Part 17 (1/2)
In Prussia, the cholera occasioned several disturbances at Koenigsberg, Stettin, and Breslau. At Koenigsberg the movement was not occasioned by the disease being attributed to poison. The strict quarantine regulations enforced by the government had produced a complete commercial stagnation, notwithstanding which permission had been given to the Russian troops, when hard pushed by the insurgent Poles, to provide themselves with provisions and ammunition from Prussia, so that not only Russian agents and commissaries, but whole convoys from Russia crossed the Prussian frontier. The appearance of cholera was ascribed to this circ.u.mstance, and the public discontent was evinced both by a popular outbreak and in an address from the chief magistrate of Koenigsberg to the throne. The Prussian army, under the command of Field-Marshal Gneisenau, stationed in Posen for the purpose of watching the movements of the Poles, was also attacked by the cholera, to which the field-marshal fell victim. It speedily reached Berlin, spread through the north of Germany to France, England, and North America, returned thence to the south of Europe, and, in 1836, crept steadily on from Italy through the Tyrol to Bavaria.
The veil had been torn from many an old and deep-rooted evil by the disturbances of 1830. The press now emulated the provincial diets and some of the governments that sought to meet the demands of the age in exposing to public view all the political wants of Germany. Party spirit, however, still ran too high, and the moderate const.i.tutionalists, who aimed at the gradual introduction of reforms by legal means, found themselves ere long outflanked by two extreme parties. While Gentz at Vienna, Jarcke at Berlin, etc., refused to make the slightest concession and in that spirit conducted the press, Rotteck's petty const.i.tutional reforms in Baden were treated with contempt by Wirth and Siebenpfeiffer, by whom a German republic was with tolerable publicity proclaimed in Rhenish Bavaria. Nor were attempts at mediation wanting. In Darmstadt, Schulz proposed the retention of the present distribution of the states of Germany and the a.s.sociation of a second chamber, composed of deputies elected by the people from every part of the German confederation, with the federal a.s.sembly at Frankfort.
The Tribune, edited by Dr. Wirth, and the Westboten, edited by Dr.
Siebenpfeiffer, were prohibited by the federal diet, March 2, 1832.
Schuler, Savoie, and Geib opposed this measure by the foundation of a club in Rhenish Bavaria for the promotion of liberty of the press, ramifications of which were intended by the founders to be extended throughout Germany. The approaching celebration of the festival in commemoration of the Bavarian const.i.tution afforded the malcontents a long-wished-for opportunity for the convocation of a monster meeting at the ancient castle of Hambach, on the 27th of May. Although the black, red and gold flag waved on this occasion high above the rest, the tendency to French liberalism predominated over that to German patriotism. Numbers of French being also present, Dr. Wirth deemed himself called upon to observe that the festival they had met to celebrate was intrinsically German, that he despised liberty as a French boon, and that the patriot's first thoughts were for his country, his second for liberty. These observations greatly displeased the numerous advocates for French republicanism among his audience, and one Rey, a Strasburg citizen, read him a severe lecture in the Mayence style of 1793.[2] There were also a number of Poles present, toward whom no demonstrations of jealousy were evinced. This meeting peaceably dissolved, but no means were for the future neglected for the purpose of crus.h.i.+ng the spirit manifested by it. Marshal Wrede occupied Spires, Landau, Neustadt, etc., with Bavarian troops; the clubs for the promotion of liberty of the press were strictly prohibited, their original founders, as well as the orators of Hambach and the boldest of the newspaper editors, were either arrested or compelled to quit the country. Siebenpfeiffer took refuge in Switzerland; Wirth might have effected his escape, but refused. Some provocations in Neustadt, on the anniversary of the Hambach festival in 1833, were brought by the military to a tragical close. Some newspaper editors, printers, etc., were also arrested at Munich, Wurzburg, Augsburg, etc. The most celebrated among the accused was Professor Behr, court-councillor of Wurzburg, the burgomaster and former deputy of that city, who at the time of the meeting at Hambach made a public speech at Gaibach. On account of the revolutionary tendency manifested in it he was arrested, and, in 1886, sentenced to ask pardon on his knees before the king's portrait and to imprisonment, a punishment to which the greater part of the political offenders were condemned.
The federal diet had for some time been occupied with measures for the internal tranquillity of Germany. The Hambach festival both brought them to a conclusion and increased their severity. Under the date of the 28th of June, 1832, the resolutions of the federal a.s.sembly, by which first of all the provincial Estates, then the popular clubs, and finally the press, were to be deprived of every means of opposing in any the slightest degree the joint will of the princes, were published. The governments were bound not to tolerate within their jurisdiction aught contrary to the resolutions pa.s.sed by the federal a.s.sembly, and to call the whole power of the confederation to their aid if unable to enforce obedience; nay, in cases of urgency, the confederation reserved to itself the right of armed intervention, undemanded by the governments. Taxes, to meet the expenses of the confederation, were to be voted submissively by the provincial Estates. Finally, all popular a.s.sociations and a.s.semblies were also prohibited, and all newspapers, still remaining, of a liberal tendency, were suppressed.
The youthful revolutionists, princ.i.p.ally students, a.s.sembled secretly at Frankfort on the Maine, during the night of the 3d of April, 1833, attacked the town-watch for the purpose of liberating some political prisoners, and possibly intended to have carried the federal a.s.sembly by a _coup-de-main_ had they not been dispersed. These excesses had merely the effect of increasing the severity of the scrutiny and of crowding the prisons with suspected persons.
[Footnote 1: Also the unfortunate Dr. Plath, to whom science is indebted for an excellent historical work upon China. He became implicated in this affair and remained in confinement until 1836, when he was sentenced to fifteen years' further imprisonment.]
[Footnote 2: All national distinctions must cease and be fused in universal liberty and equality; this was the sole aim of the n.o.ble French people, and for this cause should we meet them with a fraternal embrace, etc. Paul Pfizer well observed in a pamphlet on German liberalism, published at that period, ”What epithet would the majority of the French people bestow upon a liberty which a part of their nation would purchase by placing themselves beneath the protection of a foreign and superior power, called to their aid against their fellow-citizens? If the cause of German liberalism is to remain pure and unspotted, we must not, like Coriola.n.u.s, arm the foreign foe against our country. The egotistical tendency of the age is, unhappily, too much inclined (by a coalition with France) to prefer personal liberty and independence to the liberty and independence (thereby infallibly forfeited) of the whole community. The supposed fellows.h.i.+p with France would be subjection to her. France will support the German liberals as Richelien did the German Protestants.”]
CCLXX. The Struggles of the Provincial Diets
The Estates of the different const.i.tutional states sought for const.i.tutional reform by legal means and separated themselves from the revolutionists. But, during periods of great political agitation, it is difficult to draw a distinctive line, and any opposition, however moderate, appears as dangerous as the most intemperate rebellion. It was, consequently, impossible for the governments and the Estates to come to an understanding during these stormy times. The result of the deliberations, whenever the opposition was in the majority, was protestations on both sides in defence of right; and, whenever the opposition was or fell in the minority, the chambers were the mere echo of the minister.
In Bavaria, in 1831, the second chamber raised a violent storm against the minister, von Schenk, princ.i.p.ally on account of the restoration of some monasteries and of the enormous expense attending the erection of the splendid public buildings at Munich. A law of censors.h.i.+p had, moreover, been published, and a number of civil officers elected by the people been refused permission to take their seats in the chamber.
Schwindel, von Closen, Cullmann, Seyffert, etc., were the leaders of the opposition. Schenk resigned office; the law of censors.h.i.+p was repealed, and the Estates struck two millions from the civil list. The first chamber, however, refused its a.s.sent to these resolutions, the law of censors.h.i.+p was retained, and the saving in the expenditure of the crown was reduced to an extremely insignificant amount. In the autumn of 1832, Prince Otto, the king's second son, was, with the consent of the sultan, elected king of Greece by the great maritime powers intrusted with the decision of the Greek question, and Count Armansperg, formerly minister of Bavaria, was placed at the head of the regency during the minority of the youthful monarch. Steps having to be taken for the levy of troops for the Greek service, some regiments were sent into Greece in order to carry the new regulations into effect. The Bavarian chambers were at a later period almost entirely purged from the opposition and granted every demand made by the government. The appearance of the Bavarians in ancient Greece forms one of the most interesting episodes in modern history. The jealousy of the great powers explains the election of a sovereign independent of them all: the n.o.ble sympathy displayed for the Grecian cause by King Louis, who, shortly after the congress of Verona, sent considerable sums of money and Colonel von Heideck to the aid of the Greeks, and, it may be, also the wish to bring the first among the second-rate powers of Germany into closer connection with the common interests of the first-rate powers, more particularly explains that of the youthful Otto.[1] The task of organizing a nation, n.o.ble, indeed, but debased by long slavery and still reeking with the blood of late rebellion, under the influence of a powerful and mutually jealous diplomacy, on a European and German footing, was, however, extremely difficult. Hence the opposite views entertained by the regency, the resignation of the councillors of state, von Maurer and von Abel, who were more inclined to administrate, and the retention of office by Count Armansperg, who was more inclined to diplomatize. Hence the ceaseless intrigues of party, the daily increasing contumacy, and the revolts, sometimes quenched in blood, of the wild mountain tribes and ancient robber-chiefs, to whom European inst.i.tutions were still an insupportable yoke. King Otto received, on his accession to the throne, in 1835, a visit from his royal parent; and, in the ensuing year, conducted the Princess of Oldenburg to Athens as his bride.
In Wurtemberg, the chambers first met in 1833, and were, two months later, again dissolved on account of the refusal of the second chamber to reject ”with indignation” Pfizer's protestation against the resolutions of the confederation. In the newly-elected second chamber, the opposition, at whose head stood the celebrated poet, Uhland, brought forward numerous propositions for reform, but remained in the minority, and it was not until the new diet, held in 1836, that the aristocratic first chamber was induced to diminish socage service and other feudal dues twenty-two and one-half per cent in amount. The literary piracy that had hitherto continued to exist solely in Wurtemberg was also provisionally abolished, the system of national education was improved, and several other useful projects were carried into execution or prepared. A new criminal code, published in 1838, again bore traces of political caution. The old opposition lost power.
In Baden, the venerable grandduke, Louis, expired in 1830, and was succeeded by Leopold, a descendant of the collateral branch of the counts of Hochberg. Bavaria had, at an earlier period, stipulated, in case of the extinction of the elder and legitimate line, for the restoration of the Pfalz (Heidelberg and Mannheim), which had, in 1816, been secured to her by a treaty with Austria. The grandduke, Louis, had protested against this measure and had, in 1817, declared Baden indivisible. Bavaria finally relinquished her claims on the payment of two million florins (166,666 13_s_. 4_d_.) and the cession of the bailiwick of Steinfeld, to which Austria moreover added the county of Geroldseck. The new grandduke, who was surnamed ”the citizen's friend,” behaved with extreme liberality and consequently went hand in hand with the first chamber, of which Wessenberg and Prince von Furstenberg were active members, and with the second, at the head of which stood Professors Rotteck, Welcker, and von Itzstein.
Rotteck proposed and carried through the abolition of capital punishment as alone worthy of feudal times, and, on Welcker's motion, censors.h.i.+p was abolished and a law for the press was pa.s.sed. The federal a.s.sembly, however, speedily checked these reforms. The grandduke was compelled to repeal the law for the press, the Freiburg university was for some time closed, Professors Rotteck and Welcker were suspended, and their newspaper, the ”Freisinnige” or liberal, was suppressed in 1832. Rotteck was, notwithstanding, at feud with the Hambachers, and had raised the Baden flag above that of Germany at a national fete at Badenweiler. This extremely popular deputy, who had been presented with thirteen silver cups in testimony of the affection with which he was regarded by the people, afterward protested against the resolutions of the confederation, but his motion was violently suppressed by the minister, Winter. The Baden chamber, nevertheless, still retained a good deal of energy, and, after the death of Rotteck, in 1841, a violent contest was carried on concerning the rights of election.
In Hesse-Darmstadt, the Estates again met in 1832; the liberal majority in the second chamber, led by von Gagern, E. E. Hoffmann, Hallwachs, etc., protested against the resolutions of the confederation, and the chamber was dissolved. A fresh election took place, notwithstanding which the chamber was again dissolved in 1834, on account of the government being charged with party spirit by von Gagern and the refusal of the chamber to call him to order. The people afterward elected a majority of submissive members.
In Hesse-Ca.s.sel the popular demonstrations were instantly followed by the convocation of the Estates and the proposal of a new and stipulated const.i.tution, which received the sanction of the chambers as early as January, 1831; but, amid the continual disturbances, and on account of the disinclination of the prince co-regent to the liberal reforms, the chamber, of which the talented professor, Jordan of Marburg, was the most distinguished member, yielded, notwithstanding its perseverance, after two rapidly successive dissolutions, in 1832 and 1833, to the influence of the (once liberal) minister, Ha.s.senpflug, and Jordan quitted the scene of contest.
Ha.s.senpflug's tyrannical behavior and the lapse of Hesse-Rotenburg (the mediatized collateral line, which became extinct with the Landgrave Victor in 1834), the revenues of which were appropriated as personal property by the prince elector instead of being declared state property, fed the opposition in the chambers, which was, notwithstanding the menaces of the prince elector, carried on until 1838. Ha.s.senpflug threw up office.
In Na.s.sau, the duke, William, fell into a violent dispute with the Estates. The second chamber, after vainly soliciting the rest.i.tution of the rich demesnes, appropriated by the duke as private property, on the ground of their being state property, and the application of their revenue to the payment of the state debts, refused, in the autumn of 1831, to vote the taxes. The first chamber, in which the duke had the power of raising at will a majority in his favor by the creation of fresh members, protested against the conduct of the second, which in return protested against that of the first and suspended its proceedings until their const.i.tutional rights should have received full recognition; five of the deputies, however, again protested against the suspension of the proceedings of the chamber and voted the taxes during the absence of the majority. The majority again protested, but became entangled in a political lawsuit, and Herber, the gray-headed president, was confined in the fortress of Marxburg.
In Brunswick, a good understanding prevailed between William the new duke, and the Estates, which were, however, accused of having an aristocratic tendency by the democratic party. Their sittings continued to be held in secret.
In Saxony, the long-wished-for reforms, above all, the grant of a new const.i.tution, were realized, owing to the influence of the popular co-regent, added to that of Lindenau, the highly-esteemed minister, and of the newly-elected Estates, in 1831. The law of censors.h.i.+p, nevertheless, continued to be enforced with extreme severity, which also marked the treatment of the political prisoners. Count Hohenthal and Baron Watzdorf, who seized every opportunity to put in protestations, even against the resolutions of the confederation, evinced the most liberal spirit. On the demise of the aged king, Antony, in 1835, and the accession of the co-regent, Frederick, to the throne, the political movements totally ceased.
Holstein and Schleswig had also, as early as 1823, solicited the rest.i.tution of their ancient const.i.tutional rights, which the king, Frederick IV., delayed to grant. Lornsen, the councillor of chancery, was arrested in 1830, for attempting to agitate the people. Separate provincial diets were, notwithstanding, decreed, in 1831, for Holstein and Schleswig, although both provinces urgently demanded their union.
Frederick IV. expired in 1839 and was succeeded by his cousin, Christian.
Immediately after the revolution of July, the princes of Oldenburg, Altenburg, Coburg, Meiningen, and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen made a public appeal to the confidence of their subjects, whom they called upon to lay before them their grievances, etc. Augustus, duke of Oldenburg, who had a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of grandduke, proclaimed a const.i.tution, but shortly afterward withdrew his promise and strictly forbade his subjects to annoy him by recalling it to his remembrance.
The prince von Sondershausen also refused the hoped-for const.i.tution.
In Sigmaringen, Altenburg, and Meiningen the const.i.tutional movement was, on the contrary, countenanced and encouraged by the princes.