which +would deprive them of part of their existing possessions; on the +other hand, the King of Holland held back through mere obstinacy. +Thus the provisional state of affairs was prolonged for year +after year, and it was not until April, 1839, that the final +Treaty of Peace between Belgium and Holland was executed.</p> +<p>[Affairs of Poland.]</p> +<p>The consent of the Eastern Powers to the overthrow of the +kingdom of the United Netherlands, and to the establishment of a +State based upon a revolutionary movement, would probably have +been harder to gain if in the autumn of 1830 Russia had been free +to act with all its strength. But at this moment an outbreak took +place in Poland, which required the concentration of all the +Czar's forces within his own border. The conflict was rather a +war of one armed nation against another than the insurrection of +a people against its government. Poland-that is to say, the +territory which had formerly constituted the Grand Duchy of +Warsaw-had, by the treaties of 1814, been established as a +separate kingdom, subject to the Czar of Russia, but not forming +part of the Russian Empire. It possessed an administration and an +army of its own, and the meetings of its Diet gave to it a +species of parliamentary government to which there was nothing +analogous within Russia proper. During the reign of Alexander the +constitutional system of Poland had, on the whole, been +respected; and although the real supremacy of an absolute monarch +at St. Petersburg had caused the Diet to act as a body in +opposition to the Russian Government, the personal connection +existing between Alexander and the Poles had prevented any overt +rebellion during his own life-time. But with the accession of +Nicholas all such individual sympathy passed away, and the hard +realities of the actual relation between Poland and the Court of +Russia came into full view. In the conspiracies of 1825 a great +number of Poles were implicated. Eight of these persons, after a +preliminary inquiry, were placed on trial before the Senate at +Warsaw, which, in spite of strong evidence of their guilt, +acquitted them. Pending the decision, Nicholas declined to +convoke the Diet: he also stationed Russian troops in Poland, and +violated the constitution by placing Russians in all branches of +the administration. Even without these grievances the hostility +of the mass of the Polish noblesse to Russia would probably have +led sooner or later to insurrection. The peasantry, ignorant and +degraded, were but instruments in the hands of their territorial +masters. In so far as Poland had rights of self-government, these +rights belonged almost exclusively to the nobles, or landed +proprietors, a class so numerous that they have usually been +mistaken in Western Europe for the Polish nation itself. The +so-called emancipation of the serfs, effected by Napoleon after +wresting the Grand Duchy of Warsaw from Prussia in 1807, had done +little for the mass of the population; for, while abolishing the +legal condition of servitude, Napoleon had given the peasant no +vestige of proprietorship in his holding, and had consequently +left him as much at the mercy of his landlord as he was before. +The name of freedom appears in fact to have worked actual injury +to the peasant; for in the enjoyment of a pretended power of free +contract he was left without that protection of the officers of +State which, under the Prussian regime from 1795 to 1807, had +shielded him from the tyranny of his lord. It has been the fatal, +the irremediable bane of Poland that its noblesse, until too +late, saw no country, no right, no law, outside itself. The very +measures of interference on the part of the Czar which this caste +resented as unconstitutional were in part directed against the +abuse of its own privileges; and although in 1830 a section of +the nobles had learnt the secret of their country's fall, and +were prepared to give the serf the real emancipation of +proprietorship, no universal impulse worked in this direction, +nor could the wrong of ages be undone in the tumult of war and +revolution.</p> +<p>[Insurrection at Warsaw, Nov. 29.]</p> +<p>A sharp distinction existed between the narrow circle of the +highest aristocracy of Poland and the mass of the poor and +warlike noblesse. The former, represented by men like +Czartoryski, the friend of Alexander I. and ex-Minister of +Russia, understood the hopelessness of any immediate struggle +with the superior power, and advocated the politic development of +such national institutions as were given to Poland by the +constitution of 1815, institutions which were certainly +sufficient to preserve Poland from absorption by Russia, and to +keep alive the idea of the ultimate establishment of its +independence. It was among the lesser nobility, among the +subordinate officers of the army and the population of Warsaw +itself, who jointly formed the so-called democratic party, that +the spirit of revolt was strongest. Plans for an outbreak had +been made during the Turkish war of 1828; but unhappily this +opportunity, which might have been used with fatal effect against +Russia, was neglected, and it was left for the French Revolution +of 1830 to kindle an untimely and ineffective flame. The memory +of Napoleon's campaigns and the wild voices of French democracy +filled the patriots at Warsaw with vain hopes of a military union +with western Liberalism, and overpowered the counsels of men who +understood the state of Europe better. Revolt broke out on the +29th of November, 1830. The Polish regiments in Warsaw joined the +insurrection, and the Russian troops, under the Grand Duke +Constantine, withdrew from the capital, where their leader had +narrowly escaped with his life. <a name="FNanchor390"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_390"><sup>[390]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Attempted negotiation with the Czar.]</p> +<p>The Government of Poland had up to this time been in the hands +of a Council nominated by the Czar as King of Poland, and +controlled by instructions from a secretary at St. Petersburg. +The chief of the Council was Lubecki, a Pole devoted to the +Emperor Nicholas. On the victory of the insurrection at Warsaw, +the Council was dissolved and a provisional Government installed. +Though the revolt was the work of the so-called democratic party, +the influence of the old governing families of the highest +aristocracy was still so great that power was by common consent +placed in their hands. Czartoryski became president, and the +policy adopted by himself and his colleagues was that of friendly +negotiation with Russia. The insurrection of November was treated +not as the beginning of a national revolt, but as a mere +disturbance occasioned by unconstitutional acts of the +Government. So little did the committee understand the character +of the Emperor Nicholas, as to imagine that after the expulsion +of his soldiers and the overthrow of his Ministers at Warsaw he +would peaceably make the concessions required of him, and +undertake for the future faithfully to observe the Polish +constitution. Lubecki and a second official were sent to St. +Petersburg to present these demands, and further (though this was +not seriously intended) to ask that the constitution should be +introduced into all the Russian provinces which had once formed +part of the Polish State. The reception given to the envoys at +the frontier was of an ominous character. They were required to +describe themselves as officers about to present a report to the +Czar, inasmuch as no representatives of rebels in arms could be +received into Russia. Lubecki appears now to have shaken the dust +of Poland off his feet; his colleague pursued his mission, and +was admitted to the Czar's presence. Nicholas, while expressing +himself in language of injured tenderness, and disclaiming all +desire to punish the innocent with the guilty, let it be +understood that Poland had but two alternatives, unconditional +submission or annihilation. The messenger who in the meanwhile +carried back to Warsaw the first despatches of the envoy reported +that the roads were already filled with Russian regiments moving +on their prey.</p> +<p>[Diebitsch invades Poland, Feb. 1831.]</p> +<p>Six weeks of precious time were lost through the illusion of +the Polish Government that an accommodation with the Emperor +Nicholas was possible. Had the insurrection at Warsaw been +instantly followed by a general levy and the invasion of +Lithuania, the resources of this large province might possibly +have been thrown into the scale against Russia. Though the mass +of the Lithuanian population, in spite or several centuries of +union with Poland, had never been assimilated to the dominant +race, and remained in language and creed more nearly allied to +the Russians than the Poles, the nobles formed an integral part +of the Polish nation, and possessed sufficient power over their +serfs to drive them into the field to fight for they knew not +what. The Russian garrisons in Lithuania were not strong, and +might easily have been overpowered by a sudden attack. When once +the population of Warsaw had risen in arms against Nicholas, the +only possibility of success lay in the extension of the revolt +over the whole of the semi-Polish provinces, and in a general +call to arms. But beside other considerations which disinclined +the higher aristocracy at Warsaw to extreme measures, they were +influenced by a belief that the Powers of Europe might intervene +on behalf of the constitution of the Polish kingdom as +established by the treaty of Vienna; while, if the struggle +passed beyond the borders of that kingdom, it would become a +revolutionary movement to which no Court could lend its support. +It was not until the envoy returned from St. Petersburg bearing +the answer of the Emperor Nicholas that the democratic party +carried all before it, and all hopes of a peaceful compromise +vanished away. The Diet then passed a resolution declaring that +the House of Romanoff had forfeited the Polish crown, and +preparations began for a struggle for life or death with Russia. +But the first moments when Russia stood unguarded and unready had +been lost beyond recall. Troops had thronged westwards into +Lithuania; the garrisons in the fortresses had been raised to +their full strength; and in February, 1831, Diebitsch took up the +offensive, and crossed the Polish frontier with a hundred and +twenty thousand men.</p> +<p>[Campaign in Poland, 1831.]</p> +<p>[Capture of Warsaw, Sept. 8, 1831.]</p> +<p>The Polish army, though far inferior in numbers to the enemy +which it had to meet, was no contemptible foe. Among its officers +there were many who had served in Napoleon's campaigns; it +possessed, however, no general habituated to independent command; +and the spirit of insubordination and self-will, which had +wrought so much ruin in Poland, was still ready to break out when +defeat had impaired the authority of the nominal chiefs. In the +first encounters the advancing Russian army was gallantly met; +and, although the Poles were forced to fall back upon Warsaw, the +losses sustained by Diebitsch were so serious that he had to stay +his operations and to wait for reinforcements. In March the Poles +took up the offensive and surprised several isolated divisions of +the enemy; their general, however, failed to push his advantages +with the necessary energy and swiftness; the junction of the +Russians was at length effected, and on the 26th of May the Poles +were defeated after obstinate resistance in a pitched battle at +Ostrolenka. Cholera now broke out in the Russian camp. Both +Diebitsch and the Grand Duke Constantine were carried off in the +midst of the campaign, and some months more were added to the +struggle of Poland, hopeless as this had now become. Incursions +were made into Lithuania and Podolia, but without result. +Paskiewitch, the conqueror of Kars, was called up to take the +post left vacant by the death of his rival. New masses of Russian +troops came in place of those who had perished in battle and in +the hospitals; and while the Governments of Western Europe lifted +no hand on behalf of Polish independence, Prussia, alarmed lest +the revolt should spread into its own Polish provinces, assisted +the operations of the Russian general by supplying stores and +munition of war. Blow after blow fell upon the Polish cause. +Warsaw itself became the prey of disorder, intrigue, and +treachery; and at length the Russian army made its entrance into +the capital, and the last soldiers of Poland laid down their +arms, or crossed into Prussian or Austrian territory. The revolt +had been rashly and unwisely begun: its results were fatal and +lamentable. The constitution of Poland was abolished; it ceased +to be a separate kingdom, and became a province of the Russian +Empire. Its defenders were exiles over the face of Europe or +forgotten in Siberia. All that might have been won by the gradual +development of its constitutional liberties without breach with +the Czar's sovereignty was sacrificed. The future of Poland, like +that of Russia itself, now depended on the enlightenment and +courage of the Imperial Government, and on that alone. The very +existence of a Polish nationality and language seemed for a while +to be threatened by the measures of repression that followed the +victory of 1831: and if it be true that Russian autocracy has at +length done for the Polish peasants what their native masters +during centuries of ascendency refused to do, this emancipation +would probably not have come the later for the preservation of +some relics of political independence, nor would it have had the +less value if unaccompanied by the proscription of so great a +part of that class which had once been held to constitute the +Polish nation. <a name="FNanchor391"> </a><a href="#Footnote_391"><sup>[391]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Insurrection in the Papal States, Feb., 1831.]</p> +<p>During the conflict on the banks of the Vistula, the attitude +of the Austrian Government had been one of watchful neutrality. +Its own Polish territory was not seriously menaced with +disturbance, for in a great part of Galicia the population, being +of Ruthenian stock and belonging to the Greek Church, had nothing +in common with the Polish and Catholic noblesse of their +province, and looked back upon the days of Polish dominion as a +time of suffering and wrong. Austria's danger in any period of +European convulsion lay as yet rather on the side of Italy than +on the East, and the vigour of its policy in that quarter +contrasted with the equanimity with which it watched the struggle +of its Slavic neighbours. Since the suppression of the Neapolitan +constitutional movement in 1821, the Carbonari and other secret +societies of Italy had lost nothing of their activity. Their +head-quarters had been removed from Southern Italy to the Papal +States, and the numerous Italian exiles in France and elsewhere +kept up a busy communication at once with French revolutionary +leaders like Lafayette and with the enemies of the established +governments in Italy itself. The death of Pope Pius VIII., on +November 30, 1830, and the consequent paralysis of authority +within the Ecclesiastical States, came at an opportune moment; +assurances of support arrived from Paris; and the Italian leaders +resolved upon a general insurrection throughout the minor +Principalities on the 5th of February, 1831. Anticipating the +signal, Menotti, chief of a band of patriots at Modena, who +appears to have been lured on by the Grand Duke himself, +assembled his partisans on February 3. He was overpowered and +imprisoned; but the outbreak of the insurrection in Bologna, and +its rapid extension over the northern part of the Papal States, +soon caused the Grand Duke to fly to Austrian territory, carrying +his prisoner Menotti with him, whom he subsequently put to death. +The new Pope, Gregory XVI., had scarcely been elected when the +report reached him that Bologna had declared the temporal power +of the Papacy to be at an end. Uncertain of the character of the +revolt, he despatched Cardinal Benvenuti northwards, to employ +conciliation or force as occasion might require. The Legate fell +into the hands of the insurgents; the revolt spread southwards; +and Gregory, now hopeless of subduing it by the forces at his own +command, called upon Austria for assistance. <a name="FNanchor392"> </a><a href="#Footnote_392"><sup>[392]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Attitude of France.]</p> +<p>The principle which, since the Revolution of July, the +government of France had repeatedly laid down as the future basis +of European politics was that of non-intervention. It had +disclaimed any purpose of interfering with the affairs of its +neighbours, and had required in return that no foreign +intervention should take place in districts which, like Belgium +and Savoy, adjoined its own frontier. But there existed no real +unity of purpose in the councils of Louis Philippe. The Ministry +had one voice for the representatives of foreign powers, another +for the Chamber of Deputies, and another for Lafayette and the +bands of exiles and conspirators who were under his protection. +The head of the government at the beginning of 1831 was Laffitte, +a weak politician, dominated by revolutionary sympathies and +phrases, but incapable of any sustained or resolute action, and +equally incapable of resisting Louis Philippe after the King had +concluded his performance of popular leader, and assumed his real +character as the wary and self-seeking chief of a reigning house. +Whether the actual course of French policy would be governed by +the passions of the streets or by the timorousness of Louis +Philippe was from day to day a matter of conjecture. The official +answer given to the inquiries of the Austrian ambassador as to +the intentions of France in case of an Austrian intervention in +Italy was, that such intervention might be tolerated in Parma and +Modena, which belonged to sovereigns immediately connected with +the Hapsburgs, but that if it was extended to the Papal States +war with France would be probable, and if extended to Piedmont, +certain. On this reply Metternich, who saw Austria's own dominion +in Italy once more menaced by the success of an insurrectionary +movement, had to form his decision. He could count on the support +of Russia in case of war; he knew well the fears of Louis +Philippe, and knew that he could work on these fears both by +pointing to the presence of the young Louis Bonaparte and his +brother with the Italian insurgents as evidence of the +Bonapartist character of the movement, and by hinting that in the +last resort he might himself let loose upon France Napoleon's +son, the Duke of Reichstadt, now growing to manhood at Vienna, +before whom Louis Philippe's throne would have collapsed as +speedily as that of Louis XVIII. in 1814. Where weakness existed, +Metternich was quick to divine it and to take advantage of it. He +rightly gauged Louis Philippe. Taking at their true value the +threats of the French Government, he declared that it was better +for Austria to fall, if necessary, by war than by revolution; +and, resolving at all hazards to suppress the Roman insurrection, +he gave orders to the Austrian troops to enter the Papal +States.</p> +<p>[Austrians suppress Roman revolt, March, 1831.]</p> +<p>[Casimir Perier, March, 1831.]</p> +<p>The military resistance which the insurgents could offer to +the advance of the Pope's Austrian deliverers was insignificant, +and order was soon restored. But all Europe expected the outbreak +of war between Austria and France. The French ambassador at +Constantinople had gone so far as to offer the Sultan an +offensive and defensive alliance, and to urge him to make +preparations for an attack upon both Austria and Russia on their +southern frontiers. A despatch from the ambassador reached Paris +describing the warlike overtures he had made to the Porte. Louis +Philippe saw that if this despatch reached the hands of Laffitte +and the war party in the Council of Ministers the preservation of +peace would be almost impossible. In concert with Sebastiani, the +Foreign Minister, he concealed the despatch from Laffitte. The +Premier discovered the trick that had been played upon him, and +tendered his resignation. It was gladly accepted by Louis +Philippe. Laffitte quitted office, begging pardon of God and man +for the part that he had taken in raising Louis Philippe to the +throne. His successor was Casimir Perier, a man of very different +mould; resolute, clear-headed, and immovably true to his word; a +constitutional statesman of the strictest type, intolerant of any +species of disorder, and a despiser of popular movements, but +equally proof against royal intrigues, and as keen to maintain +the constitutional system of France against the Court on one side +and the populace on the other as he was to earn for France the +respect of foreign powers by the abandonment of a policy of +adventure, and the steady adherence to the principles of +international obligation which he had laid down. Under his firm +hand the intrigues of the French Government with foreign +revolutionists ceased; it was felt throughout Europe that peace +was still possible, and that if war was undertaken by France it +would be undertaken only under conditions which would make any +moral union of all the great Powers against France impossible. +The Austrian expedition into the Papal States had already begun, +and the revolutionary Government had been suppressed; the most +therefore that Casimir Perier could demand was that the +evacuation of the occupied territory should take place as soon as +possible, and that Austria should add its voice to that of the +other Powers in urging the Papal Government to reform its abuses. +Both demands were granted. For the first time Austria appeared as +the advocate of something like a constitutional system. A +Conference held at Rome agreed upon a scheme of reforms to be +recommended to the Pope; the prospects of peace grew daily +fairer; and in July, 1831, the last Austrian soldiers quitted the +Ecclesiastical States. <a name="FNanchor393"> </a><a href="#Footnote_393"><sup>[393]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Second Austrian intervention, Jan., 1832.]</p> +<p>[French occupy Ancona, February, 1832.]</p> +<p>It now remained to be seen whether Pope Gregory and his +cardinals had the intelligence and good-will necessary for +carrying out the reforms on the promise of which France had +abstained from active intervention. If any such hopes existed +they were doomed to speedy disappointment. The apparatus of +priestly maladministration was restored in all its ancient +deformity. An amnesty which had been promised by the Legate +Benvenuti was disregarded, and the Pope set himself to strengthen +his authority by enlisting new bands of ruffians and adventurers +under the standard of St. Peter. Again insurrection broke out, +and again at the Pope's request the Austrians crossed the +frontier (January, 1832). Though their appearance was fatal to +the cause of liberty, they were actually welcomed as protectors +in towns which had been exposed to the tender mercies of the +Papal condottieri. There was no disorder, no severity, where the +Austrian commandants held sway; but their mere presence in +central Italy was a threat to European peace; and Casimir Perier +was not the man to permit Austria to dominate in Italy at its +will. Without waiting for negotiations, he despatched a French +force to Ancona, and seized this town before the Austrians could +approach it. The rival Powers were now face to face in Italy; but +Perier had no intention of forcing on war if his opponent was +still willing to keep the peace. Austria accepted the situation, +and made no attempt to expel the French from the position they +had seized. Casimir Perier, now on his death-bed, defended the +step that he had taken against the remonstrances of ambassadors +and against the protests of the Pope, and declared the presence +of the French at Ancona to be no incentive to rebellion, but the +mere assertion of the rights of a Power which had as good a claim +to be in central Italy as Austria itself. Had his life been +prolonged, he would probably have insisted upon the execution of +the reforms which the Powers had urged upon the Papal government, +and have made the occupation of Ancona an effectual means for +reaching this end. But with his death the wrongs of the Italians +themselves and the question of a reformed government in the Papal +States gradually passed out of sight. France and Austria +jealously watched one another on the debatable land; the +occupation became a mere incident of the balance of power, and +was prolonged for year after year, until, in 1838, the Austrians +having finally withdrawn all their troops, the French peacefully +handed over the citadel of Ancona to the Holy See.</p> +<p>[Prussia in 1830.]</p> +<p>[The Zollverein, 1828-1836.]</p> +<p>The arena in which we have next to follow the effects of the +July Revolution, in action and counter-action, is Germany. It has +been seen that in the southern German States an element of +representative government, if weak, yet not wholly ineffective, +had come into being soon after 1815, and had survived the +reactionary measures initiated by the conference of Ministers at +Carlsbad. In Prussia the promises of King Frederick William to +his people had never been fulfilled. Years had passed since +exaggerated rumours of conspiracy had served as an excuse for +withholding the Constitution. Hardenberg had long been dead; the +foreign policy of the country had taken a freer tone; the rigours +of the police-system had departed; but the nation remained as +completely excluded from any share in the government as it had +been before Napoleon's fall. It had in fact become clear that +during the lifetime of King Frederick William things must be +allowed to remain in their existing condition; and the affection +of the people for their sovereign, who had been so long and so +closely united with Prussia in its sufferings and in its glories, +caused a general willingness to postpone the demand for +constitutional reform until the succeeding reign. The substantial +merits of the administration might moreover have reconciled a +less submissive people than the Prussians to the absolute +government under which they lived. Under a wise and enlightened +financial policy the country was becoming visibly richer. +Obstacles to commercial development were removed, communications +opened; and finally, by a series of treaties with the +neighbouring German States, the foundations were laid for that +Customs-Union which, under the name of the Zollverein, ultimately +embraced almost the whole of non-Austrian Germany. As one +Principality after another attached itself to the Prussian +system, the products of the various regions of Germany, hitherto +blocked by the frontier dues of each petty State, moved freely +through the land, while the costs attending the taxation of +foreign imports, now concentrated upon the external line of +frontier, were enormously diminished. Patient, sagacious, and +even liberal in its negotiations with its weaker neighbours, +Prussia silently connected with itself through the ties of +financial union States which had hitherto looked to Austria as +their natural head. The semblance of political union was +carefully avoided, but the germs of political union were +nevertheless present in the growing community of material +interests. The reputation of the Prussian Government, no less +than the welfare of the Prussian people, was advanced by each +successive step in the extension of the Zollverein; and although +the earlier stages alone had been passed in the years before +1830, enough had already been done to affect public opinion; and +the general sense of material progress combined with other +influences to close Prussia to the revolutionary tendencies of +that year.</p> +<p>[Insurrections in Brunswick and Cassel.]</p> +<p>[Constitutions in Hanover and Saxony, 1830-1833.]</p> +<p>There were, however, other States in northern Germany which +had all the defects of Prussian autocracy without any of its +redeeming qualities. In Brunswick and in Hesse Cassel despotism +existed in its most contemptible form; the violence of a +half-crazy youth in the one case, and the caprices of an +obstinate dotard in the other, rendering authority a mere +nuisance to those who were subject to it. Here accordingly +revolution broke out. The threatened princes had made themselves +too generally obnoxious or ridiculous for any hand to be raised +in their defence. Their disappearance excited no more than the +inevitable lament from Metternich; and in both States systems of +representative government were introduced by their successors. In +Hanover and in Saxony agitation also began in favour of +Parliamentary rule. The disturbance that arose was not of a +serious character, and it was met by the Courts in a conciliatory +spirit. Constitutions were granted, the liberty of the Press +extended, and trial by jury established. On the whole, the +movement of 1830, as it affected northern Germany, was rationally +directed and salutary in its results. Changes of real value were +accomplished with a sparing employment of revolutionary means, +and, in the more important cases, through the friendly +co-operation of the sovereigns with their subjects. It was not +the fault of those who had asked for the same degree of liberty +in northern Germany which the south already possessed, that +Germany at large again experienced the miseries of reaction and +repression which had afflicted it ten years before.</p> +<p>[Movement in the Palatinate.]</p> +<p>Like Belgium and the Rhenish Provinces, the Bavarian +Palatinate had for twenty years been incorporated with France. +Its inhabitants had grown accustomed to the French law and French +institutions, and had caught something of the political animation +which returned to France after Napoleon's fall. Accordingly when +the government of Munich, alarmed by the July Revolution, showed +an inclination towards repressive measures, the Palatinate, +severed from the rest of the Bavarian monarchy and in immediate +contact with France, became the focus of a revolutionary +agitation. The Press had already attained some activity and some +influence in this province; and although the leaders of the party +of progress were still to a great extent Professors, they had so +far advanced upon the patriots of 1818 as to understand that the +liberation of the German people was not to be effected by the +lecturers and the scholars of the Universities. The design had +been formed of enlisting all classes of the public on the side of +reform, both by the dissemination of political literature and by +the establishment of societies not limited, as in 1818, to +academic circles, but embracing traders as well as soldiers and +professional men. Even the peasant was to be reached and +instructed in his interests as a citizen. It was thought that +much might be effected by associating together all the +Oppositions in the numerous German Parliaments; but a more +striking feature of the revolutionary movement which began in the +Palatinate, and one strongly distinguishing it from the earlier +agitation of Jena and Erfurt, was its cosmopolitan character. +France in its triumph and Poland in its death-struggle excited +equal interest and sympathy. In each the cause of European +liberty appeared to be at stake. The Polish banner was saluted in +the Palatinate by the side of that of united Germany; and from +that time forward in almost every revolutionary movement of +Europe, down to the insurrection of the Commune of Paris in 1871, +Polish exiles have been active both in the organisation of revolt +and in the field.</p> +<p>[Reaction in Germany.]</p> +<p>Until the fall of Warsaw, in September, 1831, the German +governments, uncertain of the course which events might take in +Europe, had shown a certain willingness to meet the complaints of +their subjects, and had in especial relaxed the supervision +exercised over the press. The fall of Warsaw, which quieted so +many alarms, and made the Emperor Nicholas once more a power +outside his own dominions, inaugurated a period of reaction in +Germany. The Diet began the campaign against democracy by +suppressing various liberal newspapers, and amongst them the +principal journal of the Palatinate. It was against this movement +of regression that the agitation in the Palatinate and elsewhere +was now directed. A festival, or demonstration, was held at the +Castle of Hambach, near Zweibrücken, at which a body of +enthusiasts called upon the German people to unite against their +oppressors, and some even urged an immediate appeal to arms (May +27, 1832). Similar meetings, though on a smaller scale, were held +in other parts of Germany. Wild words abounded, and the +connection of the German revolutionists with that body of +opponents of all established governments which had its +council-chamber at Paris and its head in Lafayette was openly +avowed. Weak and insignificant as the German demagogues were, +their extravagance gave to Metternich and to the Diet sufficient +pretext for revising the reactionary measures of 1819. Once more +the subordination of all representative bodies to the sovereign's +authority was laid down by the Diet as a binding principle for +every German state. The refusal of taxes by any legislature was +declared to be an act of rebellion which would be met by the +armed intervention of the central Powers. All political meetings +and associations were forbidden; the Press was silenced; the +introduction of German books printed abroad was prohibited, and +the Universities were again placed under the watch of the police +(July, 1832). <a name="FNanchor394"> </a><a href="#Footnote_394"><sup>[394]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Attempt at Frankfort, April, 1833.]</p> +<p>If among the minor sovereigns of Germany there were some who, +as in Baden, sincerely desired the development of free +institutions, the authority exercised by Metternich and his +adherents in reaction bore down all the resistance that these +courts could offer, and the hand of despotism fell everywhere +heavily upon the party of political progress. The majority of +German Liberals, not yet prepared for recourse to revolutionary +measures, submitted to the pressure of the times, and disclaimed +all sympathy with illegal acts; a minority, recognising that +nothing was now to be gained by constitutional means, entered +into conspiracies, and determined to liberate Germany by force. +One insignificant group, relying upon the armed co-operation of +Polish bands in France, and deceived by promises of support from +some Würtemberg soldiers, actually rose in insurrection at +Frankfort. A guard-house was seized, and a few soldiers captured; +but the citizens of Frankfort stood aloof, and order was soon +restored (April, 1833). It was not to be expected that the +reactionary courts should fail to draw full advantage from this +ill-timed outbreak of their enemies. Prussian troops marched into +Frankfort, and Metternich had no difficulty in carrying through +the Diet a decree establishing a commission to superintend and to +report upon the proceedings instituted against political +offenders throughout Germany. For several years these +investigations continued, and the campaign against the opponents +of government was carried on with various degrees of rigour in +the different states. About two thousand persons altogether were +brought to trial: in Prussia thirty-nine sentences of death were +pronounced, but not executed. In the struggle against revolution +the forces of monarchy had definitely won the victory. Germany +again experienced, as it had in 1819, that the federal +institutions which were to have given it unity existed only for +the purposes of repression. The breach between the nation and its +rulers, in spite of the apparent failure of the democratic party, +remained far deeper and wider than it had been before; and +although Metternich, victor once more over the growing +restlessness of the age, slumbered on for another decade in +fancied security, the last of his triumphs had now been won, and +the next uprising proved how blind was that boasted statesmanship +which deemed the sources of danger exhausted when once its +symptoms had been driven beneath the surface.</p> +<p>[Conspirators and exiles.]</p> +<p>[Dispersion of the Swiss exiles, 1834.]</p> +<p>In half the states of Europe there were now bodies of +exasperated, uncompromising men, who devoted their lives to +plotting against governments, and who formed, in their community +of interest and purpose, a sort of obverse of the Holy Alliance, +a federation of kings' enemies, a league of principle and creed, +in which liberty and human right stood towards established rule +as light to darkness. As the grasp of authority closed everywhere +more tightly upon its baffled foes, more and more of these men +passed into exile. Among them was the Genoese Mazzini, who, after +suffering imprisonment in 1831, withdrew to Marseilles, and +there, in combination with various secret societies, planned an +incursion into the Italian province of Savoy. It was at first +intended that this enterprise should be executed simultaneously +with the German rising at Frankfort. Delays, however, arose, and +it was not until the beginning of the following year that the +little army, which numbered more Poles than Italians, was ready +for its task. The incursion was made from Geneva in February, +1834, and ended disastrously. <a name="FNanchor395"> </a><a href="#Footnote_395"><sup>[395]</sup></a> Mazzini returned to +Switzerland, where hundreds of exiles, secure under the shelter +of the Republic, devised schemes of attack upon the despots of +Europe, and even rioted in honour of freedom in the streets of +the Swiss cities which protected them. The effect of the +revolutionary movement of the time in consolidating the alliance +of the three Eastern Powers, so rudely broken by the Greek War of +Liberation, now came clearly into view. The sovereigns of Russia +and Austria had met at Münchengrätz in Bohemia in the +previous autumn, and, in concert with Prussia, had resolved upon +common principles of action if their intervention should be +required against disturbers of order. Notes were now addressed +from every quarter to the Swiss Government, requiring the +expulsion of all persons concerned in enterprises against the +peace of neighbouring States. Some resistance to this demand was +made by individual cantons; but the extravagance of many of the +refugees themselves alienated popular sympathy, and the greater +part of them were forced to quit Switzerland and to seek shelter +in England or in America. With the dispersion of the central band +of exiles the open alliance which had existed between the +revolutionists of Europe gradually passed away. The brotherhood +of the kings had proved a stern reality, the brotherhood of the +peoples a delusive vision. Mazzini indeed, who up to this time +had scarcely emerged from the rabble of revolutionary leaders, +was yet to prove how deeply the genius, the elevation, the +fervour of one man struggling against the powers of the world may +influence the history of his age; but the fire that purified the +fine gold charred and consumed the baser elements; and of those +who had hoped the most after 1830, many now sank into despair, or +gave up their lives to mere restless agitation and intrigue.</p> +<p>[Difficulties of Louis Philippe.]</p> +<p>[Insurrections, 1832-1834.]</p> +<p>[Repressive Laws, Sept., 1835.]</p> +<p>It was in France that the revolutionary movement was longest +maintained. During the first year of Louis Philippe's rule the +opposition to his government was inspired not so much by +Republicanism as by a wild and inconsiderate sympathy with the +peoples who were fighting for liberty elsewhere, and by a +headstrong impulse to take up arms on their behalf. The famous +decree of the Convention in 1792, which promised the assistance +of France to every nation in revolt against its rulers, was in +fact the true expression of what was felt by a great part of the +French nation in 1831; and in the eyes of these enthusiasts it +was the unpardonable offence of Louis Philippe against the honour +of France that he allowed Poland and Italy to succumb without +drawing his sword against their conquerors. That France would +have had to fight the three Eastern Powers combined, if it had +allied itself with those in revolt against any one of the three, +passed for nothing among the clamorous minority in the Chamber +and among the orators of Paris. The pacific policy of Casimir +Perier was misunderstood; it passed for mere poltroonery, when in +fact it was the only policy that could save France from a +recurrence of the calamities of 1815. There were other causes for +the growing unpopularity of the King and of his Ministers, but +the first was their policy of peace. As the attacks of his +opponents became more and more bitter, the government of Casimir +Perier took more and more of a repressive character. +Disappointment at the small results produced in France itself by +the Revolution of July worked powerfully in men's minds. The +forces that had been set in motion against Charles X. were not to +be laid at rest at the bidding of those who had profited by them, +and a Republican party gradually took definite shape and +organisation. Tumult succeeded tumult. In the summer of 1832 the +funeral of General Lamarque, a popular soldier, gave the signal +for insurrection at Paris. There was severe fighting in the +streets; the National Guard, however, proved true to the king, +and shared with the army in the honours of its victory. +Repressive measures and an unbroken series of prosecutions +against seditious writers followed this first armed attack upon +the established government. The bitterness of the Opposition, the +discontent of the working classes, far surpassed anything that +had been known under Charles X. The whole country was agitated by +revolutionary societies and revolutionary propaganda. Disputes +between masters and workmen, which, in consequence of the growth +of French manufacturing industry, now became both frequent and +important, began to take a political colour. Polish and Italian +exiles connected their own designs with attacks to be made upon +the French Government from within; and at length, in April, 1834, +after the passing of a law against trades-unions, the working +classes of Lyons, who were on strike against their employers, +were induced to rise in revolt. After several days' fighting the +insurrection was suppressed. Simultaneous outbreaks took place at +St. Etienne, Grenoble, and many other places in the south and +centre of France; and on a report of the success of the +insurgents reaching Paris, the Republic was proclaimed and +barricades were erected. Again civil war raged in the streets, +and again the forces of Government gained the victory. A year +more passed, during which the investigations into the late revolt +and the trial of a host of prisoners served rather to agitate +than to reassure the public mind; and in the summer of 1835 an +attempt was made upon the life of the King so terrible and +destructive in its effects as to amount to a public calamity. An +infernal machine composed of a hundred gun-barrels was fired by a +Corsican named Fieschi, as the King with a large suite was riding +through the streets of Paris on the anniversary of the Revolution +of July. Fourteen persons were killed on the spot, among whom was +Mortier, one of the oldest of the marshals of France; many others +were fatally or severely injured. The King, however, with his +three sons, escaped unhurt, and the repressive laws that followed +this outrage marked the close of open revolutionary agitation in +France. Whether in consequence of the stringency of the new laws, +or of the exhaustion of a party discredited in public estimation +by the crimes of a few of its members and the recklessness of +many more, the constitutional monarchy of Louis Philippe now +seemed to have finally vanquished its opponents. Repeated +attempts were made on the life of the King, but they possessed +for the most part little political significance. Order was +welcome to the nation at large; and though in the growth of a +socialistic theory and creed of life which dates from this epoch +there lay a danger to Governments greater than any purely +political, Socialism was as yet the affair of thinkers rather +than of active workers either in the industrial or in the +Parliamentary world. The Government had beaten its enemies +outside the Chamber. Within the Chamber, the parties of extremes +ceased to exercise any real influence. Groups were formed, and +rival leaders played against one another for office; but they +were separated by no far-reaching differences of aim, and by no +real antagonism of constitutional principle. During the +succeeding years of Louis Philippe's reign there was little +visible on the surface but the normal rivalry of parties under a +constitutional monarchy. The middle-class retained its monopoly +of power: authority, centralised as before, maintained its old +prestige in France, and softened opposition by judicious gifts of +office and emolument. Revolutionary passion seemed to have died +away: and the triumphs or reverses of party-leaders in the +Chamber of Deputies succeeded to the harassing and doubtful +conflict between Government and insurrection.</p> +<p>[The English Reform movement.]</p> +<p>The near coincidence in time between the French Revolution of +1830 and the passing of the English Reform Bill is apt to suggest +to those who look for the operation of wide general causes in +history that the English Reform movement should be viewed as a +part of the great current of political change which then +traversed the continent of Europe. But on a closer examination +this view is scarcely borne out by facts, and the coincidence of +the two epochs of change appears to be little more than +accidental. The general unity that runs through the history of +the more advanced continental states is indeed stronger than +appears to a superficial reader of history; but this +correspondence of tendency does not always embrace England; on +the contrary, the conditions peculiar to England usually +preponderate over those common to England and other countries, +exhibiting at times more of contrast than of similarity, as in +the case of the Napoleonic epoch, when the causes which drew +together the western half of the continent operated powerfully to +exclude our own country from the current influences of the time, +and made the England of 1815, in opinion, in religion, and in +taste much more insular than the England of 1780. The revolution +which overthrew Charles X. did no doubt encourage and stimulate +the party of Reform in Great Britain; but, unlike the Belgian, +the German, and the Italian movements, the English Reform +movement would unquestionably have run the same course and +achieved the same results even if the revolt against the +ordinances of Charles X. had been successfully repressed, and the +Bourbon monarchy had maintained itself in increased strength and +reputation. A Reform of Parliament had been acknowledged to be +necessary forty years before. Pitt had actually proposed it in +1785, and but for the outbreak of the French Revolution would +probably have carried it into effect before the close of the last +century. The development of English manufacturing industry which +took place between 1790 and 1830, accompanied by the rapid growth +of towns and the enrichment of the urban middle class, rendered +the design of Pitt, which would have transferred the +representation of the decayed boroughs to the counties alone, +obsolete, and made the claims of the new centres of population +too strong to be resisted. In theory the representative system of +the country was completely transformed; but never was a measure +which seemed to open the way to such boundless possibilities of +change so thoroughly safe and so thoroughly conservative. In +spite of the increased influence won by the wealthy part of the +commercial classes, the House of Commons continued to be drawn +mainly from the territorial aristocracy. Cabinet after Cabinet +was formed with scarcely a single member included in it who was +not himself a man of title, or closely connected with the +nobility: the social influence of rank was not diminished; and +although such measures as the Reform of Municipal Corporations +attested the increased energy of the Legislature, no party in the +House of Commons was weaker than that which supported the +democratic demands for the Ballot and for Triennial Parliaments, +nor was the repeal of the Corn Laws seriously considered until +famine had made it inevitable. That the widespread misery which +existed in England after 1832, as the result of the excessive +increase of our population and the failure alike of law and of +philanthropy to keep pace with the exigencies of a vast +industrial growth, should have been so quietly borne, proves how +great was the success of the Reform Bill as a measure of +conciliation between Government and people. But the crowning +justification of the changes made in 1832, and the complete and +final answer to those who had opposed them as revolutionary, was +not afforded until 1848, when, in the midst of European +convulsion, the monarchy and the constitution of England remained +unshaken. Bold as the legislation of Lord Grey appeared to men +who had been brought up amidst the reactionary influences +dominant in England since 1793, the Reform Bill belongs not to +the class of great creative measures which have inaugurated new +periods in the life of nations, but to the class of those which, +while least affecting the general order of society, have most +contributed to political stability and to the avoidance of +revolutionary change.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XVII."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c17">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>France and England after 1830-Affairs of Portugal-Don +Miguel-Don Pedro invades Portugal-Ferdinand of Spain-The +Pragmatic Sanction-Death of Ferdinand: Regency of Christina-The +Constitution-Quadruple Alliance- Miguel and Carlos expelled from +Portugal-Carlos enters Spain-The Basque Provinces-Carlist War: +Zumalacarregui-The Spanish Government seeks French assistance, +which is refused-Constitution of 1837-End of the War-Regency of +Espartero-Isabella Queen-Affairs of the Ottoman Empire-Ibrahim +invades Syria; his victories-Rivalry of France and Russia at +Constantinople-Peace of Kutaya and Treaty of Unkiar +Skelessi-Effect of this Treaty-France and Mehemet Ali-Commerce of +the Levant-Second War between Mehemet and the Porte-Ottoman +disasters-The Policy of the Great Powers-Quadruple Treaty without +France-Ibrahim expelled from Syria-Final Settlement-Turkey after +1840-Attempted reforms of Reschid Pasha.</p> +<br> + +<p>[France and England after 1830.]</p> +<p>Alliances of opinion usually cover the pursuit on one or both +sides of some definite interest; and to this rule the alliance +which appeared to be springing up between France and England +after the changes of 1830 was no exception. In the popular view, +the bond of union between the two States was a common attachment +to principles of liberty; and on the part of the Whig statesmen +who now governed England this sympathy with free constitutional +systems abroad was certainly a powerful force: but other motives +than mere community of sentiment combined to draw the two +Governments together, and in the case of France these immediate +interests greatly outweighed any abstract preference for a +constitutional ally. Louis Philippe had an avowed and obstinate +enemy in the Czar of Russia, who had been his predecessor's +friend: the Court of Vienna tolerated usurpers only where worse +mischief would follow from attacking them; Prussia had no motive +for abandoning the connexions which it had maintained since 1815. +As the union between the three Eastern Courts grew closer in +consequence of the outbreak of revolution beyond the borders of +France, a good understanding with Great Britain became more and +more obviously the right policy for Louis Philippe; on the other +hand, the friendship of France seemed likely to secure England +from falling back into that isolated position which it had +occupied when the Holy Alliance laid down the law to Europe, and +averted the danger to which the Ottoman Empire, as well as the +peace of the world, had been exposed by the combination of French +with Russian schemes of aggrandizement. If Canning, left without +an ally in Europe, had called the new world into existence to +redress the balance of the old, his Whig successors might well +look with some satisfaction on that shifting of the weights which +had brought over one of the Great Powers to the side of England, +and anticipate, in the concert of the two great Western States, +the establishment of a permanent force in European politics which +should hold in check the reactionary influences of Vienna and St. +Petersburg. To some extent these views were realised. A general +relation of friendliness was recognised as subsisting between the +Governments of Paris and London, and in certain European +complications their intervention was arranged in common. But even +here the element of mistrust was seldom absent; and while English +Ministers jealously watched each action of their neighbour, the +French Government rarely allowed the ties of an informal alliance +to interfere with the prosecution of its own views. Although down +to the close of Louis Philippe's reign the good understanding +between England and France was still nominally in existence, all +real confidence had then long vanished; and on more than one +occasion the preservation of peace between the two nations had +been seriously endangered.</p> +<p>[Affairs of Portugal, 1826-1830.]</p> +<p>It was in the establishment of the kingdom of Belgium that the +combined action of France and England produced its first and most +successful result. A second demand was made upon the Governments +of the two constitutional Powers by the conflicts which agitated +the Spanish Peninsula, and which were stimulated in the general +interests of absolutism by both the Austrian and the Russian +Court. The intervention of Canning in 1826 on behalf of the +constitutional Regency of Portugal against the foreign supporters +of Don Miguel, the head of the clerical and reactionary party, +had not permanently restored peace to that country. Miguel indeed +accepted the constitution, and, after betrothing himself to the +infant sovereign, Donna Maria, who was still with her father +Pedro, in Brazil, entered upon the Regency which his elder +brother had promised to him. But his actions soon disproved the +professions of loyalty to the constitution which he had made; and +after dissolving the Cortes, and re-assembling the mediæval +Estates, he caused himself to be proclaimed King (June, 1828). A +reign of terror followed. The constitutionalists were completely +crushed. Miguel's own brutal violence gave an example to all the +fanatics and ruffians who surrounded him; and after an +unsuccessful appeal to arms, those of the adherents of Donna +Maria and the constitution who escaped from imprisonment or +execution took refuge in England or in the Azore islands, where +Miguel had not been able to establish his authority. Though +Miguel was not officially recognised as Sovereign by most of the +foreign Courts, his victory was everywhere seen with satisfaction +by the partisans of absolutism; and in Great Britain, where the +Duke of Wellington was still in power, the precedent of Canning's +intervention was condemned, and a strict neutrality maintained. +Not only was all assistance refused to Donna Maria, but her +adherents who had taken refuge in England were prevented from +making this country the basis of any operations against the +usurper.</p> +<p>[Invasion of Portugal by Pedro. July, 1832.]</p> +<p>Such was the situation of Portuguese affairs when the events +of 1830 brought an entirely new spirit into the foreign policy of +both England and France. Miguel, however, had no inclination to +adapt his own policy to the change of circumstances; on the +contrary, he challenged the hostility of both governments by +persisting in a series of wanton attacks upon English and French +subjects resident at Lisbon. Satisfaction was demanded, and +exacted by force. English and French squadrons successively +appeared in the Tagus. Lord Palmerston, now Foreign Secretary in +the Ministry of Earl Grey, was content with obtaining a pecuniary +indemnity for his countrymen, accompanied by a public apology +from the Portuguese Government: the French admiral, finding some +difficulty in obtaining redress, carried off the best ships of +Don Miguel's navy. <a name="FNanchor396"> </a><a href="#Footnote_396"><sup>[396]</sup></a> A weightier blow was, +however, soon to fall upon the usurper. His brother, the Emperor +Pedro, threatened with revolution in Brazil, resolved to return +to Europe and to enforce the rights of his daughter to the throne +of Portugal. Pedro arrived in London in July, 1831, and was +permitted by the Government to raise troops and to secure the +services of some of the best naval officers of this country. The +gathering place of his forces was Terceira, one of the Azore +islands, and in the summer of 1832 a sufficiently strong body of +troops was collected to undertake the reconquest of Portugal. A +landing was made at Oporto, and this city fell into the hands of +Don Pedro without resistance. Miguel, however, now marched +against his brother, and laid siege to Oporto. For nearly a year +no progress was made by either side; at length the arrival of +volunteers from various countries, among whom was Captain Charles +Napier, enabled Pedro to divide his forces and to make a new +attack on Portugal from the south. Napier, in command of the +fleet, annihilated the navy of Don Miguel off St. Vincent; his +colleague, Villa Flor, landed and marched on Lisbon. The +resistance of the enemy was overcome, and on the 28th of July, +1833, Don Pedro entered the capital. But the war was not yet at +an end, for Miguel's cause was as closely identified with the +interests of European absolutism as that of his brother was with +constitutional right, and assistance both in troops and money +continued to arrive at his camp. The struggle threatened to prove +a long and obstinate one, when a new turn was given to events in +the Peninsula by the death of Ferdinand, King of Spain.</p> +<p>[Death of Ferdinand, Sept., 1833.]</p> +<p>Since the restoration of absolute Government in Spain in 1823, +Ferdinand, in spite of his own abject weakness and ignorance, had +not given complete satisfaction to the fanatics of the clerical +party. Some vestiges of statesmanship, some sense of political +necessity, as well as the influence of foreign counsellors, had +prevented the Government of Madrid from completely identifying +itself with the monks and zealots who had first risen against the +constitution of 1820, and who now sought to establish the +absolute supremacy of the Church. The Inquisition had not been +restored, and this alone was enough to stamp the King as a +renegade in the eyes of the ferocious and implacable champions of +mediæval bigotry. Under the name of Apostolicals, these +reactionaries had at times broken into open rebellion. Their +impatience had, however, on the whole been restrained by the +knowledge that in the King's brother and heir, Don Carlos, they +had an adherent whose devotion to the priestly cause was beyond +suspicion, and who might be expected soon to ascend the throne. +Ferdinand had been thrice married; he was childless; his state of +health miserable; and his life likely to be a short one. The +succession to the throne of Spain had moreover, since 1713, been +governed by the Salic Law, so that even in the event of Ferdinand +leaving female issue Don Carlos would nevertheless inherit the +crown. These confident hopes were rudely disturbed by the +marriage of the King with his cousin Maria Christina of Naples, +followed by an edict, known as the Pragmatic Sanction, repealing +the Salic Law which had been introduced with the first Bourbon, +and restoring the ancient Castilian custom under which women were +capable of succeeding to the crown. A daughter, Isabella, was +shortly afterwards born to the new Queen. On the legality of the +Pragmatic Sanction the opinions of publicists differed; it was +judged, however, by Europe at large not from the point of view of +antiquarian theory, but with direct reference to its immediate +effect. The three Eastern Courts emphatically condemned it, as an +interference with established monarchical right, and as a blow to +the cause of European absolutism through the alliance which it +would almost certainly produce between the supplanters of Don +Carlos and the Liberals of the Spanish Peninsula. <a name="FNanchor397"> </a><a href="#Footnote_397"><sup>[397]</sup></a> To +the clerical and reactionary party at Madrid, it amounted to +nothing less than a sentence of destruction, and the utmost +pressure was brought to bear upon the weak and dying King with +the object of inducing him to undo the alleged wrong which he had +done to his brother. In a moment of prostration Ferdinand revoked +the Pragmatic Sanction; but, subsequently, regaining some degree +of strength, he re-enacted it, and appointed Christina Regent +during the continuance of his illness. Don Carlos, protesting +against the violation of his rights, had betaken himself to +Portugal, where he made common cause with Miguel. His adherents +had no intention of submitting to the change of succession. Their +resentment was scarcely restrained during Ferdinand's life-time, +and when, in September, 1833, his long-expected death took place, +and the child Isabella was declared Queen under the Regency of +her mother, open rebellion broke out, and Carlos was proclaimed +King in several of the northern provinces.</p> +<p>[The Regency and the Carlists.]</p> +<p>[Quadruple Treaty, April 22, 1834.]</p> +<p>[Miguel and Carlos removed, May, 1834.]</p> +<p>For the moment the forces of the Regency seemed to be far +superior to those of the insurgents, and Don Carlos failed to +take advantage of the first outburst of enthusiasm and to place +himself at the head of his followers. He remained in Portugal, +while Christina, as had been expected, drew nearer to the Spanish +Liberals, and ultimately called to power a Liberal minister, +Martinez de la Rosa, under whom a constitution was given to Spain +by Royal Statute (April 10, 1834). At the same time negotiations +were opened with Portugal and with the Western Powers, in the +hope of forming an alliance which should drive both Miguel and +Carlos from the Peninsula. On the 22nd of April, 1834, a +Quadruple Treaty was signed at London, in which the Spanish +Government undertook to send an army into Portugal against +Miguel, the Court of Lisbon pledging itself in return to use all +the means in its power to expel Don Carlos from Portuguese +territory. England engaged to co-operate by means of its fleet. +The assistance of France, if it should be deemed necessary for +the attainment of the objects of the Treaty, was to be rendered +in such manner as should be settled by common consent. In +pursuance of the policy of the Treaty, and even before the formal +engagement was signed, a Spanish division under General Rodil +crossed the frontier and marched against Miguel. The forces of +the usurper were defeated. The appearance of the English fleet +and the publication of the Treaty of Quadruple Alliance rendered +further resistance hopeless, and on the 22nd of May Miguel made +his submission, and in return for a large pension renounced all +rights to the crown, and undertook to quit the Peninsula for +ever. Don Carlos, refusing similar conditions, went on board an +English ship, and was conducted to London. <a name="FNanchor398"> </a><a href="#Footnote_398"><sup>[398]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Carlos appears in Spain.]</p> +<p>With respect to Portugal, the Quadruple Alliance had +completely attained its object; and in so far as the Carlist +cause was strengthened by the continuance of civil war in the +neighbouring country, this source of strength was no doubt +withdrawn from it. But in its effect upon Don Carlos himself the +action of the Quadruple Alliance was worse than useless. While +fulfilling the letter of the Treaty, which stipulated for the +expulsion of the two pretenders from the Peninsula, the English +Admiral had removed Carlos from Portugal, where he was +comparatively harmless, and had taken no effective guarantee that +he should not re-appear in Spain itself and enforce his claim by +arms. Carlos had not been made a prisoner of war; he had made no +promises and incurred no obligations; nor could the British +Government, after his arrival in this country, keep him in +perpetual restraint. Quitting England after a short residence, he +travelled in disguise through France, crossed the Pyrenees, and +appeared on the 10th of July, 1834, at the headquarters of the +Carlist insurgents in Navarre.</p> +<p>[The Basque Provinces.]</p> +<p>In the country immediately below the western Pyrenees, the +so-called Basque Provinces, lay the chief strength of the Carlist +rebellion. These provinces, which were among the most thriving +and industrious parts of Spain, might seem by their very +superiority an unlikely home for a movement which was directed +against everything favourable to liberty, tolerance, and progress +in the Spanish kingdom. But the identification of the Basques +with the Carlist cause was due in fact to local, not to general, +causes; and in fighting to impose a bigoted despot upon the +Spanish people, they were in truth fighting to protect themselves +from a closer incorporation with Spain. Down to the year 1812, +the Basque provinces had preserved more than half of the +essentials of independence. Owing to their position on the French +frontier, the Spanish monarchy, while destroying all local +independence in the interior of Spain, had uniformly treated the +Basques with the same indulgence which the Government of Great +Britain has shown to the Channel Islands, and which the French +monarchy, though in a less degree, showed to the frontier +province of Alsace in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. +The customs-frontier of the north of Spain was drawn to the south +of these districts. The inhabitants imported what they pleased +from France without paying any duties; while the heavy +import-dues levied at the border of the neighbouring Spanish +provinces gave them the opportunity of carrying on an easy and +lucrative system of smuggling. The local administration remained +to a great extent in the hands of the people themselves; each +village preserved its active corporate life; and the effect of +this survival of a vigorous local freedom was seen in the +remarkable contrast described by travellers between the aspect of +the Basque districts and that of Spain at large. The Fueros, or +local rights, as the Basques considered them, were in reality, +when viewed as part of the order of the Spanish State, a series +of exceptional privileges; and it was inevitable that the framers +of the Constitution of 1812, in their attempt to create a modern +administrative and political system doing justice to the whole of +the nation, should sweep away the distinctions which had hitherto +marked off one group of provinces from the rest of the community. +The continuance of war until the return of Ferdinand, and the +overthrow of the Constitution, prevented the plans of the Cortes +from being at that time carried into effect; but the revolution +of 1820 brought them into actual operation, and the Basques found +themselves, as a result of the victory of Liberal principles, +compelled to pay duties on their imports, robbed of the profits +of their smuggling, and supplanted in the management of their +local affairs by an army of officials from Madrid. They had +gained by the Constitution little that they had not possessed +before, and their losses were immediate, tangible, and +substantial. The result was, that although the larger towns, like +Bilbao, remained true to modern ideas, the country districts, led +chiefly by priests, took up arms on behalf of the absolute +monarchy, assisted the French in the restoration of despotism in +1823, and remained the permanent enemies of the constitutional +cause. <a name="FNanchor399"> </a><a href="#Footnote_399"><sup>[399]</sup></a> On the death of Ferdinand +they declared at once for Don Carlos, and rose in rebellion +against the Government of Queen Christina, by which they +considered the privileges of the Basque Provinces and the +interests of Catholic orthodoxy to be alike threatened.</p> +<p>[Carlist victories, 1834-5.]</p> +<p>There was little in the character of Don Carlos to stimulate +the loyalty even of his most benighted partizans. Of military and +political capacity he was totally destitute, and his continued +absence in Portugal when the conflict had actually begun proved +him to be wanting in the natural impulses of a brave man. It was, +however, his fortune to be served by a soldier of extraordinary +energy and skill; and the first reverses of the Carlists were +speedily repaired, and a system of warfare organised which made +an end of the hopes of easy conquest with which the Government of +Christina had met the insurrection. Fighting in a worthless +cause, and commanding resources scarcely superior to those of a +brigand chief, the Carlist leader, Zumalacarregui, inflicted +defeat after defeat upon the generals who were sent to destroy +him. The mountainous character of the country and the universal +hostility of the inhabitants made the exertions of a regular +soldiery useless against the alternate flights and surprises of +men who knew every mountain track, and who gained information of +the enemy's movements from every cottager. Terror was added by +Zumalacarregui to all his other methods for demoralising his +adversary. In the exercise of reprisals he repeatedly murdered +all his prisoners in cold blood, and gave to the war so savage a +character that foreign Governments at last felt compelled to urge +upon the belligerents some regard for the usages of the civilised +world. The appearance of Don Carlos himself in the summer of 1834 +raised still higher the confidence already inspired by the +victories of his general. It was in vain that the old +constitutionalist soldier, Mina, who had won so great a name in +these provinces in 1823, returned after long exile to the scene +of his exploits. Enfeebled and suffering, he was no longer able +to place himself at the head of his troops, and he soon sought to +be relieved from a hopeless task. His successor, the War Minister +Valdes, took the field announcing his determination to act upon a +new system, and to operate with his troops in mass instead of +pursuing the enemy's bands with detachments. The result of this +change of tactics was a defeat more ruinous and complete than had +befallen any of Valdes' predecessors. He with difficulty withdrew +the remainder of his army from the insurgent provinces; and the +Carlist leader master of the open country up to the borders of +Castile, prepared to cross the Ebro and to march upon Madrid. <a +name="FNanchor400"> </a><a href="#Footnote_400"><sup>[400]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Request to France for assistance, May, 1835.]</p> +<p>The Ministers of Queen Christina, who had up till this time +professed themselves confident in their power to deal with the +insurrection, could now no longer conceal the real state of +affairs. Valdes himself declared that the rebellion could not be +subdued without foreign aid; and after prolonged discussion in +the Cabinet it was determined to appeal to France for armed +assistance. The flight of Don Carlos from England had already +caused an additional article to be added to the Treaty of the +Quadruple Alliance, in which France undertook so to watch the +frontier of the Pyrenees that no reinforcements or munition of +war should reach the Carlists from that side, while England +promised to supply the troops of Queen Christina with arms and +stores, and, if necessary, to render assistance with a naval +force (18th August, 1834). The foreign supplies sent to the +Carlists had thus been cut off both by land and sea; but more +active assistance seemed indispensable if Madrid was to be saved +from falling into the enemy's hands. The request was made to +Louis Philippe's Government to occupy the Basque Provinces with a +corps of twelve thousand men. Reasons of weight might be +addressed to the French Court in favour of direct intervention. +The victory of Don Carlos would place upon the throne of Spain a +representative of all those reactionary influences throughout +Europe which were in secret or in open hostility to the House of +Orleans, and definitely mark the failure of that policy which had +led France to combine with England in expelling Don Miguel from +Portugal. On the other hand, the experience gained from earlier +military enterprises in Spain might well deter even bolder +politicians than those about Louis Philippe from venturing upon a +task whose ultimate issues no man could confidently forecast. +Napoleon had wrecked his empire in the struggle beyond the +Pyrenees not less than in the march to Moscow: and the expedition +of 1823, though free from military difficulties, had exposed +France to the humiliating responsibility for every brutal act of +a despotism which, in the very moment of its restoration, had +scorned the advice of its restorers. The constitutional +Government which invoked French assistance might, moreover, at +any moment give place to a democratic faction which already +harassed it within the Cortes, and which, in its alliance with +the populace in many of the great cities, threatened to throw +Spain into anarchy, or to restore the ill-omened constitution of +1812. But above all, the attitude of the three Eastern Powers +bade the ruler of France hesitate before committing himself to a +military occupation of Spanish territory. Their sympathies were +with Don Carlos, and the active participation of France in the +quarrel might possibly call their opposing forces into the field +and provoke a general war. In view of the evident dangers arising +out of the proposed intervention, the French Government, taking +its stand on that clause of the Quadruple Treaty which provided +that the assistance of France should be rendered in such manner +as might be agreed upon by all the parties to the Treaty, +addressed itself to Great Britain, inquiring whether this country +would undertake a joint responsibility in the enterprise and +share with France the consequences to which it might give birth. +Lord Palmerston in reply declined to give the assurance required. +He stated that no objection would be raised by the British +Government to the entry of French troops into Spain, but that +such intervention must be regarded as the work of France alone, +and be undertaken by France at its own peril. This answer +sufficed for Louis Philippe and his Ministers. The Spanish +Government was informed that the grant of military assistance was +impossible, and that the entire public opinion of France would +condemn so dangerous an undertaking. As a proof of goodwill, +permission was given to Queen Christina to enrol volunteers both +in England and France. Arms were supplied; and some thousands of +needy or adventurous men ultimately made their way from our own +country as well as from France, to earn under Colonel De Lacy +Evans and other leaders a scanty harvest of profit or renown.</p> +<p>[Continuance of the war.]</p> +<p>The first result of the rejection of the Spanish demand for +the direct intervention of France was the downfall of the +Minister by whom this demand had been made. His successor, +Toreno, though a well-known patriot, proved unable to stem the +tide of revolution that was breaking over the country. City after +city set up its own Junta, and acted as if the central government +had ceased to exist. Again the appeal for help was made to Louis +Philippe, and now, not so much to avert the victory of Don Carlos +as to save Spain from anarchy and from the constitution of 1812. +Before an answer could arrive, Toreno in his turn had passed +away. Mendizabal, a banker who had been entrusted with financial +business at London, and who had entered into friendly relations +with Lord Palmerston, was called to office, as a politician +acceptable to the democratic party, and the advocate of a close +connection with England rather than with France. In spite of the +confident professions of the Minister, and in spite of some +assistance actually rendered by the English fleet, no real +progress was made in subduing the Carlists, or in restoring +administrative and financial order. The death of Zumalacarregui, +who was forced by Don Carlos to turn northwards and besiege +Bilbao instead of marching upon Madrid immediately after his +victories, had checked the progress of the rebellion at a +critical moment; but the Government, distracted and bankrupt, +could not use the opportunity which thus offered itself, and the +war soon blazed out anew not only in the Basque Provinces but +throughout the north of Spain. For year after year the monotonous +struggle continued, while Cortes succeeded Cortes and faction +supplanted faction, until there remained scarcely an officer who +had not lost his reputation or a politician who was not useless +and discredited.</p> +<p>[Constitution of 1837.]</p> +<p>[End of the war, Sept., 1839.]</p> +<p>The Queen Regent, who from the necessities of her situation +had for awhile been the representative of the popular cause, +gradually identified herself with the interests opposed to +democratic change; and although her name was still treated with +some respect, and her policy was habitually attributed to the +misleading advice of courtiers, her real position was well +understood at Madrid, and her own resistance was known to be the +principal obstacle to the restoration of the Constitution of +1812. It was therefore determined to overcome this resistance by +force; and on the 13th of August, 1836, a regiment of the +garrison of Madrid, won over by the Exaltados, marched upon the +palace of La Granja, invaded the Queen's apartments, and +compelled her to sign an edict restoring the Constitution of 1812 +until the Cortes should establish that or some other. Scenes of +riot and murder followed in the capital. Men of moderate +opinions, alarmed at the approach of anarchy, prepared to unite +with Don Carlos. King Louis Philippe, who had just consented to +strengthen the French legion by the addition of some thousands of +trained soldiers, now broke entirely from the Spanish connection, +and dismissed his Ministers who refused to acquiesce in this +change of policy. Meanwhile the Eastern Powers and all rational +partisans of absolutism besought Don Carlos to give those +assurances which would satisfy the wavering mass among his +opponents, and place him on the throne without the sacrifice of +any right that was worth preserving. It seemed as if the +opportunity was too clear to be misunderstood; but the obstinacy +and narrowness of Don Carlos were proof against every call of +fortune. Refusing to enter into any sort of engagement, he +rendered it impossible for men to submit to him who were not +willing to accept absolutism pure and simple. On the other hand, +a majority of the Cortes, whose eyes were now opened to the +dangers around them, accepted such modifications of the +Constitution of 1812 that political stability again appeared +possible (June, 1837). The danger of a general transference of +all moderate elements in the State to the side of Don Carlos was +averted; and, although the Carlist armies took up the offensive, +menaced the capital, and made incursions into every part of +Spain, the darkest period of the war was now over; and when, +after undertaking in person the march upon Madrid, Don Carlos +swerved aside and ultimately fell back in confusion to the Ebro, +the suppression of the rebellion became a certainty. General +Espartero, with whom such distinction remained as was to be +gathered in this miserable war, forced back the adversary step by +step, and carried fire and sword into the Basque Provinces, +employing a system of devastation which alone seemed capable of +exhausting the endurance of the people. Reduced to the last +extremity, the Carlist leaders turned their arms against one +another. The priests excommunicated the generals, and the +generals shot the priests; and finally, on the 14th September, +after the surrender of almost all his troops to Espartero, Don +Carlos crossed the French frontier, and the conflict which during +six years had barbarised and disgraced the Spanish nation, +reached its close.</p> +<p>[End of the Regency, Isabella, Queen, Nov., 1843.]</p> +<p>The triumph of Queen Christina over her rivals was not of long +duration. Confronted by a strong democratic party both in the +Cortes and in the country, she endeavoured in vain to govern by +the aid of Ministers of her own choice. Her popularity had +vanished away. The scandals of her private life gave just offence +to the nation, and fatally weakened her political authority. +Forced by insurrection to bestow office on Espartero, as the +chief of the Progressist party, she found that the concessions +demanded by this general were more than she could grant, and in +preference to submitting to them she resigned the Regency, and +quitted Spain (Oct., 1840). Espartero, after some interval, was +himself appointed Regent by the Cortes. For two years he +maintained himself in power, then in his turn he fell before the +combined attack of his political opponents and the extreme men of +his own party, and passed into exile. There remained in Spain no +single person qualified to fill the vacant Regency, and in +default of all other expedients the young princess Isabella, who +was now in her fourteenth year, was declared of full age, and +placed on the throne (Nov., 1843). Christina returned to Madrid. +After some rapid changes of Ministry, a more durable Government +was formed from the Moderado party under General Narvaez; and in +comparison with the period that had just ended, the first few +years of the new reign were years of recovery and order.</p> +<p>[War between Mehemet Ali and the Porte, 1832.]</p> +<p>The withdrawal of Louis Philippe from his engagements after +the capitulation of Maria Christina to the soldiery at La Granja +in 1836 had diminished the confidence placed in the King by the +British Ministry; but it had not destroyed the relations of +friendship existing between the two Governments. Far more serious +causes of difference arose out of the course of events in the +East, and the extension of the power of Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of +Egypt. The struggle between Mehemet and his sovereign, long +foreseen, broke out in the year 1832. After the establishment of +the Hellenic Kingdom, the island of Crete had been given to +Mehemet in return for his services to the Ottoman cause by land +and sea. This concession, however, was far from satisfying the +ambition of the Viceroy, and a quarrel with Abdallah, Pasha of +Acre, gave him the opportunity of throwing an army into Palestine +without directly rebelling against his sovereign (Nov., 1831). +Ibrahim, in command of his father's forces, laid siege to Acre; +and had this fortress at once fallen, it would probably have been +allowed by the Sultan to remain in its conqueror's hands as an +addition to his own province, since the Turkish army was not +ready for war, and it was no uncommon thing in the Ottoman Empire +for one provincial governor to possess himself of territory at +the expense of another. So obstinate, however, was the defence of +Acre that time was given to the Porte to make preparations for +war; and in the spring of 1832, after the issue of a proclamation +declaring Mehemet and his son to be rebels, a Turkish army led by +Hussein Pasha entered Syria.</p> +<p>[Ibrahim conquers Syria and Asia Minor.]</p> +<p>Ibrahim, while the siege of Acre was proceeding, had overrun +the surrounding country. He was now in possession of all the +interior of Palestine, and the tribes of Lebanon had joined him +in the expectation of gaining relief from the burdens of Turkish +misgovernment. The fall of Acre, while the relieving army was +still near Antioch, enabled him to throw his full strength +against his opponent in the valley of the Orontes. It was the +intention of the Turkish general, whose forces, though superior +in number, had not the European training of Ibrahim's regiments, +to meet the assault of the Egyptians in an entrenched camp near +Hama. The commander of the vanguard, however, pushed forward +beyond this point, and when far in advance of the main body of +the army was suddenly attacked by Ibrahim at Homs. Taken at a +moment of complete disorder, the Turks were put to the rout. +Their overthrow and flight so alarmed the general-in-chief that +he determined to fall back upon Aleppo, leaving Antioch and all +the valley of the Orontes to the enemy. Aleppo was reached, but +the governor, won over by Ibrahim, closed the gates of the city +against the famishing army, and forced Hussein to continue his +retreat to the mountains which form the barrier between Syria and +Cilicia. Here, at the pass of Beilan, he was attacked by Ibrahim, +outmanoeuvred, and forced to retreat with heavy loss (July 29). +The pursuit was continued through the province of Cilicia. +Hussein's army, now completely demoralised, made its escape to +the centre of Asia Minor; the Egyptian, after advancing as far as +Mount Taurus and occupying the passes in this range, took up his +quarters in the conquered country in order to refresh his army +and to await reinforcements. After two months' halt he renewed +his march, crossed Mount Taurus and occupied Konieh, the capital +of this district. Here the last and decisive blow was struck. A +new Turkish army, led by Reschid Pasha, Ibrahim's colleague in +the siege of Missolonghi, advanced from the north. Against his +own advice, Reschid was compelled by orders from Constantinople +to risk everything in an engagement. He attacked Ibrahim at +Konieh on the 21st of December, and was completely defeated. +Reschid himself was made a prisoner; his army dispersed; the last +forces of the Sultan were exhausted, and the road to the +Bosphorus lay open before the Egyptian invader.</p> +<p>[Russian aid offered to the Sultan.]</p> +<p>[Peace of Kutaya, April, 1833.]</p> +<p>In this extremity the Sultan looked around for help; nor were +offers of assistance wanting. The Emperor Nicholas had since the +Treaty of Adrianople assumed the part of the magnanimous friend; +his belief was that the Ottoman Empire might by judicious +management and without further conquest be brought into a state +of habitual dependence upon Russia; and before the result of the +battle of Konieh was known General Muravieff had arrived at +Constantinople bringing the offer of Russian help both by land +and sea, and tendering his own personal services in the +restoration of peace. Mahmud had to some extent been won over by +the Czar's politic forbearance in the execution of the Treaty of +Adrianople. His hatred of Mehemet Ali was a consuming passion; +and in spite of the general conviction both of his people and of +his advisers that no possible concession to a rebellious vassal +could be so fatal as the protection of the hereditary enemy of +Islam, he was disposed to accept the Russian tender of +assistance. As a preliminary, Muravieff was sent to Alexandria +with permission to cede Acre to Mehemet Ali, if in return the +Viceroy would make over his fleet to the Sultan. These were +conditions on which no reasonable man could have expected that +Mehemet would make peace; and the intention of the Russian Court +probably was that Muravieff's mission should fail. The envoy soon +returned to Constantinople announcing that his terms were +rejected. Mahmud now requested that Russian ships might be sent +to the Bosphorus, and to the dismay of the French and English +embassies a Russian squadron appeared before the capital. Admiral +Roussin, the French ambassador, addressed a protest to the Sultan +and threatened to leave Constantinople. His remonstrances induced +Mahmud to consent to some more serious negotiation being opened +with Mehemet Ali. A French envoy was authorised to promise the +Viceroy the governorship of Tripoli in Syria as well as Acre; his +overtures, however, were not more acceptable than those of +Muravieff, and Mehemet openly declared that if peace were not +concluded on his own terms within six weeks, he should order +Ibrahim, who had halted at Kutaya, to continue his march on the +Bosphorus. Thoroughly alarmed at this threat, and believing that +no Turkish force could keep Ibrahim out of the capital, Mahmud +applied to Russia for more ships and also for troops. Again +Admiral Roussin urged upon the Sultan that if Syria could be +reconquered only by Russian forces it was more than lost to the +Porte. His arguments were supported by the Divan, and with such +effect that a French diplomatist was sent to Ibrahim with power +to negotiate for peace on any terms. Preliminaries were signed at +Kutaya under French mediation on the 10th of April, 1833, by +which the Sultan made over to his vassal not only the whole of +Syria but the province of Adana which lies between Mount Taurus +and the Mediterranean. After some delay these Preliminaries were +ratified by Mahmud; and Ibrahim, after his dazzling success both +in war and in diplomacy, commenced the evacuation of northern +Anatolia.</p> +<p>[Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, July, 1833.]</p> +<p>For the moment it appeared that French influence had +decisively prevailed at Constantinople, and that the troops of +the Czar had been summoned from Sebastopol only to be dismissed +with the ironical compliments of those who were most anxious to +get rid of them. But this was not really the case. Whether the +fluctuations in the Sultan's policy had been due to mere fear and +irresolution, or whether they had to some extent proceeded from +the desire to play off one Power against another, it was to +Russia, not France, that his final confidence was given. The +soldiers of the Czar were encamped by the side of the Turks on +the eastern shore of the Bosphorus; his ships lay below +Constantinople. Here on the 8th of July a Treaty was signed at +the palace of Unkiar Skelessi, <a name="FNanchor401"> </a><a href="#Footnote_401"><sup>[401]</sup></a> in which Russia and Turkey +entered into a defensive alliance of the most intimate character, +each Power pledging itself to render assistance to the other, not +only against the attack of an external enemy, but in every event +where its peace and security might be endangered. Russia +undertook, in cases where its support should be required, to +provide whatever amount of troops the Sultan should consider +necessary both by sea and land, the Porte being charged with no +part of the expense beyond that of the provisioning of the +troops. The duration of the Treaty was fixed in the first +instance for eight years. A secret article, which, however, was +soon afterwards published, declared that, in order to diminish +the burdens of the Porte, the Czar would not demand the material +help to which the Treaty entitled him; while, in substitution for +such assistance, the Porte undertook, when Russia should be at +war, to close the Dardanelles to the war-ships of all +nations.</p> +<p>[Effect of this Treaty.]</p> +<p>By the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, Russia came nearer than it +has at any time before or since to that complete ascendency at +Constantinople which has been the modern object of its policy. +The success of its diplomatists had in fact been too great; for, +if the abstract right of the Sultan to choose his own allies had +not yet been disputed by Europe at large, the clause in the +Treaty which related to the Dardanelles touched the interests of +every Power which possessed a naval station in the Mediterranean. +By the public law of Europe the Black Sea, which until the +eighteenth century was encompassed entirely by the Sultan's +territory, formed no part of the open waters of the world, but a +Turkish lake to which access was given through the Dardanelles +only at the pleasure of the Porte. When, in the eighteenth +century, Russia gained a footing on the northern shore of the +Euxine, this carried with it no right to send war-ships through +the straits into the Mediterranean, nor had any Power at war with +Russia the right to send a fleet into the Black Sea otherwise +than by the Sultan's consent. The Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, in +making Turkey the ally of Russia against all its enemies, +converted the entrance to the Black Sea into a Russian fortified +post, from behind which Russia could freely send forth its ships +of war into the Mediterranean, while its own ports and arsenals +remained secure against attack. England and France, which were +the States whose interests were principally affected, protested +against the Treaty, and stated they reserved to themselves the +right of taking such action in regard to it as occasion might +demand. Nor did the opposition rest with the protests of +diplomatists. The attention both of the English nation and of its +Government was drawn far more than hitherto to the future of the +Ottoman Empire. Political writers exposed with unwearied vigour, +and not without exaggeration, the designs of the Court of St. +Petersburg in Asia as well as in Europe; and to this time, rather +than to any earlier period, belongs the first growth of that +strong national antagonism to Russia which found its satisfaction +in the Crimean War, and which has by no means lost its power at +the present day.</p> +<p>[France and Mehemet Ali.]</p> +<p>In desiring to check the extension of Russia's influence in +the Levant, Great Britain and France were at one. The lines of +policy, however, followed by these two States were widely +divergent. Great Britain sought to maintain the Sultan's power in +its integrity; France became in an increasing degree the patron +and the friend of Mehemet Ali. Since the expedition of Napoleon +to Egypt in 1798, which was itself the execution of a design +formed in the reign of Louis XVI., Egypt had largely retained its +hold on the imagination of the leading classes in France. Its +monuments, its relics of a mighty past, touched a livelier chord +among French men of letters and science than India has at any +time found among ourselves; and although the hope of national +conquest vanished with Napoleon's overthrow, Egypt continued to +afford a field of enterprise to many a civil and military +adventurer. Mehemet's army and navy were organised by French +officers; he was surrounded by French agents and men of business; +and after the conquest of Algiers had brought France on to the +southern shore of the Mediterranean, the advantages of a close +political relation with Egypt did not escape the notice of +statesmen who saw in Gibraltar and Malta the most striking +evidences of English maritime power. Moreover the personal fame +of Mehemet strongly affected French opinion. His brilliant +military reforms, his vigorous administration, and his specious +achievements in finance created in the minds of those who were +too far off to know the effects of his tyranny the belief that at +the hands of this man the East might yet awaken to new life. +Thus, from a real conviction of the superiority of Mehemet's rule +over that of the House of Osman no less than from considerations +of purely national policy, the French Government, without any +public or official bond of union, gradually became the +acknowledged supporters of the Egyptian conqueror, and connected +his interests with their own.</p> +<p>[Rule of Mehemet and Ibrahim.]</p> +<p>Sultan Mahmud had ratified the Preliminaries of Kutaya with +wrath in his heart; and from this time all his energies were bent +upon the creation of a force which should wrest back the lost +provinces and take revenge upon his rebellious vassal. As eager +as Mehemet himself to reconstruct his form of government upon the +models of the West, though far less capable of impressing upon +his work the stamp of a single guiding will, thwarted moreover by +the jealous interference of Russia whenever his reforms seemed +likely to produce any important result, he nevertheless succeeded +in introducing something of European system and discipline into +his army under the guidance of foreign soldiers, among whom was a +man then little known, but destined long afterwards to fill +Europe with his fame, the Prussian staff-officer Moltke. On the +other side Mehemet and Ibrahim knew well that the peace was no +more than an armed truce, and that what had been won by arms +could only be maintained by constant readiness to meet attack. +Under pressure of this military necessity, Ibrahim sacrificed +whatever sources of strength were open to him in the hatred borne +by his new subjects to the Turkish yoke, and in their hopes of +relief from oppression under his own rule. Welcomed at first as a +deliverer, he soon proved a heavier task-master than any who had +gone before him. The conscription was rigorously enforced; +taxation became more burdensome; the tribes who had enjoyed a +wild independence in the mountains were disarmed and reduced to +the level of their fellow-subjects. Thus the discontent which had +so greatly facilitated the conquest of the border-provinces soon +turned against the conqueror himself, and one uprising after +another shook Ibrahim's hold upon Mount Lebanon and the Syrian +desert. The Sultan watched each outbreak against his adversary +with grim joy, impatient for the moment when the re-organisation +of his own forces should enable him to re-enter the field and to +strike an overwhelming blow.</p> +<p>[The commerce of the Levant.]</p> +<p>With all its characteristics of superior intelligence in the +choice of means, the system of Mehemet All was in its end that of +the genuine Oriental despot. His final object was to convert as +many as possible of his subjects into soldiers, and to draw into +his treasury the profits of the labour of all the rest. With this +aim he gradually ousted from their rights of proprietorship the +greater part of the land-owners of Egypt, and finally proclaimed +the entire soil to be State-domain, appropriating at prices fixed +by himself the whole of its produce. The natural commercial +intercourse of his dominions gave place to a system of monopolies +carried on by the Government itself. Rapidly as this system, +which was introduced into the newly-conquered provinces, filled +the coffers of Mehemet Ali, it offered to the Sultan, whose +paramount authority was still acknowledged, the means of +inflicting a deadly injury upon him by a series of commercial +treaties with the European Powers, granting to western traders a +free market throughout the Ottoman Empire. Resistance to such a +measure would expose Mehemet to the hostility of the whole +mercantile interest of Europe; submission to it would involve the +loss of a great part of that revenue on which his military power +depended. It was probably with this result in view, rather than +from any more obvious motive, that in the year 1838 the Sultan +concluded a new commercial Treaty with England, which was soon +followed by similar agreements with other States.</p> +<p>[Campaign of Nissib, June, 1839.]</p> +<p>The import of the Sultan's commercial policy was not lost upon +Mehemet, who had already determined to declare himself +independent. He saw that war was inevitable, and bade Ibrahim +collect his forces in the neighbourhood of Aleppo, while the +generals of the Sultan massed on the upper Euphrates the troops +that had been successfully employed in subduing the wild tribes +of Kurdistan. The storm was seen to be gathering, and the +representatives of foreign Powers urged the Sultan, but in vain, +to refrain from an enterprise which might shatter his empire. +Mahmud was now a dying man. Exhausted by physical excess and by +the stress and passion of his long reign, he bore in his heart +the same unquenchable hatreds as of old; and while assuring the +ambassadors of his intention to maintain the peace, he despatched +a letter to his commander-in-chief, without the knowledge of any +single person, ordering him to commence hostilities. The Turkish +army crossed the frontier on the 23rd of May, 1839. In the +operations which followed, the advice and protests of Moltke and +the other European officers at head-quarters were persistently +disregarded. The Turks were outmanoeuvred and cut off from their +communications, and on the 24th of June the onslaught of Ibrahim +swept them from their position at Nissib in utter rout. The whole +of their artillery and stores fell into the hands of the enemy: +the army dispersed. Mahmud did not live to hear of the +catastrophe. Six days after the battle of Nissib was fought, and +while the messenger who bore the news was still in Anatolia, he +expired, leaving the throne to his son, Abdul Medjid, a youth of +sixteen. Scarcely had the new Sultan been proclaimed when it +became known that the Admiral, Achmet Fewzi, who had been +instructed to attack the Syrian coast, had sailed into the port +of Alexandria, and handed over the Turkish fleet to Mehemet Ali +himself.</p> +<p>[Relations of the Powers to Mehemet.]</p> +<p>[Quadruple Treaty without France. July, 1840.]</p> +<p>The very suddenness of these disasters, which left the Ottoman +Empire rulerless and without defence by land or sea, contributed +ultimately to its preservation, inasmuch as it impelled the +Powers to combined action, which, under less urgent pressure, +would probably not have been attainable. On the announcement of +the exorbitant conditions of peace demanded by Mehemet, the +ambassadors addressed a collective note to the Divan, requesting +that no answer might be made until the Courts had arrived at some +common resolution. Soon afterwards the French and English fleets +appeared at the Dardanelles, nominally to protect Constantinople +against the attack of the Viceroy, in reality to guard against +any sudden movement on the part of Russia. This display of force +was, however, not necessary, for the Czar, in spite of some +expressions to the contrary, had already convinced himself that +it was impossible to act upon the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi and +to make the protectorate of Turkey the affair of Russia alone. +The tone which had been taken by the English Government during +the last preceding years proved that any attempt to exercise +exclusive power at Constantinople would have been followed by war +with Great Britain, in which most, if not all, of the European +Powers would have stood on the side of the latter. Abandoning +therefore the hope of attaining sole control, the Russian +Government addressed itself to the task of widening as far as +possible the existing divergence between England and France. Nor +was this difficult. The Cabinet of the Tuileries desired to see +Mehemet Ali issue with increased strength from the conflict, or +even to establish his dynasty at Constantinople in place of the +House of Osman. Lord Palmerston, always jealous and suspicious of +Louis Philippe, refused to believe that the growth of Russian +power could be checked by dividing the Ottoman Empire, or that +any system of Eastern policy could be safely based on the +personal qualities of a ruler now past his seventieth year. <a +name="FNanchor402"> </a><a href="#Footnote_402"><sup>[402]</sup></a> He had moreover his own +causes of discontent with Mehemet. The possibility of +establishing an overland route to India either by way of the +Euphrates or of the Red Sea had lately been engaging the +attention of the English Government, and Mehemet had not improved +his position by raising obstacles to either line of passage. It +was partly in consequence of the hostility of Mehemet, who was +now master of a great part of Arabia, and of his known devotion +to French interests, that the port of Aden in the Red Sea was at +this time occupied by England. If, while Russia accepted the +necessity of combined European action and drew nearer to its +rival, France persisted in maintaining the claim of the Viceroy +to extended dominion, the exclusion of France from the European +concert was the only possible result. There was no doubt as to +the attitude of the remaining Powers. Metternich, whether from +genuine pedantry, or in order to avoid the expression of those +fears of Russia which really governed his Eastern policy, +repeated his threadbare platitudes on the necessity of supporting +legitimate dynasties against rebels, and spoke of the victor of +Konieh and Nissib as if he had been a Spanish constitutionalist +or a recalcitrant German professor. The Court of Berlin followed +in the same general course. In all Europe Mehemet Ali had not a +single ally, with the exception of the Government of Louis +Philippe. Under these circumstances it was of little avail to the +Viceroy that his army stood on Turkish soil without a foe before +it, and that the Sultan's fleet lay within his own harbour of +Alexandria. The intrigues by which he hoped to snatch a hasty +peace from the inexperience of the young Sultan failed, and he +learnt in October that no arrangement which he might make with +the Porte without the concurrence of the Powers would be +recognised as valid. In the meantime Russia was suggesting to the +English Government one project after another for joint military +action with the object of driving Mehemet from Syria and +restoring this province to the Porte; and at the beginning of the +following year it was determined on Metternich's proposition that +a Conference should forthwith be held in London for the +settlement of Eastern affairs. The irreconcilable difference +between the intentions of France and those of the other Powers at +once became evident. France proposed that all Syria and Egypt +should be given in hereditary dominion to Mehemet Ali, with no +further obligation towards the Porte than the payment of a yearly +tribute. The counter-proposal of England was that Mehemet, +recognising the Sultan's authority, should have the hereditary +government of Egypt alone, that he should entirely withdraw from +all Northern Syria, and hold Palestine only as an ordinary +governor appointed by the Porte for his lifetime. To this +proposition all the Powers with the exception of France gave +their assent. Continued negotiation only brought into stronger +relief the obstinacy of Lord Palmerston, and proved the +impossibility of attaining complete agreement. At length, when it +had been discovered that the French Cabinet was attempting to +conduct a separate mediation, the Four Powers, without going +through the form of asking for French sanction, signed on the +15th of July a Treaty with the Sultan pledging themselves to +enforce upon Mehemet Ali the terms arranged. The Sultan undertook +in the first instance to offer Mehemet Egypt in perpetuity and +southern Syria for his lifetime. If this offer was not accepted +within ten days, Egypt alone was to be offered. If at the end of +twenty days Mehemet still remained obstinate, that offer in its +turn was to be withdrawn, and the Sultan and the Allies were to +take such measures as the interests of the Ottoman Empire might +require. <a name="FNanchor403"> </a><a href="#Footnote_403"><sup>[403]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Warlike spirit in France, 1840.]</p> +<p>The publication of this Treaty, excluding France as it did +from the concert of Europe, produced a storm of indignation at +Paris. Thiers, who more than any man had by his writings +stimulated the spirit of aggressive warfare among the French +people and revived the worship of Napoleon, was now at the head +of the Government. His jealousy for the prestige of France, his +comparative indifference to other matters when once the national +honour appeared to be committed, his sanguine estimate of the +power of his country, rendered him a peculiarly dangerous +Minister at the existing crisis. It was not the wrongs or the +danger of Mehemet Ali, but the slight offered to France, and the +revived League of the Powers which had humbled it in 1814, that +excited the passion of the Minister and the nation. Syria was +forgotten; the cry was for the recovery of the frontier of the +Rhine, and for revenge for Waterloo. New regiments were enrolled, +the fleet strengthened, and the long-delayed fortification of +Paris begun. Thiers himself probably looked forward to a campaign +in Italy, anticipating that successfully conducted by Napoleon +III. in 1859, rather than to an attack upon Prussia; but the +general opinion both in France itself and in other states was +that, if war should break out, an invasion of Germany was +inevitable. The prospect of this invasion roused in a manner +little expected the spirit of the German people. Even in the +smaller states, and in the Rhenish provinces themselves, which +for twenty years had shared the fortunes of France, and in which +the introduction of Prussian rule in 1814 had been decidedly +unpopular, a strong national movement carried everything before +it; and the year 1840 added to the patriotic minstrelsy of +Germany a war-song, written by a Rhenish citizen, not less famous +than those of 1813 and 1870. <a name="FNanchor404"> </a><a href="#Footnote_404"><sup>[404]</sup></a> That there were +revolutionary forces smouldering throughout Europe, from which +France might in a general war have gained some assistance, the +events of 1848 sufficiently proved; but to no single Government +would a revolutionary war have been fraught with more imminent +peril than to that of France itself, and to no one was this +conviction more habitually present than to King Louis Philippe. +Relying upon his influence within the Chamber of Deputies, itself +a body representing the wealth and the caution rather than the +hot spirit of France, the King refused to read at the opening of +the session in October the speech drawn up for him by Thiers, and +accepted the consequent resignation of the Ministry. Guizot, who +was ambassador in London, and an advocate for submission to the +will of Europe, was called to office, and succeeded after long +debate in gaining a vote of confidence from the Chamber. Though +preparations for war continued, a policy of peace was now +assured. Mehemet Ali was left to his fate; and the stubborn +assurance of Lord Palmerston, which had caused so much annoyance +to the English Ministry itself, received a striking justification +in the face of all Europe.</p> +<p>[Ibrahim expelled from Syria, Sept.-Nov., 1840.]</p> +<p>[Final settlement, Feb., 1841.]</p> +<p>[The Dardanelles.]</p> +<p>The operations of the Allies against Mehemet Ali had now +begun. While Prussia kept guard on the Rhine, and Russia +undertook to protect Constantinople against any forward movement +of Ibrahim, an Anglo-Austrian naval squadron combined with a +Turkish land-force in attacking the Syrian coast-towns. The +mountain-tribes of the interior were again in revolt. Arms +supplied to them by the Allies, and the insurrection soon spread +over the greater part of Syria. Ibrahim prepared for an obstinate +defence, but his dispositions were frustrated by the extension of +the area of conflict, and he was unable to prevent the +coast-towns from falling one after another into the hands of the +Allies. On the capture of Acre by Sir Charles Napier he abandoned +all hope of maintaining himself any longer in Syria, and made his +way with the wreck of his army towards the Egyptian frontier. +Napier had already arrived before Alexandria, and there executed +a convention with the Viceroy, by which the latter, abandoning +all claim upon his other provinces, and undertaking to restore +the Turkish fleet, was assured of the hereditary possession of +Egypt. The convention was one which the English admiral had no +authority to conclude, but it contained substantially the terms +which the Allies intended to enforce; and after Mehemet had made +a formal act of submission to the Sultan, the hereditary +government of Egypt was conferred upon himself and his family by +a decree published by the Sultan and sanctioned by the Powers. +This compromise had been proposed by the French Government after +the expiry of the twenty days named in the Treaty of July, and +immediately before the fall of M. Thiers, but Palmerston would +not then listen to any demand made under open or implied threats +of war. Since that time a new and pacific Ministry had come into +office; it was no part of Palmerston's policy to keep alive the +antagonism between England and France; and he readily accepted an +arrangement which, while it saved France from witnessing the +total destruction of an ally, left Egypt to a ruler who, whatever +his faults, had certainly shown a greater capacity for government +than any Oriental of that age. It remained for the Powers to +place upon record some authoritative statement of the law +recognised by Europe with regard to the Bosphorus and +Dardanelles. Russia had already virtually consented to the +abrogation of the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi. It now joined with +all the other Powers, including France, in a declaration that the +ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire which forbade the passage of +these straits to the war-ships of all nations, except when the +Porte itself should be at war, was accepted by Europe at large. +Russia thus surrendered its chance of gaining by any separate +arrangement with Turkey the permanent right of sending its fleets +from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean, and so becoming a +Mediterranean Power. On the other hand, Sebastopol and the +arsenals of the Euxine remained safe against the attack of any +maritime Power, unless Turkey itself should take up arms against +the Czar. Having regard to the great superiority of England over +Russia at sea, and to the accessibility and importance of the +Euxine coast towns, it is an open question whether the removal of +all international restrictions upon the passage of the Bosphorus +and Dardanelles would not be more to the advantage of England +than of its rival. This opinion, however, had not been urged +before the Crimean War, nor has it yet been accepted in our own +country.</p> +<p>[Turkey after 1840.]</p> +<p>[Legislation of Reschid.]</p> +<p>The conclusion of the struggle of 1840 marked with great +definiteness the real position which the Ottoman Empire was +henceforth to occupy in its relations to the western world. +Rescued by Europe at large from the alternatives of destruction +at the hands of Ibrahim or complete vassalage under Russia, the +Porte entered upon the condition nominally of an independent +European State, really of a State existing under the protection +of Europe, and responsible to Europe as well for its domestic +government as for its alliances and for the conduct of its +foreign policy. The necessity of conciliating the public opinion +of the West was well understood by the Turkish statesman who had +taken the leading part in the negotiations which freed the Porte +from dependence upon Russia. Reschid Pasha, the younger, Foreign +Minister at the accession of the new Sultan, had gained in an +unusual degree the regard and the confidence of the European +Ministers with whom, as a diplomatist, he had been brought into +contact. As the author of a wide system of reforms, it was his +ambition so to purify and renovate the internal administration of +the Ottoman Empire that the contrasts which it presented to the +civilised order of the West should gradually disappear, and that +Turkey should become not only in name but in reality a member of +the European world. Stimulated no doubt by the achievements of +Mehemet Ali, and anxious to win over to the side of the Porte the +interest which Mehemet's partial adoption of European methods and +ideas had excited on his behalf, Reschid in his scheme of reform +paid an ostentatious homage to the principles of western +administration and law, proclaiming the security of person and +property, prohibiting the irregular infliction of punishment, +recognising the civil rights of Christians and Jews, and +transferring the collection of taxes from the provincial +governors to the officers of the central authority. The friends +of the Ottoman State, less experienced then than now in the value +of laws made in a society where there exists no power that can +enforce them, and where the agents of government are themselves +the most lawless of all the public enemies, hailed in Reschid's +enlightened legislation the opening of a new epoch in the life of +the Christian and Oriental races subject to the Sultan. But the +fall of the Minister before a palace-intrigue soon proved on how +slight a foundation these hopes were built. Like other Turkish +reformers, Reschid had entered upon a hopeless task; and the name +of the man who was once honoured as the regenerator of a great +Empire is now almost forgotten.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XVIII."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Europe during the Thirty-years' Peace-Italy and +Austria-Mazzini-The House of Savoy-Gioberti-Election of Pius +IX.-Reforms expected- Revolution at Palermo-Agitation in Northern +Italy-Lombardy-State of the Austrian Empire-Growth of Hungarian +National Spirit-The Magyars and Slavs-Transylvania-Parties among +the Magyars-Kossuth-The Slavic National Movements in Austria-The +Government enters on Reform in Hungary-Policy of the +Opposition-The Rural System of Austria- Insurrection in Galicia: +the Nobles and the Peasants-Agrarian Edict-Public Opinion in +Vienna-Prussia-Accession and Character of King Frederick William +IV.-Convocation of the United Diet-Its Debates and +Dissolution-France-The Spanish Marriages-Reform +Movement-Socialism- Revolution of February-End of the Orleanist +Monarchy.</p> +<br> + +<p>The characteristic of Continental history during the second +quarter of this century is the sense of unrest. The long period +of European peace which began in 1815 was not one of internal +repose; the very absence of those engrossing and imperious +interests which belong to a time of warfare gave freer play to +the feelings of discontent and the vague longings for a better +political order which remained behind after the convulsions of +the revolutionary epoch and the military rule of Napoleon had +passed away. During thirty years of peace the breach had been +widening between those Governments which still represented the +system of 1815, and the peoples over whom they ruled. Ideas of +liberty, awakenings of national sense, were far more widely +diffused in Europe than at the time of the revolutionary war. The +seed then prematurely forced into an atmosphere of storm and +reaction had borne its fruit: other growths, fertilised or +accelerated by Western Liberalism, but not belonging to the same +family, were springing up in unexpected strength, and in regions +which had hitherto lain outside the movement of the modern world. +New forces antagonistic to Government had come into being, +penetrating an area unaffected by the constitutional struggles of +the Mediterranean States, or by the weaker political efforts of +Germany. In the homes of the Magyar and the Slavic subjects of +Austria, so torpid throughout the agitation of an earlier time, +the passion of nationality was every hour gaining new might. The +older popular causes, vanquished for the moment by one reaction +after another, had silently established a far stronger hold on +men's minds. Working, some in exile and conspiracy, others +through such form of political literature as the jealousy of +Governments permitted, the leaders of the democratic movement +upon the Continent created a power before which the established +order at length succumbed. They had not created, nor was it +possible under the circumstances that they should create, an +order which was capable of taking its place.</p> +<p>[Italy. 1831-1848.]</p> +<p>Italy, rather than France, forms the central figure in any +retrospect of Europe immediately before 1848 in which the larger +forces at work are not obscured by those for the moment more +prominent. The failure of the insurrection of 1831 had left +Austria more visibly than before master over the Italian people +even in those provinces in which Austria was not nominally +sovereign. It had become clear that no effort after reform could +be successful either in the Papal States or in the kingdom of +Naples so long as Austria held Lombardy and Venice. The expulsion +of the foreigner was therefore not merely the task of those who +sought to give the Italian race its separate and independent +national existence, it was the task of all who would extinguish +oppression and misgovernment in any part of the Italian +peninsula. Until the power of Austria was broken, it was vain to +take up arms against the tyranny of the Duke of Modena or any +other contemptible oppressor. Austria itself had twice taught +this lesson; and if the restoration of Neapolitan despotism in +1821 could be justified by the disorderly character of the +Government then suppressed, the circumstances attending the +restoration of the Pope's authority in 1831 had extinguished +Austria's claim to any sort of moral respect; for Metternich +himself had united with the other European Courts in declaring +the necessity for reforms in the Papal Government, and of these +reforms, though a single earnest word from Austria would have +enforced their execution, not one had been carried into effect. +Gradually, but with increasing force as each unhappy year passed +by, the conviction gained weight among all men of serious thought +that the problem to be faced was nothing less than the +destruction of the Austrian yoke. Whether proclaimed as an +article of faith or veiled in diplomatic reserve, this belief +formed the common ground among men whose views on the immediate +future of Italy differed in almost every other particular.</p> +<p>[Mazzini.]</p> +<p>Three main currents of opinion are to be traced in the ferment +of ideas which preceded the Italian revolution of 1848. At a time +not rich in intellectual or in moral power, the most striking +figure among those who are justly honoured as the founders of +Italian independence is perhaps that of Mazzini. Exiled during +nearly the whole of his mature life, a conspirator in the eyes of +all Governments, a dreamer in the eyes of the world, Mazzini was +a prophet or an evangelist among those whom his influence led to +devote themselves to the one cause of their country's +regeneration. No firmer faith, no nobler disinterestedness, ever +animated the saint or the patriot; and if in Mazzini there was +also something of the visionary and the fanatic, the force with +which he grasped the two vital conditions of Italian revival-the +expulsion of the foreigner and the establishment of a single +national Government-proves him to have been a thinker of genuine +political insight. Laying the foundation of his creed deep in the +moral nature of man, and constructing upon this basis a fabric +not of rights but of duties, he invested the political union with +the immediateness, the sanctity, and the beauty of family life. +With him, to live, to think, to hope, was to live, to think, to +hope for Italy; and the Italy of his ideal was a Republic +embracing every member of the race, purged of the priestcraft and +the superstition which had degraded the man to the slave, +indebted to itself alone for its independence, and consolidated +by the reign of equal law. The rigidity with which Mazzini +adhered to his own great project in its completeness, and his +impatience with any bargaining away of national rights, excluded +him from the work of those practical politicians and men of +expedients who in 1859 effected with foreign aid the first step +towards Italian union; but the influence of his teaching and his +organisation in preparing his countrymen for independence was +immense; and the dynasty which has rendered to United Italy +services which Mazzini thought impossible, owes to this great +Republican scarcely less than to its ablest friends.</p> +<p>[Hopes of Piedmont.]</p> +<p>Widely separated from the school of Mazzini in temper and +intention was the group of politicians and military men, +belonging mostly to Piedmont, who looked to the sovereign and the +army of this State as the one hope of Italy in its struggle +against foreign rule. The House of Savoy, though foreign in its +origin, was, and had been for centuries, a really national +dynasty. It was, moreover, by interest and traditional policy, +the rival rather than the friend of Austria in Northern Italy. If +the fear of revolution had at times brought the Court of Turin +into close alliance with Vienna, the connection had but thinly +veiled the lasting antagonism of two States which, as neighbours, +had habitually sought expansion each at the other's cost. +Lombardy, according to the expression of an older time, was the +artichoke which the Kings of Piedmont were destined to devour +leaf by leaf. Austria, on the other hand, sought extension +towards the Alps: it had in 1799 clearly shown its intention of +excluding the House of Savoy altogether from the Italian +mainland; and the remembrance of this epoch had led the restored +dynasty in 1815 to resist the plans of Metternich for +establishing a league of all the princes of Italy under Austria's +protection. The sovereign, moreover, who after the failure of the +constitutional movement of 1821 had mounted the throne surrounded +by Austrian bayonets, was no longer alive. Charles Albert of +Carignano, who had at that time played so ambiguous a part, and +whom Metternich had subsequently endeavoured to exclude from the +succession, was on the throne. He had made his peace with +absolutism by fighting in Spain against the Cortes in 1823; and +since his accession to the throne he had rigorously suppressed +the agitation of Mazzini's partizans within his own dominions. +But in spite of strong clerical and reactionary influences around +him, he had lately shown an independence of spirit in his +dealings with Austria which raised him in the estimation of his +subjects; and it was believed that his opinions had been deeply +affected by the predominance which the idea of national +independence was now gaining over that of merely democratic +change. If the earlier career of Charles Albert himself cast some +doubt upon his personal sincerity, and much more upon his +constancy of purpose, there was at least in Piedmont an army +thoroughly national in its sentiment, and capable of taking the +lead whenever the opportunity should arise for uniting Italy +against the foreigner. In no other Italian State was there an +effective military force, or one so little adulterated with +foreign elements.</p> +<p>[Hopes of the Papacy.]</p> +<p>A third current of opinion in these years of hope and of +illusion was that represented in the writings of Gioberti, the +depicter of a new and glorious Italy, regenerated not by +philosophic republicanism or the sword of a temporal monarch, but +by the moral force of a reformed and reforming Papacy. The +conception of the Catholic Church as a great Liberal power, +strange and fantastic as it now appears, was no dream of an +isolated Italian enthusiast; it was an idea which, after the +French Revolution of 1830, and the establishment of a government +at once anti-clerical and anti-democratic, powerfully influenced +some of the best minds in France, and found in Montalembert and +Lamennais exponents who commanded the ear of Europe. If the +corruption of the Papacy had been at once the spiritual and the +political death of Italy, its renovation in purity and in +strength would be also the resurrection of the Italian people. +Other lands had sought, and sought in vain, to work out their +problems under the guidance of leaders antagonistic to the +Church, and of popular doctrines divorced from religious faith. +To Italy belonged the prerogative of spiritual power. By this +power, aroused from the torpor of ages, and speaking, as it had +once spoken, to the very conscience of mankind, the gates of a +glorious future would be thrown open. Conspirators might fret, +and politicians scheme, but the day on which the new life of +Italy would begin would be that day when the head of the Church, +taking his place as chief of a federation of Italian States, +should raise the banner of freedom and national right, and +princes and people alike should follow the all-inspiring +voice.</p> +<p>[Election of Pius IX., June, 1846.]</p> +<p>[Reforms expected from Pius.]</p> +<p>[Ferrara, June, 1847.]</p> +<p>A monk, ignorant of everything but cloister lore, benighted, +tyrannical, the companion in his private life of a few jolly +priests and a gossiping barber, was not an alluring emblem of the +Church of the future. But in 1846 Pope Gregory XVI., who for the +last five years had been engaged in one incessant struggle +against insurgents, conspirators, and reformers, and whose +prisons were crowded with the best of his subjects, passed away. +<a name="FNanchor405"> </a><a href="#Footnote_405"><sup>[405]</sup></a> His successor, Mastai +Ferretti, Bishop of Imola, was elected under the title of Pius +IX., after the candidate favoured by Austria had failed to secure +the requisite number of votes (June 17). The choice of this +kindly and popular prelate was to some extent a tribute to +Italian feeling; and for the next eighteen months it appeared as +it Gioberti had really divined the secret of the age. The first +act of the new Pope was the publication of a universal amnesty +for political offences. The prison doors throughout his dominions +were thrown open, and men who had been sentenced to confinement +for life returned in exultation to their homes. The act created a +profound impression throughout Italy, and each good-humoured +utterance of Pius confirmed the belief that great changes were at +hand. A wild enthusiasm seized upon Rome. The population +abandoned itself to festivals in honour of the Pontiff and of the +approaching restoration of Roman liberty. Little was done; not +much was actually promised; everything was believed. The +principle of representative government was discerned in the new +Council of State now placed by the side of the College of +Cardinals; a more serious concession was made to popular feeling +in the permission given to the citizens of Rome, and afterwards +to those of the provinces, to enrol themselves in a civic guard. +But the climax of excitement was reached when, in answer to a +threatening movement of Austria, occasioned by the growing +agitation throughout Central Italy, the Papal Court protested +against the action of its late protector. By the Treaties of +Vienna Austria had gained the right to garrison the citadel of +Ferrara, though this town lay within the Ecclesiastical States. +Placing a new interpretation on the expression used in the +Treaties, the Austrian Government occupied the town of Ferrara +itself (June 17th, 1847). The movement was universally understood +to be the preliminary to a new occupation of the Papal States, +like that of 1831; and the protests of the Pope against the +violation of his territory gave to the controversy a European +importance. The English and French fleets appeared at Naples; the +King of Sardinia openly announced his intention to take the field +against Austria if war should break out. By the efforts of +neutral Powers a compromise on the occupation of Ferrara was at +length arranged; but the passions which had been excited were not +appeased, and the Pope remained in popular imagination the +champion of Italian independence against Austria, as well as the +apostle of constitutional Government and the rights of the +people.</p> +<p>[Revolution at Palermo, Jan., 1848.]</p> +<p>In the meantime the agitation begun in Rome was spreading +through the north and the south of the peninsula, and beyond the +Sicilian Straits. The centenary of the expulsion of the Austrians +from Genoa in December, 1746, was celebrated throughout central +Italy with popular demonstrations which gave Austria warning of +the storm about to burst upon it. In the south, however, +impatience under domestic tyranny was a far more powerful force +than the distant hope of national independence. Sicily had never +forgotten the separate rights which it had once enjoyed, and the +constitution given to it under the auspices of England in 1812. +Communications passed between the Sicilian leaders and the +opponents of the Bourbon Government on the mainland, and in the +autumn of 1847 simultaneous risings took place in Calabria and at +Messina. These were repressed without difficulty; but the fire +smouldered far and wide, and on the 13th of January, 1848, the +population of Palermo rose in revolt. For fourteen days the +conflict between the people and the Neapolitan troops continued. +The city was bombarded, but in the end the people were +victorious, and a provisional government was formed by the +leaders of the insurrection. One Sicilian town after another +followed the example of the capital, and expelled its Neapolitan +garrison. Threatened by revolution in Naples itself, King +Ferdinand II., grandson of the despot of 1821, now imitated the +policy of his predecessor, and proclaimed a constitution. A +Liberal Ministry was formed, but no word was said as to the +autonomy claimed by Sicily, and promised, as it would seem, by +the leaders of the popular party on the mainland. After the first +excitement of success was past, it became clear that the +Sicilians were as widely at variance with the newly-formed +Government at Naples as with that which they had overthrown.</p> +<p>[Agitation in Austrian Italy.]</p> +<p>The insurrection of Palermo gave a new stimulus and imparted +more of revolutionary colour to the popular movement throughout +Italy. Constitutions were granted in Piedmont and Tuscany. In the +Austrian provinces national exasperation against the rule of the +foreigner grew daily more menacing. Radetzky, the Austrian +Commander-in-chief, had long foreseen the impending struggle, and +had endeavoured, but not with complete success, to impress his +own views upon the imperial Government. Verona had been made the +centre of a great system of fortifications, and the strength of +the army under Radetzky's command had been considerably +increased, but it was not until the eleventh hour that Metternich +abandoned the hope of tiding over difficulties by his old system +of police and spies, and permitted the establishment of +undisguised military rule. In order to injure the finances of +Austria, a general resolution had been made by the patriotic +societies of Upper Italy to abstain from the use of tobacco, from +which the Government drew a large part of its revenue. On the +first Sunday in 1848 Austrian officers, smoking in the streets of +Milan, were attacked by the people. The troops were called to +arms: a conflict took place, and enough blood was shed to give to +the tumult the importance of an actual revolt. In Padua and +elsewhere similar outbreaks followed. Radetzky issued a general +order to his troops, declaring that the Emperor was determined to +defend his Italian dominion whether against an external or +domestic foe. Martial law was proclaimed; and for a moment, +although Piedmont gave signs of throwing itself into the Italian +movement, the awe of Austria's military power hushed the rising +tempest. A few weeks more revealed to an astonished world the +secret that the Austrian State, so great and so formidable in the +eyes of friend and foe, was itself on the verge of +dissolution.</p> +<p>[Austria.]</p> +<p>[Affairs in Hungary.]</p> +<p>It was to the absence of all stirring public life, not to any +real assimilative power or any high intelligence in +administration, that the House of Hapsburg owed, during the +eighteenth century, the continued union of that motley of nations +or races which successive conquests, marriages, and treaties had +brought under its dominion. The violence of the attack made by +the Emperor Joseph upon all provincial rights first re-awakened +the slumbering spirit of Hungary; but the national movement of +that time, which excited such strong hopes and alarms, had been +succeeded by a long period of stagnation, and during the +Napoleonic wars the repression of everything that appealed to any +distinctively national spirit had become more avowedly than +before the settled principle of the Austrian Court. In 1812 the +Hungarian Diet had resisted the financial measures of the +Government. The consequence was that, in spite of the law +requiring its convocation every three years, the Diet was not +again summoned till 1825. During the intermediate period, the +Emperor raised taxes and levies by edict alone. Deprived of its +constitutional representation, the Hungarian nobility pursued its +opposition to the encroachments of the Crown in the Sessions of +each county. At these assemblies, to which there existed no +parallel in the western and more advanced States of the +Continent, each resident land-owner who belonged to the very +numerous caste of the noblesse was entitled to speak and to vote. +Retaining, in addition to the right of free discussion and +petition, the appointment of local officials, as well as a +considerable share in the actual administration, the Hungarian +county-assemblies, handing down a spirit of rough independence +from an immemorial past, were probably the hardiest relic of +self-government existing in any of the great monarchical States +of Europe. Ignorant, often uncouth in their habits, oppressive to +their peasantry, and dominated by the spirit of race and caste, +the mass of the Magyar nobility had indeed proved as impervious +to the humanising influences of the eighteenth century as they +had to the solicitations of despotism. The Magnates, or highest +order of noblesse, who formed a separate chamber in the Diet, had +been to some extent denationalised; they were at once more +European in their culture, and more submissive to the Austrian +Court. In banishing political discussion from the Diet to the +County Sessions, the Emperor's Government had intensified the +provincial spirit which it sought to extinguish. Too numerous to +be won over by personal inducements, and remote from the imperial +agencies which had worked so effectively through the Chamber of +Magnates, the lesser nobility of Hungary during these years of +absolutism carried the habit of political discussion to their +homes, and learnt to baffle the imperial Government by +withholding all help and all information from its subordinate +agents. Each county-assembly became a little Parliament, and a +centre of resistance to the usurpation of the Crown. The stimulus +given to the national spirit by this struggle against +unconstitutional rule was seen not less in the vigorous attacks +made upon the Government on the re-assembling of the Diet in +1825, than in the demand that Magyar, and not Latin as +heretofore, should be the language used in recording the +proceedings of the Diet, and in which communications should pass +between the Upper and the Lower House.</p> +<p>[Magyars and Slavs.]</p> +<p>There lay in this demand for the recognition of the national +language the germ of a conflict of race against race which was +least of all suspected by those by whom the demand was made. +Hungary, as a political unity, comprised, besides the Slavic +kingdom of Croatia, wide regions in which the inhabitants were of +Slavic or Roumanian race, and where the Magyar was known only as +a feudal lord. The district in which the population at large +belonged to the Magyar stock did not exceed one-half of the +kingdom. For the other races of Hungary, who were probably twice +as numerous as themselves, the Magyars entertained the utmost +contempt, attributing to them the moral qualities of the savage, +and denying to them the possession of any nationality whatever. +In a country combining so many elements ill-blended with one +another, and all alike subject to a German Court at Vienna, +Latin, as the language of the Church and formerly the language of +international communication, had served well as a neutral means +of expression in public affairs. There might be Croatian deputies +in the Diet who could not speak Magyar; the Magyars could not +understand Croatian; both could understand and could without much +effort express themselves in the species of Latin which passed +muster at Presburg and at Vienna. Yet no freedom of handling +could convert a dead language into a living one; and when the +love of country and of ancient right became once more among the +Magyars an inspiring passion, it naturally sought a nobler and +more spontaneous utterance than dog-latin. Though no law was +passed upon the subject in the Parliament in which it was first +mooted, speakers in the Diet of 1832 used their mother-tongue; +and when the Viennese Government forbade the publication of the +debates, reports were circulated in manuscript through the +country by Kossuth, a young deputy, who after the dissolution of +the Diet in 1836 paid for his defiance of the Emperor by three +years' imprisonment.</p> +<p>[Hungary after 1830.]</p> +<p>[The Diet of 1832-36.]</p> +<p>[Széchenyi.]</p> +<p>Hungary now seemed to be entering upon an epoch of varied and +rapid national development. The barriers which separated it from +the Western world were disappearing. The literature, the ideas, +the inventions of Western Europe were penetrating its archaic +society, and transforming a movement which in its origin had been +conservative and aristocratic into one of far-reaching progress +and reform. Alone among the opponents of absolute power on the +Continent, the Magyars had based their resistance on positive +constitutional right, on prescription, and the settled usage of +the past; and throughout the conflict with the Crown between 1812 +and 1825 legal right was on the side not of the Emperor but of +those whom he attempted to coerce. With excellent judgment the +Hungarian leaders had during these years abstained from raising +any demand for reforms, appreciating the advantage of a purely +defensive position in a combat with a Court pledged in the eyes +of all Europe, as Austria was, to the defence of legitimate +rights. This policy had gained its end; the Emperor, after +thirteen years of conflict, had been forced to re-convoke the +Diet, and to abandon the hope of effecting a work in which his +uncle, Joseph II., had failed. But, the constitution once saved, +that narrow and exclusive body of rights for which the nobility +had contended no longer satisfied the needs or the conscience of +the time. <a name="FNanchor406"> </a><a href="#Footnote_406"><sup>[406]</sup></a> Opinion was moving fast; the +claims of the towns and of the rural population were making +themselves felt; the agitation that followed the overthrow of the +Bourbons in 1830 reached Hungary too, not so much through French +influence as through the Polish war of independence, in which the +Magyars saw a struggle not unlike their own, enlisting their +warmest sympathies for the Polish armies so long as they kept the +field, and for the exiles who came among them when the conflict +was over. By the side of the old defenders of class-privilege +there arose men imbued with the spirit of modern Liberalism. The +laws governing the relation of the peasant to his lord, which +remained nearly as they had been left by Maria Theresa, were +dealt with by the Diet of 1832 in so liberal a spirit that the +Austrian Government, formerly far in advance of Hungarian opinion +on this subject, refused its assent to many of the measures +passed. Great schemes of social and material improvement also +aroused the public hopes in these years. The better minds became +conscious of the real aspect of Hungarian life in comparison with +that of civilised Europe-of its poverty, its inertia, its +boorishness. Extraordinary energy was thrown into the work of +advance by Count Széchenyi, a nobleman whose imagination +had been fired by the contrast which the busy industry of Great +Britain and the practical interests of its higher classes +presented to the torpor of his own country. It is to him that +Hungary owes the bridge uniting its double capital at Pesth, and +that Europe owes the unimpeded navigation of the Danube, which he +first rendered possible by the destruction of the rocks known as +the Iron Gates at Orsova. Sanguine, lavishly generous, an ardent +patriot, Széchenyi endeavoured to arouse men of his own +rank, the great and the powerful in Hungary, to the sense of what +was due from them to their country as leaders in its industrial +development. He was no revolutionist, nor was he an enemy to +Austria. A peaceful political future would best have accorded +with his own designs for raising Hungary to its due place among +nations.</p> +<p>[Transylvania.]</p> +<p>That the Hungarian movement of this time was converted from +one of fruitful progress into an embittered political conflict +ending in civil war was due, among other causes, to the action of +the Austrian Cabinet itself. Wherever constitutional right +existed, there Austria saw a natural enemy. The province of +Transylvania, containing a mixed population of Magyars, Germans, +and Roumanians, had, like Hungary, a Diet of its own, which Diet +ought to have been summoned every year. It was, however, not once +assembled between 1811 and 1834. In the agitation at length +provoked in Transylvania by this disregard of constitutional +right, the Magyar element naturally took the lead, and so gained +complete ascendancy in the province. When the Diet met in 1834, +its language and conduct were defiant in the highest degree. It +was speedily dissolved, and the scandal occasioned by its +proceedings disturbed the last days of the Emperor Francis, who +died in 1835, leaving the throne to his son Ferdinand, an invalid +incapable of any serious exertion. It soon appeared that nothing +was changed in the principles of the Imperial Government, and +that whatever hopes had been formed of the establishment of a +freer system under the new reign were delusive. The leader of the +Transylvanian Opposition was Count Wesselényi, himself a +Magnate in Hungary, who, after the dissolution of the Diet, +betook himself to the Sessions of the Hungarian counties, and +there delivered speeches against the Court which led to his being +arrested and brought to trial for high treason. His cause was +taken up by the Hungarian Diet, as one in which the rights of the +local assemblies were involved. The plea of privilege was, +however, urged in vain, and the sentence of exile which was +passed upon Count Wesselényi became a new source of +contention between the Crown and the Magyar Estates. <a name="FNanchor407"> </a><a href="#Footnote_407"><sup>[407]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Parties among the Magyars.]</p> +<p>[The Diet of 1843.]</p> +<p>The enmity of Government was now a sufficient passport to +popular favour. On emerging from his prison under a general +amnesty in 1840, Kossuth undertook the direction of a Magyar +journal at Pesth, which at once gained an immense influence +throughout the country. The spokesman of a new generation, +Kossuth represented an entirely different order of ideas from +those of the orthodox defenders of the Hungarian Constitution. +They had been conservative and aristocratic; he was +revolutionary: their weapons had been drawn from the storehouse +of Hungarian positive law; his inspiration was from the +Liberalism of western Europe. Thus within the national party +itself there grew up sections in more or less pronounced +antagonism to one another, though all were united by a passionate +devotion to Hungary and by an unbounded faith in its future. +Széchenyi, and those who with him subordinated political +to material ends, regarded Kossuth as a dangerous theorist. +Between the more impetuous and the more cautious reformers stood +the recognised Parliamentary leaders of the Liberals, among whom +Deák had already given proof of political capacity of no +common order. In Kossuth's journal the national problems of the +time were discussed both by his opponents and by his friends. +Publicity gave greater range as well as greater animation to the +conflict of ideas; and the rapid development of opinion during +these years was seen in the large and ambitious measures which +occupied the Diet of 1843. Electoral and municipal reform, the +creation of a code of criminal law, the introduction of trial by +jury, the abolition of the immunity of the nobles from taxation; +all these, and similar legislative projects, displayed at once +the energy of the time and the influence of western Europe in +transforming the political conceptions of the Hungarian nation. +Hitherto the forty-three Free Cities had possessed but a single +vote in the Diet, as against the sixty-three votes possessed by +the Counties. It was now generally admitted that this anomaly +could not continue; but inasmuch as civic rights were themselves +monopolised by small privileged orders among the townsmen, the +problem of constitutional reform carried with it that of a reform +of the municipalities. Hungary in short was now face to face with +the task of converting its ancient system of the representation +of the privileged orders into the modern system of a +representation of the nation at large. Arduous at every epoch and +in every country, this work was one of almost insuperable +difficulty in Hungary, through the close connection with the +absolute monarchy of Austria; through the existence of a body of +poor noblesse, numbered at two hundred thousand, who, though +strong in patriotic sentiment, bitterly resented any attack upon +their own freedom from taxation; and above all through the +variety of races in Hungary, and the attitude assumed by the +Magyars, as the dominant nationality, towards the Slavs around +them. In proportion as the energy of the Magyars and their +confidence in the victory of the national cause mounted high, so +rose their disdain of all claims beside their own within the +Hungarian kingdom. It was resolved by the Lower Chamber of the +Diet of 1843 that no language but Magyar should be permitted in +debate, and that at the end of ten years every person not capable +of speaking the Magyar language should be excluded from all +public employment. The Magnates softened the latter provision by +excepting from it the holders of merely local offices in Slavic +districts; against the prohibition of Latin in the Diet the +Croatians appealed to the Emperor. A rescript arrived from Vienna +placing a veto upon the resolution. So violent was the storm +excited in the Diet itself by this rescript, and so threatening +the language of the national leaders outside, that the Cabinet, +after a short interval, revoked its decision, and accepted a +compromise which, while establishing Magyar as the official +language of the kingdom, and requiring that it should be taught +even in Croatian schools, permitted the use of Latin in the Diet +for the next six years. In the meantime the Diet had shouted down +every speaker who began with the usual Latin formula, and +fighting had taken place in Agram, the Croatian capital, between +the national and the Magyar factions.</p> +<p>[The Slavic national movements.]</p> +<p>It was in vain that the effort was made at Presburg to resist +all claims but those of one race. The same quickening breath +which had stirred the Magyar nation to new life had also passed +over the branches of the Slavic family within the Austrian +dominions far and near. In Bohemia a revival of interest in the +Czech language and literature, which began about 1820, had in the +following decade gained a distinctly political character. +Societies originally or professedly founded for literary objects +had become the centres of a popular movement directed towards the +emancipation of the Czech elements in Bohemia from German +ascendancy, and the restoration of something of a national +character to the institutions of the kingdom. Among the southern +Slavs, with whom Hungary was more directly concerned, the +national movement first became visible rather later. Its earliest +manifestations took, just as in Bohemia, a literary or linguistic +form. Projects for the formation of a common language which, +under the name of Illyrian, should draw together all the Slavic +populations between the Adriatic and the Black Sea, occupied for +a while the fancy of the learned; but the more ambitious part of +this design, which had given some umbrage to the Turkish +Government, was abandoned in obedience to instructions from +Vienna; and the movement first gained political importance when +its scope was limited to the Croatian and Slavonic districts of +Hungary, and it was endowed with the distinct task of resisting +the imposition of Magyar as an official language. In addition to +their representation in the Diet of the Kingdom at Presburg, the +Croatian landowners had their own Provincial Diet at Agram. In +this they possessed not only a common centre of action, but an +organ of communication with the Imperial Government at Vienna, +which rendered them some support in their resistance to Magyar +pretensions. Later events gave currency to the belief that a +conflict of races in Hungary was deliberately stimulated by the +Austrian Court in its own interest. But the whole temper and +principle of Metternich's rule was opposed to the development of +national spirit, whether in one race or another; and the +patronage which the Croats appeared at this time to receive at +Vienna was probably no more than an instinctive act of +conservatism, intended to maintain the balance of interests, and +to reduce within the narrowest possible limits such changes as +might prove inevitable.</p> +<p>[Agitation after 1843.]</p> +<p>Of all the important measures of reform which were brought +before the Hungarian Diet of 1843, one alone had become law. The +rest were either rejected by the Chamber of Magnates after +passing the Lower House, or were thrown out in the Lower House in +spite of the approval of the majority, in consequence of +peremptory instructions sent to Presburg by the county +assemblies. The representative of a Hungarian constituency was +not free to vote at his discretion; he was the delegate of the +body of nobles which sent him, and was legally bound to give his +vote in accordance with the instructions which he might from time +to time receive. However zealous the Legislature itself, it was +therefore liable to be paralysed by external pressure as soon as +any question was raised which touched the privileges of the noble +caste. This was especially the case with all projects involving +the expenditure of public revenue. Until the nobles bore their +share of taxation it was impossible that Hungary should emerge +from a condition of beggarly need; yet, be the inclination of the +Diet what it might, it was controlled by bodies of stubborn +squires or yeomen in each county, who fully understood their own +power, and stoutly forbade the passing of any measure which +imposed a share of the public burdens upon themselves. The +impossibility of carrying out reforms tinder existing conditions +had been demonstrated by the failures of 1843. In order to +overcome the obstruction as well of the Magnates as of the county +assemblies, it was necessary that an appeal should be made to the +country at large, and that a force of public sentiment should be +aroused which should both overmaster the existing array of +special interests, and give birth to legislation merging them for +the future in a comprehensive system of really national +institutions. To this task the Liberal Opposition addressed +itself; and although large differences existed within the party, +and the action of Kossuth, who now exchanged the career of the +journalist for that of the orator, was little fettered by the +opinions of his colleagues, the general result did not disappoint +the hopes that had been formed. Political associations and clubs +took vigorous root in the country. The magic of Kossuth's oratory +left every hearer a more patriotic, if not a wiser man; and an +awakening passion for the public good seemed for a while to throw +all private interests into the shade.</p> +<p>[Government Policy of Reform.]</p> +<p>[Programme of the Opposition.]</p> +<p>It now became plain to all but the blindest that great changes +were inevitable; and at the instance of the more intelligent +among the Conservative party in Hungary the Imperial Government +resolved to enter the lists with a policy of reform, and, if +possible, to wrest the helm from the men who were becoming +masters of the nation. In order to secure a majority in the Diet, +it was deemed requisite by the Government first to gain a +predominant influence in the county-assemblies. As a preliminary +step, most of the Lieutenants of counties, to whose high dignity +no practical functions attached, were removed from their posts, +and superseded by paid administrators, appointed from Vienna. +Count Apponyi, one of the most vigorous of the conservative and +aristocratic reformers, was placed at the head of the Ministry. +In due time the proposals of the Government were made public. +They comprised the taxation of the nobles, a reform of the +municipalities, modifications in the land-system, and a variety +of economic measures intended directly to promote the material +development of the country. The latter were framed to some extent +on the lines laid down by Széchenyi, who now, in bitter +antagonism to Kossuth, accepted office under the Government, and +gave to it the prestige of his great name. It remained for the +Opposition to place their own counter-proposals before the +country. Differences within the party were smoothed over, and a +manifesto, drawn up by Deák, gave statesmanlike expression +to the aims of the national leaders. Embracing every reform +included in the policy of the Government, it added to them others +which the Government had not ventured to face, and gave to the +whole the character of a vindication of its own rights by the +nation, in contrast to a scheme of administrative reform worked +out by the officers of the Crown. Thus while it enforced the +taxation of the nobles, it claimed for the Diet the right of +control over every branch of the national expenditure. It +demanded increased liberty for the Press, and an unfettered right +of political association; and finally, while doing homage to the +unity of the Crown, it required that the Government of Hungary +should be one in direct accord with the national representation +in the Diet, and that the habitual effort of the Court of Vienna +to place this kingdom on the same footing as the Emperor's +non-constitutional provinces should be abandoned. With the rival +programmes of the Government and the Opposition before it, the +country proceeded to the elections of 1847. Hopefulness and +enthusiasm abounded on every side; and at the close of the year +the Diet assembled from which so great a work was expected, and +which was destined within so short a time to witness, in storm +and revolution, the passing away of the ancient order of +Hungarian life.</p> +<p>[The Rural System of Hungary.]</p> +<p>The directly constitutional problems with which the Diet of +Presburg had to deal were peculiar to Hungary itself, and did not +exist in the other parts of the Austrian Empire. There were, +however, social problems which were not less urgently forcing +themselves upon public attention alike in Hungary and in those +provinces which enjoyed no constitutional rights. The chief of +these was the condition of the peasant-population. In the greater +part of the Austrian dominions, though serfage had long been +abolished, society was still based upon the manorial system. The +peasant held his land subject to the obligation of labouring on +his lord's domain for a certain number of days in the year, and +of rendering him other customary services: the manor-court, +though checked by the neighbourhood of crown-officers, retained +its jurisdiction, and its agents frequently performed duties of +police. Hence the proposed extinction of the so-called feudal +tie, and the conversion of the semi-dependent cultivator into a +freeholder bound only to the payment of a fixed money-charge, or +rendered free of all obligation by the surrender of a part of his +holding, involved in many districts the institution of new public +authorities and a general reorganisation of the minor local +powers. From this task the Austrian Government had shrunk in mere +lethargy, even when, as in 1835, proposals for change had come +from the landowners themselves. The work begun by Maria Theresa +and Joseph remained untouched, though thirty years of peace had +given abundant opportunity for its completion, and the +legislation of Hardenberg in 1810 afforded precedents covering at +least part of the field.</p> +<p>[Insurrection in Galicia, Feb., 1846.]</p> +<p>[Rural Edict, Dec., 1845.]</p> +<p>At length events occurred which roused the drowsiest heads in +Vienna from their slumbers. The party of action among the Polish +refugees at Paris had determined to strike another blow for the +independence of their country. Instead, however, of repeating the +insurrection of Warsaw, it was arranged that the revolt should +commence in Prussian and Austrian Poland, and the beginning of +the year 1846 was fixed for the uprising. In Prussia the +Government crushed the conspirators before a blow could be +struck. In Austria, though ample warning was given, the +precautions taken were insufficient. General Collin occupied the +Free City of Cracow, where the revolutionary committee had its +headquarters; but the troops under his command were so weak that +he was soon compelled to retreat, and to await the arrival of +reinforcements. Meanwhile the landowners in the district of +Tarnow in northern Galicia raised the standard of insurrection, +and sought to arm the country. The Ruthenian peasantry, however, +among whom they lived, owed all that was tolerable in their +condition to the protection of the Austrian crown-officers, and +detested the memory of an independent Poland. Instead of +following their lords into the field, they gave information of +their movements, and asked instructions from the nearest Austrian +authorities. They were bidden to seize upon any persons who +instigated them to rebellion, and to bring them into the towns. A +war of the peasants against the nobles forthwith broke out. +Murder, pillage, and incendiary fires brought both the Polish +insurrection and its leaders to a miserable end. The Polish +nobles, unwilling to acknowledge the humiliating truth that their +own peasants were their bitterest enemies, charged the Austrian +Government with having set a price on their heads, and with +having instigated the peasants to a communistic revolt. +Metternich, disgraced by the spectacle of a Jacquerie raging +apparently under his own auspices, insisted, in a circular to the +European Courts, that the attack of the peasantry upon the nobles +had been purely spontaneous, and occasioned by attempts to press +certain villagers into the ranks of the rebellion by brute force. +But whatever may have been the measure of responsibility incurred +by the agents of the Government, an agrarian revolution was +undoubtedly in full course in Galicia, and its effects were soon +felt in the rest of the Austrian monarchy. The Arcadian +contentment of the rural population, which had been the boast, +and in some degree the real strength, of Austria, was at an end. +Conscious that the problem which it had so long evaded must at +length be faced, the Government of Vienna prepared to deal with +the conditions of land-tenure by legislation extending over the +whole of the Empire. But the courage which was necessary for an +adequate solution of the difficulty nowhere existed within the +official world, and the Edict which conveyed the last words of +the Imperial Government on this vital question contained nothing +more than a series of provisions for facilitating voluntary +settlements between the peasants and their lords. In the quality +of this enactment the Court of Vienna gave the measure of its own +weakness. The opportunity of breaking with traditions of +impotence had presented itself and had been lost. Revolution was +at the gates; and in the unsatisfied claim of the rural +population the Government had handed over to its adversaries a +weapon of the greatest power. <a name="FNanchor408"> </a><a href="#Footnote_408"><sup>[408]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Vienna.]</p> +<p>In the purely German provinces of Austria there lingered +whatever of the spirit of tranquillity was still to be found +within the Empire. This, however, was not the case in the +districts into which the influence of the capital extended. +Vienna had of late grown out of its old careless spirit. The home +in past years of a population notoriously pleasure-loving, +good-humoured, and indifferent to public affairs, it had now +taken something of a more serious character. The death of the +Emperor Francis, who to the last generation of Viennese had been +as fixed a part of the order of things as the river Danube, was +not unconnected with this change in the public tone. So long as +the old Emperor lived, all thought that was given to political +affairs was energy thrown away. By his death not only had the +State lost an ultimate controlling power, if dull, yet practised +and tenacious, but this loss was palpable to all the world. The +void stood bare and unrelieved before the public eye. The +notorious imbecility of the Emperor Ferdinand, the barren and +antiquated formalism of Metternich and of that entire system +which seemed to be incorporated in him, made Government an object +of general satire, and in some quarters of rankling contempt. In +proportion as the culture and intelligence of the capital +exceeded that of other towns, so much the more galling was the +pressure of that part of the general system of tutelage which was +especially directed against the independence of the mind. The +censorship was exercised with grotesque stupidity. It was still +the aim of Government to isolate Austria from the ideas and the +speculation of other lands, and to shape the intellectual world +of the Emperor's subjects into that precise form which tradition +prescribed as suitable for the members of a well-regulated State. +In poetry, the works of Lord Byron were excluded from +circulation, where custom-house officers and market-inspectors +chose to enforce the law; in history and political literature, +the leading writers of modern times lay under the same ban. +Native production was much more effectively controlled. Whoever +wrote in a newspaper, or lectured at a University, or published a +work of imagination, was expected to deliver himself of something +agreeable to the constituted authorities, or was reduced to +silence. Far as Vienna fell short of Northern Germany in +intellectual activity, the humiliation inflicted on its best +elements by this life-destroying surveillance was keenly felt and +bitterly resented. More perhaps by its senile warfare against +mental freedom than by any acts of direct political repression, +the Government ranged against itself the almost unanimous opinion +of the educated classes. Its hold on the affection of the capital +was gone. Still quiescent, but ready to unite against the +Government when opportunity should arrive, there stood, in +addition to the unorganised mass of the middle ranks, certain +political associations and students' societies, a vigorous Jewish +element, and the usual contingent furnished by poverty and +discontent in every great city from among the labouring +population. Military force sufficient to keep the capital in +subjection was not wanting; but the foresight and the vigour +necessary to cope with the first onset of revolution were nowhere +to be found among the holders of power.</p> +<p>[Prussia.]</p> +<p>[Frederick William IV., 1840.]</p> +<p>At Berlin the solid order of Prussian absolutism already shook +to its foundation. With King Frederick William III., whose long +reign ended in 1840, there departed the half-filial, +half-spiritless acquiescence of the nation in the denial of the +liberties which had been so solemnly promised to it at the epoch +of Napoleon's fall. The new Sovereign, Frederick William IV., +ascended the throne amid high national hopes. The very contrast +which his warm, exuberant nature offered to the silent, reserved +disposition of his father impressed the public for awhile in his +favour. In the more shining personal qualities he far excelled +all his immediate kindred. His artistic and literary sympathies, +his aptitude of mind and readiness of speech, appeared to mark +the man of a new age, and encouraged the belief that, in spite of +the mediæval dreams and reactionary theories to which, as +prince, he had surrendered himself, he would, as King, appreciate +the needs of the time, and give to Prussia the free institutions +which the nation demanded. The first acts of the new reign were +generously conceived. Political offenders were freely pardoned. +Men who had suffered for their opinions were restored to their +posts in the Universities and the public service, or selected for +promotion. But when the King approached the constitutional +question, his utterances were unsatisfactory. Though undoubtedly +in favour of some reform, he gave no sanction to the idea of a +really national representation, but seemed rather to seek +occasions to condemn it. Other omens of ill import were not +wanting. Allying his Government with a narrow school of +theologians, the King offended men of independent mind, and +transgressed against the best traditions of Prussian +administration. The prestige of the new reign was soon exhausted. +Those who had believed Frederick William to be a man of genius +now denounced him as a vaporous, inflated dilettante; his +enthusiasm was seen to indicate nothing in particular; his +sonorous commonplaces fell flat on second delivery. Not only in +his own kingdom, but in the minor German States, which looked to +Prussia as the future leader of a free Germany, the opinion +rapidly gained ground that Frederick William IV. was to be +numbered among the enemies rather than the friends of the good +cause.</p> +<p>[United Diet convoked at Berlin, Feb. 3, 1847.]</p> +<p>In the Edicts by which the last King of Prussia had promised +his people a Constitution, it had been laid down that the +representative body was to spring from the Provincial Estates, +and that it was to possess, in addition to its purely +consultative functions in legislation, a real power of control +over all State loans and over all proposed additions to taxation. +The interdependence of the promised Parliament and the Provincial +Estates had been seen at the time to endanger the success of +Hardenberg's scheme; nevertheless, it was this conception which +King Frederick William IV. made the very centre of his +Constitutional policy. A devotee to the distant past, he spoke of +the Provincial Estates, which in their present form had existed +only since 1823, as if they were a great national and historic +institution which had come down unchanged through centuries. His +first experiment was the summoning of a Committee from these +bodies to consider certain financial projects with which the +Government was occupied (1842). The labours of the Committee were +insignificant, nor was its treatment at the hands of the Crown +Ministers of a serious character. Frederick William, however, +continued to meditate over his plans, and appointed a Commission +to examine the project drawn up at his desire by the Cabinet. The +agitation in favour of Parliamentary Government became more and +more pressing among the educated classes; and at length, in spite +of some opposition from his brother, the Prince of Prussia, +afterwards Emperor of Germany, the King determined to fulfil his +father's promise and to convoke a General Assembly at Berlin. On +the 3rd of February, 1847, there appeared a Royal Patent, which +summoned all the Provincial Estates to the capital to meet as a +United Diet of the Kingdom. The Diet was to be divided into two +Chambers, the Upper Chamber including the Royal Princes and +highest nobles, the Lower the representatives of the knights, +towns, and peasants. The right of legislation was not granted to +the Diet; it had, however, the right of presenting petitions on +internal affairs. State-loans and new taxes were not, in time of +peace, to be raised without its consent. No regular interval was +fixed for the future meetings of the Diet, and its financial +rights were moreover reduced by other provisions, which enacted +that a United Committee from the Provincial Estates was to meet +every four years for certain definite objects, and that a special +Delegation was to sit each year for the transaction of business +relating to the National Debt. <a name="FNanchor409"> </a><a href="#Footnote_409"><sup>[409]</sup></a></p> +<p>[King Frederick William and the Diet.]</p> +<p>The nature of the General Assembly convoked by this Edict, the +functions conferred upon it, and the guarantees offered for +Representative Government in the future, so little corresponded +with the requirements of the nation, that the question was at +once raised in Liberal circles whether the concessions thus +tendered by the King ought to be accepted or rejected. The doubt +which existed as to the disposition of the monarch himself was +increased by the speech from the throne at the opening of the +Diet (April 11). In a vigorous harangue extending over half an +hour, King Frederick William, while he said much that was +appropriate to the occasion, denounced the spirit of revolution +that was working in the Prussian Press, warned the Deputies that +they had been summoned not to advocate political theories, but to +protect each the rights of his own order, and declared that no +power on earth should induce him to change his natural relation +to his people into a constitutional one, or to permit a written +sheet of paper to intervene like a second Providence between +Prussia and the Almighty. So vehement was the language of the +King, and so uncompromising his tone, that the proposal was +forthwith made at a private conference that the Deputies should +quit Berlin in a body. This extreme course was not adopted; it +was determined instead to present an address to the King, laying +before him in respectful language the shortcomings in the Patent +of February 3rd. In the debate on this address began the +Parliamentary history of Prussia. The Liberal majority in the +Lower Chamber, anxious to base their cause on some foundation of +positive law, treated the Edicts of Frederick William III. +defining the rights of the future Representative Body as actual +statutes of the realm, although the late King had never called a +Representative Body into existence. From this point of view the +functions now given to Committees and Delegations were so much +illegally withdrawn from the rights of the Diet. The Government, +on the other hand, denied that the Diet possessed any rights or +claims whatever beyond those assigned to it by the Patent of +February 3rd, to which it owed its origin. In receiving the +address of the Chambers, the King, while expressing a desire to +see the Constitution further developed, repeated the principle +already laid down by his Ministers, and refused to acknowledge +any obligation outside those which he had himself created.</p> +<p>[Proceedings and Dissolution of the Diet.]</p> +<p>When, after a series of debates on the political questions at +issue, the actual business of the Session began, the relations +between the Government and the Assembly grew worse rather than +better. The principal measures submitted were the grant of a +State-guarantee to certain land-banks established for the purpose +of extinguishing the rent-charges on peasants' holdings, and the +issue of a public loan for the construction of railways by the +State. Alleging that the former measure was not directly one of +taxation, the Government, in laying it before the Diet, declared +that they asked only for an opinion, and denied that the Diet +possessed any right of decision. Thus challenged, as it were, to +make good its claims, the Diet not only declined to assent to +this guarantee, but set its veto on the proposed railway-loan. +Both projects were in themselves admitted to be to the advantage +of the State; their rejection by the Diet was an emphatic +vindication of constitutional rights which the Government seemed +indisposed to acknowledge. Opposition grew more and more +embittered; and when, as a preliminary to the dissolution of the +Diet, the King ordered its members to proceed to the election of +the Committees and Delegation named in the Edict of February 3rd, +an important group declined to take part in the elections, or +consented to do so only under reservations, on the ground that +the Diet, and that alone, possessed the constitutional control +over finance which the King was about to commit to other bodies. +Indignant at this protest, the King absented himself from the +ceremony which brought the Diet to a close (June 26th). Amid +general irritation and resentment the Assembly broke up. Nothing +had resulted from its convocation but a direct exhibition of the +antagonism of purpose existing between the Sovereign and the +national representatives. Moderate men were alienated by the +doctrines promulgated from the Throne; and an experiment which, +if more wisely conducted, might possibly at the eleventh hour +have saved all Germany from revolution, left the Monarchy +discredited and exposed to the attack of the most violent of its +foes.</p> +<p>[Louis Philippe.]</p> +<p>The train was now laid throughout central Europe; it needed +but a flash from Paris to kindle the fire far and wide. That the +Crown which Louis Philippe owed to one popular outbreak might be +wrested from him by another, had been a thought constantly +present not only to the King himself but to foreign observers +during the earlier years of his reign. The period of comparative +peace by which the first Republican movements after 1830 had been +succeeded, the busy working of the Parliamentary system, the keen +and successful pursuit of wealth which seemed to have mastered +all other impulses in France, had made these fears a thing of the +past. The Orleanist Monarchy had taken its place among the +accredited institutions of Europe; its chief, aged, but vigorous +in mind, looked forward to the future of his dynasty, and +occupied himself with plans for extending its influence or its +sway beyond the limits of France itself. At one time Louis +Philippe had hoped to connect his family by marriage with the +Courts of Vienna or Berlin; this project had not met with +encouragement; so much the more eagerly did the King watch for +opportunities in another direction, and devise plans for +restoring the family-union between France and Spain which had +been established by Louis XIV. and which had so largely +influenced the history of Europe down to the overthrow of the +Bourbon Monarchy. The Crown of Spain was now held by a young +girl; her sister was the next in succession; to make the House of +Orleans as powerful at Madrid as it was at Paris seemed under +these circumstances no impossible task to a King and a Minister +who, in the interests of the dynasty, were prepared to make some +sacrifice of honour and good faith.</p> +<p>[The Spanish Marriage, October, 1846.]</p> +<p>While the Carlist War was still continuing, Lord Palmerston +had convinced himself that Louis Philippe intended to marry the +young Queen Isabella, if possible, to one of his sons. Some years +later this project was unofficially mentioned by Guizot to the +English statesman, who at once caused it to be understood that +England would not permit the union. Abandoning this scheme, Louis +Philippe then demanded, by a misconstruction of the Treaty of +Utrecht, that the Queen's choice of a husband should be limited +to the Bourbons of the Spanish or Neapolitan line. To this claim +Lord Aberdeen, who had become Foreign Secretary in 1841, declined +to give his assent; he stated, however, that no step would be +taken by England in antagonism to such marriage, if it should be +deemed desirable at Madrid. Louis Philippe now suggested that his +youngest son, the Duke of Montpensier, should wed the Infanta +Fernanda, sister of the Queen of Spain. On the express +understanding that this marriage should not take place until the +Queen should herself have been married and have had children, the +English Cabinet assented to the proposal. That the marriages +should not be simultaneous was treated by both Governments as the +very heart and substance of the arrangement, inasmuch as the +failure of children by the Queen's marriage would make her +sister, or her sister's heir, inheritor of the Throne. This was +repeatedly acknowledged by Louis Philippe and his Minister, +Guizot, in the course of communications with the British Court +which extended over some years. Nevertheless, in 1846, the French +Ambassador at Madrid, in conjunction with the Queen's mother, +Maria Christina, succeeded in carrying out a plan by which the +conditions laid down at London and accepted at Paris were utterly +frustrated. Of the Queen's Spanish cousins, there was one, Don +Francisco, who was known to be physically unfit for marriage. To +this person it was determined by Maria Christina and the French +Ambassador that the young Isabella should be united, her sister +being simultaneously married to the Duke of Montpensier. So +flagrantly was this arrangement in contradiction to the promises +made at the Tuileries, that, when intelligence of it arrived at +Paris, Louis Philippe declared for a moment that the Ambassador +must be disavowed and disgraced. Guizot, however, was of better +heart than his master, and asked for delay. In the very crisis of +the King's perplexity the return of Lord Palmerston to office, +and the mention by him of a Prince of Saxe-Coburg as one of the +candidates for the Spanish Queen's hand, afforded Guizot a +pretext for declaring that Great Britain had violated its +engagements towards the House of Bourbon by promoting the +candidature of a Coburg. In reality the British Government had +not only taken no part in assisting the candidature of the Coburg +Prince, but had directly opposed it. This, however, was urged in +vain at the Tuileries. Whatever may have been the original +intentions of Louis Philippe or of Guizot, the temptation of +securing the probable succession to the Spanish Crown was too +strong to be resisted. Preliminaries were pushed forward with the +utmost haste, and on the 10th of October, 1846, the marriages of +Queen Isabella and her sister, as arranged by the French +Ambassador and the Queen-Mother, were simultaneously solemnised +at Madrid. <a name="FNanchor410"> </a><a href="#Footnote_410"><sup>[410]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Louis Philippe and Guizot, 1847.]</p> +<p>Few intrigues have been more disgraceful than that of the +Spanish Marriages; none more futile. The course of history mocked +its ulterior purposes; its immediate results were wholly to the +injury of the House of Orleans. The cordial understanding between +France and Great Britain, which had been revived after the +differences of 1840, was now finally shattered, Louis Philippe +stood convicted before his people of sacrificing a valuable +alliance to purely dynastic ends; his Minister, the austere and +sanctimonious Guizot, had to defend himself against charges which +would have covered with shame the most hardened man of the world. +Thus stripped of its garb of moral superiority, condemned as at +once unscrupulous and unpatriotic, the Orleanist Monarchy had to +meet the storm of popular discontent which was gathering over +France as well as over neighbouring lands. For the lost +friendship of England it was necessary to seek a substitute in +the support of some Continental Power. Throwing himself into the +reactionary policy of the Court of Vienna, Guizot endeavoured to +establish a diplomatic concert from which England should be +excluded, as France had been in 1840. There were circumstances +which gave some countenance to the design. The uncompromising +vigour with which Lord Palmerston supported the Liberal movement +now becoming so formidable in Italy made every absolute +Government in Europe his enemy; and had time been granted, the +despotic Courts would possibly have united with France in some +more or less open combination against the English Minister. But +the moments were now numbered; and ere the projected league could +take substance, the whirlwind descended before which Louis +Philippe and his Minister were the first to fall.</p> +<p>[Demand for Parliamentary Reform.]</p> +<p>A demand for the reform of the French Parliamentary system had +been made when Guizot was entering upon office in the midst of +the Oriental crisis of 1840. It had then been silenced and +repressed by all the means at the disposal of the Executive; King +Louis Philippe being convinced that with a more democratic +Chamber the maintenance of his own policy of peace would be +impossible. The demand was now raised again with far greater +energy. Although the franchise had been lowered after the +Revolution of July, it was still so high that not one person in a +hundred and fifty possessed a vote, while the +property-qualification which was imposed upon the Deputies +themselves excluded from the Chamber all but men of substantial +wealth. Moreover, there existed no law prohibiting the holders of +administrative posts under the Government from sitting in the +Assembly. The consequence was that more than one-third of the +Deputies were either officials who had secured election, or +representatives who since their election had accepted from +Government appointments of greater or less value. Though +Parliamentary talent abounded, it was impossible that a Chamber +so composed could be the representative of the nation at large. +The narrowness of the franchise, the wealth of the Deputies +themselves, made them, in all questions affecting the social +condition of the people, a mere club of capitalists; the +influence which the Crown exercised through the bestowal of +offices converted those who ought to have been its controllers +into its dependents, the more so as its patronage was lavished on +nominal opponents even more freely than on avowed friends. +Against King Louis Philippe the majority in the Chamber had in +fact ceased to possess a will of its own. It represented wealth; +it represented to some extent the common-sense of France; but on +all current matters of dispute it only represented the executive +government in another form. So thoroughly had the nation lost all +hope in the Assembly during the last years of Louis Philippe, +that even the elections had ceased to excite interest. On the +other hand, the belief in the general prevalence of corruption +was every day receiving new warrant. A series of State-trials +disclosed the grossest frauds in every branch of the +administration, and proved that political influence was +habitually used for purposes of pecuniary gain. Taxed with his +tolerance of a system scarcely distinguishable from its abuses, +the Minister could only turn to his own nominees in the Chamber +and ask them whether they felt themselves corrupted; invited to +consider some measure of Parliamentary reform, he scornfully +asserted his policy of resistance. Thus, hopeless of obtaining +satisfaction either from the Government or from the Chamber +itself, the leaders of the Opposition resolved in 1847 to appeal +to the country at large; and an agitation for Parliamentary +reform, based on the methods employed by O'Connell in Ireland, +soon spread through the principal towns of France.</p> +<p>[Socialism.]</p> +<p>But there were other ideas and other forces active among the +labouring population of Paris than those familiar to the +politicians of the Assembly. Theories of Socialism, the property +of a few thinkers and readers during the earlier years of Louis +Philippe's reign, had now sunk deep among the masses, and become, +in a rough and easily apprehended form, the creed of the poor. +From the time when Napoleon's fall had restored to France its +faculty of thought, and, as it were, turned the soldier's eyes +again upon his home, those questionings as to the basis of the +social union which had occupied men's minds at an earlier epoch +were once more felt and uttered. The problem was still what it +had been in the eighteenth century; the answer was that of a +later age. Kings, priests, and nobles had been overthrown, but +misery still covered the world. In the teaching of Saint-Simon, +under the Restoration, religious conceptions blended with a great +industrial scheme; in the Utopia of Fourier, produced at the same +fruitful period, whatever was valuable belonged to its +suggestions in co-operative production. But whether the doctrine +propounded was that of philosopher, or sage, or charlatan, in +every case the same leading ideas were visible;-the insufficiency +of the individual in isolation, the industrial basis of all +social life, the concern of the community, or of its supreme +authority, in the organisation of labour. It was naturally in no +remote or complex form that the idea of a new social order took +possession of the mind of the workman in the faubourgs of Paris. +He read in Louis Blanc, the latest and most intelligible of his +teachers of the right to labour, of the duty of the State to +provide work for its citizens. This was something actual and +tangible. For this he was ready upon occasion to take up arms; +not for the purpose of extending the franchise to another handful +of the Bourgeoisie, or of shifting the profits of government from +one set of place-hunters to another. In antagonism to the ruling +Minister the Reformers in the Chamber and the Socialists in the +streets might for a moment unite their forces: but their ends +were irreconcilable, and the allies of to-day were necessarily +the foes of to-morrow.</p> +<p>[The February Revolution, 1848.]</p> +<p>[Feb. 22nd.]</p> +<p>At the close of the year 1847 the last Parliament of the +Orleanist Monarchy assembled. The speech from the Throne, +delivered by Louis Philippe himself, denounced in strong terms +the agitation for Reform which had been carried on during the +preceding months, though this agitation had, on the whole, been +the work of the so-called Dynastic Opposition, which, while +demanding electoral reform, was sincerely loyal to the Monarchy. +The King's words were a challenge; and in the debate on the +Address, the challenge was taken up by all ranks of Monarchical +Liberals as well as by the small Republican section in the +Assembly. The Government, however, was still secure of its +majority. Defeated in the votes on the Address, the Opposition +determined, by way of protest, to attend a banquet to be held in +the Champs Elysées on the 22nd of February by the +Reform-party in Western Paris. It was at first desired that by +some friendly arrangement with the Government, which had declared +the banquet illegal, the possibility of recourse to violence +should be avoided. Misunderstandings, however, arose, and the +Government finally prohibited the banquet, and made preparations +for meeting any disturbance with force of arms. The Deputies, +anxious to employ none but legal means of resistance, now +resolved not to attend the banquet; on the other hand, the +Democratic and Socialist leaders welcomed a possible opportunity +for revolt. On the morning of the 22nd masses of men poured +westwards from the workmen's quarter. The city was in confusion +all day, and the erection of barricades began. Troops were posted +in the streets; no serious attack, however, was made by either +side, and at nightfall quiet returned.</p> +<p>[Feb. 23rd.]</p> +<p>On the next morning the National Guard of Paris was called to +arms. Throughout the struggle between Louis Philippe and the +populace of Paris in the earlier years of his reign, the National +Guard, which was drawn principally from the trading classes, had +fought steadily for the King. Now, however, it was at one with +the Liberal Opposition in the Assembly, and loudly demanded the +dismissal of the Ministers. While some of the battalions +interposed between the regular troops and the populace and +averted a conflict, others proceeded to the Chamber with +petitions for Reform. Obstinately as Louis Philippe had hitherto +refused all concession, the announcement of the threatened +defection of the National Guard at length convinced him that +resistance was impossible. He accepted Guizot's resignation, and +the Chamber heard from the fallen Minister himself that he had +ceased to hold office. Although the King declined for awhile to +commit the formation of a Ministry to Thiers, the recognised +chief of the Opposition, and endeavoured to place a politician +more acceptable to himself in office, it was felt that with the +fall of Guizot all real resistance to Reform was broken. Nothing +more was asked by the Parliamentary Opposition or by the +middle-class of Paris. The victory seemed to be won, the crisis +at an end. In the western part of the capital congratulation and +good-humour succeeded to the fear of conflict. The troops +fraternised with the citizens and the National Guard; and when +darkness came on, the boulevards were illuminated as if for a +national festival.</p> +<p>[Feb. 24th.]</p> +<p>In the midst, however, of this rejoicing, and while the chiefs +of the revolutionary societies, fearing that the opportunity had +been lost for striking a blow at the Monarchy, exhorted the +defenders of the barricades to maintain their positions, a band +of workmen came into conflict, accidentally or of set purpose, +with the troops in front of the Foreign Office. A volley was +fired, which killed or wounded eighty persons. Placing the dead +bodies on a waggon, and carrying them by torchlight through the +streets in the workmen's quarter, the insurrectionary leaders +called the people to arms. The tocsin sounded throughout the +night; on the next morning the populace marched against the +Tuileries. In consequence of the fall of the Ministry and the +supposed reconciliation of the King with the People, whatever +military dispositions had been begun had since been abandoned. At +isolated points the troops fought bravely; but there was no +systematic defence. Shattered by the strain of the previous days, +and dismayed by the indifference of the National Guard when he +rode out among them, the King, who at every epoch of his long +life had shown such conspicuous courage in the presence of +danger, now lost all nerve and all faculty of action. He signed +an act of abdication in favour of his grandson, the Count of +Paris, and fled. Behind him the victorious mob burst into the +Tuileries and devastated it from cellar to roof. The Legislative +Chamber, where an attempt was made to proclaim the Count of Paris +King, was in its turn invaded. In uproar and tumult a Provisional +Government was installed at the Hôtel de Ville; and ere the +day closed the news went out to Europe that the House of Orleans +had ceased to reign, and that the Republic had been proclaimed. +It was not over France alone, it was over the Continent at large, +that the tide of revolution was breaking.</p> +<br> + +<p>END OF VOL. II.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="VOLUME_III."> </a> +<h2>VOLUME III.</h2> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XIX."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c19">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Europe in 1789 and in 1848-Agitation in Western Germany before +and after the Revolution at Paris-Austria and Hungary-The March +Revolution at Vienna-Flight of Metternich-The Hungarian +Diet-Hungary wins its independence-Bohemian movement-Autonomy +promised to Bohemia- Insurrection of Lombardy-Of Venice-Piedmont +makes war on Austria-A general Italian war against Austria +imminent-The March Days at Berlin-Frederick William IV.-A +National Assembly promised- Schleswig-Holstein-Insurrection in +Holstein-War between Germany and Denmark-The German +Ante-Parliament-Republican rising in Baden-Meeting of the German +National Assembly at Frankfort-Europe generally in March, +1848-The French Provisional Government-The National Workshops-The +Government and the Red Republicans-French National Assembly-Riot +of May 15-Measures against the National Workshops-The Four Days +of June- Cavaignac-Louis Napoleon-He is elected to the +Assembly-Elected President.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Europe in 1789 and 1848.]</p> +<p>There were few statesmen living in 1848 who, like Metternich +and like Louis Philippe, could remember the outbreak of the +French Revolution. To those who could so look back across the +space of sixty years, a comparison of the European movements that +followed the successive onslaughts upon authority in France +afforded some measure of the change that had passed over the +political atmosphere of the Continent within a single lifetime. +The Revolution of 1789, deeply as it stirred men's minds in +neighbouring countries, had occasioned no popular outbreak on a +large scale outside France. The expulsion of Charles X. in 1830 +had been followed by national uprisings in Italy, Poland, and +Belgium, and by a struggle for constitutional government in the +smaller States of Northern Germany. The downfall of Louis +Philippe in 1848 at once convulsed the whole of central Europe. +From the Rhenish Provinces to the Ottoman frontier there was no +government but the Swiss Republic that was not menaced; there was +no race which did not assert its claim to a more or less complete +independence. Communities whose long slumber had been undisturbed +by the shocks of the Napoleonic period now vibrated with those +same impulses which, since 1815, no pressure of absolute power +had been able wholly to extinguish in Italy and Germany. The +borders of the region of political discontent had been enlarged; +where apathy, or immemorial loyalty to some distant crown, had +long closed the ear to the voices of the new age, now all was +restlessness, all eager expectation of the dawning epoch of +national life. This was especially the case with the Slavic races +included in the Austrian Empire, races which during the earlier +years of this century had been wholly mute. These in their turn +now felt the breath of patriotism, and claimed the right of +self-government. Distinct as the ideas of national independence +and of constitutional liberty are in themselves, they were not +distinct in their operation over a great part of Europe in 1848; +and this epoch will be wrongly conceived if it is viewed as no +more than a repetition on a large scale of the democratic +outbreak of Paris with which it opened. More was sought in Europe +in 1848 than the substitution of popular for monarchical or +aristocratic rule. The effort to make the State one with the +nation excited wider interests than the effort to enlarge and +equalise citizen rights; and it is in the action of this +principle of nationality that we find the explanation of +tendencies of the epoch which appear at first view to be in +direct conflict with one another. In Germany a single race was +divided under many Governments: here the national instinct +impelled to unity. In Austria a variety of races was held +together by one crown: here the national instinct impelled to +separation. In both these States, as in Italy, where the +predominance of the foreigner and the continuance of despotic +government were in a peculiar manner connected with one another, +the efforts of 1848 failed; but the problems which then agitated +Europe could not long be set aside, and the solution of them +complete, in the case of Germany and Italy, partial and tentative +in the case of Austria, renders the succeeding twenty-five years +a memorable period in European history.</p> +<p>[Agitation in Western Germany.]</p> +<p>The sudden disappearance of the Orleanist monarchy and the +proclamation of the Republic at Paris struck with dismay the +Governments beyond the Rhine. Difficulties were already gathering +round them, opposition among their own subjects was daily +becoming more formidable and more outspoken. In Western Germany a +meeting of Liberal deputies had been held in the autumn of 1847, +in which the reform of the Federal Constitution and the +establishment of a German Parliament had been demanded: a +Republican or revolutionary party, small but virulent, had also +its own avowed policy and its recognised organs in the press. No +sooner had the news of the Revolution at Paris passed the +frontier than in all the minor German States the cry for reform +became irresistible. Ministers everywhere resigned; the popular +demands were granted; and men were called to office whose names +were identified with the struggle for the freedom of the Press, +for trial by jury, and for the reform of the Federal +Constitution. The Federal Diet itself, so long the instrument of +absolutism, bowed beneath the stress of the time, abolished the +laws of censorship, and invited the Governments to send +Commissioners to Frankfort to discuss the reorganisation of +Germany. It was not, however, at Frankfort or at the minor +capitals that the conflict between authority and its antagonists +was to be decided. Vienna, the stronghold of absolutism, the +sanctuary from which so many interdicts had gone forth against +freedom in every part of Europe, was itself invaded by the +revolutionary spirit. The clear sky darkened, and Metternich +found himself powerless before the storm.</p> +<p>[Austria.]</p> +<p>There had been until 1848 so complete an absence of political +life in the Austrian capital, that, when the conviction suddenly +burst upon all minds that the ancient order was doomed, there +were neither party-leaders to confront the Government, nor plans +of reform upon which any considerable body of men were agreed. +The first utterances of public discontent were petitions drawn up +by the Chamber of Commerce and by literary associations. These +were vague in purport and far from aggressive in their tone. A +sterner note sounded when intelligence reached the capital of the +resolutions that had been passed by the Hungarian Lower House on +the 3rd of March, and of the language in which these had been +enforced by Kossuth. Casting aside all reserve, the Magyar leader +had declared that the reigning dynasty could only be saved by +granting to Hungary a responsible Ministry drawn from the Diet +itself, and by establishing constitutional government throughout +the Austrian dominions. "From the charnel-house of the Viennese +system," he cried, "a poison-laden atmosphere steals over us, +which paralyses our nerves and bows us when we would soar. The +future of Hungary can never be secure while in the other +provinces there exists a system of government in direct +antagonism to every constitutional principle. Our task it is to +found a happier future on the brotherhood of all the Austrian +races, and to substitute for the union enforced by bayonets and +police the enduring bond of a free constitution." When the +Hungarian Assembly had thus taken into its own hands the cause of +the rest of the monarchy, it was not for the citizens of Vienna +to fall short in the extent of their demands. The idea of a +Constitution for the Empire at large was generally accepted and +it was proposed that an address embodying this demand should be +sent in to the Emperor by the Provincial Estates of Lower +Austria, whose meeting happened to be fixed for the 13th of +March. In the meantime the students made themselves the heroes of +the hour. The agitation of the city increased; rumours of State +bankruptcy and of the impending repudiation of the paper currency +filled all classes with the belief that some catastrophe was near +at hand. <a name="FNanchor411"> </a><a href="#Footnote_411"><sup>[411]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The March Revolution at Vienna.]</p> +<p>The Provincial Estates of Lower Austria had long fallen into +such insignificance that in ordinary times their proceedings were +hardly noticed by the capital. The accident that they were now to +assemble in the midst of a great crisis elevated them to a sudden +importance. It was believed that the decisive word would be +spoken in the course of their debates; and on the morning of the +13th of March masses of the populace, led by a procession of +students, assembled round the Hall of the Diet. While the debate +proceeded within, street-orators inflamed the passions of the +crowd outside. The tumult deepened; and when at length a note was +let down from one of the windows of the Hall stating that the +Diet were inclining to half-measures, the mob broke into uproar, +and an attack was made upon the Diet Hall itself. The leading +members of the Estates were compelled to place themselves at the +head of a deputation, which proceeded to the Emperor's palace in +order to enforce the demands of the people. The Emperor himself, +who at no time was capable of paying serious attention to +business, remained invisible during this and the two following +days; the deputation was received by Metternich and the principal +officers of State, who were assembled in council. Meanwhile the +crowds in the streets became denser and more excited; soldiers +approached, to protect the Diet Hall and to guard the environs of +the palace; there was an interval of confusion; and on the +advance of a new regiment, which was mistaken for an attack, the +mob who had stormed the Diet Hall hurled the shattered furniture +from the windows upon the soldiers' heads. A volley was now +fired, which cost several lives. At the sound of the firing still +deeper agitation seized the city. Barricades were erected, and +the people and soldiers fought hand to hand. As evening came on, +deputation after deputation pressed into the palace to urge +concession upon the Government. Metternich, who, almost alone in +the Council, had made light of the popular uprising, now at +length consented to certain definite measures of reform. He +retired into an adjoining room to draft an order abolishing the +censorship of the Press. During his absence the cry was raised +among the deputations that thronged the Council-chamber, "Down +with Metternich!" The old man returned, and found himself +abandoned by his colleagues. There were some among them, members +of the Imperial family, who had long been his opponents; others +who had in vain urged him to make concessions before it was too +late. Metternich saw that the end of his career was come; he +spoke a few words, marked by all the dignity and self-possession +of his greatest days, and withdrew, to place his resignation in +the Emperor's hands.</p> +<p>[Flight of Metternich.]</p> +<p>For thirty-nine years Metternich had been so completely +identified with the Austrian system of government that in his +fall that entire system seemed to have vanished away. The tumult +of the capital subsided on the mere announcement of his +resignation, though the hatred which he had excited rendered it +unsafe for him to remain within reach of hostile hands. He was +conveyed from Vienna by a faithful secretary on the night of the +14th of March, and, after remaining for a few days in +concealment, crossed the Saxon frontier. His exile was destined +to be of some duration, but no exile was ever more cheerfully +borne, or sweetened by a profounder satisfaction at the evils +which a mad world had brought upon itself by driving from it its +one thoroughly wise and just statesman. Betaking himself in the +general crash of the Continental Courts to Great Britain, which +was still as safe as when he had visited it fifty-five years +before, Metternich received a kindly welcome from the Duke of +Wellington and the leaders of English society; and when the +London season was over he sought and found at Brighton something +of the liveliness and the sunshine of his own southern home. <a +name="FNanchor412"> </a><a href="#Footnote_412"><sup>[412]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Hungarian Diet.]</p> +<p>The action of the Hungarian Diet under Kossuth's leadership +had powerfully influenced the course of events at Vienna. The +Viennese outbreak in its turn gave irresistible force to the +Hungarian national movement. Up to the 13th of March the Chamber +of Magnates had withheld their assent from the resolution passed +by the Lower House in favour of a national executive; they now +accepted it without a single hostile vote; and on the 15th a +deputation was sent to Vienna to lay before the Emperor an +address demanding not only the establishment of a responsible +Ministry but the freedom of the Press, trial by jury, equality of +religion, and a system of national education. At the moment when +this deputation reached Vienna the Government was formally +announcing its compliance with the popular demand for a +Constitution for the whole of the Empire. The Hungarians were +escorted in triumph through the streets, and were received on the +following day by the Emperor himself, who expressed a general +concurrence with the terms of the address. The deputation +returned to Presburg, and the Palatine, or representative of the +sovereign in Hungary, the Archduke Stephen, forthwith charged +Count Batthyány, one of the most popular of the Magyar +nobles, with the formation of a national Ministry. Thus far the +Diet had been in the van of the Hungarian movement; it now sank +almost into insignificance by the side of the revolutionary +organisation at Pesth, where all the ardour and all the +patriotism of the Magyar race glowed in their native force +untempered by the political experience of the statesmen who were +collected at Presburg, and unchecked by any of those influences +which belong to the neighbourhood of an Imperial Court. At Pesth +there broke out an agitation at once so democratic and so +intensely national that all considerations of policy and of +regard for the Austrian Government which might have affected the +action of the Diet were swept away before it. Kossuth, himself +the genuine representative of the capital, became supreme. At his +bidding the Diet passed a law abolishing the departments of the +Central Government by which the control of the Court over the +Hungarian body politic had been exercised. A list of Ministers +was submitted and approved, including not only those who were +needed for the transaction of domestic business, but Ministers of +War, Finance, and Foreign Affairs; and in order that the entire +nation might rally round its Government, the peasantry were at +one stroke emancipated from all services attaching to the land, +and converted into free proprietors. Of the compensation to be +paid to the lords for the loss of these services, no more was +said than that it was a debt of honour to be discharged by the +nation.</p> +<p>[Hungary wins independence.]</p> +<p>Within the next few days the measures thus carried through the +Diet by Kossuth were presented for the Emperor's ratification at +Vienna. The fall of Metternich, important as it was, had not in +reality produced that effect upon the Austrian Government which +was expected from it by popular opinion. The new Cabinet at +Vienna was drawn from the ranks of the official hierarchy; and +although some of its members were more liberally disposed than +their late chief, they had all alike passed their lives in the +traditions of the ancient system, and were far from intending to +make themselves the willing agents of revolution. These men saw +clearly enough that the action of the Diet at Presburg amounted +to nothing less than the separation of Hungary from the Austrian +Empire. With the Ministries of War, Finance, and Foreign Affairs +established in independence of the central government, there +would remain no link between Hungary and the Hereditary States +but the person of a titular, and, for the present time, an +imbecile sovereign. Powerless and distracted, Metternich's +successors looked in all directions for counsel. The Palatine +argued that three courses were open to the Austrian Government. +It might endeavour to crush the Hungarian movement by force of +arms; for this purpose, however, the troops available were +insufficient: or it might withdraw from the country altogether, +leaving the peasants to attack the nobles, as they had done in +Galicia; this was a dishonourable policy, and the action of the +Diet had, moreover, secured to the peasant everything that he +could gain by a social insurrection: or finally, the Government +might yield for the moment to the inevitable, make terms with +Batthyány's Ministry, and quietly prepare for vigorous +resistance when opportunity should arrive. The last method was +that which the Palatine recommended; the Court inclined in the +same direction, but it was unwilling to submit without making +some further trial of the temper of its antagonists. A rescript +was accordingly sent to Presburg, announcing that the Ministry +formed by Count Batthyány was accepted by the Emperor, but +that the central offices which the Diet had abolished must be +preserved, and the functions of the Ministers of War and Finance +be reduced to those of chiefs of departments, dependent on the +orders of a higher authority at Vienna. From the delay that had +taken place in the despatch of this answer the nationalist +leaders at Pesth and at Presburg had augured no good result. Its +publication brought the country to the verge of armed revolt. +Batthyány refused to accept office under the conditions +named; the Palatine himself declared that he could remain in +Hungary no longer. Terrified at the result of its own challenge, +the Court now withdrew from the position that it had taken up, +and accepted the scheme of the Diet in its integrity, stipulating +only that the disposal of the army outside Hungary in time of +war, and the appointment to the higher commands, should remain +with the Imperial Government. <a name="FNanchor413"> </a><a href="#Footnote_413"><sup>[413]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Bohemian movement.]</p> +<p>[Autonomy promised.]</p> +<p>Hungary had thus made good its position as an independent +State connected with Austria only through the person of its +monarch. Vast and momentous as was the change, fatal as it might +well appear to those who could conceive of no unity but the unity +of a central government, the victory of the Magyars appears to +have excited no feeling among the German Liberals at Vienna but +one of satisfaction. So odious, so detested, was the fallen +system of despotism, that every victory won by its adversaries +was hailed as a triumph of the good cause, be the remoter issues +what they might. Even where a powerful German element, such as +did not exist in Hungary itself, was threatened by the assertion +of provincial claims, the Government could not hope for the +support of the capital if it should offer resistance. The example +of the Magyars was speedily followed by the Czechs in Bohemia. +Forgotten and obliterated among the nationalities of Europe, the +Czechs had preserved in their language, and in that almost alone, +the emblem of their national independence. Within the borders of +Bohemia there was so large a German population that the ultimate +absorption of the Slavic element by this wealthier and privileged +body had at an earlier time seemed not unlikely. Since 1830, +however, the Czech national movement had been gradually gaining +ground. In the first days of the agitation of 1848 an effort had +been made to impress a purely constitutional form upon the +demands made in the name of the people of Prague, and so to +render the union of all classes possible. This policy, however, +received its deathblow from the Revolution in Vienna and from the +victory of the Magyars. The leadership at Prague passed from men +of position and experience, representing rather the intelligence +of the German element in Bohemia than the patriotism of the +Czechs, to the nationalist orators who commanded the streets. An +attempt made by the Cabinet at Vienna to evade the demands drawn +up under the influence of the more moderate politicians resulted +only in the downfall of this party, and in the tender of a new +series of demands of far more revolutionary character. The +population of Prague were beginning to organise a national guard; +arms were being distributed; authority had collapsed. The +Government was now forced to consent to everything that was asked +of it, and a legislative Assembly with an independent local +administration was promised to Bohemia. To this Assembly, as soon +as it should meet, the new institutions of the kingdom were to be +submitted.</p> +<p>[Insurrection of Lombardy, March 18.]</p> +<p>Thus far, if the authority of the Court of Vienna, had been +virtually shaken off by a great part of its subjects, the Emperor +had at least not seen these subjects in avowed rebellion against +the House of Hapsburg, nor supported in their resistance by the +arms of a foreign Power. South of the Alps the dynastic +connection was openly severed, and the rule of Austria declared +for ever at an end. Lombardy had since the beginning of the year +1848 been held in check only by the display of great military +force. The Revolution at Paris had excited both hopes and fears; +the Revolution at Vienna was instantly followed by revolt in +Milan. Radetzky, the Austrian commander, a veteran who had served +with honour in every campaign since that against the Turks in +1788, had long foreseen the approach of an armed conflict; yet +when the actual crisis arrived his dispositions had not been made +for meeting it. The troops in Milan were ill placed; the offices +of Government were moreover separated by half the breadth of the +city from the military head-quarters. Thus when on the 18th of +March the insurrection broke out, it carried everything before +it. The Vice-Governor, O'Donell, was captured, and compelled to +sign his name to decrees handing over the government of the city +to the Municipal Council. Radetzky now threw his soldiers upon +the barricades, and penetrated to the centre of the city; but he +was unable to maintain himself there under the ceaseless fire +from the windows and the housetops, and withdrew on the night of +the 19th to the line of fortifications. Fighting continued during +the next two days in the outskirts and at the gates of the city. +The garrisons of all the neighbouring towns were summoned to the +assistance of their general, but the Italians broke up the +bridges and roads, and one detachment alone out of all the troops +in Lombardy succeeded in reaching Milan. A report now arrived at +Radetzky's camp that the King of Piedmont was on the march +against him. Preferring the loss of Milan to the possible capture +of his army, he determined to evacuate the city. On the night of +the 22nd of March the retreat was begun, and Radetzky fell back +upon the Mincio and Verona, which he himself had made the centre +of the Austrian system of defence in Upper Italy. <a name="FNanchor414"> </a><a href="#Footnote_414"><sup>[414]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Insurrection of Venice.]</p> +<p>[Piedmont makes war.]</p> +<p>Venice had already followed the example of the Lombard +capital. The tidings received from Vienna after the 13th of March +appear to have completely bewildered both the military and the +civil authorities on the Adriatic coast. They released their +political prisoners, among whom was Daniel Manin, an able and +determined foe of Austria; they entered into constitutional +discussions with the popular leaders; they permitted the +formation of a national guard, and finally handed over to this +guard the arsenals and the dockyards with all their stores. From +this time all was over. Manin proclaimed the Republic of St. +Mark, and became the chief of a Provisional Government. The +Italian regiments in garrison joined the national cause; the +ships of war at Pola, manned chiefly by Italian sailors, were +only prevented from sailing to the assistance of the rebels by +batteries that were levelled against them from the shore. Thus +without a blow being struck Venice was lost to Austria. The +insurrection spread westwards and northwards through city and +village in the interior, till there remained to Austria nothing +but the fortresses on the Adige and the Mincio, where Radetzky, +deaf to the counsels of timidity, held his ground unshaken. The +national rising carried Piedmont with it. It was in vain that the +British envoy at Turin urged the King to enter into no conflict +with Austria. On the 24th of March Charles Albert published a +proclamation promising his help to the Lombards. Two days later +his troops entered Milan. <a name="FNanchor415"> </a><a href="#Footnote_415"><sup>[415]</sup></a></p> +<p>[General war against Austria, beginning in Italy.]</p> +<p>Austria had for thirty years consistently laid down the +principle that its own sovereignty in Upper Italy vested it with +the right to control the political system of every other State in +the peninsula. It had twice enforced this principle by arms: +first in its intervention in Naples in 1820, afterwards in its +occupation of the Roman States in 1831. The Government of Vienna +had, as it were with fixed intention, made it impossible that its +presence in any part of Italy should be regarded as the presence +of an ordinary neighbour, entitled to quiet possession until some +new provocation should be given. The Italians would have proved +themselves the simplest of mankind if, having any reasonable hope +of military success, they had listened to the counsels of +Palmerston and other statesmen who urged them not to take +advantage of the difficulties in which Austria was now placed. +The paralysis of the Austrian State was indeed the one +unanswerable argument for immediate war. So long as the Emperor +retained his ascendency in any part of Italy, his interests could +not permanently suffer the independence of the rest. If the +Italians should chivalrously wait until the Cabinet of Vienna had +recovered its strength, it was quite certain that their next +efforts in the cause of internal liberty would be as ruthlessly +crushed as their last. Every clearsighted patriot understood that +the time for a great national effort had arrived. In some +respects the political condition of Italy seemed favourable to +such united action. Since the insurrection of Palermo in January, +1848, absolutism had everywhere fallen. Ministries had come into +existence containing at least a fair proportion of men who were +in real sympathy with the national feeling. Above all, the Pope +seemed disposed to place himself at the head of a patriotic union +against the foreigner. Thus, whatever might be the secret +inclinations of the reigning Houses, they were unable for the +moment to resist the call to arms. Without an actual declaration +of war troops were sent northwards from Naples, from Florence, +and from Rome, to take part, as it was supposed, in the national +struggle by the side of the King of Piedmont. Volunteers thronged +to the standards. The Papal benediction seemed for once to rest +on the cause of manhood and independence. On the other hand, the +very impetus which had brought Liberal Ministries into power +threatened to pass into a phase of violence and disorder. The +concessions already made were mocked by men who expected to win +all the victories of democracy in an hour. It remained to be seen +whether there existed in Italy the political sagacity which, +triumphing over all local jealousies, could bend to one great aim +the passions of the multitude and the fears of the Courts, or +whether the cause of the whole nation would be wrecked in an +ignoble strife between demagogues and reactionists, between the +rabble of the street and the camarilla round the throne. <a name="FNanchor416"> </a><a href="#Footnote_416"><sup>[416]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The March Days at Berlin.]</p> +<p>Austria had with one hand held down Italy, with the other it +had weighed on Germany. Though the Revolutionary movement was in +full course on the east of the Rhine before Metternich's fall, it +received, especially at Berlin, a great impetus from this event. +Since the beginning of March the Prussian capital had worn an +unwonted aspect. In this city of military discipline public +meetings had been held day after day, and the streets had been +blocked by excited crowds. Deputations which laid before the King +demands similar to those now made in every German town received +halting and evasive answers. Excitement increased, and on the +13th of March encounters began between the citizens and the +troops, which, though insignificant, served to exasperate the +people and its leaders. The King appeared to be wavering between +resistance and concession until the Revolution at Vienna, which +became known at Berlin on the 15th of March, brought affairs to +their crisis. On the 17th the tumult in the streets suddenly +ceased; it was understood that the following day would see the +Government either reconciled with the people or forced to deal +with an insurrection on a great scale. Accordingly on the morning +of the 18th crowds made their way towards the palace, which was +surrounded by troops. About midday there appeared a Royal edict +summoning the Prussian United Diet for the 2nd of April, and +announcing that the King had determined to promote the creation +of a Parliament for all Germany and the establishment of +Constitutional Government in every German State. This manifesto +drew fresh masses towards the palace, desirous, it would seem, to +express their satisfaction; its contents, however, were +imperfectly understood by the assembly already in front of the +palace, which the King vainly attempted to address. When called +upon to disperse, the multitude refused to do so, and answered by +cries for the withdrawal of the soldiery. In the midst of the +confusion two shots were fired from the ranks without orders; a +panic followed, in which, for no known reason, the cavalry and +infantry threw themselves upon the people. The crowd was +immediately put to flight, but the combat was taken up by the +population of Berlin. Barricades appeared in the streets; +fighting continued during the evening and night. Meanwhile the +King, who was shocked and distressed at the course that events +had taken, received deputations begging that the troops might be +withdrawn from the city. Frederick William endeavoured for awhile +to make the surrender of the barricades the condition for an +armistice; but as night went on the troops became exhausted, and +although they had gained ground, the resistance of the people was +not overcome. Whether doubtful of the ultimate issue of the +conflict or unwilling to permit further bloodshed, the King gave +way, and at daybreak on the 19th ordered the troops to be +withdrawn. His intention was that they should continue to +garrison the palace, but the order was misunderstood, and the +troops were removed to the outside of Berlin. The palace was thus +left unprotected, and, although no injury was inflicted upon its +inmates, the King was made to feel that the people could now +command his homage. The bodies of the dead were brought into the +court of the palace; their wounds were laid bare, and the King, +who appeared in a balcony, was compelled to descend into the +court, and to stand before them with uncovered head. Definite +political expression was given to the changed state of affairs by +the appointment of a new Ministry. <a name="FNanchor417"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_417"><sup>[417]</sup></a></p> +<p>The conflict between the troops and the people at Berlin was +described, and with truth, as the result of a misunderstanding. +Frederick William had already determined to yield to the +principal demands of his subjects; nor on the part of the +inhabitants of Berlin had there existed any general hostility +towards the sovereign, although a small group of agitators, in +part foreign, had probably sought to bring about an armed attack +on the throne. Accordingly, when once the combat was broken off, +there seemed to be no important obstacle to a reconciliation +between the King and the people. Frederick William chose a course +which spared and even gratified his own self-love. In the +political faith of all German Liberals the establishment of +German unity was now an even more important article than the +introduction of free institutions into each particular State. The +Revolution at Berlin had indeed been occasioned by the King's +delay in granting internal reform; but these domestic disputes +might well be forgotten if in the great cause of German unity the +Prussians saw their King rising to the needs of the hour. +Accordingly the first resolution of Frederick William, after +quiet had returned to the capital, was to appear in public state +as the champion of the Fatherland. A proclamation announced on +the morning of the 21st of March that the King had placed himself +at the head of the German nation, and that he would on that day +appear on horseback wearing the old German colours. In due time +Frederick William came forth at the head of a procession, wearing +the tricolor of gold, white, and black, which since 1815 had been +so dear to the patriots and so odious to the Governments of +Germany. As he passed through the streets he was saluted as +Emperor, but he repudiated the title, asserting with oaths and +imprecations that he intended to rob no German prince of his +sovereignty. At each stage of his theatrical progress he repeated +to appropriate auditors his sounding but ambiguous allusions to +the duties imposed upon him by the common danger. A manifesto, +published at the close of the day, summed up the utterances of +the monarch in a somewhat less rhetorical form. "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 colours, and placed +myself and my people under the venerable banner of the German +Empire. Prussia henceforth is merged in Germany." <a name="FNanchor418"> </a><a href="#Footnote_418"><sup>[418]</sup></a></p> +<p>[National Assembly promised.]</p> +<p>The ride of the King through Berlin, and his assumption of the +character of German leader, however little it pleased the minor +sovereigns, or gratified the Liberals of the smaller States, who +considered that such National authority ought to be conferred by +the nation, not assumed by a prince, was successful for the +moment in restoring to the King some popularity among his own +subjects. He could now without humiliation proceed with the +concessions which had been interrupted by the tragical events of +the 18th of March. In answer to a deputation from Breslau, which +urged that the Chamber formed by the union of the Provincial +Diets should be replaced by a Constituent Assembly, the King +promised that a national Representative Assembly should be +convoked as soon as the United Diet had passed the necessary +electoral law. To this National Assembly the Government would +submit measures securing the liberty of the individual, the right +of public meeting and of associations, trial by jury, the +responsibility of Ministers, and the independence of the +judicature. A civic militia was to be formed, with the right of +choosing its own officers, and the standing army was to take the +oath of allegiance to the Constitution. Hereditary jurisdictions +and manorial rights of police were to be abolished; equality +before the law was to be universally enforced; in short, the +entire scheme of reforms demanded by the Constitutional Liberals +of Prussia was to be carried into effect. In Berlin, as in every +other capital in Germany, the victory of the party of progress +now seemed to be assured. The Government no longer represented a +power hostile to popular rights; and when, on the 22nd of March, +the King spontaneously paid the last honours to those who had +fallen in combat with his troops, as the long funeral procession +passed his palace, it was generally believed that his expression +of feeling was sincere.</p> +<p>[Schleswig-Holstein.]</p> +<p>In the passage of his address in which King Frederick William +spoke of the external dangers threatening Germany, he referred to +apprehensions which had for a while been current that the second +French Republic would revive the aggressive energy of the first. +This fear proved baseless; nevertheless, for a sovereign who +really intended to act as the champion of the German nation at +large, the probability of war with a neighbouring Power was far +from remote. The cause of the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, +which were in rebellion against the Danish Crown, excited the +utmost interest and sympathy in Germany. The population of these +provinces, with the exception of certain districts in Schleswig, +was German; Holstein was actually a member of the German +Federation. The legal relation of the Duchies to Denmark was, +according to the popular view, very nearly that of Hanover to +England before 1837. The King of Denmark was also Duke of +Schleswig and of Holstein, but these were no more an integral +portion of the Danish State than Hanover was of the British +Empire; and the laws of succession were moreover different in +Schleswig-Holstein, the Crown being transmitted by males, while +in Denmark females were capable of succession. On the part of the +Danes it was admitted that in certain districts in Holstein the +Salic law held good; it was, however, maintained that in the +remainder of Holstein and in all Schleswig the rules of +succession were the same as in Denmark. The Danish Government +denied that Schleswig-Holstein formed a unity in itself, as +alleged by the Germans, and that it possessed separate national +rights as against the authority of the King's Government at +Copenhagen. The real heart of the difficulty lay in the fact that +the population of the Duchies was German. So long as the Germans +as a race possessed no national feeling, the union of the Duchies +with the Danish Monarchy had not been felt as a grievance. It +happened, however, that the great revival of German patriotism +resulting from the War of Liberation in 1813 was almost +simultaneous with the severance of Norway from the Danish Crown, +which compelled the Government of Copenhagen to increase very +heavily the burdens imposed on its German subjects in the +Duchies. From this time discontent gained ground, especially in +Altona and Kiel, where society was as thoroughly German as in the +neighbouring city of Hamburg. After 1830, when Provincial Estates +were established in Schleswig and Holstein, the German movement +became formidable. The reaction, however, which marked the +succeeding period generally in Europe prevailed in Denmark too, +and it was not until 1844, when a posthumous work of Lornsen, the +exiled leader of the German party, vindicated the historical +rights of the Duchies, that the claims of German nationality in +these provinces were again vigorously urged. From this time the +separation of Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark became a question +of practical politics. The King of Denmark, Christain VIII., had +but one son, who, though long married, was childless, and with +whom the male line of the reigning House would expire. In answer +to an address of the Danish Provincial Estates calling upon the +King to declare the unity of the Monarchy and the validity of the +Danish law of succession for all its parts, the Holstein Estates +passed a resolution in November, 1844, that the Duchies were an +independent body, governed by the rule of male descent, and +indivisible. After an interval of two years, during which a +Commission examined the succession-laws, King Christian published +a declaration that the succession was the same in Schleswig as in +Denmark proper, and that, as regarded those parts of Holstein +where a different rule of succession existed, he would spare no +effort to maintain the unity of the Monarchy. On this the +Provincial Estates both of Schleswig and of Holstein addressed +protests to the King, who refused to accept them. The deputies +now resigned in a mass, whilst on behalf of Holstein an appeal +was made to the German Federal Diet. The Diet merely replied by a +declaration of rights; but in Germany at large the keenest +interest was aroused on behalf of these severed members of the +race who were so resolutely struggling against incorporation with +a foreign Power. The deputies themselves, passing from village to +village, excited a strenuous spirit of resistance throughout the +Duchies, which was met by the Danish Government with measures of +repression more severe than any which it had hitherto employed. +<a name="FNanchor419"> </a><a href="#Footnote_419"><sup>[419]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Insurrection in Holstein, March 24.]</p> +<p>[War between Germany and Denmark.]</p> +<p>Such was the situation of affairs when, on the 20th of +January, 1848, King Christian VIII. died, leaving the throne to +Frederick VII., the last of the male line of his House. +Frederick's first act was to publish the draft of a Constitution, +in which all parts of the Monarchy were treated as on the same +footing. Before the delegates could assemble to whom the +completion of this work was referred, the shock of the Paris +Revolution reached the North Sea ports. A public meeting at +Altona demanded the establishment of a separate constitution for +Schleswig-Holstein, and the admission of Schleswig into the +German Federation. The Provincial Estates accepted this +resolution, and sent a deputation to Copenhagen to present this +and other demands to the King. But in the course of the next few +days a popular movement at Copenhagen brought into power a +thoroughly Danish Ministry, pledged to the incorporation of +Schleswig with Denmark as an integral part of the Kingdom. +Without waiting to learn the answer made by the King to the +deputation, the Holsteiners now took affairs into their own +hands. A Provisional Government was formed at Kiel (March 24), +the troops joined the people, and the insurrection instantly +spread over the whole province. As the proposal to change the law +of succession to the throne had originated with the King of +Denmark, the cause of the Holsteiners was from one point of view +that of established right. The King of Prussia, accepting the +positions laid down by the Holstein Estates in 1844, declared +that he would defend the claims of the legitimate heir by force +of arms, and ordered his troops to enter Holstein. The Diet of +Frankfort, now forced to express the universal will of Germany, +demanded that Schleswig, as the sister State of Holstein, should +enter the Federation. On the passing of this resolution, the +envoy who represented the Denmark. King of Denmark at the Diet, +as Duke of Holstein, quitted Frankfort, and a state of war ensued +between Denmark on the one side and Prussia with the German +Federation on the other.</p> +<p>[The German Ante-Parliament, March 30-April 4.]</p> +<p>[Republican rising in Baden.]</p> +<p>The passionate impulse of the German people towards unity had +already called into being an organ for the expression of national +sentiment, which, if without any legal or constitutional +authority, was yet strong enough to impose its will upon the old +and discredited Federal Diet and upon most of the surviving +Governments. At the invitation of a Committee, about five hundred +Liberals who had in one form or another taken part in public +affairs assembled at Frankfort on the 30th of March to make the +necessary preparations for the meeting of a German national +Parliament. This Assembly, which is known as the Ante-Parliament, +sat but for five days. Its resolutions, so far as regarded the +method of electing the new Parliament, and the inclusion of new +districts in the German Federation, were accepted by the Diet, +and in the main carried into effect. Its denunciation of persons +concerned in the repressive measures of 1819 and subsequent +reactionary epochs was followed by the immediate retirement of +all members of the Diet whose careers dated back to those +detested days. But in the most important work that was expected +from the Ante-Parliament, the settlement of a draft-Constitution +to be laid before the future National Assembly as a basis for its +deliberations, nothing whatever was accomplished. The debates +that took place from the 31st of March to the 4th of April were +little more than a trial of strength between the Monarchical and +Republican parties. The Republicans, far outnumbered when they +submitted a constitutional scheme of their own, proposed, after +this repulse, that the existing Assembly should continue in +session until the National Parliament met; in other words, that +it should take upon itself the functions and character of a +National Convention. Defeated also on this proposal, the leaders +of the extreme section of the Republican party, strangely +miscalculating their real strength, determined on armed +insurrection. Uniting with a body of German refugees beyond the +Rhine, who were themselves assisted by French and Polish soldiers +of revolution, they raised the Republican standard in Baden, and +for a few days maintained a hopeless and inglorious struggle +against the troops which were sent to suppress them. Even in +Baden, which had long been in advance of all other German States +in democratic sentiment, and which was peculiarly open to +Republican influences from France and Switzerland, the movement +was not seriously supported by the population, and in the +remainder of Germany it received no countenance whatever. The +leaders found themselves ruined men. The best of them fled to the +United States, where, in the great struggle against slavery +thirteen years later, they rendered better service to their +adopted than they had ever rendered to their natural +Fatherland.</p> +<p>[Meeting of the German National Assembly, May 18.]</p> +<p>On breaking up on the 4th of April, the Ante-Parliament left +behind it a Committee of Fifty, whose task it was to continue the +work of preparation for the National Assembly to which it had +itself contributed so little. One thing alone had been clearly +established, that the future Constitution of Germany was not to +be Republican. That the existing Governments could not be safely +ignored by the National Assembly in its work of founding the new +Federal Constitution for Germany was clear to those who were not +blinded by the enthusiasm of the moment. In the Committee of +Fifty and elsewhere plans were suggested for giving to the +Governments a representation within the Constituent Assembly, or +for uniting their representatives in a Chamber co-ordinate with +this, so that each step in the construction of the new Federal +order should be at once the work of the nation and of the +Governments. Such plans were suggested and discussed; but in the +haste and inexperience of the time they were brought to no +conclusion. The opening of the National Assembly had been fixed +for the 18th of May, and this brief interval had expired before +the few sagacious men who understood the necessity of +co-operation between the Governments and the Parliament had +decided upon any common course of action. To the mass of patriots +it was enough that Germany, after thirty years of disappointment, +had at last won its national representation. Before this imposing +image of the united race, Kings, Courts, and armies, it was +fondly thought, must bow. Thus, in the midst of universal hope, +the elections were held throughout Germany in its utmost federal +extent, from the Baltic to the Italian border; Bohemia alone, +where the Czech majority resisted any closer union with Germany, +declining to send representatives to Frankfort. In the body of +deputies elected there were to be found almost all the foremost +Liberal politicians of every German community; a few still +vigorous champions of the time of the War of Liberation, chief +among them the poet Arndt; patriots who in the evil days that +followed had suffered imprisonment and exile; historians, +professors, critics, who in the sacred cause of liberty have, +like Gervinus, inflicted upon their readers worse miseries than +ever they themselves endured at the hands of unregenerate kings; +theologians, journalists; in short, the whole group of leaders +under whom Germany expected to enter into the promised land of +national unity and freedom. No Imperial coronation ever brought +to Frankfort so many honoured guests, or attracted to the same +degree the sympathy of the German race. Greeted with the cheers +of the citizens of Frankfort, whose civic militia lined the +streets, the members of the Assembly marched in procession on the +afternoon of the 18th of May from the ancient banqueting-hall of +the Kaisers, where they had gathered, to the Church of St. Paul, +which had been chosen as their Senate House. Their President and +officers were elected on the following day. Arndt, who in the +frantic confusion of the first meeting had been unrecognised and +shouted down, was called into the Tribune, but could speak only a +few words for tears. The Assembly voted him its thanks for his +famous song, "What is the German's Fatherland?" and requested +that he would add to it another stanza commemorating the union of +the race at length visibly realised in that great Parliament. +Four days after the opening of the General Assembly of Frankfort, +the Prussian national Parliament began its sessions at Berlin. <a +name="FNanchor420"> </a><a href="#Footnote_420"><sup>[420]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Europe generally in March, 1848.]</p> +<p>At this point the first act in the Revolutionary drama of 1848 +in Germany, as in Europe generally, may be considered to have +reached its close. A certain unity marks the memorable epoch +known generally as the March Days and the events immediately +succeeding. Revolution is universal; it scarcely meets with +resistance; its views seem on the point of being achieved; the +baffled aspirations of the last half-century seem on the point of +being fulfilled. There exists no longer in Central Europe such a +thing as an autocratic Government; and, while the French Republic +maintains an unexpected attitude of peace, Germany and Italy, +under the leadership of old dynasties now penetrated with a new +spirit, appear to be on the point of achieving each its own work +of Federal union and of the expulsion of the foreigner from its +national soil. All Italy prepares to move under Charles Albert to +force the Austrians from their last strongholds on the Mincio and +the Adige; all Germany is with the troops of Frederick William of +Prussia as they enter Holstein to rescue this and the +neighbouring German province from the Dane. In Radetzky's camp +alone, and at the Court of St. Petersburg, the old monarchical +order of Europe still survives. How powerful were these two +isolated centres of anti-popular energy the world was soon to +see. Yet they would not have turned back the tide of European +affairs and given one more victory to reaction had they not had +their allies in the hatred of race to race, in the incapacity and +the errors of peoples and those who represented them; above all, +in the enormous difficulties which, even had the generation been +one of sages and martyrs, the political circumstances of the time +would in themselves have opposed to the accomplishment of the +ends desired.</p> +<p>[The French Provisional Government.]</p> +<p>[The National Workshops.]</p> +<p>France had given to Central Europe the signal for the +Revolution of 1848, and it was in France, where the conflict was +not one for national independence but for political and social +interests, that the Revolution most rapidly ran its course and +first exhausted its powers. On the flight of Louis Philippe +authority had been entrusted by the Chamber of Deputies to a +Provisional Government, whose most prominent member was the +orator and poet Lamartine. Installed at the Hôtel de Ville, +this Government had with difficulty prevented the mob from +substituting the Red Flag for the Tricolor, and from proceeding +at once to realise the plans of its own leaders. The majority of +the Provisional Government were Republicans of a moderate type, +representing the ideas of the urban middle classes rather than +those of the workmen; but by their side were Ledru Rollin, a +rhetorician dominated by the phrases of 1793, and Louis Blanc, +who considered all political change as but an instrument for +advancing the organisation of labour and for the emancipation of +the artisan from servitude, by the establishment of +State-directed industries affording appropriate employment and +adequate remuneration to all. Among the first proclamations of +the Provisional Government was one in which, in answer to a +petition demanding the recognition of the Right to Labour, they +undertook to guarantee employment to every citizen. This +engagement, the heaviest perhaps that was ever voluntarily +assumed by any Government, was followed in a few days by the +opening of national workshops. That in the midst of a Revolution +which took all parties by surprise plans for the conduct of a +series of industrial enterprises by the State should have been +seriously examined was impossible. The Government had paid homage +to an abstract idea; they were without a conception of the mode +in which it was to be realised. What articles were to be made, +what works were to be executed, no one knew. The mere direction +of destitute workmen to the centres where they were to be +employed was a task for which a new branch of the administration +had to be created. When this was achieved, the men collected +proved useless for all purposes of industry. Their numbers +increased enormously, rising in the course of four weeks from +fourteen to sixty-five thousand. The Revolution had itself caused +a financial and commercial panic, interrupting all the ordinary +occupations of business, and depriving masses of men of the means +of earning a livelihood. These, with others who had no intention +of working, thronged to the State workshops; while the certainty +of obtaining wages from the public purse occasioned a series of +strikes of workmen against their employers and the abandonment of +private factories. The chocks which had been intended to confine +enrolment at the public works to persons already domiciled in +Paris completely failed; from all the neighbouring departments +the idle and the hungry streamed into the capital. Every abuse +incidental to a system of public relief was present in Paris in +its most exaggerated form; every element of experience, of +wisdom, of precaution, was absent. 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. <a name="FNanchor421"> </a><a href="#Footnote_421"><sup>[421]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Provisional Government and the Red Republicans.]</p> +<p>[Elections, April 23.]</p> +<p>The leaders of the democracy in Paris had from the first +considered that the decision upon the form of Government to be +established in France in place of the Orleanist monarchy belonged +rather to themselves than to the nation at large. They +distrusted, and with good reason, the results of the General +Election which, by a decree of the Provisional Government, was to +be held in the course of April. A circular issued by Ledru +Rollin, Minister of the Interior, without the knowledge of his +colleagues, to the Commissioners by whom he had replaced the +Prefects of the Monarchy gave the first open indication of this +alarm, and of the means of violence and intimidation by which the +party which Ledru Rollin represented hoped to impose its will +upon the country. The Commissioners were informed in plain +language that, as agents of a revolutionary authority, their +powers were unlimited, and that their task was to exclude from +election all persons who were not animated by revolutionary +spirit, and pure from any taint of association with the past. If +the circular had been the work of the Government, and not of a +single member of it who was at variance with most of his +colleagues and whose words were far more formidable than his +actions, it would have clearly foreshadowed a return to the +system of 1793. But the isolation of Ledru Rollin was well +understood. The attitude of the Government generally was so +little in accordance with the views of the Red Republicans that +on the 16th of April a demonstration was organised with the +object of compelling them to postpone the elections. The prompt +appearance in arms of the National Guard, which still represented +the middle classes of Paris, baffled the design of the leaders of +the mob, and gave to Lamartine and the majority in the Government +a decisive victory over their revolutionary colleague. The +elections were held at the time appointed; and, in spite of the +institution of universal suffrage, they resulted in the return of +a body of Deputies not widely different from those who had +hitherto appeared in French Parliaments. The great majority were +indeed Republicans by profession, but of a moderate type; and the +session had no sooner opened than it became clear that the +relation between the Socialist democracy of Paris and the +National Representatives could only be one of more or less +violent antagonism.</p> +<p>[The National Assembly, May 4.]</p> +<p>[Riot of May 15.]</p> +<p>[Measures against the National Workshops.]</p> +<p>The first act of the Assembly, which met on the 4th of May, +was to declare that the Provisional Government had deserved well +of the country, and to reinstate most of its members in office +under the title of an Executive Commission. Ledru Rollin's +offences were condoned, as those of a man popular with the +democracy, and likely on the whole to yield to the influence of +his colleagues. Louis Blanc and his confederate, Albert, as +really dangerous persons, were excluded. The Jacobin leaders now +proceeded to organise an attack on the Assembly by main force. On +the 15th of May the attempt was made. Under pretence of tendering +a petition on behalf of Poland, a mob invaded the Legislative +Chamber, declared the Assembly dissolved, and put the Deputies to +flight. But the triumph was of short duration. The National +Guard, whose commander alone was responsible for the failure of +measures of defence, soon rallied in force; the leaders of the +insurgents, some of whom had installed themselves as a +Provisional Government at the Hôtel de Ville, were made +captive; and after an interval of a few hours the Assembly +resumed possession of the Palais Bourbon. The dishonour done to +the national representation by the scandalous scenes of the 15th +of May, as well as the decisively proved superiority of the +National Guard over the half armed mob, encouraged the Assembly +to declare open war against the so-called social democracy, and +to decree the abolition of the national workshops. The enormous +growth of these establishments, which now included over a hundred +thousand men, threatened to ruin the public finances; the +demoralisation which they engendered seemed likely to destroy +whatever was sound in the life of the working classes of Paris. +Of honest industry there was scarcely a trace to be found among +the masses who were receiving their daily wages from the State. +Whatever the sincerity of those who had founded the national +workshops, whatever the anxiety for employment on the part of +those who first resorted to them, they had now become mere hives +of disorder, where the resources of the State were lavished in +accumulating a force for its own overthrow. It was necessary, at +whatever risk, to extinguish the evil. Plans for the gradual +dispersion of the army of workmen were drawn up by Committees and +discussed by the Assembly. If put in force with no more than the +necessary delay, these plans might perhaps have rendered a +peaceful solution of the difficulty possible. But the Government +hesitated, and finally, when a decision could no longer be +avoided, determined upon measures more violent and more sudden +than those which the Committees had recommended. On the 21st of +June an order was published that all occupants 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, +and that the removal of the workmen who had come into Paris from +the provinces, for which preparations had already been made, must +be at once effected. <a name="FNanchor422"> </a><a href="#Footnote_422"><sup>[422]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Four Days of June, 23-26.]</p> +<p>The publication of this order was the signal for an appeal to +arms. The legions of the national workshops were in themselves a +half-organised force equal in number to several army-corps, and +now animated by something like the spirit of military union. The +revolt, which began on the morning of the 23rd of June, was +conducted as no revolt in Pans had ever been conducted before. +The eastern part of the city was turned into a maze of +barricades. Though the insurgents had not artillery, they were in +other respects fairly armed. The terrible nature of the conflict +impending now became evident to the Assembly. General Cavaignac, +Minister of War, was placed in command, and subsequently invested +with supreme authority, the Executive Commission resigning its +powers. All the troops in the neighbourhood of Paris were at once +summoned to the capital, Cavaignac well understood that any +attempt to hold the insurrection in check by means of scattered +posts would only end, as in 1830, by the capture or the +demoralisation of the troops. He treated Paris as one great +battle-field in which the enemy must be attacked in mass and +driven by main force from all his positions. At times the effort +appeared almost beyond the power of the forces engaged, and the +insurgents, sheltered by huge barricades and firing from the +windows of houses, seemed likely to remain masters of the field. +The struggle continued for four days, but Cavaignac's artillery +and the discipline of his troops at last crushed resistance; and +after the Archbishop of Paris had been mortally wounded in a +heroic effort to stop further bloodshed, the last bands of the +insurgents, driven back into the north-eastern quarter of the +city, and there attacked with artillery in front and flank, were +forced to lay down their arms.</p> +<p>[Fears left by the events of June.]</p> +<p>Such was the conflict of the Four Days of June, a conflict +memorable as one in which the combatants fought not for a +political principle or form of Government, but for the +preservation or the overthrow of society based on the institution +of private property. The National Guard, with some exceptions, +fought side by side with the regiments of the line, braved the +same perils, and sustained an equal loss. The workmen threw +themselves the more passionately into the struggle, inasmuch as +defeat threatened them with deprivation of the very means of +life. On both sides acts of savagery were committed which the +fury of the conflict could not excuse. The vengeance of the +conquerors in the moment of success appears, however, to have +been less unrelenting than that which followed the overthrow of +the Commune in 1871, though, after the struggle was over, the +Assembly had no scruple in transporting without trial the whole +mass of prisoners taken with arms in their hands. Cavaignac's +victory left the classes for whom he had fought terror-stricken +at the peril from which they had escaped, and almost hopeless of +their own security under any popular form of Government in the +future. Against the rash and weak concessions to popular demands +that had been made by the administration since February, +especially in the matter of taxation and finance, there was now a +deep, if not loudly proclaimed, reaction. The national workshops +disappeared; grants were made by the Legislature for the +assistance of the masses who were left without resource, but the +money was bestowed in charitable relief or in the form of loans +to associations, not as wages from the State. On every side among +the holders of property the cry was for a return to sound +principles of finance in the economy of the State, and for the +establishment of a strong central power.</p> +<p>[Cavaignac and Louis Napoleon.]</p> +<p>[Louis Napoleon elected Deputy but resigns, June 14.]</p> +<p>General Cavaignac after the restoration of order had laid down +the supreme authority which had been conferred on him, but at the +desire of the Assembly he continued to exercise it until the new +Constitution should be drawn up and an Executive appointed in +accordance with its provisions. Events had suddenly raised +Cavaignac from obscurity to eminence, and seemed to mark him out +as the future ruler of France. But he displayed during the six +months following the suppression of the revolt no great capacity +for government, and his virtues as well as his defects made +against his personal success. A sincere Republican, while at the +same time a rigid upholder of law, he refused to lend himself to +those who were, except in name, enemies of Republicanism; and in +his official acts and utterances he spared the feelings of the +reactionary classes as little as he would have spared those of +rioters and Socialists. As the influence of Cavaignac declined, +another name began to fill men's thoughts. Louis Napoleon, son of +the Emperor's brother Louis, King of Holland, had while still in +exile been elected to the National Assembly by four Departments. +He was as yet almost unknown except by name to his +fellow-countrymen. Born in the Tuileries in 1808, he had been +involved as a child in the ruin of the Empire, and had passed +into banishment with his mother Hortense, under the law that +expelled from France all members of Napoleon's family. He had +been brought up at Augsburg and on the shores of the Lake of +Constance, and as a volunteer in a Swiss camp of artillery he had +gained some little acquaintance with military life. In 1831 he +had joined the insurgents in the Romagna who were in arms against +the Papal Government. The death of his own elder brother, +followed in 1832 by that of Napoleon's son, the Duke of +Reichstadt, made him chief of the house of Bonaparte. Though far +more of a recluse than a man of action, though so little of his +own nation that he could not pronounce a sentence of French +without a marked German accent, and had never even seen a French +play performed, he now became possessed by the fixed idea that he +was one day to wear the French Crown. A few obscure adventurers +attached themselves to his fortunes, and in 1836 he appeared at +Strasburg and presented himself to the troops as Emperor. The +enterprise ended in failure and ridicule. Louis Napoleon was +shipped to America by the Orleanist Government, which supplied +him with money, and thought it unnecessary even to bring him to +trial. He recrossed the Atlantic, made his home in England, and +in 1840 repeated at Boulogne the attempt that had failed at +Strasburg. The result was again disastrous. He was now sentenced +to perpetual imprisonment, and passed the next six years in +captivity at Ham, where he produced a treatise on the Napoleonic +Ideas, and certain fragments on political and social questions. +The enthusiasm for Napoleon, of which there had been little trace +in France since 1815, was now reviving; the sufferings of the +epoch of conquest were forgotten; the steady maintenance of peace +by Louis Philippe seemed humiliating to young and ardent spirits +who had not known the actual presence of the foreigner. In +literature two men of eminence worked powerfully upon the +national imagination. The history of Thiers gave the nation a +great stage-picture of Napoleon's exploits; Béranger's +lyrics invested his exile at St. Helena with an irresistible, +though spurious, pathos. Thus, little as the world concerned +itself with the prisoner at Ham, the tendencies of the time were +working in his favour; and his confinement, which lasted six +years and was terminated by his escape and return to England, +appears to have deepened his brooding nature, and to have +strengthened rather than diminished his confidence in himself. On +the overthrow of Louis Philippe he visited Paris, but was +requested by the Provisional Government, on the ground of the +unrepealed law banishing the Bonaparte family, to quit the +country. He obeyed, probably foreseeing that the difficulties of +the Republic would create better opportunities for his +reappearance. Meanwhile the group of unknown men who sought their +fortunes in a Napoleonic restoration busily canvassed and wrote +on behalf of the Prince, and with such success that, in the +supplementary elections that were held at the beginning of June, +he obtained a fourfold triumph. The Assembly, in spite of the +efforts of the Government, pronounced his return valid. Yet with +rare self-command the Prince still adhered to his policy of +reserve, resigning his seat on the ground that his election had +been made a pretext for movements of which he disapproved, while +at the same time he declared in his letter to the President of +the Assembly that if duties should be imposed upon him by the +people he should know how to fulfil them. <a name="FNanchor423"> </a><a href="#Footnote_423"><sup>[423]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Louis Napoleon again elected, Sept. 17.]</p> +<p>[Louis Napoleon elected President, Dec. 10.]</p> +<p>From this time Louis Napoleon was a recognised aspirant to +power. The Constitution of the Republic was now being drawn up by +the Assembly. The Executive Commission had disappeared in the +convulsion of June; Cavaignac was holding the balance between +parties rather than governing himself. In the midst of the +debates on the Constitution Louis Napoleon was again returned +elected, to the Assembly by the votes of five Departments. He saw +that he ought to remain no longer in the background, and, +accepting the call of the electors, he took his seat in the +Chamber. It was clear that he would become a candidate for the +Presidency of the Republic, and that the popularity of his name +among the masses was enormous. He had twice presented himself to +France as the heir to Napoleon's throne; he had never directly +abandoned his dynastic claim; he had but recently declared, in +almost threatening language, that he should know how to fulfil +the duties that the people might impose upon him. Yet with all +these facts before it the Assembly, misled by the puerile +rhetoric of Lamartine, decided that in the new Constitution the +President of the Republic, in whom was vested the executive +power, should be chosen by the direct vote of all Frenchmen, and +rejected the amendment of M. Grevy, who, with real insight into +the future, declared that such direct election by the people +could only give France a Dictator, and demanded that the +President should be appointed not by the masses but by the +Chamber. Thus was the way paved for Louis Napoleon's march to +power. The events of June had dispelled any attraction that he +had hitherto felt towards Socialistic theories. He saw that +France required an upholder of order and of property. In his +address to the nation announcing his candidature for the +Presidency he declared that he would shrink from no sacrifice in +defending society, so audaciously attacked; that he would devote +himself without reserve to the maintenance of the Republic, and +make it his pride to leave to his successor at the end of four +years authority strengthened, liberty unimpaired, and real +progress accomplished. Behind these generalities the address +dexterously touched on the special wants of classes and parties, +and promised something to each. The French nation in the election +which followed showed that it believed in Louis Napoleon even +more than he did in himself. If there existed in the opinion of +the great mass any element beyond the mere instinct of +self-defence against real or supposed schemes of spoliation, it +was reverence for Napoleon's memory. Out of seven millions of +votes given, Louis Napoleon received above five, Cavaignac, who +alone entered into serious competition with him, receiving about +a fourth part of that number. Lamartine and the men who ten +months before had represented all the hopes of the nation now +found but a handful of supporters. Though none yet openly spoke +of Monarchy, on all sides there was the desire for the +restoration of power. The day-dreams of the second Republic had +fled. France had shown that its choice lay only between a soldier +who had crushed rebellion and a stranger who brought no title to +its confidence but an Imperial name.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XX."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c20">CHAPTER XX.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Austria and Italy-Vienna from March to May-Flight of the +Emperor- Bohemian National Movement-Windischgrätz subdues +Prague-Campaign around Verona-Papal Allocution-Naples in +May-Negotiations as to Lombardy-Reconquest of Venetia-Battle of +Custozza-The Austrians enter Milan-Austrian Court and Hungary-The +Serbs in Southern Hungary-Serb Congress at +Carlowitz-Jellacic-Affairs of Croatia-Jellacic, the Court and the +Hungarian Movement-Murder of Lamberg-Manifesto of October 3 +Vienna on October 6-The Emperor at Olmütz-Windischgrätz +conquers Vienna-The Parliament at Kremsier-Schwarzenberg +Minister-Ferdinand abdicates-Dissolution of the Kremsier +Parliament-Unitary Edict- Hungary-The Roumanians in +Transylvania-The Austrian Army occupies Pesth-Hungarian +Government at Debreczin-The Austrians driven out of +Hungary-Declaration of Hungarian Independence-Russian +Intervention- The Hungarian Summer Campaign-Capitulation of +Vilagos-Italy-Murder of Rossi-Tuscany-The March Campaign in +Lombardy-Novara-Abdication of Charles Albert-Victor +Emmanuel-Restoration in Tuscany-French Intervention in +Rome-Defeat of Oudinot-Oudinot and Lesseps-The French enter +Rome-The Restored Pontifical Government-Fall of Venice- Ferdinand +reconquers Sicily Germany-The National Assembly at Frankfort- The +Armistice of Malmö-Berlin from April to September-The +Prussian Army-Last days of the Prussian Parliament-Prussian +Constitution granted by Edict-The German National Assembly and +Austria-Frederick William IV. elected Emperor-He refuses the +Crown-End of the National Assembly-Prussia attempts to form a +separate Union-The Union Parliament at Erfurt-Action of +Austria-Hesse Cassel-The Diet of Frankfort +restored-Olmütz-Schleswig-Holstein-Germany after 1849- +Austria after 1851-France after 1848-Louis Napoleon-The October +Message-Law Limiting the Franchise-Louis Napoleon and the Army- +Proposed Revision of the Constitution-The Coup +d'État-Napoleon III. Emperor</p> +<br> + +<p>[Austria and Italy.]</p> +<p>The plain of Northern Italy has ever been an arena on which +the contest between interests greater than those of Italy itself +has been brought to an issue, and it may perhaps be truly said +that in the struggle between established Governments and +Revolution through out Central Europe in 1848 the real turning +point, if it can anywhere be fixed, lay rather in the fortunes of +a campaign in Lombardy than in any single combination of events +at Vienna or Berlin. The very existence of the Austrian Monarchy +depended on the victory of Radetzky's forces over the national +movement at the head of which Piedmont had now placed itself. If +Italian independence should be established upon the ruin of the +Austrian arms, and the influence and example of the victorious +Italian people be thrown into the scale against the Imperial +Government in its struggle with the separatist forces that +convulsed every part of the Austrian dominions, it was scarcely +possible that any stroke of fortune or policy could save the +Empire of the Hapsburgs from dissolution. But on the prostration +or recovery of Austria, as represented by its central power at +Vienna, the future of Germany in great part depended. Whatever +compromise might be effected between popular and monarchical +forces in the other German States if left free from Austria's +interference, the whole influence of a resurgent Austrian power +could not but be directed against the principles of popular +sovereignty and national union. The Parliament of Frankfort might +then in vain affect to fulfil its mandate without reckoning with +the Court of Vienna. All this was indeed obscured in the tempests +that for a while shut out the political horizon. The Liberals of +Northern Germany had little sympathy with the Italian cause in +the decisive days of 1848. Their inclinations went rather with +the combatant who, though bent on maintaining an oppressive +dominion, was nevertheless a member of the German race and paid +homage for the moment to Constitutional rights. Yet, as later +events were to prove, the fetters which crushed liberty beyond +the Alps could fit as closely on to German limbs; and in the +warfare of Upper Italy for its own freedom the battle of German +Liberalism was in no small measure fought and lost.</p> +<p>[Vienna from March to May.]</p> +<p>Metternich once banished from Vienna, the first popular demand +was for a Constitution. His successors in office, with a certain +characteristic pedantry, devoted their studies to the Belgian +Constitution of 1831; and after some weeks a Constitution was +published by edict for the non-Hungarian part of the Empire, +including a Parliament of two Chambers, the Lower to be chosen by +indirect election, the Upper consisting of nominees of the Crown +and representatives of the great landowners. The provisions of +this Constitution in favour of the Crown and the Aristocracy, as +well as the arbitrary mode of its promulgation, displeased the +Viennese. Agitation recommenced in the city; unpopular officials +were roughly handled the Press grew ever more violent and more +scurrilous. One strange result of the tutelage in which Austrian +society had been held was that the students of the University +became, and for some time continued to be, the most important +political body of the capital. Their principal rivals in +influence were the National Guard drawn from citizens of the +middle class, the workmen as yet remaining in the background. +Neither in the Hall of the University nor at the taverns where +the civic militia discussed the events of the hour did the +office-drawn Constitution find favour. On the 13th of May it was +determined, with the view of exercising stronger pressure upon +the Government, that the existing committees of the National +Guard and of the students should be superseded by one central +committee representing both bodies. The elections to this +committee had been held, and its sittings had begun, when the +commander of the National Guard declared such proceedings to be +inconsistent with military discipline, and ordered the +dissolution of the committee. Riots followed, during which the +students and the mob made their way into the Emperor's palace and +demanded from his Ministers not only the re-establishment of the +central committee but the abolition of the Upper Chamber in the +projected Constitution, and the removal of the checks imposed on +popular sovereignty by a limited franchise and the system of +indirect elections. On point after point the Ministry gave way; +and, in spite of the resistance and reproaches of the Imperial +household, they obtained the Emperor's signature to a document +promising that for the future all the important military posts in +the city should be held by the National Guard jointly with the +regular troops, that the latter should never be called out except +on the requisition of the National Guard, and that the projected +Constitution should remain without force until it should have +been submitted for confirmation to a single Constituent Assembly +elected by universal suffrage.</p> +<p>[Flight of the Emperor, May 17.]</p> +<p>[Tumult of May 26.]</p> +<p>The weakness of the Emperor's intelligence rendered him a mere +puppet in the hands of those who for the moment exercised control +over his actions. During the riot of the 15th of May he obeyed +his Ministers; a few hours afterwards he fell under the sway of +the Court party, and consented to fly from Vienna. On the 18th +the Viennese learnt to their astonishment that Ferdinand was far +on the road to the Tyrol. Soon afterwards a manifesto was +published, stating that the violence and anarchy of the capital +had compelled the Emperor to transfer his residence to Innsbruck; +that he remained true, however, to the promises made in March and +to their legitimate consequences; and that proof must be given of +the return of the Viennese to their old sentiments of loyalty +before he could again appear among them. A certain revulsion of +feeling in the Emperor's favour now became manifest in the +capital, and emboldened the Ministers to take the first step +necessary towards obtaining his return, namely the dissolution of +the Students' Legion. They could count with some confidence on +the support of the wealthier part of the middle class, who were +now becoming wearied of the students' extravagances and alarmed +at the interruption of business caused by the Revolution; +moreover, the ordinary termination of the academic year was near +at hand. The order was accordingly given for the dissolution of +the Legion and the closing of the University. But the students +met the order with the stoutest resistance. The workmen poured in +from the suburbs to join in their defence. Barricades were +erected, and the insurrection of March seemed on the point of +being renewed. Once more the Government gave way, and not only +revoked its order, but declared itself incapable of preserving +tranquillity in the capital unless it should receive the +assistance of the leaders of the people. With the full +concurrence of the Ministers, a Committee of Public Safety was +formed, representing at once the students, the middle class, and +the workmen; and it entered upon its duties with an authority +exceeding, within the limits of the capital, that of the shadowy +functionaries of State. <a name="FNanchor424"> </a><a href="#Footnote_424"><sup>[424]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Bohemian national movement.]</p> +<p>[Windischgrätz subdues Prague, June 12-17.]</p> +<p>In the meantime the antagonism between the Czechs and the +Germans in Bohemia was daily becoming more bitter. The influence +of the party of compromise, which had been dominant in the early +days of March, had disappeared before the ill-timed attempt of +the German national leaders at Frankfort to include Bohemia +within the territory sending representatives to the German +national Parliament. By consenting to this incorporation the +Czech population would have definitely renounced its newly +asserted claim to nationality. If the growth of democratic spirit +at Vienna was accompanied by a more intense German national +feeling in the capital, the popular movements at Vienna and at +Prague must necessarily pass into a relation of conflict with one +another. On the flight of the Emperor becoming known at Prague, +Count Thun, the governor, who was also the chief of the moderate +Bohemian party, invited Ferdinand to make Prague the seat of his +Government. This invitation, which would have directly connected +the Crown with Czech national interests, was not accepted. The +rasher politicians, chiefly students and workmen, continued to +hold their meetings and to patrol the streets; and a Congress of +Slavs from all parts of the Empire, which was opened on the 2nd +of June, excited national passions still further. So threatening +grew the attitude of the students and workmen that Count +Windischgrätz, commander of the troops at Prague, prepared +to act with artillery. On the 12th of June, the day on which the +Congress of Slavs broke up, fighting began. Windischgrätz, +whose wife was killed by a bullet, appears to have acted with +calmness, and to have sought to arrive at some peaceful +settlement. He withdrew his troops, and desisted from a +bombardment that he had begun, on the understanding that the +barricades which had been erected should be removed. This +condition was not fulfilled. New acts of violence occurred in the +city, and on the 17th Windischgrätz reopened fire. On the +following day Prague surrendered, and Windischgrätz +re-entered the city as Dictator. The autonomy of Bohemia was at +an end. The army had for the first time acted with effect against +a popular rising; the first blow had been struck on behalf of the +central power against the revolution which till now had seemed +about to dissolve the Austrian State into its fragments.</p> +<p>[Campaign around Verona, April-May.]</p> +<p>At this point the dominant interest in Austrian affairs passes +from the capital and the northern provinces to Radetzky's army +and the Italians with whom it stood face to face. Once convinced +of the necessity of a retreat from Milan, the Austrian commander +had moved with sufficient rapidity to save Verona and Mantua from +passing into the hands of the insurgents. He was thus enabled to +place his army in one of the best defensive positions in Europe, +the Quadrilateral flanked by the rivers Mincio and Adige, and +protected by the fortresses of Verona, Mantua, Peschiera, and +Legnano. With his front on the Mincio he awaited at once the +attack of the Piedmontese and the arrival of reinforcements from +the north-east. On the 8th of April the first attack was made, +and after a sharp engagement at Goito the passage of the Mincio +was effected by the Sardinian army. Siege was now laid to +Peschiera; and while a Tuscan contingent watched Mantua, the bulk +of Charles Albert's forces operated farther northward with the +view of cutting off Verona from the roads to the Tyrol. This +result was for a moment achieved, but the troops at the King's +disposal were far too weak for the task of reducing the +fortresses; and in an attempt that was made on the 6th of May to +drive the Austrians out of their positions in front of Verona, +Charles Albert was defeated at Santa Lucia and compelled to fall +back towards the Mincio. <a name="FNanchor425"> </a><a href="#Footnote_425"><sup>[425]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Papal Allocution, April 29.]</p> +<p>[Naples in May.]</p> +<p>A pause in the war ensued, filled by political events of evil +omen for Italy. Of all the princes who had permitted their troops +to march northwards to the assistance of the Lombards, not one +was acting in full sincerity. The first to show himself in his +true colours was the Pope. On the 29th of April an Allocution was +addressed to the Cardinals, in which Pius disavowed all +participation in the war against Austria, and declared that his +own troops should do no more than defend the integrity of the +Roman States. Though at the moment an outburst of popular +indignation in Rome forced a still more liberal Ministry into +power, and Durando, the Papal general, continued his advance into +Venetia, the Pope's renunciation of his supposed national +leadership produced the effect which its author desired, +encouraging every open and every secret enemy of the Italian +cause, and perplexing those who had believed themselves to be +engaged in a sacred as well as a patriotic war. In Naples things +hurried far more rapidly to a catastrophe. Elections had been +held to the Chamber of Deputies, which was to be opened on the +15th of May, and most of the members returned were men who, while +devoted to the Italian national cause were neither Republicans +nor enemies of the Bourbon dynasty, but anxious to co-operate +with their King in the work of Constitutional reform. Politicians +of another character, however, commanded the streets of Naples. +Rumours were spread that the Court was on the point of restoring +despotic government and abandoning the Italian cause. Disorder +and agitation increased from day to day; and after the Deputies +had arrived in the city and begun a series of informal meetings +preparatory to the opening of the Parliament, an ill-advised act +of Ferdinand gave to the party of disorder, who were weakly +represented in the Assembly, occasion for an insurrection. After +promulgating the Constitution on February both, Ferdinand had +agreed that it should be submitted to the two Chambers for +revision. He notified, however, to the Representatives on the eve +of the opening of Parliament that they would be required to take +an oath of fidelity to the Constitution. They urged that such an +oath would deprive them of their right of revision. The King, +after some hours, consented to a change in the formula of the +oath; but his demand had already thrown the city into tumult. +Barricades were erected, the Deputies in vain endeavouring to +calm the rioters and to prevent a conflict with the troops. While +negotiations were still in progress shots were fired. The troops +now threw themselves upon the people; there was a struggle, short +in duration, but sanguinary and merciless; the barricades were +captured, some hundreds of the insurgents slain, and Ferdinand +was once more absolute master of Naples. The Assembly was +dissolved on the day after that on which it should have met. +Orders were at once sent by the King to General Pepe, commander +of the troops that were on the march to Lombardy, to return with +his army to Naples. Though Pepe continued true to the national +cause, and endeavoured to lead his army forward from Bologna in +defiance of the King's instructions, his troops now melted away; +and when he crossed the Po and placed himself under the standard +of Charles Albert in Venetia there remained with him scarcely +fifteen hundred men.</p> +<p>[Negotiations as to Lombardy.]</p> +<p>[Reconquest of Venetia, June, July.]</p> +<p>It thus became clear before the end of May that the Lombards +would receive no considerable help from the Southern States in +their struggle for freedom, and that the promised league of the +Governments in the national cause was but a dream from which +there was a bitter awakening. Nor in Northern Italy itself was +there the unity in aim and action without which success was +impossible. The Republican party accused the King and the +Provisional Government at Milan of an unwillingness to arm the +people; Charles Albert on his part regarded every Republican as +an enemy. On entering Lombardy the King had stated that no +question as to the political organisation of the future should be +raised until the war was ended; nevertheless, before a fortress +had been captured, he had allowed Modena and Parma to declare +themselves incorporated with the Piedmontese monarchy; and, in +spite of Mazzini's protest, their example was followed by +Lombardy and some Venetian districts. In the recriminations that +passed between the Republicans and the Monarchists it was even +suggested that Austria had friends of its own in certain classes +of the population. This was not the view taken by the Viennese +Government, which from the first appears to have considered its +cause in Lombardy as virtually lost. The mediation of Great +Britain was invoked by Metternich's successors, and a willingness +expressed to grant to the Italian provinces complete autonomy +under the Emperor's sceptre. Palmerston, in reply to the +supplications of a Court which had hitherto cursed his influence, +urged that Lombardy and the greater part of Venetia should be +ceded to the King of Piedmont. The Austrian Government would have +given up Lombardy to their enemy; they hesitated to increase his +power to the extent demanded by Palmerston, the more so as the +French Ministry was known to be jealous of the aggrandisement of +Sardinia, and to desire the establishment of weak Republics like +those formed in 1796. Withdrawing from its negotiations at +London, the Emperor's Cabinet now entered into direct +communication with the Provisional Government at Milan, and, +without making any reference to Piedmont or Venice, offered +complete independence to Lombardy. As the union of this province +with Piedmont had already been voted by its inhabitants, the +offer was at once rejected. Moreover, even it the Italians had +shown a disposition to compromise their cause and abandon Venice, +Radetzky would not have broken off the combat while any +possibility remained of winning over the Emperor from the side of +the peace-party. In reply to instructions directing him to offer +an armistice to the enemy, he sent Prince Felix Schwarzenberg to +Innsbruck to implore the Emperor to trust to the valour of his +soldiers and to continue the combat. Already there were signs +that the victory would ultimately be with Austria. Reinforcements +had cut their way through the insurgent territory and reached +Verona; and although a movement by which Radetzky threatened to +sever Charles Albert's communications was frustrated by a second +engagement at Goito, and Peschiera passed into the besiegers' +hands, this was the last success won by the Italians. Throwing +himself suddenly eastwards, Radetzky appeared before Vicenza, and +compelled this city, with the entire Papal army, commanded by +General Durando, to capitulate. The fall of Vicenza was followed +by that of the other cities on the Venetian mainland +till Venice alone on the east of the Adige defied the Austrian +arms. As the invader pressed onward, an Assembly which Manin had +convoked at Venice decided on union with Piedmont. Manin himself +had been the most zealous opponent of what he considered the +sacrifice of Venetian independence. He gave way nevertheless at +the last, and made no attempt to fetter the decision of the +Assembly; but when this decision had been given he handed over +the conduct of affairs to others, and retired for awhile into +private life, declining to serve under a <a name="FNanchor426">king.</a><a href="#Footnote_426"><sup>[426]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Battle of Custozza July 25.]</p> +<p>[Austrians re-enter Milan, Aug. 6.]</p> +<p>Charles Albert now renewed his attempt to wrest the central +fortresses from the Austrians. Leaving half his army at Peschiera +and farther north, he proceeded with the other half to blockade +Mantua. Radetzky took advantage of the unskilful generalship of +his opponent, and threw himself upon the weakly guarded centre of +the long Sardinian line. The King perceived his error, and sought +to unite with his the northern detachments, now separated from +him by the Mincio. His efforts were baffled, and on the 25th of +July, after a brave resistance, his troops were defeated at +Custozza. The retreat across the Mincio was conducted in fair +order, but disasters sustained by the northern division, which +should have held the enemy in check, destroyed all hope, and the +retreat then became a flight. Radetzky followed in close pursuit. +Charles Albert entered Milan, but declared himself unable to +defend the city. A storm of indignation broke out against the +unhappy King amongst the Milanese, whom he was declared to have +betrayed. The palace where he had taken up his quarters was +besieged by the mob; his life was threatened; and he escaped with +difficulty on the night of August 5th under the protection of +General La Marmora and a few faithful Guards. A capitulation was +signed, and as the Piedmontese army evacuated the city Radetzky's +troops entered it in triumph. Not less than sixty thousand of the +inhabitants, according to Italian statements, abandoned their +homes and sought refuge in Switzerland or Piedmont rather than +submit to the conqueror's rule. Radetzky could now have followed +his retreating enemy without difficulty to Turin, and have +crushed Piedmont itself under foot; but the fear of France and +Great Britain checked his career of victory, and hostilities were +brought to a close by an armistice at Vigevano on August 9th. <a +name="FNanchor427"> </a><a href="#Footnote_427"><sup>[427]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Austrian Court and Hungary.]</p> +<p>The effects of Radetzky's triumph were felt in every province +of the Empire. The first open expression given to the changed +state of affairs was the return of the Imperial Court from its +refuge at Innsbruck to Vienna. The election promised in May had +been held, and an Assembly representing all the non-Hungarian +parts of the Monarchy, with the exception of the Italian +provinces, had been opened by the Archduke John, as +representative of the Emperor, on the 22nd of July. Ministers and +Deputies united in demanding the return of the Emperor to the +capital. With Radetzky and Windischgrätz within call, the +Emperor could now with some confidence face his students and his +Parliament. But of far greater importance than the return of the +Court to Vienna was the attitude which it now assumed towards the +Diet and the national Government of Hungary. The concessions made +in April, inevitable as they were, had in fact raised Hungary to +the position of an independent State. When such matters as the +employment of Hungarian troops against Italy or the distribution +of the burden of taxation came into question, the Emperor had to +treat with the Hungarian Ministry almost as if it represented a +foreign and a rival Power. For some months this humiliation had +to be borne, and the appearance of fidelity to the new +Constitutional law maintained. But a deep, resentful hatred +against the Magyar cause penetrated the circles in which the old +military and official absolutism of Austria yet survived; and +behind the men and the policy still representing with some degree +of sincerity the new order of things, there gathered the passions +and the intrigues of a reaction that waited only for the outbreak +of civil war within Hungary itself, and the restoration of +confidence to the Austrian army, to draw the sword against its +foe. Already, while Italy was still unsubdued, and the Emperor +was scarcely safe in his palace at Vienna, the popular forces +that might be employed against the Government at Pesth came into +view.</p> +<p>[The Serbs in Southern Hungary.]</p> +<p>[Serb Congress at Carlowitz, May 13-15.]</p> +<p>In one of the stormy sessions of the Hungarian Diet at the +time when the attempt was first made to impose the Magyar +language upon Croatia the Illyrian leader, Gai, had thus +addressed the Assembly: "You Magyars are an island in the ocean +of Slavism. Take heed that its waves do not rise and overwhelm +you." The agitation of the spring of 1848 first revealed in its +full extent the peril thus foreshadowed. Croatia had for above a +year been in almost open mutiny, but the spirit of revolt now +spread through the whole of the Serb population of Southern +Hungary, from the eastern limits of Slavonia, <a name="FNanchor428"> </a><a href="#Footnote_428"><sup>[428]</sup></a> +across the plain known as the Banat beyond the junction of the +Theiss and the Danube, up to the borders of Transylvania. The +Serbs had been welcomed into these provinces in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries by the sovereigns of Austria as a bulwark +against the Turks. Charters had been given to them, which were +still preserved, promising them a distinct political +administration under their own elected Voivode, and +ecclesiastical independence under their own Patriarch of the +Greek Church. <a name="FNanchor429"> </a><a href="#Footnote_429"><sup>[429]</sup></a> These provincial rights had +fared much as others in the Austrian Empire. The Patriarch and +the Voivode had disappeared, and the Banat had been completely +merged in Hungary. Enough, however, of Serb nationality remained +to kindle at the summons of 1848, and to resent with a sudden +fierceness the determination of the Magyar rulers at Pesth that +the Magyar language, as the language of State, should +thenceforward bind together all the races of Hungary in the +enjoyment of a common national life. The Serbs had demanded from +Kossuth and his colleagues the restoration of the local and +ecclesiastical autonomy of which the Hapsburgs had deprived them, +and the recognition of their own national language and customs. +They found, or believed, that instead of a German they were now +to have a Magyar lord, and one more near, more energetic, more +aggressive. Their reply to Kossuth's defence of Magyar ascendency +was the summoning of a Congress of Serbs at Carlowitz on the +Lower Danube. Here it was declared that the Serbs of Austria +formed a free and independent nation under the Austrian sceptre +and the common Hungarian Crown. A Voivode was elected and the +limits of his province were defined. A National Committee was +charged with the duty of organising a Government and of entering +into intimate connection with the neighbouring Slavic Kingdom of +Croatia.</p> +<p>[Jellacic in Croatia.]</p> +<p>At Agram, the Croatian capital, all established authority had +sunk in the catastrophe of March, and a National Committee had +assumed power. It happened that the office of Governor, or Ban, +of Croatia was then vacant. The Committee sent a deputation to +Vienna requesting that the colonel of the first Croatian +regiment, Jellacic, might be appointed. Without waiting for the +arrival of the deputation, the Court, by a patent dated the 23rd +of March, nominated Jellacic to the vacant post. The date of this +appointment, and the assumption of office by Jellacic on the 14th +of April, the very day before the Hungarian Ministry entered upon +its powers, have been considered proof that a secret +understanding existed from the first between Jellacic and the +Court. No further evidence of this secret relation has, however, +been made public, and the belief long current among all friends +of the Magyar cause that Croatia was deliberately instigated to +revolt against the Hungarian Government by persons around the +Emperor seems to rest on no solid foundation. The Croats would +have been unlike all other communities in the Austrian Empire if +they had not risen under the national impulse of 1848. They had +been murmuring against Magyar ascendency for years past, and the +fire long smouldering now probably burst into flame here as +elsewhere without the touch of an incendiary hand. With regard to +Jellacic's sudden appointment it is possible that the Court, +powerless to check the Croatian movement, may have desired to +escape the appearance of compulsion by spontaneously conferring +office on the popular soldier, who was at least more likely to +regard the Emperor's interests than the lawyers and demagogues +around him. Whether Jellacic was at this time genuinely concerned +for Croatian autonomy, or whether from the first, while he +apparently acted with the Croatian nationalists his deepest +sympathies were with the Austrian army, and his sole design was +that of serving the Imperial Crown with or without its own avowed +concurrence, it is impossible to say. That, like most of his +countrymen, he cordially hated the Magyars, is beyond doubt. The +general impression left by his character hardly accords with the +Magyar conception of him as the profound and far-sighted +conspirator-he would seem, on the contrary, to have been a man +easily yielding to the impulses of the moment, and capable of +playing contradictory parts with little sense of his own +inconsistency. <a name="FNanchor430"> </a><a href="#Footnote_430"><sup>[430]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Affairs of Croatia April 14-June 16.]</p> +<p>Installed in office, Jellacic cast to the winds all +consideration due to the Emperor's personal engagements towards +Hungary, and forthwith permitted the Magyar officials to be +driven out of the country. On the 2nd of May he issued an order +forbidding all Croatian authorities to correspond with the +Government at Pesth. Batthyány, the Hungarian Premier, at +once hurried to Vienna, and obtained from the Emperor a letter +commanding Jellacic to submit to the Hungarian Ministry. As the +Ban paid no attention to this mandate, General Hrabowsky, +commander of the troops in the southern provinces, received +orders from Pesth to annul all that Jellacic had done, to suspend +him from his office, and to bring him to trial for high treason. +Nothing daunted, Jellacic on his own authority convoked the Diet +of Croatia for the 5th of June; the populace of Agram, on hearing +of Hrabowsky's mission, burnt the Palatine in effigy. This was a +direct outrage on the Imperial family, and Batthyány +turned it to account. The Emperor had just been driven from +Vienna by the riot of the 15th of May. Batthyány sought +him at Innsbruck, and by assuring him of the support of his loyal +Hungarians against both the Italians and the Viennese obtained +his signature on June 10th to a rescript vehemently condemning +the Ban's action and suspending him from office. Jellacic had +already been summoned to appear at Innsbruck. He set out, taking +with him a deputation of Croats and Serbs, and leaving behind him +a popular Assembly sitting at Agram, in which, besides the +representatives of Croatia, there were seventy Deputies from the +Serb provinces. On the very day on which the Ban reached +Innsbruck, the Imperial order condemning him and suspending him +from his functions was published by Batthyány at Pesth. +Nor was the situation made easier by the almost simultaneous +announcement that civil war had broken out on the Lower Danube, +and that General Hrabowsky, on attempting to occupy Carlowitz, +had been attacked and compelled to retreat by the Serbs under +their national leader Stratimirovic. <a name="FNanchor431"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_431"><sup>[431]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Jellacic, the Court, and the Hungarian Government.]</p> +<p>It is said that the Emperor Ferdinand, during deliberations in +council on which the fate of the Austrian Empire depended, was +accustomed to occupy himself with counting the number of +carriages that passed from right and left respectively under the +windows. In the struggle between Croatia and Hungary he appears +to have avoided even the formal exercise of authority, preferring +to commit the decision between the contending parties to the +Archduke John, as mediator or judge. John was too deeply immersed +in other business to give much attention to the matter. What +really passed between Jellacic and the Imperial family at +Innsbruck is unknown. The official request of the Ban was for the +withdrawal or suppression of the rescript signed by the Emperor +on June 10th. Prince Esterhazy, who represented the Hungarian +Government at Innsbruck, was ready to make this concession; but +before the document could be revoked, it had been made public by +Batthyány. With the object of proving his fidelity to the +Court, Jellacic now published an address to the Croatian +regiments serving in Lombardy, entreating them not to be diverted +from their duty to the Emperor in the field by any report of +danger to their rights and their nationality nearer home. So +great was Jellacic's influence with his countrymen that an appeal +from him of opposite tenor would probably have caused the +Croatian regiments to quit Radetzky in a mass, and so have +brought the war in Italy to an ignominious end. His action won +for him a great popularity in the higher ranks of the Austrian +army, and probably gained for him, even if he did not possess it +before, the secret confidence of the Court. That some +understanding now existed is almost certain, for, in spite of the +unrepealed declaration of June 10th, and the postponement of the +Archduke's judgment, Jellacic was permitted to return to Croatia +and to resume his government. The Diet at Agram occupied itself +with far-reaching schemes for a confederation of the southern +Slavs; but its discussions were of no practical effect, and after +some weeks it was extinguished under the form of an adjournment. +From this time Jellacic held dictatorial power. It was +unnecessary for him in his relations with Hungary any longer to +keep up the fiction of a mere defence of Croatian rights; he +appeared openly as the champion of Austrian unity. In +negotiations which he held with Batthyány at Vienna during +the last days of July, he demanded the restoration of single +Ministries for War, Finance, and Foreign Affairs for the whole +Austrian Empire. The demand was indignantly refused, and the +chieftains of the two rival races quitted Vienna to prepare for +war.</p> +<p>[Imminent breach between Austria and Hungary.]</p> +<p>[Jellacic restored to office, Sept. 3. He marches on +Pesth.]</p> +<p>The Hungarian National Parliament, elected under the new +Constitution, had been opened at Pesth on July 5th. Great efforts +had been made, in view of the difficulties with Croatia and of +the suspected intrigues between the Ban and the Court party, to +induce the Emperor Ferdinand to appear at Pesth in person. He +excused himself from this on the ground of illness, but sent a +letter to the Parliament condemning not only in his own name but +in that of every member of the Imperial family the resistance +offered to the Hungarian Government in the southern provinces. If +words bore any meaning, the Emperor stood pledged to a loyal +co-operation with the Hungarian Ministers in defence of the unity +and the constitution of the Hungarian Kingdom as established by +the laws of April. Yet at this very time the Minister of War at +Vienna was encouraging Austrian officers to join the Serb +insurgents. Kossuth, who conducted most of the business of the +Hungarian Government in the Lower Chamber at Pesth, made no +secret of his hostility to the central powers. While his +colleagues sought to avoid a breach with the other half of the +Monarchy, it seemed to be Kossuth's object rather to provoke it. +In calling for a levy of two hundred thousand men to crash the +Slavic rebellion, he openly denounced the Viennese Ministry and +the Court as its promoters. In leading the debate upon the +Italian War, he endeavoured without the knowledge of his +colleagues to make the cession of the territory west of the Adige +a condition of Hungary's participation in the struggle. As +Minister of Finance, he spared neither word nor act to +demonstrate his contempt for the financial interests of Austria. +Whether a gentler policy on the part of the most powerful +statesman in Hungary might have averted the impending conflict it +is vain to ask; but in the uncompromising enmity of Kossuth the +Austrian Court found its own excuse for acts in which +shamelessness seemed almost to rise into political virtue. No +sooner had Radetzky's victories and the fall of Milan brought the +Emperor back to Vienna than the new policy came into effect. The +veto of the sovereign was placed upon the laws passed by the Diet +at Pesth for the defence of the Kingdom. The Hungarian Government +was required to reinstate Jellacic in his dignities, to enter +into negotiations at Vienna with him and the Austrian Ministry, +and finally to desist from all military preparations against the +rebellious provinces. In answer to these demands the Diet sent a +hundred of its members to Vienna to claim from the Emperor the +fulfilment of his plighted word. The miserable man received them +on the 9th of September with protestations of his sincerity; but +even before the deputation had passed the palace-gates, there +appeared in the official gazette a letter under the Emperor's own +hand replacing Jellacic in office and acquitting him of every +charge that had been brought against him. It was for this formal +recognition alone that Jellacic had been waiting. On the 11th of +September he crossed the Drave with his army, and began his march +against the Hungarian <a name="FNanchor432">capital.</a><a href="#Footnote_432"><sup>[432]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Mission of Lamberg. He is murdered at Pesth, Sept. 28.]</p> +<p>The Ministry now in office at Vienna was composed in part of +men who had been known as reformers in the early days of 1848; +but the old order was represented by Count Wessenberg, who had +been Metternich's assistant at the Congress of Vienna, and by +Latour, the War Minister, a soldier of high birth whose career +dated back to the campaign of Austerlitz. Whatever contempt might +be felt by one section of the Cabinet for the other, its members +were able to unite against the independence of Hungary as they +had united against the independence of Italy. They handed in to +the Emperor a memorial in which the very concessions to which +they owed their own existence as a Constitutional Ministry were +made a ground for declaring the laws establishing Hungarian +autonomy null and void. In a tissue of transparent sophistries +they argued that the Emperor's promise of a Constitution to all +his dominions on the 15th of March disabled him from assenting, +without the advice of his Viennese Ministry, to the resolutions +subsequently passed by the Hungarian Diet, although the union +between Hungary and the other Hereditary States had from the +first rested solely on the person of the monarch, and no German +official had ever pretended to exercise authority over Hungarians +otherwise than by order of the sovereign as Hungarian King. The +publication of this Cabinet memorial, which appeared in the +journals at Pesth on the 15th of September, gave plain warning to +the Hungarians that, if they were not to be attacked by Jellacic +and the Austrian army simultaneously, they must make some +compromise with the Government at Vienna. Batthyány was +inclined to concession, and after resigning office in consequence +of the Emperor's desertion he had already re-assumed his post +with colleagues disposed to accept his own pacific policy. +Kossuth spoke openly of war with Austria and of a dictatorship. +As Jellacic advanced towards Pesth, the Palatine took command of +the Hungarian army and marched southwards. On reaching Lake +Baloton, on whose southern shore the Croats were encamped, he +requested a personal conference with Jellacic, and sailed to the +appointed place of meeting. But he waited in vain for the Ban; +and rightly interpreting this rejection of his overtures, he fled +from the army and laid down his office. The Emperor now sent +General Lamberg from Vienna with orders to assume the supreme +command alike over the Magyar and the Croatian forces, and to +prevent an encounter. On the success of Lamberg's mission hung +the last chance of reconciliation between Hungary and Austria. +Batthyány, still clinging to the hope of peace, set out +for the camp in order to meet the envoy on his arrival. Lamberg, +desirous of obtaining the necessary credentials from the +Hungarian Government, made his way to Pesth. There he found +Kossuth and a Committee of Six installed in power. Under their +influence the Diet passed a resolution forbidding Lamberg to +assume command of the Hungarian troops, and declaring him a +traitor if he should attempt to do so. The report spread through +Pesth that Lamberg had come to seize the citadel and bombard the +town; and before he could reach a place of safety he was attacked +and murdered by a raging mob. It was in vain that +Batthyány, who now laid down his office, besought the +Government at Vienna to take no rash step of vengeance. The +pretext for annihilating Hungarian independence had been given, +and the mask was cast aside. A manifesto published by the Emperor +on the 3rd of October declared the Hungarian Parliament +dissolved, and its acts null and void. Martial law was +proclaimed, and Jellacic appointed commander of all the forces +and representative of the sovereign. In the course of the next +few days it was expected that he would enter Pesth as +conqueror.</p> +<p>[Manifesto of Oct. 3.]</p> +<p>[Tumult of Oct. 6 at Vienna. Latour murdered.]</p> +<p>In the meantime, however confidently the Government might +reckon on Jellacic's victory, the passions of revolution were +again breaking loose in Vienna itself. Increasing misery among +the poor, financial panics, the reviving efforts of professional +agitators, had renewed the disturbances of the spring in forms +which alarmed the middle classes almost as much as the holders of +power. The conflict of the Government with Hungary brought +affairs to a crisis. After discovering the uselessness of +negotiations with the Emperor, the Hungarian Parliament had sent +some of its ablest members to request an audience from the +Assembly sitting at Vienna, in order that the representatives of +the western half of the Empire might, even at the last moment, +have the opportunity of pronouncing a judgment upon the action of +the Court. The most numerous group in the Assembly was formed by +the Czech deputies from Bohemia. As Slavs, the Bohemian deputies +had sympathised with the Croats and Serbs in their struggle +against Magyar ascendency, and in their eyes Jellacic was still +the champion of a national cause. Blinded by their sympathies of +race to the danger involved to all nationalities alike by the +restoration of absolutism, the Czech majority, in spite of a +singularly impressive warning given by a leader of the German +Liberals, refused a hearing to the Hungarian representatives. The +Magyars, repelled by the Assembly, sought and found allies in the +democracy of Vienna itself. The popular clubs rang with +acclamations for the cause of Hungarian freedom and with +invectives against the Czech instruments of tyranny. In the midst +of this deepening agitation tidings arrived at Vienna that +Jellacic had been repulsed in his march on Pesth and forced to +retire within the Austrian frontier. It became necessary for the +Viennese Government to throw its own forces into the struggle, +and an order was given by Latour to the regiments in the capital +to set out for the scene of warfare. This order had, however, +been anticipated by the democratic leaders, and a portion of the +troops had been won over to the popular side. Latour's commands +were resisted; and upon an attempt being made to enforce the +departure of the troops, the regiments fired on one another +(October 6th). The battalions of the National Guard which rallied +to the support of the Government were overpowered by those +belonging to the working men's districts. The insurrection was +victorious; the Ministers submitted once more to the masters of +the streets, and the orders given to the troops were withdrawn. +But the fiercer part of the mob was not satisfied with a +political victory. There were criminals and madmen among its +leaders who, after the offices of Government had been stormed and +Latour had been captured, determined upon his death. It was in +vain that some of the keenest political opponents of the Minister +sought at the peril of their own lives to protect him from his +murderers. He was dragged into the court in front of the War +Office, and there slain with ferocious and yet deliberate +barbarity. <a name="FNanchor433"> </a><a href="#Footnote_433"><sup>[433]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Emperor at Olmütz.]</p> +<p>[Windischgrätz marches on Vienna.]</p> +<p>The Emperor, while the city was still in tumult, had in his +usual fashion promised that the popular demands should be +satisfied; but as soon as he was unobserved he fled from Vienna, +and in his flight he was followed by the Czech deputies and many +German Conservatives, who declared that their lives were no +longer safe in the capital. Most of the Ministers gathered round +the Emperor at Olmütz in Moravia; the Assembly, however, +continued to hold its sittings in Vienna, and the Finance +Minister, apparently under instructions from the Court, remained +at his post, and treated the Assembly as still possessed of legal +powers. But for all practical purposes the western half of the +Austrian Empire had now ceased to have any Government whatever; +and the real state of affairs was bluntly exposed in a manifesto +published by Count Windischgrätz at Prague on the 11th of +October, in which, without professing to have received any +commission from the Emperor, he announced his intention of +marching on Vienna in order to protect the sovereign and maintain +the unity of the Empire. In due course the Emperor ratified the +action of his energetic soldier; Windischgrätz was appointed +to the supreme command over all the troops of the Empire with the +exception of Radetzky's army, and his march against Vienna was +begun.</p> +<p>[Windischgrätz conquers Vienna, Oct. 26-Nov. 1.]</p> +<p>To the Hungarian Parliament, exasperated by the decree +ordering its own dissolution and the war openly levied against +the country by the Court in alliance with Jellacic, the revolt of +the capital seemed to bring a sudden deliverance from all danger. +The Viennese had saved Hungary, and the Diet was willing, if +summoned by the Assembly at Vienna, to send its troops to the +defence of the capital. But the urgency of the need was not +understood on either side till too late. The Viennese Assembly, +treating itself as a legitimate and constitutional power +threatened by a group of soldiers who had usurped the monarch's +authority, hesitated to compromise its legal character by calling +in a Hungarian army. The Magyar generals on the other hand were +so anxious not to pass beyond the strict defence of their own +kingdom, that, in the absence of communication from a Viennese +authority, they twice withdrew from Austrian soil after following +Jellacic in pursuit beyond the frontier. It was not until +Windischgrätz had encamped within sight of Vienna, and had +detained as a rebel the envoy sent to him by the Hungarian +Government, that Kossuth's will prevailed over the scruples of +weaker men, and the Hungarian army marched against the besiegers. +In the meantime Windischgrätz had begun his attack on the +suburbs, which were weakly defended by the National Guard and by +companies of students and volunteers, the nominal commander being +one Messenhauser, formerly an officer in the regular army, who +was assisted by a soldier of far greater merit than himself, the +Polish general Bem. Among those who fought were two members of +the German Parliament of Frankfort, Robert Blum and Fröbel, +who had been sent to mediate between the Emperor and his +subjects, but had remained at Vienna as combatants. The besiegers +had captured the outskirts of the city, and negotiations for +surrender were in progress, when, on the 30th of October, +Messenhauser from the top of the cathedral tower saw beyond the +line of the besiegers on the south-east the smoke of battle, and +announced that the Hungarian army was approaching. An engagement +had in fact begun on the plain of Schwechat between the +Hungarians and Jellacic, reinforced by divisions of +Windischgrätz's troops. In a moment of wild excitement the +defenders of the capital threw themselves once more upon their +foe, disregarding the offer of surrender that had been already +made. But the tide of battle at Schwechat turned against the +Hungarians. They were compelled to retreat, and +Windischgrätz, reopening his cannonade upon the rebels who +were also violators of their truce, became in a few hours master +of Vienna. He made his entry on the 31st of October, and treated +Vienna as a conquered city. The troops had behaved with ferocity +during the combat in the suburbs, and slaughtered scores of +unarmed persons. No Oriental tyrant ever addressed his fallen +foes with greater insolence and contempt for human right than +Windischgrätz in the proclamations which, on assuming +government, he addressed to the Viennese; yet, whatever might be +the number of persons arrested and imprisoned, the number now put +to death was not great. The victims were indeed carefully +selected; the most prominent being Robert Blum, in whom, as a +leader of the German Liberals and a Deputy of the German +Parliament inviolable by law, the Austrian Government struck +ostentatiously at the Parliament itself and at German democracy +at large.</p> +<p>[The Parliament at Kremsier, Nov. 22.]</p> +<p>[Schwarzenberg Minister.]</p> +<p>In the subjugation of Vienna the army had again proved itself +the real political power in Austria; but the time had not yet +arrived when absolute government could be openly restored. The +Bohemian deputies, fatally as they had injured the cause of +constitutional rule by their secession from Vienna, were still in +earnest in the cause of provincial autonomy, and would vehemently +have repelled the charge of an alliance with despotism. Even the +mutilated Parliament of Vienna had been recognised by the Court +as in lawful session until the 22nd of October, when an order was +issued proroguing the Parliament and bidding it re-assemble a +month later at Kremsier, in Moravia. There were indications in +the weeks succeeding the fall of Vienna of a conflict between the +reactionary and the more liberal influences surrounding the +Emperor, and of an impending <i>coup d'etat</i>: but counsels of +prudence prevailed for the moment; the Assembly was permitted to +meet at Kremsier, and professions of constitutional principle +were still made with every show of sincerity. A new Ministry, +however, came into office, with Prince Felix Schwarzenberg at its +head. Schwarzenberg belonged to one of the greatest Austrian +families. He had been ambassador at Naples when the revolution of +1848 broke out, and had quitted the city with words of menace +when insult was offered to the Austrian flag. Exchanging +diplomacy for war, he served under Radetzky, and was soon +recognised as the statesman in whom the army, as a political +power, found its own peculiar representative. His career had +hitherto been illustrated chiefly by scandals of private life so +flagrant that England and other countries where he had held +diplomatic posts had insisted on his removal; but the cynical and +reckless audacity of the man rose in his new calling as Minister +of Austria to something of political greatness. Few statesmen +have been more daring than Schwarzenberg; few have pushed to more +excessive lengths the advantages to be derived from the moral or +the material weakness of an adversary. His rule was the debauch +of forces respited in their extremity for one last and worst +exertion. Like the Roman Sulla, he gave to a condemned and +perishing cause the passing semblance of restored vigour, and +died before the next great wave of change swept his creations +away.</p> +<p>[Ferdinand abdicates, Dec. 2. Francis Joseph Emperor.]</p> +<p>[Dissolution of the Kremsier Parliament, March 7, 1849.]</p> +<p>[The Unitary Constitutional Edict, March, 1849.]</p> +<p>Schwarzenberg's first act was the deposition of his sovereign. +The imbecility of the Emperor Ferdinand had long suggested his +abdication or dethronement, and the time for decisive action had +now arrived. He gladly withdrew into private life: the crown, +declined by his brother and heir, was passed on to his nephew, +Francis Joseph, a youth of eighteen. This prince had at least not +made in person, not uttered with his own lips, not signed with +his own hand, those solemn engagements with the Hungarian nation +which Austria was now about to annihilate with fire and sword. He +had not moved in friendly intercourse with men who were +henceforth doomed to the scaffold. He came to the throne as +little implicated in the acts of his predecessor as any nominal +chief of a State could be; as fitting an instrument in the hands +of Court and army as any reactionary faction could desire. +Helpless and well-meaning, Francis Joseph, while his troops +poured into Hungary, played for a while in Austria the part of a +loyal observer of his Parliament; then, when the moment had come +for its destruction, he obeyed his soldier-minister as Ferdinand +had in earlier days obeyed the students, and signed the decree +for its dissolution (March 4, 1849). The Assembly, during its +sittings at Vienna, had accomplished one important task: it had +freed the peasantry from the burdens attaching to their land and +converted them into independent proprietors. This part of its +work survived it, and remained almost the sole gain that Austria +derived from the struggle of 1848. After the removal to Kremsier, +a Committee of the Assembly had been engaged with the formation +of a Constitution for Austria, and the draft was now completed. +In the course of debate something had been gained by the +representatives of the German and the Slavic races in the way of +respect for one another's interests and prejudices; some +political knowledge had been acquired; some approach made to an +adjustment between the claims of the central power and of +provincial autonomy. If the Constitution sketched at Kremsier had +come into being, it would at least have given to Western Austria +and to Galicia, which belonged to this half of the Empire, a +system of government based on popular desires and worthy, on the +part of the Crown, of a fair trial. But, apart from its own +defects from the monarchical point of view, this Constitution +rested on the division of the Empire into two independent parts; +it assumed the separation of Hungary from the other Hereditary +States; and of a separate Hungarian Kingdom the Minister now in +power would hear no longer. That Hungary had for centuries +possessed and maintained its rights; that, with the single +exception of the English, no nation in Europe had equalled the +Magyars in the stubborn and unwearied defence of Constitutional +law; that, in an age when national spirit was far less hotly +inflamed, the Emperor Joseph had well-nigh lost his throne and +wrecked his Empire in the attempt to subject this resolute race +to a centralised administration, was nothing to Schwarzenberg and +the soldiers who were now trampling upon revolution. Hungary was +declared to have forfeited by rebellion alike its ancient rights +and the contracts of 1848. The dissolution of the Parliament of +Kremsier was followed by the publication of an edict affecting to +bestow a uniform and centralised Constitution upon the entire +Austrian Empire. All existing public rights were thereby +extinguished; and, inasmuch as the new Constitution, in so far as +it provided for a representative system, never came into +existence, but remained in abeyance until it was formally +abrogated in 1851, the real effect of the Unitary Edict of March, +1849, which professed to close the period of revolution by +granting the same rights to all, was to establish absolute +government and the rule of the sword throughout the Emperor's +dominions. Provincial institutions giving to some of the German +and Slavic districts a shadowy control of their own local affairs +only marked the distinction between the favoured and the dreaded +parts of the Empire. Ten years passed before freedom again came +within sight of the Austrian peoples. <a name="FNanchor434"> </a><a href="#Footnote_434"><sup>[434]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Hungary.]</p> +<p>[The Roumanians in Transylvania.]</p> +<p>The Hungarian Diet, on learning of the transfer of the crown +from Ferdinand to Francis Joseph, had refused to acknowledge this +act as valid, on the ground that it had taken place without the +consent of the Legislature, and that Francis Joseph had not been +crowned King of Hungary. Ferdinand was treated as still the +reigning sovereign, and the war now became, according to the +Hungarian view, more than ever a war in defence of established +right, inasmuch as the assailants of Hungary were not only +violators of a settled constitution but agents of a usurping +prince. The whole nation was summoned to arms; and in order that +there might be no faltering at headquarters, the command over the +forces on the Danube was given by Kossuth to Görgei, a young +officer of whom little was yet known to the world but that he had +executed Count Eugène Zichy, a powerful noble, for holding +communications with Jellacic. It was the design of the Austrian +Government to attack Hungary at once by the line of the Danube +and from the frontier of Galicia on the north-east. The Serbs +were to be led forward from their border-provinces against the +capital; and another race, which centuries of oppression had +filled with bitter hatred of the Magyars, was to be thrown into +the struggle. The mass of the population of Transylvania belonged +to the Roumanian stock. The Magyars, here known by the name of +Szeklers, and a community of Germans, descended from immigrants +who settled in Transylvania about the twelfth century, formed a +small but a privileged minority, in whose presence the Roumanian +peasantry, poor, savage, and absolutely without political rights, +felt themselves before 1848 scarcely removed from serfdom. In the +Diet of Transylvania the Magyars held command, and in spite of +the resistance of the Germans, they had succeeded in carrying an +Act, in May, 1848, uniting the country with Hungary. This Act had +been ratified by the Emperor Ferdinand, but it was followed by a +widespread insurrection of the Roumanian peasantry, who were +already asserting their claims as a separate nation and demanding +equality with their oppressors. The rising of the Roumanians had +indeed more of the character of an agrarian revolt than of a +movement for national independence. It was marked by atrocious +cruelty; and although the Hapsburg standard was raised, the +Austrian commandant, General Puchner, hesitated long before +lending the insurgents his countenance. At length, in October, he +declared against the Hungarian Government. The union of the +regular troops with the peasantry overpowered for a time all +resistance. The towns fell under Austrian sway, and although the +Szeklers were not yet disarmed, Transylvania seemed to be lost to +Hungary. General Puchner received orders to lead his troops, with +the newly formed Roumanian militia, westward into the Banat, in +order to co-operate in the attack which was to overwhelm the +Hungarians from every quarter of the kingdom. <a name="FNanchor435"> </a><a href="#Footnote_435"><sup>[435]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Austrians occupy Pesth, Jan. 5, 1849.]</p> +<p>On the 15th of December, Windischgrätz, in command of the +main Austrian army, crossed the river Leitha, the border between +German and Magyar territory. Görgei, who was opposed to him, +had from the first declared that Pesth must be abandoned and a +war of defence carried on in Central Hungary. Kossuth, however, +had scorned this counsel, and announced that he would defend +Pesth to the last. The backwardness of the Hungarian preparations +and the disorder of the new levies justified the young general, +who from this time assumed the attitude of contempt and hostility +towards the Committee of Defence. Kossuth had in fact been +strangely served by fortune in his choice of Görgei. He had +raised him to command on account of one irretrievable act of +severity against an Austrian partisan, and without any proof of +his military capacity. In the untried soldier he had found a +general of unusual skill; in the supposed devotee to Magyar +patriotism he had found a military politician as self-willed and +as insubordinate as any who have ever distracted the councils of +a falling State. Dissensions and misunderstandings aggravated the +weakness of the Hungarians in the field. Position after position +was lost, and it soon became evident that the Parliament and +Government could remain no longer at Pesth. They withdrew to +Debreczin beyond the Theiss, and on the 5th of January, 1849, +Windischgrätz made his entry into the capital. <a name="FNanchor436"> </a><a href="#Footnote_436"><sup>[436]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Hungarian Government at Debreczin.]</p> +<p>[Kossuth and Görgei.]</p> +<p>The Austrians now supposed the war to be at an end. It was in +fact but beginning. The fortress of Comorn, on the upper Danube, +remained in the hands of the Magyars; and by conducting his +retreat northwards into a mountainous country where the Austrians +could not follow him Görgei gained the power either of +operating against Windischgrätz's communications or of +combining with the army of General Klapka, who was charged with +the defence of Hungary against an enemy advancing from Galicia. +While Windischgrätz remained inactive at Pesth, Klapka met +and defeated an Austrian division under General Schlick which had +crossed the Carpathians and was moving southwards towards +Debreczin. Görgei now threw himself eastwards upon the line +of retreat of the beaten enemy, and Schlick's army only escaped +capture by abandoning its communications and seeking refuge with +Windischgrätz at Pesth. A concentration of the Magyar forces +was effected on the Theiss, and the command over the entire army +was given by Kossuth to Dembinski, a Pole who had gained +distinction in the wars of Napoleon and in the campaign of 1831. +Görgei, acting as the representative of the officers who had +been in the service before the Revolution, had published an +address declaring that the army would fight for no cause but that +of the Constitution as established by Ferdinand, the legitimate +King, and that it would accept no commands but those of the +Ministers whom Ferdinand had appointed. Interpreting this +manifesto as a direct act of defiance, and as a warning that the +army might under Görgei's command make terms on its own +authority with the Austrian Government, Kossuth resorted to the +dangerous experiment of superseding the national commanders by a +Pole who was connected with the revolutionary party throughout +Europe. The act was disastrous in its moral effects upon the +army; and, as a general, Dembinski entirely failed to justify his +reputation. After permitting Schlick's corps to escape him he +moved forwards from the Theiss against Pesth. He was met by the +Austrians and defeated at Kapolna (February 26). Both armies +retired to their earlier positions, and, after a declaration from +the Magyar generals that they would no longer obey his orders, +Dembinski was removed from his command, though he remained in +Hungary to interfere once more with evil effect before the end of +the war.</p> +<p>[The Austrians driven out of Hungary, April.]</p> +<p>The struggle between Austria and Hungary had reached this +stage when the Constitution merging all provincial rights in one +centralised system was published by Schwarzenberg. The Croats, +the Serbs, the Roumanians, who had so credulously flocked to the +Emperor's banner under the belief that they were fighting for +their own independence, at length discovered their delusion. +Their enthusiasm sank; the bolder among them even attempted to +detach their countrymen from the Austrian cause; but it was too +late to undo what had already been done. Jellacic, now +undistinguishable from any other Austrian general, mocked the +politicians of Agram who still babbled of Croatian autonomy: +Stratimirovic, the national leader of the Serbs, sank before his +rival the Patriarch of Carlowitz, a Churchman who preferred +ecclesiastical immunities granted by the Emperor of Austria to +independence won on the field of battle by his countrymen. Had a +wiser or more generous statesmanship controlled the Hungarian +Government in the first months of its activity, a union between +the Magyars and the subordinate races against Viennese +centralisation might perhaps even now have been effected. But +distrust and animosity had risen too high for the mediators +between Slav and Magyar to attain any real success, nor was any +distinct promise of self-government even now to be drawn from the +offers of concession which were held out at Debreczin. An +interval of dazzling triumph seemed indeed to justify the +Hungarian Government in holding fast to its sovereign claims. In +the hands of able leaders no task seemed too hard for Magyar +troops to accomplish. Bem, arriving in Transylvania without a +soldier, created a new army, and by a series of extraordinary +marches and surprises not only overthrew the Austrian and +Roumanian troops opposed to him, but expelled a corps of Russians +whom General Puchner in his extremity had invited to garrison +Hermannstadt. Görgei, resuming in the first week of April +the movement in which Dembinski had failed, inflicted upon the +Austrians a series of defeats that drove them back to the walls +of Pesth; while Klapka, advancing on Comorn, effected the relief +of this fortress, and planted in the rear of the Austrians a +force which threatened to cut them off from Vienna. It was in +vain that the Austrian Government removed Windischgrätz from +his command. His successor found that a force superior to his own +was gathering round him on every side. He saw that Hungary was +lost; and leaving a garrison in the fortress of Buda, he led off +his army in haste from the capital, and only paused in his +retreat when he had reached the Austrian frontier.</p> +<p>[Declaration of Hungarian Independence, April 19.]</p> +<p>The Magyars, rallying from their first defeats, had +brilliantly achieved the liberation of their land. The Court of +Vienna, attempting in right of superior force to overthrow an +established constitution, had proved itself the inferior power; +and in mingled exaltation and resentment it was natural that the +party and the leaders who had been foremost in the national +struggle of Hungary should deem a renewed union with Austria +impossible, and submission to the Hapsburg crown an indignity. On +the 19th of April, after the defeat of Windischgrätz but +before the evacuation of Pesth, the Diet declared that the House +of Hapsburg had forfeited its throne, and proclaimed Hungary an +independent State. No statement was made as to the future form of +government, but everything indicated that Hungary, if successful +in maintaining its independence, would become a Republic, with +Kossuth, who was now appointed Governor, for its chief. Even in +the revolutionary severance of ancient ties homage was paid to +the legal and constitutional bent of the Hungarian mind. Nothing +was said in the Declaration of April 19th of the rights of man; +there was no Parisian commonplace on the sovereignty of the +people. The necessity of Hungarian independence was deduced from +the offences which the Austrian House had committed against the +written and unwritten law of the land, offences continued through +centuries and crowned by the invasion under Windischgrätz, +by the destruction of the Hungarian Constitution in the edict of +March 9th, and by the introduction of the Russians into +Transylvania. Though coloured and exaggerated by Magyar +patriotism, the charges made against the Hapsburg dynasty were on +the whole in accordance with historical fact; and if the affairs +of States were to be guided by no other considerations than those +relating to the performance of contracts, Hungary had certainly +established its right to be quit of partnership with Austria and +of its Austrian sovereign. But the judgment of history has +condemned Kossuth's declaration of Hungarian independence in the +midst of the struggle of 1849 as a great political error. It +served no useful purpose; it deepened the antagonism already +existing between the Government and a large part of the army; and +while it added to the sources of internal discord, it gave colour +to the intervention of Russia as against a revolutionary cause. +Apart from its disastrous effect upon the immediate course of +events, it was based upon a narrow and inadequate view both of +the needs and of the possibilities of the future. Even in the +interests of the Magyar nation itself as a European power, it may +well be doubted whether in severance from Austria such influence +and such weight could possibly have been won by a race +numerically weak and surrounded by hostile nationalities, as the +ability and the political energy of the Magyars have since won +for them in the direction of the accumulated forces of the +Austro-Hungarian Empire.</p> +<p>[Russian intervention against Hungary.]</p> +<p>It has generally been considered a fatal error on the part of +the Hungarian commanders that, after expelling the Austrian army, +they did not at once march upon Vienna, but returned to lay siege +to the fortress of Buda, which resisted long enough to enable the +Austrian Government to reorganise and to multiply its forces. But +the intervention of Russia would probably have been fatal to +Hungarian independence, even if Vienna had been captured and a +democratic government established there for a while in opposition +to the Court at Olmütz. The plan of a Russian intervention, +though this intervention was now explained by the community of +interest between Polish and Hungarian rebels, was no new thing. +Soon after the outbreak of the March Revolution the Czar had +desired to send his troops both into Prussia and into Austria as +the restorers of monarchical authority. His help was declined on +behalf of the King of Prussia; in Austria the project had been +discussed at successive moments of danger, and after the +overthrow of the Imperial troops in Transylvania by Bem the +proffered aid was accepted. The Russians who then occupied +Hermannstadt did not, however, enter the country as combatants; +their task was to garrison certain positions still held by the +Austrians, and so to set free the Emperor's troops for service in +the field. On the declaration of Hungarian independence, it +became necessary for Francis Joseph to accept his protector's +help without qualification or disguise. An army of eighty +thousand Russians marched across Galicia to assist the Austrians +in grappling with an enemy before whom, when single-handed, they +had succumbed. Other Russian divisions, while Austria massed its +troops on the Upper Danube, entered Transylvania from the south +and east, and the Magyars in the summer of 1849 found themselves +compelled to defend their country against forces three times more +numerous than their own. <a name="FNanchor437"> </a><a href="#Footnote_437"><sup>[437]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The summer campaign in Hungary, July-August, 1849.]</p> +<p>[Capitulation of Vilagos, August 13.]</p> +<p>[Vengeance of Austria.]</p> +<p>When it became known that the Czar had determined to throw all +his strength into the scale, Kossuth saw that no ordinary +operations of war could possibly avert defeat, and called upon +his countrymen to destroy their homes and property at the +approach of the enemy, and to leave to the invader a flaming and +devastated solitude. But the area of warfare was too vast for the +execution of this design, even if the nation had been prepared +for so desperate a course. The defence of Hungary was left to its +armies, and Görgei became the leading figure in the +calamitous epoch that followed. While the Government prepared to +retire to Szegedin, far in the south-east, Görgei took post +on the Upper Danube, to meet the powerful force which the Emperor +of Austria had placed under the orders of General Haynau, a +soldier whose mingled energy and ferocity in Italy had marked him +out as a fitting scourge for the Hungarians, and had won for him +supreme civil as well as military powers. Görgei naturally +believed that the first object of the Austrian commander would be +to effect a junction with the Russians, who, under Paskiewitsch, +the conqueror of Kars in 1829, were now crossing the Carpathians; +and he therefore directed all his efforts against the left of the +Austrian line. While he was unsuccessfully attacking the enemy on +the river Waag north of Comorn, Haynau with the mass of his +forces advanced on the right bank of the Danube, and captured +Raab (June 28th). Görgei threw himself southwards, but his +efforts to stop Haynau were in vain, and the Austrians occupied +Pesth (July 11th). The Russians meanwhile were advancing +southwards by an independent line of march. Their vanguard +reached the Danube and the Upper Theiss, and Görgei seemed +to be enveloped by the enemy. The Hungarian Government adjured +him to hasten towards Szegedin and Arad, where Kossuth was +concentrating all the other divisions for a final struggle; but +Görgei held on to his position about Comorn until his +retreat could only be effected by means of a vast detour +northwards, and before he could reach Arad all was lost. +Dembinski was again in command. Charged with the defence of the +passage of the Theiss about Szegedin, he failed to prevent the +Austrians from crossing the river, and on the 5th of August was +defeated at Czoreg with heavy loss. Kossuth now gave the command +to Bern, who had hurried from Transylvania, where overpowering +forces had at length wrested victory from his grasp. Bern fought +the last battle of the campaign at Temesvar. He was overthrown +and driven eastwards, but succeeded in leading a remnant of his +army across the Moldavian frontier and so escaped capture. +Görgei, who was now close to Arad, had some strange fancy +that it would dishonour his army to seek refuge on neutral soil. +He turned northwards so as to encounter Russian and not Austrian +regiments, and without striking a blow, without stipulating even +for the lives of the civilians in his camp, he led his army +within the Russian lines at Vilagos, and surrendered +unconditionally to the generals of the Czar. His own life was +spared; no mercy was shown to those who were handed over as his +fellow-prisoners by the Russian to the Austrian Government, or +who were seized by Haynau as his troops advanced. Tribunals more +resembling those of the French Reign of Terror than the Courts of +a civilised Government sent the noblest patriots and soldiers of +Hungary to the scaffold. To the deep disgrace of the Austrian +Crown, Count Batthyány, the Minister of Ferdinand, was +included among those whose lives were sacrificed. The vengeance +of the conqueror seemed the more frenzied and the more insatiable +because it had only been rendered possible by foreign aid. +Crushed under an iron rule, exhausted by war, the prey of a +Government which knew only how to employ its subject-races as +gaolers over one another, Hungary passed for some years into +silence and almost into despair. Every vestige of its old +constitutional rights was extinguished. Its territory was +curtailed by the separation of Transylvania and Croatia; its +administration was handed over to Germans from Vienna. A +conscription, enforced not for the ends of military service but +as the surest means of breaking the national spirit, enrolled its +youth in Austrian regiments, and banished them to the extremities +of the empire. No darker period was known in the history of +Hungary since the wars of the seventeenth century than that which +followed the catastrophe of 1849. <a name="FNanchor438"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_438"><sup>[438]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Italian affairs, August, 1848-March, 1849.]</p> +<p>[Murder of Rossi, Nov. 15. Flight of Pius IX.]</p> +<p>[Roman Republic, Feb. 9, 1849.]</p> +<p>[Tuscany.]</p> +<p>The gloom which followed Austrian victory was now descending +not on Hungary alone but on Italy also. The armistice made +between Radetzky and the King of Piedmont at Vigevano in August, +1848, lasted for seven months, during which the British and +French Governments endeavoured, but in vain, to arrange terms of +peace between the combatants. With military tyranny in its most +brutal form crushing down Lombardy, it was impossible that +Charles Albert should renounce the work of deliverance to which +he had pledged himself. Austria, on the other hand, had now +sufficiently recovered its strength to repudiate the concessions +which it had offered at an earlier time, and Schwarzenberg on +assuming power announced that the Emperor would maintain Lombardy +at every cost. The prospects of Sardinia as regarded help from +the rest of the Peninsula were far worse than when it took up +arms in the spring of 1848. Projects of a general Italian +federation, of a military union between the central States and +Piedmont, of an Italian Constituent Assembly, had succeeded one +another and left no result. Naples had fallen back into +absolutism; Rome and Tuscany, from which aid might still have +been expected, were distracted by internal contentions, and +hastening as it seemed towards anarchy. After the defeat of +Charles Albert at Custozza, Pius IX., who was still uneasily +playing his part as a constitutional sovereign, had called to +office Pellegrino Rossi, an Italian patriot of an earlier time, +who had since been ambassador of Louis Philippe at Rome, and by +his connection with the Orleanist Monarchy had incurred the +hatred of the Republican party throughout Italy. Rossi, as a +vigorous and independent reformer, was as much detested in +clerical and reactionary circles as he was by the demagogues and +their followers. This, however, profited him nothing; and on the +15th of November, as he was proceeding to the opening of the +Chambers, he was assassinated by an unknown hand. Terrified by +this crime, and by an attack upon his own palace by which it was +followed, Pius fled to Gaeta and placed himself under the +protection of the King of Naples. A Constituent Assembly was +summoned and a Republic proclaimed at Rome, between which and the +Sardinian Government there was so little community of feeling +that Charles Albert would, if the Pope had accepted his +protection, have sent his troops to restore him to a position of +security. In Tuscany affairs were in a similar condition. The +Grand Duke had for some months been regarded as a sincere, though +reserved, friend of the Italian cause, and he had even spoken of +surrendering his crown if this should be for the good of the +Italian nation. When, however, the Pope had fled to Gaeta, and +the project was openly avowed of uniting Tuscany with the Roman +States in a Republic, the Grand Duke, moved more by the +fulminations of Pius against his despoilers than by care for his +own crown, fled in his turn, leaving the Republicans masters of +Florence. A miserable exhibition of vanity, riot, and braggadocio +was given to the world by the politicians of the Tuscan State. +Alike in Florence and in Rome all sense of the true needs of the +moment, of the absolute uselessness of internal changes of +Government if Austria was to maintain its dominion, seemed to +have vanished from men's minds. Republican phantoms distracted +the heart and the understanding; no soldier, no military +administrator arose till too late by the side of the rhetoricians +and mob-leaders who filled the stage; and when, on the 19th of +March, the armistice was brought to a close in Upper Italy, +Piedmont took the field alone. <a name="FNanchor439"> </a><a href="#Footnote_439"><sup>[439]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Match campaign, 1849.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Novara, March 23.]</p> +<p>The campaign which now began lasted but for five days. While +Charles Albert scattered his forces from Lago Maggiore to +Stradella on the south of the Po, hoping to move by the northern +road upon Milan, Radetzky concentrated his troops near Pavia, +where he intended to cross the Ticino. In an evil moment Charles +Albert had given the command of his army to Chrzanowski, a Pole, +and had entrusted its southern division, composed chiefly of +Lombard volunteers, to another Pole, Ramorino, who had been +engaged in Mazzini's incursion into Savoy in 1833. Ramorino had +then, rightly or wrongly, incurred the charge of treachery. His +relations with Chrzanowski were of the worst character, and the +habit of military obedience was as much wanting to him as the +sentiment of loyalty to the sovereign from whom he had now +accepted a command. The wilfulness of this adventurer made the +Piedmontese army an easy prey. Ramorino was posted on the south +of the Po, near its junction with the Ticino, but received orders +on the commencement of hostilities to move northwards and defend +the passage of the Ticino at Pavia, breaking up the bridges +behind him. Instead of obeying this order he kept his division +lingering about Stradella. Radetzky, approaching the Ticino at +Pavia, found the passage unguarded. He crossed the river with the +mass of his army, and, cutting off Ramorino's division, threw +himself upon the flank of the scattered Piedmontese. Charles +Albert, whose headquarters were at Novara, hurried southwards. +Before he could concentrate his troops, he was attacked at +Mortara by the Austrians and driven back. The line of retreat +upon Turin and Alessandria was already lost; an attempt was made +to hold Novara against the advancing Austrians. The battle which +was fought in front of this town on the 23rd of March ended with +the utter overthrow of the Sardinian army. So complete was the +demoralisation of the troops that the cavalry were compelled to +attack bodies of half-maddened infantry in the streets of Novara +in order to save the town from pillage. <a name="FNanchor440"> </a><a href="#Footnote_440"><sup>[440]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Abdication of Charles Albert.]</p> +<p>Charles Albert had throughout the battle of the 23rd appeared +to seek death. The reproaches levelled against him for the +abandonment of Milan in the previous year, the charges of +treachery which awoke to new life the miserable record of his +waverings in 1821, had sunk into the very depths of his being. +Weak and irresolute in his earlier political career, harsh and +illiberal towards the pioneers of Italian freedom during a great +part of his reign, Charles had thrown his whole heart and soul +into the final struggle of his country against Austria. This +struggle lost, life had nothing more for him. The personal hatred +borne towards him by the rulers of Austria caused him to believe +that easier terms of peace might be granted to Piedmont if +another sovereign were on its throne, and his resolution, in case +of defeat, was fixed and settled. When night fell after the +battle of Novara he called together his generals, and in their +presence abdicated his crown. Bidding an eternal farewell to his +son Victor Emmanuel, who knelt weeping before him, he quitted the +army accompanied by but one attendant, and passed unrecognised +through the enemy's guards. He left his queen, his capital, +unvisited as he journeyed into exile. The brief residue of his +life was spent in solitude near Oporto. Six months after the +battle of Novara he was carried to the grave.</p> +<p>[Beginning of Victor Emmanuel's reign.]</p> +<p>It may be truly said of Charles Albert that nothing in his +reign became him like the ending of it. Hopeless as the conflict +of 1849 might well appear, it 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; one +dynasty whose sons knew no fear save that others should encounter +death before them on Italy's behalf. Had the profoundest +statesmanship, the keenest political genius, governed the +counsels of Piedmont in 1849, it would, with full prescience of +the ruin of Novara, have bidden the sovereign and the army strike +in self-sacrifice their last unaided blow. From this time there +was but one possible head for Italy. The faults of the Government +of Turin during Charles Albert's years of peace had ceased to +have any bearing on Italian affairs; the sharpest tongues no +longer repeated, the most credulous ear no longer harboured the +slanders of 1848; the man who, beaten and outnumbered, had for +hours sat immovable in front of the Austrian cannon at Novara +had, in the depth of his misfortune, given to his son not the +crown of Piedmont only but the crown of Italy. Honour, +patriotism, had made the young Victor Emmanuel the hope of the +Sardinian army; the same honour and patriotism carried him safely +past the lures which Austria set for the inheritor of a ruined +kingdom, and gave in the first hours of his reign an earnest of +the policy which was to end in Italian union. It was necessary +for him to visit Radetzky in his camp in order to arrange the +preliminaries of peace. There, amid flatteries offered to him at +his father's expense, it was notified to him that if he would +annul the Constitution that his father had made, he might reckon +not only on an easy quittance with the conqueror, but on the +friendship and support of Austria. This demand, though +strenuously pressed in later negotiations, Victor Emmanuel +unconditionally refused. He had to endure for a while the +presence of Austrian troops in his kingdom, and to furnish an +indemnity which fell heavily on so small a State; but the +liberties of his people remained intact, and the pledge given by +his father inviolate. Amid the ruin of all hopes and the +bankruptcy of all other royal reputations throughout Italy, there +proved to be one man, one government, in which the Italian people +could trust. This compensation at least was given in the +disasters of 1849, that the traitors to the cause of Italy and of +freedom could not again deceive, nor the dream of a federation of +princes again obscure the necessity of a single national +government. In the fidelity of Victor Emmanuel to the Piedmontese +Constitution lay the pledge that when Italy's next opportunity +should arrive, the chief would be there who would meet the +nation's need.</p> +<p>[Restoration in Tuscany.]</p> +<p>[Rome and France.]</p> +<p>[French intervention determined on.]</p> +<p>The battle of Novara had not long been fought when the Grand +Duke of Tuscany was restored to his throne under an Austrian +garrison, and his late democratic Minister, Guerazzi, who had +endeavoured by submission to the Court-party to avert an Austrian +occupation, was sent into imprisonment. At Rome a far bolder +spirit was shown. Mazzini had arrived in the first week of March, +and, though his exhortation to the Roman Assembly to forget the +offences of Charles Albert and to unite against the Austrians in +Lombardy came too late, he was able, as one of a Triumvirate with +dictatorial powers, to throw much of his own ardour into the +Roman populace in defence of their own city and State. The enemy +against whom Rome had to be defended proved indeed to be other +than that against whom preparations were being made. The +victories of Austria had aroused the apprehension of the French +Government; and though the fall of Piedmont and Lombardy could +not now be undone, it was determined by Louis Napoleon and his +Ministers to anticipate Austria's restoration of the Papal power +by the despatch of French troops to Rome. All the traditions of +French national policy pointed indeed to such an intervention. +Austria had already invaded the Roman States from the north, and +the political conditions which in 1832 had led so pacific a +minister as Casimir Perier to occupy Ancona were now present in +much greater force. Louis Napoleon could not, without abandoning +a recognised interest and surrendering something of the due +influence of France, have permitted Austrian generals to conduct +the Pope back to his capital and to assume the government of +Central Italy. If the first impulses of the Revolution of 1848 +had still been active in France, its intervention would probably +have taken the form of a direct alliance with the Roman Republic; +but public opinion had travelled far in the opposite direction +since the Four Days of June; and the new President, if he had not +forgotten his own youthful relations with the Carbonari, was now +a suitor for the solid favours of French conservative and +religious sentiment. His Ministers had not recognised the Roman +Republic. They were friends, no doubt, to liberty; but when it +was certain that the Austrians, the Spaniards, the Neapolitans, +were determined to restore the Pope, it might be assumed that the +continuance of the Roman Republic was an impossibility. France, +as a Catholic and at the same time a Liberal Power, might well, +under these circumstances, address itself to the task of +reconciling Roman liberty with the inevitable return of the Holy +Father to his temporal throne. Events were moving too fast for +diplomacy; troops must be at once despatched, or the next French +envoy would find Radetzky on the Tiber. The misgivings of the +Republican part of the Assembly at Paris were stilled by French +assurances of the generous intentions of the Government towards +the Roman populations, and of its anxiety to shelter them from +Austrian domination, President, Ministers, and generals +resolutely shut their eyes to the possibility that a French +occupation of Rome might be resisted by force by the Romans +themselves; and on the 22nd of April an armament of about ten +thousand men set sail for Civita Vecchia under the command of +General Oudinot, a son of the Marshal of that name.</p> +<p>[The French at Civita Vecchia, April 25, 1849.]</p> +<p>[Oudinot attacks Rome and is repelled, April 30.]</p> +<p>Before landing on the Italian coast, the French general sent +envoys to the authorities at Civita Vecchia, stating that his +troops came as friends, and demanding that they should be +admitted into the town. The Municipal Council determined not to +offer resistance, and the French thus gained a footing on Italian +soil and a basis for their operations. Messages came from French +diplomatists in Rome encouraging the general to advance without +delay. The mass of the population, it was said, would welcome his +appearance; the democratic faction, if reckless, was too small to +offer any serious resistance, and would disappear as soon as the +French should enter the city. On this point, however, Oudinot was +speedily undeceived. In reply to a military envoy who was sent to +assure the Triumvirs of the benevolent designs of the French, +Mazzini bluntly answered that no reconciliation with the Pope was +possible; and on the 26th of April the Roman Assembly called upon +the Executive to repel force by force. Oudinot now proclaimed a +state of siege at Civita Vecchia, seized the citadel, and +disarmed the garrison. On the 28th he began his march on Rome. As +he approached, energetic preparations were made for resistance. +Garibaldi, who had fought at the head of a free corps against the +Austrians in Upper Italy in 1848, had now brought some hundreds +of his followers to Rome. A regiment of Lombard volunteers, under +their young leader Manara, had escaped after the catastrophe of +Novara, and had come to fight for liberty in its last stronghold +on Italian soil. Heroes, exiles, desperadoes from all parts of +the Peninsula, met in the streets of Rome, and imparted to its +people a vigour and resolution of which the world had long deemed +them incapable. Even the remnant of the Pontifical Guard took +part in the work of defence. Oudinot, advancing with his little +corps of seven thousand men, found himself, without heavy +artillery, in front of a city still sheltered by its ancient +fortifications, and in the presence of a body of combatants more +resolute than his own troops and twice as numerous. He attacked +on the 30th, was checked at every point, and compelled to retreat +towards Civita Vecchia, leaving two hundred and fifty prisoners +in the hands of the enemy. <a name="FNanchor441"> </a><a href="#Footnote_441"><sup>[441]</sup></a></p> +<p>[French policy, April-May.]</p> +<p>Insignificant as was this misfortune of the French arms, it +occasioned no small stir in Paris and in the Assembly. The +Government, which had declared that the armament was intended +only to protect Rome against Austria, was vehemently reproached +for its duplicity, and a vote was passed demanding that the +expedition should not be permanently diverted from the end +assigned to it. Had the Assembly not been on the verge of +dissolution it would probably have forced upon the Government a +real change of policy. A general election, however, was but a few +days distant, and until the result of this election should be +known the Ministry determined to temporise. M. Lesseps, since +famous as the creator of the Suez Canal, was sent to Rome with +instructions to negotiate for some peaceable settlement. More +honest than his employers, Lesseps sought with heart and soul to +fulfil his task. While he laboured in city and camp, the French +elections for which the President and Ministers were waiting took +place, resulting in the return of a Conservative and reactionary +majority. The new Assembly met on the 28th of May. In the course +of the next few days Lesseps accepted terms proposed by the Roman +Government, which would have precluded the French from entering +Rome. Oudinot, who had been in open conflict with the envoy +throughout his mission, refused his sanction to the treaty, and +the altercations between the general and the diplomatist were +still at their height when despatches arrived from Paris +announcing that the powers given to Lesseps were at an end, and +ordering Oudinot to recommence hostilities. The pretence of +further negotiation would have been out of place with the new +Parliament. On the 4th of June the French general, now strongly +reinforced, occupied the positions necessary for a regular siege +of Rome.</p> +<p>[Attempted insurrection in France, June 13.]</p> +<p>[The French enter Rome, July 3.]</p> +<p>Against the forces now brought into action it was impossible +that the Roman Republic could long defend itself. One hope +remained, and that was in a revolution within France itself. The +recent elections had united on the one side all Conservative +interests, on the other the Socialists and all the more extreme +factions of the Republican party. It was determined that a trial +of strength should first be made within the Assembly itself upon +the Roman question, and that, if the majority there should stand +firm, an appeal should be made to insurrection. Accordingly on +the 11th of June, after the renewal of hostilities had been +announced in Paris, Ledru Rollin demanded the impeachment of the +Ministry. His motion was rejected, and the signal was given for +an outbreak not only in the capital but in Lyons and other +cities. But the Government were on their guard, and it was in +vain that the resources of revolution were once more brought into +play. General Changarnier suppressed without bloodshed a tumult +in Paris on June 13th; and though fighting took place at Lyons, +the insurrection proved feeble in comparison with the movements +of the previous year. Louis Napoleon and his Ministry remained +unshaken, and the siege of Rome was accordingly pressed to its +conclusion. Oudinot, who at the beginning of the month had +carried the positions held by the Roman troops outside the walls, +opened fire with heavy artillery on the 14th. The defence was +gallantly sustained by Garibaldi and his companions until the end +of the month, when the breaches made in the walls were stormed by +the enemy, and further resistance became impossible. The French +made their entry into Rome on the 3rd of July, Garibaldi leading +his troops northwards in order to prolong the struggle with the +Austrians who were now in possession of Bologna, and, if +possible, to reach Venice, which was still uncaptured. Driven to +the eastern coast and surrounded by the enemy, he was forced to +put to sea. He landed again, but only to be hunted over mountain +and forest. His wife died by his side. Rescued by the devotion of +Italian patriots, he made his escape to Piedmont and thence to +America, to reappear in all the fame of his heroic deeds and +sufferings at the next great crisis in the history of his +country.</p> +<p>[The restored Pontifical Government.]</p> +<p>It had been an easy task for a French army to conquer Rome; it +was not so easy for the French Government to escape from the +embarrassments of its victory. Liberalism was still the official +creed of the Republic, and the protection of the Roman population +from a reaction under Austrian auspices had been one of the +alleged objects of the Italian expedition. No stipulation had, +however, been made with the Pope during the siege as to the +future institutions of Rome; and when, on the 14th of July, the +restorations of Papal authority was formally announced by +Oudinot, Pius and his Minister Antonelli still remained +unfettered by any binding engagement. Nor did the Pontiff show +the least inclination to place himself in the power of his +protectors. He remained at Gaeta, sending a Commission of three +Cardinals to assume the government of Rome. The first acts of the +Cardinals dispelled any illusion that the French might have +formed as to the docility of the Holy See. In the presence of a +French Republican army they restored the Inquisition, and +appointed a Board to bring to trial all officials compromised in +the events that had taken place since the murder of Rossi in +November, 1848. So great was the impression made on public +opinion by the action of the Cardinals that Louis Napoleon +considered it well to enter the lists in person on behalf of +Roman liberty; and in a letter to Colonel Ney, a son of the +Marshal, he denounced in language of great violence the efforts +that were being made by a party antagonistic to France to base +the Pope's return upon proscription and tyranny. Strong in the +support of Austria and the other Catholic Powers, the Papal +Government at Gaeta received this menace with indifference, and +even made the discourtesy of the President a ground for +withholding concessions. Of the re-establishment of the +Constitution granted by Pius in 1848 there was now no question; +all that the French Ministry could hope was to save some +fragments in the general shipwreck of representative government, +and to avert the vengeance that seemed likely to fall upon the +defeated party. A Pontifical edict, known as the Motu Proprio, +ultimately bestowed upon the municipalities certain local powers, +and gave to a Council, nominated by the Pope from among the +persons chosen by the municipalities, the right of consultation +on matters of finance. More than this Pius refused to grant, and +when he returned to Rome it was as an absolute sovereign. In its +efforts on behalf of the large body of persons threatened with +prosecution the French Government was more successful. The +so-called amnesty which was published by Antonelli with the Motu +Proprio seemed indeed to have for its object the classification +of victims rather than the announcement of pardon; but under +pressure from the French the excepted persons were gradually +diminished in number, and all were finally allowed to escape +other penalties by going into exile. To those who were so driven +from their homes Piedmont offered a refuge.</p> +<p>[Fall of Venice, Aug. 25.]</p> +<p>[Sicily conquered by Ferdinand, April, May.]</p> +<p>Thus the pall of priestly absolutism and misrule fell once +more over the Roman States, and the deeper the hostility of the +educated classes to the restored power the more active became the +system of repression. For liberty of person there was no security +whatever, and, though the offences of 1848 were now professedly +amnestied, the prisons were soon thronged with persons arrested +on indefinite charges and detained for an unlimited time without +trial. Nor was Rome more unfortunate in its condition than Italy +generally. The restoration of Austrian authority in the north was +completed by the fall of Venice. For months after the subjugation +of the mainland, Venice, where the Republic had again been +proclaimed and Manin had been recalled to power, had withstood +all the efforts of the Emperor's forces. Its hopes had been +raised by the victories of the Hungarians, which for a moment +seemed almost to undo the catastrophe of Novara. But with the +extinction of all possibility of Hungarian aid the inevitable end +came in view. Cholera and famine worked with the enemy; and a +fortnight after Görgei had laid down his arms at Vilagos the +long and honourable resistance of Venice ended with the entry of +the Austrians (August 25th). In the south, Ferdinand of Naples +was again ruling as despot throughout the full extent of his +dominions. Palermo, which had struck the first blow for freedom +in 1848, had soon afterwards become the seat of a Sicilian +Parliament, which deposed the Bourbon dynasty and offered the +throne of Sicily to the younger brother of Victor Emmanuel. To +this Ferdinand replied by a fleet to Messina, which bombarded +that city for five days and laid a great part of it in ashes. His +violence caused the British and French fleets to interpose, and +hostilities were suspended until the spring of 1849, the Western +Powers ineffectually seeking to frame some compromise acceptable +at once to the Sicilians and to the Bourbon dynasty. After the +triumph of Radetzky at Novara and the rejection by the Sicilian +Parliament of the offer of a separate constitution and +administration for the island, Ferdinand refused to remain any +longer inactive. His fleet and army moved southwards from +Messina, and a victory won at the foot of Mount Etna over the +Sicilian forces, followed by the capture of Catania, brought the +struggle to a close. The Assembly at Palermo dispersed, and the +Neapolitan troops made their entry into the capital without +resistance on the 15th of May. It was in vain that Great Britain +now urged Ferdinand to grant to Sicily the liberties which he had +hitherto professed himself willing to bestow. Autocrat he was, +and autocrat he intended to remain. On the mainland the +iniquities practised by his agents seem to have been even worse +than in Sicily, where at least some attempt was made to use the +powers of the State for the purposes of material improvement. For +those who had incurred the enmity of Ferdinand's Government there +was no law and no mercy. Ten years of violence and oppression, +denounced by the voice of freer lands, had still to be borne by +the subjects of this obstinate tyrant ere the reckoning-day +arrived, and the deeply rooted jealousy between Sicily and +Naples, which had wrought so much ill to the cause of Italian +freedom, was appeased by the fall of the Bourbon throne. <a name="FNanchor442"> </a><a href="#Footnote_442"><sup>[442]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Germany from May, 1848.]</p> +<p>[The National Assembly at Frankfort.]</p> +<p>[Archduke John chosen Administrator, June 29.]</p> +<p>We have thus far traced the stages of conflict between the old +monarchical order and the forces of revolution in the Austrian +empire and in that Mediterranean land whose destiny was so +closely interwoven with that of Austria. We have now to pass back +into Germany, and to resume the history of the German revolution +at the point where the national movement seemed to concentrate +itself in visible form, the opening of the Parliament of +Frankfort on the 18th of May, 1848. That an Assembly representing +the entire German people, elected in unbounded enthusiasm and +comprising within it nearly every man of political or +intellectual eminence who sympathised with the national cause, +should be able to impose its will upon the tottering Governments +of the individual German States, was not an unnatural belief in +the circumstances of the moment. No second Chamber represented +the interests of the ruling Houses, nor had they within the +Assembly itself the organs for the expression of their own real +or unreal claims. With all the freedom of a debating club or of a +sovereign authority like the French Convention, the Parliament of +Frankfort entered upon its work of moulding Germany afresh, +limited only by its own discretion as to what it should make +matter of consultation with any other power. There were +thirty-six Governments in Germany, and to negotiate with each of +these on the future Constitution might well seem a harder task +than to enforce a Constitution on all alike. In the creation of a +provisional executive authority there was something of the same +difficulty. Each of the larger States might, if consulted, resist +the selection of a provisional chief from one of its rivals; and +though the risk of bold action was not denied, the Assembly, on +the instance of its President, Von Gagern, a former Minister of +Hesse-Darmstadt, resolved to appoint an Administrator of the +Empire by a direct vote of its own. The Archduke John of Austria, +long known as an enemy of Metternich's system of repression and +as a patron of the idea of German union, was chosen +Administrator, and he accepted the office. Prussia and the other +States acquiesced in the nomination, though the choice of a +Hapsburg prince was unpopular with the Prussian nation and army, +and did not improve the relations between the Frankfort Assembly +and the Court of Berlin. <a name="FNanchor443"> </a><a href="#Footnote_443"><sup>[443]</sup></a> Schmerling, an Austrian, was +placed at the head of the Archduke's Ministry.</p> +<p>[The National Assembly. May-Sept.]</p> +<p>In the preparation of a Constitution for Germany the Assembly +could draw little help from the work of legislators in other +countries. Belgium, whose institutions were at once recent and +successful, was not a Federal State; the founders of the American +Union had not had to reckon with four kings and to include in +their federal territory part of the dominions of an emperor. +Instead of grappling at once with the formidable difficulties of +political organisation, the Committee charged with the drafting +of a Constitution determined first to lay down the principles of +civil right which were to be the basis of the German +commonwealth. There was something of the scientific spirit of the +Germans in thus working out the substructure of public law on +which all other institutions were to rest; moreover, the +remembrance of the Decrees of Carlsbad and of the other +exceptional legislation from which Germany had so heavily +suffered excited a strong demand for the most solemn guarantees +against arbitrary departure from settled law in the future. Thus, +regardless of the absence of any material power by which its +conclusions were to be enforced, the Assembly, in the intervals +between its stormy debates on the politics of the hour, traced +with philosophic thoroughness the consequences of the principles +of personal liberty and of equality before the law, and fashioned +the order of a modern society in which privileges of class, +diversity of jurisdictions, and the trammels of feudalism on +industrial life were alike swept away. Four months had passed, +and the discussion of the so-called Primary Rights was still +unfinished, when the Assembly was warned by an outbreak of +popular violence in Frankfort itself of the necessity of +hastening towards a constitutional settlement.</p> +<p>[The Armistice of Malmö, Aug. 26.]</p> +<p>[Outrages at Frankfort, Sept. 18.]</p> +<p>The progress of the insurrection in Schleswig-Holstein against +Danish sovereignty had been watched with the greatest interest +throughout Germany; and in the struggle of these provinces for +their independence the rights and the honour of the German nation +at large were held to be deeply involved. As the representative +of the Federal authority, King Frederick William of Prussia had +sent his troops into Holstein, and they arrived there in time to +prevent the Danish army from following up its first successes and +crushing the insurgent forces. Taking up the offensive, General +Wrangel at the head of the Prussian troops succeeded in driving +the Danes out of Schleswig, and at the beginning of May he +crossed the border between Schleswig and Jutland and occupied the +Danish fortress of Fredericia. His advance into purely Danish +territory occasioned the diplomatic intervention of Russia and +Great Britain; and, to the deep disappointment of the German +nation and its Parliament, the King of Prussia ordered his +general to retire into Schleswig. The Danes were in the meantime +blockading the harbours and capturing the merchant-vessels of the +Germans, as neither Prussia nor the Federal Government possessed +a fleet of war. For some weeks hostilities were irresolutely +continued in Schleswig, while negotiations were pursued in +foreign capitals and various forms of compromise urged by foreign +Powers. At length, on the 26th of August, an armistice of seven +months was agreed upon at Malmö in Sweden by the +representatives of Denmark and Prussia, the Court of Copenhagen +refusing to recognise the German central Government at Frankfort +or to admit its envoy to the conferences. The terms of this +armistice, when announced in Germany, excited the greatest +indignation, inasmuch as they declared all the acts of the +Provisional Government of Schleswig-Holstein null and void, +removed all German troops from the Duchies, and handed over their +government during the duration of the armistice to a Commission +of which half the members were to be appointed by the King of +Denmark. Scornfully as Denmark had treated the Assembly of +Frankfort, the terms of the armistice nevertheless required its +sanction. The question was referred to a committee, which, under +the influence of the historian Dahlmann, himself formerly an +official in Holstein, pronounced for the rejection of the treaty. +The Assembly, in a scene of great excitement, resolved that the +execution of the measures attendant on the armistice should be +suspended. The Ministry in consequence resigned, and Dahlmann was +called upon to replace it by one under his own leadership. He +proved unable to do so. Schmerling resumed office, and demanded +that the Assembly should reverse its vote. Though in severance +from Prussia the Central Government had no real means of carrying +on a war with Denmark, the most passionate opposition was made to +this demand. The armistice was, however, ultimately ratified by a +small majority. Defeated in the Assembly, the leaders of the +extreme Democratic faction allied themselves with the populace of +Frankfort, which was ready for acts of violence. Tumultuous +meetings were held; the deputies who had voted for the armistice +were declared traitors to Germany. Barricades were erected, and +although the appearance of Prussian troops prevented an assault +from being made on the Assembly, its members were attacked in the +streets, and two of them murdered by the mob (Sept. 17th). A +Republican insurrection was once more attempted in Baden, but it +was quelled without <a name="FNanchor444">difficulty.</a><a href="#Footnote_444"><sup>[444]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Berlin, April-Sept., 1848.]</p> +<p>The intervention of foreign Courts on behalf of Denmark had +given ostensible ground to the Prussian Government for not +pursuing the war with greater resolution; but though the fear of +Russia undoubtedly checked King Frederick William, this was not +the sole, nor perhaps the most powerful influence that worked +upon him. The cause of Schleswig-Hulstein was, in spite of its +legal basis, in the main a popular and a revolutionary one, and +between the King of Prussia and the revolution there was an +intense and a constantly deepening antagonism. Since the meeting +of the National Assembly at Berlin on the 22nd of May the capital +had been the scene of an almost unbroken course of disorder. The +Assembly, which was far inferior in ability and character to that +of Frankfort, soon showed itself unable to resist the influence +of the populace. On the 8th of June a resolution was moved that +the combatants in the insurrection of March deserved well of +their country. Had this motion been carried the King would have +dissolved the Assembly: it was outvoted, but the mob punished +this concession to the feelings of the monarch by outrages upon +the members of the majority. A Civic Guard was enrolled from +citizens of the middle class, but it proved unable to maintain +order, and wholly failed to acquire the political importance +which was gained by the National Guard of Paris after the +revolution of 1830. Exasperated by their exclusion from service +in the Guard, the mob on the 14th of June stormed an arsenal and +destroyed the trophies of arms which they found there. Though +violence reigned in the streets the Assembly rejected a proposal +for declaring the inviolability of its members, and placed itself +under the protection of the citizens of Berlin. King Frederick +William had withdrawn to Potsdam, where the leaders of reaction +gathered round him. He detested his Constitutional Ministers, +who, between a petulant king and a suspicious Parliament, were +unable to effect any useful work and soon found themselves +compelled to relinquish their office. In Berlin the violence of +the working classes, the interruption of business, the example of +civil war in Paris, inclined men of quiet disposition to a return +to settled government at any price. Measures brought forward by +the new Ministry for the abolition of the patrimonial +jurisdictions, the hunting-rights and other feudal privileges of +the greater landowners, occasioned the organisation of a league +for the defence of property, which soon became the focus of +powerful conservative interests. Above all, the claims of the +Archduke John, as Administrator of the Empire, to the homage of +the army, and the hostile attitude assumed towards the army by +the Prussian Parliament itself, exasperated the military class +and encouraged the king to venture on open resistance. A tumult +having taken place at Schweidnitz in Silesia, in which several +persons were shot by the soldiery, the Assembly, pending an +investigation into the circumstances, demanded that the Minister +of War should publish an order requiring the officers of the army +to work with the citizens for the realisation of Constitutional +Government; and it called upon all officers not loyally inclined +to a Constitutional system to resign their commissions as a +matter of honour. Denying the right of the Chamber to act as a +military executive, the Minister of War refused to publish the +order required. The vote was repeated, and in the midst of +threatening demonstrations in the streets the Ministry resigned +(Sept. 7th). <a name="FNanchor445"> </a><a href="#Footnote_445"><sup>[445]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Prussian army.]</p> +<p>[Count Brandenburg Minister, Nov. 2.]</p> +<p>[Prorogation of the Prussian Assembly, Nov. 9.]</p> +<p>It had been the distinguishing feature of the Prussian +revolution that the army had never for a moment wavered in its +fidelity to the throne. The success of the insurrection of March +18th had been due to the paucity of troops and the errors of +those in command, not to any military disaffection such as had +paralysed authority in Paris and in the Mediterranean States. +Each affront offered to the army by the democratic majority in +the Assembly supplied the King with new weapons; each slight +passed upon the royal authority deepened the indignation of the +officers. The armistice of Malmö brought back to the +neighbourhood of the capital a general who was longing to crush +the party of disorder, and regiments on whom he could rely; but +though there was now no military reason for delay, it was not +until the capture of Vienna by Windischgrätz had dealt a +fatal blow at democracy in Germany that Frederick William +determined to have done with his own mutinous Parliament and the +mobs by which it was controlled. During September and October the +riots and tumults in the streets of Berlin continued. The +Assembly, which had rejected the draft of a Constitution +submitted to it by the Cabinet, debated the clauses of one drawn +up by a Committee of its own members, abolished nobility, orders +and titles, and struck out from the style of the sovereign the +words that described him as King by the Grace of God. When +intelligence arrived in Berlin that the attack of +Windischgrätz upon Vienna had actually begun, popular +passion redoubled. The Assembly was besieged by an angry crowd, +and a resolution in favour of the intervention of Prussia was +brought forward within the House. This was rejected, and it was +determined instead to invoke the mediation of the Central +Government at Frankfort between the Emperor and his subjects. But +the decision of the Assembly on this and every other point was +now matter of indifference. Events outstripped its deliberations, +and with the fall of Vienna its own course was run. On the 2nd of +November the King dismissed his Ministers and called to office +the Count of Brandenburg, a natural son of Frederick William II., +a soldier in high command, and one of the most outspoken +representatives of the monarchical spirit of the army. The +meaning of the appointment was at once understood. A deputation +from the Assembly conveyed its protest to the King at Potsdam. +The King turned his back upon them without giving an answer, and +on the 9th of November an order was issued proroguing the +Assembly, and bidding it to meet on the 27th at Brandenburg, not +at Berlin.</p> +<p>[Last days of the Prussian Assembly.]</p> +<p>[Dissolution of the Assembly, Dec. 5.]</p> +<p>[Prussian Constitution granted by edict.]</p> +<p>The order of prorogation, as soon as signed by the King was +brought into the Assembly by the Ministers, who demanded that it +should be obeyed immediately and without discussion. The +President allowing a debate to commence, the Ministers and +seventy-eight Conservative deputies left the Hall. The remaining +deputies, two hundred and eighty in number, then passed a +resolution declaring that they would not meet at Brandenburg; +that the King had no power to remove, to prorogue, or to dissolve +the Assembly without its own consent; and that the Ministers were +unfit to hold office. This challenge was answered by a +proclamation of the Ministers declaring the further meeting of +the deputies illegal, and calling upon the Civic Guard not to +recognise them as a Parliament. On the following day General +Wrangel and his troops entered Berlin and surrounded the Assembly +Hall. In reply to the protests of the President, Wrangel answered +that the Parliament had been prorogued and must disappear. The +members peaceably left the Hall, but reassembled at another spot +that they had selected in anticipation of expulsion; and for some +days they were pursued by the military from one place of meeting +to another. On the 15th of November they passed a resolution +declaring the expenditure of state funds and the raising of taxes +by the Government to be illegal so long as the Assembly should +not be permitted to continue its deliberations. The Ministry on +its part showed that it was determined not to brook resistance. +The Civic Guard was dissolved and ordered to surrender its arms. +It did so without striking a blow, and vanished from the scene, a +memorable illustration of the political nullity of the middle +class in Berlin as compared with that of Paris. The state of +siege was proclaimed, the freedom of the Press and the right of +public meeting were suspended. On the 27th of November a portion +of the Assembly appeared, according to the King's order, at +Brandenburg, but the numbers present were not sufficient for the +transaction of business. The presence of the majority, however, +was not required, for the King had determined to give no further +legal opportunities to the men who had defied him. Treating the +vote of November 15th as an act of rebellion on the part of those +concerned in it, the King dissolved the Assembly (December 5th), +and conferred upon Prussia a Constitution drawn up by his own +advisers, with the promise that this Constitution should be +subject to revision by the future representative body. Though the +dissolution of the Assembly occasioned tumults in Breslau and +Cologne it was not actively resented by the nation at large. The +violence of the fallen body during its last weeks of existence +had exposed it to general discredit; its vote of the 15th of +November had been formally condemned by the Parliament of +Frankfort; and the liberal character of the new Constitution, +which agreed in the main with the draft-Constitution produced by +the Committee of the Assembly, disposed moderate men to the +belief that in the conflict between the King and the popular +representatives the fault had not been on the side of the +sovereign.</p> +<p>[The Frankfort Parliament and Austria, Oct.-Dec.]</p> +<p>In the meantime the Parliament of Frankfort, warned against +longer delay by the disturbances of September 17th, had addressed +itself in earnest to the settlement of the Federal Constitution +of Germany. Above a host of minor difficulties two great problems +confronted it at the outset. The first was the relation of the +Austrian Empire, with its partly German and partly foreign +territory, to the German national State; the other was the nature +of the headship to be established. As it was clear that the +Austrian Government could not apply the public law of Germany to +its Slavic and Hungarian provinces, it was enacted in the second +article of the Frankfort Constitution that where a German and a +non-German territory had the same sovereign, the relation between +these countries must be one of purely personal union under the +sovereign, no part of Germany being incorporated into a single +State with any non-German land. At the time when this article was +drafted the disintegration of Austria seemed more probable than +the re-establishment of its unity; no sooner, however, had Prince +Schwarzenberg been brought into power by the subjugation of +Vienna, than he made it plain that the government of Austria was +to be centralised as it had never been before. In the first +public declaration of his policy he announced that Austria would +maintain its unity and permit no exterior influence to modify its +internal organisation; that the settlement of the relations +between Austria and Germany could only be effected after each had +gained some new and abiding political form; and that in the +meantime Austria would continue to fulfil its duties as a +confederate. <a name="FNanchor446"> </a><a href="#Footnote_446"><sup>[446]</sup></a> The interpretation put upon +this statement at Frankfort was that Austria, in the interest of +its own unity, preferred not to enter the German body, but looked +forward to the establishment of some intimate alliance with it at +a future time. As the Court of Vienna had evidently determined +not to apply to itself the second article of the Constitution, +and an antagonism between German and Austrian policy came within +view, Schmerling, as an Austrian subject, was induced to resign +his office, and was succeeded in it by Gagern, hitherto President +of the Assembly (Dec. 16th). <a name="FNanchor447"> </a><a href="#Footnote_447"><sup>[447]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Frankfort Parliament and Austria, Dec., Jan.]</p> +<p>In announcing the policy of the new Ministry, Gagern assumed +the exclusion of Austria from the German Federation. Claiming for +the Assembly, as the representative of the German nation, +sovereign power in drawing up the Constitution, he denied that +the Constitution could be made an object of negotiation with +Austria. As Austria refused to fulfil the conditions of the +second article, it must remain outside the Federation; the +Ministry desired, however, to frame some close and special +connection between Austria and Germany, and asked for authority +to negotiate with the Court of Vienna for this purpose. Gagern's +declaration of the exclusion of Austria occasioned a vehement and +natural outburst of feeling among the Austrian deputies, and was +met by their almost unanimous protest. Some days later there +arrived a note from Schwarzenberg which struck at the root of all +that had been done and all that was claimed by the Assembly. +Repudiating the interpretation that had been placed upon his +words, Schwarzenberg declared that the affairs of Germany could +only be settled by an understanding between the Assembly and the +Courts, and by an arrangement with Austria, which was the +recognised chief of the Governments and intended to remain so in +the new Federation. The question of the inclusion or exclusion of +Austria now threw into the shade all the earlier differences +between parties in the Assembly. A new dividing-line was drawn. +On the one side appeared a group composed of the Austrian +representatives, of Ultramontanes who feared a Protestant +ascendency if Austria should be excluded, and of deputies from +some of the smaller States who had begun to dread Prussian +domination. On the other side was the great body of +representatives who set before all the cause of German national +union, who saw that this union would never be effected in any +real form if it was made to depend upon negotiations with the +Austrian Court, and who held, with the Minister, that to create a +true German national State without the Austrian provinces was +better than to accept a phantom of complete union in which the +German people should be nothing and the Cabinet of Vienna +everything. Though coalitions and intrigues of parties obscured +the political prospect from day to day, the principles of Gagern +were affirmed by a majority of the Assembly, and authority to +negotiate some new form of connection with Austria, as a power +outside the Federation, was granted to the Ministry.</p> +<p>[The Federal Headship.]</p> +<p>[King Frederick William IV. elected Emperor, March 28.]</p> +<p>The second great difficulty of the Assembly was the settlement +of the Federal headship. Some were for a hereditary Emperor, some +for a President or Board, some for a monarchy alternating between +the Houses of Prussia and Austria, some for a sovereign elected +for life or for a fixed period. The first decision arrived at was +that the head should be one of the reigning princes of Germany, +and that he should bear the title of Emperor. Against the +hereditary principle there was a strong and, at first, a +successful opposition. Reserving for future discussion other +questions relating to the imperial office, the Assembly passed +the Constitution through the first reading on February 3rd, 1849. +It was now communicated to all the German Governments, with the +request that they would offer their opinions upon it. The four +minor kingdoms-Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria, and Würtemberg-with +one consent declared against any Federation in which Austria +should not be included; the Cabinet of Vienna protested against +the subordination of the Emperor of Austria to a central power +vested in any other German prince, and proposed that the entire +Austrian Empire, with its foreign as well as its German elements, +should enter the Federation. This note was enough to prove that +Austria was in direct conflict with the scheme of national union +which the Assembly had accepted; but the full peril of the +situation was not perceived till on the 9th of March +Schwarzenberg published the Constitution of Olmütz, which +extinguished all separate rights throughout the Austrian Empire, +and confounded in one mass, as subjects of the Emperor Francis +Joseph, Hungarians, Germans, Slavs and Italians. The import of +the Austrian demand now stood out clear and undisguised. Austria +claimed to range itself with a foreign population of thirty +millions within the German Federation; in other words, to reduce +the German national union to a partnership with all the +nationalities of Central Europe, to throw the weight of an +overwhelming influence against any system of free representative +government, and to expose Germany to war where no interests but +those of the Pole or the Magyar might be at stake. So deep was +the impression made at Frankfort by the fall of the Kremsier +Parliament and the publication of Schwarzenberg's unitary edict, +that one of the most eminent of the politicians who had hitherto +opposed the exclusion of Austria-the Baden deputy +Welcker-declared that further persistence in this course would be +treason to Germany. Ranging himself with the Ministry, he +proposed that the entire German Constitution, completed by a +hereditary chieftainship, should be passed at a single vote on +the second reading, and that the dignity of Emperor should be at +once offered to the King of Prussia. Though the Assembly declined +to pass the Constitution by a single vote, it agreed to vote upon +clause by clause without discussion. The hereditary principle was +affirmed by the narrow majority of four in a House of above five +hundred. The second reading of the Constitution was completed on +the 27th of March, and on the following day the election of the +sovereign took place. Two hundred and ninety votes were given for +the King of Prussia. Two hundred and forty-eight members, hostile +to the hereditary principle or to the prince selected, abstained +from voting. <a name="FNanchor448"> </a><a href="#Footnote_448"><sup>[448]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Frederick William IV.]</p> +<p>Frederick William had from early years cherished the hope of +seeing some closer union of Germany established under Prussian +influence. But he dwelt in a world where there was more of +picturesque mirage than of real insight. He was almost +superstitiously loyal to the House of Austria; and he failed to +perceive, what was palpable to men of far inferior endowments to +his own, that by setting Prussia at the head of the +constitutional movement of the epoch he might at any time from +the commencement of his reign have rallied all Germany round it. +Thus the revolution of 1848 burst upon him, and he was not the +man to act or to lead in time of revolution. Even in 1848, had he +given promptly and with dignity what, after blood had been shed +in his streets, he had to give with humiliation, he would +probably have been acclaimed Emperor on the opening of the +Parliament of Frankfort, and have been accepted by the universal +voice of Germany. But the odium cast upon him by the struggle of +March 18th was so great that in the election of a temporary +Administrator of the Empire in June no single member at Frankfort +gave him a vote. Time was needed to repair his credit, and while +time passed Austria rose from its ruins. In the spring of 1849 +Frederick William could not have assumed the office of Emperor of +Germany without risk of a war with Austria, even had he been +willing to accept this office on the nomination of the Frankfort +Parliament. But to accept the Imperial Crown from a popular +Assembly was repugnant to his deepest convictions. Clear as the +Frankfort Parliament had been, as a whole, from the taint of +Republicanism or of revolutionary violence, it had nevertheless +had its birth in revolution: the crown which it offered would, in +the King's expression, have been picked up from blood and mire. +Had the princes of Germany by any arrangement with the Assembly +tendered the crown to Frederick William the case would have been +different; a new Divine right would have emanated from the old, +and conditions fixed by negotiation between the princes and the +popular Assembly might have been endured. That Frederick William +still aspired to German leadership in one form or another no one +doubted; his disposition to seek or to reject an accommodation +with the Frankfort Parliament varied with the influences which +surrounded him. The Ministry led by the Count of Brandenburg, +though anti-popular in its domestic measures, was desirous of +arriving at some understanding with Gagern and the friends of +German union. Shortly before the first reading of the +Constitution at Frankfort, a note had been drafted in the Berlin +Cabinet admitting under certain provisions the exclusion of +Austria from the Federation, and proposing, not that the Assembly +should admit the right of each Government to accept or reject the +Constitution, but that it should meet in a fair spirit such +recommendations as all the Governments together should by a joint +act submit to it. This note, which would have rendered an +agreement between the Prussian Court and the Assembly possible, +Frederick William at first refused to sign. He was induced to do +so (Jan. 23rd) by his confidant Bunsen, who himself was +authorised to proceed to Frankfort. During Bunsen's absence +despatches arrived at Berlin from Schwarzenberg, who, in his +usual resolute way, proposed to dissolve the Frankfort Assembly, +and to divide Germany between Austria, Prussia, and the four +secondary kingdoms. Bunsen on his return found his work undone; +the King recoiled under Austrian pressure from the position which +he had taken up, and sent a note to Frankfort on the 16th of +February, which described Austria as a necessary part of Germany +and claimed for each separate Government the right to accept or +reject the Constitution as it might think fit. Thus the +acceptance of the headship by Frederick William under any +conditions compatible with the claims of the Assembly was known +to be doubtful when, on the 28th of March, the majority resolved +to offer him the Imperial Crown. The disposition of the Ministry +at Berlin was indeed still favourable to an accommodation; and +when, on the 2nd of April, the members of the Assembly who were +charged to lay its offer before Frederick William arrived at +Berlin, they were received with such cordiality by Brandenburg +that it was believed the King's consent had been won.</p> +<p>[Frederick William IV. refuses the Crown, April 3.]</p> +<p>The reply of the King to the deputation on the following day +rudely dispelled these hopes. He declared that before he could +accept the Crown not only must he be summoned to it by the +Princes of Germany, but the consent of all the Governments must +be given to the Constitution. In other words, he required that +the Assembly should surrender its claims to legislative +supremacy, and abandon all those parts of the Federal +Constitution of which any of the existing Governments +disapproved. As it was certain that Austria and the four minor +kingdoms would never agree to any Federal union worthy of the +name, and that the Assembly could not now, without renouncing its +past, admit that the right of framing the Constitution lay +outside itself, the answer of the King was understood to amount +to a refusal. The deputation left Berlin in the sorrowful +conviction that their mission had failed; and a note which was +soon afterwards received at Frankfort from the King showed that +this belief was correct. <a name="FNanchor449"> </a><a href="#Footnote_449"><sup>[449]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Frankfort Constitution rejected by the Governments.]</p> +<p>The answer of King Frederick William proved indeed much more +than that he had refused the Crown of Germany; it proved that he +would not accept the Constitution which the Assembly had enacted. +The full import of this determination, and the serious nature of +the crisis now impending over Germany, were at once understood. +Though twenty-eight Governments successively accepted the +Constitution, these were without exception petty States, and +their united forces would scarcely have been a match for one of +its more powerful enemies. On the 5th of April the Austrian +Cabinet declared the Assembly to have been guilty of illegality +in publishing the Constitution, and called upon all Austrian +deputies to quit Frankfort. The Prussian Lower Chamber, elected +under the King's recent edict, having protested against the state +of siege in Berlin, and having passed a resolution in favour of +the Frankfort Constitution, was forthwith dissolved. Within the +Frankfort Parliament the resistance of Governments excited a +patriotic resentment and caused for the moment a union of +parties. Resolutions were passed declaring that the Assembly +would adhere to the Constitution. A Committee was charged with +the ascertainment of measures to be adopted for enforcing its +recognition; and a note was addressed to all the hostile +Governments demanding that they should abstain from proroguing or +dissolving the representative bodies within their dominions with +the view of suppressing the free utterance of opinions in favour +of the Constitution.</p> +<p>[End of the German National Assembly, June, 1849.]</p> +<p>On the ground of this last demand the Prussian official Press +now began to denounce the Assembly of Frankfort as a +revolutionary body. The situation of affairs daily became worse. +It was in vain that the Assembly appealed to the Governments, the +legislative Chambers, the local bodies, the whole people, to +bring the Constitution into effect. The moral force on which it +had determined to rely proved powerless, and in despair of +conquering the Governments by public opinion the more violent +members of the democratic party determined to appeal to +insurrection. On the 4th of May a popular rising began at +Dresden, where the King, under the influence of Prussia, had +dismissed those of his Ministers who urged him to accept the +Constitution, and had dissolved his Parliament. The outbreak +drove the King from his capital; but only five days had passed +when a Prussian army-corps entered the city and crushed the +rebellion. In this interval, short as it was, there had been +indications that the real leaders of the insurrection were +fighting not for the Frankfort Constitution but for a Republic, +and that in the event of their victory a revolutionary +Government, connected with French and Polish schemes of +subversion, would come into power. In Baden this was made still +clearer. There the Government of the Grand Duke had actually +accepted the Frankfort Constitution, and had ordered elections to +be held for the Federal legislative body by which the Assembly +was to be succeeded. Insurrection nevertheless broke out. The +Republic was openly proclaimed; the troops joined the insurgents; +and a Provisional Government allied itself with a similar body +that had sprung into being with the help of French and Polish +refugees in the neighbouring Palatinate. Conscious that these +insurrections must utterly ruin its own cause, the Frankfort +Assembly on the suggestion of Gagern called upon the Archduke +John to suppress them by force of arms, and at the same time to +protect the free expression of opinion on behalf of the +Constitution where threatened by Governments. John, who had long +clung to his office only to further the ends of Austria, refused +to do so, and Gagern in consequence resigned. With his fall ended +the real political existence of the Assembly. In reply to a +resolution which it passed on the 10th of May, calling upon John +to employ all the forces of Germany in defence of the +Constitution, the Archduke placed a mock-Ministry in office. The +Prussian Government, declaring the vote of the 10th of May to be +a summons to civil war, ordered all Prussian deputies to withdraw +from the Assembly, and a few days later its example was imitated +by Saxony and Hanover. On the 20th of May sixty-five of the best +known of the members, including Arndt and Dahlmann, placed on +record their belief that in the actual situation the +relinquishment of the task of the Assembly was the least of +evils, and declared their work at Frankfort ended. Other groups +followed them till there remained only the party of the extreme +Left, which had hitherto been a weak minority, and which in no +sense represented the real opinions of Germany. This +Rump-Parliament, troubling itself little with John and his +Ministers, determined to withdraw from Frankfort, where it +dreaded the appearance of Prussian troops, into Würtemberg, +where it might expect some support from the revolutionary +Governments of Baden and the Palatinate. On the 6th of June a +hundred and five deputies assembled at Stuttgart. There they +proceeded to appoint a governing Committee for all Germany, +calling upon the King of Würtemberg to supply them with +seven thousand soldiers, and sending out emissaries to stir up +the neighbouring population. But the world disregarded them. The +Government at Stuttgart, after an interval of patience, bade them +begone; and on the 18th of June their hall was closed against +them and they were dispersed by troops, no one raising a hand on +their behalf. The overthrow of the insurgents who had taken up +arms in Baden and the Palatinate was not so easy a matter. A +campaign of six weeks was necessary, in which the army of +Prussia, led by the Prince of Prussia, sustained some reverses, +before the Republican levies were crushed, and with the fall of +Rastadt the insurrection was brought to a close. <a name="FNanchor450"> </a><a href="#Footnote_450"><sup>[450]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Baden insurrection suppressed, July, 1849.]</p> +<p>[Prussia attempts to form a separate union.]</p> +<p>The end of the German Parliament, on which the nation had set +such high hopes and to which it had sent so much of what was +noblest in itself, contrasted lamentably with the splendour of +its opening. Whether a better result would have been attained if, +instead of claiming supreme authority in the construction of +Federal union, the Assembly had from the first sought the +co-operation of the Governments, must remain matter of +conjecture. Austria would under all circumstances have been the +great hindrance in the way; and after the failure of the efforts +made at Frankfort to establish the general union of Germany, +Austria was able completely to frustrate the attempts which were +now made at Berlin to establish partial union upon a different +basis. In notifying to the Assembly his refusal of the Imperial +Crown, King Frederick William had stated that he was resolved to +place himself at the head of a Federation to be formed by States +voluntarily uniting with him under terms to be subsequently +arranged; and in a circular note addressed to the German +Governments he invited such as were disposed to take counsel with +Prussia to unite in Conference at Berlin. The opening of the +Conference was fixed for the 17th of May. Two days before this +the King issued a proclamation to the Prussian people announcing +that in spite of the failure of the Assembly of Frankfort a +German union was still to be formed. When the Conference opened +at Berlin, no envoys appeared but those of Austria, Saxony, +Hanover, and Bavaria. The Austrian representative withdrew at the +end of the first sitting, the Bavarian rather later, leaving +Prussia to lay such foundations as it could for German unity with +the temporising support of Saxony and Hanover. A confederation +was formed, known as the League of the Three Kingdoms. An +undertaking was given that a Federal Parliament should be +summoned, and that a Constitution should be made jointly by this +Parliament and the Governments (May 26th). On the 11th of June +the draft of a Federal Constitution was published. As the King of +Prussia was apparently acting in good faith, and the +draft-Constitution in spite of some defects seemed to afford a +fair basis for union, the question now arose among the leaders of +the German national movement whether the twenty-eight States +which had accepted the ill-fated Constitution of Frankfort ought +or ought not to enter the new Prussian League. A meeting of a +hundred and fifty ex-members of the Frankfort Parliament was held +at Gotha; and although great indignation was expressed by the +more democratic faction, it was determined that the scheme now +put forward by Prussia deserved a fair trial. The whole of the +twenty-eight minor States consequently entered the League, which +thus embraced all Germany with the exception of Austria, Bavaria +and Würtemberg. But the Courts of Saxony and Hanover had +from the first been acting with duplicity. The military influence +of Prussia, and the fear which they still felt of their own +subjects, had prevented them from offering open resistance to the +renewed work of Federation; but they had throughout been in +communication with Austria, and were only waiting for the moment +when the complete restoration of Austria's military strength +should enable them to display their true colours. During the +spring of 1849, while the Conferences at Berlin were being held, +Austria was still occupied with Hungary and Venice. The final +overthrow of these enemies enabled it to cast its entire weight +upon Germany. The result was seen in the action of Hanover and +Saxony, which now formally seceded from the Federation. Prussia +thus remained at the end of 1849 with no support but that of the +twenty-eight minor States. Against it, in open or in tacit +antagonism to the establishment of German unity in any effective +form, the four secondary Kingdoms stood ranged by the side of +Austria.</p> +<p>[Prussia in 1849.]</p> +<p>[The Union Parliament at Erfurt, March 1850.]</p> +<p>It was not until the 20th of March, 1850, that the Federal +Parliament, which had been promised ten months before on the +incorporation of the new League, assembled at Erfurt. In the +meantime reaction had gone far in many a German State. In +Prussia, after the dissolution of the Lower Chamber on April +27th, 1849, the King had abrogated the electoral provisions of +the Constitution so recently granted by himself, and had +substituted for them a system based on the representation of +classes. Treating this act as a breach of faith, the Democratic +party had abstained from voting at the elections, with the result +that in the Berlin Parliament of 1850 Conservatives, +Reactionists, and officials formed the great majority. The +revision of the Prussian Constitution, promised at first as a +concession to Liberalism, was conducted in the opposite sense. +The King demanded the strengthening of monarchical power; the +Feudalists, going far beyond him, attacked the municipal and +social reforms of the last two years, and sought to lead Prussia +back to the system of its mediæval estates. It was in the +midst of this victory of reaction in Prussia that the Federal +Parliament at Erfurt began its sittings. Though the moderate +Liberals, led by Gagern and other tried politicians of Frankfurt, +held the majority in both Houses, a strong Absolutist party from +Prussia confronted them, and it soon became clear that the +Prussian Government was ready to play into the hands of this +party. The draft of the Federal Constitution, which had been made +at Berlin, was presented, according to the undertaking of May +28th, 1849, to the Erfurt Assembly. Aware of the gathering +strength of the reaction and of the danger of delay, the Liberal +majority declared itself ready to pass the draft into law without +a single alteration. The reactionary minority demanded that a +revision should take place; and, to the scandal of all who +understood the methods or the spirit of Parliamentary rule, the +Prussian Ministers united with the party which demanded +alterations in the project which they themselves had brought +forward. A compromise was ultimately effected; but the action of +the Court of Prussia and the conduct of its Ministers throughout +the Erfurt debates struck with deep despondency those who had +believed that Frederick William might still effect the work in +which the Assembly of Frankfort had failed. The trust in the +King's sincerity or consistence of purpose sank low. The sympathy +of the national Liberal party throughout Germany was to a great +extent alienated from Prussia; while, if any expectation existed +at Berlin that the adoption of a reactionary policy would disarm +the hostility of the Austrian Government to the new League, this +hope was wholly vain and <a name="FNanchor451">baseless.</a><a +href="#Footnote_451"><sup>[451]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Action of Austria.]</p> +<p>Austria had from the first protested against the attempt of +the King of Prussia to establish any new form of union in +Germany, and had declared that it would recognise none of the +conclusions of the Federal Parliament of Erfurt. According to the +theory now advanced by the Cabinet of Vienna the ancient Federal +Constitution of Germany was still in force. All that had happened +since March, 1848, was so much wanton and futile mischief-making. +The disturbance of order had at length come to an end, and with +the exit of the rioters the legitimate powers re-entered into +their rights. Accordingly, there could be no question of the +establishment of new Leagues. The old relation of all the German +States to one another under the ascendency of Austria remained in +full strength; the Diet of Frankfort, which had merely suspended +its functions and by no means suffered extinction, was still the +legitimate central authority. That some modifications might be +necessary in the ancient Constitution was the most that Austria +was willing to admit. This, however, was an affair not for the +German people but for its rulers, and Austria accordingly invited +all the Governments to a Congress at Frankfort where the changes +necessary might be discussed. In reply to this summons, Prussia +strenuously denied that the old Federal Constitution was still in +existence. The princes of the numerous petty States which were +included in the new Union assembled at Berlin round Frederick +William, and resolved that they would not attend the Conference +at Frankfort except under reservations and conditions which +Austria would not admit. Arguments and counter-arguments were +exchanged; but the controversy between an old and a new Germany +was one to be decided by force of will or force of arms, not by +political logic. The struggle was to be one between Prussia and +Austria, and the Austrian Cabinet had well gauged the temper of +its opponent. A direct summons to submission would have roused +all the King's pride, and have been answered by war. Before +demanding from Frederick William the dissolution of the Union +which he had founded, Schwarzenberg determined to fix upon a +quarrel in which the King should be perplexed or alarmed at the +results of his own policy. The dominant conviction in the mind of +Frederick William was that of the sanctity of monarchical rule. +If the League of Berlin could be committed to some enterprise +hostile to monarchical power, and could be charged with an +alliance with rebellion, Frederick William would probably falter +in his resolutions, and a resort to arms, for which, however, +Austria was well prepared, would become <a name="FNanchor452">unnecessary.</a><a href="#Footnote_452"><sup>[452]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Hesse-Cassel.]</p> +<p>[The Diet of Frankfort restored, Sept., 1850.]</p> +<p>[Prussia and Austria.]</p> +<p>[The Warsaw meeting, Oct. 29, 1850.]</p> +<p>[Manteuffel at Olmütz, Nov. 29.]</p> +<p>Among the States whose Governments had been forced by public +opinion to join the new Federation was the Electorate of +Hesse-Cassel. The Elector was, like his predecessors, a thorough +despot at heart, and chafed under the restrictions which a +constitutional system imposed upon his rule. Acting under +Austrian instigation, he dismissed his Ministers in the spring of +1850, and placed in office one Hassenpflug, a type of the worst +and most violent class of petty tyrants produced by the +officialism of the minor German States. Hassenpflug immediately +quarrelled with the Estates at Cassel, and twice dissolved them, +after which he proceeded to levy taxes by force. The law-courts +declared his acts illegal; the officers of the army, when called +on for assistance, began to resign. The conflict between the +Minister and the Hessian population was in full progress when, at +the beginning of September, Austria with its vassal Governments +proclaimed the re-establishment of the Diet of Frankfort. Though +Prussia and most of the twenty-eight States confederate with it +treated this announcement as null and void, the Diet, constituted +by the envoys of Austria, the four minor Kingdoms, and a few +seceders from the Prussian Union, commenced its sittings. To the +Diet the Elector of Hesse forthwith appealed for help against his +subjects, and the decision was given that the refusal of the +Hessian Estates to grant the taxes was an offence justifying the +intervention of the central power. Fortified by this judgment, +Hassenpflug now ordered that every person offering resistance to +the Government should be tried by court-martial. He was baffled +by the resignation of the entire body of officers in the Hessian +army; and as this completed the discomfiture of the Elector, the +armed intervention of Austria, as identified with the Diet of +Frankfort, now became a certainty. But to the protection of the +people of Hesse in their constitutional rights Prussia, as chief +of the League which Hesse had joined, stood morally pledged. It +remained for the King to decide between armed resistance to +Austria or the humiliation of a total abandonment of Prussia's +claim to leadership in any German union. Conflicting influences +swayed the King in one direction and another. The friends of +Austria and of absolutism declared that the employment of the +Prussian army on behalf of the Hessians would make the King an +accomplice of revolution: the bolder and more patriotic spirits +protested against the abdication of Prussia's just claims and the +evasion of its responsibilities towards Germany. For a moment the +party of action, led by the Prince of Prussia, gained the +ascendant. General Radowitz, the projector of the Union, was +called to the Foreign Ministry, and Prussian troops entered +Hesse. Austria now ostentatiously prepared for war. Frederick +William, terrified by the danger confronting him, yet unwilling +to yield all, sought the mediation of the Czar of Russia. +Nicholas came to Warsaw, where the Emperor of Austria and Prince +Charles, brother of the King of Prussia, attended by the +Ministers of their States, met him. The closest family ties +united the Courts of St. Petersburg and Berlin but the Russian +sovereign was still the patron of Austria as he had been in the +Hungarian campaign. He resented the action of Prussia in +Schleswig-Holstein, and was offended that King Frederick William +had not presented himself at Warsaw in person. He declared in +favour of all Austria's demands, and treated Count Brandenburg +with such indignity that the Count, a high-spirited patriot, +never recovered from its effect. He returned to Berlin only to +give in his report and die. Manteuffel, Minister of the Interior, +assured the King that the Prussian army was so weak in numbers +and so defective in organisation that, if it took the field +against Austria and its allies, it would meet with certain ruin. +Bavarian troops, representing the Diet of Frankfort, now entered +Hesse at Austria's bidding, and stood face to face with the +Prussians. The moment had come when the decision must be made +between peace and war. At a Council held at Berlin on November +and the peace-party carried the King with them. Radowitz gave up +office; Manteuffel, the Minister of repression within and of +submission without, was set at the head of the Government. The +meaning of his appointment was well understood, and with each new +proof of the weakness of the King the tone of the Court of +Austria became more imperious. On the 9th of November +Schwarzenberg categorically demanded the dissolution of the +Prussian Union, the recognition of the Federal Diet, and the +evacuation of Hesse by the Prussian troops. The first point was +at once conceded, and in hollow, equivocating language Manteuffel +made the fact known to the members of the Confederacy. The other +conditions not being so speedily fulfilled, Schwarzenberg set +Austrian regiments in motion, and demanded the withdrawal of the +Prussian troops from Hesse within twenty-four hours. Manteuffel +begged the Austrian Minister for an interview, and, without +waiting for an answer, set out for Olmütz. His instructions +bade him to press for certain concessions; none of these did he +obtain, and he made the necessary submission without them. On the +29th of November a convention was signed at Olmütz, in which +Prussia recognised the German Federal Constitution of 1815 as +still existing, undertook to withdraw all its troops from Hesse +with the exception of a single battalion, and consented to the +settlement of affairs both in Hesse and in Schleswig-Holstein by +the Federal Diet. One point alone in the scheme of the Austrian +statesman was wanting among the fruits of his victory at +Olmütz and of the negotiations at Dresden by which this was +followed. Schwarzenberg had intended that the entire Austrian +Empire should enter the German Federation; and if he had had to +reckon with no opponents but the beaten and humbled Prussia, he +would have effected his design. But the prospect of a central +European Power, with a population of seventy millions, controlled +as this would virtually be by the Cabinet of Vienna, alarmed +other nations. England declared that such a combination would +undo the balance of power in Europe and menace the independence +of Germany; France protested in more threatening terms; and the +project fell to the ground, to be remembered only as the boldest +imagination of a statesman for whom fortune, veiling the Nemesis +in store, seemed to set no limit to its favours.</p> +<p>[Schleswig-Holstein.]</p> +<p>[The German National Fleet sold by auction, June, 1852.]</p> +<p>The cause of Schleswig-Holstein, so intimately bound up with +the efforts of the Germans towards national union, sank with the +failure of these efforts; and in the final humiliation of Prussia +it received what might well seem its death-blow. The armistice of +Malmö, which was sanctioned by the Assembly of Frankfort in +the autumn of 1848, lasted until March 26th, 1849. War was then +recommenced by Prussia, and the lines of Düppel were stormed +by its troops, while the volunteer forces of Schleswig-Holstein +unsuccessfully laid siege to Fredericia. Hostilities had +continued for three months, when a second armistice, to last for +a year, and Preliminaries of Peace, were agreed upon. At the +conclusion of this armistice, in July, 1850, Prussia, in the name +of Germany, made peace with Denmark. The inhabitants of the +Duchies in consequence continued the war for themselves, and +though defeated with great loss at Idstedt on the 24th of July, +they remained unconquered at the end of the year. This was the +situation of affairs when Prussia, by the Treaty of Olmütz, +agreed that the restored Federal Diet should take upon itself the +restoration of order in Schleswig-Holstein, and that the troops +of Prussia should unite with those of Austria to enforce its +decrees. To the Cabinet of Vienna, the foe in equal measure of +German national union and of every democratic cause, the +Schleswig-Holsteiners were simply rebels in insurrection against +their Sovereign. They were required by the Diet, under Austrian +dictation, to lay down their arms; and commissioners from Austria +and Prussia entered the Duchies to compel them to do so. Against +Denmark, Austria, and Prussia together, it was impossible for +Schleswig-Holstein to prolong its resistance. The army was +dissolved, and the Duchies were handed over to the King of +Denmark, to return to the legal status which was defined in the +Treaties of Peace. This was the nominal condition of the +transfer; but the Danish Government treated Schleswig as part of +its national territory, and in the northern part of the Duchy the +process of substituting Danish for German nationality was +actively pursued. The policy of foreign Courts, little interested +in the wish of the inhabitants, had from the beginning of the +struggle of the Duchies against Denmark favoured the maintenance +and consolidation of the Danish Kingdom. The claims of the Duke +of Augustenburg, as next heir to the Duchies in the male line, +were not considered worth the risk of a new war; and by a +protocol signed at London on the 2nd of August, 1850, the Powers, +with the exception of Prussia, declared themselves in favour of a +single rule of succession in all parts of the Danish State. By a +Treaty of the 8th of May, 1852, to which Prussia gave its assent, +the pretensions of all other claimants to the disputed succession +were set aside, and Prince Christian, of the House of +Glücksburg, was declared heir to the throne, the rights of +the German Federation as established by the Treaties of 1815 +being reserved. In spite of this reservation of Federal rights, +and of the stipulations in favour of Schleswig and Holstein made +in the earlier agreements, the Duchies appeared to be now +practically united with the Danish State. Prussia, for a moment +their champion, had joined with Austria in coercing their army, +in dissolving their Government, in annulling the legislation by +which the Parliament of Frankfort had made them participators in +public rights thenceforward to be the inheritance of all Germans. +A page in the national history was obliterated; Prussia had +turned its back on its own professions; there remained but one +relic from the time when the whole German people seemed so ardent +for the emancipation of its brethren beyond the frontier. The +national fleet, created by the Assembly of Frankfort for the +prosecution of the struggle with Denmark, still lay at the mouth +of the Elbe. But the same power which had determined that Germany +was not to be a nation had also determined that it could have no +national maritime interests. After all that had passed, authority +had little call to be nice about appearances; and the national +fleet was sold by auction, in accordance with a decree of the +restored Diet of Frankfort, in the summer of 1852. <a name="FNanchor453"> </a><a href="#Footnote_453"><sup>[453]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Germany after 1849.]</p> +<p>It was with deep disappointment and humiliation that the +Liberals of Germany, and all in whom the hatred of democratic +change had not overpowered the love of country, witnessed the +issue of the movement of 1848. In so far as that movement was one +directed towards national union it had totally failed, and the +state of things that had existed before 1848 was restored without +change. As a movement of constitutional and social reform, it had +not been so entirely vain; nor in this respect can it be said +that Germany after the year 1848 returned altogether to what it +was before it. Many of the leading figures of the earlier time +re-appeared indeed with more or less of lustre upon the stage. +Metternich though excluded from office by younger men, beamed +upon Vienna with the serenity of a prophet who had lived to see +most of his enemies shot and of a martyr who had returned to one +of the most enviable Salons in Europe. No dynasty lost its +throne, no class of the population had been struck down with +proscription as were the clergy and the nobles of France fifty +years before. Yet the traveller familiar with Germany before the +revolution found that much of the old had now vanished, much of a +new world come into being. It was not sought by the +re-established Governments to undo at one stroke the whole of the +political, the social, the agrarian legislation of the preceding +time, as in some other periods of reaction. The nearest approach +that was made to this was in a decree of the Diet annulling the +Declaration of Rights drawn up by the Frankfort Assembly, and +requiring the Governments to bring into conformity with the +Federal Constitution all laws and institutions made since the +beginning of 1848. Parliamentary government was thereby +enfeebled, but not necessarily extinguished. Governments narrowed +the franchise, curtailed the functions of representative +assemblies, filled these with their creatures, coerced voters at +elections; but, except in Austria, there was no open abandonment +of constitutional forms. In some States, as in Saxony under the +reactionary rule of Count Beust, the system of national +representation established in 1848 was abolished and the earlier +Estates were revived; in Prussia the two Houses of Parliament +continued in existence, but in such dependence upon the royal +authority, and under such strong pressure of an aristocratic and +official reaction, that, after struggling for some years in the +Lower House, the Liberal leaders at length withdrew in despair. +The character which Government now assumed in Prussia was indeed +far more typical of the condition of Germany at large than was +the bold and uncompromising despotism of Prince Schwarzenberg in +Austria. Manteuffel, in whom the Prussian epoch of reaction was +symbolised, was not a cruel or a violent Minister; but his rule +was stamped with a peculiar and degrading meanness, more +irritating to those who suffered under it than harsher wrong. In +his hands government was a thing of eavesdropping and espionage, +a system of petty persecution, a school of subservience and +hypocrisy. He had been the instrument at Olmütz of such a +surrender of national honour and national interests as few +nations have ever endured with the chances of war still untried. +This surrender may, in the actual condition of the Prussian army, +have been necessary, but the abasement of it seemed to cling to +Manteuffel and to lower all his conceptions of government. Even +where the conclusions of his policy were correct they seemed to +have been reached by some unworthy process. Like Germany at +large, Prussia breathed uneasily under an oppression which was +everywhere felt and yet was hard to define. Its best elements +were those which suffered the most: its highest intellectual and +political aims were those which most excited the suspicion of the +Government. Its King had lost whatever was stimulating or +elevated in his illusions. From him no second alliance with +Liberalism, no further effort on behalf of German unity, was to +be expected: the hope for Germany and for Prussia, if hope there +was, lay in a future reign.</p> +<p>[Austria after 1851.]</p> +<p>[Austrian Concordat, Sept. 18, 1855.]</p> +<p>The powerlessness of Prussia was the measure of Austrian +influence and prestige. The contrast presented by Austria in 1848 +and Austria in 1851 was indeed one that might well arrest +political observers. Its recovery had no doubt been effected +partly by foreign aid, and in the struggle with the Magyars a +dangerous obligation had been incurred towards Russia; but +scarred and riven as the fabric was within, it was complete and +imposing without. Not one of the enemies who in 1848 had risen +against the Court of Vienna now remained standing. In Italy, +Austria had won back what had appeared to be hopelessly lost; in +Germany it had more than vindicated its old claims. It had thrown +its rival to the ground, and the full measure of its ambition was +perhaps even yet not satisfied. "First to humiliate Prussia, then +to destroy it," was the expression in which Schwarzenberg summed +up his German policy. Whether, with his undoubted firmness and +daring, the Minister possessed the intellectual qualities and the +experience necessary for the successful administration of an +Empire built up, as Austria now was, on violence and on the +suppression of every national force, was doubted even by his +admirers. The proof, however, was not granted to him, for a +sudden death carried him off in his fourth year of power (April +5th, 1852). Weaker men succeeded to his task. The epoch of +military and diplomatic triumph was now ending, the gloomier side +of the reaction stood out unrelieved by any new succession of +victories. Financial disorder grew worse and worse. Clericalism +claimed its bond from the monarchy which it had helped to +restore. In the struggle of the nationalities of Austria against +the central authority the Bishops had on the whole thrown their +influence on to the side of the Crown. The restored despotism +owed too much to their help and depended too much on their +continued goodwill to be able to refuse their demands. Thus the +new centralised administration, reproducing in general the +uniformity of government attempted by the Emperor Joseph II., +contrasted with this in its subservience to clerical power. +Ecclesiastical laws and jurisdictions were allowed to encroach on +the laws and jurisdiction of the State; education was made over +to the priesthood; within the Church itself the bishops were +allowed to rule uncontrolled. The very Minister who had taken +office under Schwarzenberg as the representative of the modern +spirit, to which the Government still professed to render homage, +became the instrument of an act of submission to the Papacy which +marked the lowest point to which Austrian policy fell. Alexander +Bach, a prominent Liberal in Vienna at the beginning of 1848, had +accepted office at the price of his independence, and surrendered +himself to the aristocratic and clerical influences that +dominated the Court. Consistent only in his efforts to simplify +the forms of government, to promote the ascendency of German over +all other elements in the State, to maintain the improvement in +the peasant's condition effected by the Parliament of Kremsier, +Bach, as Minister of the Interior, made war in all other respects +on his own earlier principles. In the former representative of +the Liberalism of the professional classes in Vienna absolutism +had now its most efficient instrument; and the Concordat +negotiated by Bach with the Papacy in 1855 marked the definite +submission of Austria to the ecclesiastical pretensions which in +these years of political languor and discouragement gained +increasing recognition throughout Central Europe. Ultramontanism +had sought allies in many political camps since the revolution of +1848. It had dallied in some countries with Republicanism; but +its truer instincts divined in the victory of absolutist systems +its own surest gain. Accommodations between the Papacy and +several of the German Governments were made in the years +succeeding 1849; and from the centralised despotism of the +Emperor Francis Joseph the Church won concessions which since the +time of Maria Theresa it had in vain sought from any ruler of the +Austrian State.</p> +<p>[France after 1848.]</p> +<p>[Louis Napoleon.]</p> +<p>The European drama which began in 1848 had more of unity and +more of concentration in its opening than in its close. In Italy +it ends with the fall of Venice; in Germany the interest lingers +till the days of Olmütz; in France there is no decisive +break in the action until the Coup d'Etat which, at the end of +the year 1851, made Louis Napoleon in all but name Emperor of +France. The six million votes which had raised Louis Napoleon to +the Presidency of the Republic might well have filled with alarm +all who hoped for a future of constitutional rule; yet the +warning conveyed by the election seems to have been understood by +but few. As the representative of order and authority, as the +declared enemy of Socialism, Louis Napoleon was on the same side +as the Parliamentary majority; he had even been supported in his +candidature by Parliamentary leaders such as M. Thiers. His +victory was welcomed as a victory over Socialism and the Red +Republic; he had received some patronage from the official party +of order, and it was expected that, as nominal chief of the +State, he would act as the instrument of this party. He was an +adventurer, but an adventurer with so little that was imposing +about him, that it scarcely occurred to men of influence in Paris +to credit him with the capacity for mischief. His mean look and +spiritless address, the absurdities of his past, the +insignificance of his political friends, caused him to be +regarded during his first months of public life with derision +rather than with fear. The French, said M. Thiers long +afterwards, made two mistakes about Louis Napoleon: the first +when they took him for a fool, the second when they took him for +a man of genius. It was not until the appearance of the letter to +Colonel Ney, in which the President ostentatiously separated +himself from his Ministers and emphasised his personal will in +the direction of the foreign policy of France, that suspicions of +danger to the Republic from his ambition arose. From this time, +in the narrow circle of the Ministers whom official duty brought +into direct contact with the President, a constant sense of +insecurity and dread of some new surprise on his part prevailed, +though the accord which had been broken by the letter to Colonel +Ney was for a while outwardly re-established, and the forms of +Parliamentary government remained unimpaired.</p> +<p>[Message of Oct. 31, 1849.]</p> +<p>The first year of Louis Napoleon's term of office was drawing +to a close when a message from him was delivered to the Assembly +which seemed to announce an immediate attack upon the +Constitution. The Ministry in office was composed of men of high +Parliamentary position; it enjoyed the entire confidence of a +great majority in the Assembly, and had enforced with at least +sufficient energy the measures of public security which the +President and the country seemed agreed in demanding. Suddenly, +on the 31st of October, the President announced to the Assembly +by a message carried by one of his aides-de-camp that the +Ministry were dismissed. The reason assigned for their dismissal +was the want of unity within the Cabinet itself; but the language +used by the President announced much more than a ministerial +change. "France, in the midst of confusion, seeks for the hand, +the will of him whom it elected on the 10th of December. The +victory won on that day was the victory of a system, for the name +of Napoleon is in itself a programme. It signifies order, +authority, religion, national prosperity within; national dignity +without. It is this policy, inaugurated by my election, that I +desire to carry to triumph with the support of the Assembly and +of the people." In order to save the Republic from anarchy, to +maintain the prestige of France among other nations, the +President declared that he needed men of action rather than of +words; yet when the list of the new Ministers appeared, it +contained scarcely a single name of weight. Louis Napoleon had +called to office persons whose very obscurity had marked them as +his own instruments, and guaranteed to him the ascendency which +he had not hitherto possessed within the Cabinet. Satisfied with +having given this proof of his power, he resumed the appearance +of respect, if not of cordiality, towards the Assembly. He had +learnt to beware of precipitate action; above two years of office +were still before him; and he had now done enough to make it +clear to all who were disposed to seek their fortunes in a new +political cause that their services on his behalf would be +welcomed, and any excess of zeal more than pardoned. From this +time there grew up a party which had for its watchword the +exaltation of Louis Napoleon and the derision of the methods of +Parliamentary government. Journalists, unsuccessful politicians, +adventurers of every description, were enlisted in the ranks of +this obscure but active band. For their acts and their utterances +no one was responsible but themselves. They were disavowed +without compunction when their hardihood went too far; but their +ventures brought them no peril, and the generosity of the +President was not wanting to those who insisted on serving him in +spite of himself.</p> +<p>[Law limiting the Franchise, May 31, 1850.]</p> +<p>France was still trembling with the shock of the Four Days of +June; and measures of repression formed the common ground upon +which Louis Napoleon and the Assembly met without fear of +conflict. Certain elections which were held in the spring of +1850, and which gave a striking victory in Paris and elsewhere to +Socialist or Ultra-Democratic candidates, revived the alarms of +the owners of property, and inspired the fear that with universal +suffrage the Legislature itself might ultimately fall into the +hands of the Red Republicans. The principle of universal suffrage +had been proclaimed almost by accident in the midst of the +revolution of 1848. It had been embodied in the Constitution of +that year because it was found already in existence. No party had +seriously considered the conditions under which it was to be +exercised, or had weighed the political qualifications of the +mass to whom it was so lightly thrown. When election after +election returned to the Chamber men whose principles were held +to menace society itself, the cry arose that France must be saved +from the hands of the vile multitude; and the President called +upon a Committee of the Assembly to frame the necessary measures +of electoral reform. Within a week the work of the Committee was +completed, and the law which it had drafted was brought before +the Assembly. It was proposed that, instead of a residence of six +months, a continuous residence of three years in the same commune +should be required of every voter, and that the fulfilment of +this condition should be proved, not by ordinary evidence, but by +one of certain specified acts, such as the payment of personal +taxes. With modifications of little importance the Bill was +passed by the Assembly. Whether its real effect was foreseen even +by those who desired the greatest possible limitation of the +franchise is doubtful; it is certain that many who supported it +believed, in their ignorance of the practical working of +electoral laws, that they were excluding from the franchise only +the vagabond and worthless class which has no real place within +the body politic. When the electoral lists drawn up in pursuance +of the measure appeared, they astounded all parties alike. Three +out of the ten millions of voters in France were disfranchised. +Not only the inhabitants of whole quarters in the great cities +but the poorer classes among the peasantry throughout France had +disappeared from the electoral body. The Assembly had at one blow +converted into enemies the entire mass of the population that +lived by the wages of bodily labour. It had committed an act of +political suicide, and had given to a man so little troubled with +scruples of honour as Louis Napoleon the fatal opportunity of +appealing to France as the champion of national sovereignty and +the vindicator of universal suffrage against an Assembly which +had mutilated it in the interests of class. <a name="FNanchor454"> </a><a href="#Footnote_454"><sup>[454]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Prospects of Louis Napoleon.]</p> +<p>The duration of the Presidency was fixed by the Constitution +of 1848 at four years, and it was enacted that the President +should not be re-eligible to his dignity. By the operation of +certain laws imperfectly adjusted to one another, the tenure of +office by Louis Napoleon expired on the 8th of May, 1852, while +the date for the dissolution of the Assembly fell within a few +weeks of this day. France was therefore threatened with the +dangers attending the almost simultaneous extinction of all +authority. The perils of 1852 loomed only too visibly before the +country, and Louis Napoleon addressed willing hearers when, in +the summer of 1850, he began to hint at the necessity of a +prolongation of his own power. The Parliamentary recess was +employed by the President in two journeys through the +Departments; the first through those of the south-east, where +Socialism was most active, and where his appearance served at +once to prove his own confidence and to invigorate the friends of +authority; the second through Normandy, where the prevailing +feeling was strongly in favour of firm government, and utterances +could safely be made by the President which would have brought +him into some risk at Paris. In suggesting that France required +his own continued presence at the head of the State Louis +Napoleon was not necessarily suggesting a violation of the law. +It was provided by the Statutes of 1848 that the Assembly by a +vote of three-fourths might order a revision of the Constitution; +and in favour of this revision petitions were already being drawn +up throughout the country. Were the clause forbidding the +re-election of the President removed from the Constitution, Louis +Napoleon might fairly believe that an immense majority of the +French people would re-invest him with power. He would probably +have been content with a legal re-election had this been rendered +possible; but the Assembly showed little sign of a desire to +smooth his way, and it therefore became necessary for him to seek +the means of realising his aims in violation of the law. He had +persuaded himself that his mission, his destiny, was to rule +France; in other words, he had made up his mind to run such risks +and to sanction such crimes as might be necessary to win him +sovereign power. With the loftier impulses of ambition, motives +of a meaner kind stimulated him to acts of energy. Never wealthy, +the father of a family though unmarried, he had exhausted his +means, and would have returned to private life a destitute man, +if not laden with debt. When his own resolution flagged, there +were those about him too deeply interested in his fortunes to +allow him to draw back.</p> +<p>[Louis Napoleon and the army.]</p> +<p>[Dismissal of Changarnier, Jan., 1851.]</p> +<p>It was by means of the army that Louis Napoleon intended in +the last resort to make himself master of France, and the army +had therefore to be won over to his personal cause. The generals +who had gained distinction either in the Algerian wars or in the +suppression of insurrection in France were without exception +Orleanists or Republicans. Not a single officer of eminence was +as yet included in the Bonapartist band. The President himself +had never seen service except in a Swiss camp of exercise; beyond +his name he possessed nothing that could possibly touch the +imagination of a soldier. The heroic element not being +discoverable in his person or his career, it remained to work by +more material methods. Louis Napoleon had learnt many things in +England, and had perhaps observed in the English elections of +that period how much may be effected by the simple means of +money-bribes and strong drink. The saviour of society was not +ashamed to order the garrison of Paris double rations of brandy +and to distribute innumerable doles of half a franc or less. +Military banquets were given, in which the sergeant and the +corporal sat side by side with the higher officers. Promotion was +skilfully offered or withheld. As the generals of the highest +position were hostile to Bonaparte, it was the easier to tempt +their subordinates with the prospect of their places. In the +acclamations which greeted the President at the reviews held at +Paris in the autumn of 1850, in the behaviour both of officers +and men in certain regiments, it was seen how successful had been +the emissaries of Bonapartism. The Committee which represented +the absent Chamber in vain called the Minister of War to account +for these irregularities. It was in vain that Changarnier, who, +as commander both of the National Guard of Paris and of the first +military division, seemed to hold the arbitrament between +President and Assembly in his hands, openly declared at the +beginning of 1851 in favour of the Constitution. He was dismissed +from his post; and although a vote of censure which followed this +dismissal led to the resignation of the Ministry, the Assembly +was unable to reinstate Changarnier in his command, and +helplessly witnessed the authority which he had held pass into +hostile or untrustworthy hands.</p> +<p>[Proposed Revision of the Constitution.]</p> +<p>[Revision of the Constitution rejected, July 19.]</p> +<p>There now remained only one possible means of averting the +attack upon the Constitution which was so clearly threatened, and +that was by subjecting the Constitution itself to revision in +order that Louis Napoleon might legally seek re-election at the +end of his Presidency. An overwhelming current of public opinion +pressed indeed in the direction of such a change. However gross +and undisguised the initiative of the local functionaries in +preparing the petitions which showered upon the Assembly, the +national character of the demand could not be doubted. There was +no other candidate whose name carried with it any genuine +popularity or prestige, or around whom even the Parliamentary +sections at enmity with the President could rally. The Assembly +was divided not very unevenly between Legitimists, Orleanists, +and Republicans. Had indeed the two monarchical groups been able +to act in accord, they might have had some hope of +re-establishing the throne; and an attempt had already been made +to effect a union, on the understanding that the childless +Comté de Chambord should recognise the grandson of Louis +Philippe as his heir, the House of Orleans renouncing its claims +during the lifetime of the chief of the elder line. These plans +had been frustrated by the refusal of the Comté de +Chambord to sanction any appeal to the popular vote, and the +restoration of the monarchy was therefore hopeless for the +present. It remained for the Assembly to decide whether it would +facilitate Louis Napoleon's re-election as President by a +revision of the Constitution or brave the risk of his violent +usurpation of power. The position was a sad and even humiliating +one for those who, while they could not disguise their real +feeling towards the Prince, yet knew themselves unable to count +on the support of the nation if they should resist him. The +Legitimists, more sanguine in temper, kept in view an ultimate +restoration of the monarchy, and lent themselves gladly to any +policy which might weaken the constitutional safeguards of the +Republic. The Republican minority alone determined to resist any +proposal for revision, and to stake everything upon the +maintenance of the constitution in its existing form. Weak as the +Republicans were as compared with the other groups in the +Assembly when united against them, they were yet strong enough to +prevent the Ministry from securing that majority of three-fourths +without which the revision of the Constitution could not be +undertaken. Four hundred and fifty votes were given in favour of +revision, two hundred and seventy against it (July 19th). The +proposal therefore fell to the ground, and Louis Napoleon, who +could already charge the Assembly with having by its majority +destroyed universal suffrage, could now charge it with having by +its minority forbidden the nation to choose its own head. Nothing +more was needed by him. He had only to decide upon the time and +the circumstances of the <i>coup d'état</i> which was to +rid him of his adversaries and to make him master of France.</p> +<p>[Preparations for the <i>coup d'état</i>.]</p> +<p>Louis Napoleon had few intimate confidants; the chief among +these were his half-brother Morny, one of the illegitimate +offspring of Queen Hortense, a man of fashion and speculator in +the stocks; Fialin or Persigny, a person of humble origin who had +proved himself a devoted follower of the Prince through good and +evil; and Fleury, an officer at this time on a mission in +Algiers. These were not men out of whom Louis Napoleon could form +an administration, but they were useful to him in discovering and +winning over soldiers and officials of sufficient standing to +give to the execution of the conspiracy something of the +appearance of an act of Government. A general was needed at the +War Office who would go all lengths in illegality. Such a man had +already been found in St. Arnaud, commander of a brigade in +Algiers, a brilliant soldier who had redeemed a disreputable past +by years of hard service, and who was known to be ready to treat +his French fellow-citizens exactly as he would treat the Arabs. +As St. Arnaud's name was not yet familiar in Paris, a campaign +was arranged in the summer of 1851 for the purpose of winning him +distinction. At the cost of some hundreds of lives St. Arnaud was +pushed into sufficient fame; and after receiving congratulations +proportioned to his exploits from the President's own hand, he +was summoned to Paris, in order at the right moment to be made +Minister of War. A troop of younger officers, many of whom gained +a lamentable celebrity as the generals of 1870, were gradually +brought over from Algiers and placed round the Minister in the +capital. The command of the army of Paris was given to General +Magnan, who, though he preferred not to share in the +deliberations on the <i>coup d'état</i>, had promised his +co-operation when the moment should arrive. The support, or at +least the acquiescence, of the army seemed thus to be assured. +The National Guard, which, under Changarnier, would probably have +rallied in defence of the Assembly, had been placed under an +officer pledged to keep it in inaction. For the management of the +police Louis Napoleon had fixed upon M. Maupas, Préfet of +the Haute Garonne. This person, to whose shamelessness we owe the +most authentic information that exists on the <i>coup +d'état</i>, had, while in an inferior station, made it his +business to ingratiate himself with the President by sending to +him personally police reports which ought to have been sent to +the Ministers. The objects and the character of M. Maupas were +soon enough understood by Louis Napoleon. He promoted him to high +office; sheltered him from the censure of his superiors; and, +when the <i>coup d'état</i> was drawing nigh, called him +to Paris, in the full and well-grounded confidence that, whatever +the most perfidious ingenuity could contrive in turning the +guardians of the law against the law itself, that M. Maupas, as +Préfet of Police, might be relied upon to accomplish.</p> +<p>[The <i>coup d'état</i> fixed for December.]</p> +<p>Preparations for the <i>coup d'état</i> had been so far +advanced in September that a majority of the conspirators had +then urged Louis Napoleon to strike the blow without delay, while +the members of the Assembly were still dispersed over France in +the vacation. St. Arnaud, however, refused his assent, declaring +that the deputies, if left free, would assemble at a distance +from Paris, summon to them the generals loyal to the +Constitution, and commence a civil war. He urged that, in order +to avoid greater subsequent risks, it would be necessary to seize +all the leading representatives and generals from whom resistance +might be expected, and to hold them under durance until the +crisis should be over. This simultaneous arrest of all the +foremost public men in France could only be effected at a time +when the Assembly was sitting. St. Arnaud therefore demanded that +the <i>coup d'état</i> should be postponed till the +winter. Another reason made for delay. Little as the populace of +Paris loved the reactionary Assembly, Louis Napoleon was not +altogether assured that it would quietly witness his own +usurpation of power. In waiting until the Chamber should again be +in session, he saw the opportunity of exhibiting his cause as +that of the masses themselves, and of justifying his action as +the sole means of enforcing popular rights against a legislature +obstinately bent on denying them. Louis Napoleon's own Ministers +had overthrown universal suffrage. This might indeed be matter +for comment on the part of the censorious, but it was not a +circumstance to stand in the way of the execution of a great +design. Accordingly Louis Napoleon determined to demand from the +Assembly at the opening of the winter session the repeal of the +electoral law of May 31st, and to make its refusal, on which he +could confidently reckon, the occasion of its destruction.</p> +<p>[Louis Napoleon demands repeal of Law of May 31.]</p> +<p>[The Assembly refuses.]</p> +<p>The conspirators were up to this time conspirators and nothing +more. A Ministry still subsisted which was not initiated in the +President's designs nor altogether at his command. On his +requiring that the repeal of the law of May 31st should be +proposed to the Assembly, the Cabinet resigned. The way to the +highest functions of State was thus finally opened for the agents +of the <i>coup d'état</i>. St. Arnaud was placed at the +War Office, Maupas at the Prefecture of Police. The +colleagues assigned to them were too insignificant to exercise +any control over their actions. At the reopening of the Assembly +on the 4th of November an energetic message from the President +was read. On the one hand he denounced a vast and perilous +combination of all the most dangerous elements of society which +threatened to overwhelm France in the following year; on the +other hand he demanded, with certain undefined safeguards, the +re-establishment of universal suffrage. The middle classes were +scared with the prospect of a Socialist revolution; the Assembly +was divided against itself, and the democracy of Paris flattered +by the homage paid to the popular vote. With very little delay a +measure repealing the Law of May 31st was introduced into the +Assembly. It was supported by the Republicans and by many members +of the other groups; but the majority of the Assembly, while +anxious to devise some compromise, refused to condemn its own +work in the unqualified form on which the President insisted. The +Bill was thrown out by seven votes. Forthwith the rumour of an +impending <i>coup d'etat</i> spread through Paris. The Questors, +or members charged with the safeguarding of the Assembly, moved +the resolutions necessary to enable them to secure sufficient +military aid. Even now prompt action might perhaps have saved the +Chamber. But the Republican deputies, incensed by their defeat on +the question of universal suffrage, plunged headlong into the +snare set for them by the President, and combined with his open +or secret partisans to reject the proposition of the Questors. +Changarnier had blindly vouched for the fidelity of the army; one +Republican deputy, more imaginative than his colleagues, bade the +Assembly confide in their invisible sentinel, the people. Thus +the majority of the Chamber, with the clearest warning of danger, +insisted on giving the aggressor every possible advantage. If the +imbecility of opponents is the best augury of success in a bold +enterprise, the President had indeed little reason to anticipate +failure.</p> +<p>[The <i>coup d'etat</i>, Dec. 2.]</p> +<p>The execution of the <i>coup d'etat</i> was fixed for the +early morning of December 2nd. On the previous evening Louis +Napoleon held a public reception at the Elysée, his quiet +self-possessed manner indicating nothing of the struggle at hand. +Before the guests dispersed the President withdrew to his study. +There the last council of the conspirators was held, and they +parted, each to the execution of the work assigned to him. The +central element in the plan was the arrest of Cavaignac, of +Changarnier and three other generals who were members of the +Assembly, of eleven civilian deputies including M. Thiers, and of +sixty-two other politicians of influence. Maupas summoned to the +Prefecture of Police in the dead of night a sufficient number of +his trusted agents, received each of them on his arrival in a +separate room, and charged each with the arrest of one of the +victims. The arrests were accomplished before dawn, and the +leading soldiers and citizens of France met one another in the +prison of Mazas. The Palais Bourbon, the meeting-place of the +Assembly, was occupied by troops. The national printing +establishment was seized by gendarmes, and the proclamations of +Louis Napoleon, distributed sentence by sentence to different +compositors, were set in type before the workmen knew upon what +they were engaged. When day broke the Parisians found the +soldiers in the streets, and the walls placarded with manifestoes +of Louis Napoleon. The first of these was a decree which +announced in the name of the French people that the National +Assembly and the Council of State were dissolved, that universal +suffrage was restored, and that the nation was convoked in its +electoral colleges from the 14th to the 21st of December. The +second was a proclamation to the people, in which Louis Napoleon +denounced at once the monarchical conspirators within the +Assembly and the anarchists who sought to overthrow all +government. His duty called upon him to save the Republic by an +appeal to the nation. He proposed the establishment of a +decennial executive authority, with a Senate, a Council of State, +a Legislative Body, and other institutions borrowed from the +Consulate of 1799. If the nation refused him a majority of its +votes he would summon a new Assembly and resign his powers; if +the nation believed in the cause of which his name was the +symbol, in France regenerated by the Revolution and organised by +the Emperor, it would prove this by ratifying his authority. A +third proclamation was addressed to the army. In 1830 and in 1848 +the army had been treated as the conquered, but its voice was now +to be heard. Common glories and sorrows united the soldiers of +France with Napoleon's heir, and the future would unite them in +common devotion to the repose and greatness of their country.</p> +<p>[Paris on Dec. 2.]</p> +<p>The full meaning of these manifestoes was not at first +understood by the groups who read them. The Assembly was so +unpopular that the announcement of its dissolution, with the +restoration of universal suffrage, pleased rather than alarmed +the democratic quarters of Paris. It was not until some hours had +passed that the arrests became generally known, and that the +first symptoms of resistance appeared. Groups of deputies +assembled at the houses of the Parliamentary leaders; a body of +fifty even succeeded in entering the Palais Bourbon and in +commencing a debate: they were, however, soon dispersed by +soldiers. Later in the day above two hundred members assembled at +the Mairie of the Tenth Arrondissement. There they passed +resolutions declaring the President removed from his office, and +appointing a commander of the troops at Paris. The first officers +who were sent to clear the Mairie flinched in the execution of +their work, and withdrew for further orders. The Magistrates of +the High Court, whose duty it was to order the impeachment of the +President in case of the violation of his oath to the +Constitution, assembled, and commenced the necessary proceedings; +but before they could sign a warrant, soldiers forced their way +into the hall and drove the judges from the Bench. In due course +General Forey appeared with a strong body of troops at the +Mairie, where the two hundred deputies were assembled. Refusing +to disperse, they were one and all arrested, and conducted as +prisoners between files of troops to the Barracks of the Quai +d'Orsay. The National Guard, whose drums had been removed by +their commander in view of any spontaneous movement to arms, +remained invisible. Louis Napoleon rode out amidst the +acclamations of the soldiery; and when the day closed it seemed +as if Paris had resolved to accept the change of Government and +the overthrow of the Constitution without a struggle.</p> +<p>[December 3.]</p> +<p>[December 4.]</p> +<p>There were, however, a few resolute men at work in the +workmen's quarters; and in the wealthier part of the city the +outrage upon the National Representation gradually roused a +spirit of resistance. On the morning of December 3rd the Deputy +Baudin met with his death in attempting to defend a barricade +which had been erected in the Faubourg St. Antoine. The artisans +of eastern Paris showed, however, little inclination to take up +arms on behalf of those who had crushed them in the Four Days of +June; the agitation was strongest within the Boulevards, and +spread westwards towards the stateliest district of Paris. The +barricades erected on the south of the Boulevards were so +numerous, the crowds so formidable, that towards the close of the +day the troops were withdrawn, and it was determined that after a +night of quiet they should make a general attack and end the +struggle at one blow. At midday on December 4th divisions of the +army converged from all directions upon the insurgent quarter. +The barricades were captured or levelled by artillery, and with a +loss on the part of the troops of twenty-eight killed, and a +hundred and eighty wounded resistance was overcome. But the +soldiers had been taught to regard the inhabitants of Paris as +their enemies, and they bettered the instructions given them. +Maddened by drink or panic, they commenced indiscriminate firing +in the Boulevards after the conflict was over, and slaughtered +all who either in the street or at the windows of the houses came +within range of their bullets. According to official admissions, +the lives of sixteen civilians paid for every soldier slain; +independent estimates place far higher the number of the victims +of this massacre. Two thousand arrests followed, and every +Frenchman who appeared dangerous to Louis Napoleon's myrmidons, +from Thiers and Victor Hugo down to the anarchist orators of the +wineshops, was either transported, exiled, or lodged in prison. +Thus was the Republic preserved and society saved.</p> +<p>[The Plébiscite, Dec. 20.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon III. Emperor, Dec. 2, 1852.]</p> +<p>France in general received the news of the <i>coup d'etat</i> +with indifference: where it excited popular movements these +movements were of such a character that Louis Napoleon drew from +them the utmost profit. A certain fierce, blind Socialism had +spread among the poorest of the rural classes in the centre and +south of France. In these departments there were isolated +risings, accompanied by acts of such murderous outrage and folly +that a general terror seized the surrounding districts. In the +course of a few days the predatory bands were dispersed, and an +unsparing chastisement inflicted on all who were concerned in +their misdeeds; but the reports sent to Paris were too +serviceable to Louis Napoleon to be left in obscurity; and these +brutish village-outbreaks, which collapsed at the first +appearance of a handful of soldiers, were represented as the +prelude to a vast Socialist revolution from which the <i>coup +d'etat</i>, and that alone, had saved France. Terrified by the +re-appearance of the Red Spectre, the French nation proceeded on +the 20th of December to pass its judgment on the accomplished +usurpation. The question submitted for the <i>plébiscite</i> was, +whether the people desired the maintenance of Louis Napoleon's +authority and committed to him the necessary powers for +establishing a Constitution on the basis laid down in his +proclamation of December 2nd. Seven million votes answered this +question in the affirmative, less than one-tenth of that number +in the negative. The result was made known on the last day of the +year 1851. On the first day of the new year Louis Napoleon +attended a service of thanksgiving at Notre Dame, took possession +of the Tuileries, and restored the eagle as the military emblem +of France. He was now in all but name an absolute sovereign. The +Church, the army, the ever-servile body of the civil +administration, waited impatiently for the revival of the +Imperial title. Nor was the saviour of society the man to shrink +from further responsibilities. Before the year closed the people +was once more called upon to express its will. Seven millions of +votes pronounced for hereditary power; and on the anniversary of +the <i>coup d'etat</i> Napoleon III. was proclaimed Emperor of +the French.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XXI."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c21">CHAPTER XXI.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>England and France in 1851-Russia under Nicholas-The Hungarian +Refugees-Dispute between France and Russia on the Holy +Places-Nicholas and the British Ambassador-Lord Stratford de +Redcliffe-Menschikoff's Mission-Russian Troops enter the Danubian +Principalities-Lord Aberdeen's Cabinet-Movements of the +Fleets-The Vienna Note-The Fleets pass the Dardanelles-Turkish +Squadron destroyed at Sinope-Declaration of War-Policy of +Austria-Policy of Prussia-The Western Powers and the European +Concert-Siege of Silistria-The Principalities evacuated-Further +objects of the Western Powers-Invasion of the Crimea-Battle of +the Alma-The Flank March-Balaclava-Inkermann-Winter in the +Crimea-Death of Nicholas-Conference of Vienna-Austria-Progress of +the Siege-Plans of Napoleon III.-Canrobert and +Pélissier-Unsuccessful Assault-Battle of the +Tchernaya-Capture of the Malakoff-Fall of Sebastopol-Fall of +Kars-Negotiations for Peace-The Conference of Paris-Treaty of +Paris -The Danubian Principalities-Continued discord in the +Ottoman Empire-Revision of the Treaty of Paris in 1871.</p> +<br> + +<p>[England in 1851.]</p> +<p>The year 1851 was memorable in England as that of the Great +Exhibition. Thirty-six years of peace, marked by an enormous +development of manufacturing industry, by the introduction of +railroads, and by the victory of the principle of Free Trade, had +culminated in a spectacle so impressive and so novel that to many +it seemed the emblem and harbinger of a new epoch in the history +of mankind, in which war should cease, and the rivalry of nations +should at length find its true scope in the advancement of the +arts of peace. The apostles of Free Trade had idealised the cause +for which they contended. The unhappiness and the crimes of +nations had, as they held, been due principally to the action of +governments, which plunged harmless millions into war for +dynastic ends, and paralysed human energy by their own blind and +senseless interference with the natural course of exchange. +Compassion for the poor and the suffering, a just resentment +against laws which in the supposed interest of a minority +condemned the mass of the nation to a life of want, gave moral +fervour and elevation to the teaching of Cobden and those who +shared his spirit. Like others who have been constrained by a +noble enthusiasm, they had their visions; and in their sense of +the greatness of that new force which was ready to operate upon +human life, they both forgot the incompleteness of their own +doctrine, and under-estimated the influences which worked, and +long must work, upon mankind in an opposite direction. In perfect +sincerity the leader of English economical reform at the middle +of this century looked forward to a reign of peace as the result +of unfettered intercourse between the members of the European +family. What the man of genius and conviction had proclaimed the +charlatan repeated in his turn. Louis Napoleon appreciated the +charm which schemes of commercial development exercised upon the +trading classes in France. He was ready to salute the Imperial +eagles as objects of worship and to invoke the memories of +Napoleon's glory when addressing soldiers; when it concerned him +to satisfy the commercial world, he was the very embodiment of +peace and of peaceful industry. "Certain persons," he said, in an +address at Bordeaux, shortly before assuming the title of +Emperor, "say that the Empire is war. I say that the Empire is +peace; for France desires peace, and when France is satisfied the +world is tranquil. We have waste territories to cultivate, roads +to open, harbours to dig, a system of railroads to complete; we +have to bring all our great western ports into connection with +the American continent by a rapidity of communication which we +still want. We have ruins to restore, false gods to overthrow, +truths to make triumphant. This is the sense that I attach to the +Empire; these are the conquests which I contemplate." Never had +the ideal of industrious peace been more impressively set before +mankind than in the years which succeeded the convulsion of 1848. +Yet the epoch on which Europe was then about to enter proved to +be pre-eminently an epoch of war. In the next quarter of a +century there was not one of the Great Powers which was not +engaged in an armed struggle with its rivals. Nor were the wars +of this period in any sense the result of accident, or +disconnected with the stream of political tendencies which makes +the history of the age. With one exception they left in their +train great changes for which the time was ripe, changes which +for more than a generation had been the recognised objects of +national desire, but which persuasion and revolution had equally +failed to bring into effect. The Crimean War alone was barren in +positive results of a lasting nature, and may seem only to have +postponed, at enormous cost of life, the fall of a doomed and +outworn Power. But the time has not yet arrived when the real +bearing of the overthrow of Russia in 1854 on the destiny of the +Christian races of Turkey can be confidently expressed. The +victory of the Sultan's protectors delayed the emancipation of +these races for twenty years; the victory, or the unchecked +aggression, of Russia in 1854 might possibly have closed to them +for ever the ways to national independence.</p> +<p>[Russian policy under Nicholas.]</p> +<p>The plans formed by the Empress Catherine in the last century +for the restoration of the Greek Empire under a prince of the +Russian House had long been abandoned at St. Petersburg. The +later aim of Russian policy found its clearest expression in the +Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, extorted from Sultan Mahmud in 1833 in +the course of the first war against Mehemet Ali. This Treaty, if +it had not been set aside by the Western Powers, would have made +the Ottoman Empire a vassal State under the Czar's protection. In +the concert of Europe which was called into being by the second +war of Mehemet Ali against the Sultan in 1840, Nicholas had +considered it his interest to act with England and the German +Powers in defence of the Porte against its Egyptian rival and his +French ally. A policy of moderation had been imposed upon Russia +by the increased watchfulness and activity now displayed by the +other European States in all that related to the Ottoman Empire. +Isolated aggression had become impracticable; it was necessary +for Russia to seek the countenance or support of some ally before +venturing on the next step in the extension of its power +southwards.</p> +<p>[Nicholas in England, 1844.]</p> +<p>In 1844 Nicholas visited England. The object of his journey +was to sound the Court and Government, and to lay the foundation +for concerted action between Russia and England, to the exclusion +of France, when circumstances should bring about the dissolution +of the Ottoman Empire, an event which the Czar believed to be not +far off. Peel was then Prime Minister; Lord Aberdeen was Foreign +Secretary. Aberdeen had begun his political career in a +diplomatic mission to the Allied Armies in 1814. His feelings +towards Russia were those of a loyal friend towards an old ally; +and the remembrance of the epoch of 1814, when the young Nicholas +had made acquaintance with Lord Aberdeen in France, appears to +have given to the Czar a peculiar sense of confidence in the +goodwill of the English Minister towards himself. Nicholas spoke +freely with Aberdeen, as well as with Peel and Wellington, on the +impending fall of the Ottoman Empire. "We have," he said, "a +sick, a dying man on our hands. We must keep him alive so long as +it is possible to do so, but we must frankly take into view all +contingencies. I wish for no inch of Turkish soil myself, but +neither will I permit any other Power to seize an inch of it. +France, which has designs upon Africa, upon the Mediterranean, +and upon the East, is the only Power to be feared. An +understanding between England and Russia will preserve the peace +of Europe." If the Czar pursued his speculations further into +detail, of which there is no evidence, he elicited no response. +He was heard with caution, and his visit appears to have produced +nothing more than the formal expression of a desire on the part +of the British Government that the existing treaty-rights of +Russia should be respected by the Porte, together with an +unmeaning promise that, if unexpected events should occur in +Turkey, Russia and England should enter into counsel as to the +best course of action to be pursued in common. <a name="FNanchor455"> </a><a href="#Footnote_455"><sup>[455]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Nicholas in 1848.]</p> +<p>[The Hungarian refugees, 1849.]</p> +<p>Nicholas, whether from policy or from a sense of kingly honour +which at most times powerfully influenced him, did not avail +himself of the prostration of the Continental Powers in 1848 to +attack Turkey. He detested revolution, as a crime against the +divinely ordered subjection of nations to their rulers, and would +probably have felt himself degraded had he, in the spirit of his +predecessor Catherine, turned the calamities of his +brother-monarchs to his own separate advantage. It accorded +better with his proud nature, possibly also with the schemes of a +far-reaching policy, for Russia to enter the field as the +protector of the Hapsburgs against the rebel Hungarians than for +its armies to snatch from the Porte what the lapse of time and +the goodwill of European allies would probably give to Russia at +no distant date without a struggle. Disturbances at Bucharest and +at Jassy led indeed to a Russian intervention in the Danubian +Principalities in the interests of a despotic system of +government; but Russia possessed by treaty protectorial rights +over these Provinces. The military occupation which followed the +revolt against the Hospodars was the subject of a convention +between Turkey and Russia; it was effected by the armies of the +two Powers jointly; and at the expiration of two years the +Russian forces were peacefully withdrawn. More serious were the +difficulties which arose from the flight of Kossuth and other +Hungarian leaders into Turkey after the subjugation of Hungary by +the allied Austrian and Russian armies. The Courts of Vienna and +St. Petersburg united in demanding from the Porte the surrender +of these refugees; the Sultan refused to deliver them up, and he +was energetically supported by Great Britain, Kossuth's children +on their arrival at Constantinople being received and cared for +at the British Embassy. The tyrannous demand of the two Emperors, +the courageous resistance of the Sultan, excited the utmost +interest in Western Europe. By a strange turn of fortune, the +Power which at the end of the last century had demanded from the +Court of Vienna the Greek leader Rhegas, and had put him to death +as soon as he was handed over by the Austrian police, was now +gaining the admiration of all free nations as the last barrier +that sheltered the champions of European liberty from the +vengeance of despotic might. The Czar and the Emperor of Austria +had not reckoned with the forces of public indignation aroused +against them in the West by their attempt to wrest their enemies +from the Sultan's hand. They withdrew their ambassadors from +Constantinople and threatened to resort to force. But the +appearance of the British and French fleets at the Dardanelles +gave a new aspect to the dispute. The Emperors learnt that if +they made war upon Turkey for the question at issue they would +have to fight also against the Western Powers. The demand for the +surrender of the refugees was withdrawn; and in undertaking to +keep the principal of them under surveillance for a reasonable +period, the Sultan gave to the two Imperial Courts such +satisfaction as they could, without loss of dignity, accept. <a +name="FNanchor456"> </a><a href="#Footnote_456"><sup>[456]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Dispute between France and Russia on the Holy Places, +1850-2.]</p> +<p>The <i>coup d'état</i> of Louis Napoleon at the end of +the year 1851 was witnessed by the Czar with sympathy and +admiration as a service to the cause of order; but the assumption +of the Imperial title by the Prince displeased him exceedingly. +While not refusing to recognise Napoleon III., he declined to +address him by the term (<i>mon frère</i>) usually +employed by monarchs in writing to one another. In addition to +the question relating to the Hungarian refugees, a dispute +concerning the Holy Places in Palestine threatened to cause +strife between France and Russia. The same wave of religious and +theological interest which in England produced the Tractarian +movement brought into the arena of political life in France an +enthusiasm for the Church long strange to the Legislature and the +governing circles of Paris. In the Assembly of 1849 Montalembert, +the spokesman of this militant Catholicism, was one of the +foremost figures. Louis Napoleon, as President, sought the favour +of those whom Montalembert led; and the same Government which +restored the Pope to Rome demanded from the Porte a stricter +enforcement of the rights of the Latin Church in the East. The +earliest Christian legends had been localised in various spots +around Jerusalem. These had been in the ages of faith the goal of +countless pilgrimages, and in more recent centuries they had +formed the object of treaties between the Porte and France. Greek +monks, however, disputed with Latin monks for the guardianship of +the Holy Places; and as the power of Russia grew, the privileges +of the Greek monks had increased. The claims of the rival +brotherhoods, which related to doors, keys, stars and lamps, +might probably have been settled to the satisfaction of all +parties within a few hours by an experienced stage-manager; in +the hands of diplomatists bent on obtaining triumphs over one +another they assumed dimensions that overshadowed the peace of +Europe. The French and the Russian Ministers at Constantinople +alternately tormented the Sultan in the character of aggrieved +sacristans, until, at the beginning of 1852, the Porte +compromised itself with both parties by adjudging to each rights +which it professed also to secure to the other. A year more, +spent in prevarications, in excuses, and in menaces, ended with +the triumph of the French, with the evasion of the promises made +by the Sultan to Russia, and with the discomfiture of the Greek +Church in the person of the monks who officiated at the Holy +Sepulchre and the Shrine of the Nativity. <a name="FNanchor457"> </a><a href="#Footnote_457"><sup>[457]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Nicholas and Sir H. Seymour, Jan., Feb., 1853.]</p> +<p>Nicholas treated the conduct of the Porte as an outrage upon +himself. A conflict which had broken out between the Sultan and +the Montenegrins, and which now threatened to take a deadly form, +confirmed the Czar in his belief that the time for resolute +action had arrived. At the beginning of the year 1853 he +addressed himself to Hamilton Seymour, British ambassador at St. +Petersburg, in terms much stronger and clearer than those which +he had used towards Lord Aberdeen nine years before. "The Sick +Man," he said, "was in extremities; the time had come for a clear +understanding between England and Russia. The occupation of +Constantinople by Russian troops might be necessary, but the Czar +would not hold it permanently. He would not permit any other +Power to establish itself at the Bosphorus, neither would he +permit the Ottoman Empire to be broken up into Republics to +afford a refuge to the Mazzinis and the Kossuths of Europe. The +Danubian Principalities were already independent States under +Russian protection. The other possessions of the Sultan north of +the Balkans might be placed on the same footing. England might +annex Egypt and Crete." After making this communication to the +British ambassador, and receiving the reply that England declined +to enter into any schemes based on the fall of the Turkish Empire +and disclaimed all desire for the annexation of any part of the +Sultan's dominions, Nicholas despatched Prince Menschikoff to +Constantinople, to demand from the Porte not only an immediate +settlement of the questions relating to the Holy Places, but a +Treaty guaranteeing to the Greek Church the undisturbed enjoyment +of all its ancient rights and the benefit of all privileges that +might be accorded by the Porte to any other Christian +communities. <a name="FNanchor458"> </a><a href="#Footnote_458"><sup>[458]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Claims of Russia.]</p> +<p>The Treaty which Menschikoff was instructed to demand would +have placed the Sultan and the Czar in the position of +contracting parties with regard to the entire body of rights and +privileges enjoyed by the Sultan's subjects of the Greek +confession, and would so have made the violation of these rights +in the case of any individual Christian a matter entitling Russia +to interfere, or to claim satisfaction as for the breach of a +Treaty engagement. By the Treaty of Kainardjie (1774) the Sultan +had indeed bound himself "to protect the Christian religion and +its Churches"; but this phrase was too indistinct to create +specific matter of Treaty-obligation; and if it had given to +Russia any general right of interference on behalf of members of +the Greek Church, it would have given it the same right in behalf +of all the Roman Catholics and all the Protestants in the +Sultan's dominions, a right which the Czars had never professed +to enjoy. Moreover, the Treaty of Kainardjie itself forbade by +implication any such construction, for it mentioned by name one +ecclesiastical building for whose priests the Porte did concede +to Russia the right of addressing representations to the Sultan. +Over the Danubian Principalities Russia possessed by the Treaty +of Adrianople undoubted protectorial rights; but these Provinces +stood on a footing quite different from that of the remainder of +the Empire. That the Greek Church possessed by custom and by +enactment privileges which it was the duty of the Sultan to +respect, no one contested: the novelty of Menschikoff's claim was +that the observation of these rights should be made matter of +Treaty with Russia. The importance of the demand was proved by +the fact that Menschikoff strictly forbade the Turkish Ministers +to reveal it to the other Powers, and that Nicholas caused the +English Government to be informed that the mission of his envoy +had no other object than the final adjustment of the difficulties +respecting the Holy Places. <a name="FNanchor459"> </a><a href="#Footnote_459"><sup>[459]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Lord Stratford de Redcliffe.]</p> +<p>[Menschikoff leaves Constantinople, May 21.]</p> +<p>[Russian troops enter the Principalities.]</p> +<p>When Menschikoff reached Constantinople the British Embassy +was in the hands of a subordinate officer. The Ambassador, Sir +Stratford Canning, had recently returned to England. Stratford +Canning, a cousin of the Premier, had been employed in the East +at intervals since 1810. There had been a period in his career +when he had desired to see the Turk expelled from Europe as an +incurable barbarian; but the reforms of Sultan Mahmud had at a +later time excited his warm interest and sympathy, and as +Ambassador at Constantinople from 1842 to 1852 he had laboured +strenuously for the regeneration of the Turkish Empire, and for +the improvement of the condition of the Christian races under the +Sultan's rule. His dauntless, sustained energy, his noble +presence, the sincerity of his friendship towards the Porte, gave +him an influence at Constantinople seldom, if ever, exercised by +a foreign statesman. There were moments when he seemed to be +achieving results of some value; but the task which he had +attempted was one that surpassed human power; and after ten years +so spent as to win for him the fame of the greatest ambassador by +whom England has been represented in modern times, he declared +that the prospects of Turkish reform were hopeless, and left +Constantinople, not intending to return. <a name="FNanchor460"> </a><a href="#Footnote_460"><sup>[460]</sup></a> +Before his successor had been appointed, the mission of Prince +Menschikoff, the violence of his behaviour at Constantinople, and +a rumour that he sought far more than his ostensible object, +alarmed the British Government. Canning was asked to resume his +post. Returning to Constantinople as Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, +he communicated on his journey with the Courts of Paris and +Vienna, and carried with him authority to order the Admiral of +the fleet at Malta to hold his ships in readiness to sail for the +East. He arrived at the Bosphorus on April 5th, learnt at once +the real situation of affairs, and entered into negotiation with +Menschikoff. The Russian, a mere child in diplomacy in comparison +with his rival, suffered himself to be persuaded to separate the +question of the Holy Places from that of the guarantee of the +rights of the Greek Church. In the first matter Russia had a good +cause; in the second it was advancing a new claim. The two being +dissociated, Stratford had no difficulty in negotiating a +compromise on the Holy Places satisfactory to the Czar's +representative; and the demand for the Protectorate over the +Greek Christians now stood out unobscured by those grievances of +detail with which it had been at first interwoven. Stratford +encouraged the Turkish Government to reject the Russian proposal. +Knowing, nevertheless, that Menschikoff would in the last resort +endeavour to intimidate the Sultan personally, he withheld from +the Ministers, in view of this last peril, the strongest of all +his arguments; and seeking a private audience with the Sultan on +the 9th of May, he made known to him with great solemnity the +authority which he had received to order the fleet at Malta to be +in readiness to sail. The Sultan placed the natural +interpretation on this statement, and ordered final rejection of +Menschikoff's demand, though the Russian had consented to a +modification of its form, and would now have accepted a note +declaratory of the intentions of the Sultan towards the Greek +Church instead of a regular Treaty. On the 21st of May +Menschikoff quitted Constantinople; and the Czar, declaring that +some guarantee must be held by Russia for the maintenance of the +rights of the Greek Christians, announced that he should order +his army to occupy the Danubian Provinces. After an interval of +some weeks the Russian troops crossed the Pruth, and spread +themselves over Moldavia and Wallachia. (June 22nd.) <a name="FNanchor461"> </a><a href="#Footnote_461"><sup>[461]</sup></a></p> +<p>[English Policy.]</p> +<p>In the ordinary course of affairs the invasion of the +territory of one Empire by the troops of another is, and can be +nothing else than, an act of war, necessitating hostilities as a +measure of defence on the part of the Power invaded. But the Czar +protested that in taking the Danubian Principalities in pledge he +had no intention of violating the peace; and as yet the common +sense of the Turks, as well as the counsels that they received +from without, bade them hesitate before issuing a declaration of +war. Since December, 1852, Lord Aberdeen had been Prime Minister +of England, at the head of a Cabinet formed by a coalition +between followers of Sir Robert Peel and the Whig leaders +Palmerston and Russell. <a name="FNanchor462"> </a><a href="#Footnote_462"><sup>[462]</sup></a> There was no man in England +more pacific in disposition, or more anxious to remain on terms +of honourable friendship with Russia, than Lord Aberdeen. The +Czar had justly reckoned on the Premier's own forbearance; but he +had failed to recognise the strength of those forces which, both +within and without the Cabinet, set in the direction of armed +resistance to Russia. Palmerston was keen for action. Lord +Stratford appears to have taken it for granted from the first +that, if a war should arise between the Sultan and the Czar in +consequence of the rejection of Menschikoff's demand, Great +Britain would fight in defence of the Ottoman Empire. He had not +stated this in express terms, but the communication which he made +to the Sultan regarding his own instructions could only have been +intended to convey this impression. If the fleet was not to +defend the Sultan, it was a mere piece of deceit to inform him +that the Ambassador had powers to place it in readiness to sail; +and such deceit was as alien to the character of Lord Stratford +as the assumption of a virtual engagement towards the Sultan was +in keeping with his imperious will and his passionate conviction +of the duty of England. From the date of Lord Stratford's visit +to the Palace, although no Treaty or agreement was in existence, +England stood bound in honour, so long as the Turks should pursue +the policy laid down by her envoy, to fulfil the expectations +which this envoy had held out.</p> +<p>[British and French fleets moved to Besika Bay, July, +1853.]</p> +<p>[The Vienna Note, July 28.]</p> +<p>[Constantinople in September.]</p> +<p>[British and French fleets pass the Dardanelles, Oct. 22.]</p> +<p>Had Lord Stratford been at the head of the Government, the +policy and intentions of Great Britain would no doubt have been +announced with such distinctness that the Czar could have +fostered no misapprehension as to the results of his own acts. +Palmerston, as Premier, would probably have adopted the same +clear course, and war would either have been avoided by this +nation or have been made with a distinct purpose and on a +definite issue. But the Cabinet of Lord Aberdeen was at variance +with itself. Aberdeen was ready to go to all lengths in +negotiation, but he was not sufficiently master of his colleagues +and of the representatives of England abroad to prevent acts and +declarations which in themselves brought war near; above all, he +failed to require from Turkey that abstention from hostilities on +which, so long as negotiations lasted, England and the other +Powers which proposed to make the cause of the Porte their own +ought unquestionably to have insisted. On the announcement by the +Czar that his army was about to enter the Principalities, the +British Government despatched the fleet to Besika Bay near the +entrance to the Dardanelles, and authorised Stratford to call it +to the Bosphorus, in case Constantinople should be attacked. <a +name="FNanchor463"> </a><a href="#Footnote_463"><sup>[463]</sup></a> The French fleet, which had +come into Greek waters on Menschikoff's appearance at +Constantinople, took up the same position. Meanwhile European +diplomacy was busily engaged in framing schemes of compromise +between the Porte and Russia. The representatives of the four +Powers met at Vienna, and agreed upon a note which, as they +considered, would satisfy any legitimate claims of Russia on +behalf of the Greek Church, and at the same time impose upon the +Sultan no further obligations towards Russia than those which +already existed. <a name="FNanchor464"> </a><a href="#Footnote_464"><sup>[464]</sup></a> This note, however, was ill +drawn, and would have opened the door to new claims on the part +of Russia to a general Protectorate not sanctioned by its +authors. The draft was sent to St. Petersburg, and was accepted +by the Czar. At Constantinople its ambiguities were at once +recognised; and though Lord Stratford in his official capacity +urged its acceptance under a European guarantee against +misconstruction, the Divan, now under the pressure of strong +patriotic forces, refused to accept the note unless certain +changes were made in its expressions. France, England, and +Austria united in recommending to the Court of St. Petersburg the +adoption of these amendments. The Czar, however, declined to +admit them, and a Russian document, which obtained a publicity +for which it was not intended, proved that the construction of +the note which the amendments were expressly designed to exclude +was precisely that which Russia meant to place upon it. The +British Ministry now refused to recommend the note any longer to +the Porte. <a name="FNanchor465"> </a><a href="#Footnote_465"><sup>[465]</sup></a> Austria, while it approved +of the amendments, did not consider that their rejection by the +Czar justified England in abandoning the note as the common award +of the European Powers; and thus the concert of Europe was +interrupted, England and France combining in a policy which +Austria and Prussia were not willing to follow. In proportion as +the chances of joint European action diminished, the ardour of +the Turks themselves, and of those who were to be their allies, +rose higher. Tumults, organised by the heads of the war-party, +broke out at Constantinople; and although Stratford scorned the +alarms of his French colleagues, who reported that a massacre of +the Europeans in the capital was imminent, he thought it +necessary to call up two vessels of war in order to provide for +the security of the English residents and of the Sultan himself. +In England Palmerston and the men of action in the Cabinet +dragged Lord Aberdeen with them. The French Government pressed +for vigorous measures, and in conformity with its desire +instructions were sent from London to Lord Stratford to call the +fleet to the Bosphorus, and to employ it in defending the +territory of the Sultan against aggression. On the 22nd of +October the British and French fleets passed the Dardanelles.</p> +<p>[The ultimatum of Omar Pasha rejected, Oct. 10.]</p> +<p>[Turkish squadron destroyed at Sinope, Nov. 30.]</p> +<p>The Turk, sure of the protection of the Western Powers, had +for some weeks resolved upon war; and yet the possibilities of a +diplomatic settlement were not yet exhausted. Stratford himself +had forwarded to Vienna the draft of an independent note which +the Sultan was prepared to accept. This had not yet been seen at +St. Petersburg. Other projects of conciliation filled the desks +of all the leading politicians of Europe. Yet, though the belief +generally existed that some scheme could be framed by which the +Sultan, without sacrifice of his dignity and interest, might +induce the Czar to evacuate the Principalities, no serious +attempt was made to prevent the Turks from coming into collision +with their enemies both by land and sea. The commander of the +Russian troops in the Principalities having, on the 10th of +October, rejected an ultimatum requiring him to withdraw within +fifteen days, this answer was taken as the signal for the +commencement of hostilities. The Czar met the declaration of war +with a statement that he would abstain from taking the offensive, +and would continue merely to hold the Principalities as a +material guarantee. Omar Pasha, the Ottoman commander in +Bulgaria, was not permitted to observe the same passive attitude. +Crossing the Danube, he attacked and defeated the Russians at +Oltenitza. Thus assailed, the Czar considered that his engagement +not to act on the offensive was at an end, and the Russian fleet, +issuing from Sebastopol, attacked and destroyed a Turkish +squadron in the harbour of Sinope on the southern coast of the +Black Sea (November 30). The action was a piece of gross folly on +the part of the Russian authorities if they still cherished the +hopes of pacification which the Czar professed; but others also +were at fault. Lord Stratford and the British Admiral, if they +could not prevent the Turkish ships from remaining in the Euxine, +where they were useless against the superior force of Russia, +might at least in exercise of the powers given to them have sent +a sufficient escort to prevent an encounter. But the same +ill-fortune and incompleteness that had marked all the diplomacy +of the previous months attended the counsels of the Admirals at +the Bosphorus; and the disaster of Sinope rendered war between +the Western Powers and Russia almost <a name="FNanchor466">inevitable.</a><a href="#Footnote_466"><sup>[466]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Effect of the action at Sinope.]</p> +<p>[Russian ships required to enter port, December.]</p> +<p>[England and France declare war, March 27, 1854.]</p> +<p>The Turks themselves had certainly not understood the +declaration of the Emperor Nicholas as assuring their squadron at +Sinope against attack; and so far was the Ottoman Admiral from +being the victim of a surprise that he had warned his Government +some days before of the probability of his own destruction. But +to the English people, indignant with Russia since its +destruction of Hungarian liberty and its tyrannous demand for the +surrender of the Hungarian refugees, all that now passed heaped +up the intolerable sum of autocratic violence and deceit. The +cannonade which was continued against the Turkish crews at Sinope +long after they had become defenceless gave to the battle the +aspect of a massacre; the supposed promise of the Czar to act +only on the defensive caused it to be denounced as an act of +flagrant treachery; the circumstance that the Turkish fleet was +lying within one of the Sultan's harbours, touching as it were +the territory which the navy of England had undertaken to +protect, imparted to the attack the character of a direct +challenge and defiance to England. The cry rose loud for war. +Napoleon, eager for the alliance with England, eager in +conjunction with England to play a great part before Europe, even +at the cost of a war from which France had nothing to gain, +proposed that the combined fleets should pass the Bosphorus and +require every Russian vessel sailing on the Black Sea to re-enter +port. His proposal was adopted by the British Government. +Nicholas learnt that the Russian flag was swept from the Euxine. +It was in vain that a note upon which the representatives of the +Powers at Vienna had once more agreed was accepted by the Porte +and forwarded to St. Petersburg (December 31). The pride of the +Czar was wounded beyond endurance, and at the beginning of +February he recalled his ambassadors from London and Paris. A +letter written to him by Napoleon III., demanding in the name of +himself and the Queen of England the evacuation of the +Principalities, was answered by a reference to the campaign of +Moscow, Austria now informed the Western Powers that if they +would fix a delay for the evacuation of the Principalities, the +expiration of which should be the signal for hostilities, it +would support the summons; and without waiting to learn whether +Austria would also unite with them in hostilities in the event of +the summons being rejected, the British and French Governments +despatched their ultimatum to St. Petersburg. Austria and Prussia +sought, but in vain, to reconcile the Court of St. Petersburg to +the only measure by which peace could now be preserved. The +ultimatum remained without an answer, and on the 27th of March +England and France declared war.</p> +<p>[Policy of Austria.]</p> +<p>The Czar had at one time believed that in his Eastern schemes +he was sure of the support of Austria; and he had strong reasons +for supposing himself entitled to its aid. But his mode of +thought was simpler than that of the Court of Vienna. +Schwarzenberg, when it was remarked that the intervention of +Russia in Hungary would bind the House of Hapsburg too closely to +its protector, had made the memorable answer, "We will astonish +the world by our ingratitude." It is possible that an instance of +Austrian gratitude would have astonished the world most of all; +but Schwarzenberg's successors were not the men to sacrifice a +sound principle to romance. Two courses of Eastern policy have, +under various modifications, had their advocates in rival schools +of statesmen at Vienna. The one is that of expansion southward in +concert with Russia; the other is that of resistance to the +extension of Russian power, and the consequent maintenance of the +integrity of the Ottoman Empire. During Metternich's long rule, +inspired as this was by a faith in the Treaties and the +institutions of 1815, and by the dread of every living, +disturbing force, the second of these systems had been +consistently followed. In 1854 the determining motive of the +Court of Vienna was not a decided political conviction, but the +certainty that if it united with Russia it would be brought into +war with the Western Powers. Had Russia and Turkey been likely to +remain alone in the arena, an arrangement for territorial +compensation would possibly, as on some other occasions, have won +for the Czar an Austrian alliance. Combination against Turkey +was, however, at the present time, too perilous an enterprise for +the Austrian monarchy; and, as nothing was to be gained through +the war, it remained for the Viennese diplomatists to see that +nothing was lost and as little as possible wasted. The presence +of Russian troops in the Principalities, where they controlled +the Danube in its course between the Hungarian frontier and the +Black Sea, was, in default of some definite understanding, a +danger to Austria; and Count Buol, the Minister at Vienna, had +therefore every reason to thank the Western Powers for insisting +on the evacuation of this district. When France and England were +burning to take up arms, it would have been a piece of +superfluous brutality towards the Czar for Austria to attach to +its own demand for the evacuation of the Principalities the +threat of war. But this evacuation Austria was determined to +enforce. It refused, as did Prussia, to give to the Czar the +assurance of its neutrality; and, inasmuch as the free navigation +of the Danube as far as the Black Sea had now become recognised +as one of the commercial interests of Germany at large, Prussia +and the German Federation undertook to protect the territory of +Austria, if, in taking the measures necessary to free the +Principalities, it should itself be attacked by Russia. <a name="FNanchor467"> </a><a href="#Footnote_467"><sup>[467]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Prussia.]</p> +<p>The King of Prussia, clouded as his mind was by political and +religious phantasms, had nevertheless at times a larger range of +view than his neighbours; and his opinion as to the true solution +of the difficulties between Nicholas and the Porte, at the time +of Menschikoff's mission, deserved more attention than it +received. Frederick William proposed that the rights of the +Christian subjects of the Sultan should be placed by Treaty under +the guarantee of all the Great Powers. This project was opposed +by Lord Stratford and the Turkish Ministers as an encroachment on +the Sultan's sovereignty, and its rejection led the King to write +with some asperity to his ambassador in London that he should +seek the welfare of Prussia in absolute neutrality. <a name="FNanchor468"> </a><a href="#Footnote_468"><sup>[468]</sup></a> At +a later period the King demanded from England, as the condition +of any assistance from himself, a guarantee for the maintenance +of the frontiers of Germany and Prussia. He regarded Napoleon +III. as the representative of a revolutionary system, and +believed that under him French armies would soon endeavour to +overthrow the order of Europe established in 1815. That England +should enter into a close alliance with this man excited the +King's astonishment and disgust; and unless the Cabinet of London +were prepared to give a guarantee against any future attack on +Germany by the French Emperor, who was believed to be ready for +every political adventure, it was vain for England to seek +Prussia's aid. Lord Aberdeen could give no such guarantee; still +less could he gratify the King's strangely passionate demand for +the restoration of his authority in the Swiss canton of +Neuchâtel, which before 1848 had belonged in name to the +Hohenzollerns. Many influences were brought to bear upon the King +from the side both of England and of Russia. The English Court +and Ministers, strenuously supported by Bunsen, the Prussian +ambassador, strove to enlist the King in an active concert of +Europe against Russia by dwelling on the duties of Prussia as a +Great Power and the dangers arising to it from isolation. On the +other hand, the admiration felt by Frederick William for the +Emperor Nicholas, and the old habitual friendship between Prussia +and Russia, gave strength to the Czar's advocates at Berlin. +Schemes for a reconstruction of Europe, which were devised by +Napoleon, and supposed to receive some countenance from +Palmerston, reached the King's ear. <a name="FNanchor469"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_469"><sup>[469]</sup></a> He heard that Austria +was to be offered the Danubian Provinces upon condition of giving +up northern Italy; that Piedmont was to receive Lombardy, and in +return to surrender Savoy to France; that, if Austria should +decline to unite actively with the Western Powers, revolutionary +movements were to be stirred up in Italy and in Hungary. Such +reports kindled the King's rage. "Be under no illusion," he wrote +to his ambassador; "tell the British Ministers in their private +ear and on the housetops that I will not suffer Austria to be +attacked by the revolution without drawing the sword in its +defence. If England and France let loose revolution as their +ally, be it where it may, I unite with Russia for life and +death." Bunsen advocated the participation of Prussia in the +European concert with more earnestness than success. While the +King was declaiming against the lawlessness which was supposed to +have spread from the Tuileries to Downing Street, Bunsen, on his +own authority, sent to Berlin a project for the annexation of +Russian territory by Prussia as a reward for its alliance with +the Western Courts. This document fell into the hands of the +Russian party at Berlin, and it roused the King's own +indignation. Bitter reproaches were launched against the authors +of so felonious a scheme. Bunsen could no longer retain his +office. Other advocates of the Western alliance were dismissed +from their places, and the policy of neutrality carried the day +at Berlin.</p> +<p>[Relation of the Western Powers to the European Concert.]</p> +<p>The situation of the European Powers in April, 1854, was thus +a very strange one. All the Four Powers were agreed in demanding +the evacuation of the Principalities by Russia, and in the +resolution to enforce this, if necessary, by arms. Protocols +witnessing this agreement were signed on the 9th of April and the +23rd of May, <a name="FNanchor470"> </a><a href="#Footnote_470"><sup>[470]</sup></a> and it was moreover declared +that the Four Powers recognised the necessity of maintaining the +independence and the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. But France +and England, while they made the presence of the Russians in the +Principalities the avowed cause of war, had in reality other +intentions than the mere expulsion of the intruder and the +restoration of the state of things previously existing. It was +their desire so to cripple Russia that it should not again be in +a condition to menace the Ottoman Empire. This intention made it +impossible for the British Cabinet to name, as the basis of a +European league, that single definite object for which, and for +which alone, all the Powers were in May, 1854, ready to unite in +arms. England, the nation and the Government alike, chose rather +to devote itself, in company with France, to the task of +indefinitely weakening Russia than, in company with all Europe, +to force Russia to one humiliating but inevitable act of +submission. Whether in the prosecution of their ulterior objects +the Western Courts might or might not receive some armed +assistance from Austria and Prussia no man could yet predict with +confidence. That Austria would to some extent make common cause +with the Allies seemed not unlikely; that Prussia would do so +there was no real ground to believe; on the contrary, fair +warning had been given that there were contingencies in which +Prussia might ultimately be found on the side of the Czar. +Striving to the utmost to discover some principle, some object, +or even some formula which might expand the purely defensive +basis accepted by Austria and Prussia into a common policy of +reconstructive action, the Western Powers could obtain nothing +more definite from the Conference at Vienna than the following +shadowy engagement:-"The Four Governments engage to endeavour in +common to discover the guarantees most likely to attach the +existence of the Ottoman Empire to the general equilibrium of +Europe. They are ready to deliberate as to the employment of +means calculated to accomplish the object of their agreement." +This readiness to deliberate, so cautiously professed, was a +quality in which during the two succeeding years the Courts of +Vienna and Berlin were not found wanting; but the war in which +England and France now engaged was one which they had undertaken +at their own risk, and they discovered little anxiety on any side +to share their labour.</p> +<p>[Siege of Silistria, May.]</p> +<p>[The Principalities evacuated, June.]</p> +<p>During the winter of 1853 and the first weeks of the following +year hostilities of an indecisive character continued between the +Turks and the Russians on the Danube. At the outbreak of the war +Nicholas had consulted the veteran Paskiewitsch as to the best +road by which to march on Constantinople. Paskiewitsch, as a +strategist, knew the danger to which a Russian force crossing the +Danube would be exposed from the presence of Austrian armies on +its flank; as commander in the invasion of Hungary in 1849 he had +encountered, as he believed, ill faith and base dealing on the +part of his ally, and had repaid it with insult and scorn; he had +learnt better than any other man the military and the moral +weakness of the Austrian Empire in its eastern part. His answer +to the Czar's inquiries was, "The road to Constantinople lies +through Vienna." But whatever bitterness the Czar might have felt +at the ingratitude of Francis Joseph, he was not ready for a war +with Austria, in which he could hardly have avoided the +assistance of revolutionary allies; moreover, if the road to +Constantinople lay through Vienna, it might be urged that the +road to Vienna lay through Berlin. The simpler plan was adopted +of a march on the Balkans by way of Shumla, to which the capture +of Silistria was to be the prelude. At the end of March the +Russian vanguard passed the Danube at the lowest point where a +crossing could be made, and advanced into the Dobrudscha. In May +the siege of Silistria was undertaken by Paskiewitsch himself. +But the enterprise began too late, and the strength employed both +in the siege and in the field operations farther east was +insufficient. The Turkish garrison, schooled by a German engineer +and animated by two young English officers, maintained a stubborn +and effective resistance. French and English troops had already +landed at Gallipoli for the defence of Constantinople, and +finding no enemy within range had taken ship for Varna on the +north of the Balkans. Austria, on the 3rd of June, delivered its +summons requiring the evacuation of the Principalities. Almost at +the same time Paskiewitsch received a wound that disabled him, +and was forced to surrender his command into other hands. During +the succeeding fortnight the besiegers of Silistria were +repeatedly driven back, and on the 22nd they were compelled to +raise the siege. The Russians, now hard pressed by an enemy whom +they had despised, withdrew to the north of the Danube. The +retreating movement was continued during the succeeding weeks, +until the evacuation of the Principalities was complete, and the +last Russian soldier had recrossed the Pruth. As the invader +retired, Austria sent its troops into these provinces, pledging +itself by a convention with the Porte to protect them until peace +should be concluded, and then to restore them to the Sultan.</p> +<p>[Further objects of the Western Powers.]</p> +<p>With the liberation of the Principalities the avowed ground of +war passed away; but the Western Powers had no intention of +making peace without further concessions on the part of Russia. +As soon as the siege of Silistria was raised instructions were +sent to the commanders of the allied armies at Varna, pressing, +if not absolutely commanding, them to attack Sebastopol, the +headquarters of Russian maritime power in the Euxine. The capture +of Sebastopol had been indicated some months before by Napoleon +III. as the most effective blow that could be dealt to Russia. It +was from Sebastopol that the fleet had issued which destroyed the +Turks at Sinope: until this arsenal had fallen, the growing naval +might which pressed even more directly upon Constantinople than +the neighbourhood of the Czar's armies by land could not be +permanently laid low. The objects sought by England and France +were now gradually brought into sufficient clearness to be +communicated to the other Powers, though the more precise +interpretation of the conditions laid down remained open for +future discussion. It was announced that the Protectorate of +Russia over the Danubian Principalities and Servia must be +abolished; that the navigation of the Danube at its mouths must +be freed from all obstacles; that the Treaty of July, 1841, +relating to the Black Sea and the Dardanelles, must be revised in +the interest of the balance of power in Europe; and that the +claim to any official Protectorate over Christian subjects of the +Porte, of whatever rite, must be abandoned by the Czar. Though +these conditions, known as the Four Points, were not approved by +Prussia, they were accepted by Austria in August, 1854, and were +laid before Russia as the basis of any negotiation for peace. The +Czar declared in answer that Russia would only negotiate on such +a basis when at the last extremity. The Allied Governments, +measuring their enemy's weakness by his failure before Silistria, +were determined to accept nothing less; and the attack upon +Sebastopol, ordered before the evacuation of the Principalities, +was consequently allowed to take its course. <a name="FNanchor471"> </a><a href="#Footnote_471"><sup>[471]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Sebastopol.]</p> +<p>[The Allies land in the Crimea, Sept. 14.]</p> +<p>[Battle of the Alma, Sept. 20.]</p> +<p>The Roadstead, or Great Harbour, of Sebastopol runs due +eastwards inland from a point not far from the south-western +extremity of the Crimea. One mile from the open sea its waters +divide, the larger arm still running eastwards till it meets the +River Tchernaya, the smaller arm, known as the Man-of-War +Harbour, bending sharply to the south. On both sides of this +smaller harbour Sebastopol is built. To the seaward, that is from +the smaller harbour westwards, Sebastopol and its approaches were +thoroughly fortified. On its landward, southern, side the town +had been open till 1853, and it was still but imperfectly +protected, most weakly on the south-eastern side. On the north of +the Great Harbour Fort Constantine at the head of a line of +strong defences guarded the entrance from the sea; while on the +high ground immediately opposite Sebastopol and commanding the +town there stood the Star Fort with other military constructions. +The general features of Sebastopol were known to the Allied +commanders; they had, however, no precise information as to the +force by which it was held, nor as to the armament of its +fortifications. It was determined that the landing should be made +in the Bay of Eupatoria, thirty miles north of the fortress. +Here, on the 14th of September, the Allied forces, numbering +about thirty thousand French, twenty-seven thousand English, and +seven thousand Turks, effected their disembarkation without +meeting any resistance. The Russians, commanded by Prince +Menschikoff, lately envoy at Constantinople, had taken post ten +miles further south on high ground behind the River Alma. On the +20th of September they were attacked in front by the English, +while the French attempted a turning movement from the sea. The +battle was a scene of confusion, and for a moment the assault of +the English seemed to be rolled back. But it was renewed with +ever increasing vigour, and before the French had made any +impression on the Russian left Lord Raglan's troops had driven +the enemy from their positions. Struck on the flank when their +front was already broken, outnumbered and badly led, the Russians +gave up all for lost. The form of an orderly retreat was +maintained only long enough to disguise from the conquerors the +completeness of their victory. When night fell the Russian army +abandoned itself to total disorder, and had the pursuit been made +at once it could scarcely have escaped destruction. But St. +Arnaud, who was in the last stage of mortal illness, refused, in +spite of the appeal of Lord Raglan, to press on his wearied +troops. Menschikoff, abandoning the hope of checking the advance +of the Allies in a second battle, and anxious only to prevent the +capture of Sebastopol by an enemy supposed to be following at his +heels, retired into the fortress, and there sank seven of his +war-ships as a barrier across the mouth of the Great Harbour, +mooring the rest within. The crews were brought on shore to serve +in the defence by land; the guns were dragged from the ships to +the bastions and redoubts. Then, when it appeared that the Allies +lingered, the Russian commander altered his plan. Leaving +Korniloff, the Vice-Admiral, and Todleben, an officer of +engineers, to man the existing works and to throw up new ones +where the town was undefended, Menschikoff determined to lead off +the bulk of his army into the interior of the Crimea, in order to +keep open his communications with Russia, to await in freedom the +arrival of reinforcements, and, if Sebastopol should not at once +fall, to attack the Allies at his own time and opportunity. +(September 24th.)</p> +<p>[Flank march to south of Sebastopol.]</p> +<p>[Ineffectual Bombardment, Sept. 17-25.]</p> +<p>The English had lost in the battle of the Alma about two +thousand men, the French probably less than half that number. On +the morning after the engagement Lord Raglan proposed that the +two armies should march straight against the fortifications lying +on the north of the Great Harbour, and carry these by storm, so +winning a position where their guns would command Sebastopol +itself. The French, supported by Burgoyne, the chief of the +English engineers, shrank from the risk of a front attack on +works supposed to be more formidable than they really were, and +induced Lord Raglan to consent to a long circuitous march which +would bring the armies right round Sebastopol to its more open +southern side, from which, it was thought, an assault might be +successfully made. This flank-march, which was one of extreme +risk, was carried out safely, Menschikoff himself having left +Sebastopol, and having passed along the same road in his retreat +into the interior a little before the appearance of the Allies. +Pushing southward, the English reached the sea at Balaclava, and +took possession of the harbour there, accepting the exposed +eastward line between the fortress and the Russia is outside; the +French, now commanded by Canrobert, continued their march +westwards round the back of Sebastopol, and touched the sea at +Kasatch Bay. The two armies were thus masters of the broken +plateau which, rising westwards from the plain of Balaclava and +the valley of the Tchernaya, overlooks Sebastopol on its southern +side. That the garrison, which now consisted chiefly of sailors, +could at this moment have resisted the onslaught of the fifty +thousand troops who had won the battle of the Alma, the Russians +themselves did not believe; <a name="FNanchor472"> </a><a href="#Footnote_472"><sup>[472]</sup></a> but once more the French +staff, with Burgoyne, urged caution, and it was determined to +wait for the siege-guns, which were still at sea. The decision +was a fatal one. While the Allies chose positions for their heavy +artillery and slowly landed and placed their guns, Korniloff and +Todleben made the fortifications on the southern side of +Sebastopol an effective barrier before an enemy. The sacrifice of +the Russian fleet had not been in vain. The sailors were learning +all the duties of a garrison: the cannon from the ships proved +far more valuable on land. Three weeks of priceless time were +given to leaders who knew how to turn every moment to account. +When, on the 17th of October, the bombardment which was to +precede the assault on Sebastopol began, the French artillery, +operating on the south-west, was overpowered by that of the +defenders. The fleets in vain thundered against the solid +sea-front of the fortress. At the end of eight days' cannonade, +during which the besiegers' batteries poured such a storm of shot +and shell upon Sebastopol as no fortress had yet withstood, the +defences were still unbroken.</p> +<p>[Battle of Balaclava, Oct. 25.]</p> +<p>Menschikoff in the meantime had received the reinforcements +which he expected, and was now ready to fall upon the besiegers +from the east. His point of attack was the English port of +Balaclava and the fortified road lying somewhat east of this, +which formed the outer line held by the English and their Turkish +supports. The plain of Balaclava is divided by a low ridge into a +northern and a southern valley. Along this ridge runs the +causeway, which had been protected by redoubts committed to a +weak Turkish guard. On the morning of the 25th the Russians +appeared in the northern valley. They occupied the heights rising +from it on the north and east, attacked the causeway, captured +three of the redoubts, and drove off the Turks, left to meet +their onset alone. Lord Raglan, who watched these operations from +the edge of the western plateau, ordered up infantry from a +distance, but the only English troops on the spot were a light +and a heavy brigade of cavalry, each numbering about six hundred +men. The Heavy Brigade, under General Scarlett, was directed to +move towards Balaclava itself, which was now threatened. While +they were on the march, a dense column of Russian cavalry, about +three thousand strong, appeared above the crest of the low ridge, +ready, as it seemed, to overwhelm the weak troops before them. +But in their descent from the ridge the Russians halted, and +Scarlett with admirable courage and judgment formed his men for +attack, and charged full into the enemy with the handful who were +nearest to him. They cut their way into the very heart of the +column; and before the Russians could crush them with mere weight +the other regiments of the same brigade hurled themselves on the +right and on the left against the huge inert mass. The Russians +broke and retreated in disorder before a quarter of their number, +leaving to Scarlett and his men the glory of an action which +ranks with the Prussian attack at Mars-la-Tour in 1870 as the +most brilliant cavalry operation in modern warfare. The squadrons +of the Light Brigade, during the peril and the victory of their +comrades, stood motionless, paralysed by the same defect of +temper or intelligence in command which was soon to devote them +to a fruitless but ever-memorable act of self-sacrifice. Russian +infantry were carrying off the cannon from the conquered redoubts +on the causeway, when an aide-de-camp from the general-in-chief +brought to the Earl of Lucan, commander of the cavalry, an order +to advance rapidly to the front, and save these guns. Lucan, who +from his position could see neither the enemy nor the guns, +believed himself ordered to attack the Russian artillery at the +extremity of the northern valley, and he directed the Light +Brigade to charge in this direction. It was in vain that the +leader of the Light Brigade, Lord Cardigan, warned his chief, in +words which were indeed but too weak, that there was a battery in +front, a battery on each flank, and that the ground was covered +with Russian riflemen. The order was repeated as that of the head +of the army, and it was obeyed. Thus</p> +<span class="c4">"Into the valley of Death</span><br> + <span class="c5">Rode the Six Hundred."</span><br> + +<p>How they died there, the remnant not turning till they had +hewn their way past the guns and routed the enemy's cavalry +behind them, the English people will never <a name="FNanchor473">forget.</a><a href="#Footnote_473"><sup>[473]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Battle of Inkermann, Nov. 5.]</p> +<p>The day of Balaclava brought to each side something of victory +and something of failure. The Russians remained masters of the +road that they had captured, and carried off seven English guns; +the English, where they had met the enemy, proved that they could +defeat overwhelming numbers. Not many days passed before our +infantry were put to the test which the cavalry had so +victoriously undergone. The siege-approaches of the French had +been rapidly advanced, and it was determined that on the 5th of +November the long-deferred assault on Sebastopol should be made. +On that very morning, under cover of a thick mist, the English +right was assailed by massive columns of the enemy. Menschikoff's +army had now risen to a hundred thousand men; he had thrown +troops into Sebastopol, and had planned the capture of the +English positions by a combined attack from Sebastopol itself, +and by troops advancing from the lower valley of the Tchernaya +across the bridge of Inkermann. The battle of the 5th of +November, on the part of the English, was a soldier's battle, +without generalship, without order, without design. The men, +standing to their ground whatever their own number and whatever +that of the foe, fought, after their ammunition was exhausted, +with bayonets, with the butt ends of their muskets, with their +fists and with stones. For hours the ever-surging Russian mass +rolled in upon them; but they maintained the unequal struggle +until the arrival of French regiments saved them from their +deadly peril and the enemy were driven in confusion from the +field. The Russian columns, marching right up to the guns, had +been torn in pieces by artillery-fire. Their loss in killed and +wounded was enormous, their defeat one which no ingenuity could +disguise. Yet the battle of Inkermann had made the capture of +Sebastopol, as it had been planned by the Allies, impossible. +Their own loss was too great, the force which the enemy had +displayed was too vast, to leave any hope that the fortress could +be mastered by a sudden assault. The terrible truth soon became +plain that the enterprise on which the armies had been sent had +in fact failed, and that another enterprise of a quite different +character, a winter siege in the presence of a superior enemy, a +campaign for which no preparations had been made, and for which +all that was most necessary was wanting, formed the only +alternative to an evacuation of the Crimea.</p> +<p>[Storm of Nov. 14.]</p> +<p>[Winter in the Crimea.]</p> +<p>On the 14th of November the Euxine winter began with a storm +which swept away the tents on the exposed plateau, and wrecked +twenty-one vessels bearing stores of ammunition and clothing. +From this time rain and snow turned the tract between the camp +and Balaclava into a morass. The loss of the paved road which had +been captured by the Russians three weeks before now told with +fatal effect on the British army. The only communication with the +port of Balaclava was by a hillside track, which soon became +impassable by carts. It was necessary to bring up supplies on the +backs of horses; but the horses perished from famine and from +excessive labour. The men were too few, too weak, too destitute +of the helpful ways of English sailors, to assist in providing +for themselves. Thus penned up on the bleak promontory, +cholera-stricken, mocked rather than sustained during their +benumbing toil with rations of uncooked meat and green +coffee-berries, the British soldiery wasted away. Their effective +force sank at mid-winter to eleven thousand men. In the hospitals, +which even at Scutari were more deadly to those who passed within +them than the fiercest fire of the enemy, nine thousand men +perished before the end of February. The time indeed came when +the very Spirit of Mercy seemed to enter these abodes of woe, and +in the presence of Florence Nightingale nature at last regained +its healing power, pestilence no longer hung in the atmosphere +which the sufferers breathed, and death itself grew mild. But +before this new influence had vanquished routine the grave had +closed over whole regiments of men whom it had no right to claim. +The sufferings of other armies have been on a greater scale, but +seldom has any body of troops furnished a heavier tale of loss +and death in proportion to its numbers than the British army +during the winter of the Crimean War. The unsparing exposure in +the Press of the mismanagement under which our soldiers were +perishing excited an outburst of indignation which overthrew Lord +Aberdeen's Ministry and placed Palmerston in power. It also gave +to Europe at large an impression that Great Britain no longer +knew how to conduct a war, and unduly raised the reputation of +the French military administration, whose shortcomings, great as +they were, no French journalist dared to describe. In spite of +Alma and Inkermann, the military prestige of England was injured, +not raised, by the Crimean campaign; nor was it until the +suppression of the Indian Mutiny that the true capacity of the +nation in war was again vindicated before the world.</p> +<p>[Death of Nicholas, March 2, 1855.]</p> +<p>[Conference of Vienna, March-May, 1855.]</p> +<p>[Austria.]</p> +<p>"I have two generals who will not fail me," the Czar is +reported to have said when he heard of Menschikoff's last defeat, +"Generals January and February." General February fulfilled his +task, but he smote the Czar too. In the first days of March a new +monarch inherited the Russian crown. <a name="FNanchor474"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_474"><sup>[474]</sup></a> Alexander II. ascended +the throne, announcing that he would adhere to the policy of +Peter the Great, of Catherine, and of Nicholas. But the proud +tone was meant rather for the ear of Russia than of Europe, since +Nicholas had already expressed his willingness to treat for peace +on the basis laid down by the Western Powers in August, 1854. +This change was not produced wholly by the battles of Alma and +Inkermann. Prussia, finding itself isolated in Germany, had after +some months of hesitation given a diplomatic sanction to the Four +Points approved by Austria as indispensable conditions of peace. +Russia thus stood forsaken, as it seemed, by its only friend, and +Nicholas could no longer hope to escape with the mere abandonment +of those claims which had been the occasion of the war. He +consented to treat with his enemies on their own terms. Austria +now approached still more closely to the Western Powers, and +bound itself by treaty, in the event of peace not being concluded +by the end of the year on the stated basis, to deliberate with +France and England upon effectual means for obtaining the object +of the Alliance. <a name="FNanchor475"> </a><a href="#Footnote_475"><sup>[475]</sup></a> Preparations were made for a +Conference at Vienna, from which Prussia, still declining to +pledge itself to warlike action in case of the failure of the +negotiations, was excluded. The sittings of the Conference began +a few days after the accession of Alexander II. Russia was +represented by its ambassador, Prince Alexander Gortschakoff, +who, as Minister of later years, was to play so conspicuous a +part in undoing the work of the Crimean epoch. On the first two +Articles forming the subject of negotiation, namely the abolition +of the Russian Protectorate over Servia and the Principalities, +and the removal of all impediments to the free navigation of the +Danube, agreement was reached. On the third Article, the revision +of the Treaty of July, 1841, relating to the Black Sea and the +Dardanelles, the Russian envoy and the representatives of the +Western Powers found themselves completely at variance. +Gortschakoff had admitted that the Treaty of 1841 must be so +revised as to put an end to the preponderance of Russia in the +Black Sea; <a name="FNanchor476"> </a><a href="#Footnote_476"><sup>[476]</sup></a> but while the Western +Governments insisted upon the exclusion of Russian war-vessels +from these waters, Gortschakoff would consent only to the +abolition of Russia's preponderance by the free admission of the +war-vessels of all nations, or by some similar method of +counterpoise. The negotiations accordingly came to an end, but +not before Austria, disputing the contention of the Allies that +the object of the third Article could be attained only by the +specific means proposed by them, had brought forward a third +scheme based partly upon the limitation of the Russian navy in +the Euxine, partly upon the admission of war-ships of other +nations. This scheme was rejected by the Western Powers, +whereupon Austria declared that its obligations under the Treaty +of December 2nd, 1854, had now been fulfilled, and that it +returned in consequence to the position of a neutral.</p> +<p>Great indignation was felt and was expressed at London and +Paris at this so-called act of desertion, and at the subsequent +withdrawal of Austrian regiments from the positions which they +had occupied in anticipation of war. It was alleged that in the +first two conditions of peace Austria had seen its own special +interests effectually secured; and that as soon as the Court of +St. Petersburg had given the necessary assurances on these heads +the Cabinet of Vienna was willing to sacrifice the other objects +of the Alliance and to abandon the cause of the Maritime Powers, +in order to regain, with whatever loss of honour, the friendship +of the Czar. Though it was answered with perfect truth that +Austria had never accepted the principle of the exclusion of +Russia from the Black Sea, and was still ready to take up arms in +defence of that system by which it considered that Russia's +preponderance in the Black Sea might be most suitably prevented, +this argument sounded hollow to combatants convinced of the +futility of all methods for holding Russia in check except their +own. Austria had grievously injured its own position and credit +with the Western Powers. On the other hand it had wounded Russia +too deeply to win from the Czar the forgiveness which it +expected. Its policy of balance, whether best described as too +subtle or as too impartial, had miscarried. It had forfeited its +old, without acquiring new friendships. It remained isolated in +Europe, and destined to meet without support and without an ally +the blows which were soon to fall upon it.</p> +<p>[Progress of the siege, January-May, 1855.]</p> +<p>[Canrobert succeeded by Pélissier, May.]</p> +<p>[Unsuccessful assault, June 18.]</p> +<p>[Battle of the Tchernaya, Aug. 16.]</p> +<p>[Capture of the Malakoff, Sept. 8.]</p> +<p>[Fall of Sebastopol, Sept. 9.]</p> +<p>The prospects of the besieging armies before Sebastopol were +in some respects better towards the close of January, 1855, than +they were when the Conference of Vienna commenced its sittings +six weeks later. Sardinia, under the guidance of Cavour, had +joined the Western Alliance, and was about to send fifteen +thousand soldiers to the Crimea. A new plan of operations, which +promised excellent results, had been adopted at headquarters. Up +to the end of 1854 the French had directed their main attack +against the Flagstaff bastion, a little to the west of the head +of the Man-of-War Harbour. They were now, however, convinced by +Lord Raglan that the true keystone to the defences of Sebastopol +was the Malakoff, on the eastern side, and they undertook the +reduction of this formidable work, while the British directed +their efforts against the neighbouring Redan. <a name="FNanchor477"> </a><a href="#Footnote_477"><sup>[477]</sup></a> +The heaviest fire of the besiegers being thus concentrated on a +narrow line, it seemed as if Sebastopol must soon fall. But at +the beginning of February a sinister change came over the French +camp. General Niel arrived from Paris vested with powers which +really placed him in control of the general-in-chief; and though +Canrobert was but partially made acquainted with the Emperor's +designs, he was forced to sacrifice to them much of his own +honour and that of the army. Napoleon had determined to come to +the Crimea himself, and at the fitting moment to end by one grand +stroke the war which had dragged so heavily in the hands of +others. He believed that Sebastopol could only be taken by a +complete investment; and it was his design to land with a fresh +army on the south-eastern coast of the Crimea, to march across +the interior of the peninsula, to sweep Menschikoff's forces from +their position above the Tchernaya, and to complete the +investment of Sebastopol from the north. With this scheme of +operations in view, all labour expended in the attack on +Sebastopol from the south was effort thrown away. Canrobert, who +had promised his most vigorous co-operation to Lord Raglan, was +fettered and paralysed by the Emperor's emissary at headquarters. +For three successive months the Russians not only held their own, +but by means of counter-approaches won back from the French some +of the ground that they had taken. The very existence of the +Alliance was threatened when, after Canrobert and Lord Raglan had +despatched a force to seize the Russian posts on the Sea of Azof, +the French portion of this force was peremptorily recalled by the +Emperor, in order that it might be employed in the march +northwards across the Crimea. At length, unable to endure the +miseries of the position, Canrobert asked to be relieved of his +command. He was succeeded by General Pélissier. +Pélissier, a resolute, energetic soldier, one moreover who +did not owe his promotion to complicity in the <i>coup +d'état</i>, flatly refused to obey the Emperor's orders. +Sweeping aside the flimsy schemes evolved at the Tuileries, he +returned with all his heart to the plan agreed upon by the Allied +commanders at the beginning of the year; and from this time, +though disasters were still in store, they were not the result of +faltering or disloyalty at the headquarters of the French army. +The general assault on the Malakoff and the Redan was fixed for +the 18th of June. It was bravely met by the Russians; the Allies +were driven back with heavy loss, and three months more were +added to the duration of the siege. Lord Raglan did not live to +witness the last stage of the war. Exhausted by his labours, +heartsick at the failure of the great attack, he died on the 28th +of June, leaving the command to General Simpson, an officer far +his inferior. As the lines of the besiegers approached nearer and +nearer to the Russian fortifications, the army which had been +defeated at Inkermann advanced for one last effort. Crossing the +Tchernaya, it gave battle on the 16th of August. The French and +the Sardinians, with little assistance from the British army, won +a decisive victory. Sebastopol could hope no longer for +assistance from without, and on the 8th of September the blow +which had failed in June was dealt once more. The French, +throwing themselves in great strength upon the Malakoff, carried +this fortress by storm, and frustrated every effort made for its +recovery; the British, attacking the Redan with a miserably weak +force, were beaten and overpowered. But the fall of the Malakoff +was in itself equivalent to the capture of Sebastopol. A few more +hours passed, and a series of tremendous explosions made known to +the Allies that the Russian commander was blowing up his +magazines and withdrawing to the north of the Great Harbour. The +prize was at length won, and at the end of a siege of three +hundred and fifty days what remained of the Czar's great fortress +passed into the hands of his enemies.</p> +<p>[Exhaustion of Russia.]</p> +<p>[Fall of Kars, Nov. 28.]</p> +<p>[Negotiations for peace.]</p> +<p>The Allies had lost since their landing in the Crimea not less +than a hundred thousand men. An enterprise undertaken in the +belief that it would be accomplished in the course of a few +weeks, and with no greater sacrifice of life than attends every +attack upon a fortified place, had proved arduous and terrible +almost beyond example. Yet if the Crimean campaign was the result +of error and blindness on the part of the invaders, it was +perhaps even more disastrous to Russia than any warfare in which +an enemy would have been likely to engage with fuller knowledge +of the conditions to be met. The vast distances that separated +Sebastopol from the military depôts in the interior of +Russia made its defence a drain of the most fearful character on +the levies and the resources of the country. What tens of +thousands sank in the endless, unsheltered march without ever +nearing the sea, what provinces were swept of their beasts of +burden, when every larger shell fired against the enemy had to be +borne hundreds of miles by oxen, the records of the war but +vaguely make known. The total loss of the Russians should perhaps +be reckoned at three times that of the Allies. Yet the fall of +Sebastopol was not immediately followed by peace. The hesitation +of the Allies in cutting off the retreat of the Russian army had +enabled its commander to retain his hold upon the Crimea; in +Asia, the delays of a Turkish relieving army gave to the Czar one +last gleam of success in the capture of Kars, which, after a +strenuous resistance, succumbed to famine on the 28th of +November. But before Kars had fallen negotiations for peace had +commenced. France was weary of the war. Napoleon, himself +unwilling to continue it except at the price of French +aggrandisement on the Continent, was surrounded by a band of +palace stock-jobbers who had staked everything on the rise of the +funds that would result from peace. It was known at every Court +of Europe that the Allies were completely at variance with one +another; that while the English nation, stung by the failure of +its military administration during the winter, by the nullity of +its naval operations in the Baltic, and by the final disaster at +the Redan, was eager to prove its real power in a new campaign, +the ruler of France, satisfied with the crowning glory of the +Malakoff, was anxious to conclude peace on any tolerable terms. +Secret communications from St. Petersburg were made at Paris by +Baron Seebach, envoy of Saxony, a son-in-law of the Russian +Chancellor: the Austrian Cabinet, still bent on acting the part +of arbiter, but hopeless of the results of a new Conference, +addressed itself to the Emperor Napoleon singly, and persuaded +him to enter into a negotiation which was concealed for a while +from Great Britain. The two intrigues were simultaneously pursued +by our ally, but Seebach's proposals were such that even the +warmest friends of Russia at the Tuileries could scarcely support +them, and the Viennese diplomatists won the day. It was agreed +that a note containing Preliminaries of Peace should be presented +by Austria at St. Petersburg as its own ultimatum, after the +Emperor Napoleon should have won from the British Government its +assent to these terms without any alteration. The Austrian +project embodied indeed the Four Points which Britain had in +previous months fixed as the conditions of peace, and in +substance it differed little from what, even after the fall of +Sebastopol, British statesmen were still prepared to accept; but +it was impossible that a scheme completed without the +participation of Britain and laid down for its passive acceptance +should be thus uncomplainingly adopted by its Government. Lord +Palmerston required that the Four Articles enumerated should be +understood to cover points not immediately apparent on their +surface, and that a fifth Article should be added reserving to +the Powers the right of demanding certain further special +conditions, it being understood that Great Britain would require +under this clause only that Russia should bind itself to leave +the Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea unfortified. Modified +in accordance with the demand of the British Government, the +Austrian draft was presented to the Czar at the end of December, +with the notification that if it as not accepted by the 16th of +January the Austrian ambassador would quit St. Petersburg. On the +15th a Council was held in the presence of the Czar. Nesselrode, +who first gave his opinion, urged that the continuance of the war +would plunge Russia into hostilities with all Europe, and advised +submission to a compact which would last only until Russia had +recovered its strength or new relations had arisen among the +Powers. One Minister after another declared that Poland, Finland, +the Crimea, and the Caucasus would be endangered if peace were +not now made; the Chief of the Finances stated that Russia could +not go through another campaign without bankruptcy. <a name="FNanchor478"> </a><a href="#Footnote_478"><sup>[478]</sup></a> At +the end of the discussion the Council declared unanimously in +favour of accepting the Austrian propositions; and although the +national feeling was still in favour of resistance, there appears +to have been one Russian statesman alone, Prince Gortschakoff, +ambassador at Vienna, who sought to dissuade the Czar from making +peace. His advice was not taken. The vote of the Council was +followed by the despatch of plenipotentiaries to Paris, and here, +on the 25th of February, 1856, the envoys of all the Powers, with +the exception of Prussia, assembled in Conference, in order to +frame the definitive Treaty of Peace. <a name="FNanchor479"> </a><a href="#Footnote_479"><sup>[479]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Conference of Paris, Feb. 25, 1856.]</p> +<p>[Treaty of Paris, March 30, 1856.]</p> +<p>In the debates which now followed, and which occupied more +than a month, Lord Clarendon, who represented Great Britain, +discovered that in each contested point he had to fight against +the Russian and the French envoys combined, so completely was the +Court of the Tuileries now identified with a policy of +conciliation and friendliness towards Russia. <a name="FNanchor480"> </a><a href="#Footnote_480"><sup>[480]</sup></a> +Great firmness, great plainness of speech was needed on the part +of the British Government, in order to prevent the recognised +objects of the war from being surrendered by its ally, not from a +conviction that they were visionary or unattainable, but from +unsteadiness of purpose and from the desire to convert a defeated +enemy into a friend. The end, however, was at length reached, and +on the 30th of March the Treaty of Paris was signed. The Black +Sea was neutralised; its waters and ports, thrown open to the +mercantile marine of every nation, were formally and in +perpetuity interdicted to the war-ships both of the Powers +possessing its coasts and of all other Powers. The Czar and the +Sultan undertook not to establish or maintain upon its coasts any +military or maritime arsenal. Russia ceded a portion of +Bessarabia, accepting a frontier which excluded it from the +Danube. The free navigation of this river, henceforth to be +effectively maintained by an international Commission, was +declared part of the public law of Europe. The Powers declared +the Sublime Porte admitted to participate in the advantages of +the public law and concert of Europe, each engaging to respect +the independence and integrity of the Ottoman Empire, and all +guaranteeing in common the strict observance of this engagement, +and promising to consider any act tending to its violation as a +question of general interest. The Sultan "having, in his constant +solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, issued a firman +recording his generous intentions towards the Christian +population of his empire, <a name="FNanchor481"> </a><a href="#Footnote_481"><sup>[481]</sup></a> and having communicated it +to the Powers," the Powers "recognised the high value of this +communication," declaring at the same time "that it could not, in +any case, give to them the right to interfere, either +collectively or separately, in the relations of the Sultan to his +subjects, or in the internal administration of his empire." The +Danubian Principalities, augmented by the strip of Bessarabia +taken from Russia, were to continue to enjoy, under the +suzerainty of the Porte and under the guarantee of the Powers, +all the privileges and immunities of which they were in +possession, no exclusive protection being exercised by any of the +guaranteeing Powers. <a name="FNanchor482"> </a><a href="#Footnote_482"><sup>[482]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Agreement of the Conference on rights of neutrals.]</p> +<p>Passing beyond the immediate subjects of negotiation, the +Conference availed itself of its international character to gain +the consent of Great Britain to a change in the laws of maritime +war. England had always claimed, and had always exercised, the +right to seize an enemy's goods on the high sea though conveyed +in a neutral vessel, and to search the merchant-ships of neutrals +for this purpose. The exercise of this right had stirred up +against England the Maritime League of 1800, and was condemned by +nearly the whole civilised world. Nothing short of an absolute +command of the seas made it safe or possible for a single Power +to maintain a practice which threatened at moments of danger to +turn the whole body of neutral States into its enemies. Moreover, +if the seizure of belligerents' goods in neutral ships profited +England when it was itself at war, it injured England at all +times when it remained at peace during the struggles of other +States. Similarly by the issue of privateers England inflicted +great injury on its enemies; but its own commerce, exceeding that +of every other State, offered to the privateers of its foes a +still richer booty. The advantages of the existing laws of +maritime war were not altogether on the side of England, though +mistress of the seas; and in return for the abolition of +privateering, the British Government consented to surrender its +sharpest, but most dangerous, weapon of offence, and to permit +the products of a hostile State to find a market in time of war. +The rule was laid down that the goods of an enemy other than +contraband of war should henceforth be safe under a neutral flag. +Neutrals' goods discovered on an enemy's ship were similarly made +exempt from capture.</p> +<p>[Fictions of the Treaty of Paris as to Turkey.]</p> +<p>The enactments of the Conference of Paris relating to commerce +in time of hostilities have not yet been subjected to the strain +of a war between England and any European State; its conclusions +on all other subjects were but too soon put to the test, and have +one after another been found wanting. If the Power which calls +man into his moment of life could smile at the efforts and the +assumptions of its creature, such smile might have been moved by +the assembly of statesmen who, at the close of the Crimean War, +affected to shape the future of Eastern Europe. They persuaded +themselves that by dint of the iteration of certain phrases they +could convert the Sultan and his hungry troop of Pashas into the +chiefs of a European State. They imagined that the House of +Osman, which in the stages of a continuous decline had +successively lost its sway over Hungary, over Servia, over +Southern Greece and the Danubian Provinces, and which would twice +within the last twenty-five years have seen its Empire dashed to +pieces by an Egyptian vassal but for the intervention of Europe, +might be arrested in its decadence by an incantation, and be made +strong enough and enlightened enough to govern to all time the +Slavic and Greek populations which had still the misfortune to be +included within its dominions. Recognising-so ran the words which +read like bitter irony, but which were meant for nothing of the +kind-the value of the Sultan's promises of reform, the authors of +the Treaty of Paris proceeded, as if of set purpose, to +extinguish any vestige of responsibility which might have been +felt at Constantinople, and any spark of confidence that might +still linger among the Christian populations, by declaring that, +whether the Sultan observed or broke his promises, in no case +could any right of intervention by Europe arise. The helmsman was +given his course; the hatches were battened down. If words bore +any meaning, if the Treaty of Paris was not an elaborate piece of +imposture, the Christian subjects of the Sultan had for the +future, whatever might be their wrongs, no redress to look for +but in the exertion of their own power. The terms of the Treaty +were in fact such as might have been imposed if the Western +Powers had gone to war with Russia for some object of their own, +and had been rescued, when defeated and overthrown, by the +victorious interposition of the Porte. All was hollow, all based +on fiction and convention. The illusions of nations in time of +revolutionary excitement, the shallow, sentimental commonplaces +of liberty and fraternity have afforded just matter for satire; +but no democratic platitudes were ever more palpably devoid of +connection with fact, more flagrantly in contradiction to the +experience of the past, or more ignominiously to be refuted by +each succeeding act of history, than the deliberate consecration +of the idol of an Ottoman Empire as the crowning act of European +wisdom in 1856.</p> +<p>[The Danubian Principalities.]</p> +<p>[Alexander Cuza Hospodar of both Provinces.]</p> +<p>[Complete Union, 1862.]</p> +<p>[Charles of Hohenzollern, Hereditary Prince, 1866.]</p> +<p>Among the devotees of the Turk the English Ministers were the +most impassioned, having indeed in the possession of India some +excuse for their fervour on behalf of any imaginable obstacle +that would keep the Russians out of Constantinople. The Emperor +of the French had during the Conferences at Paris revived his +project of incorporating the Danubian Principalities with Austria +in return for the cession of Lombardy, but the Viennese +Government had declined to enter into any such arrangement. +Napoleon consequently entered upon a new Eastern policy. +Appreciating the growing force of nationality in European +affairs, and imagining that in the championship of the principle +of nationality against the Treaties of 1815 he would sooner or +later find means for the aggrandisement of himself and France, he +proposed that the Provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, while +remaining in dependence upon the Sultan, should be united into a +single State under a prince chosen by themselves. The English +Ministry would not hear of this union. In their view the creation +of a Roumanian Principality under a chief not appointed by the +Porte was simply the abstraction from the Sultan of six million +persons who at present acknowledged his suzerainty, and whose +tribute to Constantinople ought, according to Lord Clarendon, to +be increased. <a name="FNanchor483"> </a><a href="#Footnote_483"><sup>[483]</sup></a> Austria, fearing the effect +of a Roumanian national movement upon its own Roumanian subjects +in Transylvania, joined in resistance to Napoleon's scheme, and +the political organisation of the Principalities was in +consequence reserved by the Conference of Paris for future +settlement. Elections were held in the spring of 1857 under a +decree from the Porte, with the result that Moldavia, as it +seemed, pronounced against union with the sister province. But +the complaint at once arose that the Porte had falsified the +popular vote. France and Russia had now established relations of +such amity that their ambassadors jointly threatened to quit +Constantinople if the elections were not annulled. A visit paid +by the French Emperor to Queen Victoria, with the object of +smoothing over the difficulties which had begun to threaten the +Western alliance, resulted rather in increased misunderstandings +between the two Governments as to the future of the +Principalities than in any real agreement. The elections were +annulled. New representative bodies met at Bucharest and Jassy, +and pronounced almost unanimously for union (October, 1857). In +the spring of 1858 the Conference of Paris reassembled in order +to frame a final settlement of the affairs of the Principalities. +It determined that in each Province there should be a Hospodar +elected for life, a separate judicature, and a separate +legislative Assembly, while a central Commission, formed by +representatives of both Provinces, should lay before the +Assemblies projects of law on matters of joint interest. In +accordance with these provisions, Assemblies were elected in each +Principality at the beginning of 1859. Their first duty was to +choose the two Hospodars, but in both Provinces a unanimous vote +fell upon the same person, Prince Alexander Cuza. The efforts of +England and Austria to prevent union were thus baffled by the +Roumanian people itself, and after three years the elaborate +arrangements made by the Conference were similarly swept away, +and a single Ministry and Assembly took the place of the dual +Government. It now remained only to substitute a hereditary +Prince for a Hospodar elected for life; and in 1866, on the +expulsion of Alexander Cuza by his subjects, Prince Charles of +Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a distant kinsman of the reigning +Prussian sovereign, was recognised by all Europe as Hereditary +Prince of Roumania. The suzerainty of the Porte, now reduced to +the bare right to receive a fixed tribute, was fated to last but +for a few years longer.</p> +<p>[Continued discord in Turkish Empire.]</p> +<p>[Revision of the Treaty of Paris, 1871.]</p> +<p>Europe had not to wait for the establishment of Roumanian +independence in order to judge of the foresight and the +statesmanship of the authors of the Treaty of Paris. Scarcely a +year passed without the occurrence of some event that cast +ridicule upon the fiction of a self-regenerated Turkey, and upon +the profession of the Powers that the epoch of external +interference in its affairs was at an end. The active +misgovernment of the Turkish authorities themselves, their +powerlessness or want of will to prevent flagrant outrage and +wrong among those whom they professed to rule, continued after +the Treaty of Paris to be exactly what they had been before it. +In 1860 massacres and civil war in Mount Lebanon led to the +occupation of Syria by French troops. In 1861 Bosnia and +Herzegovina took up arms. In 1863 Servia expelled its Turkish +garrisons. Crete, rising in the following year, fought long for +its independence, and seemed for a moment likely to be united +with Greece under the auspices of the Powers, but it was finally +abandoned to its Ottoman masters. At the end of fourteen years +from the signature of the Peace of Paris, the downfall of the +French Empire enabled Russia to declare that it would no longer +recognise the provisions of the Treaty which excluded its +war-ships and its arsenals from the Black Sea. It was for this, +and for this almost alone, that England had gone through the +Crimean War. But for the determination of Lord Palmerston to +exclude Russia from the Black Sea, peace might have been made +while the Allied armies were still at Varna. This exclusion was +alleged to be necessary in the interests of Europe at large; that +it was really enforced not in the interest of Europe but in the +interest of England was made sufficiently clear by the action of +Austria and Prussia, whose statesmen, in spite of the discourses +so freely addressed to them from London, were at least as much +alive to the interests of their respective countries as Lord +Palmerston could be on their behalf. Nor had France in 1854 any +interest in crippling the power of Russia, or in Eastern affairs +generally, which could be remotely compared with those of the +possessors of India. The personal needs of Napoleon III. made +him, while he seemed to lead, the instrument of the British +Government for enforcing British aims, and so gave to Palmerston +the momentary shaping of a new and superficial concert of the +Powers. Masters of Sebastopol, the Allies had experienced little +difficulty in investing their own conclusions with the seeming +authority of Europe at large; but to bring the representatives of +Austria and Prussia to a Council-table, to hand them the pen to +sign a Treaty dictated by France and England, was not to bind +them to a policy which was not their own, or to make those things +interests of Austria and Prussia which were not their interests +before. Thus when in 1870 the French Empire fell, England stood +alone as the Power concerned in maintaining the exclusion of +Russia from the Euxine, and this exclusion it could enforce no +longer. It was well that Palmerston had made the Treaty of Paris +the act of Europe, but not for the reasons which Palmerston had +imagined. The fiction had engendered no new relation in fact; it +did not prolong for one hour the submission of Russia after it +had ceased to be confronted in the West by a superior force; but +it enabled Great Britain to retire without official humiliation +from a position which it had conquered only through the help of +an accidental Alliance, and which it was unable to maintain +alone. The ghost of the Conference of 1856 was, as it were, +conjured up in the changed world of 1871. The same forms which +had once stamped with the seal of Europe the instrument of +restraint upon Russia now as decorously executed its release. +Britain accepted what Europe would not resist; and below the +slopes where lay the countless dead of three nations Sebastopol +rose from its ruins, and the ensign of Russia floated once more +over its ships of war.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XXII."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c22">CHAPTER XXII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Piedmont after 1849-Ministry of Azeglio-Cavour Prime +Minister-Designs of Cavour-His Crimean Policy-Cavour at the +Conference of Paris-Cavour and Napoleon III.-The Meeting at +Plombières-Preparations in Italy-Treaty of January, +1859-Attempts at Mediation-Austrian Ultimatum-Campaign of +1859-Magenta-Movement in Central Italy-Solferino-Napoleon and +Prussia -Interview of Villafranca-Cavour resigns-Peace of +Zürich-Central Italy after Villafranca-The Proposed +Congress-"The Pope and the Congress"- Cavour resumes +office-Cavour and Napoleon-Union of the Duchies and the Romagna +with Piedmont-Savoy and Nice added to France-Cavour on this +cession-European opinion-Naples-Sicily-Garibaldi lands at +Marsala- Capture of Palermo-The Neapolitans evacuate +Sicily-Cavour and the Party of Action-Cavour's Policy as to +Naples-Garibaldi on the Mainland-Persano and Villamarina at +Naples-Garibaldi at Naples-The Piedmontese Army enters Umbria and +the Marches-Fall of Ancona-Garibaldi and Cavour-The Armies on the +Volturno-Fall of Gaeta-Cavour's Policy with regard to Rome and +Venice-Death of Cavour-The Free Church in the Free State.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Piedmont after 1849.]</p> +<p>In the gloomy years that followed 1849 the kingdom of Sardinia +had stood out in bright relief as a State which, though crushed +on the battle-field, had remained true to the cause of liberty +while all around it the forces of reaction gained triumph after +triumph. Its King had not the intellectual gifts of the maker of +a great State, but he was one with whom those possessed of such +gifts could work, and on whom they could depend. With certain +grave private faults Victor Emmanuel had the public virtues of +intense patriotism, of loyalty to his engagements and to his +Ministers, of devotion to a single great aim. Little given to +speculative thought, he saw what it most concerned him to see, +that Piedmont by making itself the home of liberty could become +the Master-State of Italy. His courage on the battle-field, +splendid and animating as it was, distinguished him less than +another kind of courage peculiarly his own. Ignorant and +superstitious, he had that rare and masculine quality of soul +which in the anguish of bereavement and on the verge of the +unseen world remains proof against the appeal and against the +terrors of a voice speaking with more than human authority. Rome, +not less than Austria, stood across the path that led to Italian +freedom, and employed all its art, all its spiritual force, to +turn Victor Emmanuel from the work that lay before him. There +were moments in his life when a man of not more than common +weakness might well have flinched from the line of conduct on +which he had resolved in hours of strength and of insight; there +were times when a less constant mind might well have wavered and +cast a balance between opposing systems of policy. It was not +through heroic greatness that Victor Emmanuel rendered his +priceless services to Italy. He was a man not conspicuously cast +in a different mould from many another plain, strong nature, but +the qualities which he possessed were precisely those which Italy +required. Fortune, circumstance, position favoured him and made +his glorious work possible; but what other Italian prince of this +century, though placed on the throne of Piedmont, and numbering +Cavour among his subjects, would have played the part, the simple +yet all momentous part, which Victor Emmanuel played so well? The +love and the gratitude of Italy have been lavished without stint +on the memory of its first sovereign, who served his nation with +qualities of so homely a type, and in whose life there was so +much that needed pardon. The colder judgment of a later time will +hardly contest the title of Victor Emmanuel to be ranked among +those few men without whom Italian union would not have been +achieved for another generation.</p> +<p>[Ministry of Azeglio, 1849-52.]</p> +<p>[Cavour Prime Minister, 1852.]</p> +<p>On the conclusion of peace with Austria after the campaign of +Novara, the Government and the Parliament of Turin addressed +themselves to the work of emancipating the State from the system +of ecclesiastical privilege and clerical ascendency which had +continued in full vigour down to the last year of Charles +Albert's reign. Since 1814 the Church had maintained, or had +recovered, both in Piedmont and in the island of Sardinia, rights +which had been long wrested from it in other European societies, +and which were out of harmony with the Constitution now taking +root under Victor Emmanuel. The clergy had still their own +tribunals, and even in the case of criminal offences were not +subject to the jurisdiction of the State. The Bishops possessed +excessive powers and too large a share of the Church revenues; +the parochial clergy lived in want; monasteries and convents +abounded. It was not in any spirit of hostility towards the +Church that Massimo d'Azeglio, whom the King called to office +after Novara, commenced the work of reform by measures subjecting +the clergy to the law-courts of the State, abolishing the right +of sanctuary in monasteries, and limiting the power of +corporations to acquire landed property. If the Papacy would have +met Victor Emmanuel in a fair spirit his Government would gladly +have avoided a dangerous and exasperating struggle; but all the +forces and the passions of Ultramontanism were brought to bear +against the proposed reforms. The result was that the Minister, +abandoned by a section of the Conservative party on whom he had +relied, sought the alliance of men ready for a larger and bolder +policy, and called to office the foremost of those from whom he +had received an independent support in the Chamber, Count Cavour. +Entering the Cabinet in 1850 as Minister of Commerce, Cavour +rapidly became the master of all his colleagues. On his own +responsibility he sought and won the support of the more moderate +section of the Opposition, headed by Rattazzi; and after a brief +withdrawal from office, caused by divisions within the Cabinet, +he returned to power in October, 1852, as Prime Minister.</p> +<p>[Cavour.]</p> +<p>Cavour, though few men have gained greater fame as +diplomatists, had not been trained in official life. The younger +son of a noble family, he had entered the army in 1826, and +served in the Engineers; but his sympathies with the liberal +movement of 1830 brought him into extreme disfavour with his +chiefs. He was described by Charles Albert, then Prince of +Carignano, as the most dangerous man in the kingdom, and was +transferred at the instance of his own father to the solitary +Alpine fortress of Bard. Too vigorous a nature to submit to +inaction, too buoyant and too sagacious to resort to conspiracy, +he quitted the army, and soon afterwards undertook the management +of one of the family estates, devoting himself to scientific +agriculture on a large scale. He was a keen and successful man of +business, but throughout the next twelve years, which he passed +in fruitful private industry, his mind dwelt ardently on public +affairs. He was filled with a deep discontent at the state of +society which he saw around him in Piedmont, and at the condition +of Italy at large under foreign and clerical rule. Repeated +visits to France and England made him familiar with the +institutions of freer lands, and gave definiteness to his +political and social aims. <a name="FNanchor484"> </a><a href="#Footnote_484"><sup>[484]</sup></a> In 1847, when changes were +following fast, he founded with some other Liberal nobles the +journal <i>Risorgimento</i>, devoted to the cause of national +revival; and he was one of the first who called upon King Charles +Albert to grant a Constitution. During the stormy days of 1848 he +was at once the vigorous advocate of war with Austria and the +adversary of Republicans and Extremists who for their own +theories seemed willing to plunge Italy into anarchy. Though +unpopular with the mob, he was elected to the Chamber by Turin, +and continued to represent the capital after the peace. Up to +this time there had been little opportunity for the proof of his +extraordinary powers, but the inborn sagacity of Victor Emmanuel +had already discerned in him a man who could not remain in a +subordinate position. "You will see him turn you all out of your +places," the King remarked to his Ministers, as he gave his +assent to Cavour's first appointment to a seat in the +Cabinet.</p> +<p>[Plans of Cavour.]</p> +<p>[Cavour's Crimean policy.]</p> +<p>The Ministry of Azeglio had served Piedmont with honour from +1849 to 1852, but its leader scarcely possessed the daring and +fertility of mind which the time required. Cavour threw into the +work of government a passion and intelligence which soon produced +results visible to all Europe. His devotion to Italy was as deep, +as all-absorbing, as that of Mazzini himself, though the methods +and schemes of the two men were in such complete antagonism. +Cavour's fixed purpose was to drive Austria out of Italy by +defeat in the battle-field, and to establish, as the first step +towards national union, a powerful kingdom of Northern Italy +under Victor Emmanuel. In order that the military and naval +forces of Piedmont might be raised to the highest possible +strength and efficiency, he saw that the resources of the country +must be largely developed; and with this object he negotiated +commercial treaties with Foreign Powers, laid down railways, and +suppressed the greater part of the monasteries, selling their +lands to cultivators, and devoting the proceeds of sale not to +State-purposes but to the payment of the working clergy. Industry +advanced; the heavy pressure of taxation was patiently borne; the +army and the fleet grew apace. But the cause of Piedmont was one +with that of the Italian nation, and it became its Government to +demonstrate this day by day with no faltering voice or hand. +Protection and support were given to fugitives from Austrian and +Papal tyranny; the Press was laid open to every tale of wrong; +and when, after an unsuccessful attempt at insurrection in Milan +in 1853, for which Mazzini and the Republican exiles were alone +responsible, the Austrian Government sequestrated the property of +its subjects who would not return from Piedmont, Cavour bade his +ambassador quit Vienna, and appealed to every Court in Europe. +Nevertheless, Cavour did not believe that Italy, even by a +simultaneous rising, could permanently expel the Austrian armies +or conquer the Austrian fortresses. The experience of forty years +pointed to the opposite conclusion; and while Mazzini in his +exile still imagined that a people needed only to determine to be +free in order to be free, Cavour schemed for an alliance which +should range against the Austrian Emperor armed forces as +numerous and as disciplined as his own. It was mainly with this +object that Cavour plunged Sardinia into the Crimean War. He was +not without just causes of complaint against the Czar; but the +motive with which he sent the Sardinian troops to Sebastopol was +not that they might take vengeance on Russia, but that they might +fight side by side with the soldiers of England and France. That +the war might lead to complications still unforeseen was no doubt +a possibility present to Cavour's mind, and in that case it was +no small thing that Sardinia stood allied to the two Western +Powers; but apart from these chances of the future, Sardinia +would have done ill to stand idle when at any moment, as it +seemed, Austria might pass from armed neutrality into active +concert with England and France. Had Austria so drawn the sword +against Russia whilst Piedmont stood inactive, the influence of +the Western Powers must for some years to come have been ranged +on the side of Austria in the maintenance of its Italian +possessions, and Piedmont could at the best have looked only to +St. Petersburg for sympathy or support. Cavour was not scrupulous +in his choice of means when the liberation of Italy was the end +in view, and the charge was made against him that in joining the +coalition against Russia he lightly entered into a war in which +Piedmont had no direct concern. But reason and history absolve, +and far more than absolve, the Italian statesman. If the cause of +European equilibrium, for which England and France took up arms, +was a legitimate ground of war in the case of these two Powers, +it was not less so in the case of their ally; while if the +ulterior results rather than the motive of a war are held to +constitute its justification, Cavour stands out as the one +politician in Europe whose aims in entering upon the Crimean War +have been fulfilled, not mocked, by events. He joined in the +struggle against Russia not in order to maintain the Ottoman +Empire, but to gain an ally in liberating Italy. The Ottoman +Empire has not been maintained; the independence of Italy has +been established, and established by means of the alliance which +Cavour gained. His Crimean policy is one of those excessively +rare instances of statesmanship where action has been determined +not by the driving and half-understood necessities of the moment, +but by a distinct and true perception of the future. He looked +only in one direction, but in that direction he saw clearly. +Other statesmen struck blindfold, or in their vision of a +regenerated Turkey fought for an empire of mirage. It may with +some reason be asked whether the order of Eastern Europe would +now be different if our own English soldiers who fell at +Balaclava had been allowed to die in their beds: every Italian +whom Cavour sent to perish on the Tchernaya or in the +cholera-stricken camp died as directly for the cause of Italian +independence as if he had fallen on the slopes of Custozza or +under the walls of Rome.</p> +<p>[Cavour at the Conference of Paris.]</p> +<p>[Change of Austrian policy, 1856.]</p> +<p>At the Conference of Paris in 1856 the Sardinian Premier took +his place in right of alliance by the side of the representatives +of the great Powers; and when the main business of the Conference +was concluded, Count Buol, the Austrian Minister, was forced to +listen to a vigorous denunciation by Cavour of the misgovernment +that reigned in Central and Southern Italy, of the Austrian +occupation which rendered this possible. Though the French were +still in Rome, their presence might by courtesy be described as a +measure of precaution rendered necessary by the intrusion of the +Austrians farther north; and both the French and English +plenipotentiaries at the Conference supported Cavour in his +invective. Cavour returned to Italy without any territorial +reward for the services that Piedmont had rendered to the Allies; +but his object was attained. He had exhibited Austria isolated +and discredited before Europe; he had given to his country a +voice that it had never before had in the Councils of the Powers; +he had produced a deep conviction throughout Italy that Piedmont +not only could and would act with vigour against the national +enemy, but that in its action it would have the help of allies. +From this time the Republican and Mazzinian societies lost ground +before the growing confidence in the House of Savoy, in its +Minister and its army. <a name="FNanchor485"> </a><a href="#Footnote_485"><sup>[485]</sup></a> The strongest evidence of +the effect of Cavour's Crimean policy and of his presence at the +Conference of Paris was seen in the action of the Austrian +Government itself. From 1849 to 1856 its rule in Northern Italy +had been one not so much of severity as of brutal violence. Now +all was changed. The Emperor came to Milan to proclaim a general +amnesty and to win the affection of his subjects. The +sequestrated estates were restored to their owners. Radetzky, in +his ninety-second year, was at length allowed to pass into +retirement; the government of the sword was declared at an end; +Maximilian, the gentlest and most winning of the Hapsburgs, was +sent with his young bride to charm away the sad memories of the +evil time. But it was too late. The recognition shown by the +Lombards of the Emperor's own personal friendliness indicated no +reconciliation with Austria; and while Francis Joseph was still +in Milan, King Victor Emmanuel, in the presence of a Lombard +deputation, laid the first stone of the monument erected by +subscriptions from all Italy in memory of those who had fallen in +the campaigns of 1848 and 1849, the statue of a foot-soldier +waving his sword towards the Austrian frontier. The Sardinian +Press redoubled its attacks on Austria and its Italian vassals. +The Government of Vienna sought satisfaction; Cavour sharply +refused it; and diplomatic relations between the two Courts, +which had been resumed since the Conference of Paris, were again +broken off.</p> +<p>[Cavour and Napoleon III.]</p> +<p>[Meeting at Plombières, July, 1858.]</p> +<p>Of the two Western Powers, Cavour would have preferred an +alliance with Great Britain, which had no objects of its own to +seek in Italy; but when he found that the Government of London +would not assist him by arms against Austria, he drew closer to +the Emperor Napoleon, and supported him throughout his +controversy with England and Austria on the settlement of the +Danubian Principalities. Napoleon, there is no doubt, felt a real +interest in Italy. His own early political theories formed on a +study of the Napoleonic Empire, his youthful alliance with the +Carbonari, point to a sympathy with the Italian national cause +which was genuine if not profound, and which was not altogether +lost in 1849, though France then acted as the enemy of Roman +independence. If Napoleon intended to remould the Continental +order and the Treaties of 1815 in the interests of France and of +the principle of nationality, he could make no better beginning +than by driving Austria from Northern Italy. It was not even +necessary for him to devise an original policy. Early in 1848, +when it seemed probable that Piedmont would be increased by +Lombardy and part of Venetia, Lamartine had laid it down that +France ought in that case to be compensated by Savoy, in order to +secure its frontiers against so powerful a neighbour as the new +Italian State. To this idea Napoleon returned. Savoy had been +incorporated with France from 1792 to 1814; its people were more +French than Italian; its annexation would not directly injure the +interests of any great Power. Of the three directions in which +France might stretch towards its old limits of the Alps and the +Rhine, the direction of Savoy was by far the least dangerous. +Belgium could not be touched without certain loss of the English +alliance, with which Napoleon could not yet dispense; an attack +upon the Rhenish Provinces would probably be met by all the +German Powers together; in Savoy alone was there the chance of +gaining territory without raising a European coalition against +France. No sooner had the organisation of the Danubian +Principalities been completed by the Conference which met in the +spring of 1858 than Napoleon began to develop his Italian plans. +An attempt of a very terrible character which was made upon his +life by Orsini, a Roman exile, though at the moment it threatened +to embroil Sardinia with France, probably stimulated him to +action. In the summer of 1858 he invited Cavour to meet him at +Plombières. The negotiations which there passed were not +made known by the Emperor to his Ministers; they were +communicated by Cavour to two persons only besides Victor +Emmanuel. It seems that no written engagement was drawn up; it +was verbally agreed that if Piedmont could, without making a +revolutionary war, and without exposing Napoleon to the charge of +aggression, incite Austria to hostilities, France would act as +its ally. Austria was then to be expelled from Venetia as well as +from Lombardy. Victor Emmanuel was to become sovereign of +North-Italy, with the Roman Legations and Marches; the remainder +of the Papal territory, except Rome itself and the adjacent +district, was to be added to Tuscany, so constituting a new +kingdom of Central Italy. The two kingdoms, together with Naples +and Rome, were to form an Italian Confederation under the +presidency of the Pope. France was to receive Savoy and possibly +Nice. A marriage between the King's young daughter Clotilde and +the Emperor's cousin Prince Jerome Napoleon was discussed, if not +actually settled. <a name="FNanchor486"> </a><a href="#Footnote_486"><sup>[486]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Cavour in view of the French Alliance.]</p> +<p>From this moment Cavour laboured night and day for war. His +position was an exceedingly difficult one. Not only had he to +reckon with the irresolution of Napoleon, and his avowed +unwillingness to take up arms unless with the appearance of some +good cause; but even supposing the goal of war reached, and +Austria defeated, how little was there in common between Cavour's +aims for Italy and the traditional policy of France! The first +Napoleon had given Venice to Austria at Campo Formio; even if the +new Napoleon should fulfil his promise and liberate all Northern +Italy, his policy in regard to the centre and south of the +Peninsula would probably be antagonistic to any effective union +or to any further extension of the influence of the House of +Savoy. Cavour had therefore to set in readiness for action +national forces of such strength that Napoleon, even if he +desired to draw back, should find it difficult to do so, and that +the shaping of the future of the Italian people should be +governed not by the schemes which the Emperor might devise at +Paris, but by the claims and the aspirations of Italy itself. It +was necessary for him not only to encourage and subsidise the +National Society-a secret association whose branches in the other +Italian States were preparing to assist Piedmont in the coming +war, and to unite Italy under the House of Savoy-but to enter +into communication with some of the Republican or revolutionary +party who had hitherto been at enmity with all Crowns alike. He +summoned Garibaldi in secrecy to Turin, and there convinced him +that the war about to be waged by Victor Emmanuel was one in +which he ought to take a prominent part. As the foremost defender +of the Roman Republic and a revolutionary hero, Garibaldi was +obnoxious to the French Emperor. Cavour had to conceal from +Napoleon the fact that Garibaldi would take the field at the head +of a free-corps by the side of the Allied armies; he had +similarly to conceal from Garibaldi that one result of the war +would be the cession of Nice, his own birthplace, to France. Thus +plunged in intrigue, driving his Savoyards to the camp and +raising from them the last farthing in taxation, in order that +after victory they might be surrendered to a Foreign Power; +goading Austria to some act of passion; inciting, yet checking +and controlling, the Italian revolutionary elements; bargaining +away the daughter of his sovereign to one of the most odious of +mankind, Cavour staked all on the one great end of his being, the +establishment of Italian independence. Words like those which +burst from Danton in the storms of the Convention-"Perish my +name, my reputation, so that France be free"-were the calm and +habitual expression of Cavour's thought when none but an intimate +friend was by to hear. <a name="FNanchor487"> </a><a href="#Footnote_487"><sup>[487]</sup></a> Such tasks as Cavour's are +not to be achieved without means which, to a man noble in view as +Cavour really was, it would have been more agreeable to leave +unemployed. Those alone are entitled to pronounce judgment upon +him who have made a nation, and made it with purer hands. It was +well for English statesmen and philanthropists, inheritors of a +world-wide empire, to enforce the ethics of peace and to plead +for a gentlemanlike frankness and self-restraint in the conduct +of international relations. English women had not been flogged by +Austrian soldiers in the market-place; the treaties of 1815 had +not consecrated a foreign rule over half our race. To Cavour the +greatest crime would have been to leave anything undone which +might minister to Italy's liberation. <a name="FNanchor488"> </a><a href="#Footnote_488"><sup>[488]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Treaty of January, 1859.]</p> +<p>[Attempts at mediation.]</p> +<p>[Austrian ultimatum, April 23.]</p> +<p>Napoleon seems to have considered that he would be ready to +begin war in the spring of 1859. At the reception at the +Tuileries on the 1st of January he addressed the Austrian +ambassador in words that pointed to an approaching conflict; a +few weeks later a marriage-contract was signed between Prince +Napoleon and Clotilde, daughter of Victor Emmanuel, and part of +the agreement made at Plombières was embodied in a formal +Treaty. Napoleon undertook to support Sardinia in a war that +might arise from any aggressive act on the part of Austria, and, +if victorious, to add both Lombardy and Venetia to Victor +Emmanuel's dominions. France was in return to receive Savoy, the +disposal of Nice being reserved till the restoration of peace. <a +name="FNanchor489"> </a><a href="#Footnote_489"><sup>[489]</sup></a> Even before the Treaty was +signed Victor Emmanuel had thrown down the challenge to Austria, +declaring at the opening of the Parliament of Turin that he could +not be insensible to the cry of suffering that rose from Italy. +In all but technical form the imminence of war had been +announced, when, under the influence of diplomatists and +Ministers about him, and of a financial panic that followed his +address to the Austrian ambassador, the irresolute mind of +Napoleon shrank from its purpose, and months more of suspense +were imposed upon Italy and Europe, to be terminated at last not +by any effort of Napoleon's will but by the rash and impolitic +action of Austria itself. At the instance of the Court of Vienna +the British Government had consented to take steps towards +mediation. Lord Cowley, Ambassador at Paris, was sent to Vienna +with proposals which, it was believed, might form the basis for +an amicable settlement of Italian affairs. He asked that the +Papal States should be evacuated by both Austrian and French +troops; that Austria should abandon the Treaties which gave it a +virtual Protectorate over Modena and Parma; and that it should +consent to the introduction of reforms in all the Italian +Governments. Negotiations towards this end had made some progress +when they were interrupted by a proposal sent from St. +Petersburg, at the instance of Napoleon, that Italian affairs +should be submitted to a European Congress. Austria was willing +under certain conditions to take part in a Congress, but it +required, as a preliminary measure, that Sardinia should disarm. +Napoleon had now learnt that Garibaldi was to fight at the head +of the volunteers for Victor Emmanuel. His doubts as to the +wisdom of his own policy seem to have increased hour by hour; +from Britain, whose friendship he still considered indispensable +to him, he received the most urgent appeals against war; it was +necessary that Cavour himself should visit Paris in order to +prevent the Emperor from acquiescing in Austria's demand. In +Cavour's presence Napoleon seems to have lost some of his fears, +or to have been made to feel that it was not safe to provoke his +confidant of Plombières; <a name="FNanchor490"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_490"><sup>[490]</sup></a> but Cavour had not long +left Paris when a proposal was made from London, that in lieu of +the separate disarmament of Sardinia the Powers should agree to a +general disarmament, the details to be settled by a European +Commission. This proposal received Napoleon's assent. He +telegraphed to Cavour desiring him to join in the agreement. +Cavour could scarcely disobey, yet at one stroke it seemed that +all his hopes when on the very verge of fulfilment were dashed to +the ground, all his boundless efforts for the liberation of Italy +through war with Austria lost and thrown away. For some hours he +appeared shattered by the blow. Strung to the extreme point of +human endurance by labour scarcely remitted by day or night for +weeks together, his strong but sanguine nature gave way, and for +a while the few friends who saw him feared that he would take his +own life. But the crisis passed: Cavour accepted, as inevitable, +the condition of general disarmament; and his vigorous mind had +already begun to work upon new plans for the future, when the +report of a decision made at Vienna, which was soon confirmed by +the arrival of an Austrian ultimatum, threw him into joy as +intense as his previous despair. Ignoring the British proposal +for a general disarmament, already accepted at Turin, the +Austrian Cabinet demanded, without qualifications and under +threat of war within three days, that Sardinia should separately +disarm. It was believed at Vienna that Napoleon was merely +seeking to gain time; that a conflict was inevitable; and that +Austria now stood better prepared for immediate action than its +enemies. Right or wrong in its judgment of Napoleon's real +intentions, the Austrian Government had undeniably taken upon +itself the part of the aggressor. Cavour had only to point to his +own acceptance of the plan of a general disarmament, and to throw +upon his enemy the responsibility for a disturbance of European +peace. His reply was taken as the signal for hostilities, and on +the 29th of April Austrian troops crossed the Ticino. A +declaration of war from Paris followed without delay. <a name="FNanchor491"> </a><a href="#Footnote_491"><sup>[491]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Campaign of 1859.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Magenta, June 4.]</p> +<p>For months past Austria had been pouring its troops into +Northern Italy. It had chosen its own time for the commencement +of war; a feeble enemy stood before it, its more powerful +adversary could not reach the field without crossing the Alps or +the mountain-range above Genoa. Everything pointed to a vigorous +offensive on the part of the Austrian generals, and in Piedmont +itself it was believed that Turin must fall before French troops +could assist in its defence. From Turin as a centre the Austrians +could then strike with ease, and with superior numbers, against +the detachments of the French army as they descended the +mountains at any points in the semicircle from Genoa to Mont +Cenis. There has seldom been a case where the necessity and the +advantages of a particular line of strategy have been so obvious; +yet after crossing the Ticino the Austrians, above a hundred +thousand strong, stood as if spell-bound under their incompetent +chief, Giulay. Meanwhile French detachments crossed Mont Cenis; +others, more numerous, landed with the Emperor at Genoa, and +established communications with the Piedmontese, whose +headquarters were at Alessandria. Giulay now believed that the +Allies would strike upon his communications in the direction of +Parma. The march of Bonaparte upon Piacenza in 1796, as well as +the campaign of Marengo, might well inspire this fear; but the +real intention of Napoleon III. was to outflank the Austrians +from the north and so to gain Milan. Garibaldi was already +operating at the extreme left of the Sardinian line in the +neighbourhood of Como. While the Piedmontese maintained their +positions in the front, the French from Genoa marched northwards +behind them, crossed the Po, and reached Vercelli before the +Austrians discovered their manoeuvre. Giulay, still lingering +between the Sesia and the Ticino, now called up part of his +forces northwards, but not in time to prevent the Piedmontese +from crossing the Sesia and defeating the troops opposed to them +at Palestro (May 30). While the Austrians were occupied at this +point, the French crossed the river farther north, and moved +eastwards on the Ticino. Giulay was thus outflanked and compelled +to fall back. The Allies followed him, and on the 4th of June +attacked the Austrian army in its positions about Magenta on the +road to Milan. The assault of Macmahon from the north gave the +Allies victory after a hard-fought day. It was impossible for the +Austrians to defend Milan; they retired upon the Adda and +subsequently upon the Mincio, abandoning all Lombardy to the +invaders, and calling up their troops from Bologna and the other +occupied towns in the Papal States, in order that they might take +part in the defence of the Venetian frontier and the fortresses +that guarded it.</p> +<p>[Movement in Central Italy.]</p> +<p>The victory of the Allies was at once felt throughout Central +Italy. The Grand Duke of Tuscany had already fled from his +dominions, and the Dictatorship for the period of the war had +been offered by a Provisional Government to Victor Emmanuel, who, +while refusing this, had allowed his envoy, Boncampagni, to +assume temporary powers at Florence as his representative. The +Duke of Modena and the Duchess of Parma now quitted their +territories. In the Romagna the disappearance of the Austrians +resulted in the immediate overthrow of Papal authority. +Everywhere the demand was for union with Piedmont. The calamities +of the last ten years had taught their lesson to the Italian +people. There was now nothing of the disorder, the extravagance, +the childishness of 1848. The populations who had then been so +divided, so suspicious, so easy a prey to demagogues, were now +watchful, self-controlled, and anxious for the guidance of the +only real national Government. As at Florence, so in the Duchies +and in the Romagna, it was desired that Victor Emmanuel should +assume the Dictatorship. The King adhered to the policy which he +had adopted towards Tuscany, avoiding any engagement that might +compromise him with Europe or his ally, but appointing +Commissioners to enrol troops for the common war against Austria +and to conduct the necessary work of administration in those +districts. Farini, the historian of the Roman States, was sent to +Modena; Azeglio, the ex-Minister, to Bologna. Each of these +officers entered on his task in a spirit worthy of the time; each +understood how much might be won for Italy by boldness, how much +endangered or lost by untimely scruples. <a name="FNanchor492"> </a><a href="#Footnote_492"><sup>[492]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Battle of Solferino, June 24.]</p> +<p>In his proclamations at the opening of the war Napoleon had +declared that Italy must be freed up to the shore of the +Adriatic. His address to the Italian people on entering Milan +with Victor Emmanuel after the victory of Magenta breathed the +same spirit. As yet, however, Lombardy alone had been won. The +advance of the allied armies was accordingly resumed after an +interval of some days, and on the 23rd of June they approached +the positions held by the Austrians a little to the west of the +Mincio. Francis Joseph had come from Vienna to take command of +the army. His presence assisted the enemy, inasmuch as he had no +plan of his own, and wavered from day to day between the +antagonistic plans of the generals at headquarters. Some wished +to make the Mincio the line of defence, others to hold the Chiese +some miles farther west. The consequence was that the army +marched backwards and forwards across the space between the two +rivers according as one or another general gained for the moment +the Emperor's confidence. It was while the Austrians were thus +engaged that the allied armies came into contact with them about +Solferino. On neither side was it known that the whole force of +the enemy was close at hand. The battle of Solferino, one of the +bloodiest of recent times, was fought almost by accident. About a +hundred and fifty thousand men were present under Napoleon and +Victor Emmanuel; the Austrians had a slight superiority in force. +On the north, where Benedek with the Austrian right was attacked +by the Piedmontese at San Martino, it seemed as if the task +imposed on the Italian troops was beyond their power. Victor +Emmanuel, fighting with the same courage as at Novara, saw the +positions in front of his troops alternately won and lost. But +the success of the French at Solferino in the centre decided the +day, and the Austrians withdrew at last from their whole line +with a loss in killed and wounded of fourteen thousand men. On +the part of the Allies the slaughter was scarcely less.</p> +<p>[Napoleon and Prussia.]</p> +<p>[Interview of Villafranca, July 11.]</p> +<p>[Peace of Villafranca.]</p> +<p>[Treaty of Zürich, Nov. 10.]</p> +<p>Napoleon stood a conqueror, but a conqueror at terrible cost; +and in front of him he saw the fortresses of the Quadrilateral, +while new divisions were hastening from the north and east to the +support of the still unbroken Austrian army. He might well doubt +whether, even against his present antagonist alone, further +success was possible. The fearful spectacle of Solferino, +heightened by the effects of overpowering summer heat, probably +affected a mind humane and sensitive and untried in the +experience of war. The condition of the French army, there is +reason to believe, was far different from that represented in +official reports, and likely to make the continuance of the +campaign perilous in the extreme. But beyond all this, the +Emperor knew that if he advanced farther Prussia and all Germany +might at any moment take up arms against him. There had been a +strong outburst of sympathy for Austria in the south-western +German States. National patriotism was excited by the attack of +Napoleon on the chief of the German sovereigns, and the belief +was widely spread that French conquest in Italy would soon be +followed by French conquest on the Rhine. Prussia had hitherto +shown reserve. It would have joined its arms with those of +Austria if its own claims to an improved position in Germany had +been granted by the Court of Vienna; but Francis Joseph had up to +this time refused the concessions demanded. In the stress of his +peril he might at any moment close with the offers which he had +before rejected; even without a distinct agreement between the +two Courts, and in mere deference to German public opinion, +Prussia might launch against France the armies which it had +already brought into readiness for the field. A war upon the +Rhine would then be added to the war before the Quadrilateral, +and from the risks of this double effort Napoleon might well +shrink in the interest of France not less than of his own +dynasty. He determined to seek an interview with Francis Joseph, +and to ascertain on what terms peace might now be made. The +interview took place at Villafranca, east of the Mincio, on the +11th of July. Francis Joseph refused to cede any part of Venetia +without a further struggle. He was willing to give up Lombardy, +and to consent to the establishment of an Italian Federation +under the presidency of the Pope, of which Federation Venetia, +still under Austria's rule, should be a member; but he required +that Mantua should be left within his own frontier, and that the +sovereigns of Tuscany and Modena should resume possession of +their dominions. To these terms Napoleon assented, on obtaining a +verbal agreement that the dispossessed princes should not be +restored by foreign arms. Regarding Parma and the restoration of +the Papal authority in the Romagna no stipulations were made. +With the signature of the Preliminaries of Villafranca, which +were to form the base of a regular Treaty to be negotiated at +Zürich, and to which Victor Emmanuel added his name with +words of reservation, hostilities came to a close. The +negotiations at Zürich, though they lasted for several +months, added nothing of importance to the matter of the +Preliminaries, and decided nothing that had been left in +uncertainty. The Italian Federation remained a scheme which the +two Emperors, and they alone, undertook to promote. Piedmont +entered into no engagement either with regard to the Duchies or +with regard to Federation. Victor Emmanuel had in fact announced +from the first that he would enter no League of which a province +governed by Austria formed a part, and from this resolution he +never swerved. <a name="FNanchor493"> </a><a href="#Footnote_493"><sup>[493]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Resignation of Cavour.]</p> +<p>[Central Italy.]</p> +<p>Though Lombardy was gained, the impression made upon the +Italians by the peace of Villafranca was one of the utmost +dismay. Napoleon had so confidently and so recently promised the +liberation of all Northern Italy that public opinion ascribed to +treachery or weakness what was in truth an act of political +necessity. On the first rumour of the negotiations Cavour had +hurried from Turin, but the agreement was signed before his +arrival. The anger and the grief of Cavour are described by those +who then saw him as terrible to witness. <a name="FNanchor494"> </a><a href="#Footnote_494"><sup>[494]</sup></a> +Napoleon had not the courage to face him; Victor Emmanuel bore +for two hours the reproaches of his Minister, who had now +completely lost his self-control. Cavour returned to Turin, and +shortly afterwards withdrew from office, his last act being the +despatch of ten thousand muskets to Farini at Modena. In +accordance with the terms of peace, instructions, which were +probably not meant to be obeyed, were sent by Cavour's successor, +Rattazzi, to the Piedmontese Commissioners in Central Italy, +bidding them to return to Turin and to disband any forces that +they had collected. Farini, on receipt of this order, adroitly +divested himself of his Piedmontese citizenship, and, as an +honorary burgher of Modena, accepted the Dictatorship from his +fellow-townsmen. Azeglio returned to Turin, but took care before +quitting the Romagna to place four thousand soldiers under +competent leaders in a position to resist attack. It was not the +least of Cavour's merits that he had gathered about him a body of +men who, when his own hand was for a while withdrawn, could +pursue his policy with so much energy and sagacity as was now +shown by the leaders of the national movement in Central Italy. +Venetia was lost for the present; but if Napoleon's promise was +broken, districts which he had failed or had not intended to +liberate might be united with the Italian Kingdom. The Duke of +Modena, with six thousand men who had remained true to him, lay +on the Austrian frontier, and threatened to march upon his +capital. Farini mined the city gates, and armed so considerable a +force that it became clear that the Duke would not recover his +dominions without a serious battle. Parma placed itself under the +same Dictatorship with Modena; in the Romagna a Provisional +Government which Azeglio had left behind him continued his work. +Tuscany, where Napoleon had hoped to find a throne for his +cousin, pronounced for national union, and organised a common +military force with its neighbours. During the weeks that +followed the Peace of Villafranca, declarations signed by tens of +thousands, the votes of representative bodies, and popular +demonstrations throughout Central Italy, showed in an orderly and +peaceful form how universal was the desire for union under the +House of Savoy.</p> +<p>[Cavour's Plans before Villafranca.]</p> +<p>[Central Italy after Villafranca. July-November.]</p> +<p>[Mazzini and Garibaldi. August-November.]</p> +<p>Cavour, in the plans which he had made before 1859, had not +looked for a direct and immediate result beyond the creation of +an Italian Kingdom including the whole of the territory north of +the Po. The other steps in the consolidation of Italy would, he +believed, follow in their order. They might be close at hand, or +they might be delayed for a while; but in the expulsion of +Austria, in the interposition of a purely Italian State numbering +above ten millions of inhabitants, mistress of the fortresses and +of a powerful fleet, between Austria and those who had been its +vassals, the essential conditions of Italian national +independence would have been won. For the rest, Italy might be +content to wait upon time and opportunity. But the Peace of +Villafranca, leaving Venetia in the enemy's hands, completely +changed this prospect. The fiction of an Italian Federation in +which the Hapsburg Emperor, as lord of Venice, should forget his +Austrian interests and play the part of Italian patriot, was too +gross to deceive any one. Italy, on these terms, would either +continue to be governed from Vienna, or be made a pawn in the +hands of its French protector. What therefore Cavour had hitherto +been willing to leave to future years now became the need of the +present. "Before Villafranca," in his own words, "the union of +Italy was a possibility; since Villafranca it is a necessity." +Victor Emmanuel understood this too, and saw the need for action +more clearly than Rattazzi and the Ministers who, on Cavour's +withdrawal in July, stepped for a few months into his place. The +situation was one that called indeed for no mean exercise of +statesmanship. If Italy was not to be left dependent upon the +foreigner and the reputation of the House of Savoy ruined, it was +necessary not only that the Duchies of Modena and Parma, but that +Central Italy, including Tuscany and at least the Romagna, should +be united with the Kingdom of Piedmont; yet the accomplishment of +this work was attended with the utmost danger. Napoleon himself +was hoping to form Tuscany, with an augmented territory, into a +rival Kingdom of Etruria or Central Italy, and to place his +cousin on its throne. The Ultramontane party in France was +alarmed and indignant at the overthrow of the Pope's authority in +the Romagna, and already called upon the Emperor to fulfil his +duties towards the Holy See. If the national movement should +extend to Rome itself, the hostile intervention of France was +almost inevitable. While the negotiations with Austria at +Zürich were still proceeding, Victor Emmanuel could not +safely accept the sovereignty that was offered him by Tuscany and +the neighbouring provinces, nor permit his cousin, the Prince of +Carignano, to assume the regency which, during the period of +suspense, it was proposed to confer upon him. Above all, it was +necessary that the Government should not allow the popular forces +with which it was co-operating to pass beyond its own control. In +the critical period that followed the armistice of Villafranca, +Mazzini approached Victor Emmanuel, as thirty years before he had +approached his father, and offered his own assistance in the +establishment of Italian union under the House of Savoy. He +proposed, as the first step, to overthrow the Neapolitan +Government by means of an expedition headed by Garibaldi, and to +unite Sicily and Naples to the King's dominions; but he demanded +in return that Piedmont should oppose armed resistance to any +foreign intervention occasioned by this enterprise; and he seems +also to have required that an attack should be made immediately +afterwards upon Rome and upon Venetia. To these conditions the +King could not accede; and Mazzini, confirmed in his attitude of +distrust towards the Court of Turin, turned to Garibaldi, who was +now at Modena. At his instigation Garibaldi resolved to lead an +expedition at once against Rome itself. Napoleon was at this very +moment promising reforms on behalf of the Pope, and warning +Victor Emmanuel against the annexation even of the Romagna (Oct. +20th). At the risk of incurring the hostility of Garibaldi's +followers and throwing their leader into opposition to the +dynasty, it was necessary for the Sardinian Government to check +him in his course. The moment was a critical one in the history +of the House of Savoy. But the soldier of Republican Italy proved +more tractable than its prophet. Garibaldi was persuaded to +abandon or postpone an enterprise which could only have resulted +in disaster for Italy; and with expressions of cordiality towards +the King himself, and of bitter contempt for the fox-like +politicians who advised him, he resigned his command and bade +farewell to his comrades, recommending them, however, to remain +under arms, in full confidence that they would ere long find a +better opportunity for carrying the national flag southwards. <a +name="FNanchor495"> </a><a href="#Footnote_495"><sup>[495]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The proposed Congress.]</p> +<p>Soon after the Agreement of Villafranca, Napoleon had proposed +to the British Government that a Congress of all the Powers +should assemble at Paris in order to decide upon the many Italian +questions which still remained unsettled. In taking upon himself +the emancipation of Northern Italy Napoleon had, as it proved, +attempted a task far beyond his own powers. The work had been +abruptly broken off; the promised services had not been rendered, +the stipulated reward had not been won. On the other hand, forces +had been set in motion which he who raised them could not allay; +populations stood in arms against the Governments which the +Agreement of Villafranca purported to restore; the Pope's +authority in the northern part of his dominions was at an end; +the Italian League over which France and Austria were to join +hands of benediction remained the laughing-stock of Europe. +Napoleon's victories had added Lombardy to Piedmont; for the +rest, except from the Italian point of view, they had only thrown +affairs into confusion. Hesitating at the first between his +obligations towards Austria and the maintenance of his prestige +in Italy, perplexed between the contradictory claims of +nationality and of Ultramontanism, Napoleon would gladly have +cast upon Great Britain, or upon Europe at large, the task of +extricating him from his embarrassment. But the Cabinet of +London, while favourable to Italy, showed little inclination to +entangle itself in engagements which might lead to war with +Austria and Germany in the interest of the French Sovereign. +Italian affairs, it was urged by Lord John Russell, might well be +governed by the course of events within Italy itself; and, as +Austria remained inactive, the principle of non-intervention +really gained the day. The firm attitude of the population both +in the Duchies and in the Romagna, their unanimity and +self-control, the absence of those disorders which had so often +been made a pretext for foreign intervention, told upon the mind +of Napoleon and on the opinion of Europe at large. Each month +that passed rendered the restoration of the fallen Governments a +work of greater difficulty, and increased the confidence of the +Italians in themselves. Napoleon watched and wavered. When the +Treaty of Zürich was signed his policy was still +undetermined. By the prompt and liberal concession of reforms the +Papal Government might perhaps even now have turned the balance +in its favour. But the obstinate mind of Pius IX. was proof +against every politic and every generous influence. The +stubbornness shown by Rome, the remembrance of Antonelli's +conduct towards the French Republic in 1849, possibly also the +discovery of a Treaty of Alliance between the Papal Government +and Austria, at length overcame Napoleon's hesitation in meeting +the national demand of Italy, and gave him courage to defy both +the Papal Court and the French priesthood. He resolved to consent +to the formation of an Italian Kingdom under Victor Emmanuel +including the northern part of the Papal territories as well as +Tuscany and the other Duchies, and to silence the outcry which +this act of spoliation would excite among the clerical party in +France by the annexation of Nice and Savoy.</p> +<p>["The Pope and the Congress," Dec. 24.]</p> +<p>[Change of Ministry at Paris, Jan. 5, 1860.]</p> +<p>[Cavour resumes office, Jan. 16.]</p> +<p>The decision of the Emperor was foreshadowed by the +publication on the 24th of December of a pamphlet entitled "The +Pope and the Congress." The doctrine advanced in this essay was +that, although a temporal authority was necessary to the Pope's +spiritual independence, the peace and unity which should surround +the Vicar of Christ would be best attained when his temporal +sovereignty was reduced within the narrowest possible limits. +Rome and the territory immediately around it, if guaranteed to +the Pope by the Great Powers, would be sufficient for the +temporal needs of the Holy See. The revenue lost by the +separation of the remainder of the Papal territories might be +replaced by a yearly tribute of reverence paid by the Catholic +Powers to the Head of the Church. That the pamphlet advocating +this policy was written at the dictation of Napoleon was not made +a secret. Its appearance occasioned an indignant protest at Rome. +The Pope announced that he would take no part in the proposed +Congress unless the doctrines advanced in the pamphlet were +disavowed by the French Government. Napoleon in reply submitted +to the Pope that he would do well to purchase the guarantee of +the Powers for the remainder of his territories by giving up all +claim to the Romagna, which he had already lost. Pius retorted +that he could not cede what Heaven had granted, not to himself, +but to the Church; and that if the Powers would but clear the +Romagna of Piedmontese intruders he would soon reconquer the +rebellious province without the assistance either of France or of +Austria. The attitude assumed by the Papal Court gave Napoleon a +good pretext for abandoning the plan of a European Congress, from +which he could hardly expect to obtain a grant of Nice and Savoy. +It was announced at Paris that the Congress would be postponed; +and on the 5th of January, 1860, the change in Napoleon's policy +was publicly marked by the dismissal of his Foreign Minister, +Walewski, and the appointment in his place of Thouvenel, a friend +to Italian union. Ten days later Rattazzi gave up office at +Turin, and Cavour returned to power.</p> +<p>[Cavour and Napoleon, Jan-March.]</p> +<p>[Union of the Duchies and the Romagna with Piedmont, +March.]</p> +<p>[Savoy and Nice ceded to France.]</p> +<p>Rattazzi, during the six months that he had conducted affairs, +had steered safely past some dangerous rocks; but he held the +helm with an unsteady and untrusted hand, and he appears to have +displayed an unworthy jealousy towards Cavour, who, while out of +office, had not ceased to render what services he could to his +country. Cavour resumed his post, with the resolve to defer no +longer the annexation of Central Italy, but with the heavy +consciousness that Napoleon would demand in return for his +consent to this union the cession of Nice and Savoy. No Treaty +entitled France to claim this reward, for the Austrians still +held Venetia; but Napoleon's troops lay at Milan, and by a march +southwards they could easily throw Italian affairs again into +confusion, and undo all that the last six months had effected. +Cavour would perhaps have lent himself to any European +combination which, while directed against the extension, of +France, would have secured the existence of the Italian Kingdom; +but no such alternative to the French alliance proved possible; +and the subsequent negotiations between Paris and Turin were +intended only to vest with a certain diplomatic propriety the now +inevitable transfer of territory from the weaker to the stronger +State. A series of propositions made from London with the view of +withdrawing from Italy both French and Austrian influence led the +Austrian Court to acknowledge that its army would not be employed +for the restoration of the sovereigns of Tuscany and Modena. +Construing this statement as an admission that the stipulations +of Villafranca and Zürich as to the return of the fugitive +princes had become impracticable, Napoleon now suggested that +Victor Emmanuel should annex Parma and Modena, and assume secular +power in the Romagna as Vicar of the Pope, leaving Tuscany to +form a separate Government. The establishment of so powerful a +kingdom on the confines of France was, he added, not in +accordance with the traditions of French foreign policy, and in +self-defence France must rectify its military frontier by the +acquisition of Nice and Savoy (Feb. 24th). Cavour well understood +that the mention of Tuscan independence, and the qualified +recognition of the Pope's rights in the Romagna, were no more +than suggestions of the means of pressure by which France might +enforce the cessions it required. He answered that, although +Victor Emmanuel could not alienate any part of his dominions, his +Government recognised the same popular rights in Savoy and Nice +as in Central Italy; and accordingly that if the population of +these districts declared in a legal form their desire to be +incorporated with France, the King would not resist their will. +Having thus consented to the necessary sacrifice, and ignoring +Napoleon's reservations with regard to Tuscany and the Pope, +Cavour gave orders that a popular vote should at once be taken in +Tuscany, as well as in Parma, Modena, and the Romagna, on the +question of union with Piedmont. The voting took place early in +March, and gave an overwhelming majority in favour of union. The +Pope issued the major excommunication against the authors, +abettors, and agents in this work of sacrilege, and heaped curses +on curses; but no one seemed the worse for them. Victor Emmanuel +accepted the sovereignty that was offered to him, and on the 2nd +of April the Parliament of the united kingdom assembled at Turin. +It had already been announced to the inhabitants of Nice and +Savoy that the King had consented to their union with France. The +formality of a <i>plébiscite</i> was enacted a few days +later, and under the combined pressure of the French and +Sardinian Governments the desired results were obtained. Not more +than a few hundred persons protested by their vote against a +transaction to which it was understood that the King had no +choice but to submit. <a name="FNanchor496"> </a><a href="#Footnote_496"><sup>[496]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Cavour on the cession of Nice and Savoy.]</p> +<p>That Victor Emmanuel had at one time been disposed to resist +Cavour's surrender of the home of his race is well known. Above a +year, however, had passed since the project had been accepted as +the basis of the French alliance; and if, during the interval of +suspense after Villafranca, the King had cherished a hope that +the sacrifice might be avoided without prejudice either to the +cause of Italy or to his own relations with Napoleon, Cavour had +entertained no such illusions. He knew that the cession was an +indispensable link in the chain of his own policy, that policy +which had made it possible to defeat Austria, and which, he +believed, would lead to the further consolidation of Italy. +Looking to Rome, to Palermo, where the smouldering fire might at +any moment blaze out, he could not yet dispense with the +friendship of Napoleon, he could not provoke the one man powerful +enough to shape the action of France in defiance of Clerical and +of Legitimist aims. Rattazzi might claim credit for having +brought Piedmont past the Treaty of Zürich without loss of +territory; Cavour, in a far finer spirit, took upon himself the +responsibility for the sacrifice made to France, and bade the +Parliament of Italy pass judgment upon his act. The cession of +the border-provinces overshadowed what would otherwise have been +the brightest scene in Italian history for many generations, the +meeting of the first North-Italian Parliament at Turin. +Garibaldi, coming as deputy from his birthplace, Nice, uttered +words of scorn and injustice against the man who had made him an +alien in Italy, and quitted the Chamber. Bitterly as Cavour felt, +both now and down to the end of his life, the reproaches that +were levelled against him, he allowed no trace of wounded +feeling, of impatience, of the sense of wrong, to escape him in +the masterly speech in which he justified his policy and won for +it the ratification of the Parliament. It was not until a year +later, when the hand of death was almost upon him, that fierce +words addressed to him face to face by Garibaldi wrung from him +the impressive answer, "The act that has made this gulf between +us was the most painful duty of my life. By what I have felt +myself I know what Garibaldi must have felt. If he refuses me his +forgiveness I cannot reproach him for it." <a name="FNanchor497"> </a><a href="#Footnote_497"><sup>[497]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The cession in relation to Europe and Italy.]</p> +<p>The annexation of Nice and Savoy by Napoleon was seen with +extreme displeasure in Europe generally, and most of all in +England. It directly affected the history of Britain by the +stimulus which it gave to the development of the Volunteer +Forces. Owing their origin to certain demonstrations of hostility +towards England made by the French army after Orsini's conspiracy +and the acquittal of one of his confederates in London, the +Volunteer Forces rose in the three months that followed the +annexation of Nice and Savoy from seventy to a hundred and eighty +thousand men. If viewed as an indication that the ruler of France +would not be content with the frontiers of 1815, the acquisition +of the Sub-Alpine provinces might with some reason excite alarm; +on no other ground could their transfer be justly condemned. +Geographical position, language, commercial interests, separated +Savoy from Piedmont and connected it with France; and though in +certain parts of the County of Nice the Italian character +predominated, this district as a whole bore the stamp not of +Piedmont or Liguria but of Provence. Since the separation from +France in 1815 there had always been, both in Nice and Savoy, a +considerable party which desired reunion with that country. The +political and social order of the Sardinian Kingdom had from 1815 +to 1848 been so backward, so reactionary, that the middle classes +in the border-provinces looked wistfully to France as a land +where their own grievances had been removed and their own ideals +attained. The constitutional system of Victor Emmanuel, and the +despotic system of Louis Napoleon had both been too recently +introduced to reverse in the minds of the greater number the +political tradition of the preceding thirty years. Thus if there +were a few who, like Garibaldi, himself of Genoese descent though +born at Nice, passionately resented separation from Italy, they +found no considerable party either in Nice or in Savoy animated +by the same feeling. On the other hand, the ecclesiastical +sentiment of Savoy rendered its transfer to France an actual +advantage to the Italian State. The Papacy had here a +deeply-rooted influence. The reforms begun by Azeglio's Ministry +had been steadily resisted by a Savoyard group of deputies in the +interests of Rome. Cavour himself, in the prosecution of his +larger plans, had always been exposed to the danger of a +coalition between this ultra-Conservative party and his opponents +of the other extreme. It was well that in the conflict with the +Papacy, without which there could be no such thing as a Kingdom +of United Italy, these influences of the Savoyard Church and +Noblesse should be removed from the Parliament and the Throne. +Honourable as the Savoyard party of resistance had proved +themselves in Parliamentary life, loyal and faithful as they were +to their sovereign, they were yet not a part of the Italian +nation. Their interests were not bound up with the cause of +Italian union; their leaders were not inspired with the ideal of +Italian national life. The forces that threatened the future of +the new State from within were too powerful for the surrender of +a priest-governed and half-foreign element to be considered as a +real loss.</p> +<p>[Naples.]</p> +<p>Nice and Savoy had hardly been handed over to Napoleon when +Garibaldi set out from Genoa to effect the liberation of Sicily +and Naples. King Ferdinand II., known to his subjects and to +Western Europe as King Bomba, had died a few days before the +battle of Magenta, leaving the throne to his son Francis II. In +consequence of the friendship shown by Ferdinand to Russia during +the Crimean War, and of his refusal to amend his tyrannical +system of government, the Western Powers had in 1856 withdrawn +their representatives from Naples. On the accession of Francis +II. diplomatic intercourse was renewed, and Cavour, who had been +at bitter enmity with Ferdinand, sought to establish relations of +friendship with his son. In the war against Austria an alliance +with Naples would have been of value to Sardinia as a +counterpoise to Napoleon's influence, and this alliance Cavour +attempted to obtain. He was, however, unsuccessful; and after the +Peace of Villafranca the Neapolitan Court threw itself with +ardour into schemes for the restoration of the fallen Governments +and the overthrow of Piedmontese authority in the Romagna by +means of a coalition with Austria and Spain and a +counterrevolutionary movement in Italy itself. A rising on behalf +of the fugitive Grand Duke of Tuscany was to give the signal for +the march of the Neapolitan army northwards. This rising, +however, was expected in vain, and the great Catholic design +resulted in nothing. Baffled in its larger aims, the Bourbon +Government proposed in the spring of 1860 to occupy Umbria and +the Marches, in order to prevent the revolutionary movement from +spreading farther into the Papal States. Against this Cavour +protested, and King Francis yielded to his threat to withdraw the +Sardinian ambassador from Naples. Knowing that a conspiracy +existed for the restoration of the House of Murat to the +Neapolitan throne, which would have given France the ascendency +in Southern Italy, Cavour now renewed his demand that Francis II. +should enter into alliance with Piedmont, accepting a +constitutional system of government and the national Italian +policy of Victor Emmanuel. But neither the summons from Turin, +nor the agitation of the Muratists, nor the warnings of Great +Britain that the Bourbon dynasty could only avert its fall by +reform, produced any real change in the spirit of the Neapolitan +Court. Ministers were removed, but the absolutist and +anti-national system remained the same. Meanwhile Garibaldi was +gathering his followers round him in Genoa. On the 15th of April +Victor Emmanuel wrote to King Francis that unless his fatal +system of policy was immediately abandoned the Piedmontese +Government itself might shortly be forced to become the agent of +his destruction. Even this menace proved fruitless; and after +thus fairly exposing to the Court of Naples the consequence of +its own stubbornness, Victor Emmanuel let loose against it the +revolutionary forces of Garibaldi.</p> +<p>[Sicily.]</p> +<p>[Garibaldi starts for Sicily, May 5.]</p> +<p>[Garibaldi at Marsala, May 11.]</p> +<p>Since the campaign of 1859 insurrectionary committees had been +active in the principal Sicilian towns. The old desire of the +Sicilian Liberals for the independence of the island had given +place, under the influence of the events of the past year, to the +desire for Italian union. On the abandonment of Garibaldi's plan +for the march on Rome in November, 1859, the liberation of Sicily +had been suggested to him as a more feasible enterprise, and the +general himself wavered in the spring of 1860 between the +resumption of his Roman project and an attack upon the Bourbons +of Naples from the south. The rumour spread through Sicily that +Garibaldi would soon appear there at the head of his followers. +On the 3rd of April an attempt at insurrection was made at +Palermo. It was repressed without difficulty; and although +disturbances broke out in other parts of the island, the reports +which reached Garibaldi at Genoa as to the spirit and prospects +of the Sicilians were so disheartening that for a while he seemed +disposed to abandon the project of invasion as hopeless for the +present. It was only when some of the Sicilian exiles declared +that they would risk the enterprise without him that he resolved +upon immediate action. On the night of the 5th of May two +steamships lying in the harbour of Genoa were seized, and on +these Garibaldi with his Thousand put to sea. Cavour, though he +would have preferred that Sicily should remain unmolested until +some progress had been made in the consolidation of the North +Italian Kingdom, did not venture to restrain Garibaldi's +movements, with which he was well acquainted. He required, +however, that the expedition should not touch at the island of +Sardinia, and gave ostensible orders to his admiral, Persano, to +seize the ships of Garibaldi if they should put into any +Sardinian port. Garibaldi, who had sheltered the Sardinian +Government from responsibility at the outset by the fiction of a +sudden capture of the two merchant-ships, continued to spare +Victor Emmanuel unnecessary difficulties by avoiding the fleet +which was supposed to be on the watch for him off Cagliari in +Sardinia, and only interrupted his voyage by a landing at a +desolate spot on the Tuscan coast in order to take up artillery +and ammunition which were waiting for him there. On the 11th of +May, having heard from some English merchantmen that there were +no Neapolitan vessels of war at Marsala, he made for this +harbour. The first of his two ships entered it in safety and +disembarked her crew; the second, running on a rock, lay for some +time within range of the guns of a Neapolitan war-steamer which +was bearing up towards the port. But for some unknown reason the +Neapolitan commander delayed opening fire, and the landing of +Garibaldi's followers was during this interval completed without +loss. <a name="FNanchor498"> </a><a href="#Footnote_498"><sup>[498]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Garibaldi captures Palermo, May 26.]</p> +<p>On the following day the little army, attired in the red +shirts which are worn by cattle-ranchers in South America, +marched eastwards from Marsala. Bands of villagers joined them as +they moved through the country, and many unexpected adherents +were gained among the priests. On the third day's march +Neapolitan troops were seen in position at Calatafimi. They were +attacked by Garibaldi, and, though far superior in number, were +put to the rout. The moral effects of this first victory were +very great. The Neapolitan commander retired into Palermo, +leaving Garibaldi master of the western portion of the island. +Insurrection spread towards the interior; the revolutionary party +at Palermo itself regained its courage and prepared to co-operate +with Garibaldi on his approach. On nearing the city Garibaldi +determined that he could not risk a direct assault upon the +forces which occupied it. He resolved, if possible, to lure part +of the defenders into the mountains, and during their absence to +throw himself into the city and to trust to the energy of its +inhabitants to maintain himself there. This strategy succeeded. +While the officer in command of some of the Neapolitan +battalions, tempted by an easy victory over the ill-disciplined +Sicilian bands opposed to him, pursued his beaten enemy into the +mountains, Garibaldi with the best of his troops fought his way +into Palermo on the night of May 26th. Fighting continued in the +streets during the next two days, and the cannon of the forts and +of the Neapolitan vessels in harbour ineffectually bombarded the +city. On the 30th, at the moment when the absent battalions were +coming again into sight, an armistice was signed on board the +British man-of-war <i>Hannibal</i>. The Neapolitan commander gave +up to Garibaldi the bank and public buildings, and withdrew into +the forts outside the town. But the Government at Naples was now +becoming thoroughly alarmed; and considering Palermo as lost, it +directed the troops to be shipped to Messina and to Naples +itself. Garibaldi was thus left in undisputed possession of the +Sicilian capital. He remained there for nearly two months, +assuming the government of Sicily as Dictator in the name of +Victor Emmanuel, appointing Ministers, and levying taxes. Heavy +reinforcements reached him from Italy. The Neapolitans, driven +from the interior as well as from the towns occupied by the +invader, now held only the north-eastern extremity of the island. +On the 20th of July Garibaldi, operating both by land and sea, +attacked and defeated them at Milazzo on the northern coast. The +result of this victory was that Messina itself, with the +exception of the citadel, was evacuated by the Neapolitans +without resistance. Garibaldi, whose troops now numbered eighteen +thousand, was master of the island from sea to sea, and could +with confidence look forward to the overthrow of Bourbon +authority on the Italian mainland.</p> +<p>[The Party of Action.]</p> +<p>During Garibaldi's stay at Palermo the antagonism between the +two political creeds which severed those whose devotion to Italy +was the strongest came clearly into view. This antagonism stood +embodied in its extreme form in the contrast between Mazzini and +Cavour. Mazzini, handling moral and political conceptions with +something of the independence of a mathematician, laid it down as +the first duty of the Italian nation to possess itself of Rome +and Venice, regardless of difficulties that might be raised from +without. By conviction he desired that Italy should be a +Republic, though under certain conditions he might be willing to +tolerate the monarchy of Victor Emmanuel. Cavour, accurately +observing the play of political forces in Europe, conscious above +all of the strength of those ties which still bound Napoleon to +the clerical cause, knew that there were limits which Italy could +not at present pass without ruin. The centre of Mazzini's hopes, +an advance upon Rome itself, he knew to be an act of +self-destruction for Italy, and this advance he was resolved at +all costs to prevent. Cavour had not hindered the expedition to +Sicily; he had not considered it likely to embroil Italy with its +ally; but neither had he been the author of this enterprise. The +liberation of Sicily might be deemed the work rather of the +school of Mazzini than of Cavour. Garibaldi indeed was personally +loyal to Victor Emmanuel; but around him there were men who, if +not Republicans, were at least disposed to make the grant of +Sicily to Victor Emmanuel conditional upon the king's fulfilling +the will of the so-called Party of Action, and consenting to an +attack upon Rome. Under the influence of these politicians +Garibaldi, in reply to a deputation expressing to him the desire +of the Sicilians for union with the Kingdom of Victor Emmanuel, +declared that he had come to fight not for Sicily alone but for +all Italy, and that if the annexation of Sicily was to take place +before the union of Italy was assured, he must withdraw his hand +from the work and retire. The effect produced by these words of +Garibaldi was so serious that the Ministers whom he had placed in +office resigned. Garibaldi endeavoured to substitute for them men +more agreeable to the Party of Action, but a demonstration in +Palermo itself forced him to nominate Sicilians in favour of +immediate annexation. The public opinion of the island was +hostile to Republicanism and to the friends of Mazzini; nor could +the prevailing anarchy long continue without danger of a +reactionary movement. Garibaldi himself possessed no glimmer of +administrative faculty. After weeks of confusion and +misgovernment he saw the necessity of accepting direction from +Turin, and consented to recognise as Pro-Dictator of the island a +nominee of Cavour, the Piedmontese Depretis. Under the influence +of Depretis a commencement was made in the work of political and +social reorganisation. <a name="FNanchor499"> </a><a href="#Footnote_499"><sup>[499]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Cavour's policy with regard to Naples.]</p> +<p>[Garibaldi crosses to the mainland, Aug. 19.]</p> +<p>Cavour, during Garibaldi's preparation for his descent upon +Sicily and until the capture of Palermo, had affected to disavow +and condemn the enterprise as one undertaken by individuals in +spite of the Government, and at their own risk. The Piedmontese +ambassador was still at Naples as the representative of a +friendly Court; and in reply to the reproaches of Germany and +Russia, Cavour alleged that the title of Dictator of Sicily in +the name of Victor Emmanuel had been assumed by Garibaldi without +the knowledge or consent of his sovereign. But whatever might be +said to Foreign Powers, Cavour, from the time of the capture of +Palermo, recognised that the hour had come for further steps +towards Italian union; and, without committing himself to any +definite line of action, he began already to contemplate the +overthrow of the Bourbon dynasty at Naples. It was in vain that +King Francis now released his political prisoners, declared the +Constitution of 1848 in force, and tendered to Piedmont the +alliance which he had before refused. Cavour, in reply to his +overtures, stated that he could not on his own authority pledge +Piedmont to the support of a dynasty now almost in the agonies of +dissolution, and that the matter must await the meeting of +Parliament at Turin. Thus far the way had not been absolutely +closed to a reconciliation between the two Courts; but after the +victory of Garibaldi at Milazzo and the evacuation of Messina at +the end of July Cavour cast aside all hesitation and reserve. He +appears to have thought a renewal of the war with Austria +probable, and now strained every nerve to become master of Naples +and its fleet before Austria could take the field. He ordered +Admiral Persano to leave two ships of war to cover Garibaldi's +passage to the mainland, and with one ship to proceed to Naples +himself, and there excite insurrection and win over the +Neapolitan fleet to the flag of Victor Emmanuel. Persano reached +Naples on the 3rd of August, and on the next day the negotiations +between the two Courts were broken off. On the 19th Garibaldi +crossed from Sicily to the mainland. His march upon the capital +was one unbroken triumph.</p> +<p>[Persano and Villamarina at Naples.]</p> +<p>[Departure of King Francis, Sept. 6.]</p> +<p>[Garibaldi enters Naples, Sept. 7.]</p> +<p>It was the hope of Cavour that before Garibaldi could reach +Naples a popular movement in the city itself would force the King +to take flight, so that Garibaldi on his arrival would find the +machinery of government, as well as the command of the fleet and +the army, already in the hands of Victor Emmanuel's +representatives. If war with Austria was really impending, +incalculable mischief might be caused by the existence of a +semi-independent Government at Naples, reckless, in its +enthusiasm for the march on Rome, of the effect which its acts +might produce on the French alliance. In any case the control of +Italian affairs could but half belong to the King and his +Minister if Garibaldi, in the full glory of his unparalleled +exploits, should add the Dictatorship of Naples to the +Dictatorship of Sicily. Accordingly Cavour plied every art to +accelerate the inevitable revolution. Persano and the Sardinian +ambassador, Villamarina, had their confederates in the Bourbon +Ministry and in the Royal Family itself. But their efforts to +drive King Francis from Naples, and to establish the authority of +Victor Emmanuel before Garibaldi's arrival, were baffled partly +by the tenacity of the King and Queen, partly by the opposition +of the committees of the Party of Action, who were determined +that power should fall into no hands but those of Garibaldi +himself. It was not till Garibaldi had reached Salerno, and the +Bourbon generals had one after another declined to undertake the +responsibility of command in a battle against him, that Francis +resolved on flight. It was now feared that he might induce the +fleet to sail with him, and even that he might hand it over to +the Austrians. The crews, it was believed, were willing to follow +the King; the officers, though inclined to the Italian cause, +would be powerless to prevent them. There was not an hour to +lose. On the night of September 5th, after the King's intention +to quit the capital had become known, Persano and Villamarina +disguised themselves, and in company with their partisans mingled +with the crews of the fleet, whom they induced by bribes and +persuasion to empty the boilers and to cripple the engines of +their ships. When, on the 6th, King Francis, having announced his +intention to spare the capital bloodshed, went on board a mail +steamer and quitted the harbour, accompanied by the ambassadors +of Austria, Prussia, and Spain, only one vessel of the fleet of +followed him. An urgent summons was sent to Garibaldi, whose +presence was now desired by all parties alike in order to prevent +the outbreak of disorders. Leaving his troops at Salerno, +Garibaldi came by railroad to Naples on the morning of the 7th, +escorted only by some of his staff. The forts were still +garrisoned by eight thousand of the Bourbon troops, but all idea +of resistance had been abandoned, and Garibaldi drove fearlessly +through the city in the midst of joyous crowds. His first act as +Dictator was to declare the ships of war belonging to the State +of the Two Sicilies united to those of King Victor Emmanuel under +Admiral Persano's command. Before sunset the flag of Italy was +hoisted by the Neapolitan fleet. The army was not to be so easily +incorporated with the national forces. King Francis, after +abandoning the idea of a battle between Naples and Salerno, had +ordered the mass of his troops to retire upon Capua in order to +make a final struggle on the line of the Volturno, and this order +had been obeyed. <a name="FNanchor500"> </a><a href="#Footnote_500"><sup>[500]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Piedmontese army enters Umbria and the Marches. Sept. +11.]</p> +<p>[Fall of Ancona, Sept. 25.]</p> +<p>As soon as it had become evident that the entry of Garibaldi +into Naples could not be anticipated by the establishment of +Victor Emmanuel's own authority, Cavour recognised that bold and +aggressive action on the part of the National Government was now +necessity. Garibaldi made no secret or his intention to carry the +Italian arms to Rome. The time was past when the national +movement could be checked at the frontiers of Naples and Tuscany. +It remained only for Cavour to throw the King's own troops into +the Papal States before Garibaldi could move from Naples, and, +while winning for Italy the last foot of ground that could be won +without an actual conflict with France, to stop short at those +limits where the soldiers of Napoleon would certainly meet an +invader with their fire. The Pope was still in possession of the +Marches, of Umbria, and of the territory between the Apennines +and the coast from Orvieto to Terracina. Cavour had good reason +to believe that Napoleon would not strike on behalf of the +Temporal Power until this last narrow district was menaced. He +resolved to seize upon the Marches and Umbria, and to brave the +consequences. On the day of Garibaldi's entry into Naples a +despatch was sent by Cavour to the Papal Government requiring, in +the name of Victor Emmanuel, the disbandment of the foreign +mercenaries who in the previous spring had plundered Perugia, and +whose presence was a continued menace to the peace of Italy. The +announcement now made by Napoleon that he must break off +diplomatic relations with the Sardinian Government in case of the +invasion of the Papal States produced no effect. Cavour replied +that by no other means could he prevent revolution from mastering +all Italy, and on the 10th of September the French ambassador +quitted Turin. Without waiting for Antonelli's answer to his +ultimatum, Cavour ordered the King's troops to cross the +frontier. The Papal army was commanded by Lamoricière, a +French general who had gained some reputation in Algiers; but the +resistance offered to the Piedmontese was unexpectedly feeble. +The column which entered Umbria reached the southern limit +without encountering any serious opposition except from the Irish +garrison of Spoleto. In the Marches, where Lamoricière had +a considerable force at his disposal, the dispersion of the Papal +troops and the incapacity shown in their command brought the +campaign to a rapid and inglorious end. The main body of the +defenders was routed on the Musone, near Loreto, on the 19th of +September. Other divisions surrendered, and Ancona alone remained +to Lamoricière. Vigorously attacked in this fortress both +by land and sea, Lamoricière surrendered after a siege of +eight days. Within three weeks from Garibaldi's entry into Naples +the Piedmontese army had completed the task imposed upon it, and +Victor Emmanuel was master of Italy as far as the Abruzzi.</p> +<p>[Cavour, Garibaldi, and the Party of Action.]</p> +<p>Cavour's successes had not come a day too soon, for Garibaldi, +since his entry into Naples, was falling more and more into the +hands of the Party of Action, and, while protesting his loyalty +to Victor Emmanuel, was openly announcing that he would march the +Party of on Rome whether the King's Government permitted it or +no. In Sicily the officials appointed by this Party were +proceeding with such violence that Depretis, unable to obtain +troops from Cavour, resigned his post. Garibaldi suddenly +appeared at Palermo on the 11th of September, appointed a new +Pro-Dictator, and repeated to the Sicilians that their union with +the Kingdom of Victor Emmanuel must be postponed until all +members of the Italian family were free. But even the personal +presence and the angry words of Garibaldi were powerless to check +the strong expression of Sicilian opinion in favour of immediate +and unconditional annexation. His visit to Palermo was answered +by the appearance of a Sicilian deputation at Turin demanding +immediate union, and complaining that the island was treated by +Garibaldi's officers like a conquered province. At Naples the +rash and violent utterances of the Dictator were equally +condemned. The Ministers whom he had himself appointed resigned. +Garibaldi replaced them by others who were almost Republicans, +and sent a letter to Victor Emmanuel requesting him to consent to +the march upon Rome and to dismiss Cavour. It was known in Turin +that at this very moment Napoleon was taking steps to increase +the French force in Rome, and to garrison the whole of the +territory that still remained to the Pope. Victor Emmanuel +understood how to reply to Garibaldi's letter. He remained true +to his Minister, and sent orders to Villamarina at Naples in case +Garibaldi should proclaim the Republic to break off all relations +with him and to secure the fleet. The fall of Ancona on September +28th brought a timely accession of popularity and credit to +Cavour. He made the Parliament which assembled at Turin four days +later arbiter in the struggle between Garibaldi and himself, and +received from it an almost unanimous vote of confidence. +Garibaldi would perhaps have treated lightly any resolution of +Parliament which conflicted with his own opinion: he shrank from +a breach with the soldier of Novara and Solferino. Now, as at +other moments of danger, the character and reputation of Victor +Emmanuel stood Italy in good stead. In the enthusiasm which +Garibaldi's services to Italy excited in every patriotic heart, +there was room for thankfulness that Italy possessed a sovereign +and a statesman strong enough even to withstand its hero when his +heroism endangered the national cause. <a name="FNanchor501"> </a><a href="#Footnote_501"><sup>[501]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The armies on the Volturno.]</p> +<p>[Meeting of Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi, Oct. 26.]</p> +<p>[Fall of Gaeta, Feb. 14, 1861.]</p> +<p>The King of Naples had not yet abandoned the hope that one or +more of the European Powers would intervene in his behalf. The +trustworthy part of his army had gathered round the fortress of +Capua on the Volturno, and there were indications that Garibaldi +would here meet with far more serious resistance than he had yet +encountered. While he was still in Naples, his troops, which had +pushed northwards, sustained a repulse at Cajazzo. Emboldened by +this success, the Neapolitan army at the beginning of October +assumed the offensive. It was with difficulty that Garibaldi, +placing himself again at the head of his forces, drove the enemy +back to Capua. But the arms of Victor Emmanuel were now thrown +into the scale. Crossing the Apennines, and driving before him +the weak force that was intended to bar his way at Isernia, the +King descended in the rear of the Neapolitan army. The Bourbon +commander, warned of his approach, moved northwards on the line +of the Garigliano, leaving a garrison to defend Capua. Garibaldi +followed on his track, and in the neighbourhood of Teano met King +Victor Emmanuel (October 26th). The meeting is said to have been +cordial on the part of the King, reserved on the part of +Garibaldi, who saw in the King's suite the men by whom he had +been prevented from invading the Papal States in the previous +year. In spite of their common patriotism the volunteers of +Garibaldi and the army of Victor Emmanuel were rival bodies, and +the relations between the chiefs of each camp were strained and +difficult. Garibaldi himself returned to the siege of Capua, +while the King marched northwards against the retreating +Neapolitans. All that was great in Garibaldi's career was now in +fact accomplished. The politicians about him had attempted at +Naples, as in Sicily, to postpone the union with Victor +Emmanuel's monarchy, and to convoke a Southern Parliament which +should fix the conditions on which annexation would be permitted; +but, after discrediting the General, they had been crushed by +public opinion, and a popular vote which was taken at the end of +October on the question of immediate union showed the majority in +favour of this course to be overwhelming. After the surrender of +Capua on the 2nd of November, Victor Emmanuel made his entry into +Naples. Garibaldi, whose request for the Lieutenancy of Southern +Italy for the space of a year with full powers was refused by the +King, <a name="FNanchor502"> </a><a href="#Footnote_502"><sup>[502]</sup></a> declined all minor honours +and rewards, and departed to his home, still filled with +resentment against Cavour, and promising his soldiers that he +would return in the spring and lead them to Rome and Venice. The +reduction of Gaeta, where King Francis II. had taken refuge, and +of the citadel of Messina, formed the last act of the war. The +French fleet for some time prevented the Sardinians from +operating against Gaeta from the sea, and the siege in +consequence made slow progress. It was not until the middle of +January, 1861, that Napoleon permitted the French admiral to quit +his station. The bombardment was now opened both by land and sea, +and after a brave resistance Gaeta surrendered on the 14th of +February. King Francis and his young Queen, a sister of the +Empress of Austria, were conveyed in a French steamer to the +Papal States, and there began their life-long exile. The citadel +of Messina, commanded by one of the few Neapolitan officers who +showed any soldierly spirit, maintained its obstinate defence for +a month after the Bourbon flag had disappeared from the +mainland.</p> +<p>[Cavour's policy with regard to Rome and Venice.]</p> +<p>[The Free Church in the Free State.]</p> +<p>Thus in the spring of 1861, within two years from the outbreak +of war with Austria, Italy with the exception of Rome and Venice +was united under Victor Emmanuel. Of all the European Powers, +Great Britain alone watched the creation of the new Italian +Kingdom with complete sympathy and approval. Austria, though it +had made peace at Zürich, declined to renew diplomatic +intercourse with Sardinia, and protested against the assumption +by Victor Emmanuel of the title of King of Italy. Russia, the +ancient patron of the Neapolitan Bourbons, declared that +geographical conditions alone prevented its intervention against +their despoilers. Prussia, though under a new sovereign, had not +yet completely severed the ties which bound it to Austria. +Nevertheless, in spite of wide political ill-will, and of the +passionate hostility of the clerical party throughout Europe, +there was little probability that the work of the Italian people +would be overthrown by external force. The problem which faced +Victor Emmanuel's Government was not so much the frustration of +reactionary designs from without as the determination of the true +line of policy to be followed in regard to Rome and Venice. There +were few who, like Azeglio, held that Rome might be permanently +left outside the Italian Kingdom; there were none who held this +of Venice. Garibaldi might be mad enough to hope for victory in a +campaign against Austria and against France at the head of such a +troop as he himself could muster; Cavour would have deserved ill +of his country if he had for one moment countenanced the belief +that the force which had overthrown the Neapolitan Bourbons could +with success, or with impunity to Italy, measure itself against +the defenders of Venetia or of Rome. Yet the mind of Cavour was +not one which could rest in mere passive expectancy as to the +future, or in mere condemnation of the unwise schemes of others. +His intelligence, so luminous, so penetrating, that in its +utterances we seem at times to be listening to the very spirit of +the age, ranged over wide fields of moral and of spiritual +interests in its forecast of the future of Italy, and spent its +last force in one of those prophetic delineations whose breadth +and power the world can feel, though a later time alone can judge +of their correspondence with the destined course of history. +Venice was less to Europe than Rome; its transfer to Italy would, +Cavour believed, be effected either by arms or negotiations so +soon as the German race should find a really national Government, +and refuse the service which had hitherto been exacted from it +for the maintenance of Austrian interests. It was to Prussia, as +the representative of nationality in Germany, that Cavour looked +as the natural ally of Italy in the vindication of that part of +the national inheritance which still lay under the dominion of +the Hapsburg. Rome, unlike Venice, was not only defended by +foreign arms, it was the seat of a Power whose empire over the +mind of man was not the sport of military or political +vicissitudes. Circumstances might cause France to relax its grasp +on Rome, but it was not to such an accident that Cavour looked +for the incorporation of Rome with Italy. He conceived that the +time would arrive when the Catholic world would recognise that +the Church would best fulfil its task in complete separation from +temporal power. Rome would then assume its natural position as +the centre of the Italian State; the Church would be the noblest +friend, not the misjudging enemy, of the Italian national +monarchy. Cavour's own religious beliefs were perhaps less simple +than he chose to represent them. Occupying himself, however, with +institutions, not with dogmas, he regarded the Church in profound +earnestness as a humanising and elevating power. He valued its +independence so highly that even on the suppression of the +Piedmontese monasteries he had refused to give to the State the +administration of the revenue arising from the sale of their +lands, and had formed this into a fund belonging to the Church +itself, in order that the clergy might not become salaried +officers of the State. Human freedom was the principle in which +he trusted; and looking upon the Church as the greatest +association formed by men, he believed that here too the rule of +freedom, of the absence of State-regulation, would in the end +best serve man's highest interests. With the passing away of the +Pope's temporal power, Cavour imagined that the constitution of +the Church itself would become more democratic, more responsive +to the movement of the modern world. His own effort in +ecclesiastical reform had been to improve the condition and to +promote the independence of the lower clergy. He had hoped that +each step in their moral and material progress would make them +more national at heart; and though this hope had been but +partially fulfilled, Cavour had never ceased to cherish the ideal +of a national Church which, while recognising its Head in Rome, +should cordially and without reserve accept the friendship of the +Italian State. <a name="FNanchor503"> </a><a href="#Footnote_503"><sup>[503]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Death of Cavour, June 6, 1861.]</p> +<p>[Free Church in Free State.]</p> +<p>It was in the exposition of these principles, in the +enforcement of the common moral interest of Italian nationality +and the Catholic Church, that Cavour gave his last counsels to +the Italian Parliament. He was not himself to lead the nation +farther towards the Promised Land. The immense exertions which he +had maintained during the last three years, the indignation and +anxiety caused to him by Garibaldi's attacks, produced an illness +which Cavour's own careless habits of life and the unskilfulness +of his doctors rendered fatal. With dying lips he repeated to +those about him the words in which he had summed up his policy in +the Italian Parliament: "A free Church in a free State." <a name="FNanchor504"> </a><a href="#Footnote_504"><sup>[504]</sup></a> +Other Catholic lands had adjusted by Concordats with the Papacy +the conflicting claims of temporal and spiritual authority in +such matters as the appointment of bishops, the regulation of +schools, the family-rights of persons married without +ecclesiastical form. Cavour appears to have thought that in +Italy, where the whole nation was in a sense Catholic, the Church +might as safely and as easily be left to manage its own affairs +as in the United States, where the Catholic community is only one +among many religious societies. His optimism, his sanguine and +large-hearted tolerance, was never more strikingly shown than in +this fidelity to the principle of liberty, even in the case of +those who for the time declined all reconciliation with the +Italian State. Whether Cavour's ideal was an impracticable fancy +a later age will decide. The ascendency within the Church of Rome +would seem as yet to have rested with the elements most opposed +to the spirit of the time, most obstinately bent on setting faith +and reason in irreconcilable enmity. In place of that democratic +movement within the hierarchy and the priesthood which Cavour +anticipated, absolutism has won a new crown in the doctrine of +Papal Infallibility. Catholic dogma has remained impervious to +the solvents which during the last thirty years have operated +with perceptible success on the theology of Protestant lands. +Each conquest made in the world of thought and knowledge is still +noted as the next appropriate object of denunciation by the +Vatican. Nevertheless the cautious spirit will be slow to +conclude that hopes like those of Cavour were wholly vain. A +single generation may see but little of the seed-time, nothing of +the harvests that are yet to enrich mankind. And even if all +wider interests be left out of view, enough remains to justify +Cavour's policy of respect for the independence of the Church in +the fact that Italy during the thirty years succeeding the +establishment of its union has remained free from civil war. +Cavour was wont to refer to the Constitution which the French +National Assembly imposed upon the clergy in 1790 as the type of +erroneous legislation. Had his own policy and that of his +successors not been animated by a wiser spirit; had the +Government of Italy, after overthrowing the Pope's temporal +sovereignty, sought enemies among the rural priesthood and their +congregations, the provinces added to the Italian Kingdom by +Garibaldi would hardly have been maintained by the House of Savoy +without a second and severer struggle. Between the ideal Italy +which filled the thoughts not only of Mazzini but of some of the +best English minds of that time-the land of immemorial greatness, +touched once more by the divine hand and advancing from strength +to strength as the intellectual and moral pioneer among +nations-between this ideal and the somewhat hard and commonplace +realities of the Italy of to-day there is indeed little enough +resemblance. Poverty, the pressure of inordinate taxation, the +physical and moral habits inherited from centuries of evil +government,-all these have darkened in no common measure the +conditions from which Italian national life has to be built up. +If in spite of overwhelming difficulties each crisis has hitherto +been surmounted; if, with all that is faulty and infirm, the +omens for the future of Italy are still favourable, one source of +its good fortune has been the impress given to its ecclesiastical +policy by the great statesman to whom above all other men it owes +the accomplishment of its union, and who, while claiming for +Italy the whole of its national inheritance, yet determined to +inflict no needless wound upon the conscience of Rome.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XXIII."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c23">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Germany after 1858-The Regency in Prussia-Army +re-organisation-King William I.-Conflict between the Crown and +the Parliament-Bismarck-The struggle continued-Austria from +1859-The October Diploma-Resistance of Hungary-The +Reichsrath-Russia under Alexander II.-Liberation of the +Serfs-Poland-The Insurrection of 1863-Agrarian measures in +Poland-Schleswig-Holstein-Death of Frederick VII.-Plans of +Bismarck-Campaign in Schleswig-Conference of London-Treaty of +Vienna-England and Napoleon III.-Prussia and Austria-Convention +of Gastein-Italy-Alliance of Prussia with Italy-Proposals for a +Congress fail-War between Austria and Prussia-Napoleon +III.-Königgrätz- Custozza-Mediation of Napoleon-Treaty +of Prague-South Germany-Projects for compensation to +France-Austria and Hungary-Deák-Establishment of the Dual +System in Austria-Hungary.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Germany from 1858.]</p> +<p>[The Regency in Prussia, Oct. 1858.]</p> +<p>Shortly before the events which broke the power of Austria in +Italy, the German people believed themselves to have entered on a +new political era. King Frederick William IV., who, since 1848, +had disappointed every hope that had been fixed on Prussia and on +himself, was compelled by mental disorder to withdraw from public +affairs in the autumn of 1858. His brother, Prince William of +Prussia, who had for a year acted as the King's representative, +now assumed the Regency. In the days when King Frederick William +still retained some vestiges of his reputation the Prince of +Prussia had been unpopular, as the supposed head of the +reactionary party; but the events of the last few years had +exhibited him in a better aspect. Though strong in his belief +both in the Divine right of kings in general, and in the +necessity of a powerful monarchical rule in Prussia, he was +disposed to tolerate, and even to treat with a certain respect, +the humble elements of constitutional government which he found +in existence. There was more manliness in his nature than in that +of his brother, more belief in the worth of his own people. The +espionage, the servility, the overdone professions of sanctity in +Manteuffel's régime displeased him, but most of all he +despised its pusillanimity in the conduct of foreign affairs. His +heart indeed was Prussian, not German, and the destiny which +created him the first Emperor of united Germany was not of his +own making nor of his own seeking; but he felt that Prussia ought +to hold a far greater station both in Germany and in Europe than +it had held during his brother's reign, and that the elevation of +the State to the position which it ought to occupy was the task +that lay before himself. During the twelve months preceding the +Regency the retirement of the King had not been treated as more +than temporary, and the Prince of Prussia, though constantly at +variance with Manteuffel's Cabinet, had therefore not considered +himself at liberty to remove his brother's advisers. His first +act on the assumption of the constitutional office of Regent was +to dismiss the hated Ministry. Prince Antony of +Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was called to office, and posts in the +Government were given to men well known as moderate Liberals. +Though the Regent stated in clear terms that he had no intention +of forming a Liberal party-administration, his action satisfied +public opinion. The troubles and the failures of 1849 had +inclined men to be content with far less than had been asked +years before. The leaders of the more advanced sections among the +Liberals preferred for the most part to remain outside +Parliamentary life rather than to cause embarrassment to the new +Government; and the elections of 1859 sent to Berlin a body of +representatives fully disposed to work with the Regent and his +Ministers in the policy of guarded progress which they had laid +down.</p> +<p>[Revival of idea of German union.]</p> +<p>This change of spirit in the Prussian Government, followed by +the events that established Italian independence, told powerfully +upon public opinion throughout Germany. Hopes that had been +crushed in 1849 now revived. With the collapse of military +despotism in the Austrian Empire the clouds of reaction seemed +everywhere to be passing away; it was possible once more to think +of German national union and of common liberties in which all +Germans should share. As in 1808 the rising of the Spaniards +against Napoleon had inspired Blücher and his countrymen +with the design of a truly national effort against their foreign +oppressor, so in 1859 the work of Cavour challenged the Germans +to prove that their national patriotism and their political +aptitude were not inferior to those of the Italian people. Men +who had been prominent in the National Assembly at Frankfort +again met one another and spoke to the nation. In the Parliaments +of several of the minor States resolutions were brought forward +in favour of the creation of a central German authority. Protests +were made against the infringement of constitutional rights that +had been common during the last ten years; patriotic meetings and +demonstrations were held; and a National Society, in imitation of +that which had prepared the way for union with Piedmont in +Central and Southern Italy, was formally established. There was +indeed no such preponderating opinion in favour of Prussian +leadership as had existed in 1848. The southern States had +displayed a strong sympathy with Austria in its war with Napoleon +III., and had regarded the neutrality of Prussia during the +Italian campaign as a desertion of the German cause. Here there +were few who looked with friendly eye upon Berlin. It was in the +minor states of the north, and especially in Hesse-Cassel, where +the struggle between the Elector and his subjects was once more +breaking out, that the strongest hopes were directed towards the +new Prussian ruler, and the measures of his government were the +most anxiously watched.</p> +<p>[The Regent of Prussia and the army.]</p> +<p>[Scheme of reorganisation.]</p> +<p>The Prince Regent was a soldier by profession and habit. He +was born in 1797, and had been present at the battle of +Arcis-sur-Aube, the last fought by Napoleon against the Allies in +1814. During forty years he had served on every commission that +had been occupied with Prussian military affairs; no man better +understood the military organisation of his country, no man more +clearly recognised its capacities and its faults. The defective +condition of the Prussian army had been the principal, though not +the sole, cause of the miserable submission to Austria at +Olmütz in 1850, and of the abandonment of all claims to +German leadership on the part of the Court of Berlin. The Prince +would himself have risked all chances of disaster rather than +inflict upon Prussia the humiliation with which King Frederick +William then purchased peace; but Manteuffel had convinced his +sovereign that the army could not engage in a campaign against +Austria without ruin. Military impotence was the only possible +justification for the policy then adopted, and the Prince +determined that Prussia should not under his own rule have the +same excuse for any political shortcomings. The work of +reorganisation was indeed begun during the reign of Frederick +William IV., through the enforcement of the three-years' service +to which the conscript was liable by law, but which had fallen +during the long period of peace to two-years' service. The number +of troops with the colours was thus largely increased, but no +addition had been made to the yearly levy, and no improvement +attempted in the organisation of the Landwehr. When in 1859 the +order for mobilisation was given in consequence of the Italian +war, it was discovered that the Landwehr battalions were almost +useless. The members of this force were mostly married men +approaching middle life, who had been too long engaged in other +pursuits to resume their military duties with readiness, and +whose call to the field left their families without means of +support and chargeable upon the public purse. Too much, in the +judgment of the reformers of the Prussian army, was required from +men past youth, not enough from youth itself. The plan of the +Prince Regent was therefore to enforce in the first instance with +far more stringency the law imposing the universal obligation to +military service; and, while thus raising the annual levy from +40,000 to 60,000 men, to extend the period of service in the +Reserve, into which the young soldier passed on the completion of +his three years with the colours, from two to four years. +Asserting with greater rigour its claim to seven years in the +early life of the citizen, the State would gain, without +including the Landwehr, an effective army of four hundred +thousand men, and would practically be able to dispense with the +service of those who were approaching middle life, except in +cases of great urgency. In the execution of this reform the +Government could on its own authority enforce the increased levy +and the full three years' service in the standing army; for the +prolongation of service in the Reserve, and for the greater +expenditure entailed by the new system, the consent of Parliament +was necessary.</p> +<p>[The Prussian Parliament and the army, 1859-1861.]</p> +<p>[Accession of King William, Jan., 1861.]</p> +<p>The general principles on which the proposed reorganisation +was based were accepted by public opinion and by both Chambers of +Parliament; it was, however, held by the Liberal leaders that the +increase of expenditure might, without impairing the efficiency +of the army, be avoided by returning to the system of two-years +service with the colours, which during so long a period had been +thought sufficient for the training of the soldier. The Regent, +however, was convinced that the discipline and the instruction of +three years were indispensable to the Prussian conscript, and he +refused to accept the compromise suggested. The mobilisation of +1859 had given him an opportunity for forming additional +battalions; and although the Landwehr were soon dismissed to +their homes the new formation was retained, and the place of the +retiring militiamen was filled by conscripts of the year. The +Lower Chamber, in voting the sum required in 1860 for the +increased numbers of the army, treated this arrangement as +temporary, and limited the grant to one year; in spite of this +the Regent, who on the death of his brother in January, 1861, +became King of Prussia, formed the additional battalions into new +regiments, and gave to these new regiments their names and +colours. The year 1861 passed without bringing the questions at +issue between the Government and the Chamber of Deputies to a +settlement. Public feeling, disappointed in the reserved and +hesitating policy which was still followed by the Court in German +affairs, stimulated too by the rapid consolidation of the Italian +monarchy, which the Prussian Government on its part had as yet +declined to recognise, was becoming impatient and resentful. It +seemed as if the Court of Berlin still shrank from committing +itself to the national cause. The general confidence reposed in +the new ruler at his accession was passing away; and when in the +summer of 1861 the dissolution of Parliament took place, the +elections resulted in the return not only of a Progressist +majority, but of a majority little inclined to submit to measures +of compromise, or to shrink from the assertion of its full +constitutional rights.</p> +<p>[First Parliament of 1862.]</p> +<p>[Dissolution, May, 1862.]</p> +<p>[Second Parliament of 1862.]</p> +<p>[Bismarck becomes Minister, Sept., 1862.]</p> +<p>The new Parliament assembled at the beginning of 1862. Under +the impulse of public opinion, the Government was now beginning +to adopt a more vigorous policy in German affairs, and to +re-assert Prussia's claims to an independent leadership in +defiance of the restored Diet of Frankfort. But the conflict with +the Lower Chamber was not to be averted by revived energy abroad. +The Army Bill, which was passed at once by the Upper House, was +referred to a hostile Committee on reaching the Chamber of +Deputies, and a resolution was carried insisting on the right of +the representatives of the people to a far more effective control +over the Budget than they had hitherto exercised. The result of +this vote was the dissolution of Parliament by the King, and the +resignation of the Ministry, with the exception of General Roon, +Minister of War, and two of the most conservative among his +colleagues. Prince Hohenlohe, President of the Upper House, +became chief of the Government. There was now an open and +undisguised conflict between the Crown and the upholders of +Parliamentary rights. "King or Parliament" was the expression in +which the newly-appointed Ministers themselves summed up the +struggle. The utmost pressure was exerted by the Government in +the course of the elections which followed, but in vain. The +Progressist Party returned in overwhelming strength to the new +Parliament; the voice of the country seemed unmistakably to +condemn the policy to which the King and his advisers were +committed. After a long and sterile discussion in the Budget +Committee, the debate on the Army Bill began in the Lower House +on the 11th of September. Its principal clauses were rejected by +an almost unanimous vote. An attempt made by General Roon to +satisfy his opponents by a partial and conditional admission of +the principle of two-years' service resulted only in increased +exasperation on both sides. Hohenlohe resigned, and the King now +placed in power, at the head of a Ministry of conflict, the most +resolute and unflinching of all his friends, the most +contemptuous scorner of Parliamentary majorities, Herr von +Bismarck. <a name="FNanchor505"> </a><a href="#Footnote_505"><sup>[505]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Bismarck.]</p> +<p>The new Minister was, like Cavour, a country gentleman, and, +like Cavour, he owed his real entry into public life to the +revolutionary movement of 1848. He had indeed held some obscure +official posts before that epoch, but it was as a member of the +United Diet which assembled at Berlin in April, 1848, that he +first attracted the attention of King or people. He was one of +two Deputies who refused to join in the vote of thanks to +Frederick William IV. for the Constitution which he had promised +to Prussia. Bismarck, then thirty-three years old, was a Royalist +of Royalists, the type, as it seemed, of the rough and masterful +Junker, or Squire, of the older parts of Prussia, to whom all +reforms from those of Stein downwards were hateful, all ideas but +those of the barrack and the kennel alien. Others in the spring +of 1848 lamented the concessions made by the Crown to the people; +Bismarck had the courage to say so. When reaction came there were +naturally many, and among them King Frederick William, who were +interested in the man who in the heyday of constitutional +enthusiasm had treated the whole movement as so much midsummer +madness, and had remained faithful to monarchical authority as +the one thing needful for the Prussian State. Bismarck continued +to take a prominent part in the Parliaments of Berlin and Erfurt; +it was not, however, till 1851 that he passed into the inner +official circle. He was then sent as the representative of +Prussia to the restored Diet of Frankfort. As an absolutist and a +conservative, brought up in the traditions of the Holy Alliance, +Bismarck had in earlier days looked up to Austria as the mainstay +of monarchical order and the historic barrier against the flood +of democratic and wind-driven sentiment which threatened to +deluge Germany. He had even approved the surrender made at +Olmütz in 1850, as a matter of necessity; but the belief now +grew strong in his mind, and was confirmed by all he saw at +Frankfort, that Austria under Schwarzenberg's rule was no longer +the Power which had been content to share the German leadership +with Prussia in the period before 1848, but a Power which meant +to rule in Germany uncontrolled. In contact with the +representatives of that outworn system which Austria had +resuscitated at Frankfort, and with the instruments of the +dominant State itself, Bismarck soon learnt to detest the +paltriness of the one and the insolence of the other. He declared +the so-called Federal system to be a mere device for employing +the secondary German States for the aggrandisement of Austria and +the humiliation of Prussia. The Court of Vienna, and with it the +Diet of Frankfort, became in his eyes the enemy of Prussian +greatness and independence. During the Crimean war he was the +vigorous opponent of an alliance with the Western Powers, not +only from distrust of France, and from regard towards Russia as +on the whole the most constant and the most natural ally of his +own country, but from the conviction that Prussia ought to assert +a national policy wholly independent of that of the Court of +Vienna. That the Emperor of Austria was approaching more or less +nearly to union with France and England was, in Bismarck's view, +a good reason why Prussia should stand fast in its relations of +friendship with St. Petersburg. <a name="FNanchor506"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_506"><sup>[506]</sup></a> The policy of +neutrality, which King Frederick William and Manteuffel adopted +more out of disinclination to strenuous action than from any +clear political view, was advocated by Bismarck for reasons +which, if they made Europe nothing and Prussia everything, were +at least inspired by a keen and accurate perception of Prussia's +own interests in its present and future relations with its +neighbours. When the reign of Frederick William ended, Bismarck, +who stood high in the confidence of the new Regent, was sent as +ambassador to St. Petersburg. He subsequently represented Prussia +for a short time at the Court of Napoleon III., and was recalled +by the King from Paris in the autumn of 1862 in order to be +placed at the head of the Government. Far better versed in +diplomacy than in ordinary administration, he assumed, together +with the Presidency of the Cabinet, the Ministry of Foreign +Affairs.</p> +<p>[Bismarck and the Lower Chamber, 1862.]</p> +<p>There were now at the head of the Prussian State three men +eminently suited to work with one another, and to carry out, in +their own rough and military fashion, the policy which was to +unite Germany under the House of Hohenzollern. The King, +Bismarck, and Roon were thoroughly at one in their aim, the +enforcement of Prussia's ascendency by means of the army. The +designs of the Minister, which expanded with success and which +involved a certain daring in the choice of means, were at each +new development so ably veiled or disclosed, so dexterously +presented to the sovereign, as to overcome his hesitation on +striking into many an unaccustomed path. Roon and his workmen, +who, in the face of a hostile Parliament and a hostile Press, had +to supply to Bismarck what a foreign alliance and enthusiastic +national sentiment had supplied to Cavour, forged for Prussia a +weapon of such temper that, against the enemies on whom it was +employed, no extraordinary genius was necessary to render its +thrust fatal. It was no doubt difficult for the Prime Minister, +without alarming his sovereign and without risk of an immediate +breach with Austria, to make his ulterior aims so clear as to +carry the Parliament with him in the policy of military +reorganisation. Words frank even to brutality were uttered by +him, but they sounded more like menace and bluster than the +explanation of a well-considered plan. "Prussia must keep its +forces together," he said in one of his first Parliamentary +appearances, "its boundaries are not those of a sound State. The +great questions of the time are to be decided not by speeches and +votes of majorities but by blood and iron." After the experience +of 1848 and 1850, a not too despondent political observer might +well have formed the conclusion that nothing less than the +military overthrow of Austria could give to Germany any tolerable +system of national government, or even secure to Prussia its +legitimate field of action. This was the keystone of Bismarck's +belief, but he failed to make his purpose and his motives +intelligible to the representatives of the Prussian people. He +was taken for a mere bully and absolutist of the old type. His +personal characteristics, his arrogance, his sarcasm, his habit +of banter, exasperated and inflamed. Roon was no better suited to +the atmosphere of a popular assembly. Each encounter of the +Ministers with the Chamber embittered the struggle and made +reconciliation more difficult. The Parliamentary system of +Prussia seemed threatened in its very existence when, after the +rejection by the Chamber of Deputies of the clause in the Budget +providing for the cost of the army-reorganisation, this clause +was restored by the Upper House, and the Budget of the Government +passed in its original form. By the terms of the Constitution the +right of the Upper House in matters of taxation was limited to +the approval or rejection of the Budget sent up to it from the +Chamber of Representatives. It possessed no power of amendment. +Bismarck, however, had formed the theory that in the event of a +disagreement between the two Houses a situation arose for which +the Constitution had not provided, and in which therefore the +Crown was still possessed of its old absolute authority. No +compromise, no negotiation between the two Houses, was, in his +view, to be desired. He was resolved to govern and to levy taxes +without a Budget, and had obtained the King's permission to close +the session immediately the Upper House had given its vote. But +before the order for prorogation could be brought down the +President of the Lower Chamber had assembled his colleagues, and +the unanimous vote of those present declared the action of the +Upper House null and void. In the agitation attending this trial +of strength between the Crown, the Ministry and the Upper House +on one side and the Representative Chamber on the other the +session of 1862 closed. <a name="FNanchor507"> </a><a href="#Footnote_507"><sup>[507]</sup></a></p> +<p>[King William.]</p> +<p>[The conflict continued, 1863.]</p> +<p>[Measures against the Press.]</p> +<p>The Deputies, returning to their constituencies, carried with +them the spirit of combat, and received the most demonstrative +proofs of popular sympathy and support. Representations of great +earnestness were made to the King, but they failed to shake in +the slightest degree his confidence in his Minister, or to bend +his fixed resolution to carry out his military reforms to the +end. The claim of Parliament to interfere with matters of +military organisation in Prussia touched him in his most +sensitive point. He declared that the aim of his adversaries was +nothing less than the establishment of a Parliamentary instead of +a royal army. In perfect sincerity he believed that the +convulsions of 1848 were on the point of breaking out afresh. +"You mourn the conflict between the Crown and the national +representatives," he said to the spokesman of an important +society; "do I not mourn it? I sleep no single night." The +anxiety, the despondency of the sovereign were shared by the +friends of Prussia throughout Germany; its enemies saw with +wonder that Bismarck in his struggle with the educated Liberalism +of the middle classes did not shrink from dalliance with the +Socialist leaders and their organs. When Parliament reassembled +at the beginning of 1863 the conflict was resumed with even +greater heat. The Lower Chamber carried an address to the King, +which, while dwelling on the loyalty of the Prussian people to +their chief, charged the Ministers with violating the +Constitution, and demanded their dismissal. The King refused to +receive the deputation which was to present the address, and in +the written communication in which he replied to it he sharply +reproved the Assembly for their errors and presumption. It was in +vain that the Army Bill was again introduced. The House, while +allowing the ordinary military expenditure for the year, struck +out the costs of the reorganisation, and declared Ministers +personally answerable for the sums expended. Each appearance of +the leading members of the Cabinet now became the signal for +contumely and altercation. The decencies of debate ceased to be +observed on either side. When the President attempted to set some +limit to the violence of Bismarck and Roon, and, on resistance to +his authority, terminated the sitting, the Ministers declared +that they would no longer appear in a Chamber where freedom of +speech was denied to them. Affairs came to a deadlock. The +Chamber again appealed to the King, and insisted that +reconciliation between the Crown and the nation was impossible so +long as the present Ministers remained in office. The King, now +thoroughly indignant, charged the Assembly with attempting to win +for itself supreme power, expressed his gratitude to his +Ministers for their resistance to this usurpation, and declared +himself too confident in the loyalty of the Prussian people to be +intimidated by threats. His reply was followed by the prorogation +of the Assembly (May 26th). A dissolution would have been worse +than useless, for in the actual state of public opinion the +Opposition would probably have triumphed throughout the country. +It only remained for Bismarck to hold his ground, and, having +silenced the Parliament for a while, to silence the Press also by +the exercise of autocratic power. The Constitution authorised the +King, in the absence of the Chambers, to publish enactments on +matters of urgency having the force of laws. No sooner had the +session been closed than an edict was issued empowering the +Government, without resort to courts of law, to suppress any +newspaper after two warnings. An outburst of public indignation +branded this return to the principles of pure despotism in +Prussia; but neither King nor Minister was to be diverted by +threats or by expostulations from his course. The Press was +effectively silenced. So profound, however, was the distrust now +everywhere felt as to the future of Prussia, and so deep the +resentment against the Minister in all circles where Liberal +influences penetrated, that the Crown Prince himself, after in +vain protesting against a policy of violence which endangered his +own prospective interests in the Crown, publicly expressed his +disapproval of the action of Government. For this offence he was +never forgiven.</p> +<p>[Austria from 1859.]</p> +<p>The course which affairs were taking at Berlin excited the +more bitter regret and disappointment among all friends of +Prussia as at this very time it seemed that constitutional +government was being successfully established in the western part +of the Austrian Empire. The centralised military despotism with +which Austria emerged from the convulsions of 1848 had been +allowed ten years of undisputed sway; at the end of this time it +had brought things to such a pass that, after a campaign in which +there had been but one great battle, and while still in +possession of a vast army and an unbroken chain of fortresses, +Austria stood powerless to move hand or foot. It was not the +defeat of Solferino or the cession of Lombardy that exhibited the +prostration of Austria's power, but the fact that while the +conditions of the Peace of Zürich were swept away, and Italy +was united under Victor Emmanuel in defiance of the engagements +made by Napoleon III. at Villafranca, the Austrian Emperor was +compelled to look on with folded arms. To have drawn the sword +again, to have fired a shot in defence of the Pope's temporal +power or on behalf of the vassal princes of Tuscany and Modena, +would have been to risk the existence of the Austrian monarchy. +The State was all but bankrupt; rebellion might at any moment +break out in Hungary, which had already sent thousands of +soldiers to the Italian camp. Peace at whatever price was +necessary abroad, and at home the system of centralised despotism +could no longer exist, come what might in its place. It was +natural that the Emperor should but imperfectly understand at the +first the extent of the concessions which it was necessary for +him to make. He determined that the Provincial Councils which +Schwarzenberg had promised in 1850 should be called into +existence, and that a Council of the Empire (Reichsrath), drawn +in part from these, should assemble at Vienna, to advise, though +not to control, the Government in matters of finance. So urgent, +however, were the needs of the exchequer, that the Emperor +proceeded at once to the creation of the Central Council, and +nominated its first members himself. (March, 1860.)</p> +<p>[Hungary.]</p> +<p>[Centralists and Federalists in the Council.]</p> +<p>[The Diploma of Oct 20, 1860.]</p> +<p>That the Hungarian members nominated by the Emperor would +decline to appear at Vienna unless some further guarantee was +given for the restoration of Hungarian liberty was well known. +The Emperor accordingly promised to restore the ancient +county-organisation, which had filled so great a space in +Hungarian history before 1848, and to take steps for assembling +the Hungarian Diet. This, with the repeal of an edict injurious +to the Protestants, opened the way for reconciliation, and the +nominated Hungarians took their place in the Council, though +under protest that the existing arrangement could only be +accepted as preparatory to the full restitution of the rights of +their country. The Council continued in session during the summer +of 1860. Its duties were financial; but the establishment of +financial equilibrium in Austria was inseparable from the +establishment of political stability and public confidence; and +the Council, in its last sittings, entered on the widest +constitutional problems. The non-German members were in the +majority; and while all parties alike condemned the fallen +absolutism, the rival declarations of policy submitted to the +Council marked the opposition which was henceforward to exist +between the German Liberals of Austria and the various +Nationalist or Federalist groups. The Magyars, uniting with those +who had been their bitterest enemies, declared that the ancient +independence in legislation and administration of the several +countries subject to the House of Hapsburg must be restored, each +country retaining its own historical character. The German +minority contended that the Emperor should bestow upon his +subjects such institutions as, while based on the right of +self-government should secure the unity of the Empire and the +force of its central authority. All parties were for a +constitutional system and for local liberties in one form or +another; but while the Magyars and their supporters sought for +nothing less than national independence, the Germans would at the +most have granted a uniform system of provincial self-government +in strict subordination to a central representative body drawn +from the whole Empire and legislating for the whole Empire. The +decision of the Emperor was necessarily a compromise. By a +Diploma published on the 20th of October he promised to restore +to Hungary its old Constitution, and to grant wide legislative +rights to the other States of the Monarchy, establishing for the +transaction of affairs common to the whole Empire an Imperial +Council, and reserving for the non-Hungarian members of this +Council a qualified right of legislation for all the Empire +except Hungary. <a name="FNanchor508"> </a><a href="#Footnote_508"><sup>[508]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Hungary resists the establishment of a Central Council.]</p> +<p>The Magyars had conquered their King; and all the impetuous +patriotism that had been crushed down since the ruin of 1849 now +again burst into flame. The County Assemblies met, and elected as +their officers men who had been condemned to death in 1849 and +who were living in exile; they swept away the existing +law-courts, refused the taxes, and proclaimed the legislation of +1848 again in force. Francis Joseph seemed anxious to avert a +conflict, and to prove both in Hungary and in the other parts of +the Empire the sincerity of his promises of reform, on which the +nature of the provincial Constitutions which were published +immediately after the Diploma of October had thrown some doubt. +At the instance of his Hungarian advisers he dismissed the chief +of his Cabinet, and called to office Schmerling, who, in 1848, +had been Prime Minister of the German National Government at +Frankfort. Schmerling at once promised important changes in the +provincial systems drawn up by his predecessor, but in his +dealings with Hungary he proved far less tractable than the +Magyars had expected. If the Hungarians had recovered their own +constitutional forms, they still stood threatened with the +supremacy of a Central Council in all that related to themselves +in common with the rest of the Empire, and against this they +rebelled. But from the establishment of this Council of the +Empire neither the Emperor nor Schmerling would recede. An edict +of February 26th, 1861, while it made good the changes promised +by Schmerling in the several provincial systems, confirmed the +general provisions of the Diploma of October, and declared that +the Emperor would maintain the Constitution of his dominions as +now established against an attack.</p> +<p>[Conflict of Hungary with the Crown, 1861.]</p> +<p>In the following April the Provincial Diets met throughout the +Austrian Empire, and the Diet of the Hungarian Kingdom assembled +at Pesth. The first duty of each of these bodies was to elect +representatives to the Council of the Empire which was to meet at +Vienna. Neither Hungary nor Croatia, however, would elect such +representatives, each claiming complete legislative independence, +and declining to recognise any such external authority as it was +now proposed to create. The Emperor warned the Hungarian Diet +against the consequences of its action; but the national spirit +of the Magyars was thoroughly roused, and the County Assemblies +vied with one another in the violence of their addresses to the +Sovereign. The Diet, reviving the Constitutional difficulties +connected with the abdication of Ferdinand, declared that it +would only negotiate for the coronation of Francis Joseph after +the establishment of a Hungarian Ministry and the restoration of +Croatia and Transylvania to the Hungarian Kingdom. Accepting +Schmerling's contention that the ancient constitutional rights of +Hungary had been extinguished by rebellion, the Emperor insisted +on the establishment of a Council for the whole Empire, and +refused to recede from the declarations which he had made in the +edict of February. The Diet hereupon protested, in a long and +vigorous address to the King, against the validity of all laws +made without its own concurrence, and declared that Francis +Joseph had rendered an agreement between the King and the nation +impossible. A dissolution followed. The County Assemblies took up +the national struggle. They in their turn were suppressed; their +officers were dismissed, and military rule was established +throughout the land, though with explicit declarations on the +part of the King that it was to last only till the legally +existing Constitution could be brought into peaceful working. <a +name="FNanchor509"> </a><a href="#Footnote_509"><sup>[509]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Reichsrath at Vienna, May, 1861-Dec., 1862.]</p> +<p>[Second session of the Reichsrath, 1863.]</p> +<p>[The Reichsrath at Vienna, May, 1861-Dec., 1862.]</p> +<p>[Second session of the Reichsrath, 1863.]</p> +<p>Meanwhile the Central Representative Body, now by enlargement +of its functions and increase in the number of its members made +into a Parliament of the Empire, assembled at Vienna. Its real +character was necessarily altered by the absence of +representatives from Hungary; and for some time the Government +seemed disposed to limit its competence to the affairs of the +Cis-Leithan provinces; but after satisfying himself that no +accord with Hungary was possible, the Emperor announced this fact +to the Assembly, and bade it perform its part as the organ of the +Empire at large, without regard to the abstention of those who +did not choose to exercise their rights. The Budget for the +entire Empire was accordingly submitted to the Assembly, and for +the first time the expenditure of the Austrian State was laid +open to public examination and criticism. The first session of +this Parliament lasted, with adjournments, from May, 1861, to +December, 1862. In legislation it effected little, but its +relations as a whole with the Government remained excellent, and +its long-continued activity, unbroken by popular disturbances, +did much to raise the fallen credit of the Austrian State and to +win for it the regard of Germany. On the close of the session the +Provincial Diets assembled, and throughout the spring of 1863 the +rivalry of the Austrian nationalities gave abundant animation to +many a local capital. In the next summer the Reichsrath +reassembled at Vienna. Though Hungary remained in a condition not +far removed from rebellion, the Parliamentary system of Austria +was gaining in strength, and indeed, as it seemed, at the expense +of Hungary itself; for the Roumanian and German population of +Transylvania, rejoicing in the opportunity of detaching +themselves from the Magyars, now sent deputies to Vienna. While +at Berlin each week that passed sharpened the antagonism between +the nation and its Government, and made the Minister's name more +odious, Austria seemed to have successfully broken with the +traditions of its past, and to be fast earning for itself an +honourable place among States of the constitutional type.</p> +<p>One of the reproaches brought against Bismarck by the +Progressist majority in the Parliament of Berlin was that he had +isolated Prussia both in Germany and in Europe. That he had +roused against the Government of his country the public opinion +of Germany was true: that he had alienated Prussia from all +Europe was not the case; on the contrary, he had established a +closer relation between the Courts of Berlin and St. Petersburg +than had existed at any time since the commencement of the +Regency, and had secured for Prussia a degree of confidence and +goodwill on the part of the Czar which, in the memorable years +that were to follow, served it scarcely less effectively than an +armed alliance. Russia, since the Crimean War, had seemed to be +entering upon an epoch of boundless change. The calamities with +which the reign of Nicholas had closed had excited in that narrow +circle of Russian society where thought had any existence a +vehement revulsion against the sterile and unchanging system of +repression, the grinding servitude of the last thirty years. From +the Emperor downwards all educated men believed not only that the +system of government, but that the whole order of Russian social +life, must be recast. The ferment of ideas which marks an age of +revolution was in full course; but in what forms the new order +was to be moulded, through what processes Russia was to be +brought into its new life, no one knew. Russia was wanting in +capable statesmen; it was even more conspicuously wanting in the +class of serviceable and intelligent agents of Government of the +second rank. Its monarch, Alexander II., humane and well-meaning, +was irresolute and vacillating beyond the measure of ordinary +men. He was not only devoid of all administrative and organising +faculty himself, but so infirm of purpose that Ministers whose +policy he had accepted feared to let him pass out of their sight, +lest in the course of a single journey or a single interview he +should succumb to the persuasions of some rival politician. In no +country in Europe was there such incoherence, such +self-contradiction, such absence of unity of plan and purpose in +government as in Russia, where all nominally depended upon a +single will. Pressed and tormented by all the rival influences +that beat upon the centre of a great empire, Alexander seems at +times to have played off against one another as colleagues in the +same branch of Government the representatives of the most +opposite schools of action, and, after assenting to the plans of +one group of advisers, to have committed the execution of these +plans, by way of counterpoise, to those who had most opposed +them. But, like other weak men, he dreaded nothing so much as the +reproach of weakness or inconstancy; and in the cloud of +half-formed or abandoned purposes there were some few to which he +resolutely adhered. The chief of these, the great achievement of +his reign, was the liberation of the serfs.</p> +<p>[Liberation of the Serfs. March, 1861.]</p> +<p>It was probably owing to the outbreak of the revolution of +1848 that the serfs had not been freed by Nicholas. That +sovereign had long understood the necessity for the change, and +in 1847 he had actually appointed a Commission to report on the +best means of effecting it. The convulsions of 1848, followed by +the Hungarian and the Crimean Wars, threw the project into the +background during the remainder of Nicholas's reign; but if the +belief of the Russian people is well founded, the last injunction +of the dying Czar to his successor was to emancipate the serfs +throughout his empire. Alexander was little capable of grappling +with so tremendous a problem himself; in the year 1859, however, +he directed a Commission to make a complete inquiry into the +subject, and to present a scheme of emancipation. The labours of +the Commission extended over two years; its discussions were +agitated, at times violent. That serfage must sooner or later be +abolished all knew; the points on which the Commission was +divided were the bestowal of land on the peasants and the +regulation of the village community. European history afforded +abundant precedents in emancipation, and under an infinite +variety of detail three types of the process of enfranchisement +were clearly distinguishable from one another. Maria Theresa, in +liberating the serf, had required him to continue to render a +fixed amount of labour to his lord, and had given him on this +condition fixity of tenure in the land he occupied; the Prussian +reformers had made a division of the land between the peasant and +the lord, and extinguished all labour-dues; Napoleon, in +enfranchising the serfs in the Duchy of Warsaw, had simply turned +them into free men, leaving the terms of their occupation of land +to be settled by arrangement or free contract with their former +lords. This example had been followed in the Baltic Provinces of +Russia itself by Alexander I. Of the three modes of emancipation, +that based on free contract had produced the worst results for +the peasant; and though many of the Russian landowners and their +representatives in the Commission protested against a division of +the land between themselves and their serfs as an act of agrarian +revolution and spoliation, there were men in high office, and +some few among the proprietors, who resolutely and successfully +fought for the principle of independent ownership by the +peasants. The leading spirit in this great work appears to have +been Nicholas Milutine, Adjunct of the Minister of the Interior, +Lanskoi. Milutine, who had drawn up the Municipal Charta of St. +Petersburg, was distrusted by the Czar as a restless and +uncompromising reformer. It was uncertain from day to day whether +the views of the Ministry of the Interior or those of the +territorial aristocracy would prevail; ultimately, however, under +instructions from the Palace, the Commission accepted not only +the principle of the division of the land, but the system of +communal self-government by the peasants themselves. The +determination of the amount of land to be held by the peasants of +a commune and of the fixed rent to be paid to the lord was left +in the first instance to private agreement; but where such +agreement was not reached, the State, through arbiters elected at +local assemblies of the nobles, decided the matter itself. The +rent once fixed, the State enabled the commune to redeem it by +advancing a capital sum to be recouped by a quit-rent to the +State extending over forty-nine years. The Ukase of the Czar +converting twenty-five millions of serfs into free proprietors, +the greatest act of legislation of modern times, was signed on +the 3rd of March, 1861, and within the next few weeks was read in +every church of the Russian Empire. It was a strange comment on +the system of government in Russia that in the very month in +which the edict was published both Lanskoi and Milutine, who had +been its principal authors, were removed from their posts. The +Czar feared to leave them in power to superintend the actual +execution of the law which they had inspired. In supporting them +up to the final stage of its enactment Alexander had struggled +against misgivings of his own, and against influences of vast +strength alike at the Court, within the Government, and in the +Provinces. With the completion of the Edict of Emancipation his +power of resistance was exhausted, and its execution was +committed by him to those who had been its opponents. That some +of the evils which have mingled with the good in Russian +enfranchisement might have been less had the Czar resolutely +stood by the authors of reform and allowed them to complete their +work in accordance with their own designs and convictions, is +scarcely open to doubt. <a name="FNanchor510"> </a><a href="#Footnote_510"><sup>[510]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Poland, 1861, 1862.]</p> +<p>It had been the belief of educated men in Russia that the +emancipation of the serf would be but the first of a series of +great organic changes, bringing their country more nearly to the +political and social level of its European neighbours. This +belief was not fulfilled. Work of importance was done in the +reconstruction of the judicial system of Russia, but in the other +reforms expected little was accomplished. An insurrection which +broke out in Poland at the beginning of 1863 diverted the +energies of the Government from all other objects; and in the +overpowering outburst of Russian patriotism and national feeling +which it excited, domestic reforms, no less than the ideals of +Western civilisation, lost their interest. The establishment of +Italian independence, coinciding in time with the general +unsettlement and expectation of change which marked the first +years of Alexander's reign, had stirred once more the ill-fated +hopes of the Polish national leaders. From the beginning of the +year 1861 Warsaw was the scene of repeated tumults. The Czar was +inclined, within certain limits, to a policy of conciliation. The +separate Legislature and separate army which Poland had possessed +from 1815 to 1830 he was determined not to restore; but he was +willing to give Poland a large degree of administrative autonomy, +to confide the principal offices in its Government to natives, +and generally to relax something of that close union with Russia +which had been enforced by Nicholas since the rebellion of 1831. +But the concessions of the Czar, accompanied as they were by acts +of repression and severity, were far from satisfying the demands +of Polish patriotism. It was in vain that Alexander in the summer +of 1862 sent his brother Constantine as Viceroy to Warsaw, +established a Polish Council of State, placed a Pole, +Wielopolski, at the head of the Administration, superseded all +the Russian governors of Polish provinces by natives, and gave to +the municipalities and the districts the right of electing local +councils; these concessions seemed nothing, and were in fact +nothing, in comparison with the national independence which the +Polish leaders claimed. The situation grew worse and worse. An +attempt made upon the life of the Grand Duke Constantine during +his entry into Warsaw was but one among a series of similar acts +which discredited the Polish cause and strengthened those who at +St. Petersburg had from the first condemned the Czar's attempts +at conciliation. At length the Russian Government took the step +which precipitated revolt. A levy of one in every two hundred of +the population throughout the Empire had been ordered in the +autumn of 1862. Instructions were sent from St. Petersburg to the +effect that in raising this levy in Poland the country population +were to be spared, and that all persons who were known to be +connected with the disorders in the towns were to be seized as +soldiers. This terrible sentence against an entire political +class was carried out, so far as it lay within the power of the +authorities, on the night of January 14th, 1863. But before the +imperial press-gang surrounded the houses of its victims a rumour +of the intended blow had gone abroad. In the preceding hours, and +during the night of the 14th, thousands fled from Warsaw and the +other Polish towns into the forests. There they formed themselves +into armed bands, and in the course of the next few days a +guerilla warfare broke out wherever Russian troops were found in +insufficient strength or off their guard. <a name="FNanchor511"> </a><a href="#Footnote_511"><sup>[511]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Poland and Russia.]</p> +<p>The classes in which the national spirit of Poland lived were +the so-called noblesse, numbering hundreds of thousands, the town +populations, and the priesthood. The peasants, crushed and +degraded, though not nominally in servitude, were indifferent to +the national cause. On the neutrality, if not on the support, of +the peasants the Russian Government could fairly reckon; within +the towns it found itself at once confronted by an invisible +national Government whose decrees were printed and promulgated by +unknown hands, and whose sentences of death were mercilessly +executed against those whom it condemned as enemies or traitors +to the national cause. So extraordinary was the secrecy which +covered the action of this National Executive, that Milutine, who +was subsequently sent by the Czar to examine into the affairs of +Poland, formed the conclusion that it had possessed accomplices +within the Imperial Government at St. Petersburg itself. The +Polish cause retained indeed some friends in Russia even after +the outbreak of the insurrection; it was not until the +insurrection passed the frontier of the kingdom and was carried +by the nobles into Lithuania and Podolia that the entire Russian +nation took up the struggle with passionate and vindictive ardour +as one for life or death. It was the fatal bane of Polish +nationality that the days of its greatness had left it a claim +upon vast territories where it had planted nothing but a +territorial aristocracy, and where the mass of population, if not +actually Russian, was almost indistinguishable from the Russians +in race and language, and belonged like them to the Greek Church, +which Catholic Poland had always persecuted. For ninety years +Lithuania and the border provinces had been incorporated with the +Czar's dominions, and with the exception of their Polish +landowners they were now in fact thoroughly Russian. When +therefore the nobles of these provinces declared that Poland must +be reconstituted with the limits of 1772, and subsequently took +up arms in concert with the insurrectionary Government at Warsaw, +the Russian people, from the Czar to the peasant, felt the +struggle to be nothing less than one for the dismemberment or the +preservation of their own country, and the doom of Polish +nationality, at least for some generations, was sealed. The +diplomatic intervention of the Western Powers on behalf of the +constitutional rights of Poland under the Treaty of Vienna, which +was to some extent supported by Austria, only prolonged a +hopeless struggle, and gave unbounded popularity to Prince +Gortschakoff, by whom, after a show of courteous attention during +the earlier and still perilous stage of the insurrection, the +interference of the Powers was resolutely and unconditionally +repelled. By the spring of 1864 the insurgents were crushed or +exterminated. General Muravieff, the Governor of Lithuania, +fulfilled his task against the mutinous nobles of this province +with unshrinking severity, sparing neither life nor fortune so +long as an enemy of Russia remained to be overthrown. It was at +Wilna, the Lithuanian capital, not at Warsaw, that the terrors of +Russian repression were the greatest. Muravieff's executions may +have been less numerous than is commonly supposed; but in the +form of pecuniary requisitions and fines he undoubtedly aimed at +nothing less than the utter ruin of a great part of the class +most implicated in the rebellion.</p> +<p>[Agrarian measures in Poland.]</p> +<p>[Agrarian measures in Poland, 1864.]</p> +<p>In Poland itself the Czar, after some hesitation, determined +once and for all to establish a friend to Russia in every +homestead of the kingdom by making the peasant owner of the land +on which he laboured. The insurrectionary Government at the +outbreak of the rebellion had attempted to win over the peasantry +by promising enactments to this effect, but no one had responded +to their appeal. In the autumn of 1863 the Czar recalled Milutine +from his enforced travels and directed him to proceed to Warsaw, +in order to study the affairs of Poland on the spot, and to +report on the measures necessary to be taken for its future +government and organisation. Milutine obtained the assistance of +some of the men who had laboured most earnestly with him in the +enfranchisement of the Russian serfs; and in the course of a few +weeks he returned to St. Petersburg, carrying with him the draft +of measures which were to change the face of Poland. He +recommended on the one hand that every political institution +separating Poland from the rest of the Empire should be swept +away, and the last traces of Polish independence utterly +obliterated; on the other hand, that the peasants, as the only +class on which Russia could hope to count in the future, should +be made absolute and independent owners of the land they +occupied. Prince Gortschakoff, who had still some regard for the +opinion of Western Europe, and possibly some sympathy for the +Polish aristocracy, resisted this daring policy; but the Czar +accepted Milutine's counsel, and gave him a free hand in the +execution of his agrarian scheme. The division of the land +between the nobles and the peasants was accordingly carried out +by Milutine's own officers under conditions very different from +those adopted in Russia. The whole strength of the Government was +thrown on to the side of the peasant and against the noble. +Though the population was denser in Poland than in Russia, the +peasant received on an average four times as much land; the +compensation made to the lords (which was paid in bonds which +immediately fell to half their nominal value) was raised not by +quit-rents on the peasants' lands alone, as in Russia, but by a +general land-tax falling equally on the land left to the lords, +who had thus to pay a great part of their own compensation: above +all, the questions in dispute were settled, not as in Russia by +arbiters elected at local assemblies of the nobles, but by +officers of the Crown. Moreover, the division of landed property +was not made once and for all, as in Russia, but the woods and +pastures remaining to the lords continued subject to undefined +common-rights of the peasants. These common-rights were +deliberately left unsettled in order that a source of contention +might always be present between the greater and the lesser +proprietors, and that the latter might continue to look to the +Russian Government as the protector or extender of their +interests. "We hold Poland," said a Russian statesman, "by its +rights of common." <a name="FNanchor512"> </a><a href="#Footnote_512"><sup>[512]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Russia and Polish nationality.]</p> +<p>Milutine, who, with all the fiery ardour of his national and +levelling policy, seems to have been a gentle and somewhat +querulous invalid, and who was shortly afterwards struck down by +paralysis, to remain a helpless spectator of the European changes +of the next six years, had no share in that warfare against the +language, the religion, and the national culture of Poland with +which Russia has pursued its victory since 1863. The public life +of Poland he was determined to Russianise; its private and social +life he would probably have left unmolested, relying on the +goodwill of the great mass of peasants who owed their +proprietorship to the action of the Czar. There were, however, +politicians at Moscow and St. Petersburg who believed that the +deep-lying instinct of nationality would for the first time be +called into real life among these peasants by their very +elevation from misery to independence, and that where Russia had +hitherto had three hundred thousand enemies Milutine was +preparing for it six millions. It was the dread of this +possibility in the future, the apprehension that material +interests might not permanently vanquish the subtler forces which +pass from generation to generation, latent, if still unconscious, +where nationality itself is not lost, that made the Russian +Government follow up the political destruction of the Polish +noblesse by measures directed against Polish nationality itself, +even at the risk of alienating the class who for the present were +effectively won over to the Czar's cause. By the side of its +life-giving and beneficent agrarian policy Russia has pursued the +odious system of debarring Poland from all means of culture and +improvement associated with the use of its own language, and has +aimed at eventually turning the Poles into Russians by the +systematic impoverishment and extinction of all that is +essentially Polish in thought, in sentiment, and in expression. +The work may prove to be one not beyond its power; and no common +perversity on the part of its Government would be necessary to +turn against Russia the millions who in Poland owe all they have +of prosperity and independence to the Czar: but should the excess +of Russian propagandism, or the hostility of Church to Church, at +some distant date engender a new struggle for Polish +independence, this struggle will be one governed by other +conditions than those of 1831 or 1863, and Russia will, for the +first time, have to conquer on the Vistula not a class nor a +city, but a nation.</p> +<p>[Berlin and St. Petersburg, 1863.]</p> +<p>It was a matter of no small importance to Bismarck and to +Prussia that in the years 1863 and 1864 the Court of St. +Petersburg found itself confronted with affairs of such +seriousness in Poland. From the opportunity which was then +presented to him of obliging an important neighbour, and of +profiting by that neighbour's conjoined embarrassment and +goodwill, Bismarck drew full advantage. He had always regarded +the Poles as a mere nuisance in Europe, and heartily despised the +Germans for the sympathy which they had shown towards Poland in +1848. When the insurrection of 1863 broke out, Bismarck set the +policy of his own country in emphatic contrast with that of +Austria and the Western Powers, and even entered into an +arrangement with Russia for an eventual military combination in +case the insurgents should pass from one side to the other of the +frontier. <a name="FNanchor513"> </a><a href="#Footnote_513"><sup>[513]</sup></a> Throughout the struggle with +the Poles, and throughout the diplomatic conflict with the +Western Powers, the Czar had felt secure in the loyalty of the +stubborn Minister at Berlin; and when, at the close of the Polish +revolt, the events occurred which opened to Prussia the road to +political fortune, Bismarck received his reward in the liberty of +action given him by the Russian Government. The difficulties +connected with Schleswig-Holstein, which, after a short interval +of tranquillity following the settlement of 1852, had again begun +to trouble Europe, were forced to the very front of Continental +affairs by the death of Frederick VII., King of Denmark, in +November, 1863. Prussia had now at its head a statesman resolved +to pursue to their extreme limit the chances which this +complication offered to his own country; and, more fortunate than +his predecessors of 1848, Bismarck had not to dread the +interference of the Czar of Russia as the patron and protector of +the interests of the Danish court.</p> +<p>[Schleswig-Holstein, 1852-1863.]</p> +<p>[The Patent of March 30, 1863.]</p> +<p>By the Treaty of London, signed on May 8th, 1852, all the +great Powers, including Prussia, had recognised the principle of +the integrity of the Danish Monarchy, and had pronounced Prince +Christian of Glücksburg to be heir-presumptive to the whole +dominions of the reigning King. The rights of the German +Federation in Holstein were nevertheless declared to remain +unprejudiced; and in a Convention made with Austria and Prussia +before they joined in this Treaty, King Frederick VII. had +undertaken to conform to certain rules in his treatment of +Schleswig as well as of Holstein. The Duke of Augustenburg, +claimant to the succession in Schleswig-Holstein through the male +line, had renounced his pretensions in consideration of an +indemnity paid to him by the King of Denmark. This surrender, +however, had not received the consent of his son and of the other +members of the House of Augustenburg, nor had the German +Federation, as such, been a party to the Treaty of London. +Relying on the declaration of the Great Powers in favour of the +integrity of the Danish Kingdom, Frederick VII. had resumed his +attempts to assimilate Schleswig, and in some degree Holstein, to +the rest of the Monarchy; and although the Provincial Estates +were allowed to remain in existence, a national Constitution was +established in October, 1855, for the entire Danish State. Bitter +complaints were made of the system of repression and encroachment +with which the Government of Copenhagen was attempting to +extinguish German nationality in the border provinces; at length, +in November, 1858, under threat of armed intervention by the +German Federation, Frederick consented to exclude Holstein from +the operation of the new Constitution. But this did not produce +peace, for the inhabitants of Schleswig, severed from the +sister-province and now excited by the Italian war, raised all +the more vigorous a protest against their own incorporation with +Denmark; while in Holstein itself the Government incurred the +charge of unconstitutional action in fixing the Budget without +the consent of the Estates. The German Federal Diet again +threatened to resort to force, and Denmark prepared for war. +Prussia took up the cause of Schleswig in 1861; and even the +British Government, which had hitherto shown far more interest in +the integrity of Denmark than in the rights of the German +provinces, now recommended that the Constitution of 1855 should +be abolished, and that a separate legislation and administration +should be granted to Schleswig as well as to Holstein. The Danes, +however, were bent on preserving Schleswig as an integral part of +the State, and the Government of King Frederick, while willing to +recognise Holstein as outside Danish territory proper, insisted +that Schleswig should be included within the unitary +Constitution, and that Holstein should contribute a fixed share +to the national expenditure. A manifesto to this effect, +published by King Frederick on the 30th of March, 1863, was the +immediate ground of the conflict now about to break out between +Germany and Denmark. The Diet of Frankfort announced that if this +proclamation were not revoked it should proceed to Federal +execution, that is, armed intervention, against the King of +Denmark as Duke of Holstein. Still counting upon foreign aid or +upon the impotence of the Diet, the Danish Government refused to +change its policy, and on the 29th of September laid before the +Parliament at Copenhagen the law incorporating Schleswig with the +rest of the Monarchy under the new Constitution. Negotiations +were thus brought to a close, and on the 1st of October the Diet +decreed the long-threatened Federal execution. <a name="FNanchor514"> </a><a href="#Footnote_514"><sup>[514]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Death of Frederick VII., November, 1863.]</p> +<p>[Federal execution in Holstein. December, 1863.]</p> +<p>Affairs had reached this stage, and the execution had not yet +been put in force, when, on the 15th of November, King Frederick +VII. died. For a moment it appeared possible that his successor, +Prince Christian of Glücksburg, might avert the conflict +with Germany by withdrawing from the position which his +predecessor had taken up. But the Danish people and Ministry were +little inclined to give way; the Constitution had passed through +Parliament two days before King Frederick's death, and on the +18th of November it received the assent of the new monarch. +German national feeling was now as strongly excited on the +question of Schleswig-Holstein as it had been in 1848. The +general cry was that the union of these provinces with Denmark +must be treated as at an end, and their legitimate ruler, +Frederick of Augustenburg, son of the Duke who had renounced his +rights, be placed on the throne. The Diet of Frankfort, however, +decided to recognise neither of the two rival sovereigns in +Holstein until its own intervention should have taken place. +Orders were given that a Saxon and a Hanoverian corps should +enter the country; and although Prussia and Austria had made a +secret agreement that the settlement of the Schleswig-Holstein +question was to be conducted by themselves independently of the +Diet, the tide of popular enthusiasm ran so high that for the +moment the two leading Powers considered it safer not to obstruct +the Federal authority, and the Saxon and Hanoverian troops +accordingly entered Holstein as mandatories of the Diet at the +end of 1863. The Danish Government, offering no resistance, +withdrew its troops across the river Eider into Schleswig.</p> +<p>[Plans of Bismarck.]</p> +<p>[Union of Austria and Prussia.]</p> +<p>[Austrian and Prussian troops enter Schleswig. Feb., +1864.]</p> +<p>From this time the history of Germany is the history of the +profound and audacious statecraft and of the overmastering will +of Bismarck; the nation, except through its valour on the +battle-field, ceases to influence the shaping of its own +fortunes. What the German people desired in 1864 was that +Schleswig-Holstein should be attached, under a ruler of its own, +to the German Federation as it then existed; what Bismarck +intended was that Schleswig-Holstein, itself incorporated more or +less directly with Prussia, should be made the means of the +destruction of the existing Federal system and of the expulsion +of Austria from Germany. That another petty State, bound to +Prussia by no closer tie than its other neighbours, should be +added to the troop among whom Austria found its vassals and its +instruments, would have been in Bismarck's eyes no gain but +actual detriment to Germany. The German people desired one course +of action; Bismarck had determined on something totally +different; and with matchless resolution and skill he bore down +all opposition of people and of Courts, and forced a reluctant +nation to the goal which he had himself chosen for it. The first +point of conflict was the apparent recognition by Bismarck of the +rights of King Christian IX. as lawful sovereign in the Duchies +as well as in the rest of the Danish State. By the Treaty of +London Prussia had indeed pledged itself to this recognition; but +the German Federation had been no party to the Treaty, and under +the pressure of a vehement national agitation Bavaria and the +minor States one after another recognised Frederick of +Augustenburg as Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. Bismarck was accused +alike by the Prussian Parliament and by the popular voice of +Germany at large of betraying German interests to Denmark, of +abusing Prussia's position as a Great Power, of inciting the +nation to civil war. In vain he declared that, while surrendering +no iota of German rights, the Government of Berlin must recognise +those treaty-obligations with which its own legal title to a +voice in the affairs of Schleswig was intimately bound up, and +that the King of Prussia, not a multitude of irresponsible and +ill-informed citizens, must be the judge of the measures by which +German interests were to be effectually protected. His words made +no single convert either in the Prussian Parliament or in the +Federal Diet. At Frankfort the proposal made by the two leading +Powers that King Christian should be required to annul the +November Constitution, and that in case of his refusal Schleswig +also should be occupied, was rejected, as involving an +acknowledgment of the title of Christian as reigning sovereign. +At Berlin the Lower Chamber refused the supplies which Bismarck +demanded for operations in the Duchies, and formally resolved to +resist his policy by every means at its command. But the +resistance of Parliament and of Diet were alike in vain. By a +masterpiece of diplomacy Bismarck had secured the support and +co-operation of Austria in his own immediate Danish policy, +though but a few months before he had incurred the bitter hatred +of the Court of Vienna by frustrating its plans for a +reorganisation of Germany by a Congress of princes at Frankfort, +and had frankly declared to the Austrian ambassador at Berlin +that if Austria did not transfer its political centre to Pesth +and leave to Prussia free scope in Germany, it would find Prussia +on the side of its enemies in the next war in which it might be +engaged. <a name="FNanchor515"> </a><a href="#Footnote_515"><sup>[515]</sup></a> But the democratic and +impassioned character of the agitation in the minor States in +favour of the Schleswig-Holsteiners and their Augustenburg +pretender had enabled Bismarck to represent this movement to the +Austrian Government as a revolutionary one, and by a dexterous +appeal to the memories of 1848 to awe the Emperor's advisers into +direct concert with the Court of Berlin, as the representative of +monarchical order, in dealing with a problem otherwise too likely +to be solved by revolutionary methods and revolutionary forces. +Count Rechberg, the Foreign Minister at Vienna, was lured into a +policy which, after drawing upon Austria a full share of the +odium of Bismarck's Danish plans, after forfeiting for it the +goodwill of the minor States with which it might have kept +Prussia in check, and exposing it to the risk of a European war, +was to confer upon its rival the whole profit of the joint +enterprise, and to furnish a pretext for the struggle by which +Austria was to be expelled alike from Germany and from what +remained to it of Italy. But of the nature of the toils into +which he was now taking the first fatal and irrevocable step +Count Rechberg appears to have had no suspicion. A seeming +cordiality united the Austrian and Prussian Governments in the +policy of defiance to the will of all the rest of Germany and to +the demands of their own subjects. It was to no purpose that the +Federal Diet vetoed the proposed summons to King Christian and +the proposed occupation of Schleswig. Austria and Prussia +delivered an ultimatum at Copenhagen demanding the repeal of the +November Constitution; and on its rejection their troops entered +Schleswig, not as the mandatories of the German Federation, but +as the instruments of two independent and allied Powers. (Feb. 1, +1864.)</p> +<p>[Campaign in Schleswig. Feb.-April, 1864.]</p> +<p>Against the overwhelming forces by which they were thus +attacked the Danes could only make a brave but ineffectual +resistance. Their first line of defence was the Danewerke, a +fortification extending east and west towards the sea from the +town of Schleswig. Prince Frederick Charles, who commanded the +Prussian right, was repulsed in an attack upon the easternmost +part of this work at Missunde; the Austrians, however, carried +some positions in the centre which commanded the defenders' +lines, and the Danes fell back upon the fortified post of +Düppel, covering the narrow channel which separates the +island of Alsen from the mainland. Here for some weeks they held +the Prussians in check, while the Austrians, continuing the march +northwards, entered Jutland. At length, on the 18th of April, +after several hours of heavy bombardment, the lines of +Düppel were taken by storm and the defenders driven across +the channel into Alsen. Unable to pursue the enemy across this +narrow strip of sea, the Prussians joined their allies in +Jutland, and occupied the whole of the Danish mainland as far as +the Lüm Fiord. The war, however, was not to be terminated +without an attempt on the part of the neutral Powers to arrive at +a settlement by diplomacy. A Conference was opened at London on +the 20th of April, and after three weeks of negotiation the +belligerents were induced to accept an armistice. As the troops +of the German Federation, though unconcerned in the military +operations of the two Great Powers, were in possession of +Holstein, the Federal Government was invited to take part in the +Conference. It was represented by Count Beust, Prime Minister of +Saxony, a politician who was soon to rise to much greater +eminence; but in consequence of the diplomatic union of Prussia +and Austria the views entertained by the Governments of the +secondary German States had now no real bearing on the course of +events, and Count Beust's earliest appearance on the great +European stage was without result, except in its influence on his +own career. <a name="FNanchor516"> </a><a href="#Footnote_516"><sup>[516]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Conference of London. April, 1864.]</p> +<p>The first proposition laid before the Conference was that +submitted by Bernstorff, the Prussian envoy, to the effect that +Schleswig-Holstein should receive complete independence, the +question whether King Christian or some other prince should be +sovereign of the new State being reserved for future settlement. +To this the Danish envoys replied that even on the condition of +personal union with Denmark through the Crown they could not +assent to the grant of complete independence to the Duchies. +Raising their demand in consequence of this refusal, and +declaring that the war had made an end of the obligations +subsisting under the London Treaty of 1852, the two German Powers +then demanded that Schleswig-Holstein should be completely +separated from Denmark and formed into a single State under +Frederick of Augustenburg, who in the eyes of Germany possessed +the best claim to the succession. Lord Russell, while denying +that the acts or defaults of Denmark could liberate Austria and +Prussia from their engagements made with other Powers in the +Treaty of London, admitted that no satisfactory result was likely +to arise from the continued union of the Duchies with Denmark, +and suggested that King Christian should make an absolute cession +of Holstein and of the southern part of Schleswig, retaining the +remainder in full sovereignty. The frontier-line he proposed to +draw at the River Schlei. To this principle of partition both +Denmark and the German Powers assented, but it proved impossible +to reach an agreement on the frontier-line. Bernstorff, who had +at first required nearly all Schleswig, abated his demands, and +would have accepted a line drawn westward from Flensburg, so +leaving to Denmark at least half the province, including the +important position of Düppel. The terms thus offered to +Denmark were not unfavourable. Holstein it did not expect, and +could scarcely desire, to retain; and the territory which would +have been taken from it in Schleswig under this arrangement +included few districts that were not really German. But the +Government of Copenhagen, misled by the support given to it at +the Conference by England and Russia-a support which was one of +words only-refused to cede anything north of the town of +Schleswig. Even when in the last resort Lord Russell proposed +that the frontier-line should be settled by arbitration the +Danish Government held fast to its refusal, and for the sake of a +few miles of territory plunged once more into a struggle which, +if it was not to kindle a European war of vast dimensions, could +end only in the ruin of the Danes. The expected help failed them. +Attacked and overthrown in the island of Alsen, the German flag +carried to the northern extremity of their mainland, they were +compelled to make peace on their enemies' terms. Hostilities were +brought to a close by the signature of Preliminaries on the 1st +of August; and by the Treaty of Vienna, concluded on the 30th of +October, 1864, King Christian ceded his rights in the whole of +Schleswig-Holstein to the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia +jointly, and undertook to recognise whatever dispositions they +might make of those provinces.</p> +<p>[Great Britain and Napoleon III.]</p> +<p>The British Government throughout this conflict had played a +sorry part, at one moment threatening the Germans, at another +using language towards the Danes which might well be taken to +indicate an intention of lending them armed support. To some +extent the errors of the Cabinet were due to the relation which +existed between Great Britain and Napoleon III. It had up to this +time been considered both at London and at Paris that the Allies +of the Crimea had still certain common interests in Europe; and +in the unsuccessful intervention at St. Petersburg on behalf of +Poland in 1863 the British and French Governments had at first +gone hand in hand. But behind every step openly taken by Napoleon +III. there was some half-formed design for promoting the +interests of his dynasty or extending the frontiers of France; +and if England had consented to support the diplomatic concert at +St. Petersburg by measures of force, it would have found itself +engaged in a war in which other ends than those relating to +Poland would have been the foremost. Towards the close of the +year 1863 Napoleon had proposed that a European Congress should +assemble, in order to regulate not only the affairs of Poland but +all those European questions which remained unsettled. This +proposal had been abruptly declined by the English Government; +and when in the course of the Danish war Lord Palmerston showed +an inclination to take up arms if France would do the same, +Napoleon was probably not sorry to have the opportunity of +repaying England for its rejection of his own overtures in the +previous year. He had moreover hopes of obtaining from Prussia an +extension of the French frontier either in Belgium or towards the +<a name="FNanchor517">Rhine.</a><a href="#Footnote_517"><sup>[517]</sup></a> In reply to overtures from +London, Napoleon stated that the cause of Schleswig-Holstein to +some extent represented the principle of nationality, to which +France was friendly, and that of all wars in which France could +engage a war with Germany would be the least desirable. England +accordingly, if it took up arms for the Danes, would have been +compelled to enter the war alone; and although at a later time, +when the war was over and the victors were about to divide the +spoil, the British and French fleets ostentatiously combined in +manoeuvres at Cherbourg, this show of union deceived no one, +least of all the resolute and well-informed director of affairs +at Berlin. To force, and force alone, would Bismarck have +yielded. Palmerston, now sinking into old age, permitted Lord +Russell to parody his own fierce language of twenty years back; +but all the world, except the Danes, knew that the fangs and the +claws were drawn, and that British foreign policy had become for +the time a thing of snarls and grimaces.</p> +<p>[Intentions of Bismarck as to Schleswig-Holstein.]</p> +<p>Bismarck had not at first determined actually to annex +Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia. He would have been content to +leave it under the nominal sovereignty of Frederick of +Augustenburg if that prince would have placed the entire military +and naval resources of Schleswig-Holstein under the control of +the Government of Berlin, and have accepted on behalf of his +Duchies conditions which Bismarck considered indispensable to +German union under Prussian leadership. In the harbour of Kiel it +was not difficult to recognise the natural headquarters of a +future German fleet; the narrow strip of land projecting between +the two seas naturally suggested the formation of a canal +connecting the Baltic with the German Ocean, and such a work +could only belong to Germany at large or to its leading Power. +Moreover, as a frontier district, Schleswig-Holstein was +peculiarly exposed to foreign attack; certain strategical +positions necessary for its defence must therefore be handed over +to its protector. That Prussia should have united its forces with +Austria in order to win for the Schleswig-Holsteiners the power +of governing themselves as they pleased, must have seemed to +Bismarck a supposition in the highest degree preposterous. He had +taken up the cause of the Duchies not in the interest of the +inhabitants but in the interest of Germany; and by Germany he +understood Germany centred at Berlin and ruled by the House of +Hohenzollern. If therefore the Augustenburg prince was not +prepared to accept his throne on these terms, there was no room +for him, and the provinces must be incorporated with Prussia +itself. That Austria would not without compensation permit the +Duchies thus to fall directly or indirectly under Prussian sway +was of course well known to Bismarck; but so far was this from +causing him any hesitation in his policy, that from the first he +had discerned in the Schleswig-Holstein question a favourable +pretext for the war which was to drive Austria out of +Germany.</p> +<p>[Relations of Prussia and Austria, Dec., 1854-Aug., 1865.]</p> +<p>[Convention of Gastein, Aug. 14, 1865.]</p> +<p>Peace with Denmark was scarcely concluded when, at the bidding +of Prussia, reluctantly supported by Austria, the Saxon and +Hanoverian troops which had entered Holstein as the mandatories +of the Federal Diet were compelled to leave the country. A +Provisional Government was established under the direction of an +Austrian and a Prussian Commissioner. Bismarck had met the Prince +of Augustenburg at Berlin some months before, and had formed an +unfavourable opinion of the policy likely to be adopted by him +towards Prussia. All Germany, however, was in favour of the +Prince's claims, and at the Conference of London these claims had +been supported by the Prussian envoy himself. In order to give +some appearance of formal legality to his own action, Bismarck +had to obtain from the Crown-jurists of Prussia a decision that +King Christian IX. had, contrary to the general opinion of +Germany, been the lawful inheritor of Schleswig-Holstein, and +that the Prince of Augustenburg had therefore no rights whatever +in the Duchies. As the claims of Christian had been transferred +by the Treaty of Vienna to the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia +jointly, it rested with them to decide who should be Duke of +Schleswig-Holstein, and under what conditions. Bismarck announced +at Vienna on the 22nd of February, 1865, the terms on which he +was willing that Schleswig-Holstein should be conferred by the +two sovereigns upon Frederick of Augustenburg. He required, in +addition to community of finance, postal system, and railways, +that Prussian law, including the obligation to military service, +should be introduced into the Duchies; that their regiments +should take the oath of fidelity to the King of Prussia, and that +their principal military positions should be held by Prussian +troops. These conditions would have made Schleswig-Holstein in +all but name a part of the Prussian State: they were rejected +both by the Court of Vienna and by Prince Frederick himself, and +the population of Schleswig-Holstein almost unanimously declared +against them. Both Austria and the Federal Diet now supported the +Schleswig-Holsteiners in what appeared to be a struggle on behalf +of their independence against Prussian domination; and when the +Prussian Commissioner in Schleswig-Holstein expelled the most +prominent of the adherents of Augustenburg, his Austrian +colleague published a protest declaring the act to be one of +lawless violence. It seemed that the outbreak of war between the +two rival Powers could not long be delayed; but Bismarck had on +this occasion moved too rapidly for his master, and +considerations relating to the other European Powers made it +advisable to postpone the rupture for some months. An agreement +was patched up at Gastein by which, pending an ultimate +settlement, the government of the two provinces was divided +between their masters, Austria taking the administration of +Holstein, Prussia that of Schleswig, while the little district of +Lauenburg on the south was made over to King William in full +sovereignty. An actual conflict between the representatives of +the two rival governments at their joint headquarters in +Schleswig-Holstein was thus averted; peace was made possible at +least for some months longer; and the interval was granted to +Bismarck which was still required for the education of his +Sovereign in the policy of blood and iron, and for the completion +of his own arrangements with the enemies of Austria outside +Germany. <a name="FNanchor518"> </a><a href="#Footnote_518"><sup>[518]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Bismarck at Biarritz, Sept., 1865.]</p> +<p>The natural ally of Prussia was Italy; but without the +sanction of Napoleon III. it would have been difficult to engage +Italy in a new war. Bismarck had therefore to gain at least the +passive concurrence of the French Emperor in the union of Italy +and Prussia against Austria. He visited Napoleon at Biarritz in +September, 1865, and returned with the object of his journey +achieved. The negotiation of Biarritz, if truthfully recorded, +would probably give the key to much of the European history of +the next five years. As at Plombières, the French Emperor +acted without his Ministers, and what he asked he asked without a +witness. That Bismarck actually promised to Napoleon III. either +Belgium or any part of the Rhenish Provinces in case of the +aggrandisement of Prussia has been denied by him, and is not in +itself probable. But there are understandings which prove to be +understandings on one side only; politeness may be +misinterpreted; and the world would have found Count Bismarck +unendurable if at every friendly meeting he had been guilty of +the frankness with which he informed the Austrian Government that +its centre of action must be transferred from Vienna to Pesth. +That Napoleon was now scheming for an extension of France on the +north-east is certain; that Bismarck treated such rectification +of the frontier as a matter for arrangement is hardly to be +doubted; and if without a distinct and written agreement Napoleon +was content to base his action on the belief that Bismarck would +not withhold from him his reward, this only proved how great was +the disparity between the aims which the French ruler allowed +himself to cherish and his mastery of the arts by which alone +such aims were to be realised. Napoleon desired to see Italy +placed in possession of Venice; he probably believed at this time +that Austria would be no unequal match for Prussia and Italy +together, and that the natural result of a well-balanced struggle +would be not only the completion of Italian union but the +purchase of French neutrality or mediation by the cession of +German territory west of the Rhine. It was no part of the duty of +Count Bismarck to chill Napoleon's fancies or to teach him +political wisdom. The Prussian statesman may have left Biarritz +with the conviction that an attack on Germany would sooner or +later follow the disappointment of those hopes which he had +flattered and intended to mock; but for the present he had +removed one dangerous obstacle from his path, and the way lay +free before him to an Italian alliance if Italy itself should +choose to combine with him in war.</p> +<p>[Italy, 1862-65.]</p> +<p>Since the death of Cavour the Italian Government had made no +real progress towards the attainment of the national aims, the +acquisition of Rome and Venice. Garibaldi, impatient of delay, +had in 1862 landed again in Sicily and summoned his followers to +march with him upon Rome. But the enterprise was resolutely +condemned by Victor Emmanuel, and when Garibaldi crossed to the +mainland he found the King's troops in front of him at +Aspromonte. There was an exchange of shots, and Garibaldi fell +wounded. He was treated with something of the distinction shown +to a royal prisoner, and when his wound was healed he was +released from captivity. His enterprise, however, and the +indiscreet comments on it made by Rattazzi, who was now in power, +strengthened the friends of the Papacy at the Tuileries, and +resulted in the fall of the Italian Minister. His successor, +Minghetti, deemed it necessary to arrive at some temporary +understanding with Napoleon on the Roman question. The presence +of French troops at Rome offended national feeling, and made any +attempt at conciliation between the Papal Court and the Italian +Government hopeless. In order to procure the removal of this +foreign garrison Minghetti was willing to enter into engagements +which seemed almost to imply the renunciation of the claim on +Rome. By a Convention made in September, 1864, the Italian +Government undertook not to attack the territory of the Pope, and +to oppose by force every attack made upon it from without. +Napoleon on his part engaged to withdraw his troops gradually +from Rome as the Pope should organise his own army, and to +complete the evacuation within two years. It was, however, +stipulated in an Article which was intended to be kept secret, +that the capital of Italy should be changed, the meaning of this +stipulation being that Florence should receive the dignity which +by the common consent of Italy ought to have been transferred +from Turin to Rome and to Rome alone. The publication of this +Article, which was followed by riots in Turin, caused the +immediate fall of Minghetti's Cabinet. He was succeeded in office +by General La Marmora, under whom the negotiations with Prussia +were begun which, after long uncertainty, resulted in the +alliance of 1866 and in the final expulsion of Austria from +Italy. <a name="FNanchor519"> </a><a href="#Footnote_519"><sup>[519]</sup></a></p> +<p>[La Marmora.]</p> +<p>[Govone at Berlin, March, 1866.]</p> +<p>[Treaty of April 8, 1856.]</p> +<p>Bismarck from the beginning of his Ministry appears to have +looked forward to the combination of Italy and Prussia against +the common enemy; but his plans ripened slowly. In the spring of +1865, when affairs seemed to be reaching a crisis in +Schleswig-Holstein, the first serious overtures were made by the +Prussian ambassador at Florence. La Marmora answered that any +definite proposition would receive the careful attention of the +Italian Government, but that Italy would not permit itself to be +made a mere instrument in Prussia's hands for the intimidation of +Austria. Such caution was both natural and necessary on the part +of the Italian Minister; and his reserve seemed to be more than +justified when, a few months later, the Treaty of Gastein +restored Austria and Prussia to relations of friendship. La +Marmora might now well consider himself released from all +obligations towards the Court of Berlin: and, entering on a new +line of policy, he sent an envoy to Vienna to ascertain if the +Emperor would amicably cede Venetia to Italy in return for the +payment of a very large sum of money and the assumption by Italy +of part of the Austrian national debt. Had this transaction been +effected, it would probably have changed the course of European +history; the Emperor, however, declined to bargain away any part +of his dominions, and so threw Italy once more into the camp of +his great enemy. In the meantime the disputes about +Schleswig-Holstein broke out afresh. Bismarck renewed his efforts +at Florence in the spring of 1866, with the result that General +Govone was sent to Berlin in order to discuss with the Prussian +Minister the political and military conditions of an alliance. +But instead of proposing immediate action, Bismarck stated to +Govone that the question of Schleswig-Holstein was insufficient +to justify a great war in the eyes of Europe, and that a better +cause must be put forward, namely, the reform of the Federal +system of Germany. Once more the subtle Italians believed that +Bismarck's anxiety for a war with Austria was feigned, and that +he sought their friendship only as a means of extorting from the +Court of Vienna its consent to Prussia's annexation of the Danish +Duchies. There was an apparent effort on the part of the Prussian +statesman to avoid entering into any engagement which involved +immediate action; the truth being that Bismarck was still in +conflict with the pacific influences which surrounded the King, +and uncertain from day to day whether his master would really +follow him in the policy of war. He sought therefore to make the +joint resort to arms dependent on some future act, such as the +summoning of a German Parliament, from which the King of Prussia +could not recede if once he should go so far. But the Italians, +apparently not penetrating the real secret of Bismarck's +hesitation, would be satisfied with no such indeterminate +engagement; they pressed for action within a limited time; and in +the end, after Austria had taken steps which went far to overcome +the last scruples of King William, Bismarck consented to fix +three months as the limit beyond which the obligation of Italy to +accompany Prussia into war should not extend. On the 8th of April +a Treaty of offensive and defensive alliance was signed. It was +agreed that if the King of Prussia should within three months +take up arms for the reform of the Federal system of Germany, +Italy would immediately after the outbreak of hostilities declare +war upon Austria. Both Powers were to engage in the war with +their whole force, and peace was not to be made but by common +consent, such consent not to be withheld after Austria should +have agreed to cede Venetia to Italy and territory with an equal +population to Prussia. <a name="FNanchor520"> </a><a href="#Footnote_520"><sup>[520]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Bismarck and Austria, Aug., 1865-April, 1866.]</p> +<p>Eight months had now passed since the signature of the +Convention of Gastem. The experiment of an understanding with +Austria, which King William had deemed necessary, had been made, +and it had failed; or rather, as Bismarck expressed himself in a +candid moment, it had succeeded, inasmuch as it had cured the +King of his scruples and raised him to the proper point of +indignation against the Austrian Court. The agents in effecting +this happy result had been the Prince of Augustenburg, the +population of Holstein, and the Liberal party throughout Germany +at large. In Schleswig, which the Convention of Gastein had +handed over to Prussia, General Manteuffel, a son of the Minister +of 1850, had summarily put a stop to every expression of public +opinion, and had threatened to imprison the Prince if he came +within his reach; in Holstein the Austrian Government had +permitted, if it had not encouraged, the inhabitants to agitate +in favour of the Pretender, and had allowed a mass-meeting to be +held at Altona on the 23rd of January, where cheers were raised +for Augustenburg, and the summoning of the Estates of +Schleswig-Holstein was demanded. This was enough to enable +Bismarck to denounce the conduct of Austria as an alliance with +revolution. He demanded explanations from the Government of +Vienna, and the Emperor declined to render an account of his +actions. Warlike preparations now began, and on the 16th of March +the Austrian Government announced that it should refer the +affairs of Schleswig-Holstein to the Federal Diet. This was a +clear departure from the terms of the Convention of Gastein, and +from the agreement made between Austria and Prussia before +entering into the Danish war in 1864 that the Schleswig-Holstein +question should be settled by the two Powers independently of the +German Federation. King William was deeply moved by such a breach +of good faith; tears filled his eyes when he spoke of the conduct +of the Austrian Emperor; and though pacific influences were still +active around him he now began to fall in more cordially with the +warlike policy of his Minister. The question at issue between +Prussia and Austria expanded from the mere disposal of the +Duchies to the reconstitution of the Federal system of Germany. +In a note laid before the Governments of all the Minor States +Bismarck declared that the time had come when Germany must +receive a new and more effective organisation, and inquired how +far Prussia could count on the support of allies if it should be +attacked by Austria or forced into war. It was immediately after +this re-opening of the whole problem of Federal reform in Germany +that the draft of the Treaty with Italy was brought to its final +shape by Bismarck and the Italian envoy, and sent to the Ministry +at Florence for its approval.</p> +<p>[Austria offers Venice, May 5.]</p> +<p>Bismarck had now to make the best use of the three months' +delay that was granted to him. On the day after the acceptance of +the Treaty by the Italian Government, the Prussian representative +at the Diet of Frankfort handed in a proposal for the summoning +of a German Parliament, to be elected by universal suffrage. +Coming from the Minister who had made Parliamentary government a +mockery in Prussia, this proposal was scarcely considered as +serious. Bavaria, as the chief of the secondary States, had +already expressed its willingness to enter upon the discussion of +Federal reform, but it asked that the two leading Powers should +in the meantime undertake not to attack one another. Austria at +once acceded to this request, and so forced Bismarck into giving +a similar assurance. Promises of disarmament were then exchanged; +but as Austria declined to stay the collection of its forces in +Venetia against Italy, Bismarck was able to charge his adversary +with insincerity in the negotiation, and preparations for war +were resumed on both sides. Other difficulties, however, now came +into view. The Treaty between Prussia and Italy had been made +known to the Court of Vienna by Napoleon, whose advice La Marmora +had sought before its conclusion, and the Austrian Emperor had +thus become aware of his danger. He now determined to sacrifice +Venetia if Italy's neutrality could be so secured. On the 5th of +May the Italian ambassador at Paris, Count Nigra, was informed by +Napoleon that Austria had offered to cede Venetia to him on +behalf of Victor Emmanuel if France and Italy would not prevent +Austria from indemnifying itself at Prussia's expense in Silesia. +Without a war, at the price of mere inaction, Italy was offered +all that it could gain by a struggle which was likely to be a +desperate one, and which might end in disaster. La Marmora was in +sore perplexity. Though he had formed a juster estimate of the +capacity of the Prussian army than any other statesman or soldier +in Europe, he was thoroughly suspicious of the intentions of the +Prussian Government; and in sanctioning the alliance of the +previous month he had done so half expecting that Bismarck would +through the prestige of this alliance gain for Prussia its own +objects without entering into war, and then leave Italy to reckon +with Austria as best it might. He would gladly have abandoned the +alliance and have accepted Austria's offer if Italy could have +done this without disgrace. But the sense of honour was +sufficiently strong to carry him past this temptation. He +declined the offer made through Paris, and continued the +armaments of Italy, though still with a secret hope that European +diplomacy might find the means of realising the purpose of his +country without war. <a name="FNanchor521"> </a><a href="#Footnote_521"><sup>[521]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Proposals for a Congress.]</p> +<p>The neutral Powers were now, with various objects, bestirring +themselves in favour of a European Congress. Napoleon believed +the time to be come when the Treaties of 1815 might be finally +obliterated by the joint act of Europe. He was himself ready to +join Prussia with three hundred thousand men if the King would +transfer the Rhenish Provinces to France. Demands, direct and +indirect, were made on Count Bismarck on behalf of the Tuileries +for cessions of territory of greater or less extent. These +demands were neither granted nor refused. Bismarck +procrastinated; he spoke of the obstinacy of the King his master; +he inquired whether parts of Belgium or Switzerland would not +better assimilate with France than a German province; he put off +the Emperor's representatives by the assurance that he could more +conveniently arrange these matters with the Emperor when he +should himself visit Paris. On the 28th of May invitations to a +Congress were issued by France, England, and Russia jointly, the +objects of the Congress being defined as the settlement of the +affairs of Schleswig-Holstein, of the differences between Austria +and Italy, and of the reform of the Federal Constitution of +Germany, in so far as these affected Europe at large. The +invitation was accepted by Prussia and by Italy; it was accepted +by Austria only under the condition that no arrangement should be +discussed which should give an increase of territory or power to +one of the States invited to the Congress. This subtly-worded +condition would not indeed have excluded the equal aggrandisement +of all. It would not have rendered the cession of Venetia to +Italy or the annexation of Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia +impossible; but it would either have involved the surrender of +the former Papal territory by Italy in order that Victor +Emmanuel's dominions should receive no increase, or, in the +alternative, it would have entitled Austria to claim Silesia as +its own equivalent for the augmentation of the Italian Kingdom. +Such reservations would have rendered any efforts of the Powers +to preserve peace useless, and they were accepted as tantamount +to a refusal on the part of Austria to attend the Congress. +Simultaneously with its answer to the neutral Powers, Austria +called upon the Federal Diet to take the affairs of +Schleswig-Holstein into its own hands, and convoked the Holstein +Estates. Bismarck thereupon declared the Convention of Gastein to +be at an end, and ordered General Manteuffel to lead his troops +into Holstein. The Austrian commander, protesting that he yielded +only to superior force, withdrew through Altona into Hanover. +Austria at once demanded and obtained from the Diet of Frankfort +the mobilisation of the whole of the Federal armies. The +representative of Prussia, declaring that this act of the Diet +had made an end of the existing Federal union, handed in the plan +of his Government for the reorganisation of Germany, and quitted +Frankfort. Diplomatic relations between Austria and Prussia were +broken off on the 12th of June, and on the 15th Count Bismarck +demanded of the sovereigns of Hanover, Saxony, and Hesse-Cassel, +that they should on that very day put a stop to their military +preparations and accept the Prussian scheme of Federal reform. +Negative answers being given, Prussian troops immediately marched +into these territories, and war began. Weimar, Mecklenburg, and +other petty States in the north took part with Prussia: all the +rest of Germany joined Austria. <a name="FNanchor522"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_522"><sup>[522]</sup></a></p> +<p>[German Opinion.]</p> +<p>The goal of Bismarck's desire, the end which he had steadily +set before himself since entering upon his Ministry, was +attained; and, if his calculations as to the strength of the +Prussian army were not at fault, Austria was at length to be +expelled from the German Federation by force of arms. But the +process by which Bismarck had worked up to this result had ranged +against him the almost unanimous opinion of Germany outside the +military circles of Prussia itself. His final demand for the +summoning of a German Parliament was taken as mere comedy. The +guiding star of his policy had hitherto been the dynastic +interest of the House of Hohenzollern; and now, when the Germans +were to be plunged into war with one another, it seemed as if the +real object of the struggle was no more than the annexation of +the Danish Duchies and some other coveted territory to the +Prussian Kingdom. The voice of protest and condemnation rose loud +from every organ of public opinion. Even in Prussia itself the +instances were few where any spontaneous support was tendered to +the Government. The Parliament of Berlin, struggling up to the +end against the all-powerful Minister, had seen its members +prosecuted for speeches made within its own walls, and had at +last been prorogued in order that its insubordination might not +hamper the Crown in the moment of danger. But the mere +disappearance of Parliament could not conceal the intensity of +ill-will which the Minister and his policy had excited. The +author of a fratricidal war of Germans against Germans was in the +eyes of many the greatest of all criminals; and on the 7th of May +an attempt was made by a young fanatic to take Bismarck's life in +the streets of Berlin. The Minister owed the preservation of his +life to the feebleness of his assailant's weapon and to his own +vigorous arm. But the imminence of the danger affected King +William far more than Bismarck himself. It spoke to his simple +mind of supernatural protection and aid; it stilled his doubts; +and confirmed him in the belief that Prussia was in this crisis +the instrument for working out the Almighty's will.</p> +<p>[Napoleon III.]</p> +<p>A few days before the outbreak of hostilities the Emperor +Napoleon gave publicity to his own view of the European +situation. He attributed the coming war to three causes: to the +faulty geographical limits of the Prussian State, to the desire +for a better Federal system in Germany, and to the necessity felt +by the Italian nation for securing its independence. These needs +would, he conceived, be met by a territorial rearrangement in the +north of Germany consolidating and augmenting the Prussian +Kingdom; by the creation of a more effective Federal union +between the secondary German States; and finally, by the +incorporation of Venetia with Italy, Austria's position in +Germany remaining unimpaired. Only in the event of the map of +Europe being altered to the exclusive advantage of one Great +Power would France require an extension of frontier. Its +interests lay in the preservation of the equilibrium of Europe, +and in the maintenance of the Italian Kingdom. These had already +been secured by arrangements which would not require France to +draw the sword; a watchful but unselfish neutrality was the +policy which its Government had determined to pursue. Napoleon +had in fact lost all control over events, and all chance of +gaining the Rhenish Provinces, from the time when he permitted +Italy to enter into the Prussian alliance without any stipulation +that France should at its option be admitted as a third member of +the coalition. He could not ally himself with Austria against his +own creation, the Italian Kingdom; on the other hand, he had no +means of extorting cessions from Prussia when once Prussia was +sure of an ally who could bring two hundred thousand men into the +field. His diplomacy had been successful in so far as it had +assured Venetia to Italy whether Prussia should be victorious or +overthrown, but as regarded France it had landed him in absolute +powerlessness. He was unable to act on one side; he was not +wanted on the other. Neutrality had become a matter not of choice +but of necessity; and until the course of military events should +have produced some new situation in Europe, France might well be +watchful, but it could scarcely gain much credit for its +disinterested part. <a name="FNanchor523"> </a><a href="#Footnote_523"><sup>[523]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Hanover and Hesse-Cassel conquered.]</p> +<p>[The Bohemian Campaign, June 26-July 3.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Königgrätz, July 3.]</p> +<p>Assured against an attack from the side of the Rhine, Bismarck +was able to throw the mass of the Prussian forces southwards +against Austria, leaving in the north only the modest contingent +which was necessary to overcome the resistance of Hanover and +Hesse-Cassel. Through the precipitancy of a Prussian general, who +struck without waiting for his colleagues, the Hanoverians gained +a victory at Langensalza on the 27th of June; but other Prussian +regiments arrived on the field a few hours later, and the +Hanoverian army was forced to capitulate on the next day. The +King made his escape to Austria; the Elector of Hesse-Cassel, +less fortunate, was made a prisoner of war. Northern Germany was +thus speedily reduced to submission, and any danger of a +diversion in favour of Austria in this quarter disappeared. In +Saxony no attempt was made to bar the way to the advancing +Prussians. Dresden was occupied without resistance, but the Saxon +army marched southwards in good time, and joined the Austrians in +Bohemia. The Prussian forces, about two hundred and fifty +thousand strong, now gathered on the Saxon and Silesian frontier, +covering the line from Pirna to Landshut. They were composed of +three armies: the first, or central, army under Prince Frederick +Charles, a nephew of the King; the second, or Silesian, army +under the Crown Prince; the westernmost, known as the army of the +Elbe, under General Herwarth von Bittenfeld. Against these were +ranged about an equal number of Austrians, led by Benedek, a +general who had gained great distinction in the Hungarian and the +Italian campaigns. It had at first been thought probable that +Benedek, whose forces lay about Olmütz, would invade +Southern Silesia, and the Prussian line had therefore been +extended far to the east. Soon, however, it appeared that the +Austrians were unable to take up the offensive, and Benedek moved +westwards into Bohemia. The Prussian line was now shortened, and +orders were given to the three armies to cross the Bohemian +frontier and converge in the direction of the town of Gitschin. +General Moltke, the chief of the staff, directed their operations +from Berlin by telegraph. The combined advance of the three +armies was executed with extraordinary precision; and in a series +of hard-fought combats extending from the 26th to the 29th of +June the Austrians were driven back upon their centre, and +effective communication was established between the three +invading bodies. On the 30th the King of Prussia, with General +Moltke and Count Bismarck, left Berlin; on the 2nd of July they +were at headquarters at Gitschin. It had been Benedek's design to +leave a small force to hold the Silesian army in check, and to +throw the mass of his army westwards upon Prince Frederick +Charles and overwhelm him before he could receive help from his +colleagues. This design had been baffled by the energy of the +Crown Prince's attack, and by the superiority of the Prussians in +generalship, in the discipline of their troops, and in the weapon +they carried; for though the Austrians had witnessed in the +Danish campaign the effects of the Prussian breech-loading rifle, +they had not thought it necessary to adopt a similar arm. +Benedek, though no great battle had yet been fought, saw that the +campaign was lost, and wrote to the Emperor on the 1st of July +recommending him to make peace, for otherwise a catastrophe was +inevitable. He then concentrated his army on high ground a few +miles west of Königgrätz, and prepared for a defensive +battle on the grandest scale. In spite of the losses of the past +week he could still bring about two hundred thousand men into +action. The three Prussian armies were now near enough to one +another to combine in their attack, and on the night of July 2nd +the King sent orders to the three commanders to move against +Benedek before daybreak. Prince Frederick Charles, advancing +through the village of Sadowa, was the first in the field. For +hours his divisions sustained an unequal struggle against the +assembled strength of the Austrians. Midday passed; the defenders +now pressed down upon their assailants; and preparations for a +retreat had been begun, when the long-expected message arrived +that the Crown Prince was close at hand. The onslaught of the +army of Silesia on Benedek's right, which was accompanied by the +arrival of Herwarth at the other end of the field of battle, at +once decided the day. It was with difficulty that the Austrian +commander prevented the enemy from seizing the positions which +would have cut off his retreat. He retired eastwards across the +Elbe with a loss of eighteen thousand killed and wounded and +twenty-four thousand prisoners. His army was ruined; and ten days +after the Prussians had crossed the frontier the war was +practically at an end. <a name="FNanchor524"> </a><a href="#Footnote_524"><sup>[524]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Battle of Custozza, June 24.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon's mediation, July 5.]</p> +<p>[Preliminaries of Nicolsburg, July 26.]</p> +<p>[Treaty of Prague, Aug. 23.]</p> +<p>The disaster of Königgrätz was too great to be +neutralised by the success of the Austrian forces in Italy. La +Marmora, who had given up his place at the head of the Government +in order to take command of the army, crossed the Mincio at the +head of a hundred and twenty thousand men, but was defeated by +inferior numbers on the fatal ground of Custozza, and compelled +to fall back on the Oglio. This gleam of success, which was +followed by a naval victory at Lissa off the Istrian coast, made +it easier for the Austrian Emperor to face the sacrifices that +were now inevitable. Immediately after the battle of +Königgrätz he invoked the mediation of Napoleon III., +and ceded Venetia to him on behalf of Italy. Napoleon at once +tendered his good offices to the belligerents, and proposed an +armistice. His mediation was accepted in principle by the King or +Prussia, who expressed his willingness also to grant an armistice +as soon as preliminaries of peace were recognised by the Austrian +Court. In the meantime, while negotiations passed between all +four Governments, the Prussians pushed forward until their +outposts came within sight of Vienna. If in pursuance of General +Moltke's plan the Italian generals had thrown a corps +north-eastwards from the head of the Adriatic, and so struck at +the very heart of the Austrian monarchy, it is possible that the +victors of Königgrätz might have imposed their own +terms without regard to Napoleon's mediation, and, while adding +the Italian Tyrol to Victor Emmanuel's dominions, have completed +the union of Germany under the House of Hohenzollern at one +stroke. But with Hungary still intact, and the Italian army +paralysed by the dissensions of its commanders, prudence bade the +great statesman of Berlin content himself with the advantages +which he could reap without prolongation of the war, and without +the risk of throwing Napoleon into the enemy's camp. He had at +first required, as conditions of peace, that Prussia should be +left free to annex Saxony, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, and other North +German territory; that Austria should wholly withdraw from German +affairs; and that all Germany, less the Austrian Provinces, +should be united in a Federation under Prussian leadership. To +gain the assent of Napoleon to these terms, Bismarck hinted that +France might by accord with Prussia annex Belgium. Napoleon, +however, refused to agree to the extension of Prussia's +ascendency over all Germany, and presented a counter-project +which was in its turn rejected by Bismarck. It was finally +settled that Prussia should not be prevented from annexing +Hanover, Nassau, and Hesse-Cassel, as conquered territory that +lay between its own Rhenish Provinces and the rest of the +kingdom; that Austria should completely withdraw from German +affairs; that Germany north of the Main, together with Saxony, +should be included in a Federation under Prussian leadership; and +that for the States south of the Main there should be reserved +the right of entering into some kind of national bond with the +Northern League. Austria escaped without loss of any of its +non-Italian territory; it also succeeded in preserving the +existence of Saxony, which, as in 1815, the Prussian Government +had been most anxious to annex. Napoleon, in confining the +Prussian Federation to the north of the Main, and in securing by +a formal stipulation in the Treaty the independence of the +Southern States, imagined himself to have broken Germany into +halves, and to have laid the foundation of a South German League +which should look to France as its protector. On the other hand, +Bismarck by his annexation of Hanover and neighbouring districts +had added a population of four millions to the Prussian Kingdom, +and given it a continuous territory; he had forced Austria out of +the German system; he had gained its sanction to the Federal +union of all Germany north of the Main, and had at least kept the +way open for the later extension of this union to the Southern +States. Preliminaries of peace embodying these conditions and +recognising Prussia's sovereignty in Schleswig-Holstein were +signed at Nicolsburg on the 26th of July, and formed the basis of +the definitive Treaty of Peace which was concluded at Prague on +the 23rd of August. An illusory clause, added at the instance of +Napoleon, provided that if the population of the northern +districts of Schleswig should by a free vote express the wish to +be united with Denmark, these districts should be ceded to the +Danish Kingdom. <a name="FNanchor525"> </a><a href="#Footnote_525"><sup>[525]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The South German States.]</p> +<p>[Secret Treaties of the Southern States with Prussia.]</p> +<p>Bavaria and the south-western allies of Austria, though their +military action was of an ineffective character, continued in +arms for some weeks after the battle of Königgrätz and +the suspension of hostilities arranged at Nicolsburg did not come +into operation on their behalf till the 2nd of August. Before +that date their forces were dispersed and their power of +resistance broken by the Prussian generals Falckenstein and +Manteuffel in a series of unimportant engagements and intricate +manoeuvres. The City of Frankfort, against which Bismarck seems +to have borne some personal hatred, was treated for a while by +the conquerors with extraordinary and most impolitic harshness; +in other respects the action of the Prussian Government towards +these conquered States was not such as to render future union and +friendship difficult. All the South German Governments, with the +single exception of Baden, appealed to the Emperor Napoleon for +assistance in the negotiations which they had opened at Berlin. +But at the very moment when this request was made and granted +Napoleon was himself demanding from Bismarck the cession of the +Bavarian Palatinate and of the Hessian districts west of the +Rhine. Bismarck had only to acquaint the King of Bavaria and the +South German Ministers with the designs of their French protector +in order to reconcile them to his own chastening, but not +unfriendly, hand. The grandeur of a united Fatherland flashed +upon minds hitherto impenetrable by any national ideal when it +became known that Napoleon was bargaining for Oppenheim and +Kaiserslautern. Not only were the insignificant questions as to +the war-indemnities to be paid to Prussia and the frontier +villages to be exchanged promptly settled, but by a series of +secret Treaties all the South German States entered into an +offensive and defensive alliance with the Prussian King, and +engaged in case of war to place their entire forces at his +disposal and under his command. The diplomacy of Napoleon III. +had in the end effected for Bismarck almost more than his earlier +intervention had frustrated, for it had made the South German +Courts the allies of Prussia not through conquest or mere +compulsion but out of regard for their own interests. <a name="FNanchor526"> </a><a href="#Footnote_526"><sup>[526]</sup></a> It +was said by the opponents of the Imperial Government in France, +and scarcely with exaggeration, that every error which it was +possible to commit had, in the course of the year 1866, been +committed by Napoleon III. One crime, one act of madness, +remained open to the Emperor's critics, to lash him and France +into a conflict with the Power whose union he had not been able +to prevent.</p> +<p>[Projects of compensation for France.]</p> +<p>Prior to the battle of Königgrätz, it would seem +that all the suggestions of the French Emperor relating to the +acquisition of Belgium were made to the Prussian Government +through secret agents, and that they were actually unknown, or +known by mere hearsay, to Benedetti, the French Ambassador at +Berlin. According to Prince Bismarck, these overtures had begun +as early as 1862, when he was himself Ambassador at Paris, and +were then made verbally and in private notes to himself; they +were the secret of Napoleon's neutrality during the Danish war; +and were renewed through relatives and confidential agents of the +Emperor when the struggle with Austria was seen to be +approaching. The ignorance in which Count Benedetti was kept of +his master's private diplomacy may to some extent explain the +extraordinary contradictions between the accounts given by this +Minister and by Prince Bismarck of the negotiations that passed +between them in the period following the campaign of 1866, after +Benedetti had himself been charged to present the demands of the +French Government. In June, while the Ambassador was still, as it +would seem, in ignorance of what was passing behind his back, he +had informed the French Ministry that Bismarck, anxious for the +preservation of French neutrality, had hinted at the +compensations that might be made to France if Prussia should meet +with great success in the coming war. According to the report of +the Ambassador, made at the time, Count Bismarck stated that he +would rather withdraw from public life than cede the Rhenish +Provinces with Cologne and Bonn, but that he believed it would be +possible to gain the King's ultimate consent to the cession of +the Prussian district of Trèves on the Upper Moselle, +which district, together with Luxemburg or parts of Belgium and +Switzerland, would give France an adequate improvement of its +frontier. The Ambassador added in his report, by way of comment, +that Count Bismarck was the only man in the kingdom who was +disposed to make any cession of Prussian territory whatever, and +that a unanimous and violent revulsion against France would be +excited by the slightest indication of any intention on the part +of the French Government to extend its frontiers towards the +Rhine. He concluded his report with the statement that, after +hearing Count Bismarck's suggestions, he had brought the +discussion to a summary close, not wishing to leave the Prussian +Minister under the impression that any scheme involving the +seizure of Belgian or Swiss territory had the slightest chance of +being seriously considered at Paris. (June 4-8.)</p> +<p>[Demand for Rhenish territory, July 25-Aug. 7, 1866.]</p> +<p>[The Belgian project, Aug. 16-30.]</p> +<p>Benedetti probably wrote these last words in full sincerity. +Seven weeks later, after the settlement of the Preliminaries at +Nicolsburg, he was ordered to demand the cession of the Bavarian +Palatinate, of the portion of Hesse-Darmstadt west of the Rhine, +including Mainz, and of the strip of Prussian territory on the +Saar which had been left to France in 1814 but taken from it in +1815. According to the statement of Prince Bismarck, which would +seem to be exaggerated, this demand was made by Benedetti as an +ultimatum and with direct threats of war, which were answered by +Bismarck in language of equal violence. In any case the demand +was unconditionally refused, and Benedetti travelled to Paris in +order to describe what had passed at the Prussian headquarters. +His report made such an impression on the Emperor that the demand +for cessions on the Rhine was at once abandoned, and the Foreign +Minister, Drouyn de Lhuys, who had been disposed to enforce this +by arms, was compelled to quit office. Benedetti returned to +Berlin, and now there took place that negotiation relating to +Belgium on which not only the narratives of the persons +immediately concerned, but the documents written at the time, +leave so much that is strange and unexplained. According to +Benedetti, Count Bismarck was keenly anxious to extend the German +Federation to the South of the Main, and desired with this object +an intimate union with at least one Great Power. He sought in the +first instance the support of France, and offered in return to +facilitate the seizure of Belgium. The negotiation, according to +Benedetti, failed because the Emperor Napoleon required that the +fortresses in Southern Germany should be held by the troops of +the respective States to which they belonged, while at the same +time General Manteuffel, who had been sent from Berlin on a +special mission to St. Petersburg, succeeded in effecting so +intimate a union with Russia that alliance with France became +unnecessary. According to the counter-statement of Prince +Bismarck, the plan now proposed originated entirely with the +French Ambassador, and was merely a repetition of proposals which +had been made by Napoleon during the preceding four years, and +which were subsequently renewed at intervals by secret agents +almost down to the outbreak of the war of 1870. Prince Bismarck +has stated that he dallied with these proposals only because a +direct refusal might at any moment have caused the outbreak of +war between France and Prussia, a catastrophe which up to the end +he sought to avert. In any case the negotiation with Benedetti +led to no conclusion, and was broken off by the departure of both +statesmen from Berlin in the beginning of autumn. <a name="FNanchor527"> </a><a href="#Footnote_527"><sup>[527]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Prussia and North Germany after the war.]</p> +<p>The war of 1866 had been brought to an end with extraordinary +rapidity; its results were solid and imposing. Venice, perplexed +no longer by its Republican traditions or by doubts of the +patriotism of the House of Savoy, prepared to welcome King Victor +Emmanuel; Bismarck, returning from the battle-field of +Königgrätz, found his earlier unpopularity forgotten in +the flood of national enthusiasm which his achievements and those +of the army had evoked. A new epoch had begun; the antagonisms of +the past were out of date; nobler work now stood before the +Prussian people and its rulers than the perpetuation of a barren +struggle between Crown and Parliament. By none was the severance +from the past more openly expressed than by Bismarck himself; by +none was it more bitterly felt than by the old Conservative party +in Prussia, who had hitherto regarded the Minister as their own +representative. In drawing up the Constitution of the North +German Federation, Bismarck remained true to the principle which +he had laid down at Frankfort before the war, that the German +people must be represented by a Parliament elected directly by +the people themselves. In the incorporation of Hanover, +Hesse-Cassel and the Danish Duchies with Prussia, he saw that it +would be impossible to win the new populations to a loyal union +with Prussia if the King's Government continued to recognise no +friends but the landed aristocracy and the army. He frankly +declared that the action of the Cabinet in raising taxes without +the consent of Parliament had been illegal, and asked for an Act +of Indemnity. The Parliament of Berlin understood and welcomed +the message of reconciliation. It heartily forgave the past, and +on its own initiative added the name of Bismarck to those for +whose services to the State the King asked a recompense. The +Progressist party, which had constituted the majority in the last +Parliament, gave place to a new combination known as the National +Liberal party, which, while adhering to the Progressist creed in +domestic affairs, gave its allegiance to the Foreign and the +German policy of the Minister. Within this party many able men +who in Hanover and the other annexed territories had been the +leaders of opposition to their own Governments now found a larger +scope and a greater political career. More than one of the +colleagues of Bismarck who had been appointed to their offices in +the years of conflict were allowed to pass into retirement, and +their places were filled by men in sympathy with the National +Liberals. With the expansion of Prussia and the establishment of +its leadership in a German Federal union, the ruler of Prussia +seemed himself to expand from the instrument of a military +monarchy to the representative of a great nation.</p> +<p>[Hungary and Austria, 1865.]</p> +<p>To Austria the battle of Königgrätz brought a +settlement of the conflict between the Crown and Hungary. The +Constitution of February, 1861, hopefully as it had worked during +its first years, had in the end fallen before the steady refusal +of the Magyars to recognise the authority of a single Parliament +for the whole Monarchy. Within the Reichsrath itself the example +of Hungary told as a disintegrating force; the Poles, the Czechs +seceded from the Assembly; the Minister, Schmerling, lost his +authority, and was forced to resign in the summer of 1865. Soon +afterwards an edict of the Emperor suspended the Constitution. +Count Belcredi, who took office in Schmerling's place, attempted +to arrive at an understanding with the Magyar leaders. The +Hungarian Diet was convoked, and was opened by the King in person +before the end of the year. Francis Joseph announced his +abandonment of the principle that Hungary had forfeited its +ancient rights by rebellion, and asked in return that the Diet +should not insist upon regarding the laws of 1848 as still in +force. Whatever might be the formal validity of those laws, it +was, he urged, impossible that they should be brought into +operation unaltered. For the common affairs of the two halves of +the Monarchy there must be some common authority. It rested with +the Diet to arrive at the necessary understanding with the +Sovereign on this point, and to place on a satisfactory footing +the relations of Hungary to Transylvania and Croatia. As soon as +an accord should have been reached on these subjects, Francis +Joseph stated that he would complete his reconciliation with the +Magyars by being crowned King of Hungary.</p> +<p>[Deák.]</p> +<p>In the Assembly to which these words were addressed the +majority was composed of men of moderate opinions, under the +leadership of Francis Deák. Deák had drawn up the +programme of the Hungarian Liberals in the election of 1847. He +had at that time appeared to be marked out by his rare political +capacity and the simple manliness of his character for a great, +if not the greatest, part in the work that then lay before his +country. But the violence of revolutionary methods was alien to +his temperament. After serving in Batthyány's Ministry, he +withdrew from public life on the outbreak of war with Austria, +and remained in retirement during the dictatorship of Kossuth and +the struggle of 1849. As a loyal friend to the Hapsburg dynasty, +and a clear-sighted judge of the possibilities of the time, he +stood apart while Kossuth dethroned the Sovereign and proclaimed +Hungarian independence. Of the patriotism and the +disinterestedness of Deák there was never the shadow of a +doubt; a distinct political faith severed him from the leaders +whose enterprise ended in the catastrophe which he had foreseen, +and preserved for Hungary one statesman who could, without +renouncing his own past and without inflicting humiliation on the +Sovereign, stand as the mediator between Hungary and Austria when +the time for reconciliation should arrive. Deák was little +disposed to abate anything of what he considered the just demands +of his country. It was under his leadership that the Diet had in +1861 refused to accept the Constitution which established a +single Parliament for the whole Monarchy. The legislative +independence of Hungary he was determined at all costs to +preserve intact; rather than surrender this he had been willing +in 1861 to see negotiations broken off and military rule +restored. But when Francis Joseph, wearied of the sixteen years' +struggle, appealed once more to Hungary for union and friendship, +there was no man more earnestly desirous to reconcile the +Sovereign with the nation, and to smooth down the opposition to +the King's proposals which arose within the Diet itself, than +Deák.</p> +<p>[Scheme of Hungarian Committee, June 25, 1866.]</p> +<p>Under his influence a committee was appointed to frame the +necessary basis of negotiation. On the 25th of June, 1866, the +Committee gave in its report. It declared against any +Parliamentary union with the Cis-Leithan half of the Monarchy, +but consented to the establishment of common Ministries for War, +Finance, and Foreign Affairs, and recommended that the Budget +necessary for these joint Ministries should be settled by +Delegations from the Hungarian Diet and from the western +Reichsrath. <a name="FNanchor528"> </a><a href="#Footnote_528"><sup>[528]</sup></a> The Delegations, it was +proposed, should meet separately, and communicate their views to +one another by writing. Only when agreement should not have been +thus attained were the Delegations to unite in a single body, in +which case the decision was to rest with an absolute majority of +votes.</p> +<p>[Negotiations with Hungary after Königgrätz.]</p> +<p>[Federalism or Dualism.]</p> +<p>[Settlement by Beust.]</p> +<p>[Francis Joseph's Coronation, June 8, 1867.]</p> +<p>The debates of the Diet on the proposals of King Francis +Joseph had been long and anxious; it was not until the moment +when the war with Prussia was breaking out that the Committee +presented its report. The Diet was now prorogued, but immediately +after the battle of Königgrätz the Hungarian leaders +were called to Vienna, and negotiations were pushed forward on +the lines laid down by the Committee. It was a matter of no small +moment to the Court of Vienna that while bodies of Hungarian +exiles had been preparing to attack the Empire both from the side +of Silesia and of Venice, Deák and his friends had loyally +abstained from any communication with the foreign enemies of the +House of Hapsburg. That Hungary would now gain almost complete +independence was certain; the question was not so much whether +there should be an independent Parliament and Ministry at Pesth +as whether there should not be a similarly independent Parliament +and Ministry in each of the territories of the Crown, the +Austrian Sovereign becoming the head of a Federation instead of +the chief of a single or a dual State. Count Belcredi, the +Minister at Vienna, was disposed towards such a Federal system; +he was, however, now confronted within the Cabinet by a rival who +represented a different policy. After making peace with Prussia, +the Emperor called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Count +Beust, who had hitherto been at the head of the Saxon Government, +and who had been the representative of the German Federation at +the London Conference of 1864. Beust, while ready to grant the +Hungarians their independence, advocated the retention of the +existing Reichsrath and of a single Ministry for all the +Cis-Leithan parts of the Monarchy. His plan, which pointed to the +maintenance of German ascendency in the western provinces, and +which deeply offended the Czechs and the Slavic populations, was +accepted by the Emperor: Belcredi withdrew from office, and Beust +was charged, as President of the Cabinet, with the completion of +the settlement with Hungary (Feb. 7, 1867). Deák had +hitherto left the chief ostensible part in the negotiations to +Count Andrássy, one of the younger patriots of 1848, who +had been condemned to be hanged, and had lived a refugee during +the next ten years. He now came to Vienna himself, and in the +course of a few days removed the last remaining difficulties. The +King gratefully charged him with the formation of the Hungarian +Ministry under the restored Constitution, but Deák +declined alike all office, honours, and rewards, and +Andrássy, who had actually been hanged in effigy, was +placed at the head of the Government. The Diet, which had +reassembled shortly before the end of 1866, greeted the national +Ministry with enthusiasm. Alterations in the laws of 1848 +proposed in accordance with the agreement made at Vienna, and +establishing the three common Ministries with the system of +Delegations for common affairs, were carried by large majorities. +<a name="FNanchor529"> </a><a href="#Footnote_529"><sup>[529]</sup></a> The abdication of Ferdinand, +which throughout the struggle of 1849 Hungary had declined to +recognise, was now acknowledged as valid, and on the 8th of June, +1867, Francis Joseph was crowned King of Hungary amid the +acclamations of Pesth. The gift of money which is made to each +Hungarian monarch on his coronation Francis Joseph by a happy +impulse distributed among the families of those who had fallen in +fighting against him in 1849. A universal amnesty was proclaimed, +no condition being imposed on the return of the exiles but that +they should acknowledge the existing Constitution. Kossuth alone +refused to return to his country so long as a Hapsburg should be +its King, and proudly clung to ideas which were already those of +the past.</p> +<p>[Hungary since 1867.]</p> +<p>The victory of the Magyars was indeed but too complete. Not +only were Beust and the representatives of the western half of +the Monarchy so overmatched by the Hungarian negotiators that in +the distribution of the financial burdens of the Empire Hungary +escaped with far too small a share, but in the more important +problem of the relation of the Slavic and Roumanian populations +of the Hungarian Kingdom to the dominant race no adequate steps +were taken for the protection of these subject nationalities. +That Croatia and Transylvania should be reunited with Hungary if +the Emperor and the Magyars were ever to be reconciled was +inevitable; and in the case of Croatia certain conditions were no +doubt imposed, and certain local rights guaranteed. But on the +whole the non-Magyar peoples in Hungary were handed over to the +discretion of the ruling race. The demand of Bismarck that the +centre of gravity of the Austrian States should be transferred +from Vienna to Pesth had indeed been brought to pass. While in +the western half of the Monarchy the central authority, still +represented by a single Parliament, seemed in the succeeding +years to be altogether losing its cohesive power, and the +political life of Austria became a series of distracting +complications, in Hungary the Magyar Government resolutely set +itself to the task of moulding into one the nationalities over +which it ruled. Uniting the characteristic faults with the great +qualities of a race marked out by Nature and ancient habit for +domination over more numerous but less aggressive neighbours, the +Magyars have steadily sought to the best of their power to +obliterate the distinctions which make Hungary in reality not one +but several nations. They have held the Slavic and the Roumanian +population within their borders with an iron grasp, but they have +not gained their affection. The memory of the Russian +intervention in 1849 and of the part then played by Serbs, by +Croats and Roumanians in crushing Magyar independence has blinded +the victors to the just claims of these races both within and +without the Hungarian kingdom, and attached their sympathy to the +hateful and outworn empire of the Turk. But the individuality of +peoples is not to be blotted out in a day; nor, with all its +striking advance in wealth, in civilisation, and in military +power, has the Magyar State been able to free itself from the +insecurity arising from the presence of independent communities +on its immediate frontiers belonging to the same race as those +whose language and nationality it seeks to repress.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XXIV."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c24">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>Napoleon III.-The Mexican Expedition-Withdrawal of the French +and death of Maximilian-The Luxemburg Question-Exasperation in +France against Prussia-Austria-Italy-Mentana-Germany after +1866-The Spanish candidature of Leopold of Hohenzollern-French +declaration-Benedetti and King William-Withdrawal of Leopold and +demand for guarantees-The telegram from Ems-War-Expected +Alliances of France-Austria-Italy- Prussian plans-The French +army-Causes of French inferiority- +Weissenburg-Wörth-Spicheren-Borny-Mars-la-Tour-Gravelotte-Sedan- +The Republic proclaimed at Paris-Favre and Bismarck-Siege of +Paris-Gambetta at Tours-The Army of the Loire-Fall of +Metz-Fighting at Orleans-Sortie of Champigny-The Armies of the +North, of the Loire, of the East-Bourbaki's ruin-Capitulation of +Paris and Armistice- Preliminaries of Peace-Germany-Establishment +of the German Empire-The Commune of Paris-Second siege-Effects of +the war as to Russia and Italy-Rome.</p> +<br> + +<p>[Napoleon III.]</p> +<p>The reputation of Napoleon III. was perhaps at its height at +the end of the first ten years of his reign. His victories over +Russia and Austria had flattered the military pride of France; +the flowing tide of commercial prosperity bore witness, as it +seemed, to the blessings of a government at once firm and +enlightened; the reconstruction of Paris dazzled a generation +accustomed to the mean and dingy aspect of London and other +capitals before 1850, and scarcely conscious of the presence or +absence of real beauty and dignity where it saw spaciousness and +brilliance. The political faults of Napoleon, the shiftiness and +incoherence of his designs, his want of grasp on reality, his +absolute personal nullity as an administrator, were known to some +few, but they had not been displayed to the world at large. He +had done some great things, he had conspicuously failed in +nothing. Had his reign ended before 1863, he would probably have +left behind him in popular memory the name of a great ruler. But +from this time his fortune paled. The repulse of his intervention +on behalf of Poland in 1863 by the Russian Court, his petulant or +miscalculating inaction during the Danish War of the following +year, showed those to be mistaken who had imagined that the +Emperor must always exercise a controlling power in Europe. +During the events which formed the first stage in the +consolidation of Germany his policy was a succession of errors. +Simultaneously with the miscarriage of his European schemes, an +enterprise which he had undertaken beyond the Atlantic, and which +seriously weakened his resources at a time when concentrated +strength alone could tell on European affairs, ended in tragedy +and disgrace.</p> +<p>[The Mexican Project.]</p> +<p>There were in Napoleon III., as a man of State, two +personalities, two mental existences, which blended but ill with +one another. There was the contemplator of great human forces, +the intelligent, if not deeply penetrative, reader of the signs +of the times, the brooder through long years of imprisonment and +exile, the child of Europe, to whom Germany, Italy, and England +had all in turn been nearer than his own country; and there was +the crowned adventurer, bound by his name and position to gain +for France something that it did not possess, and to regard the +greatness of every other nation as an impediment to the +ascendency of his own. Napoleon correctly judged the principle of +nationality to be the dominant force in the immediate future of +Europe. He saw in Italy and in Germany races whose internal +divisions alone had prevented them from being the formidable +rivals of France, and yet he assisted the one nation to effect +its union, and was not indisposed, within certain limits, to +promote the consolidation of the other. That the acquisition of +Nice and Savoy, and even of the Rhenish Provinces, could not in +itself make up to France for the establishment of two great +nations on its immediate frontiers Napoleon must have well +understood: he sought to carry the principle of agglomeration a +stage farther in the interests of France itself, and to form some +moral, if not political, union of the Latin nations, which should +embrace under his own ascendency communities beyond the Atlantic +as well as those of the Old World. It was with this design that +in the year 1862 he made the financial misdemeanours of Mexico +the pretext for an expedition to that country, the object of +which was to subvert the native Republican Government, and to +place the Hapsburg Maximilian, as a vassal prince, on its throne. +England and Spain had at first agreed to unite with France in +enforcing the claims of the European creditors of Mexico; but as +soon as Napoleon had made public his real intentions these Powers +withdrew their forces, and the Emperor was left free to carry out +his plans alone.</p> +<p>[The Mexican Expedition, 1862-1865.]</p> +<p>[Napoleon compelled to withdraw, 1866-7.]</p> +<p>[Fall and Death of Maximilian.]</p> +<p>The design of Napoleon to establish French influence in Mexico +was connected with his attempt to break up the United States by +establishing the independence of the Southern Confederacy, then +in rebellion, through the mediation of the Great Powers of +Europe. So long as the Civil War in the United States lasted, it +seemed likely that Napoleon's enterprise in Mexico would be +successful. Maximilian was placed upon the throne, and the +Republican leader, Juarez, was driven into the extreme north of +the country. But with the overthrow of the Southern Confederacy +and the restoration of peace in the United States in 1865 the +prospect totally changed. The Government of Washington refused to +acknowledge any authority in Mexico but that of Juarez, and +informed Napoleon in courteous terms that his troops must be +withdrawn. Napoleon had bound himself by Treaty to keep +twenty-five thousand men in Mexico for the protection of +Maximilian. He was, however, unable to defy the order of the +United States. Early in 1866 he acquainted Maximilian with the +necessities of the situation, and with the approaching removal of +the force which alone had placed him and could sustain him on the +throne. The unfortunate prince sent his consort, the daughter of +the King of the Belgians, to Europe to plead against this act of +desertion; but her efforts were vain, and her reason sank under +the just presentiment of her husband's ruin. The utmost on which +Napoleon could venture was the postponement of the recall of his +troops till the spring of 1867. He urged Maximilian to abdicate +before it was too late; but the prince refused to dissociate +himself from his counsellors who still implored him to remain. +Meanwhile the Juarists pressed back towards the capital from +north and south. As the French detachments were withdrawn towards +the coast the entire country fell into their hands. The last +French soldiers quitted Mexico at the beginning of March, 1867, +and on the 15th of May, Maximilian, still lingering at Queretaro, +was made prisoner by the Republicans. He had himself while in +power ordered that the partisans of Juarez should be treated not +as soldiers but as brigands, and that when captured they should +be tried by court-martial and executed within twenty-four hours. +The same severity was applied to himself. He was sentenced to +death and shot at Queretaro on the 19th of June.</p> +<p>[Decline of Napoleon's reputation.]</p> +<p>Thus ended the attempt of Napoleon III. to establish the +influence of France and of his dynasty beyond the seas. The doom +of Maximilian excited the compassion of Europe; a deep, +irreparable wound was inflicted on the reputation of the man who +had tempted him to his treacherous throne, who had guaranteed him +protection, and at the bidding of a superior power had abandoned +him to his ruin. From this time, though the outward splendour of +the Empire was undiminished, there remained scarcely anything of +the personal prestige which Napoleon had once enjoyed in so rich +a measure. He was no longer in the eyes of Europe or of his own +country the profound, self-contained statesman in whose brain lay +the secret of coming events; he was rather the gambler whom +fortune was preparing to desert, the usurper trembling for the +future of his dynasty and his crown. Premature old age and a +harassing bodily ailment began to incapacitate him for personal +exertion. He sought to loosen the reins in which his despotism +held France, and to make a compromise with public opinion which +was now declaring against him. And although his own cooler +judgment set little store by any addition of frontier strips of +alien territory to France, and he would probably have been best +pleased to pass the remainder of his reign in undisturbed +inaction, he deemed it necessary, after failure in Mexico had +become inevitable, to seek some satisfaction in Europe for the +injured pride of his country. He entered into negotiations with +the King of Holland for the cession of Luxemburg, and had gained +his assent, when rumours of the transaction reached the North +German Press, and the project passed from out the control of +diplomatists and became an affair of rival nations.</p> +<p>[The Luxemburg question, Feb.-May, 1867.]</p> +<p>Luxemburg, which was an independent Duchy ruled by the King of +Holland, had until 1866 formed a part of the German Federation; +and although Bismarck had not attempted to include it in his own +North German Union, Prussia retained by the Treaties of 1815 a +right to garrison the fortress of Luxemburg, and its troops were +actually there in possession. The proposed transfer of the Duchy +to France excited an outburst of patriotic resentment in the +Federal Parliament at Berlin. The population of Luxemburg was +indeed not wholly German, and it had shown the strongest +disinclination to enter the North German league; but the +connection of the Duchy with Germany in the past was close enough +to explain the indignation roused by Napoleon's project among +politicians who little suspected that during the previous year +Bismarck himself had cordially recommended this annexation, and +that up to the last moment he had been privy to the Emperor's +plan. The Prussian Minister, though he did not affect to share +the emotion of his countrymen, stated that his policy in regard +to Luxemburg must be influenced by the opinion of the Federal +Parliament, and he shortly afterwards caused it to be understood +at Paris that the annexation of the Duchy to France was +impossible. As a warning to France he had already published the +Treaties of alliance between Prussia and the South German States, +which had been made at the close of the war of 1866, but had +hitherto been kept secret. <a name="FNanchor530"> </a><a href="#Footnote_530"><sup>[530]</sup></a> Other powers now began to +tender their good offices. Count Beust, on behalf of Austria, +suggested that Luxemburg should be united to Belgium, which in +its turn should cede a small district to France. This +arrangement, which would have been accepted at Berlin, and which, +by soothing the irritation produced in France by Prussia's +successes, would possibly have averted the war of 1870, was +frustrated by the refusal of the King of Belgium to part with any +of his territory-Napoleon, disclaiming all desire for territorial +extension, now asked only for the withdrawal of the Prussian +garrison from Luxemburg; but it was known that he was determined +to enforce this demand by arms. The Russian Government proposed +that the question should be settled by a Conference of the Powers +at London. This proposal was accepted under certain conditions by +France and Prussia, and the Conference assembled on the 7th of +May. Its deliberations were completed in four days, and the +results were summed up in the Treaty of London signed on the +11th. By this Treaty the Duchy of Luxemburg was declared neutral +territory under the collective guarantee of the Powers. Prussia +withdrew its garrison, and the King of Holland, who continued to +be sovereign of the Duchy, undertook to demolish the +fortifications of Luxemburg, and to maintain it in the future as +an open town. <a name="FNanchor531"> </a><a href="#Footnote_531"><sup>[531]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Exasperation in France against Prussia.]</p> +<p>Of the politicians of France, those who even affected to +regard the aggrandisement of Prussia and the union of Northern +Germany with indifference or satisfaction were a small minority. +Among these was the Emperor, who, after his attempts to gain a +Rhenish Province had been baffled, sought to prove in an +elaborate State-paper that France had won more than it had lost +by the extinction of the German Federation as established in +1815, and by the dissolution of the tie that had bound Austria +and Prussia together as members of this body. The events of 1866 +had, he contended, broken up a system devised in evil days for +the purpose of uniting Central Europe against France, and had +restored to the Continent the freedom of alliances; in other +words, they had made it possible for the South German States to +connect themselves with France. If this illusion was really +entertained by the Emperor, it was rudely dispelled by the +discovery of the Treaties between Prussia and the Southern States +and by their publication in the spring of 1867. But this +revelation was not necessary to determine the attitude of the +great majority of those who passed for the representatives of +independent political opinion in France. The Ministers indeed +were still compelled to imitate the Emperor's optimism, and a few +enlightened men among the Opposition understood that France must +be content to see the Germans effect their national unity; but +the great body of unofficial politicians, to whatever party they +belonged, joined in the bitter outcry raised at once against the +aggressive Government of Prussia and the feeble administration at +Paris, which had not found the means to prevent, or had actually +facilitated, Prussia's successes. Thiers, who more than any one +man had by his writings popularised the Napoleonic legend and +accustomed the French to consider themselves entitled to a +monopoly of national greatness on the Rhine, was the severest +critic of the Emperor, the most zealous denouncer of the work +which Bismarck had effected. It was only with too much reason +that the Prussian Government looked forward to an attack by +France at some earlier or later time as almost certain, and +pressed forward the military organisation which was to give to +Germany an army of unheard-of efficiency and strength.</p> +<p>[France and Prussia after 1867.]</p> +<p>There appears to be no evidence that Napoleon III. himself +desired to attack Prussia so long as that Power should strictly +observe the stipulations of the Treaty of Prague which provided +for the independence of the South German States. But the current +of events irresistibly impelled Germany to unity. The very Treaty +which made the river Main the limit of the North German +Confederacy reserved for the Southern States the right of +attaching themselves to those of the North by some kind of +national tie. Unless the French Emperor was resolved to acquiesce +in the gradual development of this federal unity until, as +regarded the foreigner, the North and the South of Germany should +be a single body, he could have no confident hope of lasting +peace. To have thus anticipated and accepted the future, to have +removed once and for all the sleepless fears of Prussia by the +frank recognition of its right to give all Germany effective +Union, would have been an act too great and too wise in reality, +too weak and self-renouncing in appearance, for any chief of a +rival nation. Napoleon did not take this course; on the other +hand, not desiring to attack Prussia while it remained within the +limits of the Treaty of Prague, he refrained from seeking +alliances with the object of immediate and aggressive action. The +diplomacy of the Emperor during the period from 1866 to 1870 is +indeed still but imperfectly known; but it would appear that his +efforts were directed only to the formation of alliances with the +view of eventual action when Prussia should have passed the +limits which the Emperor himself or public opinion in Paris +should, as interpreter of the Treaty of Prague, impose upon this +Power in its dealings with the South German States.</p> +<p>[Negotiations with Austria, 1868-69.]</p> +<p>The Governments to which Napoleon could look for some degree +of support were those of Austria and Italy. Count Beust, now +Chancellor of the Austrian Monarchy, was a bitter enemy to +Prussia, and a rash and adventurous politician, to whom the very +circumstance of his sudden elevation from the petty sphere of +Saxon politics gave a certain levity and unconstraint in the +handling of great affairs. He cherished the idea of recovering +Austria's ascendency in Germany, and was disposed to repel the +extension of Russian influence westwards by boldly encouraging +the Poles to seek for the satisfaction of their national hopes in +Galicia under the Hapsburg Crown. To Count Beust France was the +most natural of all allies. On the other hand, the very system +which Beust had helped to establish in Hungary raised serious +obstacles against the adoption of his own policy. +Andrássy, the Hungarian Minister, while sharing Beust's +hostility to Russia, declared that his countrymen had no interest +in restoring Austria's German connection, and were in fact better +without it. In these circumstances the negotiations of the French +and the Austrian Emperor were conducted by a private +correspondence. The interchange of letters continued during the +years 1868 and 1869, and resulted in a promise made by Napoleon +to support Austria if it should be attacked by Prussia, while the +Emperor Francis Joseph promised to assist France if it should be +attacked by Prussia and Russia together. No Treaty was made, but +a general assurance was exchanged between the two Emperors that +they would pursue a common policy and treat one another's +interests as their own. With the view of forming a closer +understanding the Archduke Albrecht visited Paris in February, +1870, and a French general was sent to Vienna to arrange the plan +of campaign in case of war with Prussia. In such a war, if +undertaken by the two Powers, it was hoped that Italy would join. +<a name="FNanchor532"> </a><a href="#Footnote_532"><sup>[532]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Italy after 1866.]</p> +<p>[Mentana, Nov. 3, 1867.]</p> +<p>The alliance of 1866 between Prussia and Italy had left behind +it in each of these States more of rancour than of good-will. La +Marmora had from the beginning to the end been unfortunate in his +relations with Berlin. He had entered into the alliance with +suspicion; he would gladly have seen Venetia given to Italy by a +European Congress without war; and when hostilities broke out, he +had disregarded and resented what he considered an attempt of the +Prussian Government to dictate to him the military measures to be +pursued. On the other hand, the Prussians charged the Italian +Government with having deliberately held back its troops after +the battle of Custozza in pursuance of arrangements made between +Napoleon and the Austrian Emperor on the voluntary cession of +Venice, and with having endangered or minimised Prussia's success +by enabling the Austrians to throw a great part of their Italian +forces northwards. There was nothing of that comradeship between +the Italian and the Prussian armies which is acquired on the +field of battle. The personal sympathies of Victor Emmanuel were +strongly on the side of the French Emperor; and when, at the +close of the year 1866, the French garrison was withdrawn from +Rome in pursuance of the convention made in September, 1864, it +seemed probable that France and Italy might soon unite in a close +alliance. But in the following year the attempts of the +Garibaldians to overthrow the Papal Government, now left without +its foreign defenders, embroiled Napoleon and the Italian people. +Napoleon was unable to defy the clerical party in France; he +adopted the language of menace in his communications with the +Italian Cabinet; and when, in the autumn of 1867, the +Garibaldians actually invaded the Roman States, he despatched a +body of French troops under General Failly to act in support of +those of the Pope. An encounter took place at Mentana on November +3rd, in which the Garibaldians, after defeating the Papal forces, +were put to the rout by General Failly. The occupation of Civita +Vecchia was renewed, and in the course of the debates raised at +Paris on the Italian policy of the Government, the Prime +Minister, M. Rouher, stated, with the most passionate emphasis +that, come what might, Italy should never possess itself of Rome. +"Never," he cried, "will France tolerate such an outrage on its +honour and its dignity." <a name="FNanchor533"> </a><a href="#Footnote_533"><sup>[533]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Napoleon and Italy after Mentana.]</p> +<p>[Italy and Austria.]</p> +<p>The affair of Mentana, the insolent and heartless language in +which General Failly announced his success, the reoccupation of +Roman territory by French troops, and the declaration made by M. +Rouher in the French Assembly, created wide and deep anger in +Italy, and made an end for the time of all possibility of a +French alliance. Napoleon was indeed, as regarded Italy, in an +evil case. By abandoning Rome he would have turned against +himself and his dynasty the whole clerical interest in France, +whose confidence he had already to some extent forfeited by his +policy in 1860; on the other hand, it was vain for him to hope +for the friendship of Italy whilst he continued to bar the way to +the fulfilment of the universal national desire. With the view of +arriving at some compromise he proposed a European Conference on +the Roman question; but this was resisted above all by Count +Bismarck, whose interest it was to keep the sore open; and +neither England nor Russia showed any anxiety to help the Pope's +protector out of his difficulties. Napoleon sought by a +correspondence with Victor Emmanuel during 1868 and 1869 to pave +the way for a defensive alliance; but Victor Emmanuel was in +reality as well as in name a constitutional king, and probably +could not, even if he had desired, have committed Italy to +engagements disapproved by the Ministry and Parliament. It was +made clear to Napoleon that the evacuation of the Papal States +must precede any treaty of alliance between France and Italy. +Whether the Italian Government would have been content with a +return to the conditions of the September Convention, or whether +it made the actual possession of Rome the price of a +treaty-engagement, is uncertain; but inasmuch as Napoleon was not +at present prepared to evacuate Civita Vecchia, he could aim at +nothing more than some eventual concert when the existing +difficulties should have been removed. The Court of Vienna now +became the intermediary between the two Powers who had united +against it in 1859. Count Beust was free from the associations +which had made any approach to friendship with the kingdom of +Victor Emmanuel impossible for his predecessors. He entered into +negotiations at Florence, which resulted in the conclusion of an +agreement between the Austrian and the Italian Governments that +they would act together and guarantee one another's territories +in the event of a war between France and Prussia. This agreement +was made with the assent of the Emperor Napoleon, and was +understood to be preparatory to an accord with France itself; but +it was limited to a defensive character, and it implied that any +eventual concert with France must be arranged by the two Powers +in combination with one another. <a name="FNanchor534"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_534"><sup>[534]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Isolation of France.]</p> +<p>At the beginning of 1870 the Emperor Napoleon was therefore +without any more definite assurance of support in a war with +Prussia than the promise of the Austrian Sovereign that he would +assist France if attacked by Prussia and Russia together, and +that he would treat the interests of France as his own. By +withdrawing his protection from Rome Napoleon had undoubtedly a +fair chance of building up this shadowy and remote engagement +into a defensive alliance with both Austria and Italy. But +perfect clearness and resolution of purpose, as well as the +steady avoidance of all quarrels on mere incidents, were +absolutely indispensable to the creation and the employment of +such a league against the Power which alone it could have in +view; and Prussia had now little reason to fear any such exercise +of statesmanship on the part of Napoleon. The solution of the +Roman question, in other words the withdrawal of the French +garrison from Roman territory, could proceed only from some +stronger stimulus than the declining force of Napoleon's own +intelligence and will could now supply. This fatal problem +baffled his attempts to gain alliances; and yet the isolation of +France was but half acknowledged, but half understood; and a host +of rash, vainglorious spirits impatiently awaited the hour that +should call them to their revenge on Prussia for the triumphs in +which it had not permitted France to share.</p> +<p>[Germany, 1867-1870.]</p> +<p>Meanwhile on the other side Count Bismarck advanced with what +was most essential in his relations with the States of Southern +Germany-the completion of the Treaties of Alliance by conventions +assimilating the military systems of these States to that of +Prussia. A Customs-Parliament was established for the whole of +Germany, which, it was hoped, would be the precursor of a +National Assembly uniting the North and the South of the Main. +But in spite of this military and commercial approximation, the +progress towards union was neither so rapid nor so smooth as the +patriots of the North could desire. There was much in the +harshness and self-assertion of the Prussian character that +repelled the less disciplined communities of the South. +Ultramontanism was strong in Bavaria; and throughout the minor +States the most advanced of the Liberals were opposed to a closer +union with Berlin, from dislike of its absolutist traditions and +the heavy hand of its Government. Thus the tendency known as +Particularism was supported in Bavaria and Würtemberg by +classes of the population who in most respects were in antagonism +to one another; nor could the memories of the campaign of 1866 +and the old regard for Austria be obliterated in a day. Bismarck +did not unduly press on the work of consolidation. He marked and +estimated the force of the obstacles which too rapid a +development of his national policy would encounter. It is +possible that he may even have seen indications that religious +and other influences might imperil the military union which he +had already established, and that he may not have been unwilling +to call to his aid, as the surest of all preparatives for +national union, the event which he had long believed to be +inevitable at some time or other in the future, a war with +France.</p> +<p>[The Spanish candidature of Leopold of Hohenzollern.]</p> +<p>[Leopold accepts the Spanish Crown, July 3, 1870.]</p> +<p>Since the autumn of 1868 the throne of Spain had been vacant +in consequence of a revolution in which General Prim had been the +leading actor. It was not easy to discover a successor for the +Bourbon Isabella; and after other candidatures had been vainly +projected it occurred to Prim and his friends early in 1869 that +a suitable candidate might be found in Prince Leopold of +Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, whose elder brother had been made +Prince of Roumania, and whose father, Prince Antony, had been +Prime Minister of Prussia in 1859. The House of +Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was so distantly related to the reigning +family of Prussia that the name alone preserved the memory of the +connection; and in actual blood-relationship Prince Leopold was +much more nearly allied to the French Houses of Murat and +Beauharnais. But the Sigmaringen family was distinctly Prussian +by interest and association, and its chief, Antony, had not only +been at the head of the Prussian Administration himself, but had, +it is said, been the first to suggest the appointment of Bismarck +to the same office. The candidature of a Hohenzollern might +reasonably be viewed in France as an attempt to connect Prussia +politically with Spain; and with so much reserve was this +candidature at the first handled at Berlin that, in answer to +inquiries made by Benedetti in the spring of 1869, the Secretary +of State who represented Count Bismarck stated on his word of +honour that the candidature had never been suggested. The affair +was from first to last ostensibly treated at Berlin as one with +which the Prussian Government was wholly unconcerned, and in +which King William was interested only as head of the family to +which Prince Leopold belonged. For twelve months after +Benedetti's inquiries it appeared as if the project had been +entirely abandoned; it was, however, revived in the spring of +1870, and on the 3rd of July the announcement was made at Paris +that Prince Leopold had consented to accept the Crown of Spain if +the Cortes should confirm his election.</p> +<p>[French Declaration, July 6.]</p> +<p>At once there broke out in the French Press a storm of +indignation against Prussia. The organs of the Government took +the lead in exciting public opinion. On the 6th of July the Duke +of Gramont, Foreign Minister, declared to the Legislative Body +that the attempt of a Foreign Power to place one of its Princes +on the throne of Charles V. imperilled the interests and the +honour of France, and that, if such a contingency were realised, +the Government would fulfil its duty without hesitation and +without weakness. The violent and unsparing language of this +declaration, which had been drawn up at a Council of Ministers +under the Emperor's presidency, proved that the Cabinet had +determined either to humiliate Prussia or to take vengeance by +arms. It was at once seen by foreign diplomatists, who during the +preceding days had been disposed to assist in removing a +reasonable subject of complaint, how little was the chance of any +peaceable settlement after such a public challenge had been +issued to Prussia in the Emperor's name. One means of averting +war alone seemed possible, the voluntary renunciation by Prince +Leopold of the offered Crown. To obtain this renunciation became +the task of those who, unlike the French Minister of Foreign +Affairs, were anxious to preserve peace.</p> +<p>[Ollivier's Ministry.]</p> +<p>The parts that were played at this crisis by the individuals +who most influenced the Emperor Napoleon are still but +imperfectly known; but there is no doubt that from the beginning +to the end the Duke of Gramont, with short intermissions, pressed +with insane ardour for war. The Ministry now in office had been +called to their places in January, 1870, after the Emperor had +made certain changes in the constitution in a Liberal direction, +and had professed to transfer the responsibility of power from +himself to a body of advisers possessing the confidence of the +Chamber. Ollivier, formerly one of the leaders of the Opposition, +had accepted the Presidency of the Cabinet. His colleagues were +for the most part men new to official life, and little able to +hold their own against such representatives of unreformed +Imperialism as the Duke of Gramont and the War-Minister Leboeuf +who sat beside them. Ollivier himself was one of the few +politicians in France who understood that his countrymen must be +content to see German unity established whether they liked it or +not. He was entirely averse from war with Prussia on the question +which had now arisen; but the fear that public opinion would +sweep away a Liberal Ministry which hesitated to go all lengths +in patriotic extravagance led him to sacrifice his own better +judgment, and to accept the responsibility for a policy which in +his heart he disapproved. Gramont's rash hand was given free +play. Instructions were sent to Benedetti to seek the King of +Prussia at Ems, where he was taking the waters, and to demand +from him, as the only means of averting war, that he should order +the Hohenzollern Prince to revoke his acceptance of the Crown. +"We are in great haste," Gramont added, "for we must gain the +start in case of an unsatisfactory reply, and commence the +movement of troops by Saturday in order to enter upon the +campaign in a fortnight. Be on your guard against an answer +merely leaving the Prince of Hohenzollern to his fate, and +disclaiming on the part of the King any interest in his future." +<a name="FNanchor535"> </a><a href="#Footnote_535"><sup>[535]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Benedetti and King William at Ems, July 9-14.]</p> +<p>Benedetti's first interview with the King was on the 9th of +July. He informed the King of the emotion that had been caused in +France by the candidature of the Hohenzollern Prince; he dwelt on +the value to both countries of the friendly relation between +France and Prussia; and, while studiously avoiding language that +might wound or irritate the King, he explained to him the +requirements of the Government at Paris. The King had learnt +beforehand what would be the substance of Benedetti's +communication. He had probably been surprised and grieved at the +serious consequences which Prince Leopold's action had produced +in France; and although he had determined not to submit to +dictation from Paris or to order Leopold to abandon his +candidature, he had already, as it seems, taken steps likely to +render the preservation of peace more probable. At the end of a +conversation with the Ambassador, in which he asserted his +complete independence as head of the family of Hohenzollern, he +informed Benedetti that he had entered into communication with +Leopold and his father, and that he expected shortly to receive a +despatch from Sigmaringen. Benedetti rightly judged that the +King, while positively refusing to meet Gramont's demands, was +yet desirous of finding some peaceable way out of the difficulty; +and the report of this interview which he sent to Paris was +really a plea in favour of good sense and moderation. But Gramont +was little disposed to accept such counsels. "I tell you +plainly," he wrote to Benedetti on the next day, "public opinion +is on fire, and will leave us behind it. We must begin; we wait +only for your despatch to call up the three hundred thousand men +who are waiting the summons. Write, telegraph, something +definite. If the King will not counsel the Prince of Hohenzollern +to resign, well, it is immediate war, and in a few days we are on +the Rhine."</p> +<p>[Leopold withdraws, July 12.]</p> +<p>[Guarantee against renewal demanded.]</p> +<p>[Benedetti and the King, July 13.]</p> +<p>Nevertheless Benedetti's advice was not without its influence +on the Emperor and his Ministers. Napoleon, himself wavering from +hour to hour, now inclined to the peace-party, and during the +11th there was a pause in the military preparations that had been +begun. On the 12th the efforts of disinterested Governments, +probably also the suggestions of the King of Prussia himself, +produced their effects. A telegram was received at Madrid from +Prince Antony stating that his son's candidature was withdrawn. A +few hours later Ollivier announced the news in the Legislative +Chamber at Paris, and exchanged congratulations with the friends +of peace, who considered that the matter was now at an end. But +this pacific conclusion little suited either the war-party or the +Bonapartists of the old type, who grudged to a Constitutional +Ministry so substantial a diplomatic success. They at once +declared that the retirement of Prince Leopold was a secondary +matter, and that the real question was what guarantees had been +received from Prussia against a renewal of the candidature. +Gramont himself, in an interview with the Prussian Ambassador, +Baron Werther, sketched a letter which he proposed that King +William should send to the Emperor, stating that in sanctioning +the candidature of Prince Leopold he had not intended to offend +the French, and that in associating himself with the Prince's +withdrawal he desired that all misunderstandings should be at an +end between the two Governments. The despatch of Baron Werther +conveying this proposition appears to have deeply offended King +William, whom it reached about midday on the 13th. Benedetti had +that morning met the King on the promenade at Ems, and had +received from him the promise that as soon as the letter which +was still on its way from Sigmaringen should arrive he would send +for the Ambassador in order that he might communicate its +contents at Paris. The letter arrived; but Baron Werther's +despatch from Paris had arrived before it; and instead of +summoning Benedetti as he had promised, the King sent one of his +aides-de-camp to him with a message that a written communication +had been received from Prince Leopold confirming his withdrawal, +and that the matter was now at an end. Benedetti desired the +aide-de-camp to inform the King that he was compelled by his +instructions to ask for a guarantee against a renewal of the +candidature. The aide-de-camp did as he was requested, and +brought back a message that the King gave his entire approbation +to the withdrawal of the Prince of Hohenzollern, but that he +could do no more. Benedetti begged for an audience with His +Majesty. The King replied that he was compelled to decline +entering into further negotiation, and that he had said his last +word. Though the King thus refused any further discussion, +perfect courtesy was observed on both sides; and on the following +morning the King and the Ambassador, who were both leaving Ems, +took leave of one another at the railway station with the usual +marks of respect.</p> +<p>[Publication of the telegram from Ems, July 13.]</p> +<p>[War decided at Paris, July 14.]</p> +<p>That the guarantee which the French Government had resolved to +demand would not be given was now perfectly certain; yet, with +the candidature of Prince Leopold fairly extinguished, it was +still possible that the cooler heads at Paris might carry the +day, and that the Government would stop short of declaring war on +a point on which the unanimous judgment of the other Powers +declared it to be in the wrong. But Count Bismarck was determined +not to let the French escape lightly from the quarrel. He had to +do with an enemy who by his own folly had come to the brink of an +aggressive war, and, far from facilitating his retreat, it was +Bismarck's policy to lure him over the precipice. Not many hours +after the last message had passed between King William and +Benedetti, a telegram was officially published at Berlin, +stating, in terms so brief as to convey the impression of an +actual insult, that the King had refused to see the French +Ambassador, and had informed him by an aide-de-camp that he had +nothing more to communicate to him. This telegram was sent to the +representatives of Prussia at most of the European Courts, and to +its agents in every German capital. Narratives instantly gained +currency, and were not contradicted by the Prussian Government, +that Benedetti had forced himself upon the King on the promenade +at Ems, and that in the presence of a large company the King had +turned his back upon the Ambassador. The publication of the +alleged telegram from Ems became known in Paris on the 14th. On +that day the Council of Ministers met three times. At the first +meeting the advocates of peace were still in the majority; in the +afternoon, as the news from Berlin and the fictions describing +the insult offered to the French Ambassador spread abroad, the +agitation in Paris deepened, and the Council decided upon calling +up the Reserves; yet the Emperor himself seemed still disposed +for peace. It was in the interval between the second and the +third meeting of the Council, between the hours of six and ten in +the evening, that Napoleon finally gave way before the threats +and importunities of the war-party. The Empress, fanatically +anxious for the overthrow of a great Protestant Power, +passionately eager for the military glory which alone could +insure the Crown to her son, won the triumph which she was so +bitterly to rue. At the third meeting of the Council, held +shortly before midnight, the vote was given for war.</p> +<p>In Germany this decision had been expected; yet it made a deep +impression not only on the German people but on Europe at large +that, when the declaration of war was submitted to the French +Legislative Body in the form of a demand for supplies, no single +voice was raised to condemn the war for its criminality and +injustice: the arguments which were urged against it by M. Thiers +and others were that the Government had fixed upon a bad cause, +and that the occasion was inopportune. Whether the majority of +the Assembly really desired war is even now matter of doubt. But +the clamour of a hundred madmen within its walls, the ravings of +journalists and incendiaries, who at such a time are to the true +expression of public opinion what the Spanish Inquisition was to +the Christian religion, paralysed the will and the understanding +of less infatuated men. Ten votes alone were given in the +Assembly against the grant demanded for war; to Europe at large +it went out that the crime and the madness was that of France as +a nation. Yet Ollivier and many of his colleagues up to the last +moment disapproved of the war, and consented to it only because +they believed that the nation would otherwise rush into +hostilities under a reactionary Ministry who would serve France +worse than themselves. They found when it was too late that the +supposed national impulse, which they had thought irresistible, +was but the outcry of a noisy minority. The reports of their own +officers informed them that in sixteen alone out of the +eighty-seven Departments of France was the war popular. In the +other seventy-one it was accepted either with hesitation or +regret. <a name="FNanchor536"> </a><a href="#Footnote_536"><sup>[536]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Initial forces of either side.]</p> +<p>[Expected Alliances of France.]</p> +<p>[Austria preparing.]</p> +<p>How vast were the forces which the North German Confederation +could bring into the field was well known to Napoleon's +Government. Benedetti had kept his employers thoroughly informed +of the progress of the North German military organisation; he had +warned them that the South German States would most certainly act +with the North against a foreign assailant; he had described with +great accuracy and great penetration the nature of the tie that +existed between Berlin and St. Petersburg, a tie which was close +enough to secure for Prussia the goodwill, and in certain +contingencies the armed support, of Russia, while it was loose +enough not to involve Prussia in any Muscovite enterprise that +would bring upon it the hostility of England and Austria. The +utmost force which the French military administration reckoned on +placing in the field at the beginning of the campaign was two +hundred and fifty thousand men, to be raised at the end of three +weeks by about fifty thousand more. The Prussians, even without +reckoning on any assistance from Southern Germany, and after +allowing for three army-corps that might be needed to watch +Austria and Denmark, could begin the campaign with three hundred +and thirty thousand. Army to army, the French thus stood +according to the reckoning of their own War Office outnumbered at +the outset; but Leboeuf, the War-Minister, imagined that the +Foreign Office had made sure of alliances, and that a great part +of the Prussian Army would not be free to act on the western +frontier. Napoleon had in fact pushed forward his negotiations +with Austria and Italy from the time that war became imminent. +Count Beust, while clearly laying it down that Austria was not +bound to follow France into a war made at its own pleasure, +nevertheless felt some anxiety lest France and Prussia should +settle their differences at Austria's expense; moreover from the +victory of Napoleon, assisted in any degree by himself, he could +fairly hope for the restoration of Austria's ascendency in +Germany and the undoing of the work of 1866. It was determined at +a Council held at Vienna on the 18th of July that Austria should +for the present be neutral if Russia should not enter the war on +the side of Prussia; but this neutrality was nothing more than a +stage towards alliance with France if at the end of a certain +brief period the army of Napoleon should have penetrated into +Southern Germany. In a private despatch to the Austrian +Ambassador at Paris Count Beust pointed out that the immediate +participation of Austria in the war would bring Russia into the +field on King William's side. "To keep Russia neutral," he wrote, +"till the season is sufficiently advanced to prevent the +concentration of its troops must be at present our object; but +this neutrality is nothing more than a means for arriving at the +real end of our policy, the only means for completing our +preparations without exposing ourselves to premature attack by +Prussia or Russia." He added that Austria had already entered +into a negotiation with Italy with a view to the armed mediation +of the two Powers, and strongly recommended the Emperor to place +the Italians in possession of Rome. <a name="FNanchor537"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_537"><sup>[537]</sup></a></p> +<p>[France, Austria, and Italy.]</p> +<p>Negotiations were now pressed forward between Paris, Florence, +and Vienna, for the conclusion of a triple alliance. Of the +course taken by these negotiations contradictory accounts are +given by the persons concerned in them. According to Prince +Napoleon, Victor Emmanuel demanded possession of Rome and this +was refused to him by the French Emperor, in consequence of which +the project of alliance failed. According to the Duke of Gramont, +no more was demanded by Italy than the return to the conditions +of the September Convention; this was agreed to by the Emperor, +and it was in pursuance of this agreement that the Papal States +were evacuated by their French garrison on the 2nd of August. +Throughout the last fortnight of July, after war had actually +been declared, there was, if the statement of Gramont is to be +trusted, a continuous interchange of notes, projects, and +telegrams between the three Governments. The difficulties raised +by Italy and Austria were speedily removed, and though some weeks +were needed by these Powers for their military preparations, +Napoleon was definitely assured of their armed support in case of +his preliminary success. It was agreed that Austria and Italy, +assuming at the first the position of armed neutrality, should +jointly present an ultimatum to Prussia in September demanding +the exact performance of the Treaty of Prague, and, failing its +compliance with this summons in the sense understood by its +enemies, that the two Powers would immediately declare war, their +armies taking the field at latest on the 15th of September. That +Russia would in that case assist Prussia was well known; but it +would seem that Count Beust feared little from his northern enemy +in an autumn campaign. The draft of the Treaty between Italy and +Austria had actually, according to Gramont's statement, been +accepted by the two latter Powers, and received its last +amendments in a negotiation between the Emperor Napoleon and an +Italian envoy, Count Vimercati, at Metz. Vimercati reached +Florence with the amended draft on the 4th of August, and it was +expected that the Treaty would be signed on the following day. +When that day came it saw the forces of the French Empire dashed +to <a name="FNanchor538">pieces.</a><a href="#Footnote_538"><sup>[538]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Prussian Plans.]</p> +<p>Preparations for a war with France had long occupied the +general staff at Berlin. Before the winter of 1868 a memoir had +been drawn up by General Moltke, containing plans for the +concentration of the whole of the German forces, for the +formation of each of the armies to be employed, and the positions +to be occupied at the outset by each corps. On the basis of this +memoir the arrangements for the transport of each corps from its +depôt to the frontier had subsequently been worked out in such +minute detail that when, on the 16th of July, King William gave +the order for mobilisation, nothing remained but to insert in the +railway time-tables and marching-orders the day on which the +movement was to commence. This minuteness of detail extended, +however, only to that part of Moltke's plan which related to the +assembling and first placing of the troops. The events of the +campaign could not thus be arranged and tabulated beforehand; +only the general object and design could be laid down. That the +French would throw themselves with great rapidity upon Southern +Germany was considered probable. The armies of Baden, +Würtemberg, and Bavaria were too weak, the military centres +of the North were too far distant, for effective resistance to be +made in this quarter to the first blows of the invader. Moltke +therefore recommended that the Southern troops should withdraw +from their own States and move northwards to join those of +Prussia in the Palatinate or on the Middle Rhine, so that the +entire forces of Germany should be thrown upon the flank or rear +of the invader; while, in the event of the French not thus taking +the offensive, France itself was to be invaded by the collective +strength of Germany along the line from Saarbrücken to +Landau, and its armies were to be cut off from their +communications with Paris by vigorous movements of the invader in +a northerly direction. <a name="FNanchor539"> </a><a href="#Footnote_539"><sup>[539]</sup></a></p> +<p>[German mobilisation.]</p> +<p>The military organisation of Germany is based on the division +of the country into districts, each of which furnishes at its own +depôt a small but complete army. The nucleus of each such +corps exists in time of peace, with its own independent +artillery, stores, and material of war. On the order for +mobilisation being given, every man liable to military service, +but not actually serving, joins the regiment to which he locally +belongs, and in a given number of days each corps is ready to +take the field in full strength. The completion of each corps at +its own depôt is the first stage in the preparation for a +campaign. Not till this is effected does the movement of troops +towards the frontier begin. The time necessary for the first act +of preparation was, like that to be occupied in transport, +accurately determined by the Prussian War Office. It resulted +from General Moltke's calculations that, the order of +mobilisation having been given on the 16th of July, the entire +army with which it was intended to begin the campaign would be +collected and in position ready to cross the frontier on the 4th +of August, if the French should not have taken up the offensive +before that day. But as it was apprehended that part at least of +the French army would be thrown into Germany before that date, +the westward movement of the German troops stopped short at a +considerable distance from the border, in order that the troops +first arriving might not be exposed to the attack of a superior +force before their supports should be at hand. On the actual +frontier there was placed only the handful of men required for +reconnoitring, and for checking the enemy during the few hours +that would be necessary to guard against the effect of a +surprise.</p> +<p>[The French Army.]</p> +<p>The French Emperor was aware of the numerical inferiority of +his army to that of Prussia; he hoped, however, by extreme +rapidity of movement to penetrate Southern Germany before the +Prussian army could assemble, and so, while forcing the Southern +Governments to neutrality, to meet on the Upper Danube the +assisting forces of Italy and Austria. It was his design to +concentrate a hundred and fifty thousand men at Metz, a hundred +thousand at Strasburg, and with these armies united to cross the +Rhine into Baden; while a third army, which was to assemble at +Châlons, protected the north-eastern frontier against an +advance of the Prussians. A few days after the declaration of +war, while the German corps were still at their depôts in the +interior, considerable forces were massed round Metz and +Strasburg. All Europe listened for the rush of the invader and +the first swift notes of triumph from a French army beyond the +Rhine; but week after week passed, and the silence was still +unbroken. Stories, incredible to those who first heard them, yet +perfectly true, reached the German frontier-stations of actual +famine at the advanced posts of the enemy, and of French soldiers +made prisoners while digging in potato-fields to keep themselves +alive. That Napoleon was less ready than had been anticipated +became clear to all the world; but none yet imagined the +revelations which each successive day was bringing at the +headquarters of the French armies. Absence of whole regiments +that figured in the official order of battle, defective +transport, stores missing or congested, made it impossible even +to attempt the inroad into Southern Germany within the date up to +which it had any prospect of success. The design was abandoned, +yet not in time to prevent the troops that were hurrying from the +interior from being sent backwards and forwards according as the +authorities had, or had not, heard of the change of plan. +Napoleon saw that a Prussian force was gathering on the Middle +Rhine which it would be madness to leave on his flank; he ordered +his own commanders to operate on the corresponding line of the +Lauter and the Saar, and despatched isolated divisions to the +very frontier, still uncertain whether even in this direction he +would be able to act on the offensive, or whether nothing now +remained to him but to resist the invasion of France by a +superior enemy. Ollivier had stated in the Assembly that he and +his colleagues entered upon the war with a light heart; he might +have added that they entered upon it with bandaged eyes. The +Ministers seem actually not to have taken the trouble to exchange +explanations with one another. Leboeuf, the War-Minister, had +taken it for granted that Gramont had made arrangements with +Austria which would compel the Prussians to keep a large part of +their forces in the interior. Gramont, in forcing on the quarrel +with Prussia, and in his negotiations with Austria, had taken it +for granted that Leboeuf could win a series of victories at the +outset in Southern Germany. The Emperor, to whom alone the entire +data of the military and the diplomatic services of France were +open, was incapable of exertion or scrutiny, purposeless, +distracted with pain, half-imbecile.</p> +<p>[Causes of French military inferiority.]</p> +<p>That the Imperial military administration was rotten to the +core the terrible events of the next few weeks sufficiently +showed. Men were in high place whose antecedents would have +shamed the better kind of brigand. The deficiencies of the army +were made worse by the diversion of public funds to private +necessities; the looseness, the vulgar splendour, the base +standards of judgment of the Imperial Court infected each branch +of the public services of France, and worked perhaps not least on +those who were in military command. But the catastrophe of 1870 +seemed to those who witnessed it to tell of more than the +vileness of an administration; in England, not less than in +Germany, voices of influence spoke of the doom that had overtaken +the depravity of a sunken nation; of the triumph of simple +manliness, of Godfearing virtue itself, in the victories of the +German army. There may have been truth in this; yet it would +require a nice moral discernment to appraise the exact degeneracy +of the French of 1870 from the French of 1854 who humbled Russia, +or from the French of 1859 who triumphed at Solferino; and it +would need a very comprehensive acquaintance with the lower forms +of human pleasure to judge in what degree the sinfulness of Paris +exceeds the sinfulness of Berlin. Had the French been as strict a +race as the Spartans who fell at Thermopylae, as devout as the +Tyrolese who perished at Königgrätz, it is quite +certain that, with the numbers which took the field against +Germany in 1870, with Napoleon III. at the head of affairs, and +the actual generals of 1870 in command, the armies of France +could not have escaped destruction.</p> +<p>[Cause of German Success.]</p> +<p>The main cause of the disparity of France and Germany in 1870 +was in truth that Prussia had had from 1862 to 1866 a Government +so strong as to be able to force upon its subjects its own +gigantic scheme of military organisation in defiance of the votes +of Parliament and of the national will. In 1866 Prussia, with a +population of nineteen millions, brought actually into the field +three hundred and fifty thousand men, or one in fifty-four of its +inhabitants. There was no other government in Europe, with the +possible exception of Russia, which could have imposed upon its +subjects, without risking its own existence, so vast a burden of +military service as that implied in this strength of the fighting +army. Napoleon III. at the height of his power could not have +done so; and when after Königgrätz he endeavoured to +raise the forces of France to an equality with those of the rival +Power by a system which would have brought about one in seventy +of the population into the field, his own nominees in the +Legislative Body, under pressure of public opinion, so weakened +the scheme that the effective numbers of the army remained little +more than they were before. The true parallel to the German +victories of 1870 is to be found in the victories of the French +Committee of Public Safety in 1794 and in those of the first +Napoleon. A government so powerful as to bend the entire +resources of the State to military ends will, whether it is one +of democracy run mad, or of a crowned soldier of fortune, or of +an ancient monarchy throwing new vigour into its traditional +system and policy, crush in the moment of impact communities of +equal or greater resources in which a variety of rival influences +limit and control the central power and subordinate military to +other interests. It was so in the triumphs of the Reign of Terror +over the First Coalition; it was so in the triumphs of King +William over Austria and France. But the parallel between the +founders of German unity and the organisers of victory after 1793 +extends no farther than to the sources of their success. +Aggression and adventure have not been the sequels of the war of +1870. The vast armaments of Prussia were created in order to +establish German union under the House of Hohenzollern, and they +have been employed for no other object. It is the triumph of +statesmanship, and it has been the glory of Prince Bismarck, +after thus reaping the fruit of a well-timed homage to the God of +Battles, to know how to quit his shrine.</p> +<p>[The frontier, Aug. 2.]</p> +<p>[Saarbrücken, Aug 2.]</p> +<p>[Weissenburg, Aug 4.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Wörth, Aug. 6.]</p> +<p>At the end of July, twelve days after the formal declaration +of war, the gathering forces of the Germans, over three hundred +and eighty thousand strong, were still some distance behind the +Lauter and the Saar. Napoleon, apparently without any clear +design, had placed certain bodies of troops actually on the +frontier at Forbach, Weissenburg, and elsewhere, while other +troops, raising the whole number to about two hundred and fifty +thousand, lay round Metz and Strasburg, and at points between +these and the most advanced positions. The reconnoitring of the +small German detachments on the frontier was conducted with +extreme energy: the French appear to have made no reconnaissances +at all, for when they determined at last to discover what was +facing them at Saarbrücken, they advanced with twenty-five +thousand men against one-tenth of that number. On the 2nd of +August Frossard's corps from Forbach moved upon Saarbrücken +with the Emperor in person. The garrison was driven out, and the +town bombarded, but even now the reconnaissance was not continued +beyond the bridge across the Saar which divides the two parts of +the town. Forty-eight hours later the alignment of the German +forces in their invading order was completed, and all was ready +for an offensive campaign. The central army, commanded by Prince +Frederick Charles, spreading east and west behind +Saarbrücken, touched on its right the northern army +commanded by General Steinmetz, on its left the southern army +commanded by the Crown Prince, which covered the frontier of the +Palatinate, and included the troops of Bavaria and +Würtemberg. The general direction of the three armies was +thus from north-west to south-east. As the line of invasion was to +be nearly due west, it was necessary that the first step forwards +should be made by the army of the Crown Prince in order to bring +it more nearly to a level with the northern corps in the march +into France. On the 4th of August the Crown Prince crossed the +Alsatian frontier and moved against Weissenburg. The French +General Douay, who was posted here with about twelve thousand +men, was neither reinforced nor bidden to retire. His troops met +the attack of an enemy many times more numerous with great +courage; but the struggle was a hopeless one, and after several +hours of severe fighting the Germans were masters of the field. +Douay fell in the battle; his troops frustrated an attempt made +to cut off their retreat, and fell back southwards towards the +corps of McMahon, which lay about ten miles behind them. The +Crown Prince marched on in search of his enemy, McMahon, who +could collect only forty-five thousand men, desired to retreat +until he could gain some support; but the Emperor, tormented by +fears of the political consequences of the invasion, insisted +upon his giving battle. He drew up on the hills about Wörth, +almost on the spot where in 1793 Hoche had overthrown the armies +of the First Coalition. On the 6th of August the leading +divisions of the Crown Prince, about a hundred thousand strong, +were within striking distance. The superiority of the Germans in +numbers was so great that McMahon's army might apparently have +been captured or destroyed with far less loss than actually took +place if time had been given for the movements which the Crown +Prince's staff had in view, and for the employment of his full +strength. But the impetuosity of divisional leaders on the +morning of the 6th brought on a general engagement. The +resistance of the French was of the most determined character. +With one more army-corps-and the corps of General Failly was +expected to arrive on the field-it seemed as if the Germans might +yet be beaten back. But each hour brought additional forces into +action in the attack, while the French commander looked in vain +for the reinforcements that could save him from ruin. At length, +when the last desperate charges of the Cuirassiers had shattered +against the fire of cannon and needle-guns, and the village of +Froschwiller, the centre of the French position, had been stormed +house by house, the entire army broke and fled in disorder. Nine +thousand prisoners, thirty-three cannon, fell into the hands of +the conquerors. The Germans had lost ten thousand men, but they +had utterly destroyed McMahon's army as an organised force. Its +remnant disappeared from the scene of warfare, escaping by the +western roads in the direction of Châlons, where first it +was restored to some degree of order. The Crown Prince, leaving +troops behind him to beleaguer the smaller Alsatian fortresses, +marched on untroubled through the northern Vosges, and descended +into the open country about Lunéville and Nancy, +unfortified towns which could offer no resistance to the passage +of an enemy.</p> +<p>[Spicheren, Aug. 6.]</p> +<p>On the same day that the battle of Wörth was fought, the +leading columns of the armies of Steinmetz and Prince Frederick +Charles crossed the frontier at Saarbrücken. Frossard's +corps, on the news of the defeat at Weissenburg, had withdrawn to +its earlier positions between Forbach and the frontier: it held +the steep hills of Spicheren that look down upon +Saarbrücken, and the woods that flank the high road where +this passes from Germany into France. As at Wörth, it was +not intended that any general attack should be made on the 6th; a +delay of twenty-four hours would have enabled the Germans to +envelop or crush Frossard's corps with an overwhelming force. But +the leaders of the foremost regiments threw themselves +impatiently upon the French whom they found before them: other +brigades hurried up to the sound of the cannon, until the +struggle took the proportion of a battle, and after hours of +fluctuating success the heights of Spicheren were carried by +successive rushes of the infantry full in the enemy's fire. Why +Frossard was not reinforced has never been explained, for several +French divisions lay at no great distance westward, and the +position was so strong that, if a pitched battle was to be fought +anywhere east of Metz, few better points could have been chosen. +But, like Douay at Weissenburg, Frossard was left to struggle +alone against whatever forces the Germans might throw upon him. +Napoleon, who directed the operations of the French armies from +Metz, appears to have been now incapable of appreciating the +simplest military necessities, of guarding against the most +obvious dangers. Helplessness, infatuation ruled the miserable +hours.</p> +<p>[Paris after Aug. 6.]</p> +<p>The impression made upon Europe by the battles of the 6th of +August corresponded to the greatness of their actual military +effects. There was an end to all thoughts of the alliance of +Austria and Italy with France. Germany, though unaware of the +full magnitude of the perils from which it had escaped, breathed +freely after weeks of painful suspense; the very circumstance +that the disproportion of numbers on the battle-field of +Wörth was still unknown heightened the joy and confidence +produced by the Crown Prince's victory, a victory in which the +South German troops, fighting by the side of those who had been +their foes in 1866, had borne their full part. In Paris the +consternation with which the news of McMahon's overthrow was +received was all the greater that on the previous day reports had +been circulated of a victory won at Landau and of the capture of +the Crown Prince with his army. The bulletin of the Emperor, +briefly narrating McMahon's defeat and the repulse of Frossard, +showed in its concluding words-"All may yet be retrieved"-how +profound was the change made in the prospects of the war by that +fatal day. The truth was at once apprehended. A storm of +indignation broke out against the Imperial Government at Paris. +The Chambers were summoned. Ollivier, attacked alike by the +extreme Bonapartists and by the Opposition, laid down his office. +A reactionary Ministry, headed by the Count of Palikao, was +placed in power by the Empress, a Ministry of the last hour as it +was justly styled by all outside it. Levies were ordered, arms +and stores accumulated for the reserve-forces, preparations made +for a siege of Paris itself. On the 12th the Emperor gave up the +command which he had exercised with such miserable results, and +appointed Marshal Bazaine, one of the heroes of the Mexican +Expedition, General-in-Chief of the Army of the Rhine.</p> +<p>[Napoleon at Metz. Aug. 7-11.]</p> +<p>[Borny, Aug 14.]</p> +<p>After the overthrow of McMahon and the victory of the Germans +at Spicheren, there seems to have been a period of utter +paralysis in the French headquarters at Metz. The divisions of +Prince Frederick Charles and Steinmetz did not immediately press +forward; it was necessary to allow some days for the advance of +the Crown Prince through the Vosges; and during these days the +French army about Metz, which, when concentrated, numbered nearly +two hundred thousand men, might well have taken the positions +necessary for the defence of Moselle, or in the alternative might +have gained several marches in the retreat towards Verdun and +Châlons. Only a small part of this body had as yet been +exposed to defeat. It included in it the very flower of the +French forces, tens of thousands of troops probably equal to any +in Europe, and capable of forming a most formidable army if +united to the reserves which would shortly be collected at +Châlons or nearer Paris. But from the 7th to the 12th of +August Napoleon, too cowed to take the necessary steps for battle +in defence of the line of Moselle, lingered purposeless a id +irresolute at Metz, unwilling to fall back from this fortress. It +was not till the 14th that the retreat was begun. By this time +the Germans were close at hand, and their leaders were little +disposed to let the hesitating enemy escape them. While the +leading divisions of the French were crossing the Moselle, +Steinmetz hurried forward his troops and fell upon the French +detachments still lying on the south-east of Metz about Borny and +Courcelles. Bazaine suspended his movement of retreat in order to +beat back an assailant who for once seemed to be inferior in +strength. At the close of the day the French commander believed +that he had gained a victory and driven the Germans off their +line of advance; in reality he had allowed himself to be diverted +from the passage of the Moselle at the last hour, while the +Germans left under Prince Frederick Charles gained the river +farther south, and actually began to cross it in order to bar his +retreat.</p> +<p>[Mars-la-Tour, Aug. 15.]</p> +<p>From Metz westwards there is as far as the village of +Gravelotte, which is seven miles distant, but one direct road; at +Gravelotte the road forks, the southern arm leading towards +Verdun by Vionville and Mars-la-Tour, the northern by Conflans. +During the 15th of August the first of Bazaine's divisions moved +as far as Vionville along the southern road; others came into the +neighbourhood of Gravelotte, but two corps which should have +advanced past Gravelotte on to the northern road still lay close +to Metz. The Prussian vanguard was meanwhile crossing the Moselle +southwards from Noveant to Pont-a-Mousson, and hurrying forwards +by lines converging on the road taken by Bazaine. Down to the +evening of the 15th it was not supposed at the Prussian +headquarters that Bazaine could be overtaken and brought to +battle nearer than the line of the Meuse; but on the morning of +the 16th the cavalry-detachments which had pushed farthest to the +north-west discovered that the heads of the French columns had +still not passed Mars-la-Tour. An effort was instantly made to +seize the road and block the way before the enemy. The struggle, +begun by a handful of combatants on each side, drew to it +regiment after regiment as the French battalions close at hand +came into action, and the Prussians hurried up in wild haste to +support their comrades who were exposed to the attack of an +entire army. The rapidity with which the Prussian generals +grasped the situation before them, the vigour with which they +brought up their cavalry over a distance which no infantry could +traverse in the necessary time, and without a moment's hesitation +hurled this cavalry in charge after charge against a superior +foe, mark the battle of Mars-la-Tour as that in which the +military superiority of the Germans was most truly shown. Numbers +in this battle had little to do with the result, for by better +generalship Bazaine could certainly at any one point have +overpowered his enemy. But while the Germans rushed like a +torrent upon the true point of attack-that is the +westernmost-Bazaine by some delusion considered it his primary +object to prevent the Germans from thrusting themselves between +the retreating army and Metz, and so kept a great part of his +troops inactive about the fortress. The result was that the +Germans, with a loss of sixteen thousand men, remained at the +close of the day masters of the road at Vionville, and that the +French army could not, without winning a victory and breaking +through the enemy's line, resume its retreat along this line.</p> +<p>[Gravelotte, Aug. 18.]</p> +<p>It was expected during the 17th that Bazaine would make some +attempt to escape by the northern road, but instead of doing so +he fell back on Gravelotte and the heights between this and Metz, +in order to fight a pitched battle. The position was a +well-chosen one; but by midday on the 18th the armies of +Steinmetz and Prince Frederick Charles were ranged in front of +Bazaine with a strength of two hundred and fifty thousand men, +and in the judgment of the King these forces were equal to the +attack. Again, as at Wörth, the precipitancy of divisional +commanders caused the sacrifice of whole brigades before the +battle was won. While the Saxon corps with which Moltke intended +to deliver his slow but fatal blow upon the enemy's right flank +was engaged in its long northward détour, Steinmetz pushed +his Rhinelanders past the ravine of Gravelotte into a fire where +no human being could survive, and the Guards, pressing forward in +column over the smooth unsheltered slope from St. Marie to St. +Privat, sank by thousands without reaching midway in their +course. Until the final blow was dealt by the Saxon corps from +the north flank, the ground which was won by the Prussians was +won principally by their destructive artillery fire: their +infantry attacks had on the whole been repelled, and at +Gravelotte itself it had seemed for a moment as if the French +were about to break the assailant's line. But Bazaine, as on the +16th, steadily kept his reserves at a distance from the points +where their presence was most required, and, according to his own +account, succeeded in bringing into action no more than a hundred +thousand men, or less than two-thirds of the forces under his +command. <a name="FNanchor540"> </a><a href="#Footnote_540"><sup>[540]</sup></a> At the close of the awful +day, when the capture of St. Privat by the Saxons turned the +defender's line, the French abandoned all their positions and +drew back within the defences of Metz.</p> +<p>[McMahon is compelled to attempt Bazaine's relief.]</p> +<p>The Germans at once proceeded to block all the roads round the +fortress, and Bazaine made no effort to prevent them. At the end +of a few days the line was drawn around him in sufficient +strength to resist any sudden attack. Steinmetz, who was +responsible for a great part of the loss sustained at Gravelotte, +was now removed from his command; his army was united with that +under Prince Frederick Charles as the besieging force, while +sixty thousand men, detached from this great mass, were formed +into a separate army under Prince Albert of Saxony, and sent by +way of Verdun to co-operate with the Crown Prince against +McMahon. The Government at Paris knew but imperfectly what was +passing around Metz from day to day; it knew, however, that if +Metz should be given up for lost the hour of its own fall could +not be averted. One forlorn hope remained, to throw the army +which McMahon was gathering at Châlons north-eastward to +Bazaine's relief, though the Crown Prince stood between +Châlons and Metz, and could reach every point in the line +of march more rapidly than McMahon himself. Napoleon had quitted +Metz on the evening of the 15th; on the 17th a council of war was +held at Châlons, at which it was determined to fall back +upon Paris and to await the attack of the Crown Prince under the +forts of the capital. No sooner was this decision announced to +the Government at Paris than the Empress telegraphed to her +husband warning him to consider what would be the effects of his +return, and insisting that an attempt should be made to relieve +Bazaine. <a name="FNanchor541"> </a><a href="#Footnote_541"><sup>[541]</sup></a> McMahon, against his own +better judgment, consented to the northern march. He moved in the +first instance to Rheims in order to conceal his intention from +the enemy, but by doing this he lost some days. On the 23rd, in +pursuance of arrangements made with Bazaine, whose messengers +were still able to escape the Prussian watch, he set out +north-eastwards in the direction of Montmédy.</p> +<p>[German movement northwards, Aug 26.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Sedan, Sept. 1.]</p> +<p>[Capitulation of Sedan, Sept. 2.]</p> +<p>The movement was discovered by the Prussian cavalry and +reported at the headquarters at Bar-le-Duc on the 25th. Instantly +the westward march of the Crown Prince was arrested, and his +army, with that of the Prince of Saxony, was thrown northwards in +forced marches towards Sedan. On reaching Le Chesne, west of the +Meuse, on the 27th, McMahon became aware of the enemy's presence. +He saw that his plan was discovered, and resolved to retreat +westwards before it was too late. The Emperor, who had attached +himself to the army, consented, but again the Government at Paris +interfered with fatal effect. More anxious for the safety of the +dynasty than for the existence of the army, the Empress and her +advisers insisted that McMahon should continue his advance. +Napoleon seems now to have abdicated all authority and thrown to +the winds all responsibility. He allowed the march to be resumed +in the direction of Mouzon and Stenay. Failly's corps, which +formed the right wing, was attacked on the 29th before it could +reach the passage of the Meuse at the latter place, and was +driven northwards to Beaumont. Here the commander strangely +imagined himself to be in security. He was surprised in his camp +on the following day, defeated, and driven northwards towards +Mouzon. Meanwhile the left of McMahon's army had crossed the +Meuse and moved eastwards to Carignan, so that his troops were +severed by the river and at some distance from one another. Part +of Failly's men were made prisoners in the struggle on the south, +or dispersed on the west of the Meuse; the remainder, with their +commander, made a hurried and disorderly escape beyond the river, +and neglected to break down the bridges by which they had passed. +McMahon saw that if the advance was continued his divisions would +one after another fall into the enemy's hands. He recalled the +troops which had reached Carignan, and concentrated his army +about Sedan to fight a pitched battle. The passages of the Meuse +above and below Sedan were seized by the Germans. Two hundred and +forty thousand men were at Moltke's disposal; McMahon had about +half that number. The task of the Germans was not so much to +defeat the enemy as to prevent them from escaping to the Belgian +frontier. On the morning of September 1st, while on the east of +Sedan the Bavarians after a desperate resistance stormed the +village of Bazeilles, Hessian and Prussian regiments crossed the +Meuse at Donchéry several miles to the west. From either +end of this line corps after corps now pushed northwards round +the French positions, driving in the enemy wherever they found +them, and, converging under the eyes of the Prussian King, his +general, and his Minister, each into its place in the arc of fire +before which the French Empire was to perish. The movement was as +admirably executed as designed. The French fought furiously but +in vain: the mere mass of the enemy, the mere narrowing of the +once completed circle, crushed down resistance without the clumsy +havoc of Gravelotte. From point after point the defenders were +forced back within Sedan itself. The streets were choked with +hordes of beaten infantry and cavalry; the Germans had but to +take one more step forward and the whole of their batteries would +command the town. Towards evening there was a pause in the +firing, in order that the French might offer negotiations for +surrender; but no sign of surrender was made, and the Bavarian +cannon resumed their fire, throwing shells into the town itself. +Napoleon now caused a white flag to be displayed on the fortress, +and sent a letter to the King of Prussia, stating that as he had +not been able to die in the midst of his troops, nothing remained +for him but to surrender his sword into the hands of his Majesty. +The surrender was accepted by King William, who added that +General Moltke would act on his behalf in arranging terms of +capitulation. General Wimpffen, who had succeeded to the command +of the French army on the disablement of McMahon by a wound, +acted on behalf of Napoleon. The negotiations continued till late +in the night, the French general pressing for permission for his +troops to be disarmed in Belgium, while Moltke insisted on the +surrender of the entire army as prisoners of war. Fearing the +effect of an appeal by Napoleon himself to the King's kindly +nature, Bismarck had taken steps to remove his sovereign to a +distance until the terms of surrender should be signed. At +daybreak on September 2nd Napoleon sought the Prussian +headquarters. He was met on the road by Bismarck, who remained in +conversation with him till the capitulation was completed on the +terms required by the Germans. He then conducted Napoleon to the +neighbouring château of Bellevue, where King William, the +Crown Prince, and the Prince of Saxony visited him. One pang had +still to be borne by the unhappy man. Down to his interview with +the King, Napoleon had imagined that all the German armies +together had operated against him at Sedan, and he must +consequently have still had some hope that his own ruin might +have purchased the deliverance of Bazaine. He learnt accidentally +from the King that Prince Frederick Charles had never stirred +from before Metz. A convulsion of anguish passed over his face: +his eyes filled with tears. There was no motive for a prolonged +interview between the conqueror and the conquered, for, as a +prisoner, Napoleon could not discuss conditions of peace. After +some minutes of conversation the King departed for the Prussian +headquarters. Napoleon remained in the château until the +morning of the next day, and then began his journey towards the +place chosen for his captivity, the palace of Wilhelmshöhe +at Cassel. <a name="FNanchor542"> </a><a href="#Footnote_542"><sup>[542]</sup></a></p> +<p>[The Republic Proclaimed, Sept. 4.]</p> +<p>[Circular of Jules Favre, Sept. 6.]</p> +<p>Rumours of disaster had reached Paris in the last days of +August, but to each successive report of evil the Government +replied with lying boasts of success, until on the 3rd of +September it was forced to announce a catastrophe far surpassing +the worst anticipations of the previous days. With the Emperor +and his entire army in the enemy's hands, no one supposed that +the dynasty could any longer remain on the throne: the only +question was by what form of government the Empire should be +succeeded. The Legislative Chamber assembled in the dead of +night; Jules Favre proposed the deposition of the Emperor, and +was heard in silence. The Assembly adjourned for some hours. On +the morning of the 4th, Thiers, who sought to keep the way open +for an Orleanist restoration, moved that a Committee of +Government should be appointed by the Chamber itself, and that +elections to a new Assembly should be held as soon as +circumstances should permit. Before this and other propositions +of the same nature could be put to the vote, the Chamber was +invaded by the mob. Gambetta, with most of the Deputies for +Paris, proceeded to the Hôtel de Ville, and there +proclaimed the Republic. The Empress fled; a Government of +National Defence came into existence, with General Trochu at its +head, Jules Favre assuming the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and +Gambetta that of the Interior. No hand was raised in defence of +the Napoleonic dynasty or of the institutions of the Empire. The +Legislative Chamber and the Senate disappeared without even +making an attempt to prolong their own existence. Thiers, without +approving of the Republic or the mode in which it had come into +being, recommended his friends to accept the new Government, and +gave it his own support. On the 6th of September a circular of +Jules Favre, addressed to the representatives of France at all +the European Courts, justified the overthrow of the Napoleonic +Empire, and claimed for the Government by which it was succeeded +the goodwill of the neutral Powers. Napoleon III. was charged +with the responsibility for the war: with the fall of his +dynasty, it was urged, the reasons for a continuance of the +struggle had ceased to exist. France only asked for a lasting +peace. Such peace, however, must leave the territory of France +inviolate, for peace with dishonour would be but the prelude to a +new war of extermination. "Not an inch of our soil will we +cede"-so ran the formula-"not a stone of our fortresses." <a +name="FNanchor543"> </a><a href="#Footnote_543"><sup>[543]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Favre and Bismarck, Sept. 29.]</p> +<p>The German Chancellor had nothing ready in the way of rhetoric +equal to his antagonist's phrases; but as soon as the battle of +Sedan was won it was settled at the Prussian headquarters that +peace would not be made without the annexation of Alsace and +Lorraine. Prince Bismarck has stated that his own policy would +have stopped at the acquisition of Strasburg: Moltke, however, +and the chiefs of the army pronounced that Germany could not be +secure against invasion while Metz remained in the hands of +France, and this opinion was accepted by the King. For a moment +it was imagined that the victory of Sedan had given the conqueror +peace on his own terms. This hope, however, speedily disappeared, +and the march upon Paris was resumed by the army of the Crown +Prince without waste of time. In the third week of September the +invaders approached the capital. Favre, in spite of his +declaration of the 6th, was not indisposed to enter upon +negotiations; and, trusting to his own arts of persuasion, he +sought an interview with the German Chancellor, which was granted +to him at Ferrières on the 19th, and continued on the +following day. Bismarck hesitated to treat the holders of office +in Paris as an established Government; he was willing to grant an +armistice in order that elections might be held for a National +Assembly with which Germany could treat for peace; but he +required, as a condition of the armistice, that Strasburg and +Toul should be surrendered. Toul was already at the last +extremity; Strasburg was not capable of holding out ten days +longer; but of this the Government at Paris was not aware. The +conditions demanded by Bismarck were rejected as insulting to +France, and the war was left to take its course. Already, while +Favre was negotiating at Ferrières, the German vanguard +was pressing round to the west of Paris. A body of French troops +which attacked them on the 19th at Châtillon was put to the +rout and fled in panic. Versailles was occupied on the same day, +and the line of investment was shortly afterwards completed +around the capital.</p> +<p>[Siege of Paris, Sept. 19.]</p> +<p>[Tours.]</p> +<p>[Gambetta at Tours.]</p> +<p>The second act in the war now began. Paris had been fortified +by Thiers about 1840, at the time when it seemed likely that +France might be engaged in war with a coalition on the affairs of +Mehemet Ali. The forts were not distant enough from the city to +protect it altogether from artillery with the lengthened range of +1870; they were sufficient, however, to render an assault out of +the question, and to compel the besieger to rely mainly on the +slow operation of famine. It had been reckoned by the engineers +of 1840 that food enough might be collected to enable the city to +stand a two-months' siege; so vast, however, were the supplies +collected in 1870 that, with double the population, Paris had +provisions for above four months. In spite therefore of the +capture and destruction of its armies the cause of France was not +hopeless, if, while Paris and Metz occupied four hundred thousand +of the invaders, the population of the provinces should take up +the struggle with enthusiasm, and furnish after some months of +military exercise troops more numerous than those which France +had lost, to attack the besiegers from all points at once and to +fall upon their communications. To organise such a national +resistance was, however, impossible for any Government within the +besieged capital itself. It was therefore determined to establish +a second seat of Government on the Loire; and before the lines +were drawn round Paris three members of the Ministry, with M. +Crémieux at their head, set out for Tours. +Crémieux, however, who was an aged lawyer, proved quite +unequal to his task. His authority was disputed in the west and +the south. Revolutionary movements threatened to break up the +unity of the national defence. A stronger hand, a more commanding +will, was needed. Such a hand, such a will belonged to Gambetta, +who on the 7th of October left Paris in order to undertake the +government of the provinces and the organisation of the national +armies. The circle of the besiegers was now too closely drawn for +the ordinary means of travel to be possible. Gambetta passed over +the German lines in a balloon, and reached Tours in safety, where +he immediately threw his feeble colleagues into the background +and concentrated all power in his own vigorous grasp. The effect +of his presence was at once felt throughout France. There was an +end of the disorders in the great cities, and of all attempts at +rivalry with the central power. Gambetta had the faults of +rashness, of excessive self-confidence, of defective regard for +scientific authority in matters where he himself was ignorant: +but he possessed in an extraordinary degree the qualities +necessary for a Dictator at such a national crisis: boundless, +indomitable courage; a simple, elemental passion of love for his +country that left absolutely no place for hesitations or reserve +in the prosecution of the one object for which France then +existed, the war. He carried the nation with him like a +whirlwind. Whatever share the military errors of Gambetta and his +rash personal interference with commanders may have had in the +ultimate defeat of France, without him it would never have been +known of what efforts France was capable. The proof of his +capacity was seen in the hatred and the fear with which down to +the time of his death he inspired the German people. Had there +been at the head of the army of Metz a man of one-tenth of +Gambetta's effective force, it is possible that France might have +closed the war, if not with success, at least with undiminished +territory.</p> +<p>[Fall of Strasburg, Sept. 28.]</p> +<p>[The army of the Loire.]</p> +<p>[Tann takes Orleans, Oct. 12.]</p> +<p>Before Gambetta left Paris the fall of Strasburg set free the +army under General Werder by which it had been besieged, and +enabled the Germans to establish a civil Government in Alsace, +the western frontier of the new Province having been already so +accurately studied that, when peace was made in 1871, the +frontier-line was drawn not upon one of the earlier French maps +but on the map now published by the German staff. It was +Gambetta's first task to divide France into districts, each with +its own military centre, its own army, and its own commander. +Four such districts were made: the centres were Lille, Le Mans, +Bourges, and Besançon. At Bourges and in the neighbourhood +considerable progress had already been made in organisation. +Early in October German cavalry-detachments, exploring +southwards, found that French troops were gathering on the Loire. +The Bavarian General Von der Tann was detached by Moltke from the +besieging army at Paris, and ordered to make himself master of +Orleans. Von der Tann hastened southwards, defeated the French +outside Orleans on the 11th of October, and occupied this city, +the French retiring towards Bourges. Gambetta removed the +defeated commander, and set in his place General Aurelle de +Paladines. Von der Tann was directed to cross the Loire and +destroy the arsenals at Bourges; he reported, however, that this +task was beyond his power, in consequence of which Moltke ordered +General Werder with the army of Strasburg to move westwards +against Bourges, after dispersing the weak forces that were +gathering about Besançon. Werder set out on his dangerous +march, but he had not proceeded far when an army of very +different power was thrown into the scale against the French +levies on the Loire.</p> +<p>[Bazaine at Metz.]</p> +<p>[Capitulation of Metz, Oct. 27.]</p> +<p>In the battle of Gravelotte, fought on the 18th of August, the +French troops had been so handled by Bazaine as to render it +doubtful whether he really intended to break through the enemy's +line and escape from Metz. At what period political designs +inconsistent with his military duty first took possession of +Bazaine's thoughts is uncertain. He had played a political part +in Mexico; it is probable that as soon as he found himself at the +head of the one effective army of France, and saw Napoleon +hopelessly discredited, he began to aim at personal power. Before +the downfall of the Empire he had evidently adopted a scheme of +inaction with the object of preserving his army entire: even the +sortie by which it had been arranged that he should assist +McMahon on the day before Sedan was feebly and irresolutely +conducted. After the proclamation of the Republic Bazaine's +inaction became still more marked. The intrigues of an adventurer +named Regnier, who endeavoured to open a negotiation between the +Prussians and the exiled Empress Eugénie, encouraged him +in his determination to keep his soldiers from fulfilling their +duty to France. Week after week passed by; a fifth of the +besieging army was struck down with sickness; yet Bazaine made no +effort to break through, or even to diminish the number of men +who were consuming the supplies of Metz by giving to separate +detachments the opportunity of escape. On the 12th of October, +after the pretence of a sortie on the north, he entered into +communication with the German headquarters at Versailles. +Bismarck offered to grant a free departure to the army of Metz on +condition that the fortress should be placed in his hands, that +the army should undertake to act on behalf of the Empress, and +that the Empress should pledge herself to accept the Prussian +conditions of peace, whatever these might be. General Boyer was +sent to England to acquaint the Empress with these propositions. +They were declined by her, and after a fortnight had been spent +in manoeuvres for a Bonapartist restoration. Bazaine found +himself at the end of his resources. On the 27th the capitulation +of Metz was signed. The fortress itself, with incalculable cannon +and material of war, and an army of a hundred and seventy +thousand men, including twenty-six thousand sick and wounded in +the hospitals, passed into the hands of the Germans. <a name="FNanchor544"> </a><a href="#Footnote_544"><sup>[544]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Bazaine.]</p> +<p>Bazaine was at a later time tried by a court-martial, found +guilty of the neglect of duty, and sentenced to death. That +sentence was not executed; but if there is an infamy that is +worse than death, such infamy will to all time cling to his name. +In the circumstances in which France was placed no effort, no +sacrifice of life could have been too great for the commander of +the army at Metz. To retain the besiegers in full strength before +the fortress would not have required the half of Bazaine's actual +force. If half his army had fallen on the field of battle in +successive attempts to cut their way through the enemy, brave men +would no doubt have perished; but even had their efforts failed +their deaths would have purchased for Metz the power to hold out +for weeks or for months longer. The civil population of Metz was +but sixty thousand, its army was three times as numerous; unlike +Paris, it saw its stores consumed not by helpless millions of +women and children, but by soldiers whose duty it was to aid the +defence of their country at whatever cost. Their duty, if they +could not cut their way through, was to die fighting; and had +they shown hesitation, which was not the case, Bazaine should +have died at their head. That Bazaine would have fulfilled his +duty even if Napoleon III. had remained on the throne is more +than doubtful, for his inaction had begun before the catastrophe +of Sedan. His pretext after that time was that the government of +France had fallen into the hands of men of disorder, and that it +was more important for his army to save France from the +Government than from the invader. He was the only man in France +who thought so. The Government of September 4th, whatever its +faults, was good enough for tens of thousands of brave men, +Legitimists, Orleanists, Bonapartists, who flocked without +distinction of party to its banners: it might have been good +enough for Marshal Bazaine. But France had to pay the penalty for +the political, the moral indifference which could acquiesce in +the Coup d'État of 1851, in the servility of the Empire, +in many a vile and boasted deed in Mexico, in China, in Algiers. +Such indifference found its Nemesis in a Bazaine.</p> +<p>[Tann driven from Orleans, Nov. 9.]</p> +<p>[Battles of Orleans, Nov. 28-Dec. 2.]</p> +<p>[Sortie of Champigny, Nov. 29-Dec. 4.]</p> +<p>[Battle of Amiens, Nov. 27.]</p> +<p>The surrender of Metz and the release of the great army of +Prince Frederick Charles by which it was besieged fatally changed +the conditions of the French war of national defence. Two hundred +thousand of the victorious troops of Germany under some of their +ablest generals were set free to attack the still untrained +levies on the Loire and in the north of France, which, with more +time for organisation, might well have forced the Germans to +raise the siege of Paris. The army once commanded by Steinmetz +was now reconstituted, and despatched under General Manteuffel +towards Amiens; Prince Frederick Charles moved with the remainder +of his troops towards the Loire. Aware that his approach could +not long be delayed, Gambetta insisted that Aurelle de Paladines +should begin the march on Paris. The general attacked Tann at +Coulmiers on the 9th of November, defeated him, and re-occupied +Orleans, the first real success that the French had gained in the +war. There was great alarm at the German headquarters at +Versailles; the possibility of a failure of the siege was +discussed; and forty thousand troops were sent southwards in +haste to the support of the Bavarian general. Aurelle, however, +did not move upon the capital: his troops were still unfit for +the enterprise; and he remained stationary on the north of +Orleans, in order to improve his organisation, to await +reinforcements, and to meet the attack of Frederick Charles in a +strong position. In the third week of November the leading +divisions of the army of Metz approached, and took post between +Orleans and Paris. Gambetta now insisted that the effort should +be made to relieve the capital. Aurelle resisted, but was forced +to obey. The garrison of Paris had already made several +unsuccessful attacks upon the lines of their besiegers, the most +vigorous being that of Le Bourget on the 30th of October, in +which bayonets were crossed. It was arranged that in the last +days of November General Trochu should endeavour to break out on +the southern side, and that simultaneously the army of the Loire +should fall upon the enemy in front of it and endeavour to force +its way to the capital. On the 28th the attack upon the Germans +on the north of Orleans began. For several days the struggle was +renewed by one division after another of the armies of Aurelle +and Prince Frederick Charles. Victory remained at last with the +Germans; the centre of the French position was carried; the right +and left wings of the army were severed from one another and +forced to retreat, the one up the Loire, the other towards the +west. Orleans on the 5th of December passed back into the hands +of the Germans. The sortie from Paris, which began with a +successful attack by General Ducrot upon Champigny beyond the +Marne, ended after some days of combat in the recovery by the +Germans of the positions which they had lost, and in the retreat +of Ducrot into Paris. In the same week Manteuffel, moving against +the relieving army of the north, encountered it near Amiens, +defeated it after a hard struggle, and gained possession of +Amiens itself.</p> +<p>[Rouen occupied, Dec. 6.]</p> +<p>[Bapaume, Jan. 3.]</p> +<p>[St. Quentin, Jan 19.]</p> +<p>After the fall of Amiens, Manteuffel moved upon Rouen. This +city fell into his hands without resistance; the conquerors +pressed on westwards, and at Dieppe troops which had come from +the confines of Russia gazed for the first time upon the sea. But +the Republican armies, unlike those which the Germans had first +encountered, were not to be crushed at a single blow. Under the +energetic command of Faidherbe the army of the North advanced +again upon Amiens. Goeben, who was left to defend the line of the +Somme, went out to meet him, defeated him on the 23rd of +December, and drove him back to Arras. But again, after a week's +interval, Faidherbe pushed forward. On the 3rd of January he fell +upon Goeben's weak division at Bapaume, and handled it so +severely that the Germans would on the following day have +abandoned their position, if the French had not themselves been +the first to retire. Faidherbe, however, had only fallen back to +receive reinforcements. After some days' rest he once more sought +to gain the road to Paris, advancing this time by the eastward +line through St. Quentin. In front of this town Goeben attacked +him. The last battle of the army of the North was fought on the +19th of January. The French general endeavoured to disguise his +defeat, but the German commander had won all that he desired. +Faidherbe's army was compelled to retreat northwards in disorder; +its part in the war was at an end.</p> +<p>[The Armies of the Loire and of the East.]</p> +<p>[Le Mans, Jan. 12.]</p> +<p>[Bourbaki.]</p> +<p>[Montbéliard, Jan. 15-17.]</p> +<p>[The Eastern army crosses the Swiss Frontier, Feb. 1.]</p> +<p>During the last three weeks of December there was a pause in +the operations of the Germans on the Loire. It was expected that +Bourbaki and the east wing of The Armies of the French army would +soon re-appear at Orleans and endeavour to combine with Chanzy's +troops. Gambetta, however, had formed another plan. He considered +that Chanzy, with the assistance of divisions formed in Brittany, +would be strong enough to encounter Prince Frederick Charles, and +he determined to throw the army of Bourbaki, strengthened by +reinforcements from the south, upon Germany itself. The design +was a daring one, and had the two French armies been capable of +performing the work which Gambetta required of them, an inroad +into Baden, or even the re-conquest of Alsace, would most +seriously have affected the position of the Germans before Paris. +But Gambetta miscalculated the power of young, untrained troops, +imperfectly armed, badly fed, against a veteran enemy. In a +series of hard-fought struggles the army of the Loire under +General Chanzy was driven back at the beginning of January from +Vendôme to Le Mans. On the 12th, Chanzy took post before this +city and fought his last battle. While he was making a vigorous +resistance in the centre of the line, the Breton regiments +stationed on his right gave way; the Germans pressed round him, +and gained possession of the town. Chanzy retreated towards +Laval, leaving thousands of prisoners in the hands of the enemy, +and saving only the debris of an army. Bourbaki in the meantime, +with a numerous but miserably equipped force, had almost reached +Belfort. The report of his eastward movement was not at first +believed at the German headquarters before Paris, and the troops +of General Werder, which had been engaged about Dijon with a body +of auxiliaries commanded by Garibaldi, were left to bear the +brunt of the attack without support. When the real state of +affairs became known Manteuffel was sent eastwards in hot haste +towards the threatened point. Werder had evacuated Dijon and +fallen back upon Vesoul; part of his army was still occupied in +the siege of Belfort. As Bourbaki approached he fell back with +the greater part of his troops in order to cover the besieging +force, leaving one of his lieutenants to make a flank attack upon +Bourbaki at Villersexel. This attack, one of the fiercest in the +war, delayed the French for two days, and gave Werder time to +occupy the strong positions that he had chosen about +Montbéliard. Here, on the 15th of January, began a +struggle which lasted for three days. The French, starving and +perishing with cold, though far superior in number to their +enemy, were led with little effect against the German +entrenchments. On the 18th Bourbaki began his retreat. Werder was +unable to follow him; Manteuffel with a weak force was still at +some distance, and for a moment it seemed possible that Bourbaki, +by a rapid movement westwards, might crush this isolated foe. +Gambetta ordered Bourbaki to make the attempt: the commander +refused to court further disaster with troops who were not fit to +face an enemy, and retreated towards Pontarlier in the hope of +making his way to Lyons. But Manteuffel now descended in front of +him; divisions of Werder's army pressed down from the north; the +retreat was cut off; and the unfortunate French general, whom a +telegram from Gambetta removed from his command, attempted to +take his own life. On the 1st of February, the wreck of his army, +still numbering eighty-five thousand men, but reduced to the +extremity of weakness and misery, sought refuge beyond the Swiss +frontier.</p> +<p>[Capitulation of Paris and Armistice, Jan. 28.]</p> +<p>The war was now over. Two days after Bourbaki's repulse at +Montbéliard the last unsuccessful sortie was made from +Paris. There now remained provisions only for another fortnight; +above forty thousand of the inhabitants had succumbed to the +privations of the siege; all hope of assistance from the +relieving armies before actual famine should begin disappeared. +On the 23rd of January Favre sought the German Chancellor at +Versailles in order to discuss the conditions of a general +armistice and of the capitulation of Paris. The negotiations +lasted for several days; on the 28th an armistice was signed with +the declared object that elections might at once be freely held +for a National Assembly, which should decide whether the war +should be continued, or on what conditions peace should be made. +The conditions of the armistice were that the forts of Paris and +all their material of war should be handed over to the German +army; that the artillery of the enceinte should be dismounted; +and that the regular troops in Paris should, as prisoners of war, +surrender their arms. The National Guard were permitted to retain +their weapons and their artillery. Immediately upon the +fulfilment of the first two conditions all facilities were to be +given for the entry of supplies of food into Paris. <a name="FNanchor545"> </a><a href="#Footnote_545"><sup>[545]</sup></a></p> +<p>[National Assembly at Bordeaux, Feb. 12.]</p> +<p>[Preliminaries of Peace, Feb. 26.]</p> +<p>The articles of the armistice were duly executed, and on the +30th of January the Prussian flag waved over the forts of the +French capital. Orders were sent into the provinces by the +Government that elections should at once be held. It had at one +time been feared by Count Bismarck that Gambetta would +acknowledge no armistice that might be made by his colleagues at +Paris. But this apprehension was not realised, for, while +protesting against a measure adopted without consultation with +himself and his companions at Bordeaux, Gambetta did not actually +reject the armistice. He called upon the nation, however, to use +the interval for the collection of new forces; and in the hope of +gaining from the election an Assembly in favour of a continuation +of the war, he published a decree incapacitating for election all +persons who had been connected with the Government of Napoleon +III. Against this decree Bismarck at once protested, and at his +instance it was cancelled by the Government of Paris. Gambetta +thereupon resigned. The elections were held on the 8th of +February, and on the 12th the National Assembly was opened at +Bordeaux. The Government of Defence now laid down its powers. +Thiers-who had been the author of those fortifications which had +kept the Germans at bay for four months after the overthrow of +the Imperial armies; who, in the midst of the delirium of July, +1870, had done all that man could do to dissuade the Imperial +Government and its Parliament from war; who, in spite of his +seventy years, had, after the fall of Napoleon, hurried to +London, to St. Petersburg, to Florence, to Vienna, in the hope of +winning some support for France,-was the man called by common +assent to the helm of State. He appointed a Ministry, called upon +the Assembly to postpone all discussions as to the future +Government of France, and himself proceeded to Versailles in +order to negotiate conditions of peace. For several days the old +man struggled with Count Bismarck on point after point in the +Prussian demands. Bismarck required the cession of Alsace and +Eastern Lorraine, the payment of six milliards of francs, and the +occupation of part of Paris by the German army until the +conditions of peace should be ratified by the Assembly. Thiers +strove hard to save Metz, but on this point the German staff was +inexorable; he succeeded at last in reducing the indemnity to +five milliards, and was given the option between retaining +Belfort and sparing Paris the entry of the German troops. On the +last point his patriotism decided without a moment's hesitation. +He bade the Germans enter Paris, and saved Belfort for France. On +the 26th of February preliminaries of peace were signed. Thirty +thousand German soldiers marched into the Champs Elysées +on the 1st of March; but on that same day the treaty was ratified +by the Assembly at Bordeaux, and after forty-eight hours Paris +was freed from the sight of its conquerors. The Articles of Peace +provided for the gradual evacuation of France by the German army +as the instalments of the indemnity, which were allowed to extend +over a period of three years, should be paid. There remained for +settlement only certain matters of detail, chiefly connected with +finance; these, however, proved the object of long and bitter +controversy, and it was not until the 10th of May that the +definitive Treaty of Peace was signed at Frankfort.</p> +<p>[German Unity.]</p> +<p>France had made war in order to undo the work of partial union +effected by Prussia in 1866: it achieved the opposite result, and +Germany emerged from the war with the Empire established. +Immediately after the victory of Wörth the Crown Prince had +seen that the time had come for abolishing the line of division +which severed Southern Germany from the Federation of the North. +His own conception of the best form of national union was a +German Empire with its chief at Berlin. That Count Bismarck was +without plans for uniting North and South Germany it is +impossible to believe; but the Minister and the Crown Prince had +always been at enmity; and when, after the battle of Sedan, they +spoke together of the future, it seemed to the Prince as if +Bismarck had scarcely thought of the federation of the Empire or +of the re-establishment of the Imperial dignity, and as if he was +inclined to it only under certain reserves. It was, however, part +of Bismarck's system to exclude the Crown Prince as far as +possible from political affairs, under the strange pretext that +his relationship to Queen Victoria would be abused by the French +proclivities of the English Court; and it is possible that had +the Chancellor after the battle of Sedan chosen to admit the +Prince to his confidence instead of resenting his interference, +the difference between their views as to the future of Germany +would have been seen to be one rather of forms and means than of +intention. But whatever the share of these two dissimilar spirits +in the initiation of the last steps towards German union, the +work, as ultimately achieved, was both in form and in substance +that which the Crown Prince had conceived. In the course of +September negotiations were opened with each of the Southern +States for its entry into the Northern Confederation. Bavaria +alone raised serious difficulties, and demanded terms to which +the Prussian Government could not consent. Bismarck refrained +from exercising pressure at Munich, but invited the several +Governments to send representatives to Versailles for the purpose +of arriving at a settlement. For a moment the Court of Munich +drew the sovereign of Würtemberg to its side, and orders +were sent to the envoys of Würtemberg at Versailles to act +with the Bavarians in refusing to sign the treaty projected by +Bismarck. The Würtemberg Ministers hereupon tendered their +resignation; Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt signed the treaty, and the +two dissentient kings saw themselves on the point of being +excluded from United Germany. They withdrew their opposition, and +at the end of November the treaties uniting all the Southern +States with the existing Confederation were executed, Bavaria +retaining larger separate rights than were accorded to any other +member of the Union.</p> +<p>[Proclamation of the Empire, Jan. 18.]</p> +<p>In the acts which thus gave to Germany political cohesion +there was nothing that altered the title of its chief. Bismarck, +however, had in the meantime informed the recalcitrant sovereigns +that if they did not themselves offer the Imperial dignity to +King William, the North German Parliament would do so. At the end +of November a letter was accordingly sent by the King of Bavaria +to all his fellow-sovereigns, proposing that the King of Prussia, +as President of the newly-formed Federation, should assume the +title of German Emperor. Shortly afterwards the same request was +made by the same sovereign to King William himself, in a letter +dictated by Bismarck. A deputation from the North German +Reichstag, headed by its President, Dr. Simson, who, as President +of the Frankfort National Assembly, had in 1849 offered the +Imperial Crown to King Frederick William, expressed the +concurrence of the nation in the act of the Princes. It was +expected that before the end of the year the new political +arrangements would have been sanctioned by the Parliaments of all +the States concerned, and the 1st of January had been fixed for +the assumption of the Imperial title. So vigorous, however, was +the opposition made in the Bavarian Chamber, that the ceremony +was postponed till the 18th. Even then the final approving vote +had not been taken at Munich; but a second adjournment would have +been fatal to the dignity of the occasion; and on the 18th of +January, in the midst of the Princes of Germany and the +representatives of its army assembled in the Hall of Mirrors at +Versailles, King William assumed the title of German Emperor. The +first Parliament of the Empire was opened at Berlin two months +later.</p> +<p>[The Commune of Paris.]</p> +<p>[Troops withdrawn to Versailles, March 18.]</p> +<p>[The Commune.]</p> +<p>The misfortunes of France did not end with the fall of its +capital and the loss of its border provinces; the terrible drama +of 1870 closed with civil war. It is part of the normal order of +French history that when an established Government is overthrown, +and another is set in its place, this second Government is in its +turn attacked by insurrection in Paris, and an effort is made to +establish the rule of the democracy of the capital itself, or of +those who for the moment pass for its leaders. It was so in 1793, +in 1831, in 1848, and it was so again in 1870. Favre, Trochu, and +the other members of the Government of Defence had assumed power +on the downfall of Napoleon III. because they considered +themselves the individuals best able to serve the State. There +were hundreds of other persons in Paris who had exactly the same +opinion of themselves; and when, with the progress of the siege, +the Government of Defence lost its popularity and credit, it was +natural that ambitious and impatient men of a lower political +rank should consider it time to try whether Paris could not make +a better defence under their own auspices. Attempts were made +before the end of October to overthrow the Government. They were +repeated at intervals, but without success. The agitation, +however, continued within the ranks of the National Guard, which, +unlike the National Guard in the time of Louis Philippe, now +included the mass of the working class, and was the most +dangerous enemy, instead of the support, of Government. The +capitulation brought things to a crisis. Favre had declared that +it would be impossible to disarm the National Guard without a +battle in the streets; at his instance Bismarck allowed the +National Guard to retain their weapons, and the fears of the +Government itself thus prepared the way for successful +insurrection. When the Germans were about to occupy western +Paris, the National Guard drew off its artillery to Montmartre +and there erected entrenchments. During the next fortnight, while +the Germans were withdrawing from the western forts in accordance +with the conditions of peace, the Government and the National +Guard stood facing one another in inaction; on the 18th of March +General Lecomte was ordered to seize the artillery parked at +Montmartre. His troops, surrounded and solicited by the National +Guard, abandoned their commander. Lecomte was seized, and, with +General Clément Thomas, was put to death. A revolutionary +Central Committee took possession of the Hôtel de Ville; +the troops still remaining faithful to the Government were +withdrawn to Versailles, where Thiers had assembled the Chamber. +Not only Paris itself, but the western forts with the exception +of Mont Valérien, fell into the hands of the insurgents. +On the 26th of March elections were held for the Commune. The +majority of peaceful citizens abstained from voting. A council +was elected, which by the side of certain harmless and +well-meaning men contained a troop of revolutionists by +profession; and after the failure of all attempts at +conciliation, hostilities began between Paris and Versailles.</p> +<p>[Second Siege-April 2, May 21.]</p> +<p>There were in the ranks of those who fought for the Commune +some who fought in the sincere belief that their cause was that +of municipal freedom; there were others who believed, and with +good reason, that the existence of the Republic was threatened by +a reactionary Assembly at Versailles; but the movement was on the +whole the work of fanatics who sought to subvert every authority +but their own; and the unfortunate mob who followed them, in so +far as they fought for anything beyond the daily pay which had +been their only means of sustenance since the siege began, fought +for they knew not what. As the conflict was prolonged, it took on +both sides a character of atrocious violence and cruelty. The +murder of Generals Lecomte and Thomas at the outset was avenged +by the execution of some of the first prisoners taken by the +troops of Versailles. Then hostages were seized by the Commune. +The slaughter in cold blood of three hundred National Guards +surprised at Clamart by the besiegers gave to the Parisians the +example of massacre. When, after a siege of six weeks, in which +Paris suffered far more severely than it had suffered from the +cannonade of the Germans, the troops of Versailles at length made +their way into the capital, humanity, civilisation, seemed to +have vanished in the orgies of devils. The defenders, as they +fell back, murdered their hostages, and left behind them palaces, +museums, the entire public inheritance of the nation in its +capital, in flames. The conquerors during several days shot down +all whom they took fighting, and in many cases put to death whole +bands of prisoners without distinction. The temper of the army +was such that the Government, even if it had desired, could +probably not have mitigated the terrors of this vengeance. But +there was little sign anywhere of an inclination to mercy. +Courts-martial and executions continued long after the heat of +combat was over. A year passed, and the tribunals were still busy +with their work. Above ten thousand persons were sentenced to +transportation or imprisonment before public justice was +satisfied.</p> +<p>[Entry of Italian Troops into Rome, Sept. 20, 1870.]</p> +<p>[The Papacy.]</p> +<p>The material losses which France sustained at the hands of the +invader and in civil war were soon repaired; but from the battle +of Wörth down to the overthrow of the Commune France had +been effaced as a European Power, and its effacement was turned +to good account by two nations who were not its enemies. Russia, +with the sanction of Europe, threw off the trammels which had +been imposed upon it in the Black Sea by the Treaty of 1856. +Italy gained possession of Rome. Soon after the declaration of +war the troops of France, after an occupation of twenty-one years +broken only by an interval of some months in 1867, were withdrawn +from the Papal territory. Whatever may have been the +understanding with Victor Emmanuel on which Napoleon recalled his +troops from Civita Vecchia, the battle of Sedan set Italy free; +and on the 20th of September the National Army, after overcoming +a brief show of resistance, entered Rome. The unity of Italy was +at last completed; Florence ceased to be the national capital. A +body of laws passed by the Italian Parliament, and known as the +Guarantees, assured to the Pope the honours and immunities of a +sovereign, the possession of the Vatican and the Lateran palaces, +and a princely income; in the appointment of Bishops and +generally in the government of the Church a fulness of authority +was freely left to him such as he possessed in no other European +land. But Pius would accept no compromise for the loss of his +temporal power. He spurned the reconciliation with the Italian +people, which had now for the first time since 1849 become +possible. He declared Rome to be in the possession of brigands; +and, with a fine affectation of disdain for Victor Emmanuel and +the Italian Government, he invented, and sustained down to the +end of his life, before a world too busy to pay much heed to his +performance, the reproachful part of the Prisoner of the +Vatican.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name="CHAPTER_XXV."> </a> +<h2><a href="#c25">CHAPTER XXV.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p>France after 1871-Alliance of the Three Emperors-Revolt of +Herzegovina-The Andrássy Note-Murder of the Consuls at +Salonika-The Berlin Memorandum-Rejected by England-Abdul Aziz +deposed-Massacres in Bulgaria-Servia and Montenegro declare +War-Opinion in England- Disraeli-Meeting of Emperors at +Reichstadt-Servian Campaign-Declaration of the Czar-Conference at +Constantinople-Its Failure-The London Protocol-Russia declares +War-Advance on the Balkans-Osman at Plevna-Second Attack on +Plevna-The Shipka Pass-Roumania-Third attack on +Plevna-Todleben-Fall of Plevna-Passage of the Balkans-Armistice- +England-The Fleet passes the Dardanelles-Treaty of San +Stefano-England and Russia-Secret Agreement-Convention with +Turkey-Congress of Berlin-Treaty of Berlin-Bulgaria.</p> +<br> + +<p>[France after 1871.]</p> +<p>The storm of 1870 was followed by some years of European calm. +France, recovering with wonderful rapidity from the wounds +inflicted by the war, paid with ease the instalments of its debt +to Germany, and saw its soil liberated from the foreigner before +the period fixed by the Treaty of Frankfort. The efforts of a +reactionary Assembly were kept in check by M. Thiers; the +Republic, as the form of government which divided Frenchmen the +least, was preferred by him to the monarchical restoration which +might have won France allies at some of the European Courts. For +two years Thiers baffled or controlled the royalist majority at +Versailles which sought to place the Comté de Chambord or +the chief of the House of Orleans on the throne, and thus saved +his country from the greatest of all perils, the renewal of civil +war. In 1873 he fell before a combination of his opponents, and +McMahon succeeded to the Presidency, only to find that the +royalist cause was made hopeless by the refusal of the +Comté de Chambord to adopt the Tricolour flag, and that +France, after several years of trial, definitely preferred the +Republic. Meanwhile, Prince Bismarck had known how to frustrate +all plans for raising a coalition against victorious Germany +among the Powers which had been injured by its successes, or +whose interests were threatened by its greatness. He saw that a +Bourbon or a Napoleon on the throne of France would find far more +sympathy and confidence at Vienna and St. Petersburg than the +shifting chief of a Republic, and ordered Count Arnim, the German +Ambassador at Paris, who wished to promote a Napoleonic +restoration, to desist from all attempts to weaken the Republican +Government. At St. Petersburg, where after the misfortunes of +1815 France had found its best friends, the German statesman had +as yet little to fear. Bismarck had supported Russia in undoing +the Treaty of Paris; in announcing the conclusion of peace with +France, the German Emperor had assured the Czar in the most +solemn language that his services in preventing the war of 1870 +from becoming general should never be forgotten; and, whatever +might be the feeling of his subjects, Alexander II. continued to +believe that Russia could find no steadier friend than the +Government of Berlin.</p> +<p>[Alliance of the three Emperors.]</p> +<p>With Austria Prince Bismarck had a more difficult part to +play. He could hope for no real understanding so long as Beust +remained at the head of affairs. But the events of 1870, utterly +frustrating Beust's plans for a coalition against Prussia, and +definitely closing for Austria all hope of recovering its +position within Germany, had shaken the Minister's position. +Bismarck was able to offer to the Emperor Francis Joseph the +sincere and cordial friendship of the powerful German Empire, on +the condition that Austria should frankly accept the work of 1866 +and 1870. He had dissuaded his master after the victory of +Königgrätz from annexing any Austrian territory; he had +imposed no condition of peace that left behind it a lasting +exasperation; and he now reaped the reward of his foresight. +Francis Joseph accepted the friendship offered him from Berlin, +and dismissed Count Beust from office, calling to his place the +Hungarian Minister Andrássy, who, by conviction as well as +profession, welcomed the establishment of a German Empire, and +the definite abandonment by Austria of its interference in German +affairs. In the summer of 1872 the three Emperors, accompanied by +their Ministers, met in Berlin. No formal alliance was made, but +a relation was established of sufficient intimacy to insure +Prince Bismarck against any efforts that might be made by France +to gain an ally. For five years this so-called League of the +three Emperors continued in more or less effective existence, and +condemned France to isolation. In the apprehension of the French +people, Germany, gorged with the five milliards but still lean +and ravenous, sought only for some new occasion for war. This was +not the case. The German nation had entered unwillingly into the +war of 1870; that its ruler, when once his great aim had been +achieved, sought peace not only in word but in deed the history +of subsequent years has proved. The alarms which at intervals +were raised at Paris and elsewhere had little real foundation; +and when next the peace of Europe was broken, it was not by a +renewal of the struggle on the Vosges, but by a conflict in the +East, which, terrible as it was in the sufferings and the +destruction of life which it involved, was yet no senseless duel +between two jealous nations, but one of the most fruitful in +results of all modern wars, rescuing whole provinces from Ottoman +dominion, and leaving behind it in place of a chaos of outworn +barbarism at least the elements for a future of national +independence among the Balkan population.</p> +<p>[Revolt of Herzegovina, Aug., 1875.]</p> +<p>[Andrássy Note, Jan. 31, 1876.]</p> +<p>In the summer of 1875 Herzegovina rose against its Turkish +masters, and in Bosnia conflicts broke out between Christians and +Mohammedans. The insurrection was vigorously, though privately, +supported by Servia and Montenegro, and for some months baffled +all the efforts made by the Porte for its suppression. Many +thousands of the Christians, flying from a devastated land and a +merciless enemy, sought refuge beyond the Austrian frontier, and +became a burden upon the Austrian Government. The agitation among +the Slavic neighbours and kinsmen of the insurgents threatened +the peace of Austria itself, where Slav and Magyar were almost as +ready to fall upon one another as Christian and Turk. +Andrássy entered into communications with the Governments +of St. Petersburg and Berlin as to the adoption of a common line +of policy by the three Empires towards the Porte; and a scheme of +reforms, intended to effect the pacification of the insurgent +provinces, was drawn up by the three Ministers in concert with +one another. This project, which was known as the Andrássy +Note, and which received the approval of England and France, +demanded from the Porte the establishment of full and entire +religious liberty, the abolition of the farming of taxes, the +application of the revenue produced by direct taxation in Bosnia +and Herzegovina to the needs of those provinces themselves, the +institution of a Commission composed equally of Christians and +Mohammedans to control the execution of these reforms and of +those promised by the Porte, and finally the improvement of the +agrarian condition of the population by the sale to them of waste +lands belonging to the State. The Note demanding these reforms +was presented in Constantinople on the 31st of January, 1876. The +Porte, which had already been lavish of promises to the +insurgents, raised certain objections in detail, but ultimately +declared itself willing to grant in substance the concessions +which were specified by the Powers. <a name="FNanchor546"> </a><a +href="#Footnote_546"><sup>[546]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Murder of the Consuls at Salonika, May 6.]</p> +<p>Armed with this assurance, the representatives of Austria now +endeavoured to persuade the insurgents to lay down their arms and +the refugees to return to their homes. But the answer was made +that promises enough had already been given by the Sultan, and +that the question was, not what more was to be written on a piece +of paper, but how the execution of these promises was to be +enforced. Without some guarantee from the Great Powers of Europe +the refugees refused to place themselves again at the mercy of +the Turk, and the leaders in Herzegovina refused to disband their +troops. The conflict broke out afresh with greater energy; the +intervention of the Powers, far from having produced peace, +roused the fanatical passions of the Mohammedans both against the +Christian rayahs and against the foreigner to whom they had +appealed. A wave of religious, of patriotic agitation, of +political disquiet, of barbaric fury, passed over the Turkish +Empire. On the 6th of May the Prussian and the French Consuls at +Salonika were attacked and murdered by the mob. In Smyrna and +Constantinople there were threatening movements against the +European inhabitants; in Bulgaria, the Circassian settlers and +the hordes of irregular troops whom the Government had recently +sent into that province waited only for the first sign of an +expected insurrection to fall upon their prey and deluge the land +with blood.</p> +<p>[The Berlin Memorandum, May 13.]</p> +<p>As soon as it became evident that peace was not to be produced +by Count Andrássy's Note, the Ministers of the three +Empires determined to meet one another with the view of arranging +further diplomatic steps to be taken in common. Berlin, which the +Czar was about to visit, was chosen as the meeting-place; the +date of the meeting was fixed for the second week in May. It was +in the interval between the despatch of Prince Bismarck's +invitation and the arrival of the Czar, with Prince Gortschakoff +and Count Andrássy, that intelligence came of the murder +of the Prussian and French Consuls at Salonika. This event gave a +deeper seriousness to the deliberations now held. The Ministers +declared that if the representatives of two foreign Powers could +be thus murdered in broad daylight in a peaceful town under the +eyes of the powerless authorities, the Christians of the +insurgent provinces might well decline to entrust themselves to +an exasperated enemy. An effective guarantee for the execution of +the promises made by the Porte had become absolutely necessary. +The conclusions of the Ministers were embodied in a Memorandum, +which declared that an armistice of two months must be imposed on +the combatants; that the mixed Commission mentioned in the +Andrássy Note must be at once called into being, with a +Christian native of Herzegovina at its head; and that the reforms +promised by the Porte must be carried out under the +superintendence of the representatives of the European Powers. If +before the end of the armistice the Porte should not have given +its assent to these terms, the Imperial Courts declared that they +must support these diplomatic efforts by measures of a more +effective character. <a name="FNanchor547"> </a><a href="#Footnote_547"><sup>[547]</sup></a></p> +<p>[England alone rejects the Berlin Memorandum.]</p> +<p>On the same day that this Memorandum was signed, Prince +Bismarck invited the British, the French, and Italian Ambassadors +to meet the Russian and the Austrian Chancellors at his +residence. They did so. The Memorandum was read, and an urgent +request was made that Great Britain France, and Italy would +combine with the Imperial Courts in support of the Berlin +Memorandum as they had in support of the Andrássy Note. As +Prince Gortschakoff and Andrássy were staying in Berlin +only for two days longer, it was hoped that answers might be +received by telegraph within forty-eight hours. Within that time +answers arrived from the French and Italian Governments accepting +the Berlin Memorandum; the reply from London did not arrive till +five days later; it announced the refusal of the Government to +join in the course proposed. Pending further negotiations on this +subject, French, German, Austrian, Italian, and Russian ships of +war were sent to Salonika to enforce satisfaction for the murder +of the Consuls. The Cabinet of London, declining to associate +itself with the concert of the Powers, and stating that Great +Britain, while intending nothing in the nature of a menace, could +not permit territorial changes to be made in the East without its +own consent, despatched the fleet to Besika Bay.</p> +<p>[Abdul Aziz deposed, May 29.]</p> +<p>[Massacres in Bulgaria.]</p> +<p>[Servia and Montenegro declare war, July 2.]</p> +<p>Up to this time little attention had been paid in England to +the revolt of the Christian subjects of the Porte or its effect +on European politics. Now, however, a series of events began +which excited the interest and even the passion of the English +people in an extraordinary degree. The ferment in Constantinople +was deepening. On the 29th of May the Sultan Abdul Aziz was +deposed by Midhat Pasha and Hussein Avni, the former the chief of +the party of reform, the latter the representative of the older +Turkish military and patriotic spirit which Abdul Aziz had +incensed by his subserviency to Russia. A few days later the +deposed Sultan was murdered. Hussein Avni and another rival of +Midhat were assassinated by a desperado as they sat at the +council; Murad V., who had been raised to the throne, proved +imbecile; and Midhat, the destined regenerator of the Ottoman +Empire as many outside Turkey believed, grasped all but the +highest power in the State. Towards the end of June reports +reached western Europe of the repression of an insurrection in +Bulgaria with measures of atrocious violence. Servia and +Montenegro, long active in support of their kinsmen who were in +arms, declared war. The reports from Bulgaria, at first vague, +took more definite form; and at length the correspondents of +German as well as English newspapers, making their way to the +district south of the Balkans, found in villages still strewed +with skeletons and human remains the terrible evidence of what +had passed. The British Ministry, relying upon the statements of +Sir H. Elliot, Ambassador at Constantinople, at first denied the +seriousness of the massacres: they directed, however, that +investigations should be made on the spot by a member of the +Embassy; and Mr. Baring, Secretary of Legation, was sent to +Bulgaria with this duty. Baring's report confirmed the accounts +which his chief had refused to believe, and placed the number of +the victims, rightly or wrongly, at not less than twelve +thousand. <a name="FNanchor548"> </a><a href="#Footnote_548"><sup>[548]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Opinion in England.]</p> +<p>The Bulgarian massacres acted on Europe in 1876 as the +massacre of Chios had acted on Europe in 1822. In England +especially they excited the deepest horror, and completely +changed the tone of public opinion towards the Turk. Hitherto the +public mind had scarcely been conscious of the questions that +were at issue in the East. Herzegovina, Bosnia, Bulgaria, were +not familiar names like Greece; the English people hardly knew +where these countries were, or that they were not inhabited by +Turks. The Crimean War had left behind it the tradition of +friendship with the Sultan; it needed some lightning-flash, some +shock penetrating all ranks of society, to dispel once and for +all the conventional idea of Turkey as a community resembling a +European State, and to bring home to the English people the true +condition of the Christian races of the Balkan under their +Ottoman masters. But this the Bulgarian massacres effectively +did; and from this time the great mass of the English people, who +had sympathised so strongly with the Italians and the Hungarians +in their struggle for national independence, were not disposed to +allow the influence of Great Britain to be used for the +perpetuation of Turkish ascendency over the Slavic races. There +is little doubt that if in the autumn of 1876 the nation had had +the opportunity of expressing its views by a Parliamentary +election, it would have insisted on the adoption of active +measures in concert with the Powers which were prepared to force +reform upon the Porte. But the Parliament of 1876 was but two +years old; the majority which supported the Government was still +unbroken; and at the head of the Cabinet there was a man gifted +with extraordinary tenacity of purpose, with great powers of +command over others, and with a clear, cold, untroubled +apprehension of the line of conduct which he intended to pursue. +It was one of the strangest features of this epoch that a +Minister who in a long career had never yet exercised the +slightest influence upon foreign affairs, and who was not himself +English by birth, should have impressed in such an extreme degree +the stamp of his own individuality upon the conduct of our +foreign policy; that he should have forced England to the very +front in the crisis through which Europe was passing; and that, +for good or for evil, he should have reversed the tendency which +since the Italian war of 1859 had seemed ever to be drawing +England further and further away from Continental affairs.</p> +<p>[Disraeli.]</p> +<p>Disraeli's conception of Parliamentary politics was an +ironical one. It had pleased the British nation that the +leadership of one of its great political parties should be won by +a man of genius only on the condition of accommodating himself to +certain singular fancies of his contemporaries; and for twenty +years, from the time of his attacks upon Sir Robert Peel for the +abolition of the corn-laws down to the time when he educated his +party into the democratic Reform Bill of 1867, Disraeli with an +excellent grace suited himself to the somewhat strange parts +which he was required to play. But after 1874, when he was placed +in office at the head of a powerful majority in both Houses of +Parliament and of a submissive Cabinet, the antics ended; the +epoch of statesmanship, and of statesmanship based on the +leader's own individual thought not on the commonplace of public +creeds, began. At a time when Cavour was rice-growing and +Bismarck unknown outside his own county, Disraeli had given to +the world in Tancred his visions of Eastern Empire. Mysterious +chieftains planned the regeneration of Asia by a new crusade of +Arab and Syrian votaries of the one living faith, and lightly +touched on the transfer of Queen Victoria's Court from London to +Delhi. Nothing indeed is perfect; and Disraeli's eye was favoured +with such extraordinary perceptions of the remote that it proved +a little uncertain in its view of matters not quite without +importance nearer home. He thought the attempt to establish +Italian independence a misdemeanour; he listened to Bismarck's +ideas on the future of Germany, and described them as the +vapourings of a German baron. For a quarter of a century Disraeli +had dazzled and amused the House of Commons without, as it +seemed, drawing inspiration from any one great cause or +discerning any one of the political goals towards which the +nations of Europe were tending. At length, however, the time came +for the realisation of his own imperial policy; and before the +Eastern question had risen conspicuously above the horizon in +Europe, Disraeli, as Prime Minister of England, had begun to act +in Asia and Africa. He sent the Prince of Wales to hold Durbars +and to hunt tigers amongst the Hindoos; he proclaimed the Queen +Empress of India; he purchased the Khedive's shares in the Suez +Canal. Thus far it had been uncertain whether there was much in +the Minister's policy beyond what was theatrical and picturesque; +but when a great part of the nation began to ask for intervention +on behalf of the Eastern Christians against the Turks, they found +out that Disraeli's purpose was solid enough. Animated by a deep +distrust and fear of Russia, he returned to what had been the +policy of Tory Governments in the days before Canning, the +identification of British interests with the maintenance of +Ottoman power. If a generation of sentimentalists were willing to +sacrifice the grandeur of an Empire to their sympathies with an +oppressed people, it was not Disraeli who would be their +instrument. When the massacre of Batak was mentioned in the House +of Commons, he dwelt on the honourable qualities of the +Circassians; when instances of torture were alleged, he remarked +that an oriental people generally terminated its connection with +culprits in a more expeditious manner. <a name="FNanchor549"> </a><a href="#Footnote_549"><sup>[549]</sup></a> +There were indeed Englishmen enough who loved their country as +well as Disraeli, and who had proved their love by sacrifices +which Disraeli had not had occasion to make, who thought it +humiliating that the greatness of England should be purchased by +the servitude and oppression of other races, and that the +security of their Empire should be deemed to rest on so miserable +a thing as Turkish rule. These were considerations to which +Disraeli did not attach much importance. He believed the one +thing needful to be the curbing of Russia; and, unlike Canning, +who held that Russia would best be kept in check by England's own +armed co-operation with it in establishing the independence of +Greece, he declined from the first to entertain any project of +imposing reform on the Sultan by force, doubting only to what +extent it would be possible for him to support the Sultan in +resistance to other Powers. According to his own later statement +he would himself, had he been left unfettered, have definitely +informed the Czar that if he should make war upon the Porte +England would act as its ally. Public opinion in England, +however, rendered this course impossible. The knife of Circassian +and Bashi-Bazouk had severed the bond with Great Britain which +had saved Turkey in 1854. Disraeli-henceforward Earl of +Beaconsfield-could only utter grim anathemas against Servia for +presuming to draw the sword upon its rightful lord and master, +and chide those impatient English who, like the greater man whose +name is associated with Beaconsfield, considered that the world +need not be too critical as to the means of getting rid of such +an evil as Ottoman rule. <a name="FNanchor550"> </a><a href="#Footnote_550"><sup>[550]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Meeting and Treaty of Reichstadt, July 8.]</p> +<p>[The Servian Campaign, July-Oct.]</p> +<p>[Russian enforces an armistice, Oct. 30.]</p> +<p>The rejection by England of the Berlin Memorandum and the +proclamation of war by Servia and Montenegro were followed by the +closer union of the three Imperial Courts. The Czar and the +Emperor Francis Joseph, with their Ministers, met at Reichstadt +in Bohemia on the 8th of July. According to official statements +the result of the meeting was that the two sovereigns determined +upon non-intervention for the present, and proposed only to renew +the attempt to unite all the Christian Powers in a common policy +when some definite occasion should arise. Rumours, however, which +proved to be correct, went abroad that something of the nature of +an eventual partition of European Turkey had been the object of +negotiation. A Treaty had in fact been signed providing that if +Russia should liberate Bulgaria by arms, Austria should enter +into possession of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The neutrality of +Austria had virtually been purchased at this price, and Russia +had thus secured freedom of action in the event of the necessary +reforms not being forced upon Turkey by the concert of Europe. +Sooner perhaps than Prince Gortschakoff had expected, the +religious enthusiasm of the Russian people and their sympathy for +their kinsmen and fellow-believers beyond the Danube forced the +Czar into vigorous action. In spite of the assistance of several +thousands of Russian volunteers and of the leadership of the +Russian General Tchernaieff, the Servians were defeated in their +struggle with the Turks. The mediation of England was in vain +tendered to the Porte on the only terms on which even at London +peace was seen to be possible, the maintenance of the existing +rights of Servia and the establishment of provincial autonomy in +Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. After a brief suspension of +hostilities in September war was renewed. The Servians were +driven from their positions; Alexinatz was captured, the road to +Belgrade lay open, and the doom of Bulgaria seemed likely to +descend upon the conquered Principality. The Turks offered indeed +a five months' armistice, which would have saved them the risks +of a winter campaign and enabled them to crush their enemy with +accumulated forces in the following spring. This, by the advice +of Russia, the Servians refused to accept. On the 30th of October +a Russian ultimatum was handed in at Constantinople by the +Ambassador Ignatieff, requiring within forty-eight hours the +grant to Servia of an armistice for two months and the cessation +of hostilities. The Porte submitted; and wherever Slav and +Ottoman stood facing one another in arms, in Herzegovina and +Bosnia as well as Servia and Montenegro, there was a pause in the +struggle.</p> +<p>[Declaration of the Czar, Nov. 2.]</p> +<p>[England proposes a Conference.]</p> +<p>The imminence of a war between Russia and Turkey in the last +days of October and the close connection between Russia and the +Servian cause justified the anxiety of the British Government. +This anxiety the Czar sought to dispel by a frank declaration of +his own views. On the 2nd of November he entered into +conversation with the British Ambassador, Lord A. Loftus, and +assured him on his word of honour that he had no intention of +acquiring Constantinople; that if it should be necessary for him +to occupy part of Bulgaria his army would remain there only until +peace was restored and the security of the Christian population +established; and, generally, that he desired nothing more +earnestly than a complete accord between England and Russia in +the maintenance of European peace and the improvement of the +condition of the Christian population in Turkey. He stated, +however, with perfect clearness that if the Porte should continue +to refuse the reforms demanded by Europe, and the Powers should +put up with its continued refusal, Russia would act alone. +Disclaiming in words of great earnestness all desire for +territorial aggrandisement, he protested against the suspicion +with which his policy was regarded in England, and desired that +his words might be made public in England as a message of peace. +<a name="FNanchor551"> </a><a href="#Footnote_551"><sup>[551]</sup></a> Lord Derby, then Foreign +Secretary, immediately expressed the satisfaction with which the +Government had received these assurances; and on the following +day an invitation was sent from London to all the European Powers +proposing a Conference at Constantinople, on the basis of a +common recognition of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, +accompanied by a disavowal on the part of each of the Powers of +all aims at aggrandisement or separate advantage. In proposing +this Conference the Government acted in conformity with the +expressed desire of the Czar. But there were two voices within +the Cabinet. Lord Beaconsfield, had it been in his power, would +have informed Russia categorically that England would support the +Sultan if attacked. This the country and the Cabinet forbade: but +the Premier had his own opportunities of utterance, and at the +Guildhall Banquet on the 9th of November, six days after the +Foreign Secretary had acknowledged the Czar's message of +friendship, and before this message had been made known to the +English people, Lord Beaconsfield uttered words which, if they +were not idle bluster, could have been intended only as a menace +to the Czar or as an appeal to the war-party at home:-"Though the +policy of England is peace, there is no country so well prepared +for war as our own. If England enters into conflict in a +righteous cause, her resources are inexhaustible. She is not a +country that when she enters into a campaign has to ask herself +whether she can support a second or a third campaign. She enters +into a campaign which she will not terminate till right is +done."</p> +<p>[Project of Ottoman Constitution.]</p> +<p>The proposal made by the Earl of Derby for a Conference at +Constantinople was accepted by all the Powers, and accepted on +the bases specified. Lord Salisbury, then Secretary of State for +India, was appointed to represent Great Britain in conjunction +with Sir H. Elliot, its Ambassador. The Minister made his journey +to Constantinople by way of the European capitals, and learnt at +Berlin that the good understanding between the German Emperor and +the Czar extended to Eastern affairs. Whether the British +Government had as yet gained any trustworthy information on the +Treaty of Reichstadt is doubtful; but so far as the public eye +could judge, there was now, in spite of the tone assumed by Lord +Beaconsfield, a fairer prospect of the solution of the Eastern +question by the establishment of some form of autonomy in the +Christian provinces than there had been at any previous time. The +Porte itself recognised the serious intention of the Powers, and, +in order to forestall the work of the Conference, prepared a +scheme of constitutional reform that far surpassed the wildest +claims of Herzegovinian or of Serb. Nothing less than a complete +system of Parliamentary Government, with the very latest +ingenuities from France and Belgium, was to be granted to the +entire Ottoman Empire. That Midhat Pasha, who was the author of +this scheme, may have had some serious end in view is not +impossible; but with the mass of Palace-functionaries at +Constantinople it was simply a device for embarrassing the West +with its own inventions; and the action of men in power, both +great and small, continued after the constitution had come into +nominal existence to be exactly what it had been before. The very +terms of the constitution must have been unintelligible to all +but those who had been employed at foreign courts. The Government +might as well have announced its intention of clothing the +Balkans with the flora of the deep sea.</p> +<p>[Demands settled at the Preliminary Conference, Dec. +11-21.]</p> +<p>In the second week of December the representatives of the six +Great Powers assembled at Constantinople. In order that the +demands of Europe should be presented to the Porte with +unanimity, they determined to hold a series of preliminary +meetings with one another before the formal opening of the +Conference and before communicating with the Turks. At these +meetings, after Ignatieff had withdrawn his proposal for a +Russian occupation of Bulgaria, complete accord was attained. It +was resolved to demand the cession of certain small districts by +the Porte to Servia and Montenegro; the grant of administrative +autonomy to Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria; the appointment in +each of these provinces of Christian governors, whose terms of +office should be for five years, and whose nomination should be +subject to the approval of the Powers; the confinement of Turkish +troops to the fortresses; the removal of the bands of Circassians +to Asia; and finally the execution of these reforms under the +superintendence of an International Commission, which should have +at its disposal a corps of six thousand gendarmes to be enlisted +in Switzerland or Belgium. By these arrangements, while the +Sultan retained his sovereignty and the integrity of the Ottoman +Empire remained unimpaired, it was conceived that the Christian +population would be effectively secured against Turkish violence +and caprice.</p> +<p>[The Turks refuse the demands of the Conference, Jan. 20, +1877.]</p> +<p>All differences between the representatives of the European +Powers having been removed, the formal Conference was opened on +the 23rd of December under the presidency of the Turkish Foreign +Minister, Savfet Pasha. The proceedings had not gone far when +they were interrupted by the roar of cannon. Savfet explained +that the new Ottoman constitution was being promulgated, and that +the salvo which the members of the Conference heard announced the +birth of an era of universal happiness and prosperity in the +Sultan's dominions. It soon appeared that in the presence of this +great panacea there was no place for the reforming efforts of the +Christian Powers. Savfet declared from the first that, whatever +concessions might be made on other points, the Sultan's +Government would never consent to the establishment of a Foreign +Commission to superintend the execution of its reforms, nor to +the joint action of the Powers in the appointment of the +governors of its provinces. It was in vain argued that without +such foreign control Europe possessed no guarantee that the +promises and the good intentions of the Porte, however gratifying +these might be, would be carried into effect. Savfet replied that +by the Treaty of 1856 the Powers had declared the Ottoman Empire +to stand on exactly the same footing as any other great State in +Europe, and had expressly debarred themselves from interfering, +under whatever circumstances, with its internal administration. +The position of the Turkish representative at the Conference was +in fact the only logical one. In the Treaty of Paris the Powers +had elaborately pledged themselves to an absurdity; and this +Treaty the Turk was never weary of throwing in their faces. But +the situation was not one for lawyers and for the interpretation +of documents. The Conference, after hearing the arguments and the +counter-projects of the Turkish Ministers, after reconsidering +its own demands and modifying these in many important points in +deference to Ottoman wishes, adhered to the demand for a Foreign +Commission and for a European control over the appointment of +governors. Midhat, who was now Grand Vizier, summoned the Great +Council of the Empire, and presented to it the demands of the +Conference. These demands the Great Council unanimously rejected. +Lord Salisbury had already warned the Sultan what would be the +results of continued obstinacy; and after receiving Midhat's +final reply the ambassadors of all the Powers, together with the +envoys who had been specially appointed for the Conference, +quitted Constantinople.</p> +<p>[The London Protocol, Mar. 31.]</p> +<p>[The Porte rejects the Protocol.]</p> +<p>[Russia declares war, April 24.]</p> +<p>Russia, since the beginning of November, had been actively +preparing for war. The Czar had left the world in no doubt as to +his own intentions in case of the failure of the European +Concert; it only remained for him to ascertain whether, after the +settlement of a definite scheme of reform by the Conference and +the rejection of this scheme by the Porte, the Powers would or +would not take steps to enforce their conclusion. England +suggested that the Sultan should be allowed a year to carry out +his good intentions: Gortschakoff inquired whether England would +pledge itself to action if, at the end of the year, reform was +not effected; but no such pledge was forthcoming. With the object +either of discovering some arrangement in which the Powers would +combine, or of delaying the outbreak of war until the Russian +preparations were more advanced and the season more favourable, +Ignatieff was sent round to all the European Courts. He visited +England, and subsequently drew up, with the assistance of Count +Schouvaloff, Russian Ambassador at London, a document which +gained the approval of the British as well as the Continental +Governments. This document, known as the London Protocol, was +signed on the 31st of March. After a reference to the promises of +reform made by the Porte, it stated that the Powers intended to +watch carefully by their representatives over the manner in which +these promises were carried into effect; that if their hopes +should be once more disappointed they should regard the condition +of affairs as incompatible with the interests of Europe; and that +in such case they would decide in common upon the means best +fitted to secure the well-being of the Christian population and +the interests of general peace. Declarations relative to the +disarmament of Russia, which it was now the principal object of +the British Government to effect, were added. There was indeed so +little of a substantial engagement in this Protocol that it would +have been surprising had Russia disarmed without obtaining some +further guarantee for the execution of reform. But weak as the +Protocol was, it was rejected by the Porte. Once more the appeal +was made to the Treaty of Paris, once more the Sultan protested +against the encroachment of the Powers on his own inviolable +rights. Lord Beaconsfield's Cabinet even now denied that the last +word had been spoken, and professed to entertain some hope in the +effect of subsequent diplomatic steps; but the rest of Europe +asked and expected no further forbearance on the part of Russia. +The army of operations already lay on the Pruth: the Grand Duke +Nicholas, brother of the Czar, was appointed to its command; and +on the 24th of April the Russian Government issued its +declaration of war.</p> +<p>[Passage of the Danube, June 27.]</p> +<p>[Advance on the Balkans, July.]</p> +<p>[Gourko south of the Balkans, July 15.]</p> +<p>Between the Russian frontier and the Danube lay the +Principality of Roumania. A convention signed before the outbreak +of hostilities gave to the Russian army a free passage through +this territory, and Roumania subsequently entered the war as +Russia's ally. It was not, however, until the fourth week of June +that the invaders were able to cross the Danube. Seven army-corps +were assembled in Roumania; of these one crossed the Lower Danube +into the Dobrudscha, two were retained in Roumania as a reserve, +and four crossed the river in the neighbourhood of Sistowa, in +order to enter upon the Bulgarian campaign. It was the desire of +the Russians to throw forward the central part of their army by +the line of the river Jantra upon the Balkans; with their left to +move against Rustchuk and the Turkish armies in the eastern +fortresses of Bulgaria; with their right to capture Nicopolis, +and guard the central column against any flank attack from the +west. But both in Europe and in Asia the Russians had underrated +the power of their adversary, and entered upon the war with +insufficient forces. Advantages won by their generals on the +Armenian frontier while the European army was still marching +through Roumania were lost in the course of the next few weeks. +Bayazid and other places that fell into the hands of the Russians +at the first onset were recovered by the Turks under Mukhtar +Pasha; and within a few days after the opening of the European +campaign the Russian divisions in Asia were everywhere retreating +upon their own frontier. The Bulgarian campaign was marked by the +same rapid successes of the invader at the outset, to be +followed, owing to the same insufficiency of force, by similar +disasters. Encountering no effective opposition on the Danube, +the Russians pushed forward rapidly towards the Balkans by the +line of the Jantra. The Turkish army lay scattered in the +Bulgarian fortresses, from Widdin in the extreme west to Shumla +at the foot of the Eastern Balkans. It was considered by the +Russian commanders that two army-corps would be required to +operate against the Turks in Eastern Bulgaria, while one corps +would be enough to cover the central line of invasion from the +west. There remained, excluding the two corps in reserve in +Roumania and the corps holding the Dobrudscha, but one corps for +the march on the Balkans and Adrianople. The command of the +vanguard of this body was given to General Gourko, who pressed on +into the Balkans, seized the Shipka Pass, and descended into +Southern Bulgaria (July 15). The Turks were driven from Kesanlik +and Eski Sagra, and Gourko's cavalry, a few hundreds in number, +advanced to within two days' march of Adrianople.</p> +<p>[Osman occupies Plevna, July 19.]</p> +<p>[First engagement at Plevna, July 20.]</p> +<p>[Second battle at Plevna, July 30.]</p> +<p>[The Shipka Pass, Aug. 20-23.]</p> +<p>The headquarters of the whole Russian army were now at +Tirnova, the ancient Bulgarian capital, about half-way between +the Danube and the Balkans. Two army-corps, commanded by the +Czarewitch, moved eastwards against Rustchuk and the so-called +Turkish army of the Danube, which was gathering behind the lines +of the Kara Lom; another division, under General Krudener, turned +westward and captured Nicopolis with its garrison. Lovatz and +other points lying westward of the Jantra were occupied by weak +detachments; but so badly were the reconnaissances of the +Russians performed in this direction that they were unaware of +the approach of a Turkish army from Widdin, thirty-five thousand +strong, till this was close on their flank. Before the Russians +could prevent him, Osman Pasha, with the vanguard of this army, +had occupied the town and heights of Plevna, between Nicopolis +and Lovatz. On the 20th of July, still unaware of their enemy's +strength, the Russians attacked him at Plevna: they were defeated +with considerable loss, and after a few days one of Osman's +divisions, pushing forward upon the invader's central line, drove +them out of Lovatz. The Grand Duke now sent reinforcements to +Krudener, and ordered him to take Plevna at all costs. Krudener's +strength was raised to thirty-five thousand; but in the meantime +new Turkish regiments had joined Osman, and his troops, now +numbering about fifty thousand, had been working day and night +entrenching themselves in the heights round Plevna which the +Russians had to attack. The assault was made on the 30th of July; +it was beaten back with terrible slaughter, the Russians leaving +a fifth of their number on the field. Had Osman taken up the +offensive and the Turkish commander on the Lom pressed vigorously +upon the invader's line, it would probably have gone ill with the +Russian army in Bulgaria. Gourko was at once compelled to abandon +the country south of the Balkans. His troops, falling back upon +the Shipka Pass, were there attacked from the south by far +superior forces under Suleiman Pasha. The Ottoman commander, +prodigal of the lives of his men and trusting to mere blindfold +violence, hurled his army day after day against the Russian +positions (Aug. 20-23). There was a moment when all seemed lost, +and the Russian soldiers sent to their Czar the last message of +devotion from men who were about to die at their post. But in the +extremity of peril there arrived a reinforcement, weak, but +sufficient to turn the scale against the ill-commanded Turks. +Suleiman's army withdrew to the village of Shipka at the southern +end of the pass. The pass itself, with the entrance from northern +Bulgaria, remained in the hands of the Russians.</p> +<p>[Roumania.]</p> +<p>[Third battle of Plevna, Sept 11-12.]</p> +<p>After the second battle of Plevna it became clear that the +Russians could not carry on the campaign with their existing +forces. Two army-corps were called up which were guarding the +coast of the Black Sea; several others were mobilised in the +interior of Russia, and began their journey towards the Danube. +So urgent, however, was the immediate need, that the Czar was +compelled to ask help from Roumania. This help was given. +Roumanian troops, excellent in quality, filled up the gap caused +by Krudener's defeats, and the whole army before Plevna was +placed under the command of the Roumanian Prince Charles. At the +beginning of September the Russians were again ready for action. +Lovatz was wrested from the Turks, and the division which had +captured it moved on to Plevna to take part in a great combined +attack. This attack was made on the 11th of September under the +eyes of the Czar. On the north the Russians and Roumanians +together, after a desperate struggle, stormed the Grivitza +redoubt. On the south Skobeleff carried the first Turkish +position, but could make no impression on their second line of +defence. Twelve thousand men fell on the Russian side before the +day was over, and the main defences of the Turks were still +unbroken. On the morrow the Turks took up the offensive. +Skobeleff, exposed to the attack of a far superior foe, prayed in +vain for reinforcements. His men, standing in the positions that +they had won from the Turks, repelled one onslaught after +another, but were ultimately overwhelmed and driven from the +field. At the close of the second day's battle the Russians were +everywhere beaten back within their own lines, except at the +Grivitza redoubt, which was itself but an outwork of the Turkish +defences, and faced by more formidable works within. The +assailants had sustained a loss approaching that of the Germans +at Gravelotte with an army one-third of the Germans' strength. +Osman was stronger than at the beginning of the campaign; with +what sacrifices Russia would have to purchase its ultimate +victory no man could calculate.</p> +<p>[Todleben besieges Plevna.]</p> +<p>[Fall of Plevna, Dec. 10.]</p> +<p>The three defeats at Plevna cast a sinister light upon the +Russian military administration and the quality of its chiefs. +The soldiers had fought heroically; divisional generals like +Skobeleff had done all that man could do in such positions; the +faults were those of the headquarters and the officers by whom +the Imperial Family were surrounded. After the third catastrophe, +public opinion called for the removal of the authors of these +disasters and the employment of abler men. Todleben, the defender +of Sebastopol, who for some unknown reason had been left without +a command, was now summoned to Bulgaria, and virtually placed at +the head of the army before Plevna. He saw that the stronghold of +Osman could only be reduced by a regular siege, and prepared to +draw his lines right round it. For a time Osman kept open his +communications with the south-west, and heavy trains of +ammunition and supplies made their way into Plevna from this +direction; but the investment was at length completed, and the +army of Plevna cut off from the world. In the meantime new +regiments were steadily pouring into Bulgaria from the interior +of Russia. East of the Jantra, after many alternations of +fortune, the Turks were finally driven back behind the river Lom. +The last efforts of Suleiman failed to wrest the Shipka Pass from +its defenders. From the narrow line which the invaders had with +such difficulty held during three anxious months their forces, +accumulating day by day, spread out south and west up to the +slopes of the Balkans, ready to burst over the mountain-barrier +and sweep the enemy back to the walls of Constantinople when once +Plevna should have fallen and the army which besieged it should +be added to the invader's strength. At length, in the second week +of December, Osman's supply of food was exhausted. Victor in +three battles, he refused to surrender without one more struggle. +On the 10th of December, after distributing among his men what +there remained of provisions, he made a desperate effort to break +out towards the west. His columns dashed in vain against the +besieger's lines; behind him his enemies pressed forward into the +positions which he had abandoned; a ring of fire like that of +Sedan surrounded the Turkish army; and after thousands had fallen +in a hopeless conflict, the general and the troops who for five +months had held in check the collected forces of the Russian +Empire surrendered to their conqueror.</p> +<p>[Crossing of the Balkans, Dec. 25-Jan. 8.]</p> +<p>[Capitulation of Shipka, Jan. 9.]</p> +<p>[Russians enter Adrianople, Jan. 20, 1878.]</p> +<p>If in the first stages of the war there was little that did +credit to Russia's military capacity, the energy that marked its +close made amends for what had gone before. Winter was descending +in extreme severity: the Balkans were a mass of snow and ice; but +no obstacle could now bar the invader's march. Gourko, in command +of an army that had gathered to the south-west of Plevna, made +his way through the mountains above Etropol in the last days of +December, and, driving the Turks from Sophia, pressed on towards +Philippopolis and Adrianople. Farther east two columns crossed +the Balkans by bye-paths right and left of the Shipka Pass, and +then, converging on Shipka itself, fell upon the rear of the +Turkish army which still blocked the southern outlet. +Simultaneously a third corps marched down the pass from the north +and assailed the Turks in front. After a fierce struggle the +entire Turkish army, thirty-five thousand strong, laid down its +arms. There now remained only one considerable force between the +invaders and Constantinople. This body, which was commanded by +Suleiman, held the road which runs along the valley of the +Maritza, at a point somewhat to the east of Philippopolis. +Against it Gourko advanced from the west, while the victors of +Shipka, descending due south through Kesanlik, barred the line of +retreat towards Adrianople. The last encounter of the war took +place on the 17th of January. Suleiman's army, routed and +demoralised, succeeded in making its escape to the Ægean +coast. Pursuit was unnecessary, for the war was now practically +over. On the 20th of January the Russians made their entry into +Adrianople; in the next few days their advanced guard touched the +Sea of Marmora at Rodosto.</p> +<p>[Armistice, Jan. 31.]</p> +<p>Immediately after the fall of Plevna the Porte had applied to +the European Powers for their mediation. Disasters in Asia had +already warned it not to delay submission too long; for in the +middle of October Mukhtar Pasha had been driven from his +positions, and a month later Kars had been taken by storm. The +Russians had subsequently penetrated into Armenia and had +captured the outworks of Erzeroum. Each day that now passed +brought the Ottoman Empire nearer to destruction. Servia again +declared war; the Montenegrins made themselves masters of the +coast-towns and of border-territory north and south; Greece +seemed likely to enter into the struggle. Baffled in his attempt +to gain the common mediation of the Powers, the Sultan appealed +to the Queen of England personally for her good offices in +bringing the conflict to a close. In reply to a telegram from +London, the Czar declared himself willing to treat for peace as +soon as direct communications should be addressed to his +representatives by the Porte. On the 14th of January +commissioners were sent to the headquarters of the Grand Duke +Nicholas at Kesanlik to treat for an armistice and for +preliminaries of peace. The Russians, now in the full tide of +victory, were in no hurry to agree with their adversary. Nicholas +bade the Turkish envoys accompany him to Adrianople, and it was +not until the 31st of January that the armistice was granted and +the preliminaries of peace signed.</p> +<p>[England.]</p> +<p>[Vote of Credit, Jan. 28-Feb. 8.]</p> +<p>[Fleet passes the Dardanelles, Feb. 6.]</p> +<p>While the Turkish envoys were on their journey to the Russian +headquarters, the session of Parliament opened at London. The +Ministry had declared at the outbreak of the war that Great +Britain would remain neutral unless its own interests should be +imperilled, and it had defined these interests with due clearness +both in its communications with the Russian Ambassador and in its +statements in Parliament. It was laid down that Her Majesty's +Government could not permit the blockade of the Suez Canal, or +the extension of military operations to Egypt; that it could not +witness with indifference the passing of Constantinople into +other hands than those of its present possessors; and that it +would entertain serious objections to any material alterations in +the rules made under European sanction for the navigation of the +Bosphorus and Dardanelles. <a name="FNanchor552"> </a><a href="#Footnote_552"><sup>[552]</sup></a> In reply to Lord Derby's +note which formulated these conditions of neutrality Prince +Gortschakoff had repeated the Czar's assurance that the +acquisition of Constantinople was excluded from his views, and +had promised to undertake no military operation in Egypt; he had, +however, let it be understood that, as an incident of warfare, +the reduction of Constantinople might be necessary like that of +any other capital. In the Queen's speech at the opening of +Parliament, Ministers stated that the conditions on which the +neutrality of England was founded had not hitherto been infringed +by either belligerent, but that, should hostilities be prolonged, +some unexpected occurrence might render it necessary to adopt +measures of precaution, measures which could not be adequately +prepared without an appeal to the liberality of Parliament. From +language subsequently used by Lord Beaconsfield's colleagues, it +would appear that the Cabinet had some apprehension that the +Russian army, escaping from the Czar's control, might seize and +attempt permanently to hold Constantinople. On the 23rd of +January orders were sent to Admiral Hornby, commander of the +fleet at Besika Bay, to pass the Dardanelles, and proceed to +Constantinople. Lord Derby, who saw no necessity for measures of +a warlike character until the result of the negotiations at +Adrianople should become known, now resigned office; but on the +reversal of the order to Admiral Hornby he rejoined the Cabinet. +On the 28th of January, after the bases of peace had been +communicated by Count Schouvaloff to the British Government but +before they had been actually signed, the Chancellor of the +Exchequer moved for a vote of £6,000,000 for increasing the +armaments of the country. This vote was at first vigorously +opposed on the ground that none of the stated conditions of +England's neutrality had been infringed, and that in the +conditions of peace between Russia and Turkey there was nothing +that justified a departure from the policy which England had +hitherto pursued. In the course of the debates, however, a +telegram arrived from Mr. Layard, Elliot's successor at +Constantinople, stating that notwithstanding the armistice the +Russians were pushing on towards the capital; that the Turks had +been compelled to evacuate Silivria on the Sea of Marmora; that +the Russian general was about to occupy Tchataldja, an outpost of +the last line of defence not thirty miles from Constantinople; +and that the Porte was in great alarm, and unable to understand +the Russian proceedings. The utmost excitement was caused at +Westminster by this telegram. The fleet was at once ordered to +Constantinople. Mr. Forster, who had led the opposition to the +vote of credit, sought to withdraw his amendment; and although on +the following day, with the arrival of the articles of the +armistice, it appeared that the Russians were simply moving up to +the accepted line of demarcation, and that the Porte could hardly +have been ignorant of this when Layard's telegram was despatched, +the alarm raised in London did not subside, and the vote of +credit was carried by a majority of above two hundred. <a name="FNanchor553"> </a><a href="#Footnote_553"><sup>[553]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Imminence of war with England.]</p> +<p>When a victorious army is, without the intervention of some +external Power, checked in its work of conquest by the +negotiation of an armistice, it is invariably made a condition +that positions shall be handed over to it which it does not at +the moment occupy, but which it might reasonably expect to have +conquered within a certain date, had hostilities not been +suspended. The armistice granted to Austria by Napoleon after the +battle of Marengo involved the evacuation of the whole of Upper +Italy; the armistice which Bismarck offered to the French +Government of Defence at the beginning of the siege of Paris +would have involved the surrender of Strasburg and of Toul. In +demanding that the line of demarcation should be carried almost +up to the walls of Constantinople the Russians were asking for no +more than would certainly have been within their hands had +hostilities been prolonged for a few weeks, or even days. Deeply +as the conditions of the armistice agitated the English people, +it was not in these conditions, but in the conditions of the +peace which was to follow, that the true cause of contention +between England and Russia, if cause there was, had to be found. +Nevertheless, the approach of the Russians to Gallipoli and the +lines of Tchataldja, followed, as it was, by the despatch of the +British fleet to Constantinople, brought Russia and Great Britain +within a hair's breadth of war. It was in vain that Lord Derby +described the fleet as sent only for the protection of the lives +and property of British subjects. Gortschakoff, who was superior +in amenities of this kind, replied that the Russian Government +had exactly the same end in view, with the distinction that its +protection would be extended to all Christians. Should the +British fleet appear at the Bosphorus, Russian troops would, in +the fulfilment of a common duty of humanity, enter +Constantinople. Yielding to this threat, Lord Beaconsfield bade +the fleet halt at a convenient point in the Sea of Marmora. On +both sides preparations were made for immediate action. The guns +on our ships stood charged for battle; the Russians strewed the +shallows with torpedoes. Had a Russian soldier appeared on the +heights of Gallipoli, had an Englishman landed on the Asiatic +shore of the Bosphorus, war would at once have broken out. But +after some weeks of extreme danger the perils of mere contiguity +passed away, and the decision between peace and war was +transferred from the accidents of tent and quarter deck to the +deliberations of statesmen assembled in Congress.</p> +<p>[Treaty of San Stefano, Mar. 3.]</p> +<p>The bases of Peace which were made the condition of the +armistice granted at Adrianople formed with little alteration the +substance of the Treaty signed by Russia and Turkey at San +Stefano, a village on the Sea of Marmora, on the 3rd of March. By +this Treaty the Porte recognised the independence of Servia, +Montenegro, and Roumania, and made considerable cessions of +territory to the two former States. Bulgaria was constituted an +autonomous tributary Principality, with a Christian Government +and a national militia. Its frontier, which was made so extensive +as to include the greater part of European Turkey, was defined as +beginning near Midia on the Black Sea, not sixty miles from the +Bosphorus; passing thence westwards just to the north of +Adrianople; descending to the Ægean Sea, and following the +coast as far as the Thracian Chersonese; then passing inland +westwards, so as barely to exclude Salonika; running on to the +border of Albania within fifty miles of the Adriatic, and from +this point following the Albanian border up to the new Servian +frontier. The Prince of Bulgaria was to be freely elected by the +population, and confirmed by the Porte with the assent of the +Powers; a system of administration was to be drawn up by an +Assembly of Bulgarian notables; and the introduction of the new +system into Bulgaria with the superintendence of its working was +to be entrusted for two years to a Russian Commissioner. Until +the native militia was organised, Russian troops, not exceeding +fifty thousand in number, were to occupy the country; this +occupation, however, was to be limited to a term approximating to +two years. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the proposals laid before +the Porte at the first sitting of the Conference of 1876 were to +be immediately introduced, subject to such modifications as might +be agreed upon between Turkey, Russia, and Austria. The Porte +undertook to apply scrupulously in Crete the Organic Law which +had been drawn up in 1868, taking into account the previously +expressed wishes of the native population. An analogous law, +adapted to local requirements, was, after being communicated to +the Czar, to be introduced into Epirus, Thessaly, and the other +parts of Turkey in Europe for which a special constitution was +not provided by the Treaty. Commissions, in which the native +population was to be largely represented, were in each province +to be entrusted with the task of elaborating the details of the +new organisation. In Armenia the Sultan undertook to carry into +effect without further delay the improvements and reforms +demanded by local requirements, and to guarantee the security of +the Armenians from Kurds and Circassians. As an indemnity for the +losses and expenses of the war the Porte admitted itself to be +indebted to Russia in the sum of fourteen hundred million +roubles; but in accordance with the wishes of the Sultan, and in +consideration of the financial embarrassments of Turkey, the Czar +consented to accept in substitution for the greater part of this +sum the cession of the Dobrudscha in Europe, and of the districts +of Ardahan, Kars, Batoum, and Bayazid in Asia. As to the balance +of three hundred million roubles left due to Russia, the mode of +payment or guarantee was to be settled by an understanding +between the two Governments. The Dobrudscha was to be given by +the Czar to Roumania in exchange for Bessarabia, which this State +was to transfer to Russia. The complete evacuation of Turkey in +Europe was to take place within three months, that of Turkey in +Asia within six months, from the conclusion of peace. <a name="FNanchor554"> </a><a href="#Footnote_554"><sup>[554]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Congress proposed.]</p> +<p>[Opposite purposes of Russia and England.]</p> +<p>It had from the first been admitted by the Russian Government +that questions affecting the interests of Europe at large could +not be settled by a Treaty between Russia and Turkey alone, but +must form the subject of European agreement. Early in February +the Emperor of Austria had proposed that a European Conference +should assemble at his own capital. It was subsequently agreed +that Berlin, instead of Vienna, should be the place of meeting, +and instead of a Conference a Congress should be held, that is, +an international assembly of the most solemn form, in which each +of the Powers is represented not merely by an ambassador or an +envoy, but by its leading Ministers. But the question at once +arose whether there existed in the mind of the Russian Government +a distinction between parts of the Treaty of San Stefano bearing +on the interests of Europe generally and parts which affected no +States but Russia and Turkey; and whether, in this case, Russia +was willing that Europe should be the judge of the distinction, +or, on the contrary, claimed for itself the right of withholding +portions of the Treaty from the cognisance of the European Court. +In accepting the principle of a Congress, Lord Derby on behalf of +Great Britain made it a condition that every article of the +Treaty without exception should be laid before the Congress, not +necessarily as requiring the concurrence of the Powers, but in +order that the Powers themselves might in each case decide +whether their concurrence was necessary or not. To this demand +Prince Gortschakoff offered the most strenuous resistance, +claiming for Russia the liberty of accepting, or not accepting, +the discussion of any question that might be raised. It would +clearly have been in the power of the Russian Government, had +this condition been granted, to exclude from the consideration of +Europe precisely those matters which in the opinion of other +States were most essentially of European import. Phrases of +conciliation were suggested; but no ingenuity of language could +shade over the difference of purpose which separated the rival +Powers. Every day the chances of the meeting of the Congress +seemed to be diminishing, the approach of war between Russia and +Great Britain more unmistakable. Lord Beaconsfield called out the +Reserves and summoned troops from India; even the project of +seizing a port in Asia Minor in case the Sultan should fall under +Russian influence was discussed in the Cabinet. Unable to +reconcile himself to these vigorous measures, Lord Derby, who had +long been at variance with the Premier, now finally withdrew from +the Cabinet (March 28). He was succeeded in his office by the +Marquis of Salisbury, whose comparison of his relative and +predecessor to Titus Oates revived the interest of the diplomatic +world in a now forgotten period of English history.</p> +<p>[Circular of April 1.]</p> +<p>The new Foreign Secretary had not been many days in office +when a Circular, despatched to all the Foreign Courts, summed up +the objections of Great Britain to the Treaty of San Stefano. It +was pointed out that a strong Slavic State would be created under +the control of Russia, possessing important harbours upon the +shores of the Black Sea and the Archipelago, and giving to Russia +a preponderating influence over political and commercial +relations on both those seas; that a large Greek population would +be merged in a dominant Slavic majority; that by the extension of +Bulgaria to the Archipelago the Albanian and Greek provinces left +to the Sultan would be severed from Constantinople; that the +annexation of Bessarabia and of Batoum would make the will of the +Russian Government dominant over all the vicinity of the Black +Sea; that the acquisition of the strongholds of Armenia would +place the population of that province under the immediate +influence of the Power that held these strongholds, while through +the cession of Bayazid the European trade from Trebizond to +Persia would become liable to be arrested by the prohibitory +barriers of the Russian commercial system. Finally, by the +stipulation for an indemnity which it was beyond the power of +Turkey to discharge, and by the reference of the mode of payment +or guarantee to a later settlement, Russia had placed it in its +power either to extort yet larger cessions of territory, or to +force Turkey into engagements subordinating its policy in all +things to that of St. Petersburg.</p> +<p>[Count Schouvaloff.]</p> +<p>[Secret agreement, May 30th.]</p> +<p>[Convention with Turkey, June 4.]</p> +<p>[Cyprus.]</p> +<p>It was the object of Lord Salisbury to show that the effects +of the Treaty of San Stefano, taken in a mass, threatened the +peace and the interests of Europe, and therefore, whatever might +be advanced for or against individual stipulations of the Treaty, +that the Treaty as a whole, and not clauses selected by one +Power, must be submitted to the Congress if the examination was +not to prove illusory. This was a just line of argument. +Nevertheless it was natural to suppose that some parts of the +Treaty must be more distasteful than others to Great Britain; and +Count Schouvaloff, who was sincerely desirous of peace, applied +himself to the task of discovering with what concessions Lord +Beaconsfield's Cabinet would be satisfied. He found that if +Russia would consent to modifications of the Treaty in Congress +excluding Bulgaria from the Ægæan Sea, reducing its area on the +south and west, dividing it into two provinces, and restoring the +Balkans to the Sultan as a military frontier, giving back Bayazid +to the Turks, and granting to other Powers besides Russia a voice +in the organisation of Epirus, Thessaly, and the other Christian +provinces of the Porte, England might be induced to accept +without essential change the other provisions of San Stefano. On +the 7th of May Count Schouvaloff quitted London for St. +Petersburg, in order to lay before the Czar the results of his +communications with the Cabinet, and to acquaint him with the +state of public opinion in England. On his journey hung the +issues of peace or war. Backed by the counsels of the German +Emperor, Schouvaloff succeeded in his mission. The Czar +determined not to risk the great results already secured by +insisting on the points contested, and Schouvaloff returned to +London authorised to conclude a pact with the British Government +on the general basis which had been laid down. On the 30th of May +a secret agreement, in which the above were the principal points, +was signed, and the meeting of the Congress for the examination +of the entire Treaty of San Stefano was now assured. But it was +not without the deepest anxiety and regret that Lord Beaconsfield +consented to the annexation of Batoum and the Armenian +fortresses. He obtained indeed an assurance in the secret +agreement with Schouvaloff that the Russian frontier should be no +more extended on the side of Turkey in Asia; but his policy did +not stop short here. By a Convention made with the Sultan on the +4th of June, Great Britain engaged, in the event of any further +aggression by Russia upon the Asiatic territories of the Sultan, +to defend these territories by force of arms. The Sultan in +return promised to introduce the necessary reforms, to be agreed +upon by the two Powers, for the protection of the Christian and +other subjects of the Porte in these territories, and further +assigned the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by +England. It was stipulated by a humorous after-clause that if +Russia should restore to Turkey its Armenian conquests, Cyprus +would be evacuated by England, and the Convention itself should +be at an end. <a name="FNanchor555"> </a><a href="#Footnote_555"><sup>[555]</sup></a></p> +<p>[Congress of Berlin, June 13-July 13.]</p> +<p>[Treaty of Berlin, July 13.]</p> +<p>The Congress of Berlin, at which the Premier himself and Lord +Salisbury represented Great Britain, opened on the 13th of June. +Though the compromise between England and Russia had been settled +in general terms, the arrangement of details opened such a series +of difficulties that the Congress seemed more than once on the +point of breaking up. It was mainly due to the perseverance and +wisdom of Prince Bismarck, who transferred the discussion of the +most crucial points from the Congress to private meetings of his +guests, and who himself acted as conciliator when Gortschakoff +folded up his maps or Lord Beaconsfield ordered a special train, +that the work was at length achieved. The Treaty of Berlin, +signed on the 13th of July, confined Bulgaria, as an autonomous +Principality, to the country north of the Balkans, and diminished +the authority which, pending the establishment of its definitive +system of government, would by the Treaty of San Stefano have +belonged to a Russian commissioner. The portion of Bulgaria south +of the Balkans, but extending no farther west than the valley of +the Maritza, and no farther south than Mount Rhodope, was formed +into a Province of East Roumelia, to remain subject to the direct +political and military authority of the Sultan, under conditions +of administrative autonomy. The Sultan was declared to possess +the right of erecting fortifications both on the coast and on the +land-frontier of this province, and of maintaining troops there. +Alike in Bulgaria and in Eastern Roumelia the period of +occupation by Russian troops was limited to nine months. Bosnia +and Herzegovina were handed over to Austria, to be occupied and +administered by that Power. The cessions of territory made to +Servia and Montenegro in the Treaty of San Stefano were modified +with the object of interposing a broader strip between these two +States; Bayazid was omitted from the ceded districts in Asia, and +the Czar declared it his intention to erect Batoum into a free +port, essentially commercial. At the instance of France the +provisions relating to the Greek Provinces of Turkey were +superseded by a vote in favour of the cession of part of these +Provinces to the Hellenic Kingdom. The Sultan was recommended to +cede Thessaly and part of Epirus to Greece, the Powers reserving +to themselves the right of offering their mediation to facilitate +the negotiations. In other respects the provisions of the Treaty +of San Stefano were confirmed without substantial change.</p> +<p>[Comparison of the two Treaties.]</p> +<p>Lord Beaconsfield returned to London, bringing, as he said, +peace with honour. It was claimed, in the despatch to our +Ambassadors which accompanied the publication of the Treaty of +Berlin, that in this Treaty the cardinal objections raised by the +British Government to the Treaty of San Stefano had found an +entire remedy. "Bulgaria," wrote Lord Salisbury, "is now confined +to the river-barrier of the Danube, and consequently has not only +ceased to possess any harbour on the Archipelago, but is removed +by more than a hundred miles from the neighbourhood of that sea. +On the Euxine the important port of Bourgas has been restored to +the Government of Turkey; and Bulgaria retains less than half the +sea-board originally assigned to it, and possesses no other port +except the roadstead of Varna, which can hardly be used for any +but commercial purposes. The replacement under Turkish rule of +Bourgas and the southern half of the sea-board on the Euxine, and +the strictly commercial character assigned to Batoum, have +largely obviated the menace to the liberty of the Black Sea. The +political outposts of Russian power have been pushed back to the +region beyond the Balkans; the Sultan's dominions have been +provided with a defensible frontier." It was in short the +contention of the English Government that while Russia, in the +pretended emancipation of a great part of European Turkey by the +Treaty of San Stefano, had but acquired a new dependency, +England, by insisting on the division of Bulgaria, had baffled +this plan and restored to Turkey an effective military dominion +over all the country south of the Balkans. That Lord Beaconsfield +did well in severing Macedonia from the Slavic State of Bulgaria +there is little reason to doubt; that, having so severed it, he +did ill in leaving it without a European guarantee for good +government, every successive year made more plain; the wisdom of +his treatment of Bulgaria itself must, in the light of subsequent +events, remain matter for controversy. It may fairly be said that +in dealing with Bulgaria English statesmen were, on the whole, +dealing with the unknown. Nevertheless, had guidance been +accepted from the history of the other Balkan States, analogies +were not altogether wanting or altogether remote. During the +present century three Christian States had been formed out of +what had been Ottoman territory: Servia, Greece, and Roumania. +Not one of these had become a Russian Province, or had failed to +develop and maintain a distinct national existence. In Servia an +attempt had been made to retain for the Porte the right of +keeping troops in garrison. This attempt had proved a mistake. So +long as the right was exercised it had simply been a source of +danger and disquiet, and it had finally been abandoned by the +Porte itself. In the case of Greece, Russia, with a view to its +own interests, had originally proposed that the country should be +divided into four autonomous provinces tributary to the Sultan: +against this the Greeks had protested, and Canning had +successfully supported their protest. Even the appointment of an +ex-Minister of St. Petersburg, Capodistrias, as first President +of Greece in 1827 had failed to bring the liberated country under +Russian influence; and in the course of the half-century which +had since elapsed it had become one of the commonplaces of +politics, accepted by every school in every country of Western +Europe, that the Powers had committed a great error in 1833 in +not extending to far larger dimensions the Greek Kingdom which +they then established. In the case of Roumania, the British +Government had, out of fear of Russia, insisted in 1856 that the +provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia should remain separate: the +result was that the inhabitants in defiance of England effected +their union, and that after a few years had passed there was not +a single politician in England who regarded their union otherwise +than with satisfaction. If history taught anything in the +solution of the Eastern question, it taught that the effort to +reserve for the Sultan a military existence in countries which +had passed from under his general control was futile, and that +the best barrier against Russian influence was to be found not in +the division but in the strengthening and consolidation of the +States rescued from Ottoman dominions.</p> +<p>It was of course open to English statesmen in 1878 to believe +that all that had hitherto passed in the Balkan Peninsula had no +bearing upon the problems of the hour, and that, whatever might +have been the case with Greece, Servia, and Roumania, Bulgaria +stood on a completely different footing, and called for the +application of principles not based on the experience of the past +but on the divinations of superior minds. Should the history of +succeeding years bear out this view, should the Balkans become a +true military frontier for Turkey, should Northern Bulgaria sink +to the condition of a Russian dependency, and Eastern Roumelia, +in severance from its enslaved kin, abandon itself to a thriving +ease behind the garrisons of the reforming Ottoman, Lord +Beaconsfield will have deserved the fame of a statesman whose +intuitions, undimmed by the mists of experience, penetrated the +secret of the future, and shaped, because they discerned, the +destiny of nations. It will be the task of later historians to +measure the exact period after the Congress of Berlin at which +the process indicated by Lord Beaconsfield came into visible +operation; it is the misfortune of those whose view is limited by +a single decade to have to record that in every particular, with +the single exception of the severance of Macedonia from the +Slavonic Principality, Lord Beaconsfield's ideas, purposes and +anticipations, in so far as they related to Eastern Europe, have +hitherto been contradicted by events. What happened in Greece, +Servia, and Roumania has happened in Bulgaria. Experience, thrown +to the winds by English Ministers in 1878, has justified those +who listened to its voice. There exists no such thing as a +Turkish fortress on the Balkans; Bourgas no more belongs to the +Sultan than Athens or Belgrade; no Turkish soldier has been able +to set foot within the territory whose very name, Eastern +Roumelia, was to stamp it as Turkish dominion. National +independence, a living force in Greece, in Servia, in Roumania, +has proved its power in Bulgaria too. The efforts of Russia to +establish its influence over a people liberated by its arms have +been repelled with unexpected firmness. Like the divided members +of Roumania, the divided members of Bulgaria have effected their +union. In this union, in the growing material and moral force of +the Bulgarian State, Western Europe sees a power wholly +favourable to its own hopes for the future of the East, wholly +adverse to the extension of Russian rule: and it has been +reserved for Lord Beaconsfield's colleague at the Congress of +Berlin, regardless of the fact that Bulgaria north of the +Balkans, not the southern Province, created that vigorous +military and political organisation which was the precursor of +national union, to explain that in dividing Bulgaria into two +portions the English Ministers of 1878 intended to promote its +ultimate unity, and that in subjecting the southern half to the +Sultan's rule they laid the foundation for its ultimate +independence.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1"> </a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a></p> +<blockquote>Chapters I. to XI. of this Edition.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_2"> </a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a></p> +<blockquote>Chapters XII. to XVIII. of this Edition.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_3"> </a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a></p> +<blockquote>Page 362 of this Edition.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_4"> </a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a></p> +<blockquote>Ranke, Ursprung und Beginn der Revolutionskriege, p. +90. Vivenot, Quellen zur Geschichte der Kaiserpolitik +Oesterreichs, i. 185, 208.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_5"> </a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a></p> +<blockquote>Von Sybel, Geschichte der Revolutionszeit, i. +289.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_6"> </a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a></p> +<blockquote>Vivenot, Quellen, i. 372. Buchez et Roux, xiii. 340, +xiv. 24.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_7"> </a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a></p> +<blockquote>Häusser, Deutsche Geschichte, i. 88. Vivenot, +Herzog Albrecht, i. 78.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_8"> </a><a href="#FNanchor8">[8]</a></p> +<blockquote>Springer, Geschichte Oesterreichs, i. +46.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_9"> </a><a href="#FNanchor9">[9]</a></p> +<blockquote>Pertz, Leben Stein, ii. 402. Paget, Travels in +Hungary, i. 131.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_10"> </a><a href="#FNanchor10">[10]</a></p> +<blockquote>Ranke, Ursprung und Beginn, p. 256. Vivenot, Quellen, +i. 133, 165. The acquisition of Bavaria was declared by the +Austrian Cabinet to be the <i>summum bonum</i> of the +monarchy.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_11"> </a><a href="#FNanchor11">[11]</a></p> +<blockquote>Biedermann, Deutschland im Achtzehnten Jahrhundert, +iv. 1144.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_12"> </a><a href="#FNanchor12">[12]</a></p> +<blockquote>Carlyle, Friedrich, vi. 667.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_13"> </a><a href="#FNanchor13">[13]</a></p> +<blockquote>Häusser, i. 197. Hardenberg (Ranke), i. 139. Von +Sybel, i. 272.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_14"> </a><a href="#FNanchor14">[14]</a></p> +<blockquote>"The connection with the House of Austria and the +present undertaking continue to be very unpopular. It is openly +said that one half of the treasure was uselessly spent at +Reichenbach, and that the other half will be spent on the present +occasion, and that the sovereign will be reduced to his former +level of Margrave of Brandenburg." Eden, from Berlin; June 19, +1792. Records: Prussia, vol. 151. "He (Möllendorf) +reprobated the alliance with Austria, condemning the present +interference in the affairs of France as ruinous, and censuring +as undignified and contrary to the most important interests of +this country the leaving Russia sole arbitress of the fate of +Poland. He, however, said, what every Prussian without any +exception of party will say, that this country can never +acquiesce in the establishment of a good government in Poland, +since in a short time it would rise to a very decided +superiority," <i>Id.</i>, July 17. Mr. Cobden's theory that the +partition of Poland was effected in the interest of good +government must have caused some surprise at Berlin.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_15"> </a><a href="#FNanchor15">[15]</a></p> +<blockquote>The condition of Mecklenburg is thus described in a +letter written by Stein during a journey in 1802:-"I found the +aspect of the country as cheerless as its misty northern sky; +great estates, much of them in pasture or fallow; an extremely +thin population; the entire labouring class under the yoke of +serfage; stretches of land attached to solitary ill-built +farmhouses; in short, a monotony, a dead stillness, spreading +over the whole country, an absence of life and activity that +quite overcame my spirits. The home of the Mecklenburg noble, who +weighs like a load on his peasants instead of improving their +condition, gives me the idea of the den of some wild beast, who +devastates even thing about him, and surrounds himself with the +silence of the grave." Pertz, Leben Stein, i. 192. For a more +cheerful description of Münster, see <i>id.</i>, i. +241.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_16"> </a><a href="#FNanchor16">[16]</a></p> +<blockquote>Perthes, Staatsleben, p. 116. Rigby, Letters from +France, p. 215.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_17"> </a><a href="#FNanchor17">[17]</a></p> +<blockquote>Buchez et Roux, xvi. 279. One of the originals of +this declaration, handed to the British ambassador, is in the +London Records: Prussia, vol. 151.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_18"> </a><a href="#FNanchor18">[18]</a></p> +<blockquote>The accounts of the emigrants sent to England by Lord +Elgin, envoy at Brussels, and Sir J. Murray, our military +attaché with Brunswick's army (in Records: Flanders, vol. +221) are instructive: "The conduct of the army under the Princes +of France is universally reprobated. Their appearance in dress, +in attendants, in preparations, is ridiculous. As an instance, +however trivial, it may be mentioned that on one of the waggons +was written <i>Toilette de Monsieur</i>. The spirit of vengeance, +however, which they discover on every occasion is far more +serious. Wherever they have passed, they have exercised acts of +cruelty, in banishing and severely punishing those persons who, +though probably culpable, had yet been left untouched by the +Prussian commanders. To such an extent has this been carried that +the commander at Verdun would not suffer any Frenchman (emigrant) +to pass a night in the town without a special permission." Sept. +21. After the failure of the campaign, Elgin writes of the +emigrants: "They everywhere added to the cruelties for some of +which several hussars had been executed: carried to its extent +the vengeance threatened in the Duke of Brunswick's Declaration, +in burning whole villages where a shot was fired on them: and on +the other hand by their self-sufficiency, want of subordination +and personal disrespect, have drawn upon themselves the contempt +of the combined armies." Oct. 6. So late as 1796, the exile Louis +XVIII. declared his intention to restore the "property and +rights" (i.e. tithes, feudal dues, etc.) of the nobles and +clergy, and to punish the men who had "committed offences." See +Letter to Pichegru, May 4, 1796, in Manuscrit Inédit de +Louis XVIII., p. 464.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_19"> </a><a href="#FNanchor19">[19]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wordsworth, Prelude, book ix.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_20"> </a><a href="#FNanchor20">[20]</a></p> +<blockquote>The correspondence is in Ranke, Ursprung und Beginn, +p. 371. Such was the famine in the Prussian camp that Dumouriez +sent the King of Prussia twelve loaves, twelve pounds of coffee, +and twelve pounds of sugar. The official account of the campaign +is in the <i>Berlinische Zeitung</i> of Oct. 11, +1792.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_21"> </a><a href="#FNanchor21">[21]</a></p> +<blockquote>Forster, Werke, vi. 386.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_22"> </a><a href="#FNanchor22">[22]</a></p> +<blockquote>"The very night the news of the late Emperor's +(Leopold's) death arrived here (Brussels), inflammatory +advertisements and invitations to arm were distributed." One +culprit "belonged to the Choir of St. Gudule: he chose the middle +of the day, and in the presence of many people posted up a paper +in the church, exhorting to a general insurrection. The remainder +of this strange production was the description of a vision he +pretended to have seen, representing the soul of the late emperor +on its way to join that of Joseph, already suffering in the other +world." Col. Gardiner, March 20, 1792. Records: Flanders, vol. +220.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_23"> </a><a href="#FNanchor23">[23]</a></p> +<blockquote>Elgin, from Brussels, Nov. 6. "A brisk cannonade has +been heard this whole forenoon in the direction of Mons. It is at +this moment somewhat diminished, though not at an end" Nov. 7. +"Several messengers have arrived from camp in the course of the +night, but all the Ministers (I have seen them all) deny having +received one word of detail.... Couriers have been sent this +night in every direction to call in all the detachments on the +frontiers.... The Government is making every arrangement for +quitting Brussels: their papers are already prepared, their +carriages ready." ... Then a PS. "A cannonade is distinctly heard +again.... All the emigrants now here are removing with the utmost +haste." Nov. 9th. "The confusion throughout the country is +extreme. The roads are covered with emigrants, and persons of +these provinces flying from the French armies," Records: +Flanders, vol. 222.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_24"> </a><a href="#FNanchor24">[24]</a></p> +<blockquote>In Nov. 1792, Grenville ordered the English envoys at +Vienna and Berlin to discover, if possible, the real designs of +aggrandisement held by those Courts. Mr. Straton, at Vienna, got +wind of the agreement against Poland. "I requested Count Philip +Cobenzl" (the Austrian Minister) "that he would have the goodness +to open himself confidentially to me on the precise object which +the two allied Courts might have in contemplation. This, however, +the Count was by no means disposed to do; on the contrary, he +went round the compass of evasion in order to avoid a direct +answer. But determined as I was to push the Austrian Minister, I +heaped question on question, until I forced him to say, blushing, +and with evident signs of embarrassment, 'Count Stadion' +(Ambassador at London) 'will be able to satisfy the curiosity of +the British Minister, to whatever point it may be directed.'" +Jan. 20, 1793. Records: Austria, vol. 32. Stadion accordingly +informed Lord Grenville of the Polish and Bavarian plans. +Grenville expressed his concern and regret at the aggression on +Poland, and gave reasons against the Bavarian exchange. To our +envoy with the King of Prussia Grenville wrote: "It may possibly +be the intention of the Courts to adopt a plan of indemnifying +themselves for the expense of the war by fresh acquisitions in +Poland, and carrying into execution a new partition of that +country. You will not fail to explain in the most distinct and +pointed manner his Majesty's entire disapprobation of such a +plan, and his determination on no account to concur in any +measures which may tend to the completion of a design so unjust +in itself." Jan. 4, 1793. Records: Army in Germany, vol. 437. At +Vienna Cobenzl declared, Feb. 9, that Austria could not now "even +manifest a wish to oppose the projects of Prussia in Poland, as +in that case his Prussian Majesty would probably withdraw his +assistance from the French war; nay, perhaps even enter into an +alliance with that nation and invade Bohemia." Records: Austria, +vol. 32.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_25"> </a><a href="#FNanchor25">[25]</a></p> +<blockquote>Auckland, ii. 464. Papers presented to Parliament, +1793. Mr. Oscar Browning, in <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, Feb., +1883.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_26"> </a><a href="#FNanchor26">[26]</a></p> +<blockquote>Von Sybel, ii. 259. Thugut, Vertrauliche Briefe, i. +17. Letters from Brussels, 23rd March in Records: Flanders, vol. +222. "The Huzars are in motion all round, so that we hope to have +them here to-morrow. Most of the French troops who arrived last, +and which are mostly peasants armed with pikes, are returning +home, besides a great number of their volunteers." 24th March. +"At this moment we hear the cannon. The French have just had it +cry'd in the town that all the tailors who are making coats for +the army must bring them made or unmade, and be paid directly.... +They beat the drums to drown the report of the cannon.... You +have not a conception of the confusion in the town.... This +moment passed four Austrians with their heads cut to pieces, and +one with his eye poked out. The French are retiring by the Porte +d'Anderlecht." Ostend, April 4th. "This day, before two of the +clock, twenty-five Austrian huzars enter'd the town while the +inhabitants were employed burning the tree of +liberty."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_27"> </a><a href="#FNanchor27">[27]</a></p> +<blockquote>Mortimer-Ternaux, vii. 412.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_28"> </a><a href="#FNanchor28">[28]</a></p> +<blockquote>Berriat-St.-Prix, La Justice Révolutionnaire, +introd.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_29"> </a><a href="#FNanchor29">[29]</a></p> +<blockquote>"The King of Prussia has been educated in the +persuasion that the execution of that exchange involves the ruin +of his family, and he is the more sore about it that by the +qualified consent which he has given to its taking place he has +precluded himself from opposing it by arms. Accordingly, every +idle story which arrives from Munich which tends to revive this +apprehension makes an impression which I am unable, at the first +moment, to efface." Lord Yarmouth, from the Prussian camp, Aug. +12, 1793, Records: Army in Germany, 437. "Marquis Lucchesini, the +effectual director, is desirous of avoiding every expense and +every exertion of the troops; of leaving the whole burden of the +war on Austria and the other combined Powers; and of seeing +difficulties multiply in the arrangements which the Court of +Vienna may wish to form I do not perceive any object beyond this; +no desire of diminishing the power of France; no system or +feeling for crushing the opinions, the doctrines, of that +country." Elgin, May 17. Records: Flanders, vol. +223.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_30"> </a><a href="#FNanchor30">[30]</a></p> +<blockquote>Auckland, iii. 24. Thugut, Vertrauliche Briefe, i. +13. Grenville to Eden, Sept. 7th, 1793, Records: Austria, vol. +34: a most important historical document, setting out the +principles of alliance between England and Austria. Austria, if +it will abandon the Bavarian exchange, may claim annexations on +the border of the Netherlands, in Alsace and Lorraine, and in the +intermediate parts of the frontier of France. England's indemnity +"must be looked for in the foreign settlements and colonies of +France.... His Majesty has an interest in seeing the House of +Austria strengthen itself by acquisitions on the French frontier. +The Emperor must see with pleasure the relative increase of the +naval and commercial resources of this country beyond those of +France." In the face of this paper, it cannot be maintained that +the war of 1793 was, after the first few months, purely defensive +on England's part; though no doubt Pitt's notion of an indemnity +was fair and modest in comparison with the schemes and acts of +his enemy.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_31"> </a><a href="#FNanchor31">[31]</a></p> +<blockquote>The first mention of Bonaparte's name in any British +document occurs in an account of the army of Toulon sent to +London in Dec. 1793 by a spy. "Les capitaines +d'artillérie, élévé dans cet +état, connoissent leur service et ont tous du talens. Ils +préféroient l'employer pour une meilleure cause.... +Le sixtèrne, nommé Bonaparte, trés +republicain, a été tué sous les murs de +Toulon." Records: France, vol. 599. Austria undertook to send +5,000 troops from Lombardy to defend Toulon, but broke its +engagement. "You will wait on M. Thugut (the Austrian Minister) +and claim in the most peremptory terms the performance of this +engagement. It would be very offensive to his Majesty that a +request made so repeatedly on his part should be neglected; but +it is infinitely more so to see that, when this country is +straining every nerve for the common cause, a body of troops for +the want of which Toulon may possibly at this moment be lost, +have remained inactive at Milan. You will admit of no further +excuses." Grenville to Eden, Nov. 24, 1793. Thugut's written +answer was, "The Emperor gave the order of march at a moment when +the town of Toulon had no garrison. Its preservation then seemed +matter of pressing necessity, but now all inquietude on this +score has happily disappeared. The troops of different nations +already assembled at Toulon put the place out of all danger." +Records: Austria, vol. 35.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_32"> </a><a href="#FNanchor32">[32]</a></p> +<blockquote>Häusser, i. 482. "La Prusse," wrote Thugut at +this time, "parviendra au moyen de son alliance à nous +faire plus de mal qu'elle ne nous a fait par les guerres les plus +sanglantes." Briefe, i. 12, 15. Thugut even proposed that England +should encourage the Poles to resist. Eden, April 15; Records: +Austria, vol. 33.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_33"> </a><a href="#FNanchor33">[33]</a></p> +<blockquote>The English Government found that Thugut was from the +first indifferent to their own aim, the restoration of the +Bourbons, or establishment of some orderly government in France. +In so far as he concerned himself with the internal affairs of +France, he hoped rather for continued dissension, as facilitating +the annexation of French territory by Austria. "Qu'on profite de +ce conflit des partis en France pour tâcher de se rendre +mâitre des forteresses, afin de faire la loi au parti qui +aura prévalu, et l'obliger d'acheter la paix et la +protection de l'empereur, en lui cedant telle partie de ses +conquêtes que S.M. jugera de sa covenance." Briefe, i. +13.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_34"> </a><a href="#FNanchor34">[34]</a></p> +<blockquote>The despatches of Lord Yarmouth from the Prussian and +Austrian headquarters, from July 17 to Nov. 22, 1793, give a +lively picture both of the military operations and of the +political intrigues of this period. They are accompanied by the +MS. journal of the Austrian army from Sept. 15 to Dec. 14, each +copy apparently with Wurmser's autograph, and by the original +letter of the Prussian Minister, Lucchesini, to Lord Yarmouth, +announcing the withdrawal of Prussia from the war, "M. de +Lucchesini read it to me very hastily, and seemed almost ashamed +of a part of its contents." Records: Army in Germany, vols. 437, +438, 439.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_35"> </a><a href="#FNanchor35">[35]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hardenberg (Ranke), i. 181, Vivenot, Herzog Albrecht, +i. 10.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_36"> </a><a href="#FNanchor36">[36]</a></p> +<blockquote>Elgin reports after this engagement, May 1st, +1794-"The French army appears to continue much what it has +hitherto been, vigorous and persevering where (as in villages and +woods) the local advantages are of a nature to supply the defects +of military science; weak and helpless beyond belief where +cavalry can act, and manoeuvres are possible.... The magazines of +the army are stored, and the provisions regularly given out to +the troops, and good in quality. Indeed, it is singular to +observe in all the villages where we have been forward forage, +etc., in plenty, and all the country cultivated as usual. The +inhabitants, however, have retired with the French army; and to +that degree that the tract we have lately taken possession of is +absolutely deserted.... The execution of Danton has produced no +greater effect in the army than other executions, and we have +found many papers on those who fell in the late actions treating +it with ridicule, and as a source of joy." Records: Flanders, +226. "I am in hopes to hear from you on the subject of the French +prisoners, as to where I am to apply for the money I advance for +their subsistence. They are a great number of them almost naked, +some entirely so. It is absolutely shocking to humanity to see +them. I would purchase some coarse clothing for those that are in +the worst state, but know not how far I should be authorised. +They are mostly old men and boys." Consul Harward, at Ostend, +March 4th, <i>id</i>.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_37"> </a><a href="#FNanchor37">[37]</a></p> +<blockquote>These events are the subject of controversy. See +Hüffer, Oestreich und Preussen, p. 62 Von Sybel, iii. 138. +Vivenot, Clerfayt, p. 38. The old belief, defended by Von Sybel, +was that Thugut himself had determined upon the evacuation of +Belgium, and treacherously deprived Coburg of forces for its +defence. But, apart from other evidence, the tone of exasperation +that runs through Thugut's private letters is irreconcilable with +this theory. Lord Elgin, whose reports are used by Von Sybel, no +doubt believed that Thugut was playing false; but he was a bad +judge, being in the hands of Thugut's opponents, especially +General Mack, whom he glorifies in the most absurd way. The other +English envoy in Belgium, Lord Yarmouth, reported in favour of +Thugut's good faith in this matter, and against military +intriguers. Records: Army in Germany, vol. 440. A letter of +Prince Waldeck's in Thugut, i. 387, and a conversation between +Mack and Sir Morton Eden, on Feb. 3rd, 1797, reported by the +latter in Records: Austria, vol. 48, appear to fix the +responsibility for the evacuation of Belgium on these two +generals, Waldeck and Mack, and on the Emperor's confidential +military adviser, Rollin.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_38"> </a><a href="#FNanchor38">[38]</a></p> +<blockquote>"Should the French come they will find this town +perfectly empty. Except my own, I do not think there are three +houses in Ostend with a bed in them. So general a panic I never +witnessed." June 30th.-"To remain here alone would be a wanton +sacrifice. God knows 'tis an awful stroke to me to leave a place +just as I began to be comfortably settled." Consul Harward: +Records: Army in Germany, vol. 440. "All the English are arrested +in Ostend; the men are confined in the Capuchin convent, and the +women in the Convent des Soeurs Blancs. All the Flamands from the +age of 17 to 32 are forced to go for soldiers. At Bruges the +French issued an order for 800 men to present themselves. Thirty +only came, in consequence of which they rang a bell on the Grand +Place, and the inhabitants thinking that it was some ordinance, +quitted their houses to hear it, when they were surrounded by the +French soldiers, and upwards of 1,000 men secured, gentle and +simple, who were all immediately set to work on the canals." Mr. +W. Poppleton, Flushing, Sept. 4. Records: Flanders, vol. +227.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_39"> </a><a href="#FNanchor39">[39]</a></p> +<blockquote>Malmesbury, ii. 125. Von Sybel, iii. 168. Grenville +made Coburg's dismissal a <i>sine qua non</i> of the continuance +of English co-operation. Instructions to Lord Spencer, July 19, +1794. Records: Austria, 36. But for the Austrian complaints +against the English, see Vivenot, Clerfayt, p. 50.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_40"> </a><a href="#FNanchor40">[40]</a></p> +<blockquote>Schlosser, xv. 203: borne out by the Narrative of an +Officer, printed in Annual Register, 1795, p. 143.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_41"> </a><a href="#FNanchor41">[41]</a></p> +<blockquote>Vivenot, Herzog Albrecht, iii. 59, 512. Martens, +Recueil des Traités, vi. 45, 52. Hardenberg, i. 287. +Vivenot, Clerfayt, p. 32. "Le Roi de Prusse," wrote the Empress +Catherine, "est une méchante bête et un grand +cochon." Prussia made no attempt to deliver the unhappy son of +Louis XVI. from his captivity.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_42"> </a><a href="#FNanchor42">[42]</a></p> +<blockquote>The British Government had formed the most sanguine +estimate of the strength of the Royalist movement in France. "I +cannot let your servant return without troubling you with these +few lines to conjure you to use every possible effort to give +life and vigour to the Austrian Government at this critical +moment. Strongly as I have spoken in my despatch of the present +state of France, I have said much less than my information, drawn +from various quarters, and applying to almost every part of +France, would fairly warrant. We can never hope that the +circumstances, as far as they regard the state of France, can be +more favourable than they now are. For God's sake enforce these +points with all the earnestness which I am sure you will feel +upon them." Grenville to Eden, April 17, 1795; Records: Austria, +vol. 41. After the failure of the expedition, the British +Government made the grave charge against Thugut that while he was +officially sending Clerfayt pressing orders to advance, he +secretly told him to do nothing. "It is in vain to reason with +the Austrian Ministers on the folly and ill faith of a system +which they have been under the necessity of concealing from you, +and which they will probably endeavour to disguise" Grenville to +Eden, Oct., 1795; <i>id</i>., vol. 43. This charge, repeated by +historians, is disproved by Thugut's private letters. Briefe, i. +221, <i>seq</i>. No one more bitterly resented Clerfayt's +inaction.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_43"> </a><a href="#FNanchor43">[43]</a></p> +<blockquote>The documents relating to the expedition to Quiberon, +with several letters of D'Artois, Charette, and the Vendean +leaders, are in Records: France, vol. 600.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_44"> </a><a href="#FNanchor44">[44]</a></p> +<blockquote>Von Sybel, iii. 537. Buchez et Roux, xxxvi. +485.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_45"> </a><a href="#FNanchor45">[45]</a></p> +<blockquote>For the police interpretation of the +<i>Zauberflöte</i>, see Springer, Geschichte Oesterreichs, +vol. i. p. 49.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_46"> </a><a href="#FNanchor46">[46]</a></p> +<blockquote>Zobi, Storia Civile della Toscana, i. +284.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_47"> </a><a href="#FNanchor47">[47]</a></p> +<blockquote>Galanti, Descrizione delle Sicilie, 1786, i. 279. He +adds, "The Samnites and the Lucanians could not have shown so +horrible a spectacle, because they had no feudal laws." Galanti's +book gives perhaps the best idea of the immense task faced by +monarchy in the eighteenth century in its struggle against what +he justly calls "gli orrori del governo feudale." Nothing but a +study of these details of actual life described by eye-witnesses +can convey an adequate impression of the completeness and the +misery of the feudal order in the more backward countries of +Europe till far down in the eighteenth century. There is a good +anonymous account of Sicily in 1810 in Castlereagh, 8, +217.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_48"> </a><a href="#FNanchor48">[48]</a></p> +<blockquote>Correspondance de Napoleon, i. 260. Botta, lib. vi. +Despatches of Col. Graham, British attaché with the +Austrian army, in Records: Italian States, vol. 57. These most +interesting letters, which begin on May 19, show the discord and +suspicion prevalent from the first in the Austrian army. +"Beaulieu has not met with cordial co-operation from his own +generals, still less from the Piedmontese. He accuses them of +having chosen to be beat in order to bring about a peace promised +in January last." "Beaulieu was more violent than ever against +his generals who have occasioned the failure of his plans. He +said nine of them were cowards. I believe some of them are +ill-affected to the cause." June 15.-"Many of the officers +comfort themselves with thinking that defeat must force peace, +and others express themselves in terms of despair." July +25,-Beaulieu told Graham that if Bonaparte had pushed on after +the battle of Lodi, he might have gone straight into Mantua. The +preparations for defence were made later.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_49"> </a><a href="#FNanchor49">[49]</a></p> +<blockquote>Thugut, Briefe i. 107. A correspondence on this +subject was carried on in cypher between Thugut and Ludwig +Cobenzl, Austrian Ambassador at St. Petersburg in 1793-4. During +Thugut's absence in Belgium, June, 1794, Cobenzl sent a duplicate +despatch, not in cypher, to Vienna. Old Prince Kaunitz, the +ex-minister, heard that a courier had arrived from St Petersburg, +and demanded the despatch at the Foreign Office "like a +dictator." It was given to him. "Ainsi," says Thugut, "adieu au +secret qui depuis un an a été conservé avec +tant de soins!"</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_50"> </a><a href="#FNanchor50">[50]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wurmser's reports are in Vivenot, Clerfayt, p. 477. +Graham's daily despatches from the Austrian head-quarters give a +vivid picture of these operations, and of the sudden change from +exultation to despair. Aug. 1.-"I have the honour to inform your +lordship that the siege of Mantua is raised, the French having +retreated last night with the utmost precipitation." Aug. 2.-"The +Austrians are in possession of all the French mortars and cannon, +amounting to about 140, with 190,000 shells and bombs; the loss +of the Imperial army is inconsiderable." Aug. 5.-"The rout of +this day has sadly changed the state of affairs. There are no +accounts of General Quosdanovich." Aug. 9.-"Our loss in men and +cannon was much greater than was imagined. I had no idea of the +possibility of the extent of such misfortunes as have overwhelmed +us" Aug. 17.-"It is scarcely possible to describe the state of +disorder and discouragement that prevails in the army. Were I +free from apprehension, about the fate of my letter" (he had lost +his baggage and his cypher in it), "I should despair of finding +language adequate to convey a just idea of the discontent of the +officers with General Wurmser. From generals to subalterns the +universal language is 'qu'il faut faire la paix, car nous ne +savons pas faire la guerre.'" Aug. 18.-"Not only the +commander-in-chief, but the greatest number of the generals are +objects of contempt and ridicule." Aug. 27.-"I do not exaggerate +when I say that I have met with instances of down-right dotage." +"It was in general orders that wine should be distributed to the +men previous to the attack of the 29th. There was some difficulty +in getting it up to Monte Baldo. General Bayolitzy observed that +'it did not signify, for the men might get the value in money +afterwards.' The men marched at six in the evening without it, to +attack at daybreak, and received four kreutzers afterwards. This +is a fact I can attest. In action I saw officers sent on urgent +messages going at a foot's pace: they say that their horses are +half starved, and that they cannot afford to kill +them."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_51"> </a><a href="#FNanchor51">[51]</a></p> +<blockquote>Grundsätze (Archduke Charles), ii. 202. +Bulletins in Wiener Zeitung, June-Oct., 1796.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_52"> </a><a href="#FNanchor52">[52]</a></p> +<blockquote>Martens, vi. 59.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_53"> </a><a href="#FNanchor53">[53]</a></p> +<blockquote>This seems to me to be the probable truth about +Austria's policy in 1796, of which opposite views will be found +in Häusser, vol. ii. ch. 1-3, and in Hüffer, Oestreich +und Preussen, p. 142. Thugut professed in 1793 to have given up +the project of the Bavarian exchange in deference to England. He +admitted, however, soon afterwards, that he had again been +pressing the King of Prussia to consent to it, but said that this +was a ruse, intended to make Prussia consent to Austria's +annexing a large piece of France instead. Eden, Sept., 1793; +Records: Austria, vol. 34. The incident shows the difficulty of +getting at the truth in diplomacy.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_54"> </a><a href="#FNanchor54">[54]</a></p> +<blockquote>Yet the Government had had warning of this in a +series of striking reports sent by one of Lord Elgin's spies +during the Reign of Terror. "Jamais la France ne fut +cultivée comme elle l'est. Il n'y a pas un arpent qui ne +soit ensemencé, sauf dans les lieux où +opèrent les armées belligérantes. Cette +culture universelle a été forcée par les +Directrices là où on ne la faisait pas +volontairement." June 8, 1794; Records: Flanders, vol. 226. Elgin +had established a line of spies from Paris to the Belgian +frontier. Every one of these persons was arrested by the +Revolutionary authorities. Elgin then fell in with the writer of +the above, whose name is concealed, and placed him on the Swiss +frontier. He was evidently a person thoroughly familiar with both +civil and military administration. He appears to have talked to +every Frenchman who entered Switzerland; and his reports contain +far the best information that readied England during the Reign of +Terror, contradicting the Royalists, who said that the war was +only kept up by terrorism. He warned the English Government that +the French nation in a mass was on the side of the Revolution, +and declared that the downfall of Robespierre and the terrorists +would make no difference in the prosecution of the war. The +Government seems to have paid no attention to his reports, if +indeed they were ever read.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_55"> </a><a href="#FNanchor55">[55]</a></p> +<blockquote>Correspondance de Napoleon, ii. 28. Thugut, about +this time, formed the plan of annexing Bologna and Ferrara to +Austria, and said that if this result could be achieved, the +French attack upon the Papal States would be no bad matter. See +the instructions to Allvintzy, in Vivenot, Clerfayt, p. 511, +which also contain the first Austrian orders to imprison Italian +innovators, the beginning of Austria's later Italian +policy.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_56"> </a><a href="#FNanchor56">[56]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wurmser had orders to break out southwards into the +Papal States. "These orders he (Thugut) knew had reached the +Marshal, but they were also known to the enemy, as a cadet of +Strasoldo's regiment, who was carrying the duplicate, had been +taken prisoner, and having been seen to swallow a ball of wax, in +which the order was wrapped up, he was immediately put to death +and the paper taken out of his stomach." Eden, Jan., 1797; +Records: Austria, vol. 48. Colonel Graham, who had been shut up +in Mantua since Sept. 10, escaped on Dec 17, and restored +communication between Wurmser and Allvintzy. He was present at +the battle of Rivoli, which is described in his +despatches.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_57"> </a><a href="#FNanchor57">[57]</a></p> +<blockquote>"We expect every hour to hear of the entry of the +Neapolitan troops and the declaration of a religious war. Every +preparation has been made for such an event." Graves to Lord +Grenville, Oct. 1, 1796; Records; Rome, vol. 56.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_58"> </a><a href="#FNanchor58">[58]</a></p> +<blockquote>"The clamours for peace have become loud and +importunate. His Imperial Majesty is constantly assailed by all +his Ministers, M. de Thugut alone excepted, and by all who +approach his person. Attempts are even made to alarm him with a +dread of insurrection. In the midst of these calamities M. de +Thugut retains his firmness of mind, and continues to struggle +against the united voice of the nobility and the numerous and +trying adversities that press upon him." Eden, April 1. "The +confusion at the army exceeds the bounds of belief. Had Bonaparte +continued his progress hither (Vienna), no doubt is entertained +that he might have entered the place without opposition. That, +instead of risking this enterprise, he should have stopped and +given the Austrians six days to recover from their alarm and to +prepare for defence, is a circumstance which it is impossible to +account for." April 12. "He" (Mack) "said that when this place +was threatened by the enemy, Her Imperial Majesty broke in upon +the Emperor while in conference with his Minister, and, throwing +herself and her children at his feet, determined His Majesty to +open the negotiation which terminated in the shameful desertion +of his ally." Aug. 16; Records: Austria, vols. 49, 50. Thugut +subsequently told Lord Minto that if he could have laid his hand +upon £500,000 in cash to stop the run on the Bank of +Vienna, the war would have been continued, in which case he +believed he would have surrounded Bonaparte's army.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_59"> </a><a href="#FNanchor59">[59]</a></p> +<blockquote>The cession of the Rhenish Provinces was not, as +usually stated, contained in the Preliminaries. Corr. de +Napoleon, 2, 497; Hüffer, p. 259, where the details of the +subsequent negotiations will be found.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_60"> </a><a href="#FNanchor60">[60]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gohier, Mémoires i. Carnot, Réponse +à Bailleul. Correspondance de Napoleon, ii. 188. Miot de +Melito, ch. vi.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_61"> </a><a href="#FNanchor61">[61]</a></p> +<blockquote>Martens, Traités, vi. 420; Thugut, Briefe, ii. +64. These letters breathe a fire and passion rare among German +statesmen of that day, and show the fine side of Thugut's +character. The well-known story of the destruction of Cobenzl's +vase by Bonaparte at the last sitting, with the words, "Thus will +I dash the Austrian Monarchy to pieces," is mythical. Cobenzl's +own account of the scene is as follows;-"Bonaparte, excited by +not having slept for two nights, emptied glass after glass of +punch. When I explained with the greatest composure, Bonaparte +started up in a violent rage, and poured out a flood of abuse, at +the same time scratching his name illegibly at the foot of the +statement which he had handed in as protocol. Then without +waiting for our signatures, he put on his hat in the +conference-room itself, and left us. Until he was in the street +he continued to vociferate in a manner that could only be +ascribed to intoxication, though Clarke and the rest of his +suite, who were waiting in the hall, did their best to restrain +him." "He behaved as if he had escaped from a lunatic asylum. His +own people are all agreed about this." Hüffer, Oestreich und +Preussen, p. 453.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_62"> </a><a href="#FNanchor62">[62]</a></p> +<blockquote>Häusser, Deutsche Geschichte, ii. 147. Vivenot, +Rastadter Congress, p. 17. Von Lang, Memoiren, i. 33. It is +alleged that the official who drew up this document had not been +made acquainted with the secret clauses.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_63"> </a><a href="#FNanchor63">[63]</a></p> +<blockquote>"Tout annonce qu'il sera de toute +impossibilité de finir avec ces gueux de Français +autrement que par moyens de fermeté." Thugut, ii. 105. For +the negotiation at Seltz, see Historische Zeitschrift, xxiii. +27.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_64"> </a><a href="#FNanchor64">[64]</a></p> +<blockquote>Botta, lib. xiii. Letters of Mr. J. Denham and others +in Records: Sicily, vol. 44.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_65"> </a><a href="#FNanchor65">[65]</a></p> +<blockquote>Nelson Despatches, iii. 48.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_66"> </a><a href="#FNanchor66">[66]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bernhardi, Geschichte Russlands, ii. 2, +382.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_67"> </a><a href="#FNanchor67">[67]</a></p> +<blockquote>"Quel bonheur, quelle gloire, quelle consolation pour +cette grande et illustre nation! Que je vous suis obligée, +reconnaissante! J'ai pleuré et embrassé mes enfans, +mon mari. Si jamais on fait un portrait du brave Nelson je le +veux avoir dans ma chambre. Hip, Hip, Hip, Ma chère Miladi +je suis folle de joye." Queen of Naples to Lady Hamilton, Sept. +4, 1798; Records: Sicily, vol. 44. The news of the overwhelming +victory of the Nile seems literally to have driven people out of +their senses at Naples. "Lady Hamilton fell apparently dead, and +is not yet (Sept 25) perfectly recovered from her severe +bruises." Nelson Despatches, 3, 130. On Nelson's arrival, "up +flew her ladyship, and exclaiming, 'O God, is it possible?' she +fell into my arms more dead than alive." It has been urged in +extenuation of Nelson's subsequent cruelties that the contagion +of this frenzy, following the effects of a severe wound in the +head, had deprived his mind of its balance. "My head is ready to +split, and I am always so sick." Aug. 10. "It required all the +kindness of my friends to set me up." Sept. 25.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_68"> </a><a href="#FNanchor68">[68]</a></p> +<blockquote>Sir W. Hamilton's despatch, Nov. 28, in Records: +Sicily, vol. 44, where there are originals of most of the +Neapolitan proclamations, etc., of this time. Mack had been a +famous character since the campaign of 1793. Elgin's letters to +Lord Grenville from the Netherlands, private as well as public, +are full of extravagant praise of him. In July, 1796, Graham +writes from the Italian army: "In the opinion of all here, the +greatest general in Europe is the Quartermaster Mack, who was in +England in 1793. Would to God he was marching, and here now." +Mack, on the other hand, did not grudge flattery to the +English:-"Je perdrais partout espoir et patience si je n'avais +pas vu pour mon bonheur et ma consolation l'adorable Triumvirat" +(Pitt, Grenville, Dundas) "qui surveille à Londres nos +affaires. Soyez, mon cher ami, l'organe de ma profonde +vénération envers ces Ministres incomparables." +Mack to Elgin, 23. Feb., 1794. The British Government was +constantly pressing Thugut to make Mack commander-in chief. +Thugut, who had formed a shrewd notion of Mack's real quality, +gained much obloquy by his steady refusal.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_69"> </a><a href="#FNanchor69">[69]</a></p> +<blockquote>Signed by Mack. Colletta, p. 176. Mack's own account +of the campaign is in Vivenot, Rastadter Congress, p. +83.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_70"> </a><a href="#FNanchor70">[70]</a></p> +<blockquote>Nelson, iii. 210: Hamilton's despatch, Dec. 28, 1798, +in Records; Sicily, vol. 44. "It was impossible to prevent a +suspicion getting abroad of the intention of the Royal Family to +make their escape. However, the secret was so well kept that we +contrived to get their Majesties' treasure in jewels and money, +to a very considerable extent, on board of H.M. ship the +<i>Vanguard</i> the 20th of December, and Lord Nelson went on the +next night by a secret passage into the Palace, and brought off +in his boats their Sicilian Majesties and all the Royal Family. +It was not discovered at Naples, until very late at night, that +the Royal Family had escaped.... On the morning of Christmas Day, +some hours before we got into Palermo, Prince Albert, one of +their Majesties' sons, six years of age, was, either from fright +or fatigue, taken with violent convulsions, and died in the arms +of Lady Hamilton, the Queen, the Princesses, and women attendants +being in such confusion as to be incapable of affording any +assistance."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_71"> </a><a href="#FNanchor71">[71]</a></p> +<blockquote>See Helfert, Der Rastatter Gesandtenmord, and Sybel's +article thereon, in Hist. Zeitschrift, vol. 32.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_72"> </a><a href="#FNanchor72">[72]</a></p> +<blockquote>Danilevsky-Miliutin, ii. 214. Despatch of Lord W. +Bentinck from the allied head-quarters at Piacenza, June 23, in +Records: Italian States, vol. 58. Bentinck arrived a few days +before this battle; his despatches cover the whole North-Italian +campaign from this time.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_73"> </a><a href="#FNanchor73">[73]</a></p> +<blockquote>Nelson Despatches, iii. 447; Sir W. Hamilton's +Despatch of July 14, in Records: Sicily, vol. 45. Helfert, +Königin Karolina, p. 38. Details of the proscription in +Colletta, v. 6. According to Hamilton, some of the Republicans in +the forts had actually gone to their homes before Nelson +pronounced the capitulation void. "When we anchored in the Bay, +the 24th of June, the capitulation of the castles had in some +measure taken place. Fourteen large polacks had taken on board +out of the castles the most conspicuous and criminal of the +Neapolitan rebels that had chosen to go to Toulon; the others had +already been permitted to return to their homes." If this is so, +Nelson's pretext that the capitulation had not been executed was +a mere afterthought. Helfert is mistaken in calling the letter or +proclamation of July 8th repudiating the treaty, a forgery. It is +perfectly genuine. It was published by Nelson in the King's name, +and is enclosed in Hamilton's despatch. Hamilton's exultations +about himself and his wife, and their share in these events, are +sorry reading. "In short, Lord Nelson and I, with Emma, have +carried affairs to this happy crisis. Emma is really the Queen's +bosom friend.... You may imagine, when we three agree, what real +business is done.... At least I shall end my diplomatical career +gloriously, as you will see by what the King of Naples writes +from this ship to his Minister in London, owing the recovery of +his kingdom to the King's fleet, and Lord Nelson and me." (Aug. +4, <i>id</i>.) Hamilton states the number of persons in prison at +Naples on Sept. 12 to be above eight thousand.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_74"> </a><a href="#FNanchor74">[74]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh, iv.; Records: Austria, 56. Lord Minto +had just succeeded Sir Morton Eden as ambassador. The English +Government was willing to grant the House of Hapsburg almost +anything for the sake "of strengthening that barrier which the +military means and resources of Vienna can alone oppose against +the future enterprises of France." Grenville to Minto, May 13, +1800. Though they felt some regard for the rights of the King of +Piedmont, Pitt and Grenville were just as ready to hand over the +Republic of Genoa to the Hapsburgs as Bonaparte had been to hand +over Venice; in fact, they looked forward to the destruction of +the Genoese State with avowed pleasure, because it easily fell +under the influence of France. Their principal anxiety was that +if Austria "should retain Venice and Genoa and possibly acquire +Leghorn," it should grant England an advantageous commercial +treaty. Grenville to Minto, Feb. 8, 1800; Castlereagh, v. +3-11.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_75"> </a><a href="#FNanchor75">[75]</a></p> +<blockquote>Lord Mulgrave to Grenville, Sept. 12, 1799; Records: +Army of Switzerland, vol. 80. "Suvaroff opened himself to me in +the most unreserved manner. He began by stating that he had been +called at a very advanced period of life from his retirement, +where his ample fortune and honours placed him beyond the +allurement of any motives of interest. Attachment to his +sovereign and zeal for his God inspired him with the hope and the +expectation of conquests. He now found himself under very +different circumstances. He found himself surrounded by the +parasites or spies of Thugut, men at his devotion, creatures of +his power: an army bigoted to a defensive system, afraid even to +pursue their successes when that system had permitted them to +obtain any; he had to encounter the further check of a Government +at Vienna averse to enterprise, etc."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_76"> </a><a href="#FNanchor76">[76]</a></p> +<blockquote>Miliutin, 2, 20, 3, 186; Minto, Aug. 10, 1799; +Records: Austria, vol. 56. "I had no sooner mentioned this topic +(Piedmont) than I perceived I had touched a very delicate point. +M. de Thugut's manner changed instantly from that of coolness and +civility to a great show of warmth attended with some sharpness. +He became immediately loud and animated, and expressed chagrin at +the invitation sent to the King of Sardinia.... He considers the +conquest of Piedmont as one made by Austria of an enemy's +country. He denies that the King of Sardinia can be considered as +an ally or as a friend, or even as a neuter; and, besides +imputing a thousand instances of ill-faith to that Court, relies +on the actual alliance made by it with the French Republic by +which the King of Sardinia had appropriated to himself part of +the Emperor's dominions in Lombardy, an offence which, I +perceive, will not be easily forgotten.... I mention these +circumstances to show the degree of passion which the Court of +Vienna mixes with this discussion." Minto answered Thugut's +invective with the odd remark "that perhaps in the present +extraordinary period the most rational object of this war was to +restore the integrity of the moral principle both in civil and +political life, and that this principle of justice should take +the lead in his mind of those considerations of temporary +convenience which in ordinary times might not have escaped his +notice." Thugut then said "that the Emperor of Russia had +desisted from his measure of the King of Sardinia's immediate +recall, leaving the time of that return to the Emperor." On the +margin of the despatch, against this sentence, is written in +pencil, in Lord Grenville's handwriting, "I am persuaded this is +not true."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_77"> </a><a href="#FNanchor77">[77]</a></p> +<blockquote>Miliutin, 3, 117. And so almost verbatim in a +conversation described in Eden's despatch, Aug. 31 Records: +Austria, vol. 55. "M. de Thugut's answer was evidently dictated +by a suspicion rankling in his mind that the Netherlands might be +made a means of aggrandisement for Prussia. His jealousy and +aversion to that Power are at this moment more inveterate than I +have before seen them. It is probable that he may have some idea +of establishing there the Great Duke of Tuscany."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_78"> </a><a href="#FNanchor78">[78]</a></p> +<blockquote>Thugut's territorial policy did actually make him +propose to abolish the Papacy not only as a temporal Power, but +as a religious institution. "Baron Thugut argued strongly on the +possibility of doing without a Pope, and of each sovereign taking +on himself the function of head of the National Church, as in +England. I said that as a Protestant, I could not be supposed to +think the authority of the Bishop of Rome necessary; but that in +the present state of religious opinion, and considering the only +alternative in those matters, viz. the subsistence of the Roman +Catholic faith or the extinction of Christianity itself, I +preferred, though a Protestant, the Pope to the Goddess of +Reason. However, the mind of Baron Thugut is not open to any +reasoning of a general nature when it is put in competition with +conquest or acquisition of territory." Minto to Grenville, Oct. +22, 1799; Records: Austria, vol. 57. The suspicions of Austria +current at the Neapolitan Court are curiously shown in the Nelson +Correspondence. Nelson writes to Minto (Aug. 20) at Vienna: "For +the sake of the civilised world, let us work together, and as the +best act of our lives manage to hang Thugut ... As you are with +Thugut, your penetrating mind will discover the villain in all +his actions.... That Thugut is caballing.... Pray keep an eye +upon the rascal, and you will soon find what I say is true. Let +us hang these three miscreants, and all will go smooth." Suvaroff +was not more complimentary. "How can that desk-worm, that +night-owl, direct an army from his dusky nest, even if he had the +sword of Scanderbeg?" (Sept. 3.)</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_79"> </a><a href="#FNanchor79">[79]</a></p> +<blockquote>Miliutin, iii. 37; Bentinck, Aug. 16, from the +battle-field; Records: Italian States, vol. 58. His letter ends +"I must apologise to your Lordship for the appearance of this +despatch" (it is on thin Italian paper and almost illegible): +"we" (<i>i.e.</i>, Suvaroff's staff) "have had the misfortune to +have had our baggage plundered by the Cossacks."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_80"> </a><a href="#FNanchor80">[80]</a></p> +<blockquote>Every capable soldier saw the ruinous mischief of the +Archduke's withdrawal. "Not only are all prospects of our making +any progress in Switzerland at an end, but the chance of +maintaining the position now occupied is extremely precarious. +The jealousy and mistrust that exists between the Austrians and +Russians is inconceivable. I shall not pretend to offer an +opinion on what might be the most advantageous arrangement for +the army of Switzerland, but it is certain that none can be so +bad as that which at present exists." Colonel Crauford, English +military envoy, Sept. 5, 1799; Records: Army of Switzerland, vol. +79. The subsequent Operations of Korsakoff are described in +despatches of Colonel Ramsay and Lord Mulgrave, <i>id</i>. vol. +80, 81, Conversations with the Archduke Charles in those of Mr. +Wickham, <i>id</i>. vol. 77.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_81"> </a><a href="#FNanchor81">[81]</a></p> +<blockquote>The despatches of Colonel Clinton, English +attaché with Suvaroff, are in singular contrast to the +highly-coloured accounts of this retreat common in histories. Of +the most critical part he only says: "On the 6th the army passed +the Panix mountain, which the snow that had fallen during the +last week had rendered dangerous, and several horses and mules +were lost on the march." He expresses the poorest opinion of +Suvaroff and his officers: "The Marshal is entirely worn out and +incapable of any exertion: he will not suffer the subject of the +indiscipline of his army to be mentioned to him. He is popular +with his army because he puts no check whatever in its +licentiousness. His honesty is now his only remaining good +quality." Records: Army of Switzerland, vol. 80. The elaborate +plan for Suvaroff's and Korsakoff's combined movements, made as +if Switzerland had been an open country and Massena's army a +flock of sheep, was constructed by the Austrian colonel +Weyrother, the same person who subsequently planned the battle of +Austerlitz. On learning the plan from Suvaroff, Lord Mulgrave, +who was no great genius, wrote to London demonstrating its +certain failure, and predicting almost exactly the events that +took place.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_82"> </a><a href="#FNanchor82">[82]</a></p> +<blockquote>Miot de Melito, ch. ix. Lucien Bonaparte, +Révolution de Brumaire, p. 31.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_83"> </a><a href="#FNanchor83">[83]</a></p> +<blockquote>Law of Feb. 17, 1800 (28 Pluviöse, +viii.).</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_84"> </a><a href="#FNanchor84">[84]</a></p> +<blockquote>M. Thiers, Feb. 21, 1872.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_85"> </a><a href="#FNanchor85">[85]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Hist, xxxiv. 1198. Thugut, Briefe ii. +445.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_86"> </a><a href="#FNanchor86">[86]</a></p> +<blockquote>Memorial du Dépôt de la Guerre, 1826, +iv. 268. Bentinck's despatch, June 16; Records: Italian States, +vol. 59.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_87"> </a><a href="#FNanchor87">[87]</a></p> +<blockquote>Thugut, Briefe ii. 227, 281, 393; Minto's despatch, +Sept. 24, 1800; Records: Austria, vol. 60. "The Emperor was in +the act of receiving a considerable subsidy for a vigorous +prosecution of the war at the very moment when he was +clandestinely and in person making the most abject submission to +the common enemy. Baron Thugut was all yesterday under the +greatest uneasiness concerning the event which he had reason to +apprehend, but which was not yet certain. He still retained, +however, a slight hope, from the apparent impossibility of +anyone's committing such an act of infamy and folly. I never saw +him or any other man so affected as he was when he communicated +this transaction to me to-day. I said that these fortresses being +demanded as pledges of sincerity, the Emperor should have given +on the same principle the arms and ammunition of the army. Baron +Thugut added that after giving up the soldiers' muskets, the +clothes would be required off their backs, and that if the +Emperor took pains to acquaint the world that he would not defend +his crown, there would not be wanting those who would take it +from his head, and perhaps his head with it. He became so +strongly affected that, in laying hold of my hand to express the +strong concern he felt at the notion of having committed me and +abused the confidence I had reposed in his counsels, he burst +into tears and literally wept. I mention these details because +they confirm the assurance that every part of these feeble +measures has either been adopted against his opinion or executed +surreptitiously and contrary to the directions he had given." +After the final collapse of Austria, Minto writes of Thugut: "He +never for a moment lost his presence of mind or his courage, nor +ever bent to weak and unbecoming counsels. And perhaps this can +be said of him alone in this whole empire." Jan. 3, 1801, +<i>id.</i></blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_88"> </a><a href="#FNanchor88">[88]</a></p> +<blockquote>Martens, vii. 296.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_89"> </a><a href="#FNanchor89">[89]</a></p> +<blockquote>Koch und Schoell, Histoire des Traités, vi. 6. +Nelson Despatches, iv. 299.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_90"> </a><a href="#FNanchor90">[90]</a></p> +<blockquote>De Clercq, Traités de la France i. +484.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_91"> </a><a href="#FNanchor91">[91]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Hist., Nov. 3, 1801.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_92"> </a><a href="#FNanchor92">[92]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gagern, Mein Antheil, i. 119. He protests that he +never carried the dog. The waltz was introduced about this time +at Paris by Frenchmen returning from Germany, which gave occasion +to the <i>mot</i> that the French had annexed even the national +dance of the Germans.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_93"> </a><a href="#FNanchor93">[93]</a></p> +<blockquote>Perthes, Politische Zustände, i. +311.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_94"> </a><a href="#FNanchor94">[94]</a></p> +<blockquote>Koch und Schoell, vi. 247. Beer, Zehn Jahre +Oesterreichischer Politik, p. 35 Häusser, ii. +398.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_95"> </a><a href="#FNanchor95">[95]</a></p> +<blockquote>Perthes, Politische Zustände, ii. 402, +<i>seq</i>.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_96"> </a><a href="#FNanchor96">[96]</a></p> +<blockquote>Friedrich, Geschichte des Vatikanischen Konzils, i. +27, 174.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_97"> </a><a href="#FNanchor97">[97]</a></p> +<blockquote>Pertz, Leben Stein, i. 257. Seeley's Stein, i. +125.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_98"> </a><a href="#FNanchor98">[98]</a></p> +<blockquote>The first-hand account of the formation of the Code +Napoleon, with the Procès Verbal of the Council of State +and the principal reports, speeches, etc., made in the Tribunate +and the Legislative Bodies, is to be found in the work of Baron +Locré, "La Legislation de la France," published at Paris +in 1827. Locré was Secretary of the Council of State under +the Consulate and the Empire, and possessed a quantity of records +which had not been published before 1827. The Procès +Verbal, though perhaps not always faithful, contains the only +record of Napoleon's own share in the discussions of the Council +of State.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_99"> </a><a href="#FNanchor99">[99]</a></p> +<blockquote>The statement, so often repeated, that the Convention +prohibited Christian worship, or "abolished Christianity," in +France, is a fiction. Throughout the Reign of Terror the +Convention maintained the State Church as established by the +Constituent Assembly in 1791. Though the salaries of the clergy +fell into arrear, the Convention rejected a proposal to cease +paying them. The non-juring priests were condemned by the +Convention to transportation, and were liable to be put to death +if they returned to France. But where churches were profaned, or +constitutional priests molested, it was the work of local bodies +or of individual Conventionalists on mission, not of the law. The +Commune of Paris shut up most, but not all, of the churches in +Paris. Other local bodies did the same. After the Reign of Terror +ended, the Convention adopted the proposal which it had rejected +before, and abolished the State salary of the clergy (Sept. 20th, +1794). This merely placed all sects on a level. But local +fanatics were still busy against religion; and the Convention +accordingly had to pass a law (Feb. 23, 1795), forbidding all +interference with Christian services. This law required that +worship should not be held in a distinctive building (<i>i.e.</i> +church), nor in the open air. Very soon afterwards the Convention +(May 23) permitted the churches to be used for worship. The laws +against non-juring priests were not now enforced, and a number of +churches in Paris were actually given up to non-juring priests. +The Directory was inclined to renew the persecution of this class +in 1796, but the Assemblies would not permit it; and in July, +1797, the Council of Five Hundred passed a motion totally +abolishing the legal penalties of non-jurors. This was +immediately followed by the coup d'état of +Fructidor.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_100"> </a><a href="#FNanchor100">[100]</a></p> +<blockquote>Grégoire, Mémoires, ii. 87. Annales de +la Religion, x. 441; Pressensé, L'Eglise et la Révolution, +p. 359.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_101"> </a><a href="#FNanchor101">[101]</a></p> +<blockquote>Papers presented to Parliament, 1802-3, p. +95.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_102"> </a><a href="#FNanchor102">[102]</a></p> +<blockquote>"The King and his Ministers are in the greatest +distress and embarrassment. The latter do not hesitate to avow +it, and the King has for the last week shown such evident +symptoms of dejection that the least observant could not but +remark it. He has expressed himself most feelingly upon the +unfortunate predicament in which he finds himself. He would +welcome the hand that should assist him and the voice that should +give him courage to extricate himself."-F. Jackson's despatch +from Berlin, May 16, 1803; Records; Prussia, vol. +189.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_103"> </a><a href="#FNanchor103">[103]</a></p> +<blockquote>Häusser ii. 472. There are interesting accounts +of Lombard and the other leading persons of Berlin in F. +Jackson's despatches of this date. The charge of gross personal +immorality made against Lombard is brought against almost every +German public man of the time in the writings of opponents. +History and politics are, however, a bad tribunal of private +character.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_104"> </a><a href="#FNanchor104">[104]</a></p> +<blockquote>Fournier, Gentz und Cobenzl, p. 79. Beer, Zehn Jahre, +p. 49. The despatches of Sir J. Warren of this date from St. +Petersburg (Records: Russia, vol. 175) are full of plans for +meeting an expected invasion of the Morea and the possible +liberation of the Greeks by Bonaparte. They give the impression +that Eastern affairs were really the dominant interest with +Alexander in his breach with France.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_105"> </a><a href="#FNanchor105">[105]</a></p> +<blockquote>Miot de Melito, i. 16. Savary, ii. 32.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_106"> </a><a href="#FNanchor106">[106]</a></p> +<blockquote>A protest handed in at Vienna by Louis XVIII. against +Napoleon's title was burnt in the presence of the French +ambassador. The Austrian title was assumed on August 10, but the +publication was delayed a day on account of the sad memories of +August 10, 1792. Fournier, p. 102. Beer, p. 60.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_107"> </a><a href="#FNanchor107">[107]</a></p> +<blockquote>Papers presented to Parliament, 28th January, 1806, +and 5th May, 1815.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_108"> </a><a href="#FNanchor108">[108]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hardenberg, ii. 50: corrected in the articles on +Hardenberg and Haugwitz in the Deutsche Allgemeine +Biographie.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_109"> </a><a href="#FNanchor109">[109]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hardenberg, v. 167. Hardenberg was meanwhile +representing himself to the British and Russian envoys as the +partisan of the Allies. "He declared that he saw it was become +impossible for this country to remain neutral, and that he should +unequivocally make known his sentiments to that effect to the +King. He added that if the decision depended upon himself, Russia +need entertain no apprehension as to the part he should +take."-Jackson, Sept. 3, 1805; Records: Prussia, vol. +194.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_110"> </a><a href="#FNanchor110">[110]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gentz, Schriften, iii. 60, Beer, 132, 141. Fournier, +104. Springer, i. 64.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_111"> </a><a href="#FNanchor111">[111]</a></p> +<blockquote>Rustow, Krieg von, 1805, p. 55.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_112"> </a><a href="#FNanchor112">[112]</a></p> +<blockquote>Nelson Despatches, vi. 457.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_113"> </a><a href="#FNanchor113">[113]</a></p> +<blockquote>"The reports from General Mack are of the most +satisfactory nature, and the apprehensions which were at one time +entertained from the immense force which Bonaparte is bringing +into Germany gradually decrease."-Sir A. Paget's Despatch from +Vienna, Sept, 18; Records: Austria, vol. 75.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_114"> </a><a href="#FNanchor114">[114]</a></p> +<blockquote>Rustow, p. 154. Schönhals, Krieg von, 1805, p. +33. Paget's despatch, Oct. 25; Records: Austria, vol. 75. "The +jealousy and misunderstanding among the generals had reached such +a pitch that no communication took place between Ferdinand and +Mack but in writing. Mack openly attributed his calamities to the +ill-will and opposition of the Archduke and the rest of the +generals. The Archduke accuses Mack of ignorance, of madness, of +cowardice, and of treachery. The consternation which prevails +here (Vienna) is at the highest pitch. The pains which are taken +to keep the public in the dark naturally increase the alarm. Not +a single newspaper has been delivered for several days past +except the wretched <i>Vienna. Gazette</i>. The Emperor is living +at a miserable country-house, in order, as people say, that he +may effect his escape. Every bark on the Danube has been put in +requisition by the Government. The greatest apprehensions prevail +on account of the Russians, of whose excesses loud complaints are +made. Their arrival here is as much dreaded as that of the +French. Cobenzl and Collenbach are in such a state of mind as to +render them totally unfit for all business." Cobenzl was +nevertheless still able to keep up his jocular style in asking +the ambassador for the English subsidies:-"Vous êtes +malade, je le suis aussi un peu, mais ce qui est encore plus +malade que nous deux ce sont nos finances: ainsi pour l'amour de +Dieu dépêchez vous de nous donner vos deux cent +mille livres sterlings. Je vous embrasse de tout mon +coeur,"-Cobenzl to Paget, enclosed in <i>id</i>.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_115"> </a><a href="#FNanchor115">[115]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hardenberg, ii. 268. Jackson, Oct. 7. Records: +Prussia, vol. 195. "The intelligence was received yesterday at +Potsdam, while M. de Hardenberg was with the King of Prussia. His +Prussian Majesty was very violently affected by it, and in the +first moment of anger ordered M. de Hardenberg to return to +Berlin and immediately to dismiss the French ambassador. After a +little reflection, however, he said that that measure should be +postponed."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_116"> </a><a href="#FNanchor116">[116]</a></p> +<blockquote>Rapp, Mémoires, p. 58. Beer, p. +188.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_117"> </a><a href="#FNanchor117">[117]</a></p> +<blockquote>"The scarcity of provisions had been very great +indeed. Much discouragement had arisen in consequence, and a +considerable degree of insubordination, which, though less easy +to produce in a Russian army than in any other, is, when it does +make its appearance, most prejudicial, was beginning to manifest +itself in various ways. The bread waggons were pillaged on their +way to the camp, and it became very difficult to repress the +excesses of the troops."-Report of General Ramsay, Dec. 10; +Records: Austria, vol. 78.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_118"> </a><a href="#FNanchor118">[118]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hardenberg, ii. 345, Haugwitz had just become joint +Foreign Minister with Hardenberg.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_119"> </a><a href="#FNanchor119">[119]</a></p> +<blockquote>Haugwitz' justification of himself, with Hardenberg's +comments upon it, is to be seen in Hardenberg, v. 220. But see +also, for Hardenberg's own bad faith, <i>id.</i> i. +551.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_120"> </a><a href="#FNanchor120">[120]</a></p> +<blockquote>Lord Harrowby's despatch from Berlin, Dec. 7; +Records: Prussia, vol. 196. The news of Austerlitz reached Berlin +on the night of Dec. 7. Next day Lord Harrowby called on +Hardenberg. "He told me that in a council of war held since the +arrival of the first accounts of the disaster, it had been +decided to order a part of the Prussian army to march into +Bohemia. These events, he said, need not interrupt our +negotiations." Then, on the 12th came the news of the armistice: +Harrowby saw Hardenberg that evening. "I was struck with +something like irritation in his manner, with a sort of reference +to the orders of the King, and with an expression which dropped +from him that circumstances might possibly arise in which Prussia +could look only to her own defence and security. I attributed +this in a great degree to the agitation of the moment, and I +should have pushed the question to a point if the entrance of +Count Metternich and M. d'Alopeus had not interrupted me.... +Baron Hardenberg assured us that the military movements of the +Prussian army were proceeding without a moment's loss of time." +On the 25th Haugwitz arrived with his treaty. Hardenberg then +feigned illness. "Baron Hardenberg was too ill to see me, or, as +far as I could learn, any other person; and it has been +impossible for me to discover what intelligence is brought by +Count Haugwitz."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_121"> </a><a href="#FNanchor121">[121]</a></p> +<blockquote>Lefebvre, Histoire des Cabinets, ii. +217.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_122"> </a><a href="#FNanchor122">[122]</a></p> +<blockquote>Martens, viii. 388; viii. 479. Beer, p. +232.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_123"> </a><a href="#FNanchor123">[123]</a></p> +<blockquote>Correspondence de Napoleon, xii. 253.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_124"> </a><a href="#FNanchor124">[124]</a></p> +<blockquote>The story of Pitt's "Austerlitz look" preceding his death is so +impressive and so well known that I cannot resist giving the real facts about +the reception of the news of Austerlitz in England. There were four Englishmen +who were expected to witness the battle, Sir A. Paget, ambassador at Vienna, +Lord L. Gower, ambassador with the Czar, Lord Harrington and General Ramsay, +military envoys. Of these, Lord Harrington had left England too late to reach +the armies; Sir A. Paget sat writing despatches at Olmütz without hearing the +firing, and on going out after the post left, was astonished to fall in with +the retreating army; Gower was too far in the rear; and General Ramsay +unfortunately went off on that very day to get some new passes. In consequence +no Englishman witnessed the awful destruction that took place; and Paget's +despatch, the first that reached England, quite misrepresented the battle, +treating the defeat as not a decisive one. Pitt actually thought at first that +the effect of the battle was favourable to his policy, and likely to encourage +Prussia in its determination to fight. So late as December 20th the following +instructions were sent to Harrowby at Berlin: "Even supposing the advantage of +the day to have been decidedly with Bonaparte, it must have been obtained with +a loss which cannot have left his force in a condition to contend with the army +of Prussia and at the same time to make head against the Allies. If on the +other hand it should appear that the advantage has been with the Allies, there +is every reason to hope that Prussia will come forward with vigour to decide +the contest." Records: Prussia, vol. 196. It was the surrender of Ulm which +really gave Pitt the shock attributed to Austerlitz. The despatch then +written-evidently from Pitt's dictation-exhorting the Emperor to do his duty, +is the most impassioned and soul-stirring thing in the whole political +correspondence of the time.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_125"> </a><a href="#FNanchor125">[125]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hardenberg, ii. 463. Hardenberg, who, in spite of his +weak and ambiguous conduct up to the end of 1805, felt bitterly +the disgraceful position in which Prussia had placed itself, now +withdrew from office. "I received this morning a message from +Baron Hardenberg requesting me to call on him. He said that he +could no longer remain in office consistently with his honour, +and that he waited only for the return of Count Haugwitz to give +up to him the management of his department. 'You know,' he said, +'my principles, and the efforts that I have made in favour of the +good cause; judge then of the pain that I must experience when I +am condemned to be accessory to this measure. You know, probably, +that I was an advocate for the acquisition of Hanover, but I +wished it upon terms honourable to both parties. I thought it a +necessary bulwark to cover the Prussian dominions, and I thought +that the House of Hanover might have been indemnified elsewhere. +But now,' he added, 'j'abhorre les moyens infames par lesquels +nous faisons cette acquisition. Nous pourrions rester les amis de +Bonaparte sans être ses esclaves.' He apologised for this +language, and said I must not consider it as coming from a +Prussian Minister, but from a man who unbosomed himself to his +friend.... I have only omitted the distressing picture of M. de +Hardenberg's agitation during this conversation. He bewailed the +fate of Prussia, and complained of the hardships he had undergone +for the last three months, and of the want of firmness and +resolution in his Prussian Majesty. He several times expressed +the hope that his Majesty's Government and that of Russia would +make some allowances for the situation of this country. They had +the means, he said, to do it an infinity of mischief. The British +navy might destroy the Prussian commerce, and a Russian army +might conquer some of her eastern provinces; but Bonaparte would +be the only gainer, as thereby Prussia would be thrown completely +into his arms."-F. Jackson's despatch from Berlin, March 27, +1806; Records: Prussia, vol. 197.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_126"> </a><a href="#FNanchor126">[126]</a></p> +<blockquote>On the British envoy demanding his passports, +Haugwitz entered into a long defence of his conduct, alleging +grounds of necessity. Mr. Jackson said that there could be no +accommodation with England till the note excluding British +vessels was reversed. "M. de Haugwitz immediately rejoined, 'I +was much surprised when I found that that note had been delivered +to you.' 'How,' I said, 'can <i>you</i> be surprised who was the +author of the measures that give rise to it?' The only answer I +received was, 'Ah! ne dites pas cela.' He observed that it would +be worth considering whether our refusal to acquiesce in the +present state of things might not bring about one still more +disastrous. I smiled, and asked if I was to understand that a +Prussian army would take a part in the threatened invasion of +England. He replied that he did not now mean to insinuate any +such thing, but that it might be impossible to answer for +events."-Jackson's Despatch, April 25. <i>id.</i></blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_127"> </a><a href="#FNanchor127">[127]</a></p> +<blockquote>Papers presented to Parliament, 1806, p. +63.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_128"> </a><a href="#FNanchor128">[128]</a></p> +<blockquote>"An order has been issued to the officers of the +garrison of Berlin to abstain, under severe penalties, from +speaking of the state of public affairs. This order was given in +consequence of the very general and loud expressions of +dissatisfaction which issued from all classes of people, but +particularly from the military, at the recent conduct of the +Government; for it has been in contemplation to publish an edict +prohibiting the public at large from discussing questions of +state policy. The experience of a very few days must convince the +authors of this measure of the reverse of their expectation, the +satires and sarcasms upon their conduct having become more +universal than before."-Jackson's Despatch, March 22, <i>id</i>. +"On Thursday night the windows of Count Haugwitz' house were +completely demolished by some unknown person. As carbine bullets +were chiefly made use of for the purpose, it is suspected to have +been done by some of the garrison. The same thing had happened +some nights before, but the Count took no notice of it. Now a +party of the police patrol the street"-<i>Id</i>., April +27.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_129"> </a><a href="#FNanchor129">[129]</a></p> +<blockquote>Pertz, i. 331. Seeley, i. 271.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_130"> </a><a href="#FNanchor130">[130]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hopfner, Der Krieg von 1806, i. 48.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_131"> </a><a href="#FNanchor131">[131]</a></p> +<blockquote>A list of all Prussian officers in 1806 of and above +the rank of major is given in Henckel von Donnersmarck, +Erinnerungen, with their years of service. The average of a +colonel's service is 42 years; of a major's, 35.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_132"> </a><a href="#FNanchor132">[132]</a></p> +<blockquote>Müffling, Aus Meinem Leben, p. 15. Hopfner, i. +157. Correspondence de Napoleon, xiii. 150.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_133"> </a><a href="#FNanchor133">[133]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hopfner, ii. 390. Hardenberg, iii. 230.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_134"> </a><a href="#FNanchor134">[134]</a></p> +<blockquote>"Count Stein, the only man of real talents in the +administration, has resigned or was dismissed. He is a +considerable man, of great energy, character, and superiority of +mind, who possessed the public esteem in a high degree, and, I +have no doubt, deserved it.... During the negotiation for an +armistice, the expenses of Bonaparte's table and household at +Berlin were defrayed by the King of Prussia. Since that period +one of the Ministers called upon Stein, who was the chief of the +finances, to pay 300,000 crowns on the same account. Stein +refused with strong expressions of indignation. The King spoke to +him: he remonstrated with his Majesty in the most forcible terms, +descanted on the wretched humiliation of such mean conduct, and +said that he never could pay money on such an account unless he +had the order in writing from his Majesty. This order was given a +few days after the conversation."-Hutchinson's Despatch, Jan. 1, +1807; Records: Prussia, vol. 200.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_135"> </a><a href="#FNanchor135">[135]</a></p> +<blockquote>Corr. Nap. xiii. 555.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_136"> </a><a href="#FNanchor136">[136]</a></p> +<blockquote>"It is still doubtful who commands, and whether +Kamensky has or has not given up the command. I wrote to him on +the first moment of my arrival, but have received no answer from +him. On the 23rd, the day of the first attack, he took off his +coat and waistcoat, put all his stars and ribbons over his shirt, +and ran about the streets of Pultusk encouraging the soldiers, +over whom he is said to have great influence."-Lord Hutchinson's +Despatch, Jan. 1, 1807; Records: Prussia, vol. 200.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_137"> </a><a href="#FNanchor137">[137]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hutchinson's letter, in Adair, Mission to Vienna, p. +373.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_138"> </a><a href="#FNanchor138">[138]</a></p> +<blockquote>For the Whig foreign policy, see Adair, p. 11-13. Its +principle was to relinquish the attempt to raise coalitions of +half-hearted Governments against France by means of British +subsidies, but to give help to States which of their own free +will entered into war with Napoleon.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_139"> </a><a href="#FNanchor139">[139]</a></p> +<blockquote>The battle of Friedland is described in Lord +Hutchinson's despatch (Records: Prussia, vol. 200-in which volume +are also Colonel Sonntag's reports, containing curious details +about the Russians, and some personal matter about Napoleon in a +letter from an inhabitant of Eylau; also Gneisenau's appeal to +Mr. Canning from Colberg).</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_140"> </a><a href="#FNanchor140">[140]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bignon, vi. 342.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_141"> </a><a href="#FNanchor141">[141]</a></p> +<blockquote>Papers presented to Parliament, 1808, p. 106. The +intelligence reached Canning on the 21st of July. Canning's +despatch to Brook Taylor, July 22; Records: Denmark, vol. 196. It +has never been known who sent the information, but it must have +been some one very near the Czar, for it purported to give the +very words used by Napoleon in his interview with Alexander on +the raft. It is clear, from Canning's despatch of July 22, that +this conversation and nothing else had up till then been +reported. The informant was probably one of the authors of the +English alliance of 1805.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_142"> </a><a href="#FNanchor142">[142]</a></p> +<blockquote>Napoleon to Talleyrand, July 31, 1807. He instructs +Talleyrand to enter into certain negotiations with the Danish +Minister, which would be meaningless if the Crown Prince had +already promised to hand over the fleet. The original English +documents, in Records: Denmark, vols. 196, 197, really show that +Canning never considered that he had any proof of the intentions +of Denmark, and that he justified his action only by the +inability of Denmark to resist Napoleon's demands.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_143"> </a><a href="#FNanchor143">[143]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cevallos, p. 73.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_144"> </a><a href="#FNanchor144">[144]</a></p> +<blockquote>Pertz, ii. 23. Seeley, i. 430.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_145"> </a><a href="#FNanchor145">[145]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cevallos, p. 13. Baumgarten, Geschichte Spaniens, i. +131.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_146"> </a><a href="#FNanchor146">[146]</a></p> +<blockquote>Escoiquiz, Exposé, p. 57, 107.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_147"> </a><a href="#FNanchor147">[147]</a></p> +<blockquote>Miot de Melito, ii. ch. 7. Murat was made King of +Naples.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_148"> </a><a href="#FNanchor148">[148]</a></p> +<blockquote>Baumgarten, i. 242.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_149"> </a><a href="#FNanchor149">[149]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington Despatches, iii. 135.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_150"> </a><a href="#FNanchor150">[150]</a></p> +<blockquote>Häusser, iii. 133. Seeley, i. 480.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_151"> </a><a href="#FNanchor151">[151]</a></p> +<blockquote>For the striking part played at Erfurt by Talleyrand +in opposition to Napoleon see Metternich's paper of December 4, +in Beer, p. 516. It seems that Napoleon wished to involve the +Czar in active measures against Austria, but was thwarted by +Talleyrand.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_152"> </a><a href="#FNanchor152">[152]</a></p> +<blockquote>Baumgarten i. 311.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_153"> </a><a href="#FNanchor153">[153]</a></p> +<blockquote>Napier, ii. 17.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_154"> </a><a href="#FNanchor154">[154]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, ii. 147.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_155"> </a><a href="#FNanchor155">[155]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gentz, Tagebücher, i. 60.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_156"> </a><a href="#FNanchor156">[156]</a></p> +<blockquote>Steffens, vi. 153. Mémoires du Roi +Jérome, iii. 340.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_157"> </a><a href="#FNanchor157">[157]</a></p> +<blockquote>Beer, p. 370. Häusser, iii. 278.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_158"> </a><a href="#FNanchor158">[158]</a></p> +<blockquote>Correspondance de Napoleon, xviii. 459, 472. Gentz, +Tagebücher, i. 120, Pelet, Mémoires sur la Guerre de +1809, i. 223.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_159"> </a><a href="#FNanchor159">[159]</a></p> +<blockquote>"Je n'ai jamais vu d'affaire aussi sanglante et aussi +meurtrière." Report of the French General, Mémoires +de Jérome, iv. 109.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_160"> </a><a href="#FNanchor160">[160]</a></p> +<blockquote>See Arndt's Poem on Schill. Gedichte, i. 328 (ed. +1837).</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_161"> </a><a href="#FNanchor161">[161]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington Despatches, iv. 533. Sup. Desp. vi. 319, +Napier, ii. 357.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_162"> </a><a href="#FNanchor162">[162]</a></p> +<blockquote>Correspondance de Napoleon: Décision, Mai 23, +1806. Parliamentary Papers, 1810, p. 123, 697.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_163"> </a><a href="#FNanchor163">[163]</a></p> +<blockquote>Beer, p. 445, Gentz, Tagebücher, i. 82, +118.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_164"> </a><a href="#FNanchor164">[164]</a></p> +<blockquote>Correspondance de Napoleon, xix. 15, +265.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_165"> </a><a href="#FNanchor165">[165]</a></p> +<blockquote>Corresp. de Napoleon, xxiii. 62, Décret, 9 +Déc., 1811.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_166"> </a><a href="#FNanchor166">[166]</a></p> +<blockquote>Mémoires de Jérome, v. +185.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_167"> </a><a href="#FNanchor167">[167]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington Supplementary Despatches, vi. 41. Napier, +iii. 250.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_168"> </a><a href="#FNanchor168">[168]</a></p> +<blockquote>Baumgarten, Geschichte Spaniens, i. 405.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_169"> </a><a href="#FNanchor169">[169]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hardenberg (Ranke), iv. 268. Häusser, iii. 535. +Seeley, ii. 447.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_170"> </a><a href="#FNanchor170">[170]</a></p> +<blockquote>Martens, Nouveau Recueil, i. 417. A copy, or the +original, of this Treaty was captured by the Russians with other +of Napoleon's papers during the retreat from Moscow, and a draft +of it sent to London, which remains in the Records.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_171"> </a><a href="#FNanchor171">[171]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, i. 122.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_172"> </a><a href="#FNanchor172">[172]</a></p> +<blockquote>Mémoires de Jérome, v. +247.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_173"> </a><a href="#FNanchor173">[173]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bogdanowitsch, i. 72; Chambray, i. 186. Sir R. +Wilson, Invasion of Russia, p. 15.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_174"> </a><a href="#FNanchor174">[174]</a></p> +<blockquote>Droysen, Leben des Grafen York. I. 394.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_175"> </a><a href="#FNanchor175">[175]</a></p> +<blockquote>Pertz, iii. 211, <i>seq</i>. Seeley, iii. +21.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_176"> </a><a href="#FNanchor176">[176]</a></p> +<blockquote>Oncken, Oesterreich und Preussen, i. 28.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_177"> </a><a href="#FNanchor177">[177]</a></p> +<blockquote>Martens, N.R., III. 234. British and Foreign State +Papers (Hertslet), i. 49.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_178"> </a><a href="#FNanchor178">[178]</a></p> +<blockquote>For Breslau in February, see Steffens, 7. +69.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_179"> </a><a href="#FNanchor179">[179]</a></p> +<blockquote>For the difference between the old and the new +officers, see Correspondance de Napoléon, 27 Avril, +1813.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_180"> </a><a href="#FNanchor180">[180]</a></p> +<blockquote>Henckel von Donnersmarck, p. 187. The battles of +Lützen, Bautzen, and Leipzig are described in the despatches +of Lord Cathcart, who witnessed them in company with the Czar and +King Frederick William. Records: Russia, 207, 209.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_181"> </a><a href="#FNanchor181">[181]</a></p> +<blockquote>The account given in the following pages of +Napoleon's motives and action during the armistice is based upon +the following letters printed in the twenty-fifth volume of the +Correspondence:-To Eugène, June 2, July 1, July 17, Aug. +4; to Maret, July 8; to Daru, July 17; to Berthier, July 23; to +Davoust, July 24, Aug. 5; to Ney, Aug. 4, Aug. 12. The statement +of Napoleon's error as to the strength of the Austrian force is +confirmed by Metternich, i. 150.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_182"> </a><a href="#FNanchor182">[182]</a></p> +<blockquote>Oncken, i. 80.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_183"> </a><a href="#FNanchor183">[183]</a></p> +<blockquote>Napoleon to Eugène, 1st July, +1813.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_184"> </a><a href="#FNanchor184">[184]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, i. 163.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_185"> </a><a href="#FNanchor185">[185]</a></p> +<blockquote>Häusser, iv. 59. One of the originals is +contained in Lord Cathcart's despatch from Kalisch, March 28th, +1813. Records: Russia, Vol. 206.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_186"> </a><a href="#FNanchor186">[186]</a></p> +<blockquote>Mémoires de Jérome, vi. +223.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_187"> </a><a href="#FNanchor187">[187]</a></p> +<blockquote>"Your lordship has only to recollect the four days' +continued fighting at Leipzig, followed by fourteen days' forced +marches in the worst weather, in order to understand the reasons +that made some repose absolutely necessary. The total loss of the +Austrians alone, since the 10th of August, at the time of our +arrival at Frankfort, was 80,000 men. We were entirely unprovided +with heavy artillery, the nearest battery train not having +advanced further than the frontiers of Bohemia." It was thought +for a moment that the gates of Strasburg and Huningen might be +opened by bribery, and the Austrian Government authorised the +expenditure of a million florins for this purpose; in that case +the march into Switzerland would have been abandoned. The bribing +plan, however, broke down.-Lord Aberdeen's despatches, Nov. 24, +Dec. 25, 1813. Records; Austria, 107.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_188"> </a><a href="#FNanchor188">[188]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh's despatch from Langres, Jan. 29, 1814. +Records: Continent, Vol. II.: "As far as I have hitherto felt +myself called on to give an opinion, I have stated that the +British Government did not decline treating with Bonaparte." "The +Czar said he observed my view of the question was different from +what he believed prevailed in England" (<i>id.</i> Feb. 16). See +Southey's fine Ode on the Negotiations of 1814.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_189"> </a><a href="#FNanchor189">[189]</a></p> +<blockquote>British and Foreign State Papers, I. +131.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_190"> </a><a href="#FNanchor190">[190]</a></p> +<blockquote>Béranger, Biographie, ed. duod., p. +354.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_191"> </a><a href="#FNanchor191">[191]</a></p> +<blockquote>British and Foreign State Papers, I. +151.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_192"> </a><a href="#FNanchor192">[192]</a></p> +<blockquote>Lord W. Bentinck, who was with Murat, warned him +against the probable consequences of his duplicity. Bentinck had, +however, to be careful in his language, as the following shows. +Murat having sent him a sword of honour, he wrote to the English +Government, May 1, 1814: "It is a severe violence to my feelings +to incur any degree of obligation to an individual whom I so +entirely despise. But I feel it my duty not to betray any +appearance of a spirit of animosity." To Murat he wrote on the +same day: "The sword of a great captain is the most flattering +present which a soldier can receive. It is with the highest +gratitude that I accept the gift, Sire, which you have done me +the honour to send."-Records: Sicily, Vol. 98.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_193"> </a><a href="#FNanchor193">[193]</a></p> +<blockquote>Treaties of Teplitz, Sept. 9, 1813. In Bianchi, +Storia Documentata della Diplomazia Europea, i. 334, there is a +long protest addressed by Metternich to Castlereagh on May 26, +1814, referring with great minuteness to a number of clauses in a +secret Treaty signed by all the Powers at Prague on July 27, +1813, and ratified at London on August 23, giving Austria the +disposal of all Italy. This protest, which has been accepted as +genuine in Reuchlin's Geschichte Italiens and elsewhere, is, with +the alleged secret Treaty, a forgery. My grounds for this +statement are as follows:-(1) There was no British envoy at +Prague in July, 1813. (2) The private as well as the official +letters of Castlereagh to Lord Cathcart of Sept. 13 and 18, and +the instructions sent to Lord Aberdeen during August and +September, prove that no joint Treaty existed up to that date, to +which both England and Austria were parties. Records: Russia, +207, 209 A. Austria, 105. (3) Lord Aberdeen's reports of his +negotiations with Metternich after this date conclusively prove +that almost all Italian questions, including even the Austrian +frontier, were treated as matters to be decided by the Allies in +common. While Austria's right to a preponderance in upper Italy +is admitted, the affairs of Rome and Naples are always treated as +within the range of English policy.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_194"> </a><a href="#FNanchor194">[194]</a></p> +<blockquote>The originals of the Genoese and Milanese petitions +for independence are in Records: Sicily, Vol. 98. "The Genoese +universally desire the restoration of their ancient Republic. +They dread above all other arrangements their annexation to +Piedmont, to the inhabitants of which there have always existed a +peculiar aversion."-Bentinck's Despatch, April 27, 1814, +<i>id.</i></blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_195"> </a><a href="#FNanchor195">[195]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh, x. 18.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_196"> </a><a href="#FNanchor196">[196]</a></p> +<blockquote>As Arndt, Schriften, ii. 311, Fünf oder sechs +Wunder Gottes.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_197"> </a><a href="#FNanchor197">[197]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bernhardi, Geschichte Russlands, iii. +26.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_198"> </a><a href="#FNanchor198">[198]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Debates, xxvii. 634, 834.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_199"> </a><a href="#FNanchor199">[199]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, Sup. Des., x. 468; Castlereagh, x. 145. +Records, Sicily, vol. 97. The future King Louis Philippe was sent +by his father-in-law, Ferdinand, to England, to intrigue against +Murat among the Sovereigns and Ministers then visiting England. +His own curious account of his proceedings, with the secret sign +for the Prince Regent, given him by Louis XVIII., who was afraid +to write anything, is in <i>id.</i>, vol. 99.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_200"> </a><a href="#FNanchor200">[200]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wippermann, Kurhessen, pp. 9-13. In Hanover torture +was restored, and occasionally practised till the end of 1818: +also the punishment of death by breaking on the wheel. See +Hodgskin, Travels, ii. 51, 69.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_201"> </a><a href="#FNanchor201">[201]</a></p> +<blockquote>Baumgarten, Geschichte Spaniens, ii. 30, Wellington, +D., xii. 27; S. D., ix. 17.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_202"> </a><a href="#FNanchor202">[202]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, S.D., ix. 328.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_203"> </a><a href="#FNanchor203">[203]</a></p> +<blockquote>Compare his cringing letter to Pichegru in Manuscrit +de Louis XVIII., p. 463, with his answer in 1797 to the Venetian +Senate, in Thiers.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_204"> </a><a href="#FNanchor204">[204]</a></p> +<blockquote><i>Moniteur</i>, 5 Juin. British and Foreign State +Papers, 1812-14, ii. 960.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_205"> </a><a href="#FNanchor205">[205]</a></p> +<blockquote>The payment of £13 per annum in direct taxes. +No one could be elected who did not pay £40 per annum in +direct taxes,-so large a sum, that the Charta provided for the +case of there not being fifty persons in a department +eligible.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_206"> </a><a href="#FNanchor206">[206]</a></p> +<blockquote>Fourteen out of Napoleon's twenty marshals and +three-fifths of his Senators were called to the Chamber of Peers. +The names of the excluded Senators will be found in Vaulabelle, +ii. 100; but the reader must not take Vaulabelle's history for +more than a collection of party-legends.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_207"> </a><a href="#FNanchor207">[207]</a></p> +<blockquote>Ordonnance, in <i>Moniteur</i>, 26 Mai.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_208"> </a><a href="#FNanchor208">[208]</a></p> +<blockquote>This poor creature owed his life, as he owes a shabby +immortality, to the beautiful and courageous Grace Dalrymple +Elliot. Journal of Mrs. G.D. Elliot, p. 79.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_209"> </a><a href="#FNanchor209">[209]</a></p> +<blockquote>Carnot, Mémoire adressé au Roi, p. +20.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_210"> </a><a href="#FNanchor210">[210]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington Despatches, xii. 248. On the ground of his +ready-money dealings, it has been supposed that Wellington +understood the French people. On the contrary, he often showed +great want of insight, both in his acts and in his opinions, when +the finer, and therefore more statesmanlike, sympathies were in +question. Thus, in the delicate position of ambassador of a +victorious Power and counsellor of a restored dynasty, he +bitterly offended the French country-population by behaving like +a <i>grand seigneur</i> before 1789, and hunting with a pack of +hounds over their young corn. The matter was so serious that the +Government of Louis XVIII. had to insist on Wellington stopping +his hunts. (Talleyrand et Louis XVIII., p. 141.) This want of +insight into popular feeling, necessarily resulted in some +portentous blunders: <i>e.g.,</i> all that Wellington could make +of Napoleon's return from Elba was the following:-"He has acted +upon false or no information, and the King will destroy him +without difficulty and in a short time." Despatches, xii. +268.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_211"> </a><a href="#FNanchor211">[211]</a></p> +<blockquote>A good English account of Vienna during the Congress +will be found in "Travels in Hungary," by Dr. R. Bright, the +eminent physician. His visit to Napoleon's son, then a child five +years old, is described in a passage of singular beauty and +pathos.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_212"> </a><a href="#FNanchor212">[212]</a></p> +<blockquote>British and Foreign State Papers, 1814-15, p. 554, +<i>seq</i>. Talleyrand et Louis XVIII., p. 13. Kluber, ix. 167. +Seeley's Stein, iii. 248. Gentz, Dépêches +Inédites, i. 107. Records: Continent, vol. 7, Oct. +2.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_213"> </a><a href="#FNanchor213">[213]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bernhardi, i. 2; ii. 2, 661.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_214"> </a><a href="#FNanchor214">[214]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, S.D., ix. 335.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_215"> </a><a href="#FNanchor215">[215]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, S.D., ix. 340. Records: Continent, vol. +7, Oct. 9, 14.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_216"> </a><a href="#FNanchor216">[216]</a></p> +<blockquote>Talleyrand, p. 74. Records, <i>id</i>., Oct. 24, +25.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_217"> </a><a href="#FNanchor217">[217]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, S.D., ix. 331. Talleyrand, pp. 59, 82, +85, 109. Klüber, vii. 21.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_218"> </a><a href="#FNanchor218">[218]</a></p> +<blockquote>British and Foreign State Papers, 1814-15, p. 814. +Klüber, vii. 61.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_219"> </a><a href="#FNanchor219">[219]</a></p> +<blockquote>Talleyrand, p. 281.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_220"> </a><a href="#FNanchor220">[220]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, 1814-15, ii. +1001.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_221"> </a><a href="#FNanchor221">[221]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh did not contradict them. Records: Cont., +vol. 10, Jan. 8.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_222"> </a><a href="#FNanchor222">[222]</a></p> +<blockquote>British and Foreign State Papers, 1814-15, p. 642. +Seeley's Stein, iii. 303. Talleyrand, Preface, p. +18.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_223"> </a><a href="#FNanchor223">[223]</a></p> +<blockquote>Chiefly, but not altogether, because Napoleon's war +with England had ruined the trade of the ports. See the report of +Marshal Brune, in Daudet, La Terreur Blanche, p. 173, and the +striking picture of Marseilles in Thiers, xviii. 340, drawn from +his own early recollections. Bordeaux was Royalist for the same +reason.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_224"> </a><a href="#FNanchor224">[224]</a></p> +<blockquote>Berriat-St. Prix, Napoléon à Grenoble, +p. 10.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_225"> </a><a href="#FNanchor225">[225]</a></p> +<blockquote>Béranger, Biographie, p. 373, ed. +duod.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_226"> </a><a href="#FNanchor226">[226]</a></p> +<blockquote>See their contemptible addresses, as well as those of +the army, in the <i>Moniteur</i>, from the 10th to the 19th of +March to Louis XVIII., from the 27th onwards to +Napoleon.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_227"> </a><a href="#FNanchor227">[227]</a></p> +<blockquote><i>i.e.</i>, Because he had abused his liberty. On +Ney's trial two courtiers alleged that Ney said he "would bring +back Napoleon in an iron cage." Ney contradicted, them. +Procès de Ney, ii. 105, 113.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_228"> </a><a href="#FNanchor228">[228]</a></p> +<blockquote>British and Foreign State Papers, 1814-15, ii. +443.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_229"> </a><a href="#FNanchor229">[229]</a></p> +<blockquote>Correspondance de Napoleon, xxviii. 171, 267, +etc.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_230"> </a><a href="#FNanchor230">[230]</a></p> +<blockquote>British and Foreign State Papers, 1814-15, ii. 275. +Castlereagh, ix. 512, Wellington, S.D., ix. 244. Records: +Continent, vol. 12, Feb. 26.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_231"> </a><a href="#FNanchor231">[231]</a></p> +<blockquote>Correspondance de Napoléon, xxviii. 111, 127. +The order forbidding him to come to Paris is wrongly dated April +19; probably for May 29. The English documents relating to +Ferdinand's return to Naples, with the originals of many +proclamations, etc., are in Records: Sicily, vols. 103, 104. They +are interesting chiefly as showing the deep impression made on +England by Ferdinand's cruelties in 1799.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_232"> </a><a href="#FNanchor232">[232]</a></p> +<blockquote>Benjamin Constant, Mémoire sur les Cent +Jours.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_233"> </a><a href="#FNanchor233">[233]</a></p> +<blockquote>Lafayette, Mémoires, v. 414.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_234"> </a><a href="#FNanchor234">[234]</a></p> +<blockquote>Miot de Melito, iii. 434.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_235"> </a><a href="#FNanchor235">[235]</a></p> +<blockquote>Napoleon to Ney; Correspondance, xxviii. +334.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_236"> </a><a href="#FNanchor236">[236]</a></p> +<blockquote>"I have got an infamous army, very weak and +ill-equipped, and a very inexperienced staff." (Despatches, xii. +358.) So, even after his victory, he writes:-"I really believe +that, with the exception of my old Spanish infantry, I have got +not only the worst troops but the worst-equipped army, with the +worst staff that was ever brought together." (Despatches, xii. +509.)</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_237"> </a><a href="#FNanchor237">[237]</a></p> +<blockquote>Therefore he kept his forces more westwards, and +further from Blücher, than if he had known Napoleon's actual +plan. But the severance of the English from the sea required to +be guarded against as much as a defeat of Blücher. The Duke +never ceased to regard it as an open question whether Napoleon +ought not to have thrown his whole force between Brussels and the +sea. (<i>Vide</i> Memoir written in 1842 Wellington, S.D., ix. +530.)</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_238"> </a><a href="#FNanchor238">[238]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, i., p. 155.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_239"> </a><a href="#FNanchor239">[239]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington Despatches, xii. 649.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_240"> </a><a href="#FNanchor240">[240]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, S.D., xi. 24, 32. Maps of projected +frontiers, Records: Cont., vol 23.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_241"> </a><a href="#FNanchor241">[241]</a></p> +<blockquote>Despatches, xii. 596. Seeley's Stein, iii. +332.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_242"> </a><a href="#FNanchor242">[242]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, 1815-16, iii. 211. The second +article is the most characteristic:-"Les trois Princes ... +confessant que la nation Chrétienne dont eux et leurs +peuples font partie n'a réellement d'autre Souverain que +celui à qui seul appartient en propriété la +puissance ... c'est-à-dire Dieu notre Divin Sauveur +Jésus Christ, le Verbe du Très Haut, la parole de +vie: leurs Majestés recommandent ... à leurs +peuples ... de se fortifier chaque jour davantage dans les +principes et l'exercice des devoirs que le Divin Sauveur a +enseignés aux hommes."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_243"> </a><a href="#FNanchor243">[243]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, S.D., xi. 175. The account which +Castlereagh gives of the Czar's longing for universal peace +appears to refute the theory that Alexander had some idea of an +attack upon Turkey in thus uniting Christendom. According to +Castlereagh, Metternich also thought that "it was quite clear +that the Czar's mind was affected," but for the singular reason +that "peace and goodwill engrossed all his thoughts, and that he +had found him of late friendly and reasonable on all points" +(<i>Id</i>.) There was, however, a strong popular impression at +this time that Alexander was on the point of invading Turkey. +(Gentz, D.I., i. 197.)</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_244"> </a><a href="#FNanchor244">[244]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, 1815-16, iii. 273. Records; +Continent, vol. 30.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_245"> </a><a href="#FNanchor245">[245]</a></p> +<blockquote>Klüber, ii. 598.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_246"> </a><a href="#FNanchor246">[246]</a></p> +<blockquote>Klüber, vi. 12. It covers, with its appendices, +205 pages.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_247"> </a><a href="#FNanchor247">[247]</a></p> +<blockquote>In the first draft of the secret clauses of the +Treaty of June 14, 1800, between England and Austria (see p. +150), Austria was to have had Genoa. But the fear arising that +Russia would not permit Austria's extension to the Mediterranean, +an alteration was made, whereby Austria was promised half of +Piedmont, Genoa to go to the King of Sardinia in +compensation.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_248"> </a><a href="#FNanchor248">[248]</a></p> +<blockquote>Pertz, Leben Steins, iv 524.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_249"> </a><a href="#FNanchor249">[249]</a></p> +<blockquote>Talleyrand, p. 277.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_250"> </a><a href="#FNanchor250">[250]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, 1815-16, p. 928.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_251"> </a><a href="#FNanchor251">[251]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bernhardi, iii. 2, 10, 666.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_252"> </a><a href="#FNanchor252">[252]</a></p> +<blockquote>"We are now inundated with Russian agents of various +descriptions, some public and some secret, but all holding the +same language, all preaching 'Constitution and liberal +principles,' and all endeavouring to direct the eyes of the +independents towards the North.... A copy of the instructions +sent to the Russian Minister here has fallen into the hands of +the Austrians." A'Court (Ambassador at Naples) to Castlereagh, +Dec. 7, 1815, Records: Sicily, 104.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_253"> </a><a href="#FNanchor253">[253]</a></p> +<blockquote>A profound reason has been ascribed to Metternich's +conservatism by some of his English apologists in high place, +namely the fear that if ideas of nationality should spring up, +the non-German components of the Austrian monarchy, viz., +Bohemia, Hungary, Croatia, etc., would break off and become +independent States. But there is not a word in Metternich's +writings which shows that this apprehension had at this time +entered his mind. To generalise his Italian policy of 1815 into a +great prophetic statesmanship, is to interpret the ideas of one +age by the history of the next.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_254"> </a><a href="#FNanchor254">[254]</a></p> +<blockquote>In Moravia. For the system of espionage, see the book +called "Carte segrete della polizia Austriaca," consisting of +police-reports which fell into the hands of the Italians at Milan +in 1848.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_255"> </a><a href="#FNanchor255">[255]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bianchi, Storia Documentata, i. 208. The substance of +this secret clause was communicated to A'Court, the English +Ambassador at Naples. "I had no hesitation in saying that +anything which contributed to the good understanding now +prevailing between Austria and Naples, could not but prove +extremely satisfactory to the British Government." A'Court to +Castlereagh, July 18, 1815. Records: Sicily, vol. +104.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_256"> </a><a href="#FNanchor256">[256]</a></p> +<blockquote>Letters in Reuchlin, Geschichte Italiens, i. 71. The +Holy Alliance was turned to better account by the Sardinian +statesmen than by the Neapolitans. "Apres s'être +allié," wrote the Sardinian Ambassador at St. Petersburg, +"en Jesus-Christ notre Sauveur parole de vie, pourquoi et +à quel propos s'allier en Metternich?"</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_257"> </a><a href="#FNanchor257">[257]</a></p> +<blockquote>See the passages from Grenville's letters quoted in +pp. 125, 126 of this work.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_258"> </a><a href="#FNanchor258">[258]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh, x. 18. "The danger is that the +transition" (to liberty) "may be too sudden to ripen into +anything likely to make the world better or happier.... I am sure +it is better to retard than accelerate the operation of this most +hazardous principle which is abroad."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_259"> </a><a href="#FNanchor259">[259]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, 1816-17, p. 553. Metternich, +iii. 80. Castlereagh had at first desired that the Constitution +should be modified under the influence of the English Ambassador. +Instructions to A'Court, March 14, 1814, marked "Most Secret"; +Records: Sicily, vol. 99. A'Court himself detested the +Constitution. "I conceive the Sicilian people to be totally and +radically unfit to be entrusted with political power." July 23, +1814, id.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_260"> </a><a href="#FNanchor260">[260]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh, x. 25.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_261"> </a><a href="#FNanchor261">[261]</a></p> +<blockquote>"If his Majesty announces his determination to give +effect to the main principles of a constitutional régime, +it is possible that he may extinguish the existing arrangement +with impunity, and re-establish one more consistent with the +efficiency of the executive power, and which may restore the +great landed proprietors and the clergy to a due share of +authority." Castlereagh, id.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_262"> </a><a href="#FNanchor262">[262]</a></p> +<blockquote>Daudet, La Terreur Blanche, p. 186. The loss of the +troops was a hundred. The stories of wholesale massacres at +Marseilles and other places are fictions.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_263"> </a><a href="#FNanchor263">[263]</a></p> +<blockquote>See the Address, in <i>Journal des Débats</i>, +15 Octobre: "Nous oserons solliciter humblement la +rétribution nécessaire," etc. For the general +history of the Session, see Duvergier de Hauranne, iii. 257; +Viel-Castal, iv. 139; Castlereagh's severe judgment of Artois. +Records: Cont., 28, Sept. 21.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_264"> </a><a href="#FNanchor264">[264]</a></p> +<blockquote><i>Journal des Débats</i>, 29 +October.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_265"> </a><a href="#FNanchor265">[265]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, S.D., xi. 95. This self-confident folly +is repeated in many of Lord Liverpool's letters.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_266"> </a><a href="#FNanchor266">[266]</a></p> +<blockquote>Procès du Maréchal Ney, i. +212.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_267"> </a><a href="#FNanchor267">[267]</a></p> +<blockquote>Ney was not, however, a mere fighting general. The +Military Studies published in English in 1833 from his +manuscripts prove this. They abound in acute remarks, and his +estimate of the quality of the German soldier, at a time when the +Germans were habitually beaten and despised, is very striking. He +urges that when French infantry fight in three ranks, the charge +should be made after the two front ranks have fired, without +waiting for the third to fire. "The German soldier, formed by the +severest discipline, is cooler than any other. He would in the +end obtain the advantage in this kind of firing if it lasted +long." (P. 100.) Ney's parents appear to have been +Würtemberg people who had settled in Alsace. The name was +really Neu (New).</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_268"> </a><a href="#FNanchor268">[268]</a></p> +<blockquote>See the extracts from La Bourdonnaye's printed speech +in <i>Journal des Débats</i>, 19 Novembre: "Pour +arrêter leurs trames criminelles, il faut des fers, des +bourreaux, des supplices. La mort, la mort seule peut effrayer +leurs complices et mettre fin à leurs complots," etc. The +journals abound with similar speeches.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_269"> </a><a href="#FNanchor269">[269]</a></p> +<blockquote>General Mouton-Duvernet. Several were sentenced to +death in their absence; some were acquitted on the singular plea +that they had become subjects of the Empire of Elba, and so could +not be guilty of treason to the King of France.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_270"> </a><a href="#FNanchor270">[270]</a></p> +<blockquote>The sentence was commuted by the King to twelve +years' imprisonment. General Chartran was actually shot. It is +stated, though it appears not to be clear, that his prosecution +began at the same late date. Duvergier de Hauranne, iii. +335.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_271"> </a><a href="#FNanchor271">[271]</a></p> +<blockquote>The highest number admitted by the Government to have +been imprisoned at any one time under the Law of Public Security +was 319, in addition to 750 banished from their homes or placed +under surveillance. No one has collected statistics of the +imprisonments by legal sentence. The old story that there were +70,000 persons in prison is undoubtedly an absurd exaggeration; +but the numbers given by the Government, even if true at any one +moment, afford no clue to the whole number of imprisonments, for +as fast as one person gets out of prison in France in a time of +political excitement, another is put in. The writer speaks from +personal experience, having been imprisoned in 1871. Any one who +has seen how these affairs are conducted will know how ridiculous +it would be to suppose that the central government has +information of every case.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_272"> </a><a href="#FNanchor272">[272]</a></p> +<blockquote>See, <i>e.g.</i>, the Pétition aux Deux +Chambres, 1816, at the beginning of P.L. Courier's +works.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_273"> </a><a href="#FNanchor273">[273]</a></p> +<blockquote><i>Journal des Débats</i>, 19 Decembre, +1815.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_274"> </a><a href="#FNanchor274">[274]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, S.D., xi 309.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_275"> </a><a href="#FNanchor275">[275]</a></p> +<blockquote>Despatch in Duvergier de Hauranne, iii. +441.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_276"> </a><a href="#FNanchor276">[276]</a></p> +<blockquote>Pertz, Leben Steins, iv. 428.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_277"> </a><a href="#FNanchor277">[277]</a></p> +<blockquote>Schmalz, Berichtigung, etc., p. 14.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_278"> </a><a href="#FNanchor278">[278]</a></p> +<blockquote>Pertz, Leben Steins, v. 23.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_279"> </a><a href="#FNanchor279">[279]</a></p> +<blockquote>A curious account of the festival remains, written by +Kieser, one of the Professors who took part in it (Kieser, Das +Wartburgfest, 1818). It is so silly that it is hard to believe it +to have been written by a grown-up man. He says of the procession +to the Wartburg, "There have indeed been processions that +surpassed this in outward glory and show; but in inner +significant value it cannot yield to any." But making allowance +for the author's personal weakness of head, his book is a +singular and instructive picture of the mental condition of +"Young Germany" and its teachers at that time-a subject that +caused such extravagant anxiety to Governments, and so seriously +affected the course of political history. It requires some effort +to get behind the ridiculous side of the students' Teutonism; but +there were elements of reality there. Persons familiar with Wales +will be struck by the resemblance, both in language and spirit, +between the scenes of 1818 and the religious meetings or the +Eisleddfodau of the Welsh, a resemblance not accidental, but +resulting from similarity of conditions, viz., a real +susceptibility to religious, patriotic, and literary ideas among +a people unacquainted with public or practical life on a large +scale. But the vigorous political action of the Welsh in 1880, +when the landed interest throughout the Principality lost seats +which it had held for centuries, surprised only those who had +seen nothing but extravagance in the chapel and the +field-meeting. Welsh ardour, hitherto in great part undirected, +then had a practical effect because English organisation afforded +it a model: German ardour in 1817 proved sterile because it had +no such example at hand.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_280"> </a><a href="#FNanchor280">[280]</a></p> +<blockquote>See the speech in Bernhardi, iii. 669.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_281"> </a><a href="#FNanchor281">[281]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gentz, D.I., ii. 87, iii. 72.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_282"> </a><a href="#FNanchor282">[282]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh, xii. 55, 62.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_283"> </a><a href="#FNanchor283">[283]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, S.D., xii. 835.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_284"> </a><a href="#FNanchor284">[284]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, 1818-19, vi. 14.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_285"> </a><a href="#FNanchor285">[285]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gentz, D.I., i. 400. Gentz, the confidant and adviser +of Metternich, was secretary to the Conference at +Aix-la-Chapelle. His account of it in this despatch is of the +greatest value, bringing out in a way in which no official +documents do the conservative and repressive tone of the +Conference. The prevalent fear had been that Alexander would +break with his old Allies and make a separate league with France +and Spain. See also Castlereagh, xii. 47.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_286"> </a><a href="#FNanchor286">[286]</a></p> +<blockquote>"I could write you a long letter about the honour +which the Prussians pay to everything Austrian, our whole +position, our measures, our language. Metternich has fairly +enchanted them." Gentz, Nachlasse (Osten), i. 51.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_287"> </a><a href="#FNanchor287">[287]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, iii. 171.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_288"> </a><a href="#FNanchor288">[288]</a></p> +<blockquote>See his remarks in Metternich, iii. 269: an oasis of +sense in this desert of Commonplace.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_289"> </a><a href="#FNanchor289">[289]</a></p> +<blockquote>Stourdza, Denkschrift, etc., p. 31. The French +original is not in the British Museum.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_290"> </a><a href="#FNanchor290">[290]</a></p> +<blockquote>The extracts from Sand's diaries, published in a +little book in 1821 (Tagebücher, etc.), form a very +interesting religious study. The last, written on Dec. 31, 1818, +is as follows:-"I meet the last day of this year in an earnest +festal spirit, knowing well that the Christmas which I have +celebrated will be my last. If our strivings are to result in +anything, if the cause of mankind is to succeed in our +Fatherland, if all is not to be forgotten, all our enthusiasm +spent in vain, the evildoer, the traitor, the corrupter of youth +must die. Until I have executed this, I have no peace; and what +can comfort me until I know that I have with upright will set my +life at stake? O God, I pray only for the right clearness and +courage of soul, that in that last supreme hour I may not be +false to myself" (p. 174). The reference to the Greeks is in a +letter in the English memoir, p. 40.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_291"> </a><a href="#FNanchor291">[291]</a></p> +<blockquote>The papers of the poet Arndt were seized. Among them +was a copy of certain short notes made by the King of Prussia, +about 1808, on the uselessness of a <i>levée en masse</i>. +One of these notes was as follows:-"As soon as a single clergyman +is shot" (<i>i.e.</i> by the French) "the thing would come to an +end." These words were published in the Prussian official paper +as an indication that Arndt, worse than Sand, advocated murdering +clergymen! Welcker, Urkunden, p. 89.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_292"> </a><a href="#FNanchor292">[292]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, iii. 217, 258.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_293"> </a><a href="#FNanchor293">[293]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, iii. 268.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_294"> </a><a href="#FNanchor294">[294]</a></p> +<blockquote>The minutes of the Conference are in Welcker, +Urkunden, p. 104, <i>seq</i>. See also Weech, +Correspondenzen.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_295"> </a><a href="#FNanchor295">[295]</a></p> +<blockquote>Protokolle der Bundesversammlung, 8, 266. Nauwerck, +Thätigkeit, etc., 2, 287.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_296"> </a><a href="#FNanchor296">[296]</a></p> +<blockquote>Ægidi, Der Schluss-Acte, ii. 362, +446.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_297"> </a><a href="#FNanchor297">[297]</a></p> +<blockquote>Article 57. The intention being that no assembly in +any German State might claim sovereign power as representing the +people. If, for instance, the Bavarian Lower House had asserted +that it represented the sovereignty of the people, and that the +King was simply the first magistrate in the State, this would +have been an offence against Federal law, and have entitled the +Diet-<i>i.e.</i> Metternich-to armed interference. The German +State-papers of this time teem with the constitutional +distinction between a Representative Assembly (<i>i.e.</i> +assembly representing popular sovereignty) and an Assembly of +Estates (<i>i.e.</i>, of particular orders with limited, definite +rights, such as the granting of a tax). In technical language, +the question at issue was the true interpretation of the phrase +<i>Landständische Verfassungen</i>, used in the 13th article +of the original Act of Federation.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_298"> </a><a href="#FNanchor298">[298]</a></p> +<blockquote>See, in Welcker, Urkunden, p. 356, the celebrated +paper called "Memorandum of a Prussian Statesman, 1822," which at +the same time recommends a systematic underhand rivalry with +Austria, in preparation for an ultimate breach. Few State-papers +exhibit more candid and cynical cunning.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_299"> </a><a href="#FNanchor299">[299]</a></p> +<blockquote>Ilse, Politische Verfolgungen, p. 31.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_300"> </a><a href="#FNanchor300">[300]</a></p> +<blockquote>The comparison is the Germans' own, not mine. "'How +savoury a thin roast veal is!' said one Hamburg beggar to +another. 'Where did you eat it?' said his friend, admiringly. 'I +never ate it at all, but I smelt it as I passed a great man's +house while the dog was being fed.'" (Ilse, p. 57.)</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_301"> </a><a href="#FNanchor301">[301]</a></p> +<blockquote>The Commission at Mainz went on working until 1827. +It seems to have begun to discover real revolutionary societies +about 1824. There is a long list of persons remanded for trial in +their several States, in Ilse, p. 595, with the verdicts and the +sentences passed upon them, which vary from a few months' to +nineteen years' imprisonment.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_302"> </a><a href="#FNanchor302">[302]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, iii. 168; and see Wellington, S.D., xii. +878.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_303"> </a><a href="#FNanchor303">[303]</a></p> +<blockquote>Grégoire, Mémoires, i. 411. Had the +Constitutional Church of France succeeded, Grégoire would +have left a great name in religious history. Napoleon, by one of +the most fatal acts of despotism, extinguished a society likely, +from its democratic basis and its association with a great +movement of reform, to become the most liberal and enlightened of +all Churches, and left France to be long divided between +Ultramontane dogma and a coarse kind of secularism. The life of +Grégoire ought to be written in English. From the enormous +number of improvements for which he laboured, his biography would +give a characteristic picture of the finer side of the generation +of 1789.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_304"> </a><a href="#FNanchor304">[304]</a></p> +<blockquote>The late Count of Chambord, or Henry V., son of the +Duke of Barry, was born some months after his father's +death.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_305"> </a><a href="#FNanchor305">[305]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh, xii. 162, 259. "The monster Radicalism +still lives," Castlereagh sorrowfully admits to +Metternich.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_306"> </a><a href="#FNanchor306">[306]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, iii. 369. "A man must be like me, born +and brought up amid the storm of politics, to know what is the +precise meaning of a shout of triumph like those which now burst +from Burdett and Co. He may have read of it, but I have seen it +with my eyes. I was living at the time of the Federation of 1789. +I was fifteen, and already a man."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_307"> </a><a href="#FNanchor307">[307]</a></p> +<blockquote>Baumgarten, Geschichte Spaniens, ii. +175.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_308"> </a><a href="#FNanchor308">[308]</a></p> +<blockquote>See the note of Fernan Nuñez, in Wellington, +S. D., xii. 582. "Les efforts unanimes de ces mêmes +Puissances ont détruit le système +dévastateur, d'où naquit la rébellion +Américaine; mais il leur restait encore à le +détruire dans l'Amérique Espagnole."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_309"> </a><a href="#FNanchor309">[309]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, S.D., xii. 807.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_310"> </a><a href="#FNanchor310">[310]</a></p> +<blockquote>Jullian, Précis Historique, p. +78.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_311"> </a><a href="#FNanchor311">[311]</a></p> +<blockquote>Historia de la vida de Fernando VII., ii. +158.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_312"> </a><a href="#FNanchor312">[312]</a></p> +<blockquote>Carrascosa, Mémoires, p. 25; Colletta, ii. +155.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_313"> </a><a href="#FNanchor313">[313]</a></p> +<blockquote>Carrascosa p. 44.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_314"> </a><a href="#FNanchor314">[314]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gentz. D.I., ii. 108, 122. It was rather too much +even for the Austrians. "La conduite de ce malheureux souverain +n'a été, dès le commencement des troubles, +qu'un tissu de faiblesse et de duplicité," etc. +"Voilà l'allié que le ciel a mis entre nos mains, +et dont nous avons à rétablir les +intérêts!" Ferdinand was guilty of such monstrous +perjuries and cruelties that the reader ought to be warned not to +think of him as a saturnine and Machiavellian Italian. He was a +son of the Bourbon Charles III. of Spain. His character was that +of a jovial, rather stupid farmer, whom a freak of fortune had +made a king from infancy. A sort of grotesque comic element runs +through his life, and through every picture drawn by persons in +actual intercourse with him. The following, from one of +Bentinck's despatches of 1814 (when Ferdinand had just heard that +Austria had promised to keep Murat in Naples), is very +characteristic: "I found his Majesty very much afflicted and very +much roused. He expressed his determination never to renounce the +rights which God had given him.... He said he might be poor, but +he would die honest, and his children should not have to reproach +him for having given up their rights. He was the son of the +honest Charles III. ... he was his unworthy offspring, but he +would never disgrace his family.... On my going away he took me +by the hand, and said he hoped I should esteem him as he did me, +and begged me to take a Pheasant pye to a gentleman who had been +his constant shooting companion." Records, Sicily, vol. 97. +Ferdinand was the last sovereign who habitually kept a +professional fool, or jester, in attendance upon +him.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_315"> </a><a href="#FNanchor315">[315]</a></p> +<blockquote>British and Foreign State Papers, vii. 361, +995.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_316"> </a><a href="#FNanchor316">[316]</a></p> +<blockquote>Except in Sicily, where, however, the course of +events had not the same publicity as on the +mainland.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_317"> </a><a href="#FNanchor317">[317]</a></p> +<blockquote>Verbatim from the Russian Note of April 18. B. and F. +State Papers, vii. 943.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_318"> </a><a href="#FNanchor318">[318]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parliamentary Debates, N.S., viii. 1136.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_319"> </a><a href="#FNanchor319">[319]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gentz, D.I., ii. 70. "M. le Prince Metternich s'est +rendu chez l'Empereur pour le mettre au fait de ces tristes +circonstances. Depuis que je le connais, je ne l'ai jamais vu +aussi frappé d'aucun événement qu'il +l'était hier avant son départ."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_320"> </a><a href="#FNanchor320">[320]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh, xii. 311.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_321"> </a><a href="#FNanchor321">[321]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gentz, D.I., ii. 76. Metternich, iii. 395. "Our +fire-engines were not full in July, otherwise we should have set +to work immediately."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_322"> </a><a href="#FNanchor322">[322]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gentz, ii. 85. Gentz was secretary at the Congress of +Troppau, as he had been at Vienna and Aix-la-Chapelle. His +letters exhibit the Austrian and absolutist view of all European +politics with striking clearness. He speaks of the change in +Richelieu's action as disagreeable but not fatal. "Ces pruderies +politiques sont sans doute lâcheuses.... La Russie, +l'Autriche, et la Prusse, heureusement libres encore dans leurs +mouvements, et assez puissantes pour soutenir ce qu'elles +arrêtent, pourraient adopter sans le concours de +l'Angleterre et de la France un système tel que les +besoins du moment le demandent." The description of the three +despotisms as "happily free in their movements" is very +characteristic of the time.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_323"> </a><a href="#FNanchor323">[323]</a></p> +<blockquote>This is the system conveniently but incorrectly named +Holy Alliance, from its supposed origination in he unmeaning +Treaty of Holy Alliance in 1815. The reader will have seen that +it took five years of reaction to create a definitive agreement +among the monarchs to intervene against popular changes in other +States, and that the principles of any operative league planned +by Alexander in 1815 would have been largely different from those +which he actually accepted in 1820. The Alexander who designed +the Holy Alliance was the Alexander who had forced Louis XVIII. +to grant the Charta.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_324"> </a><a href="#FNanchor324">[324]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh, xii. 330.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_325"> </a><a href="#FNanchor325">[325]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, iii. 394. B. and F. State Papers, viii. +1160. Gentz, D.I., ii. 112. The best narrative of the Congress +of Troppau is in Duvergier de Hauranne, vi. 93. The Life of +Canning by his secretary, Stapleton, though it is a work of some +authority on this period, is full of misstatements about +Castlereagh. Stapleton says that Castlereagh took no notice of +the Troppau circular of December 8 until it had been for more +than a month in his possession, and suggests that he would never +have protested at all but for the unexpected disclosure of the +circular in a German newspaper. As a matter of fact, the first +English protest against the Troppau doctrine, expressed in a +memorandum, "très long, très positif, assez dur +même, et assez tranchant dans son langage," was handed in +to the Congress on December 16 or 19, along with a very unwelcome +note to Metternich. There is some gossip of another of Canning's +secretaries in Greville's Memoirs, i. 105, to the effect that +Castlereagh's private despatches to Troppau differed in tone from +his official ones, which were only written "to throw dust in the +eyes of Parliament." It is sufficient to read the Austrian +documents of the time, teeming as they do with vexation and +disappointment at England's action, to see that this is a +fiction.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_326"> </a><a href="#FNanchor326">[326]</a></p> +<blockquote>Had Ferdinand's first proposals been accepted by the +Neapolitan Parliament, France and England, it was thought, might +have insisted on a compromise at Laibach. "Les Gouvernements de +France et d'Angleterre auraient fortement insisté sur +l'introduction d'un régime constitutionnel et +représentatif, régime que la Cour de Vienne croit +absolument incompatible avec la position des États de +l'Italie, et avec la sûreté de ses propres États." +Gentz, D.I., ii. 110.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_327"> </a><a href="#FNanchor327">[327]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gentz, Nachlasse (P. Osten), i. 67. Lest the reader +should take a prejudice against Capodistrias for his cunning, I +ought to mention here that he was a man of austere +disinterestedness in private life, and one of the few statesmen +of the time who did not try to make money by politics. His +ambition, which was very great, rose above all the meaner objects +which tempt most men. The contrast between his personal goodness +and his unscrupulousness in diplomacy will become more clear +later on.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_328"> </a><a href="#FNanchor328">[328]</a></p> +<blockquote>Colletta, ii. 230. Bianchi, Diplomazia, ii. +47.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_329"> </a><a href="#FNanchor329">[329]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gualterio, Ultimi Rivolgimenti, iii. 46. Silvio +Pellico, Le mie prigioni, ch. 57.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_330"> </a><a href="#FNanchor330">[330]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, viii. 1203.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_331"> </a><a href="#FNanchor331">[331]</a></p> +<blockquote>Baumgarten, ii. 325.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_332"> </a><a href="#FNanchor332">[332]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington Despatches, N.S., i. 284.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_333"> </a><a href="#FNanchor333">[333]</a></p> +<blockquote>Talleyrand et Louis XVIII., p. 333.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_334"> </a><a href="#FNanchor334">[334]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, i. 343.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_335"> </a><a href="#FNanchor335">[335]</a></p> +<blockquote>Duvergier de Hauranne, vii. 140.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_336"> </a><a href="#FNanchor336">[336]</a></p> +<blockquote>Canning denied that it was offered, but the +despatches in Wellington prove it. These papers, supplemented by +the narrative of Duvergier de Hauranne, drawn from the French +documents which he specifies, are the authority for the history +of the Congress. Canning's celebrated speech of April, 1823, is +an effective <i>ex parte</i> composition rather than a historical +summary. The reader who goes to the originals will be struck by +the immense superiority of Wellington's statements over those of +all the Continental statesmen at Verona, in point, in force, and +in good sense, as well as in truthfulness. The Duke, nowhere +appears to greater advantage.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_337"> </a><a href="#FNanchor337">[337]</a></p> +<blockquote>Report of Angoulême, Duvergier d'Hauranne, vii. +"Là où sont nos troupes, nous maintenons la paix +avec beaucoup de peine; mais là où nous ne sommes +pas, on massacre, on brûle, on pille, on vole. Les corps +Espagnols, se disant royalistes, ne cherchent qu'à voler +et à piller."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_338"> </a><a href="#FNanchor338">[338]</a></p> +<blockquote>Decretos del Rey Fernando, vii. 35, 50, 75. This +process, which was afterwards extended even to common soldiers, +was called Purificacion. Committees were appointed to which all +persons coming under the law had to send in detailed evidence of +correct conduct in and since 1820, signed by some well-known +royalists. But the committees also accepted any letters of +denunciation that might be sent to them, and were bound by law to +keep them secret, so that in practice the Purificacion became a +vast system of anonymous persecution.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_339"> </a><a href="#FNanchor339">[339]</a></p> +<blockquote>Historia de la vida de Fernando VII., 1842, iii. +152.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_340"> </a><a href="#FNanchor340">[340]</a></p> +<blockquote>Decretos del Rey Fernando, vii. 45.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_341"> </a><a href="#FNanchor341">[341]</a></p> +<blockquote>Decretos, vii. 154. The preamble to this law is +perhaps the most astonishing of all Ferdinand's devout +utterances. "My soul is confounded with the horrible spectacle of +the sacrilegious crimes which impiety has dared to commit against +the Supreme Maker of the universe. The ministers of Christ have +been persecuted and sacrificed; the venerable successor of St. +Peter has been outraged; the temples of the Lord have been +profaned and destroyed; the Holy Gospel depreciated; in fine, the +inestimable legacy which Jesus Christ gave in his last supper to +secure our eternal felicity, the Sacred Host, has been trodden +under foot. My soul shudders, and will not be able to return to +tranquillity until, in union with my children, my faithful +subjects, I offer to God holocausts of piety," etc. But for some +specimens of Ferdinand's command of the vernacular, of a very +different character, see Wellington, N.S., ii. 37.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_342"> </a><a href="#FNanchor342">[342]</a></p> +<blockquote>Revolution d'Espagne, examen critique (Paris, 1836), +p. 151, from the lists in the Gaceta de Madrid. The Gaceta for +these years is wanting from the copy in the British Museum, and +in the large collection in that library of historical and +periodical literature relating to Spain I can find no first hand +authorities for the judicial murders of these years. Nothing +relating to the subject was permitted to be printed in Spain for +many years afterwards The work cited in this note, though bearing +a French title, and published at Paris in 1836, was in fact a +Spanish book written in 1824. The critical inquiry which has +substantiated many of the worst traditions of the French Reign of +Terror from local records still remains to be undertaken for this +period of Spanish history.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_343"> </a><a href="#FNanchor343">[343]</a></p> +<blockquote>See e.g., Stapleton, Canning and his Times p. 378. +Wellington often suggested the use of less peremptory language. +Despatches, i. 134, 188. Metternich wrote as follows on +hearing at Vienna of Castlereagh's death: "Castlereagh was the +only man in his country who had gained any experience in foreign +affairs. He had learned to understand me. He was devoted to me in +heart and spirit, not only from personal inclination, but from +conviction. I awaited him here as my second self." iii. 391. +Metternich, however, was apt to exaggerate his influence over the +English Minister. It was a great surprise to him that +Castlereagh, after gaining decisive majorities in the House of +Commons on domestic questions in 1820, in no wise changed the +foreign policy expressed in the protest against the Declaration +of Troppau.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_344"> </a><a href="#FNanchor344">[344]</a></p> +<blockquote>Stapleton, Political Life of Canning, ii. +18.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_345"> </a><a href="#FNanchor345">[345]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, i. 188.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_346"> </a><a href="#FNanchor346">[346]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl Hist., 12th Dec., 1826.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_347"> </a><a href="#FNanchor347">[347]</a></p> +<blockquote>Stapleton, Life of Canning, i. 134. Martineau, p. +144.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_348"> </a><a href="#FNanchor348">[348]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gentz, Nachlasse (Osten), ii. 165.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_349"> </a><a href="#FNanchor349">[349]</a></p> +<blockquote>About the year 1830 the theory was started by +Fallmerayer, a Tyrolese writer, that the modern Greeks were the +descendants of Slavonic invaders, with scarcely a drop of Greek +blood in their veins. Fallmerayer was believed by some good +scholars to have proved that the old Greek race had utterly +perished. More recent inquiries have discredited both Fallmerayer +and his authorities, and tend to establish the conclusion that, +except in certain limited districts, the Greeks left were always +numerous enough to absorb the foreign incomers. (Hopf, +Griechenland; in Etsch and Gruber's Encyklopädie, vol. 85, +p. 100.) The Albanian population of Greece in 1820 is reckoned at +about one-sixth.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_350"> </a><a href="#FNanchor350">[350]</a></p> +<blockquote>Maurer, Das Griechische Volk, i. 64.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_351"> </a><a href="#FNanchor351">[351]</a></p> +<blockquote>The Greek songs illustrate the conversion of the +Armatole into the Klepht in the age preceding the Greek +revolution. Thus, in the fine ballad called "The Tomb of Demos," +which Goethe has translated, the dying man says-<br> +<br> + [Transcriber's Note: The following has been transliterated from +the Greek]<br> +<br> + <span class="c4">Kai pherte ton pneumatikon na m' +exomologaisae</span><br> + <span class="c4">na tun eipo ta krimata osa cho +kamomena</span><br> + <span class="c4">trianta chroni armatolos, c'eicosi echo +klephtaes.</span><br> +<br> +<br> + "Bring the priest that he may shrive me; that I may tell him the +sins that I have committed, thirty years an Armatole and twenty +years a Klepht." -Fauriel, Chants Populaires, i. 56.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_352"> </a><a href="#FNanchor352">[352]</a></p> +<blockquote>Finlay, Greece under Ottoman Domination, p. +284.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_353"> </a><a href="#FNanchor353">[353]</a></p> +<blockquote>Kanitz, Donau-Bulgarien, i. 123.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_354"> </a><a href="#FNanchor354">[354]</a></p> +<blockquote>Literally, <i>Interpreter</i>; the old theory of the +Turks being that in their dealings with foreign nations they had +only to receive petitions, which required to be translated into +Turkish.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_355"> </a><a href="#FNanchor355">[355]</a></p> +<blockquote>Zallonos, (Transliterated Greek) Pragmateia peri ton +phanarioton, p. 71. Kagalnitchau, La Walachie, i. +371.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_356"> </a><a href="#FNanchor356">[356]</a></p> +<blockquote>A French translation of the Autobiography of Koraes, +along with his portrait, will be found in the Lettres +Inédites de Coray, Paris, 1877. The vehicle of expression +usually chosen by Koraes for addressing his countrymen was the +Preface (written in modern Greek) to the edition of an ancient +author. The second half of the Preface to the Politics of +Aristotle, 1822, is a good specimen of his political spirit and +manner. It was separately edited by the Swiss scholar, Orelh, +with a translation, for the benefit of the German Philhellenes. +Among the principal linguistic prefaces are those to Heliodorus +1804, and the Prodromos, or introduction, to the series of +editions called Bibliotheca Græca, begun in 1805, and +published at the expense of the brothers Zosimas of Odessa Most +of the editions published by Koraes bear on their title page a +statement of the patriotic purpose of the work, and indicate the +persons who bore the expense. The edition of the Ethics, +published immediately after the massacre of Chios, bears the +affecting words 'At the expense of those who have so cruelly +suffered in Chios.' The costly form of these editions, some of +which contain fine engravings, seems somewhat inappropriate for +works intended for national instruction. Koraes, however, was not +in a hurry. He thought, at least towards the close of his life, +that the Greeks ought to have gone through thirty years more of +commercial and intellectual development before they drew the +sword. They would in that case, he believed, have crushed Turkey +by themselves and have prevented the Greek kingdom from becoming +the sport of European diplomacy. Much miscellaneous information +on Greek affairs before 1820 (rather from the Phanariot point of +view) will be found, combined with literary history in the Cours +de Littérature Grecque of Rhizos Neroulos, 1827. The more +recent treatise of R Rhankabes on the same subject (also in +French, Paris, 1877) exhibits what appears to be characteristic +of the modern Greeks, the inability to distinguish between mere +passable performances and really great work.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_357"> </a><a href="#FNanchor357">[357]</a></p> +<blockquote>Zinkeisen, Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches, v. +959.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_358"> </a><a href="#FNanchor358">[358]</a></p> +<blockquote>Koraes, Mémoire sur l'état actual de la +civilization de la Grèce: republished in the Lettres +Inédites, p. 464. This memoir, read by Koraes to a learned +society in Paris, in January, 1803, is one of the most luminous +and interesting historical sketches ever penned.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_359"> </a><a href="#FNanchor359">[359]</a></p> +<blockquote>(Greek text: Didaskalia Patrikæ), by, or +professing to be by, Anthimos, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and +printed "at the expense of the Holy Sepulchre," p. 13. This +curious work, in which the Patriarch at last breaks out into +doggrel, has found its way to the British Museum. It was answered +by Koraes. For the effect of Rhegas' songs on the people, see +Fauriel, ii. 18. Mr. Finlay seems to be mistaken in calling +Anthimos' book an answer to the tract of Eugenios Bulgaris on +religious toleration. That was written about thirty years +before.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_360"> </a><a href="#FNanchor360">[360]</a></p> +<blockquote>Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, ch, v. 36, +37.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_361"> </a><a href="#FNanchor361">[361]</a></p> +<blockquote>Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Geschichte Griechenlands, i. +145, from the papers of Hypsilanti's brother. Otherwise in +Prokesch-Osten, Abfall der Griechen, i. 13.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_362"> </a><a href="#FNanchor362">[362]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cordon, Greek Revolution, i. 96.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_363"> </a><a href="#FNanchor363">[363]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F, State Papers, viii. 1203.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_364"> </a><a href="#FNanchor364">[364]</a></p> +<blockquote>Finlay, i. 187; Gordon, i. 203; K. Mendelssohn, +Geschichte Griechenlands, i. 191; Prokesch-Osten, Abfall der +Griechen, i. 20.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_365"> </a><a href="#FNanchor365">[365]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, iii. 622, 717; Prokewh-Ostett, i. 231, +303. B. and F. State Papers, viii. 1247.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_366"> </a><a href="#FNanchor366">[366]</a></p> +<blockquote>Records, Continent, iii.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_367"> </a><a href="#FNanchor367">[367]</a></p> +<blockquote>Castlereagh, viii. 16; Metternich, iii. +504.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_368"> </a><a href="#FNanchor368">[368]</a></p> +<blockquote>Kolokotrones, (Transliterated Greek) Aiaegaesis +Symbanton, p. 82; Tricoupis, (Transliterated Greek) Historia, i. +61, 92.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_369"> </a><a href="#FNanchor369">[369]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gordon, i. 388; Finlay, i. 330; Mendelssohn, i. +269.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_370"> </a><a href="#FNanchor370">[370]</a></p> +<blockquote>Gordon ii. 138. The news of this catastrophe reached +Metternich at Ischl on July 30th. "Prince Metternich was taking +an excursion, in which, unfortunately I could not accompany him. +I at once sent Francis after him with this important letter, +which he received at a spot where the name of the Capitan Pasha +had probably never been heard before. The prince soon came back +to me; and (<i>pianissimo</i> in order that the friends of Greece +might not hear it) we congratulate one another on the event, +which may very well prove <i>le commencement de la fin</i> for +the Greek insurrection." (Gentz.)</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_371"> </a><a href="#FNanchor371">[371]</a></p> +<blockquote>Prokesch-Osten, i. 253, iv. 63. B. and F. State +Papers, xii. 902. Stapleton, Canning, p. 496 Metternich, 127. +Wellington, N.S. ii. 372-396.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_372"> </a><a href="#FNanchor372">[372]</a></p> +<blockquote>Korff, Accession of Nicholas, p. 253; Herzen, +Russische Verschwörung, p. 106; Mendelssohn, i. 396. +Schnitzler, Histoire Intime, i. 195.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_373"> </a><a href="#FNanchor373">[373]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, xiv. 630; Metternich, iv. +161, 212, 320, 372; Wellington, N.S., ii. 85, 148, 244; Gentz, +D.I., iii. 315.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_374"> </a><a href="#FNanchor374">[374]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, xiv. 632; xvii. 20; +Wellington, N.S., iv. 57.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_375"> </a><a href="#FNanchor375">[375]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Deb., May 11, 1877. Nothing can be more +misleading than to say that Canning never contemplated the +possibility of armed action because a clause in the Treaty of +1827 made the formal stipulation that the contracting Powers +would not "take part in the hostilities between the contending +parties." How, except by armed force, could the Allies "prevent, +in so far as might be in their power, all collision between the +contending parties," which, in the very same clause, they +undertook to do? And what was the meaning of the stipulation that +they should "transmit instructions to their Admirals conformable +to these provisions"? Wellington himself, <i>before</i> the +battle of Navarino, condemned the Treaty of London on the very +ground that it "specified means of compulsion which were neither +more nor less than measures of war;" and he protested against the +statement that the treaty arose directly out of the Protocol of +St. Petersburg, which was his own work. Wellington, N.S., iv. +137, 221.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_376"> </a><a href="#FNanchor376">[376]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bourchier's Codrington, ii. 62. Admiralty +Despatches, Nov. 10, 1827, Parl. Deb., Feb. 14, +1828.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_377"> </a><a href="#FNanchor377">[377]</a></p> +<blockquote>Rosen, Geschichte der Türkei, i. +57.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_378"> </a><a href="#FNanchor378">[378]</a></p> +<blockquote>Moltke, Russisch-Turkische Feldzug, p. 226. Rosen, i. +67.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_379"> </a><a href="#FNanchor379">[379]</a></p> +<blockquote>Viel-Castel, xx. 16. Russia was to have had the +Danubian Provinces; Austria was to have had Bosnia and Servia; +Prussia was to have had Saxony and Holland; the King of Holland +was to have reigned at Constantinople.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_380"> </a><a href="#FNanchor380">[380]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaty, ii. 813. Rosen, i. +108.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_381"> </a><a href="#FNanchor381">[381]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, N. S, iv. 297.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_382"> </a><a href="#FNanchor382">[382]</a></p> +<blockquote>Mendelssohn, Graf Capodistrias, p. 64.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_383"> </a><a href="#FNanchor383">[383]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, xvii. p. 132. Prokesch-Osten, +v. 136.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_384"> </a><a href="#FNanchor384">[384]</a></p> +<blockquote>Stockmar, i. 80; Mendelssohn; Capodistrias, p. 272. +B. and F. State Papers, xvii. 453.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_385"> </a><a href="#FNanchor385">[385]</a></p> +<blockquote>Viel-Castel, xix. 574. Duvergier de Hauranne, x. +85.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_386"> </a><a href="#FNanchor386">[386]</a></p> +<blockquote>Procès des ex-Ministres, i. 189.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_387"> </a><a href="#FNanchor387">[387]</a></p> +<blockquote>Lafayette, vi. 383. Marmont, viii. 238. Dupin, +Révolution de Juillet, p. 7. Odilon Barrot, i. 105. +Sarrans, Lafayette, i. 217. Berard, Révolution de 1830, p. +60. Hillebrand, Die Juli-Revolution, p. 87.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_388"> </a><a href="#FNanchor388">[388]</a></p> +<blockquote>Juste, Révolution Belge, i. 85. Congrès +National, i. 134.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_389"> </a><a href="#FNanchor389">[389]</a></p> +<blockquote>Wellington, N.S. vii. 309. B. and F. State Papers, +xviii. 761. Metternich, v. 44. Hillebrand, Geschichte +Frankreichs, i. 171. Stockmar, i. 143. Bulwer's Palmerston, ii. 5. +Hertslet, Map of Europe, iii. 81.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_390"> </a><a href="#FNanchor390">[390]</a></p> +<blockquote>Smitt, Geschichte des Polnischen Aufstandes, i. 112. +Spazier, Geschichte des Aufstandes, i. 177. Leiewel, Histoire de +Pologne, i. 300.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_391"> </a><a href="#FNanchor391">[391]</a></p> +<blockquote>Leroy-Beaulieu, Milutine, p. 199; L'Empire des Tsars, +i. 380. Leiewel, Considérations, p. 317.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_392"> </a><a href="#FNanchor392">[392]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bianchi, Ducati Estensi, i. 54. La Farina, v. 241. +Farini, i. 34.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_393"> </a><a href="#FNanchor393">[393]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bianchi, Diplomazia, iii. 48. Metternich, iv. 121. +Hillebrand, Geschichte Frankreichs, i. 206. Haussonville, i. 32. +B. and F. State Papers, xix. 1429. Guizot, Mémoires, ii. +290.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_394"> </a><a href="#FNanchor394">[394]</a></p> +<blockquote>Ilse, Untersuchungen, p. 262. Metternich, v. 347. +Biedermann, Dreissig Jahre, i. 6.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_395"> </a><a href="#FNanchor395">[395]</a></p> +<blockquote>Mazzini, Scritti, iii. 310. Simoni, Conspirations +Mazziniennes, p. 53. Metternich, v. 526. B. and F. State Papers, +xxiv. 979.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_396"> </a><a href="#FNanchor396">[396]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, xviii. 196. Palmerston, i. +300.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_397"> </a><a href="#FNanchor397">[397]</a></p> +<blockquote>"La Reine Isabelle est la Révolution +incarnée dans sa forme la plus dangereuse; Don Carlos +représente le principe Monarchique aux prises avec la +Révolution pure." Metternich, v. 615. B. and F. State +Papers, xviii. 1365; xxii. 1394. Baumgarten, iii. +65.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_398"> </a><a href="#FNanchor398">[398]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hertslet, Map of Europe, ii. 941. Miraflores, +Memorias, i. 39. Guizot, iv. 86. Palmerston ii. 180.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_399"> </a><a href="#FNanchor399">[399]</a></p> +<blockquote>Essai historique sur les Provinces Basques, p. 58. W. +Humboldt, Werke iii. 213.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_400"> </a><a href="#FNanchor400">[400]</a></p> +<blockquote>Henningsen, Campaign with Zumalacarregui, i. 93. +Burgos, Anales, ii. 110. Baumgarten, iii. 257.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_401"> </a><a href="#FNanchor401">[401]</a></p> +<blockquote>Rosen, i. 158. Prokesch von Osten, Kleine Schriften, +vii. 56. Mehmed Ali, p. 17. Hillebrand, i. 514 Metternich, v. +481. B. and F. State Papers, xx. 1176; xxii. 140.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_402"> </a><a href="#FNanchor402">[402]</a></p> +<blockquote>Palmerston understood little about the real condition +of the Ottoman Empire, and thought that with ten years of peace +it might again become a respectable Power. "All that we hear +about the decay of the Turkish Empire and its being a dead body +or a sapless trunk, and so forth, is pure and unadulterated +nonsense." Bulwer's Palmerston, ii. 299.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_403"> </a><a href="#FNanchor403">[403]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hertslet, Map of Europe, ii. 1008. Rosen, ii. 3. +Guizot, v. 188. Prokesch-Osten, Mehmed Ali, p. 89. Palmerston, +ii. 356. Hillebrand, ii. 357. Greville Memoirs, 2nd part, vol. i. +297.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_404"> </a><a href="#FNanchor404">[404]</a></p> +<blockquote>"Sie sollen ihn nicht haben <span class="c6"><br> + Den freien Deutschen Rhein."</span><br> +<br> +<br> + By Becker; answered by De Musset's "Nous avons eu votre Rhin +Allemand." The words of the much finer song "Die Wacht am Rhein" +were also written at this time-by Schneckenburger, a +Würtemberg man; but the music by which they are known was +not composed till 1854.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_405"> </a><a href="#FNanchor405">[405]</a></p> +<blockquote>Farini, i. 153. Azeglio, Corresp. Politique, p. 24; +Casi di Romagna, p. 47.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_406"> </a><a href="#FNanchor406">[406]</a></p> +<blockquote>Down to 1827 not only was all land inherited by +nobles free from taxation, but any taxable land purchased by a +noble thereupon became tax-free. The attempt of the Government to +abolish this latter injustice evoked a storm of anger in the Diet +of 1825, and still more in the country assemblies, some of the +latter even resolving that such law, if passed, fey the Diet, +would be null and void.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_407"> </a><a href="#FNanchor407">[407]</a></p> +<blockquote>Horváth, Fünfundzwanzig Jahre, i. 408. +Springer, i. 466. Gerando, Esprit Public, 173. Kossuth, +Gessammelte Werke, i. 29. Beschwerden und Klagen der Slaven in +Ungarn, 39.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_408"> </a><a href="#FNanchor408">[408]</a></p> +<blockquote>Das Polen-Attentat, 1846, p. 203. Verhältnisse +in Galizien, p. 57. Briefe eines Polnischen Edelmannes, p. 31. +Metternich, vii. 196. Cracow, which had been made an independent +Republic by the Congress of Vienna, was now annexed by Austria +with the consent of Russia and Prussia, and against the protests +of England and France.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_409"> </a><a href="#FNanchor409">[409]</a></p> +<blockquote>Reden des Koenigs Friedrich Wilhelm IV., p. 17. +Ranke's F. W, IV. in Allg. Deutsche Biog. Biedermann, Dreissig +Jahre, i. 186.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_410"> </a><a href="#FNanchor410">[410]</a></p> +<blockquote>Guizot, viii. 101, Palmerston, iii. 194. Parl. +Papers, 1847. Martin's Prince Consort, i. 341.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_411"> </a><a href="#FNanchor411">[411]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, vii. 538, 603; Vitzthum, Berlin und Wien, +1845-62, p. 78; Kossuth Werke (1850), ii. 78; Pillersdorff, +Rückblicke, p. 22; Reschauer, Das Jahr 1848, i. 191; +Springer, Geschichte Oesterreichs, ii. 185; Irányi et +Chassin, Révolution de Hongrie, i. 128.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_412"> </a><a href="#FNanchor412">[412]</a></p> +<blockquote>Metternich, viii. 181. The animation of his remarks +on all sorts of points in English life is wonderful. After a halt +at Brussels and at his Johannisburg estate Metternich returned to +Vienna in 1852, and, though not restored to office, resumed his +great position in society. He lived through the Crimean War, on +which he wrote numerous memoranda, for whose use it does not +appear. Even on the outbreak of war with France in 1859 he was +still busy with his pen. He survived long enough to hear of the +battle of Magenta, but was spared the sorrow of witnessing the +creation of the Kingdom of Italy. He died on the 11th of June, +1859, in his eighty-seventh year. Metternich was not the only +statesman present at the Congress of Vienna who lived to see the +second Napoleonic Empire. Nesselrode, the Russian Chancellor, +lived till 1862; Czartoryski, who was Foreign Minister of Russia +at the time of the battle of Austerlitz, till 1861.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_413"> </a><a href="#FNanchor413">[413]</a></p> +<blockquote>Adlerstein, Archiv des Ungarischen Ministeriums, i. +27; Irányi et Chassin, i. 184; Springer, ii. +219.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_414"> </a><a href="#FNanchor414">[414]</a></p> +<blockquote>Casati Nuove Rivelazioni, ii. 72. Schönhals, +Campagnes d'Italie de 1848 et 1849, p. 72. Cattaneo, Insurrezione +di Milano, p. 29. Parl. Pap. 1849, lvii. (2) 210, 333. +Schneidawind, Feldzug in 1848, i. 30.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_415"> </a><a href="#FNanchor415">[415]</a></p> +<blockquote>Manin, Documents laissés, i. 106. Perlbach, +Manin, p. 14. Contarini, Memoriale Veneto, p. 10. Rovani, Manin, +p. 25. Parliamentary Papers, 1849, lvii. (a) 267.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_416"> </a><a href="#FNanchor416">[416]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bianchi, Diplomazia Europea, v. 183. Farini, Stato +Romano, ii. 16. Parl. Papers, 1849, lvii. 285, 297, 319. +Pasolini, Memorie, p. 91.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_417"> </a><a href="#FNanchor417">[417]</a></p> +<blockquote>Die Berliner März-Revolution, p. 55. +Ausführliche Beschreibung, p. 3. Amtliche Berichte, p. 16. +Stahr, Preussische Revolution, i. 91. S. Stern, Geschichte des +Deutschen Volkes, p. 58. Stern was an eye-witness at Berlin, +though not generally a good authority.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_418"> </a><a href="#FNanchor418">[418]</a></p> +<blockquote>"Preussen geht fortan in Deutschland auf." Reden +Friedrich Wilhelms, p. 9. In conversation with Bassermann +Frederick William at a later time described his ride through +Berlin as "a comedy which he had been made to play." The bombast +at any rate was all his own.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_419"> </a><a href="#FNanchor419">[419]</a></p> +<blockquote>Droysen und Samwer, Schleswig-Holstein, p. 220. +Bunsen, Memoir on Schleswig-Holstein, p. 25. Schleswig-Holstein, +Uebersichtliche Darstellung, p 51. On the other side, Noten zur +Beleuchtung, p. 12.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_420"> </a><a href="#FNanchor420">[420]</a></p> +<blockquote>Verhandlungen der National-versammlung, i. 25. +Biedermann Dreissig Jahre, i. 278. Radowitz, Werke, ii. +36.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_421"> </a><a href="#FNanchor421">[421]</a></p> +<blockquote>Actes du Gouvernement Provisoire, p. 12. Louis Blanc, +Révélations Historiques, i. 135. Gamier +Pagès, Révolution de 1848, vi 108, viii. 148. +Émile Thomas, Histoire des Ateliers Nationaux, p. +93.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_422"> </a><a href="#FNanchor422">[422]</a></p> +<blockquote>Barrot, Mémoires, ii. 103. Caussidière, +Mémoires, p. 117. Garnier Pagès, x. 419. Normanby, +Year of Revolution, i. 389. Granier de Cassagnac, Chute de Louis +Philippe, i. 359. De la Gorce, Seconde République, i. 273. +Falloux, Mémoires, i. 328.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_423"> </a><a href="#FNanchor423">[423]</a></p> +<blockquote>Œuvres de Napoleon III., iii. 13, 24. Granier de +Cassagnac, ii. 16. Jerrold, Napoleon III., ii. 393.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_424"> </a><a href="#FNanchor424">[424]</a></p> +<blockquote>Vitzthum, Wien, p. 108. Springer, ii. 293. +Pillersdorff, Rückblicke, p. 68; Nachlass, p. 118. +Reschauer, ii. 176. Dunder, October Revolution, p. 5. +Ficquelmont, Aufklärungen, p. 65.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_425"> </a><a href="#FNanchor425">[425]</a></p> +<blockquote>Schönhals, p. 117. Farini, ii. 9. Parl. Pap., +1849, lvii. 352.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_426"> </a><a href="#FNanchor426">[426]</a></p> +<blockquote>Ficquelmont p. 6. Pillersdorff, Nachlass, 93. +Helfert, iv. 142. Schönhais, p. 177. Parliamentary Papers, +<i>id</i>. 332, 472, 597. Contarini, p. 67. Azeglio, Operazioni +del Durando, p. 6. Manin, Documents, i. 289. Bianchi, Diplomazia, +v. 257. Pasolini, p. 100.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_427"> </a><a href="#FNanchor427">[427]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parliamentary Papers, 1849 lviii p. 128. Venice +refused to acknowledge the armistice, and detached itself from +Sardinia, restoring Manin to power.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_428"> </a><a href="#FNanchor428">[428]</a></p> +<blockquote>Slavonia itself was attached to Croatia; Dalmatia +also was claimed as a member of this triple Kingdom under the +Hungarian Crown in virtue of ancient rights, though since its +annexation in 1797 it had been governed directly from Vienna, and +in 1848 was represented in the Reichstag of Vienna, not in that +of Pesth.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_429"> </a><a href="#FNanchor429">[429]</a></p> +<blockquote>The real meaning of the Charters is, however, +contested. Springer, ii. 281. Adlerstein, Archiv, i. 166. +Helfert, ii. 255. Irányi et Chassin, i. 236. Die Serbische +Wolwodschaftsfrage, p. 7.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_430"> </a><a href="#FNanchor430">[430]</a></p> +<blockquote>But see Kossuth, Schriften (1880, ii. 215), for a +conversation between Jellacic and Batthyány, said to have +been narrated to Kossuth by the latter. If authentic, this +certainly proves Jellacic to have used the Slavic agitation from +the first solely for Austrian ends. See also Vitzthuin, p. +207.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_431"> </a><a href="#FNanchor431">[431]</a></p> +<blockquote>Adlerstein, Archiv, i. 146, 156. Klapka, +Erinnerungen, p. 30. Irányi et Chassin, i. 344. Serbische +Bewegung, p. 106.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_432"> </a><a href="#FNanchor432">[432]</a></p> +<blockquote>Irányi et Chassin, ii. 56. Codex der neuen +Gesetze (Pesth), i. 7.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_433"> </a><a href="#FNanchor433">[433]</a></p> +<blockquote>Adlerstein, ii. 296. Helfert, Geschichte +Oesterreichs, i. 79, ii. 192. Dunder, p. 77. Springer, ii. 520. +Vitzthum, p. 143. Kossuth, Schriften (1881), ii. 284. Reschauer, +ii. 563. Pillersdorff, Nachlass, p. 163. Irányi et +Chassin, ii. 98.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_434"> </a><a href="#FNanchor434">[434]</a></p> +<blockquote>Codex der neuen Gesetze, i. 37. Helfert, iv. (3) +321.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_435"> </a><a href="#FNanchor435">[435]</a></p> +<blockquote>Revolutionskrieg in Siebenburgen i. 30. Helfert, ii. +207. Bratiano et Irányi, Lettres Hongro-Roumaines, +Adlerstein, ii. 105.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_436"> </a><a href="#FNanchor436">[436]</a></p> +<blockquote>Klapka, Erinnerungen, p. 56. Helfert, iv. 199; +Görgei, Leben und Wirken, i. 145. Adlerstein, iii. 576, +648.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_437"> </a><a href="#FNanchor437">[437]</a></p> +<blockquote>Helfert, iv. (2) 326. Klapka, War in Hungary, i. 23. +Irányi et Chassin, ii. 534. Görgei, ii. +54.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_438"> </a><a href="#FNanchor438">[438]</a></p> +<blockquote>Klapka, War, ii. 106. Erinnerungen, 58. Görgei, +ii. 378. Kossuth, Schriften (1880), ii. 291. Codex der neuen +Gesetze, i. 75, 105.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_439"> </a><a href="#FNanchor439">[439]</a></p> +<blockquote>Farini, ii. 404. Parl. Pap., 1849. lvii. 607; lviii. +(2) 117. Bianchi, Diplomazia, vi. 67. Gennarelli, Sventure, p. +29. Pasolini, p. 139.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_440"> </a><a href="#FNanchor440">[440]</a></p> +<blockquote>Schönhals, p. 332. Parl. Pap., 1849, lviii. (2) +216. Bianchi, Politica Austriaca, p. 134. Lamarmora, Un Episodie, +p. 175. Portafogli ci Ramorino, p. 41. Ramorino was condemned to +death, and executed.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_441"> </a><a href="#FNanchor441">[441]</a></p> +<blockquote>Garibaldi, Epistolario, i. 33. Del Vecchio, L'assedio +di Roma, p. 30. Vaillant, Siége de Rome, p. 12. Bianchi, +Diplomazia, vi. 213. Guerzoni, Garibaldi, i. 266. Granier de +Cassagnac, ii. 59. Lesseps, Mémoire, p. 61. Barrot, iii +191. Discours de Napoleon 3rd, p. 38.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_442"> </a><a href="#FNanchor442">[442]</a></p> +<blockquote>Manin, Documents, ii. 340. Perlbach, Manin, p. 37. +Gennarelli, Governo Pontificio, i. 32. Contarini, p. +224.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_443"> </a><a href="#FNanchor443">[443]</a></p> +<blockquote>Verhandlungen der National Versammlung. i. 576 +Radowitz, Werke, iii. 369. Briefwechsel Friedrich Wilhelms, p. +205. Biedermann, Dreissig Jahre, i. 295.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_444"> </a><a href="#FNanchor444">[444]</a></p> +<blockquote>Verhandlungen der National Versammlung, ii. 1877, +2185. Herzog Ernst II., Aus meinem Leben, i. 313. Biedermann, i. +306. Beseler, Erlebtes, p. 68. Waitz, Friede mit Dänemark. +Radowitz, iii. 406.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_445"> </a><a href="#FNanchor445">[445]</a></p> +<blockquote>Briefwechsel Friedrich Wilhelms, p. 184. Wagener, +Erlebtes, p. 28. Stahr, Preussische Revolution, i. +453.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_446"> </a><a href="#FNanchor446">[446]</a></p> +<blockquote><i>Seine Bundespflichten</i>: an ambiguous expression +that might mean either its duties as an ally or its duties as a +member of the German Federation. The obscurity was probably +intentional.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_447"> </a><a href="#FNanchor447">[447]</a></p> +<blockquote>Verhandlungen der National Versammlung, vi. 4225. +Haym, Deutsche National Versammlung, ii. 112. Radowitz, iii. 459. +Helfert, iv. 62.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_448"> </a><a href="#FNanchor448">[448]</a></p> +<blockquote>Verhandlungen, viii. 6093. Beseler, p. 82. Helfert, +iv. (3) 390, Haym, ii. 317, Radowitz, v. 477.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_449"> </a><a href="#FNanchor449">[449]</a></p> +<blockquote>Briefwechsel Friedrich Wilhelms, pp. 233, 269. +Beseler, 87. Biedermann, i. 389. Wagener, Politik Friedrich +Wilhelm IV., p. 56. Ernst II., i. 329.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_450"> </a><a href="#FNanchor450">[450]</a></p> +<blockquote>Verhandlungen, etc., ix. 6695, 6886. Haym, in. 185. +Barnberger, Erlebnisse, p. 6.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_451"> </a><a href="#FNanchor451">[451]</a></p> +<blockquote>Verhandlungen zu Erfurt, i. 114; ii. 143. Biedermann, +i. 469. Radowitz, ii. 138.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_452"> </a><a href="#FNanchor452">[452]</a></p> +<blockquote>Der Fürsten Kongress, p. 13. Reden Friedrich +Wilhelms, iv pp. 55, 69. Konferenz der Verbundeten, 1850, pp. 26, +53. Beust, Erinnerungen, i. 115, Ernst II., i. 525. Duncker, Vier +Monate, p. 41.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_453"> </a><a href="#FNanchor453">[453]</a></p> +<blockquote>Ernst II., i. 377. Hertslet, Map of Europe, ii. 1106, +1129, 1151. Parl. Papers, 1864, lxiii., p. 29; 1804, lxv., pp. +30, 187.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_454"> </a><a href="#FNanchor454">[454]</a></p> +<blockquote>Maupas, Mémoires, i. 176. Œuvres de Napoleon +III., iii. 271. Barrot, iv. 21. Granier de Cassagnac, Chute de +Louis Philippe, ii. 128; Récit complet, p. 1. Jerrold, +Napoleon III., iii. 203. Tocqueville, Corresp. ii. +176.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_455"> </a><a href="#FNanchor455">[455]</a></p> +<blockquote>Stockmar, 396. Eastern Papers (<i>i.e</i>., +Parliamentary Papers, 1854, vol. 71), part 6. Malmesbury, Memoirs +of an ex-Minister, i. 402; the last probably inaccurate. +Diplomatic Study of the Crimean War, i. 11. This work is a +Russian official publication, and, though loose and +untrustworthy, is valuable as showing the Russian official +view.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_456"> </a><a href="#FNanchor456">[456]</a></p> +<blockquote>Ashley's Palmerston, ii. 142. Lane Poole, Stratford +de Redcliffe, ii. 191.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_457"> </a><a href="#FNanchor457">[457]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, i. 55. Diplomatic Study, i. +121.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_458"> </a><a href="#FNanchor458">[458]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, v. 2, 19.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_459"> </a><a href="#FNanchor459">[459]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, i. 102. Admitted in Diplomatic Study, +i. 163.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_460"> </a><a href="#FNanchor460">[460]</a></p> +<blockquote>He writes thus, April 5, 1851:-"The great game of +improvement is altogether up for the present. It is impossible +for me to conceal that the main object of my stay here is almost +hopeless." Even Palmerston, in the rare moments when he allowed +his judgment to master his prepossessions on this subject, +expressed the same view. He wrote on November 24, 1850, warning +Reschid Pasha "the Turkish Empire is doomed to fall by the +timidity and irresolution of its Sovereign and of its Ministers; +and it is evident we shall ere long have to consider what other +arrangements may be set up in its place." Stratford left +Constantinople on leave in June, 1852, but resigned his Embassy +altogether in January, 1853. (Lane Poole, Life of Stratford de +Redcliffe, ii. 112, 215.)</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_461"> </a><a href="#FNanchor461">[461]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, i. 253, 339. Lane Poole, Stratford, +ii. 248.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_462"> </a><a href="#FNanchor462">[462]</a></p> +<blockquote>Palmerston had accepted the office of Home Secretary, +but naturally exercised great influence in foreign affairs. The +Foreign Secretary was Lord Clarendon.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_463"> </a><a href="#FNanchor463">[463]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, i. 210, ii. 116. Ashley's Palmerston, +ii. 23.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_464"> </a><a href="#FNanchor464">[464]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, ii. 23.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_465"> </a><a href="#FNanchor465">[465]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, ii. 86, 91, 103.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_466"> </a><a href="#FNanchor466">[466]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, ii. 203, 227, 299.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_467"> </a><a href="#FNanchor467">[467]</a></p> +<blockquote>Treaty of April 20, 1854, and Additional Article, +Eastern Papers, ix. 61. The Treaty between Austria and Prussia +was one of general defensive alliance, covering also the case of +Austria incurring attack through an advance into the +Principalities. In the event of Russia annexing the +Principalities or sending its troops beyond the Balkans the +alliance was to be offensive.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_468"> </a><a href="#FNanchor468">[468]</a></p> +<blockquote>Briefwechsel F. Wilhelms mit Bunsen, p. 310. Martin's +Prince Consort, iii. 39. On November 20, after the Turks had +begun war, the King of Prussia wrote thus to Bunsen (the italics, +capitals, and exclamations are his own): "All direct help which +England <i>in unchristian folly!!!!!!</i> gives TO ISLAM AGAINST +CHRISTIANS! will have (besides God's avenging judgment {hear! +hear!}) no other effect than to bring what is now Turkish +territory at a somewhat later period under Russian dominion" +(Briefwechsel, p. 317). The reader may think that the insanity to +which Frederick William succumbed was already mastering him; but +the above is no rare specimen of his epistolary +style.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_469"> </a><a href="#FNanchor469">[469]</a></p> +<blockquote>The Treaty of alliance between France and England, to +which Prussia was asked to accede, contained, however, a clause +pledging the contracting parties "under no circumstance to seek +to obtain from the war any advantage to themselves."</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_470"> </a><a href="#FNanchor470">[470]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, viii. I.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_471"> </a><a href="#FNanchor471">[471]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, xi. 3. Ashley's Palmerston, ii. 60. +For the navigation of the mouths of the Danube, see Diplomatic +Study, ii. 39. Russia, which had been in possession of the mouths +of the Danube since the Treaty of Adrianople, and had undertaken +to keep the mouths clear, had allowed the passage to become +blocked and had otherwise prevented traffic descending, in order +to keep the Black Sea trade in its own hands.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_472"> </a><a href="#FNanchor472">[472]</a></p> +<blockquote>See, however, Burgoyne's Letter to the <i>Times</i>, +August 4, 1868, in Kinglake, iv. 465. Rousset, Guerre de +Crimée, i. 280.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_473"> </a><a href="#FNanchor473">[473]</a></p> +<blockquote>Statements of Raglan, Lucan, Cardigan; Kinglake, v. +108, 402.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_474"> </a><a href="#FNanchor474">[474]</a></p> +<blockquote>On the death of Nicholas, the King of Prussia +addressed the following lecture to the unfortunate Bunsen:-"You +little thought that, at the very moment when you were writing to +me, one of the noblest of men, one of the grandest forms in +history, one of the truest hearts, and at the same time one of +the greatest rulers of this narrow world, was called from faith +to sight. I thank God on my knees that He deemed me worthy to be, +in the best sense of the word, his (Nicholas') friend, and to +remain true to him. You, dear Bunsen, thought differently of him, +and you will now painfully confess this before your conscience, +most painfully of all the truth (which all your letters in these +late bad times have unfortunately shown me but too plainly), that +<i>you hated him</i>. You hated him, not as a man, but as the +representative of a principle, that of violence. If ever, +redeemed like him through simple faith in Christ's blood, you see +him in eternal peace, then remember what I now write to you: +'<i>You will beg his pardon</i>. Even here, my dear friend, may +the blessing of repentance be granted to you."-Briefwechsel, p. +325. Frederick William seems to have forgotten to send the same +pious wishes to the Poles in Siberia.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_475"> </a><a href="#FNanchor475">[475]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parliamentary Papers, 1854-5, vol. 55, p. 1, Dec. 2, +1854. Ashley's Palmerston, ii. 84.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_476"> </a><a href="#FNanchor476">[476]</a></p> +<blockquote>Eastern Papers, Part 13, 1.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_477"> </a><a href="#FNanchor477">[477]</a></p> +<blockquote>Kinglake, vii. 21. Rousset, ii. 35, 148.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_478"> </a><a href="#FNanchor478">[478]</a></p> +<blockquote>Diplomatic Study, ii. 361. Martin, Prince Consort, +iii. 394.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_479"> </a><a href="#FNanchor479">[479]</a></p> +<blockquote>Prussia was admitted when the first Articles had been +settled, and it became necessary to revise the Treaty of July, +1841, of which Prussia had been one of the +signatories.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_480"> </a><a href="#FNanchor480">[480]</a></p> +<blockquote>"In the course of the deliberation, whenever our +(Russian) plenipotentiaries found themselves in the presence of +insurmountable difficulties, they appealed to the personal +intervention of this sovereign (Napoleon), and had only to +congratulate themselves on the result."-Diplomatic Study, ii. +377.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_481"> </a><a href="#FNanchor481">[481]</a></p> +<blockquote>Three pages of promises. Eastern Papers, xvii. One +was kept faithfully. "To accomplish these objects, means shall be +sought to profit by the science, the art, <i>and the funds</i> of +Europe." One of the drollest of the prophecies of that time is +the congratulatory address of the Missionaries to Lord Stratford +de Redcliffe, <i>id</i>. 1882.-"The Imperial Hatti-sheriff has +convinced us that our fond expectations are likely to be +realised. The light will shine upon those who have long sat in +darkness; and blest by social prosperity and religious freedom, +the millions of Turkey will, we trust, be seen ere long sitting +peacefully under their own vine and fig-tree." So they were, and +with poor Lord Stratford's fortune, among others, in their +pockets.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_482"> </a><a href="#FNanchor482">[482]</a></p> +<blockquote>All verbatim from the Treaty. Parl. Papers, 1856, vol +61, p. 1.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_483"> </a><a href="#FNanchor483">[483]</a></p> +<blockquote>Martin, Prince Consort, iii. 452. Poole, Stratford, +ii. 356.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_484"> </a><a href="#FNanchor484">[484]</a></p> +<blockquote>Berti, Cavour avanti 1848, p. 110. La Rive, Cavour, +p. 58. Cavour, Lettere (ed. Chiala), introd. p. 73.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_485"> </a><a href="#FNanchor485">[485]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cavour, Lettere (Chiala), ii. introd. p. 187. +Guerzoni, Garibaldi, i. 412. Manin, the Ex-President of Venice, +now in exile, declared from this time for the House of Savoy. +Garibaldi did the same.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_486"> </a><a href="#FNanchor486">[486]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cavour, Lettere (Chiala), ii. introd. pp. 289, 324; +iii. introd. p. i. Bianchi, Diplomazia, vii. 1, Mazade, Cavour, +p. 187, Massari, La Marmora, p. 204.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_487"> </a><a href="#FNanchor487">[487]</a></p> +<blockquote>"In mezzo alle piu angosciose crisi politiche, +esclamava nelle solitudine delle sue stanze; 'Perisca il mio +nome, perisca la mia fama, purche l'Italia sia,'" Artom (Cavour's +secretary), Cavour in Parlamento: introd. p. 46.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_488"> </a><a href="#FNanchor488">[488]</a></p> +<blockquote>La Farina Epistolario, ii. 56, 81, 137, 426. The +interview with Garibaldi; Cavour, Lettere, id. introd. p. 297. +Garibaldi, Epistolario, i. 55.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_489"> </a><a href="#FNanchor489">[489]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cavour, Lettere (Chiala), iii. introd. p. 32. +Bianchi, Diplomazia, viii. II. The statement of Napoleon III. to +Lord Cowley, in Martin Prince Consort, v. 31, that there was no +Treaty, is untrue.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_490"> </a><a href="#FNanchor490">[490]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bianchi, Politique de Cavour, p. 328, where is +Cavour's indignant letter to Napoleon. The last paragraph of this +seems to convey a veiled threat to publish the secret +negotiations.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_491"> </a><a href="#FNanchor491">[491]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cavour, Lettere, iii. introd. p. 115; iii. 29. +Bianchi, Politique de Cavour, p. 333. Bianchi, Diplomazia, vii. +61. Massari, Cavour, p. 314. Parliamentary Papers, 1859, xxxii. +204, 262. Mérimée, Lettres à Panizzi, i. 21. +Martin, Prince Consort, iv. 427.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_492"> </a><a href="#FNanchor492">[492]</a></p> +<blockquote>La Farina, Epistolario, ii. 172. Parliamentary +Papers, 1859, xxxiii. 391, 470.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_493"> </a><a href="#FNanchor493">[493]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cavour, Lettere, iii. introd. 212, iii. 107. Bianchi, +Politique de Cavour, p. 319. Bianchi, Diplomazia, viii. 145, 198. +Massari, Vittorio Emanuele, ii. 32. Kossuth, Memories p. 394. +Parl. Pap. 1859, xxxii. 63, 1860, lxviii. 7. La Farina Epist, ii. +190. Ollivier, L'Église et l'État, ii. +452.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_494"> </a><a href="#FNanchor494">[494]</a></p> +<blockquote>Arrivabene, Italy under Victor Emmanuel, i. +268.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_495"> </a><a href="#FNanchor495">[495]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cavour, Lettere, iii. introd. 301. Bianchi, viii. +180. Garibaldi, Epist., i. 79. Guerzoni, i. 491. Reuchlin, iv. +410.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_496"> </a><a href="#FNanchor496">[496]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cavour, Lettere, iv. introd. 20. Bianchi, Politique, +p. 354. Bianchi, Diplomazia, viii. 256. Parliamentary Papers, +1860, lxvii. 203; lxviii. 53.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_497"> </a><a href="#FNanchor497">[497]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cavour in Parlamento, p. 536.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_498"> </a><a href="#FNanchor498">[498]</a></p> +<blockquote>Garibaldi, Epist., i. 97. Persano, Diario, i. 14. Le +Farina, Epist., ii. 324. Guerzoni, ii. 23. Parliamentary Papers, +1860, lxviii. 2. Mundy, H.M.S. <i>Hannibal</i> at Palermo, p. +133.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_499"> </a><a href="#FNanchor499">[499]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cavour, Lettere, iii. introd. 269. La Farina, Epist., +ii. 336. Bianchi, Politique, p. 366. Persano, Diario, i. 50, 72, +96.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_500"> </a><a href="#FNanchor500">[500]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bianchi, Politique, p. 377. Persano, ii. p. 1-102. +Persano sent his Diary in MS. to Azeglio, and asked his advice on +publishing it. Azeglio referred to Cavour's saying, "If we did +for ourselves what we are doing for Italy, we should be sad +blackguards," and begged Persano to let his secrets be secrets, +saying that since the partition of Poland no confession of such +"colossal blackguardism" had been published by any public +man.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_501"> </a><a href="#FNanchor501">[501]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bianchi, Politique, p. 383. Persano, iii. 61. +Bianchi, Diplomazia, viii. 337, Garibaldi, Epist., i. +127.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_502"> </a><a href="#FNanchor502">[502]</a></p> +<blockquote>"Le Roi répondit tout court: 'C'est +impossible.'" Cavour to his ambassador at London, Nov. 16, in +Bianchi, Politique, p. 386. La Farina, Epist., ii. 438. Persano, +iv. 44, Guerzoni, ii. 212.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_503"> </a><a href="#FNanchor503">[503]</a></p> +<blockquote>Cavour in Parlamento, p. 630. Azeglio, Correspondance +Politique, p. 180. La Rive, p. 313. Berti, Cavour avanti 1848, p. +302.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_504"> </a><a href="#FNanchor504">[504]</a></p> +<blockquote>"Le comte le reconnu, lui serra la main et dit: +'Frate, frate, libera chiesa in libero stato.' Ce furent ses +dernières paroles." Account of the death of Cavour by his +niece, Countess Alfieri, in La Rive, Cavour, p. 319.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_505"> </a><a href="#FNanchor505">[505]</a></p> +<blockquote>Berichte über der Militair etat, p. 669. Schulthess, +Europaischer Geschichts Kalender, 1862, p. 122.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_506"> </a><a href="#FNanchor506">[506]</a></p> +<blockquote>Poschinger, Preussen im Bundestag ii. 69, 97; iv. +178. Hahn, Bismarck, i. 608.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_507"> </a><a href="#FNanchor507">[507]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hahn, Fürst Bismarck, i. 66. This work is a +collection of documents, speeches, and letters not only by +Bismarck himself but on all the principal matters in which +Bismarck was concerned. It is perhaps, from the German point of +view, the most important repertory of authorities for the period +1862-1885.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_508"> </a><a href="#FNanchor508">[508]</a></p> +<blockquote>Sammlung der Staatsacten Oesterreichs (1861), pp. 2, +33. Drei Jahre Verfassungstreit, p. 107.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_509"> </a><a href="#FNanchor509">[509]</a></p> +<blockquote>Sammlung der Staatsacten, p. 89. Der Ungarische +Reichstag 1861, pp. 3, 194, 238. Arnold Forster, Life of +Deák, p. 141.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_510"> </a><a href="#FNanchor510">[510]</a></p> +<blockquote>Celestin, Russland, p. 3. Leroy-Beaulieu, L'Empire +des Tsars, i. 400. Homme d'État Russe, p. 73. Wallace, +Russia, p. 485.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_511"> </a><a href="#FNanchor511">[511]</a></p> +<blockquote>Raczynski, Mémoires sur la Pologne, p. 14. B. +and F. State Papers, 1862-63, p. 769.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_512"> </a><a href="#FNanchor512">[512]</a></p> +<blockquote>Leroy-Beaulieu, Homme d'État Russe, p. +259.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_513"> </a><a href="#FNanchor513">[513]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hahn, i. 112. Verhandl des Preuss, Abgeord. über +Polen, p. 45.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_514"> </a><a href="#FNanchor514">[514]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parliamentary Papers, 1864, vol. lxiv. pp. 28, 263. +Hahn, Bismarck, i. 165.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_515"> </a><a href="#FNanchor515">[515]</a></p> +<blockquote>From Rechberg's despatch of Feb 28, 1863 (in Hahn, i. +84), apparently quoting actual words uttered by Bismarck. +Bismarck's account of the conversation (id. 80) tones it down to +a demand that Austria should not encroach on Prussia's recognised +joint-leadership in Germany.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_516"> </a><a href="#FNanchor516">[516]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, 1863-4, p. 173. Beust, +Erinnerungen, i. 136.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_517"> </a><a href="#FNanchor517">[517]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bismarck's note of July 29th, 1870, in Hahn, i. 506, +describing Napoleon's Belgian project, which dated from the time +when he was himself ambassador at Paris in 1862, gives this as +the explanation of Napoleon's policy in 1864. The Commercial +Treaty with Prussia and friendly personal relations with Bismarck +also influenced Napoleon's views. See Bismarck's speech of Feb. +21st, 1879, on this subject, in Hahn, iii. 599.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_518"> </a><a href="#FNanchor518">[518]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hahn, Bismarck, i. 271, 318. Oesterreichs Kämpfe +in 1866, i. 8.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_519"> </a><a href="#FNanchor519">[519]</a></p> +<blockquote>B. and F. State Papers, 1864-65, p. 460.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_520"> </a><a href="#FNanchor520">[520]</a></p> +<blockquote>La Marmora, Un po più di luce, pp. 109, 146. +Jacini, Due Anni, p. 154. Hahn, i. 377. In the first draft of the +Treaty Italy was required to declare war not only on Austria but +on all German Governments which should join it. King William, who +had still some compunction in calling in Italian arms against the +Fatherland, struck out these words.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_521"> </a><a href="#FNanchor521">[521]</a></p> +<blockquote>La Marmora, Un po più di luce, p. 204. Hahn, +i. 402.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_522"> </a><a href="#FNanchor522">[522]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hahn, Bismarck, i. 425. Hahn, Zwei Jahre, p. 60. +Oesterreichs Kämpfe, i. 30.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_523"> </a><a href="#FNanchor523">[523]</a></p> +<blockquote>Discours de Napoleon III., p. 456. On May 11th, +Nigra, Italian ambassador at Paris, reported that Napoleon's +ideas on the objects to be attained by a Congress were as +follows:-Venetia to Italy, Silesia to Austria; the Danish Duchies +and other territory in North Germany to Prussia; the +establishment of several small States on the Rhine under French +protection; the dispossessed German princes to be compensated in +Roumania. La Marmora, p. 228. Napoleon III. was pursuing in a +somewhat altered form the old German policy of the Republic and +the Empire-namely, the balancing of Austria and Prussia against +one another, and the establishment of a French protectorate over +the group of secondary States.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_524"> </a><a href="#FNanchor524">[524]</a></p> +<blockquote>Oesterreichs Kämpfe, ii. 341. Prussian Staff, +Campaign of 1866 (Hozier), p. 167.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_525"> </a><a href="#FNanchor525">[525]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hahn, i. 476. Benedetti, Ma Mission en Prusse, p. +186. Reuchlin, v. 457. Massari, La Marmora, p. 350.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_526"> </a><a href="#FNanchor526">[526]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hahn, i. 501, 505.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_527"> </a><a href="#FNanchor527">[527]</a></p> +<blockquote>Benedetti, p. 191. Hahn, i. 508; ii. 328, 635. See +also La Marmora's Un po più di luce, p. 242, and his +Segreti di Stato, p. 274. Govone's despatches strongly confirm +the view that Bismarck was more than a mere passive listener to +French schemes for the acquisition of Belgium. That he originated +the plan is not probable; that he encouraged it seems to me quite +certain, unless various French and Italian documents unconnected +with one another are forgeries from beginning to end. On the +outbreak of the war of 1870 Bismarck published the text of the +draft-treaty discussed in 1866 providing for an offensive and +defensive alliance between France and Prussia, and the seizure of +Belgium by France. The draft was in Benedetti's handwriting, and +written on paper of the French Embassy. Benedetti stated in +answer that he had made the draft at Bismarck's dictation. This +might seem very unlikely were it not known that the draft of the +Treaty between Prussia and Italy in 1866 was actually so written +down by Barral, the Italian Ambassador, at Bismarck's +dictation.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_528"> </a><a href="#FNanchor528">[528]</a></p> +<blockquote>Regelung der Verhältnisse, p. 4. Ausgleich mit +Ungarn, p. 9.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_529"> </a><a href="#FNanchor529">[529]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hungary retained a Ministry of National Defence for +its Reserve Forces, and a Finance Ministry for its own separate +finance. Thus the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the only one of +the three common Ministries which covered the entire range of a +department.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_530"> </a><a href="#FNanchor530">[530]</a></p> +<blockquote>They had indeed been discovered by French agents in +Germany. Rothan, L'Affaire du Luxembourg, p. 74.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_531"> </a><a href="#FNanchor531">[531]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hahn, i. 658. Rothan, Luxembourg, p. 246. +Correspondenzen des K.K. Minist. des Aüssern, 1868, p. 24. +Parl. Pap., 1867, vol. lxxiv., p. 427.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_532"> </a><a href="#FNanchor532">[532]</a></p> +<blockquote>Sorel, Histoire Diplomatique, i. 38. But see the +controversy between Beust and Gramont in <i>Le Temps</i>, Jan. +11-16, 1873.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_533"> </a><a href="#FNanchor533">[533]</a></p> +<blockquote>Rothan, La France en 1867, ii. 316. Reuchlin, v. 547. +Two historical expressions belong to Mentana: the "Never," of M. +Rouher, and "The Chassepots have done wonders," of General +Failly.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_534"> </a><a href="#FNanchor534">[534]</a></p> +<blockquote>Sorel, i. 40. Hahn, i. 720. Immediately after +Mentana, on Nov. 17, 1867, Mazzini wrote to Bismarck and to the +Prussian ambassador at Florence, Count Usedom, stating that +Napoleon had resolved to make war on Prussia and had proposed an +alliance to Victor Emmanuel, who had accepted it for the price of +Rome. Mazzini offered to employ revolutionary means to frustrate +this plan, and asked for money and arms. Bismarck showed caution, +but did not altogether disregard the communication. Politica +Segreta Italiana, p. 339.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_535"> </a><a href="#FNanchor535">[535]</a></p> +<blockquote>Benedetti, Ma Mission, p. 319, July 7. Gramont, La +France et la Prusse, p. 61.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_536"> </a><a href="#FNanchor536">[536]</a></p> +<blockquote>Sorel, Histoire Diplomatique, i. 197.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_537"> </a><a href="#FNanchor537">[537]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hahn, ii. 69. Sorel, i. 236.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_538"> </a><a href="#FNanchor538">[538]</a></p> +<blockquote>Prince Napoleon, in Revue des Deux Mondes, April 1, +1878; Gramont, in Revue de France, April 17, 1878. (Signed +Andreas Memor.) Ollivier, L'Église et l'État, ii. 473. +Sorel, i. 245.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_539"> </a><a href="#FNanchor539">[539]</a></p> +<blockquote>Der Deutsch Französische Krieg, 1870-71 +(Prussian General Staff), i. 72.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_540"> </a><a href="#FNanchor540">[540]</a></p> +<blockquote>Bazaine, L'Armée du Rhin, p. 74.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_541"> </a><a href="#FNanchor541">[541]</a></p> +<blockquote>Papiers Sécrets du Second Empire (1875), pp. +33, 240.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_542"> </a><a href="#FNanchor542">[542]</a></p> +<blockquote>Diary of the Emperor Frederick, Sept. 3.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_543"> </a><a href="#FNanchor543">[543]</a></p> +<blockquote>Favre's circular alleged that the King of Prussia had +declared that he made war not on France but on the Imperial +Dynasty. King William had never stated anything of the kind. His +proclamation on entering France, to which Favre appears to have +referred, merely said that the war was to be waged against the +French army, and not against the inhabitants, who, so long as +they kept quiet, would not be molested.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_544"> </a><a href="#FNanchor544">[544]</a></p> +<blockquote>Deutsch-Französiche Krieg, vol. III., p. 104. +Bazaine, p. 166. Procès de Bazaine, vol. ii., p. 219. +Regnier, p. 20. Hahn, ii., 171.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_545"> </a><a href="#FNanchor545">[545]</a></p> +<blockquote>Hahn, ii. 216. Valfrey, Diplomatie du Gouvernement de +la Défense Nationale, ii. 51. Hertslet, Map of Europe, +iii. 1912, 1954.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_546"> </a><a href="#FNanchor546">[546]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Pap. 1876, vol. lxxxiv., pp. 74, +96.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_547"> </a><a href="#FNanchor547">[547]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Pap. 1876, vol. lxxxiv., p. 183.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_548"> </a><a href="#FNanchor548">[548]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Pap. 1877, vol. xc., p. 143.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_549"> </a><a href="#FNanchor549">[549]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Deb. July 10, 1876, verbatim.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_550"> </a><a href="#FNanchor550">[550]</a></p> +<blockquote>See Burke's speech on the Russian armament, March 29, +1791, and the passage on "the barbarous anarchic despotism" of +Turkey in his Reflections on the French Revolution, p. 150, Clar. +edit. Burke lived and died in Beaconsfield, and his grave is +there. There seems, however, to be no evidence for the story that +he was about to receive a peerage with the title of Beaconsfield, +when the death of his son broke all his hopes.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_551"> </a><a href="#FNanchor551">[551]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Pap. 1877, vol. xc., p. 642; 1878, vol. lxxxi., +p. 679.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_552"> </a><a href="#FNanchor552">[552]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Pap. 1877, vol. lxxxix., p. 135.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_553"> </a><a href="#FNanchor553">[553]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Pap. 1878, vol. lxxxi., pp. 661, 725. Parl. +Deb., vol. ccxxxvii.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_554"> </a><a href="#FNanchor554">[554]</a></p> +<blockquote>The Treaty, with Maps, is in Parl. Pap. 1878, vol. +lxxxiii. p. 239.</blockquote> +<p><a name="Footnote_555"> </a><a href="#FNanchor555">[555]</a></p> +<blockquote>Parl. Pap. 1878, vl. lxxxii., p. 3. <i>Globe</i>, May +31, 1878. Hahn, iii. 116.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> + +<p><a name="Transcribers_Note"><br> +</a> <a href="#Tn">Transcriber's Note:</a><br> + (1) Footnotes have been numbered and collected at the end of the +work.<br> + (2) Sidenotes have been placed in brackets prior to the +paragraph in which they occur.<br> + (3) The spelling in the print copy was not always consistent. +Irregular words in the original (e.g., "Christain" and "Würtemburg") have been +retained whenever possible.</p> +<br> +<br> +</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<hr class="full"> + +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's History of Modern Europe 1792-1878, by C. A. 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