poet Francois Rene de Chateaubriand. Born at chateau Combourg in 1768, the
scion of one of the noblest families of France, he received a careful
education at chateau Combourg. Roaming about on the sea-shore and in the
famous forest of Brezilien, the youth received his earliest impressions of
the grandeurs of nature. Shortly before the outbreak of the French
Revolution he was sent to Paris, where he received a commission in the
royal army. It was then he published his first poem, "L'Amour de la
Campagne," in the Almanach des Muses. Dissatisfied with the revolutionary
turn of affairs, he resigned his commission in 1790, and journeyed to North
America. There he travelled extensively, seeking poetic inspiration from
the wilderness and the primitive customs of the Indians. After the downfall
of King Louis XVI. and the French nobility, Chateaubriand hastily returned
to France and joined the army of emigres under Prince Conde. At the siege
of Thionville he was wounded and went to England. By the time
Chateaubriand recovered he found himself in abject poverty, and had to
spend his days in bed for lack of fuel. In England, he wrote his "Essai sur
les Revolutions," in which he compared the recent rising in France to that
of the English Commonwealth. On the fall of the Directorate he returned to
France, and became one of the editors of Fontaine's "Mercure de France." At
the opening of the Nineteenth Century he published "Atala," an episode of
his epic poem "Les Natchez," treating of the suicide of an Indian virgin,
who sought death rather than violate a solemn vow of chastity given to her
mother. In 1802 appeared the second episode, "Rene," a subjective story
treating of the hapless love of a sister for her brother, full of a French
form of _maladie du monde_ akin to Goethe's _Weltschmerz_ in the "Sorrows
of Werther." During the same year, Chateaubriand brought out his famous
"Genius of Christianity, or the Beauties of the Christian Religion," which
achieved an immense success. It won the approbation even of Napoleon, who
appointed Chateaubriand to diplomatic posts at Rome and Vallis. The
execution of the Duc d'Enghien was so horrifying to Chateaubriand that he
forthwith resigned his appointments. After extensive travels through
Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land, Chateaubriand went to Spain, where he
found inspiration at the Alhambra to write "Le dernier des Abencerrages."
There, too, he wrote his story of "The Martyrs, or the Triumph of the
Christian Religion," brought out in Paris in 1809. Less successful was his
tragedy "Moses." In 1810, Chateaubriand published the famous political
pamphlet "La Monarchie selon la Charte," which was made the basis of the
subsequent royal constitution of France. On the restoration of the Bourbons
he wrote another political pamphlet, directed against Bonaparte, which sent
him into exile together with Louis XVIII. during the Hundred Days. On the
return of Louis XVIII. he was made a member of State, a peer of France, and
member of the French Academy. In 1820 he was sent as ambassador to Berlin
and then to London, from where he was recalled into the Cabinet. Crowded
out of the Cabinet by Villele, he became one of the leaders of the
opposition. In 1828, he went on another diplomatic mission to Rome. The
rest of his life was uneventful. Shortly before his death he brought out
his complete works, including his latest "Etudes Historiques." A posthumous
work was his "Memoires d'Outre-Tombe," containing the famous comparison
between the characters of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.
[Sidenote: Paris reform banquet]
[Sidenote: Ministry impeached]
In the French Chambers, early in February, a great debate had been held on
the Reform Bill. Guizot, the Prime Minister, held firm in his opposition to
all the proposed reforms. It was now proposed to hold the reform banquet,
that had repeatedly been prohibited and postponed, on February 22. The
banquet was once more interdicted, and it was announced that any unlawful
assemblage would be dispersed by force. Thereupon the banquet was
abandoned. The evening papers declared that the deputies of the opposition
had agreed to abstain from the proposed manifestation. A manifesto
published by the "Journal National" was the cause of a noisy demonstration
in the streets of the 12th Arrondissement. The National Guards were called
out. On the same day fifty-two deputies of the Left laid before the
Chambers a bill of impeachment against the Ministry. The King and his
advisers were in a state of blind security.
[Sidenote: Street demonstrations]
[Sidenote: National Guard disaffected]
On the morning of the eventful 22d of February, the Parisian populace
congregated by thousands near the Madeleine and the Rue Royale, shouting
"Vive la reforme; a bas les ministres!" and singing the "Marseillaise." No
troops made their appearance; but encounters occurred at several points
between the mob and the municipal guards. Still the day passed over without
serious hostilities. On the next day, the National Guards of Paris were
called out. Their cry, as they marched through the different quarters of
the city, was "Vive la reforme!" This emboldened the leaders of the
revolutionists. The members of the secret societies flew to arms; and in
the skirmishes which followed between the populace and the regular troops,
the National Guard everywhere interfered in favor of the former. Thus
confronted, officers and soldiers hesitated to commit a general assault
upon their fellow citizens. They allowed themselves to be reduced to
inaction. The insurrection thus triumphed almost without actual strife.
[Sidenote: Fall of Guizot's Ministry]
[Sidenote: Barricades erected]
[Sidenote: Thiers' manifesto]
[Sidenote: The last stroke]
[Sidenote: Louis Philippe succumbs]
The King at length became acquainted with the true situation. In the
afternoon of the 23d, Guizot tendered his resignation, which was promptly
accepted, and published as an act of satisfaction on the part of the King
to the demands of the people. Count Mole was charged with the formation of
a new Ministry. It was now generally expected that tranquillity would be at
once restored. But late at night the detachment of troops posted at the
Office of Foreign Affairs was attacked by a band of rioters. The commanding
officer ordered them to fire, and several persons in the crowd were shot
down. Their dead bodies were paraded through the city. This spectacle
raised the indignation of the multitude to the highest pitch. Fresh
barricades were erected in all the most populous quarters of the city, and
the soldiers, stupefied and panic-struck, renounced all further opposition
to the revolt. The King now named Marshal Bugeaud to the supreme command of
the whole military force at Paris. Mole having declined the task of
constructing a Ministry, the King summoned Thiers to the head of affairs.
This statesman, in conjunction with Odillon-Barrot, immediately issued a
proclamation announcing their appointment as Ministers, and stating that
orders had been given to the troops to withdraw and abandon the contest.
This gave the last blow to the monarchy of Louis Philippe. Marshal Bugeaud
resigned his command. The soldiers quitted their ranks, giving up arms and
ammunition to the insurgents. The National Guard openly joined the masses
of the people and marched with them upon the Tuileries. The catastrophe was
now inevitable. Louis Philippe, feeling that all was lost, signed an act
of abdication in favor of his grandson the Comte de Paris, and withdrew to
St. Cloud.
[Sidenote: Mob invades the Chamber]
An attempt was made to obtain the recognition of the Duchess of Orleans as
regent, and thus to preserve the throne to the heir of Louis Philippe,
according to the terms of his abdication. The Duchess went to the Chamber
of Deputies, holding by the hand her sons the Comte de Paris and the Duc de
Chartres. They took their seats in front of the tribune. More than one
member spoke earnestly in favor of the regency. In the midst of the debate
the Chamber was invaded by a tumultuous throng of armed men. One of them
was Arnold Boecklin, the Swiss artist, who subsequently rose to highest rank
among the painters of the Nineteenth Century. Marie, a violent Republican,
ascending the tribune, announced that the first duty of the Legislature was
to appoint a strong provisional government capable of re-establishing
public confidence and order. Cremieux, Ledru-Rollin and Lamartine in turn
insisted on a new government and constitution to be sanctioned by the
sovereign people. The proposition was hailed with tumultuous acclamations.
The Duchess of Orleans and her children retired precipitately.
[Sidenote: Provisional Government formed]
[Sidenote: Fulsome promises]
[Sidenote: Proclamation of French Republic]
The Republicans remained masters of the field. A provisional government was
forthwith nominated. It included the poet Lamartine, Ledru-Rollin,
Garnier-Pages and Arago. While the mob was searching the Hotel de Ville
these men conferred in a small out-of-the-way chamber behind locked doors.
Louis Blanc, the great socialistic writer, and one Albert, a locksmith,
were added to the provisional government. Every half hour Lamartine had to
confront some new crowd of rioters preferring fresh claims. The confusion
lasted several days. Throughout this time more barricades were thrown up,
until the government gained a breathing space by a promise to distribute
one million francs among the laboring men. Louis Blanc and Ledru-Rollin
signed another decree whereby they pledged the government to furnish every
Frenchman with work. With the help of National Guardsmen, and an organized
body of students, Caussidiere, the new police prefect, succeeded at last in
keeping the mob out of the Hotel de Ville and the Palais Bourbon. On
February 27, the Republic was formally proclaimed from the Place de la
Bastille. The barricades were levelled and the crowds that had surged
through the streets of Paris gradually dispersed. Throughout France the
Republic was accepted without serious opposition.
[Sidenote: Flight of royal family]
For a while it was feared that Louis Philippe's sons in Algiers, the Duke
d'Aumale and Prince de Joinville, who commanded the French army and navy,
disposing of more than a hundred thousand men, might make a stroke on their
father's behalf. This hope of the Royalists was doomed to disappointment.
Both princes resigned their command, to be succeeded by General Cavignac,
who took charge of the forces in the name of the French Republic. The other
members of the dynasty accomplished their escape from France amid many
curious adventures. After leaving Paris the party separated so as to avoid
suspicion. Louis Philippe and the Queen with a few attendants fled to
Honfleur, where they lay for nearly a week in concealment. At length the
packet steamer "Express" was placed at their disposal by the British
Government. On March 4, Louis Philippe, having assumed the name of William
Smith, landed at Newhaven in Sussex. With the Queen he proceeded to
Claremont, a country-seat belonging to his son-in-law, King Leopold of
Belgium. The Duke of Montpensier with the Duchess of Nemours fled to
Belgium, as did the Duchess of Orleans.
[Sidenote: English Chartists encouraged]
[Sidenote: Inflammatory speeches]
[Sidenote: London ready for revolution]
[Sidenote: Rioters discouraged]
The French Revolution gave quickening impulse to the Chartist movement in
England. Feargus O'Connor had been returned at the General Election of 1847
as member for Nottingham. He threw himself into a renewal of the agitation
with all the strength and vigor of a madman. A National Convention was
summoned, and it was determined that another monster petition should be
carried to the House of Commons, to be followed by a procession of half a
million persons. The idea got abroad that a revolution might break out in
London on the presentation of the petition. Ernest Jones had exclaimed on
Kensington Common, "Never fear the vile men of the law; the police, the
troops, sympathize with you. Down with the Ministry! Dissolve the
Parliament! The Charter, and no surrender!" At the National Convention,
Vernon declared: "If a few hundreds do fall on each side, they will only be
the casualties in a mighty movement." On April 10 a great demonstration
was to be held on Kensington Common. In anticipation, special constables to
the number of 170,000 were sworn in to keep the peace; troops were
quartered in the houses of the main thoroughfares; two thousand stands of
arms were supplied to the officials of the General Post-Office; the Custom
House, Bank, Exchange, and other public buildings were similarly equipped;
the Admiralty was garrisoned by a body of marines, and the Tower guns were
mounted. On the eventful morning, London assumed a military guise such as
it had never worn before. Traffic was suspended along the streets for fear
that the vehicles should be employed, as in France, in the construction of
barricades. Finally a proclamation was issued warning people against
collecting for disorderly purposes. The military arrangements were in the
hands of the Duke of Wellington. Owing to these thorough precautions the
threatened mass meeting collapsed. The procession was never held. The whole
affair was covered with ridicule. The "monster petition" was found to
contain not six million signatures as was alleged, but only 1,975,469, and
many of these proved to be fictitious, whole sheets being found to be in
the same handwriting, and containing such names as Victoria Rex, Prince
Albert, Punch, and so forth.
[Sidenote: Collapse of Chartism]
[Sidenote: End of Feargus O'Connor]
In the words of a contemporary, "Chartism had received its death-blow.
O'Brien, Vincent, and others endeavored to revive it, but in vain. Its
members fell off in disappointment and allied themselves with reformers of
greater moderation, and Feargus O'Connor, who for ten years had madly
spent his force and energy in carrying forward the movement, gave it up in
despair. Everything he had touched had proved a failure. From being an
object of terror, Chartism had become an object of ridicule. O'Connor took
the matter so much to heart that he soon became an inmate of a lunatic
asylum, and never recovered his reason."
[Sidenote: Progress of Italian Revolution]
[Sidenote: Austrians driven northward]
[Sidenote: Radetzky seeks refuge]
All Italy now, from the southern shores of Sicily to the Alps, was in a
blaze of insurrection. Venice, Piedmont and Lombardy were in arms. Charles
Albert, the King of Sardinia, put himself at the head of the movement in
northern Italy. From all parts of Italy volunteers crowded to his banners.
In defiance of the Pope's orders a compact body of these volunteers marched
from Rome. Radetzky, the Austrian commander, a veteran of all the Austrian
wars since the outbreak of the French Revolution, had long prepared for
this struggle by formidable fortifications at Verona. When Milan revolted
and the Austrian Vice-Governor, O'Donnell, was captured, Radetzky evacuated
the city at the approach of Charles Albert's army from Piedmont. His
outlying garrison was cut off by the Italians. Preferring the loss of Milan
to a possible annihilation of the army, Radetzky fell back upon Verona. On
the banks of the Adige, about twenty-five miles east of the Mincio, he
rapidly concentrated all available forces, while the Italians threw up
intrenchments on the Mincio. There, with the armies of Piedmont and
Lombardy in front of him and the revolutionary forces of Venice behind him,
Radetzky stubbornly held his ground. Nothing remained to Austria on
Italian ground but Verona and the neighboring fortresses on the Adige and
Mincio.
[Sidenote: Kossuth's appeal]
[Sidenote: Magyar Constitution proclaimed]
[Sidenote: Stocks fall in Vienna]
The Austrian Empire itself, by this time, was shaken to its foundations.
When the news of the February Revolution in Paris reached Austria the
Magyar Diet was in session in Hungary. The success of the revolutionists in
France inflamed the Liberal leaders in Hungary. Casting aside all reserve,
Kossuth declared in the Diet: "From the charnel house of the Viennese
system a poison-laden atmosphere steals over us. It would paralyze our
nerves and pin us down when we might soar. The future of Hungary can never
be secured while Austria maintains a system of government in direct
antagonism to every constitutional principle. Our task is to found a
happier future on the brotherhood of all the races in Austria. For a union
enforced by bayonets and police spies let us substitute the enduring bond
of a free constitution!" On March 3, the Hungarian Lower House triumphantly
passed a resolution to that effect. The cry for a liberal constitution was
instantly taken up in the other dominions of Austria. It so happened that
the Provincial Estates of Lower Austria were to meet about this time. It
was planned that an address embodying demands similar to those of Hungary
should be forwarded to the Emperor by this assembly. The political
agitation in Vienna became feverish. The students indulged in noisy
demonstrations. Rumors of the impending repudiation of the paper currency
and of State bankruptcy made matters worse. A sharp decline in stocks
showed Metternich that a public catastrophe was near at hand.
[Sidenote: Viennese Diet stormed]
[Sidenote: Fighting in the street]
[Sidenote: Imperial palace invaded]
[Sidenote: Downfall of Metternich]
On March 13, the Provincial Diet met. Dense crowds surged about the Diet
Hall. The students marched around in procession. Street orators harangued
the crowds. The tumult was at its height when a slip of paper was let down
from one of the windows of the hall, stating that the Diet was inclining to
half measures. An announcement to this effect was received with a roar of
fury. The mob overran the guards and burst into the Diet Hall. All debate
was stopped, and the leading members of the Estates were forced to head a
deputation to the Emperor's palace to exact a hearing. All the approaches
to the palace were choked with people. Street fighting had already begun.
Detachments of soldiers were hurried to the palace and to the Diet Hall.
From the roof and windows of the Diet Hall missiles were hurled upon the
soldiery. The interior of the Hall was demolished. The soldiers now fired a
volley and cleared the Hall with their bayonets. Blood flowed freely and
many were killed. The sound of the shots was received by the crowds around
the palace with howls of rage. The whole city was in an uproar. Barricades
were thrown up and the gunsmith shops were sacked. At the palace, where the
Emperor himself remained invisible, Metternich and his assembled Council
received the deputation in state. The Council urged the aged Prime Minister
to grant the demanded concession. At length he withdrew into an adjoining
chamber to draft an order annulling the censorship of the press. While he
was thus engaged the cry was raised, "Down with Metternich!" The deputies
in the Council Chamber peremptorily demanded his dismissal. When the old
statesman returned he found himself abandoned even by his colleagues.
Metternich realized that the end had come. He made a brief farewell speech,
marked by all the dignity and self-possession of his greatest days, and
left the Council Chamber to announce his resignation to the Emperor.
[Sidenote: Quiet restored]
[Sidenote: Hungarian demands]
[Sidenote: Kossuth in Vienna]
[Sidenote: Demonstrations of enthusiasm]
The news of Metternich's downfall was received with deafening cheers. His
personality was so closely identified with all that was most hateful in
Austrian politics that the mere announcement of his resignation sufficed to
quell the popular tumult. On the night of March 14, Metternich contrived to
escape from Vienna unobserved, and fled across the frontier. On the same
day a National Guard was established in Vienna, and was supplied with arms
taken from the government arsenal. The Viennese outbreak gave irresistible
force to the national movement in Hungary. Now the Chamber of Magnates,
which had hitherto opposed the demands of the Lower House, adopted the same
by a unanimous vote. On March 15, a deputation was despatched to Vienna to
demand from the Emperor not only a liberal constitution, but a separate
Ministry, absolute freedom of the press, trial by jury, equality of
religion, and a free public-school system. The Hungarians, with Kossuth in
the lead, were received in triumph in Vienna. They paraded through the
streets, and were greeted by Emperor Ferdinand in person. He consented to
everything and issued an imperial rescript, promising a liberal
constitution to the rest of Austria as well. The light-hearted Viennese
indulged in indescribable jubilations. On March 18, the Emperor drove
through the city. Somebody put a revolutionary banner into his hands. The
black, red and gold ensign of united Germany was hoisted over the tower of
St. Stephen. In an intoxication of joy the people took the horses from the
imperial carriage and drew it triumphantly through the streets. The regular
troops around the imperial palace were superseded by the new National
Guards.
[Sidenote: Germany in a ferment]
[Sidenote: Prussian Assembly convoked]
[Sidenote: King of Prussia cowed]
[Sidenote: Revolt in Berlin]
[Sidenote: Prince William's part]
[Sidenote: King of Prussia submissive]
[Sidenote: Royal promises]
[Sidenote: Rising of Schleswig-Holstein]
[Sidenote: Reverse at Bau]