classes of Germany were in too much of a ferment over the recent police
restrictions inflicted upon the universities and public press. By this time
it had become well known what part Czar Alexander had played at the
Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. A vehement outcry arose at the universities
against the interference of foreigners in German affairs. The wrath of the
Liberals turned against August von Kotzebue, the prolific playwright, who
held the office of Russian agent in central Germany. Kotzebue conducted a
weekly newspaper at Mannheim in which he inveighed against the German
national movement of the day, and ridiculed the patriotic eccentricities of
the students. Having himself studied at Jena, Kotzebue was denounced by the
students there as a traitor. He was believed to be responsible for the
Czar's conversion from liberal ideas to reactionary principles. This belief
cost Kotzebue his life. One Sand, a theological student at Jena, noted for
piety and patriotic ardor, formed a fanatical resolution to do away with
this enemy of the country. An extract from Sand's diary, written on the eve
of his last New Year's day, reveals the character of the man: "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 evil doer, 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." On March 23, Sand sought out Baron Kotzebue in
the midst of his family and stabbed him to the heart. Then he turned the
dagger against himself. Unfortunately Sand recovered from his wounds, and
thus lived to die on the scaffold.
[Sidenote: Retaliatory measures]
[Sidenote: German liberals persecuted]
The mad deed was followed by the worst possible results for Germany.
Minister Hardenberg, when he heard of the murder of Kotzebue, declared that
a Prussian Constitution had now been rendered impossible. Metternich, who
was then in Rome, instantly drew up a scheme for further repressive
measures and summoned the ministers of the various German States for a
meeting at Carlsbad. "By the help of God," wrote Metternich, "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 number of innocent persons were arrested
in various parts of Germany under utterly unwarrantable circumstances. The
houses of professors were searched and private papers were seized. Jahn,
the founder of the popular Gymnastic schools, was arrested in Berlin. De
Wette, a professor of theology at the University of Berlin, had to flee to
Switzerland on account of a letter of sympathy addressed by him to Sand's
mother. With him Oken, the great naturalist, and Corres, the pamphleteer,
became exiles in Switzerland. Professor Fries lost his chair at Jena; the
poet Arndt was suspended at Bonn, and his private papers, in garbled form,
were published by the government. Many of the younger professors,
accompanied by their favorite students, emigrated to America.
[Sidenote: Convention of Carlsbad]
[Sidenote: Police censors appointed]
[Sidenote: Binzer's poem]
During August the German ministers met at Carlsbad. Their conferences, in
the memory of the German people, are justly associated with the suppression
of intellectual freedom for a whole generation. It was ordered that in
every State within the German federation a strict censorship should be
established over all publications. Within fifteen days an inquisitorial
commission was called together at Mainz to investigate the students'
societies at the universities. The commission was empowered to arrest any
subject in any German State. Special police commissioners were appointed at
the universities, whose duty it was to keep a strict eye on the drift of
the professor's teachings. Any professor or student expelled from a
university was not to be employed by any other German government. The
students' societies were suppressed, at least to all outward appearance.
The poet Binzer wrote a defiant song ending with the lines:
The Spirit liveth in us all,
For God is still our stronghold.
[Sidenote: Resignation of Wilhelm Humboldt]
[Sidenote: South German liberalism]
So far was repression carried in Prussia that out of 203 students arrested
for wearing black-red-yellow ribbons, no less than 94 were condemned to
death. Wilhelm von Humboldt, the best and most liberal of Prussian
Ministers during the first half of the nineteenth century, resigned his
portfolio in disgust. The zeal with which the Prussian Government accepted
these measures made it useless for the minor German States to offer much
opposition. Yet they formed the only remaining bulwark against
Metternich's restrictive policy. In spite of his strenuous opposition, the
rulers of Bavaria and Baden granted to their subjects constitutional forms
of government. Representative assemblies with lower and upper houses, after
the manner of the English Parliament, were established. In Wurtemberg,
serfdom was abolished, and a constitution was published a few days before
the enrolment of the decrees of Carlsbad.
[Sidenote: Laennec's stethoscope]
In France, Dr. Laennec published his epoch-making work "Traite
d'Auscultation Mediate," the result of his recent experiments in listening
to human heart-beats and lung respirations through a hollow cylinder.
Various names were given to the instrument until Laennec decided to call it
"stethoscope," the name it has ever since retained. Laennec's contributions
to the study of diseases of the lungs, of the heart and of the abdominal
organs may be said to have laid the foundation of modern clinical medicine.
[Sidenote: Decazes Prime Minister]
[Sidenote: The Gregoire episode]
[Sidenote: Troubles in Spain]
Parliamentary government in France worked none too smoothly. In the
Chambers the rise of the independent party and anti-Bourbon faction caused
the Duc de Richelieu to resign. When the news of Kotzebue's assassination
reached Paris, the Comte d'Artois remarked exultingly to the king: "Well,
brother, you see what they are driving us to." Louis XVIII. intrusted to
his favorite, Decazes, the formation of a new Cabinet. Decazes found it
difficult to select competent men for the various portfolios. His Cabinet,
when finally brought together, lacked internal unity and outward support.
Its career was early imperilled by the untoward election of Bishop Gregoire
of Grenoble, one of the regicides, to the Chamber of Deputies. This popular
manifestation, though sufficiently explained by the sterling public
qualities of the bishop himself, created the utmost apprehension among the
Royalists. Decazes had to bend to the storm, and the election of Gregoire
was declared null and void by the Ministerial majority in the Chambers. The
French Royalists next professed to find cause for apprehension in Spain.
Danger of war with the United States, before the cession of Florida, had
caused King Ferdinand of Spain to assemble an army at Cadiz to embark for
America. It was now proposed to send these troops to South America to quell
the revolutionary movements there. The return of a number of soldiers
stricken with yellow fever in the colonies filled the troops at Cadiz with
consternation. The common soldiers, lying in squalor and inaction at their
barracks, came to regard their expected order of embarkation as a sentence
of death. Their officers plotted with the secret societies in Cadiz and
neighboring towns. Abisbas, the commandant at Cadiz, to safeguard his own
interests pretended to encourage these plots. Then, convinced of their
ultimate failure, he arrested the principal leaders by a stratagem and
hurried to Madrid to reveal all and claim credit for saving the crown. The
ringleaders were imprisoned and the troops were distributed into
cantonments. As it turned out this only served to foment the growing spirit
of dissatisfaction throughout Spain.
1820
[Sidenote: Spanish military revolt]
[Sidenote: Riego's plight]
New Year's Day was fixed for the outbreak of revolt by the revolutionists
of Spain. The chosen leaders were Riego, Cabazes and Quiroga. It was
arranged that Quiroga, who was held in light confinement at Medina, east of
Cadiz, should gather the battalions outside of Cadiz, throw himself into
the city, and there await the co-operation of his fellow conspirators.
Riego with a band of chosen men was to pounce upon the military
headquarters at Arcos, and to arrest the general officers before they could
interfere. Accordingly, Riego, on the first day of January, proclaimed the
Constitution of 1812, and, falling upon headquarters, seized the general
officers and rallied the men to his standard. Quiroga was less successful.
After gaining possession of San Fernando at the eastern point of the
peninsula of Leon, he failed to get into Cadiz. The commandant closed the
gates against him, and the troops within gave no sign of defection. By the
time Riego arrived, there were but 5,000 insurgents wherewith to overcome
the strong garrison and fortifications of Cadiz. Leaving Quiroga before
Cadiz, Riego set himself to raise the people of the surrounding towns. He
was received with kindness, but the obvious weakness of his force
discouraged others from joining him. Strong forces were sent in pursuit,
and the insurgents were compelled to march back and forth through the
country to escape their pursuers. At Cordova, Riego was made to realize
that the game was lost. The soldiers of the government were upon him, and
he had only some two hundred followers left. The little band took to the
mountains and there dispersed.
[Sidenote: Spread of the revolt]
The revolt, despite its miserable end, was followed by widespread results.
The example of a bold stroke had been given, and the weakness of the
government had been exposed. While Riego's followers were still hunted from
place to place, the soldiers and citizens of Corona together declared for
the Constitution. The revolutionary movement spread to Ferrol and thence
along the coast towns of Galicia.
[Sidenote: Cochrane's exploit]
[Sidenote: Abisbas' treachery]
[Sidenote: King Ferdinand succumbs]
In South America, Cochrane in a brilliant action took the Spanish
stronghold of Valdivia, held to be a Gibraltar in strength. King Ferdinand
in Madrid was terrified. From all points of Spain the commandants wrote
that they could not answer for their garrisons. Abisbas was ordered to
return to Cadiz with reinforcements. On leaving Madrid he boasted to the
king that he knew how to deal with rebels. By the time he reached Ocana,
early in March, he himself proclaimed the Constitution. The news of
Abisbas' defection created consternation in Madrid. On the night of March
6, the king convoked his Council of State. On the morrow he issued a
summons for the Cortes. This was not enough. Crowds gathered in the streets
and clamored for the Constitution. A report that the guards were on the
point of going over to the people brought the king around. From the balcony
of the royal palace Ferdinand announced his readiness to take the oath to
the Constitution. The next day was spent in riotous rejoicing. The prison
of the Inquisition was sacked and all political prisoners were liberated.
On the following day the mob broke into the gates and gardens of the royal
palace. The members of the old municipal council entered the royal private
chamber and called for a fulfilment of the king's public promise. Ferdinand
accepted the inevitable under a smiling exterior, and swore an oath of
fidelity to the Constitution of 1812. A provisional Junta took charge of
affairs until the new Cortes should be convened.
[Sidenote: Duc de Berry assassinated]
The news of the Spanish revolution astounded Europe. In France a fanatic by
the name of Louvel deemed the moment come to strike at the reigning house
of France. Louvel had followed Napoleon to exile in Elba. After the Hundred
Days he dogged the footsteps of the Bourbon princes with a settled project
of murder. The heir-presumptive to the French crown was the Duc de Berry.
If he died without a son the elder Bourbon line was bound to become extinct
as a reigning house. On the night of February 13, Louvel attacked the Duc
de Berry at the entrance of the opera house and plunged a knife into his
heart. The Duchess was covered with her husband's blood. That night Duc de
Berry died beseeching forgiveness for the man who had killed him. King
Louis XVIII. himself closed the eyes of his nephew.
[Sidenote: Fall of Decazes' Ministry]
The assassination of the Duc de Berry involved the ruin of the Ministry of
Decazes. The ultra-royalists in their frenzy of grief and indignation
charged their chief opponent with complicity. Clausel de Coussergues, a
member of the Court of Cassation, moved the impeachment of Minister Decazes
in the Chambers as an accomplice in the assassination. The King himself
felt menaced by the unwarranted accusation. "The Royalists give me the
finishing stroke," said he; "they know that the policy of M. Decazes is
also mine, and they accuse him of assassinating my nephew." Yet he had to
abandon his favorite to the violent entreaties of the Comte d'Artois and
the Duchesse de Angouleme. Decazes was permitted to retire, and set out for
London with his new titles of Duke and Ambassador to the Court of St.
James. Richelieu was recalled to the Ministry. The Duchesse de Berry
retired to Sicily.
[Sidenote: Rise of the Carbonari]
[Sidenote: Neapolitan military revolt]
[Sidenote: Revolution in Naples]
[Sidenote: Bourbon duplicity]
In Naples and Sicily the recent events in Spain and France exerted a
powerful influence over the minds of the people. In southern Italy the
secret society of the Carbonari had become a power in the land. The members
of this society, after the manner of Freemasons, took their name and the
symbolism of their rites from the calling of the charcoal burners. Since
the revolt against Bourbon tyranny in 1799, the Carbonari had played their
part as revolutionary conspirators. By the year 1820 it was believed that
one person out of every twenty-five in Naples belonged to the society. To
offset their hidden power, the government encouraged the foundation of a
rival society, known as the Calderari, or Braziers. This only made matters
worse. After the success of the revolution in Spain, the head lodge of the
Carbonari in Salerno issued orders for a rising in June. Later the date was
postponed. A score of Carbonari serving in the ranks of a cavalry regiment
at Nola, persuaded one of the officers, Lieutenant Morelli, to head a
revolt in favor of a constitutional government. On July 2, Morelli marched
out with a squadron of 150 men, and proclaimed for the Constitution. Only
one trooper refused to follow his standard. The others rode along the road
to Avellino and were received with enthusiasm all along the way. The
country was ripe for revolt. At Avellino the commandant with all his
garrison and the Bishop with the townspeople gave them a magnificent
reception. The news of the revolt spread like wildfire throughout the
kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Everywhere the Carbonari declared in its
favor. Before the government had taken a single step, the Constitution was
generally proclaimed and joyfully accepted by the populace. From Naples the
King sent General Carrascosa to negotiate with the insurgents. In the
meanwhile General Pepe, himself a Carbonaro of high rank, hastened to
Avellino and placed himself at the head of the revolution. On July 6, the
King published an edict promising a constitution within eight days, and
then, feigning illness, committed the royal authority to his son, the Duke
of Calabria. The Carbonari, recalling the fact that the King, in order to
preserve his contingent rights to the Spanish crown, had but recently
helped to sign the Spanish Constitution of 1812, insisted that this same
Constitution should be proclaimed for Naples. Old King Ferdinand yielded
and signed an edict to that effect. General Pepe and Morelli, at the head
of the garrison of Avellino, and the national guards of Naples,
triumphantly entered the city with public honors, and were received by the
Duke of Calabria, in his capacity as viceroy. On July 13, the King in
person swore to support the Constitution. Standing before the altar in the
royal chapel, he raised his eyes to the crucifix and prayed that the
vengeance of God might fall upon him if ever he broke his oath. Immediately
afterward he wrote to the Emperors of Austria and Russia, declaring that
his conduct on this occasion was a mere farce and that he regarded his
obligations as null and void.
[Sidenote: Revolution in Portugal]
[Sidenote: End of Lisbon regency]
The contagion of Spain and Sicily proved too much for the people of
Portugal. The continued absence of the royal family in Brazil, and the
unwelcome prolongation of the British regency had long caused
dissatisfaction in Portugal. The feeling of discontent was deepened by
industrial and commercial distress which made the manifest prosperity of
Brazil seem all the more galling. Marshal Beresford, the English
commander-in-chief of the Portuguese army, was generally execrated for his
barbarous treatment of military conspirators. After the outbreak of the
Spanish revolution, the aspect of affairs became so threatening in Portugal
that Beresford set out for Rio Janeiro to induce the Princes of Braganza to
return to their Court in Lisbon. Before he could accomplish his purpose,
the government that he had left behind him was overthrown by the people. On
August 24, the city of Oporto rose against the regency. The officers of the
army, the magistrates, the priests and townspeople united in declaring
against the regency. They established a provisional Junta to govern in the
name of the King until the Cortes of Portugal could be convened to frame a
constitution. The authority of the regency in Oporto was lost without a
blow. The Junta immediately seized the reins of government, and began its
career by dismissing all English officers and paying the arrears of the
soldiers. In Lisbon the regency itself tried to stem the storm by giving
its formal approval to the measures of the Junta of Oporto. The troops of
Lisbon, however, would no longer recognize the authority of the government.
Within a fortnight the regency was deposed, and a Junta installed in its
place. Beresford was forbidden to return to Portugal. He went to England,
but found there that the British Ministry did not deem it advisable to
interfere further in the domestic affairs of Portugal. Dom Juan VI., in Rio
Janeiro, promised to return to Portugal and bestow on his subjects a
liberal constitution.
[Sidenote: British liberalism]
[Sidenote: Sale of Russian fleet]
In England, Lord Beresford's attempt to induce the government to suppress
the revolutionists of Portugal only served to strengthen the popular
antipathy that had grown up against the reactionary tendencies of the Holy
Alliance. Prior to this an attempt had been made to persuade England to
act as instrument of the Alliance by suppressing the rebellious colonies of
Spain in South America. At the last session of the Holy Alliance, the
envoys of Russia and France submitted a paper in which 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, regarding
the terms to be offered to the transatlantic States. If the colonies
continued rebellious, England's fleet was counted upon to reduce them to
submission. But the force of liberalism was too strong in England for any
British Minister to enter into such a scheme. Then it was that the Czar of
Russia sold a large part of the Russian fleet to Spain. To Englishmen, who
had seen these same ships in their harbors at the time they were held as
hostages by England, this action gave but little concern. The scandal that
followed in Spain was anticipated in England. On their arrival at Cadiz,
the Russian ships were found to be useless rotten hulks.
[Sidenote: Death of George III.]
[Sidenote: Queen Caroline's trial]
[Sidenote: Death of the Queen]
Another more trying scandal engrossed public attention in England. On
January 29, old King George III. had at last sunk into his grave. His son,
George IV., became king, and began his rule with the same Ministry under
Lord Liverpool that had served him as Prince Regent. The new king's first
public act was to call for a bill for the divorce of his wife, Caroline of
Brunswick. The Cabinet refused to favor such a bill. On April 23,
Parliament met. The King sent "a green bag" to each House of Parliament,
containing a mass of testimony and accusations concerning the queen's
conduct with her Italian chamberlain, Pergami. On June 6, Queen Caroline
arrived from Italy. Having been refused passage on a royal ship, she
chartered a vessel of her own. This bold step was taken to imply innocence.
She was received with great popular demonstrations in her favor. Before a
secret committee of Parliament, Queen Caroline offset the King's charges
against her by laying stress on his own well-known failings as a husband.
On July 5, Lord Liverpool introduced a bill of "Pains and Penalties" to
dissolve the marriage of Queen Caroline. Her trial was taken up by the
House of Lords, where she was defended by Lord Brougham. To this day the
proceedings of the trial are remembered as one of the most outrageous
scandals in England. The feelings thereby engendered in the people have
been immortalized in the trenchant writings of Thackeray. Before the trial
was concluded, Lord Liverpool's bill was brought up for the third time in
Parliament. It passed by a majority of a few votes. With so slender an
indorsement, the Ministry had cause to tremble for its existence. Lord
Liverpool prevailed upon the King to recede from his extreme position, and,
succeeding in this, moved for the abandonment of the bill. The trial was
quashed. Queen Caroline died shortly afterward.
[Sidenote: The Missouri Compromise]
[Sidenote: Cabinet in a quandary]
In America, public feeling was no less excited. The occasion for this was
the first serious clash of the Northern and Southern factions of the United
States over what was known as the Missouri Compromise. On February 18, the
Missouri Compromise bill passed the Senate, and on March 2 the House. It
admitted Missouri as a slave State, and prohibited slavery north of
parallel 36 deg. 30', the southern line of Missouri. Henry Clay declared that
it settled the slavery question "forever." The bill went to the President.
There was still another compromise, and that was in the Cabinet. The
President asked advice on two points. The first point was whether Congress
had a Constitutional right to prohibit slavery in a Territory. The Cabinet
agreed that the right existed. Then the question arose whether the section
prohibiting slavery "forever" referred only to the territorial condition,
or whether it also applied when the Territory became a State. The Cabinet,
with the exception of Adams, agreed that "forever" applied only to the
territorial condition; Adams held that "forever" meant literally forever,
in State as well as in Territory. In order to escape this dilemma it was
proposed that the question of "forever," as relating to States, should be
avoided; and that the only question should be, whether the section
prohibiting slavery in the Territories forever was Constitutional. The
order of proceeding was reversed; Mr. Adams was to reply in the affirmative
without giving his reasons, while the others were to explain in writing
that the provision was Constitutional; but "forever" meant only while the
territorial condition existed. With this understanding the bill was signed.
It is plain now that in the unsettled point the whole pith and meaning of
the Missouri Compromise was contained, as the country learned fully and
decisively thirty-five years afterward.
[Sidenote: Monroe elected President]