logical consequences of its revolutionary measures to take any active part
in the international settlement of the Schleswig-Holstein question. The
majority of the provisional government were moderate republicans,
representing the _bourgeoisie_, or middle class, rather than the workmen,
but associated with them were such radicals as Louis Blanc, Ledru-Rollin
and Albert, a locksmith. During the first few days of the installation they
undertook to guarantee employment to every citizen. It proved a gigantic
engagement. The mere distribution of idle workmen among the various
industries in which they were employed called for a new branch of the
administration. The task outgrew all expectations. Within four weeks the
number of applicants for government work rose from 140 to 65,000. Under the
stimulus of government competition, a series of labor strikes were declared
against private factories and establishments. The scheme, as then
attempted, grew utterly unmanageable. As Fyffe has said in his chapter on
this subject: "If, instead of a group of benevolent theorists, the
experiment of 1848 had had for its authors a company of millionaires
anxious to dispel all hope that mankind might ever rise to a higher order
than that of unrestricted competition of man against man, it could not have
been conducted under more fatal conditions."
[Sidenote: Radicals outvoted]
[Sidenote: Another attempted revolution]
[Sidenote: National workshop abolished]
The elections of April 23 gave the moderate element a handsome majority. An
attempt to change the elections was frustrated by the National Guard.
Strengthened by this manifestation of popular approval, Lamartine and his
colleagues got rid of their radical associates in the Cabinet. The excluded
radicals now planned a new revolution. On May 15, simultaneously with the
renewed riots in Vienna, an attempt was made to overthrow the government.
On the pretext of presenting a petition on behalf of Poland, a mob invaded
the Chambers and dissolved the Assembly. A provisional government was
installed at the Hotel de Ville. The government supporters rallied the
National Guard. The leaders at the Hotel de Ville were taken captive. The
Palais Bourbon was cleared, and the Deputies were reconvened in their
assembly hall. Encouraged by this success, the government resolved to rid
itself of the incubus of the national workshops, after a variety of schemes
with this purpose in view had been brought forward in the Assembly. The
government cut the Gordian knot by a violent stroke. On June 21, an edict
was issued that all beneficiaries of the public workshops between the ages
of seventeen and twenty-five must enlist in the army or cease to receive
support from the State.
[Sidenote: Paris up in arms]
[Sidenote: Archbishop killed]
[Sidenote: End of bloodshed]
At this time more than a hundred thousand destitute men had flocked to the
national workshops. They rose as of one accord. The rising of June 23 was
the most formidable yet experienced in Paris. The number of the workmen
alone exceeded that of several army corps. The unity of grievances and
interests gave them an _esprit de corps_ similar to that of an army. The
whole eastern part of Paris was barricaded like a fortified camp. Instead
of a mere revolt, the government found itself entering upon a civil war.
General Cavaignac, the Minister of War, was placed in supreme command, the
executive commission resigning its powers. He summoned all available troops
into the capital. Regardless of private interests, Paris was treated as a
great battlefield in which the enemy was to be attacked in a mass and
dislodged from all his main lines. The barricades were battered down with
field and siege artillery. Four days and nights the fight lasted. Whole
houses and blocks in which the insurgents had found a lodgment had to be
demolished. On the third day the Archbishop of Paris was struck by a bullet
while trying to stop the bloodshed. On both sides the fight was waged with
inexcusable savagery. The National Guard, with a few exceptions, fought
side by side with the regular troops. The workmen, threatened with the loss
of their subsistence, fought with the courage of despair. At the point of
the bayonet they were at last driven into the northeastern quarter of the
city. There, plied with grape and canister from every direction, they were
brought to the point of surrender.
[Sidenote: Cavaignac]
[Sidenote: Louis Napoleon]
After this hard-won victory, the government did not hesitate to transport
without trial the whole mass of prisoners taken alive. A policy of reaction
set in. The government workshops and other concessions to socialism were
abandoned. General Cavaignac, at the direction of the Assembly, retained
his dictatorial powers until a new Constitution could be drafted. It seemed
as if Cavaignac was marked to become the permanent ruler of France, but his
own rigid republicanism stood in his way. It was at this time that Prince
Louis Napoleon once more came into prominence. When he first made his
reappearance in Paris he was requested to leave by the Provisional
Government. Retiring to England, he awaited developments, while his friends
and supporters agitated in his behalf. During the supplementary elections
he was nominated for the Chambers by four districts at once, and, despite
the government's efforts, he obtained a fourfold election. A vote of the
Assembly declared the election valid. With unwonted self-command the Prince
declined to take his seat, on the ground that it might embarrass the
government in its difficult situation. His letter to the president of the
Assembly ended with the significant declaration that if duties should be
imposed upon him by the will of the people he would know how to fulfil
them.
[Sidenote: France spellbound]
Three months later, in the midst of the debates on the constitution, while
Cavaignac was still in power, Louis Napoleon was re-elected to the
Assembly--this time by five departments. His hour had come. From this
moment he was a recognized aspirant for power. The great name of his uncle
shed its glory upon him. The new constitution of the Republic provided that
a President with executive powers should be elected by a direct vote of all
citizens. Louis Napoleon at once became a candidate. In an address to the
people he declared that he would devote himself without stint to the
maintenance of the Republic. In well-worded generalities something was
promised to all the classes and parties of France. The other candidates
were Cavaignac and Lamartine. Out of seven millions of votes cast in this
election, five million went to Louis Napoleon. The mere glamour of an
imperial name cast a new spell over France.
[Sidenote: Death of Chopin]
[Sidenote: The pianist's career]
In the midst of these stirring events in Paris, Frederick Chopin, the piano
composer, died on October 17. Born at Jelisovaya-Volia in Poland, he
received his early musical education at Warsaw. At the age of nine he
played a pianoforte concerto with improvisations in public. His first
compositions were Polish dances. In his fifteenth year he published a rondo
and a fantasie. Having perfected himself as a pianist, he set out on a
concert tour through Vienna, Munich, Paris and London. After his first
appearance in Vienna, the foremost musical critic there wrote of him: "From
the outset Chopin took place in the front rank of masters. The perfect
delicacy of his touch, his indescribable mechanical dexterity, the
melancholy tints in his style of shading, and the rare clearness of his
delivery are in him qualities which bear the stamp of genius. He must be
regarded as one of the most remarkable meteors blazing on the musical
horizon." In Paris he gave a concert at Pleyel's house. His reception was
such that he gave up all idea of proceeding further and made Paris his home
for life. He was welcomed to the intimacy of men like Liszt, Berlioz,
Meyerbeer, Bellini, Balzac and Heine. As one after another of his unique
compositions for the piano appeared, he took rank as the foremost composer
for that instrument. On the publication of his preludes and new Polish
dances, Schumann wrote of Chopin: "He is and ever will be the most daring
and proud poetic spirit of the time."
[Sidenote: Chopin and Georges Sand]
In 1836, Chopin met Madame Dudevant, better known as the celebrated
novelist Georges Sand. Their attachment was mutual. For her he wrote some
of his most inspired pieces. They spent the winter of 1838-39 together on
the Island of Majorca, where Georges Sand nursed Chopin through a severe
attack of bronchitis. Of this episode, which had its profound effect on
Chopin's music, Georges Sand has left an unengaging record in the novel
"Lucreticia Floriani," published shortly afterward, and another in her
"Histoire de ma Vie." Chopin returned from Majorca broken in health. He was
supplanted in Georges Sand's affections by Alfred de Musset. During the
season of 1848-49 he gave concerts in London, whence he returned to Paris
only to die. He was buried at Pere la Chaise, between Bellini and
Cherubini's graves.
[Sidenote: Sicilian elections]
[Sidenote: King of Sardinia wary]
In Italy, after the armistice between the Austrians and the Piedmontese,
matters went from bad to worse. In Sicily, a National Parliament had met
and put Ruggiero Settimo at the head of affairs by a unanimous vote. King
Ferdinand and the House of Bourbon were declared to have forfeited the
crown of Sicily forever. Elections were ordered to call another Prince to
the vacant throne. England, interested as ever in Sicilian affairs,
impressed upon the Sicilian leaders the urgency of an early settlement. The
elections were held in haste. On July 12, at two in the morning, the vote
was announced in Parliament. The Duke of Genoa, Albert Amadeus of Savoy,
Charles Albert's second son, was elected King. The British and French
warships in Sicilian waters fired a royal salute. For Charles Albert this
only meant fresh embarrassment. In case of acceptance, he was sure to be
involved in war with Naples in the south, as well as with Austria in the
north. When the Sicilian deputies submitted their proposition in Piedmont,
on August 27, they obtained no definite reply.
[Sidenote: Venice steadfast]
[Sidenote: Riots at Bologna]
[Sidenote: Rossi, Papal Minister]
Meanwhile King Ferdinand of Naples gathered his forces to win back Sicily.
In the north the cause of Italy was on the wane. Francis V. was reinstated
as Duke of Modena, with the help of Austrian arms. On his return in August
he granted an amnesty, from the benefits of which "only those who had taken
part in the revolution" were to be excluded. Austrian troops under Count
Thurn likewise occupied the Duchy of Parma, the Duke remaining in Germany.
In Tuscany, the Archduke found it difficult to maintain himself at
Florence. His principality was overrun by radical refugees. A revolutionary
junta at Leghorn threatened to proclaim the republic unless the Duke of
Tuscany should appoint a governor in sympathy with their ideas. In his
extremity the Duke sent them Montanelli, a political dreamer, who
proclaimed Jesus Christ as the father of democracy. At Venice the Republic
of St. Mark, under Manin's able leadership, still held its own. Austria's
occupation of Ferrara and the Romagna brought new embarrassment to the
Pope. Baron Von Welden, the Austrian general, made matters worse in the
Romagna by his threatening language: "Woe to those who dare to oppose me!"
Formal protests were made in vain by Pope Pio Nono and the diplomatic
representatives of France and England. The Papal Ministry of Mamiani
resigned. The Roman Radicals, under the leadership of Prince Canino, a
Bonaparte, clamored for war, and some Austrian officers dared to show
themselves in Bologna. They were attacked in the streets and murdered by
the mob. Fighting began around Bologna. Too late the Austrians consented to
relieve the Pope from this embarrassment by withdrawing their troops from
his dominions. The Pope's new Minister, Count Pellegrino Rossi, an
unusually able and forceful man who had once acted as an envoy for Louis
Philippe, was denounced as a Frenchman and an enemy to Italy.
[Sidenote: Bombardment of Messina]
In September, King Ferdinand of Naples, having got rid of his Parliament,
launched his forces upon Sicily. General Filangieri, with 12,000 men, was
sent against Messina. There the Neapolitan garrison still held the
citadel--all that remained to Ferdinand of his Sicilian kingdom. Three
days before Filangieri landed, the gunners in the citadel began to bombard
the helpless town lying beneath them. Half of the city was laid in ruins.
The foreign warships in the harbor were filled with refugees. It was this
outrage that gave to King Ferdinand the nickname of "King Bomba." The
inhabitants remained steadfast. When Filangieri effected his landing, the
fight was carried on with ferocity. The fall of the city was followed by
barbarous excesses. For three days incendiary fires raged in the hapless
town. At last the foreign admirals, Parker and Baudin, put a stop to the
horrors, "as against all canons of civilized nations." An armistice was
established between the Neapolitans and the Sicilians. King Ferdinand's
dogged resistance to the remonstrances of the French and English
Ambassadors was strengthened by the latest event in Rome.
[Sidenote: Assassination of Rossi]
[Sidenote: Flight of Pio Nono]
On November 15, as the Roman Chambers were about to be opened, Prime
Minister Rossi was assassinated as he left his carriage to enter the
Chambers. It was the signal for a new revolt. The delegates in the Hall of
Chambers sought safety in flight. The National Guards made common cause
with the insurgents. A howling mob beset the Quirinal. But for the resolute
stand of the Pope's Swiss mercenaries, the palace would have been stormed.
As bullets penetrated the walls of the Pope's ante-chamber, Pio Nono
exclaimed: "Has Heaven no lightning?" For a while the Pope was practically
a prisoner in his palace, while the Prince of Panino and Sterbini, the
President of the Circolo Popolare, ruled Rome. At last, on the night of
November 24, Pio Nono, in the disguise of a groom, escaped from Rome,
seated on the box of the carriage of the Bavarian Ambassador, Count Spaur.
He fled to Naples. From the Neapolitan fortress Gaeta he sent a letter to
his "dearest son," the Emperor of Austria, imploring his help against the
Republic of Rome.
[Sidenote: Revolt in Frankfort]
At Frankfort, the ratification of the armistice of Malmoe by the German
Parliament had aroused the Radicals to fury. On September 17, the day after
the second vote on this matter, a mass meeting was called at Frankfort. One
delegate, Zitz, proposed the abolition of the Parliament; another, Ludwig
Simon, declared the time had come to discuss all further questions from
behind barricades. The Municipal Senate of Frankfort, taking alarm, ordered
out the city troops and appealed for help to Prussia. On the morrow
fighting began in the streets of Frankfort. Barricades had been erected
overnight, and all day long the insurgents held their ground. It was known
that a Prussian column was approaching. Prince Lichnovsky and General Von
Auerswald, two leaders of the Conservative majority in the Parliament,
rashly undertook to meet the Prussian troops halfway. At the gates of
Frankfort both men were seized by the insurgents and were lynched by the
mob. Shortly before midnight the Prussian troops arrived and soon overran
the barricades with their bayonets. On the following day the city was under
military rule.
[Sidenote: South Germany restive]
In other parts of South Germany revolution had broken out anew. The Prince
of Sigmaringen was driven from his little domain, which was proclaimed a
republic. Insurgent expeditions were organized in Wurtemberg and Baden.
There Karl Blind and Gustav Struve made another attempt on Freiburg. At
Staufen, on September 24, they were beaten back by regular troops under
General Hoffmann and fled toward Switzerland. Struve himself was captured
near the frontier. On the same day the German Cabinet at Frankfort was
reinstated. Still the ill success of popular government in Germany brought
the Parliament into lasting disrepute.
[Sidenote: Reaction in Berlin]
[Sidenote: Brandenburg Prime Minister]
[Sidenote: Prussian Parliament dissolved]
The reaction was first felt at Berlin. There the return of General
Wrangel's troops from Denmark was followed by friction between the soldiers
and the democratic agitators in the streets. A resolution was passed in the
popular Parliament of Prussia that all officers out of sympathy with
democratic government should be encouraged to leave the army. The failure
of the Minister of War to act on this suggestion was followed by his
downfall. Having succeeded in this, the parliamentary majority next passed
a vote to eliminate the words "by the grace of God" from the titles of the
King. Toward the end of October a national convention of democrats met at
Berlin, and held its sessions amid tumultuous scenes in the streets. In
exasperation, the King dissolved the Cabinet that had been forced upon him,
and commissioned Count Brandenburg, a natural son of Frederick William II.,
to form another. It included Major-General von Strotha, Minister of War,
and Otto von Manteuffel, Minister of the Interior. The Parliament sent a
deputation to remonstrate with the King. One of the delegates, Jacoby, as
the King terminated the audience, called after him: "Behold the chief
misfortune of kings, that they will not listen to the truth!" Immediately
after this King Frederick William IV. prorogued the Parliament to the town
of Brandenburg. The majority of the delegates declined to adjourn. The
Cabinet Ministers, followed by the members that had been outvoted, left the
hall. On November 15, the remaining Parliament issued a proclamation to the
people to withhold all further payment of taxes. General Wrangel posted his
troops throughout Berlin. The Municipal Guards of Berlin were dissolved. An
attempt on the part of the Parliament to meet again was easily frustrated.
The taxes were collected as before. When the Parliamentary minority came to
order at Brandenburg their sessions were dissolved by royal order. On his
own initiative, King Frederick William IV. now proclaimed a constitution.
The Chambers, provisions for which were contained in this royal
constitution, were to meet at Berlin on February 24, 1849. Such was the end
of the People's Parliament in Prussia.
[Illustration: WAGNER AND LISZT
Painted by W. Beckmann]
About the same time Robert Blum, one of the radical Parliamentarians of
Frankfort, was shot in Austria. Together with Froebel, he had been
despatched to Vienna by the Parliamentary minority in Frankfort with
messages of sympathy for the popular cause in Austria. To offset this, the
majority sent two delegates to the Emperor to offer the Parliament's good
services for mediation with his rebellious subjects. They were coolly
received.
[Sidenote: Slav Congress of Prague]
[Sidenote: Bohemian revolt suppressed]
[Sidenote: Ferdinand's duplicity]
[Sidenote: Archduke Stephen withdraws]
[Sidenote: Kossuth in power]
[Sidenote: Murder of General Lamberg]
[Sidenote: Count Zichy shot]
All Austria was in a state of civil war. After the example of the Slavs in
Servia and Croatia, the Czechs of Bohemia rose at Prague. Austrian-German
authority there collapsed. A National Guard was organized, and a popular
Assembly convened. In midsummer a Congress of Slavs from all parts of
Austria met at Prague. Popular excitement rose to a threatening pitch. On
the day that the Panslavistic Congress broke up, barricades were erected
and fighting began in the streets of Prague. The wife of Count
Windischgraetz, the military commandant, was killed by a bullet.
Windischgraetz, after withdrawing his troops, threatened to bombard the city
unless the barricades were removed. This was not done. Windischgraetz then
took the city by storm. Military law was proclaimed. This success, like
that of Radetzky's arms in Italy, gave new hope to the Austrian Emperor. He
pronounced his veto on Hungary's military measures against Croatia. A
hundred delegates from the Magyar Diet at Pesth posted to Vienna to exact
from the Emperor the fulfilment of his promises to Hungary. On September 9,
the Emperor received them at his palace with renewed assurances that he
would keep his plighted word. A few hours afterward the official "Gazette"
published a letter over the Emperor's signature, expressing his full
approval of Jellacic's measures in Croatia. This was all Jellacic had been
waiting for. On September 11, he crossed the Drave with his Croatians and
marched upon Pesth. Archduke Stephen, the Hungarian Palatine, took command
of the Magyar army and went to the front. At Lake Balaton he requested a
conference with Jellacic. The Ban paid no attention to it. Realizing the
secret support given to Jellacic by the Crown, Archduke Stephen resigned
his command in Hungary. The Emperor now appointed General Lamberg at Vienna
to the supreme command over the military forces of Hungary as well as
Croatia. At the same time the Austrian Cabinet submitted a memorial
suggesting that the laws establishing Hungarian autonomy be declared null
and void. On the publication of this memorial in Pesth, Batthyany's
Ministry resigned. Kossuth openly proposed war with Austria. When Lamberg
arrived at Pesth, Kossuth prevailed upon the Diet to withhold its
ratification of Lamberg's appointment. Should Lamberg attempt to resume his
military command Kossuth demanded that he should be outlawed as a traitor.
As General Lamberg crossed the bridge at Budapesth he was recognized by the
populace. A cry was raised that he meant to seize the citadel and bombard
the town. He was dragged from his carriage and torn to pieces by the mob.
His body was dragged through the streets, and finally strung up before one
of the government buildings. A few days later, Count Zichy, one of the
Magyar magnates, was court-martialled by order of Arthur Goergey, the
Hungarian Honved leader, for entering into a correspondence with Jellacic,
and was shot.
[Sidenote: Imperial rescript repudiated]
[Sidenote: Troops mutiny in Vienna]
[Sidenote: Flight of Emperor]
On the receipt of this news, Emperor Ferdinand declared the Hungarian
Parliament dissolved, and pronounced all its acts null and void. Jellacic
was appointed representative of Austria in Hungary with command of all the
forces. The Magyar Diet repudiated the Emperor's manifesto as a breach of
the constitution, and pronounced Jellacic a traitor. Jellacic's forces were
checked by the Hungarian army in their advance upon Pesth. General Latour,
the Austrian Minister of War, ordered a division of troops at Vienna to go
to the support of Jellacic. The Magyar sympathizers at Vienna raised a
fearful uproar. As the troops were marching out of the city several
battalions were prevailed upon to mutiny. The Hungarian flag was hoisted
above the Cathedral of St. Stephen. The National Guard joined the mutiny.
Other battalions of the line were driven out of the city. The guards at the
arsenal capitulated. Vienna was at the mercy of the insurgents. The
Emperor, who had sought refuge at Schoenbrunn, left his palace at four on
the morning of October 1, and fled to Olmuetz.
[Sidenote: Jellacic marches on Vienna]
[Sidenote: Windischgraetz moves from Bohemia]
[Sidenote: Assault on Vienna]
[Sidenote: Arrival of Hungarians]
[Sidenote: Battle of the Schwechat]