A History of Germany Part 37

The Allies now offered peace, granting to France the boundaries of 1792, which included Savoy, Lorraine and Alsatia. The history of their negotiations during the campaign shows how reluctantly they prosecuted the war, and what little right they have to its final success, which is wholly due to Stein, Blucher, and the bravery of the German soldiers.

Napoleon was so elated by his victories that he rejected the offer; and then, _at last_, the union of the allied armies and their march on Paris was permitted. Battle after battle followed: Napoleon disputed every inch of ground with the most marvellous energy, but even his victories were disasters, for he had no means of replacing the troops he lost. The last fight took place at the gates of Paris, on the 30th of March, and the next day, at noon, the three sovereigns made their triumphal entrance into the city.

Not until then did the latter determine to dethrone Napoleon and restore the Bourbon dynasty. They compelled the act of abdication, which Napoleon signed at Fontainebleau on the 11th of April, installed the Count d'Artois (afterwards Charles X.) as head of a temporary government, and gave to France the boundaries of 1792. Napoleon was limited to the little island of Elba, Maria Louisa received the Duchy of Parma, and the other Bonapartes were allowed to retain the t.i.tle of Prince, with an income of 2,500,000 francs. One million francs was given to the Ex-Empress Josephine, who died the same year. No indemnity was exacted from France; not even the works of art, stolen from the galleries of Italy and Germany for the adornment of Paris, were reclaimed! After enduring ten years of humiliation and outrage, the Allies were as tenderly considerate as if their invasion of France had been a wrong, for which they must atone by all possible concessions.

In Southern Germany, where very little national sentiment existed, the treaty was quietly accepted, but it provoked great indignation among the people in the North. Their rejoicings over the downfall of Napoleon, the deliverance of Germany, and (as they believed) the foundation of a liberal government for themselves, were disturbed by this manifestation of weakness on the part of their leaders. The European Congress, which was opened on the 1st of November, 1814, at Vienna, was not calculated to restore their confidence. Francis II. and Alexander I. were the leading figures; other nations were represented by their best statesmen; the former priestly rulers, all the petty princes, and hundreds of the "Imperial" n.o.bility whose privileges had been taken away from them, attended in the hope of recovering something from the general chaos. A series of splendid entertainments was given to the members of the Congress, and it soon became evident to the world that Europe, and especially Germany, was to be reconstructed according to the will of the individual rulers, without reference to principle or people.

[Sidenote: 1815. NAPOLEON'S RETURN TO FRANCE.]

France was represented in the Congress by Talleyrand, who was greatly the superior of the other members in the arts of diplomacy. Before the winter was over, he persuaded Austria and England to join France in an alliance against Russia and Prussia, and another European war would probably have broken out, but for the startling news of Napoleon's landing in France on the 1st of March, 1815. Then, all were compelled to suspend their jealousies and unite against their common foe. On the 25th of March a new alliance was concluded between Austria, Russia, Prussia and England: the first three agreed to furnish 150,000 men each, while the last contributed a lesser number of soldiers and 5,000,000 pounds sterling. All the smaller German States joined in the movement, and the people were still so full of courage and patriotic hope that a much larger force than was needed was soon under arms.

Napoleon reached Paris on the 20th of March, and instantly commenced the organization of a new army, while offering peace to all the powers of Europe, on the basis of the treaty of Paris. This time, he received no answer: the terror of his name had pa.s.sed away, and the allied sovereigns acted with promptness and courage. Though he held France, Napoleon's position was not strong, even there. The land had suffered terribly, and the people desired peace, which they had never enjoyed under his rule. He raised nearly half a million of soldiers, but was obliged to use the greater portion in preventing outbreaks among the population; then, selecting the best, he marched towards Belgium with an army of 120,000, in order to meet Wellington and Blucher by turns, before they could unite. The former had 100,000 men, most of them Dutch and Germans, under his command: the latter, with 115,000, was rapidly approaching from the East. By this time--the beginning of June--neither the Austrians nor Russians had entered France.

[Sidenote: 1815.]

On the 16th of June two battles occurred. Napoleon fought Blucher at Ligny, while Marshal Ney, with 40,000 men, attacked Wellington at Quatrebras. Thus neither of the allies was able to help the other.

Blucher defended himself desperately, but his horse was shot under him and the French cavalry almost rode over him as he lay upon the ground.

He was rescued with difficulty, and then compelled to fall back. The battle between Ney and Wellington was hotly contested; the gallant Duke of Brunswick was slain in a cavalry charge, and the losses on both sides were very great, but neither could claim a decided advantage. Wellington retired to Waterloo the next day, to be nearer Blucher, and then

Napoleon, uniting with Ney, marched against him with 75,000 men, while Grouchy was sent with 36,000 to engage Blucher. Wellington had 68,000 men, so the disproportion in numbers was not very great, but Napoleon was much stronger in cavalry and artillery.

The great battle of Waterloo began on the morning of the 18th of June.

Wellington was attacked again and again, and the utmost courage and endurance of his soldiers barely enabled them to hold their ground: the charges of the French were met by an equally determined resistance, but the fate of the battle depended on Blucher's arrival. The latter left a few corps at Wavre, his former position, in order to deceive Grouchy, and pushed forward through rain and across a marshy country to Wellington's relief. At four o'clock in the afternoon Napoleon made a tremendous effort to break the English centre: the endurance of his enemy began to fail, and there were signs of wavering along the English lines when the cry was heard: "The Prussians are coming!" Bulow's corps soon appeared on the French flank, Blucher's army closed in shortly afterwards, and by eight o'clock the French were flying from the field.

There were no allied monarchs on hand to arrest the pursuit: Blucher and Wellington followed so rapidly that they stood before Paris within ten days, and Napoleon was left without any alternative but instant surrender. The losses at Waterloo, on both sides, were 50,000 killed and wounded.

This was the end of Napoleon's interference in the history of Europe.

All his offers were rejected, he was deserted by the French, and a fortnight afterwards, failing in his plan of escaping to America, he surrendered to the captain of an English frigate off the port of Rochefort. From that moment until his death at St. Helena on the 5th of May, 1821, he was a prisoner and an exile. A new treaty was made between the allied monarchs and the Bourbon dynasty of France: this time the treasures of art and learning were restored to Italy and Germany, an indemnity of 700,000,000 francs was exacted, Savoy was given back to Sardinia, and a little strip of territory, including the fortresses of Saarbruck, Saarlouis and Landau, added to Germany. The attempt of Austria and Prussia to acquire Lorraine and Alsatia was defeated by the cunning of Talleyrand and the opposition of Alexander I. of Russia.

[Sidenote: 1815. THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA.]

The jealousies and dissensions in the Congress of Vienna were hastily arranged during the excitement occasioned by Napoleon's return from Elba, and the members patched together, within three months, a new political map of Europe. There was no talk of restoring the lost kingdom of Poland; Prussia's claim to Saxony (which the king, Frederick Augustus, had fairly forfeited) was defeated by Austria and England; and then, after each of the princ.i.p.al powers had secured whatever was possible, they combined to regulate the affairs of the helpless smaller States. Holland and Belgium were added together, called the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and given to the house of Orange: Switzerland, which had joined the Allies against France, was allowed to remain a republic and received some slight increase of territory; and Lorraine and Alsatia were lost to Germany.

Austria received Lombardy and Venetia, Illyria, Dalmatia, the Tyrol, Salzburg, Galicia and whatever other territory she formerly possessed.

Prussia gave up Warsaw to Russia, but kept Posen, recovered Westphalia and the territory on the Lower Rhine, and was enlarged by the annexation of Swedish Pomerania, part of Saxony, and the former archbishoprics of Mayence, Treves and Cologne. East-Friesland was taken from Prussia and given to Hannover, which was made a kingdom: Weimar, Oldenburg and the two Mecklenburgs were made Grand-Duchies, and Bavaria received a new slice of Franconia, including the cities of Wurzburg and Bayreuth, as well as all of the former Palatinate lying west of the Rhine. Frankfort, Bremen, Hamburg and Lubeck were allowed to remain free cities: the other smaller States were favored in various ways, and only Saxony suffered by the loss of nearly half her territory. Fortunately the priestly rulers were not restored, and the privileges of the free n.o.bles of the Middle Ages not reestablished. Napoleon, far more justly than Attila, had been "the Scourge of G.o.d" to Germany. In crushing rights, he had also crushed a thousand abuses, and although the monarchs who ruled the Congress of Vienna were thoroughly reactionary in their sentiments, they could not help decreeing that what was dead in the political const.i.tution of Germany should remain dead.

[Sidenote: 1815.]

All the German States, however, felt that some form of union was necessary. The people dreamed of a Nation, of a renewal of the old Empire in some better and stronger form; but this was mostly a vague desire on their part, without any practical ideas as to how it should be accomplished. The German ministers at Vienna were divided in their views; and Metternich took advantage of their impatience and excitement to propose a scheme of Confederation which introduced as few changes as possible into the existing state of affairs. It was so drawn up that while it presented the appearance of an organization, it secured the supremacy of Austria, and only united the German States in mutual defence against a foreign foe and in mutual suppression of internal progress. This scheme, hastily prepared, was hastily adopted on the 10th of June, 1815 (before the battle of Waterloo), and controlled the destinies of Germany for nearly fifty years afterwards.

The new Confederation was composed of the Austrian Empire, the Kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtemberg and Hannover, the Grand-Duchies of Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Strelitz, Saxe-Weimar and Oldenburg; the Electorate of Hesse-Ca.s.sel; the Duchies of Brunswick, Na.s.sau, Saxe-Gotha, Coburg, Meiningen and Hildburghausen, Anhalt-Dessau, Bernburg and Kothen; Denmark, on account of Holstein; the Netherlands, on account of Luxemburg; the four Free Cities; and eleven small princ.i.p.alities,--making a total of thirty-nine States. The Act of Union a.s.sured to them equal rights, independent sovereignty, the peaceful settlement of disputes between them, and representation in a General Diet, which was to be held at Frankfort, under the presidency of Austria. All together were required to support a permanent army of 300,000 men for their common defence. One article required each State to introduce a representative form of government. All religions were made equal before the law, the right of emigration was conceded to the people, the navigation of the Rhine was released from taxes, and freedom of the Press was permitted.

[Sidenote: 1816. THE HOLY ALLIANCE.]

Of course, the carrying of these provisions into effect was left entirely to the rulers of the States: the people were not recognized as possessing any political power. Even the "representative government"

which was a.s.sured did not include the right of suffrage; the King, or Duke, might appoint a legislative body which represented only a cla.s.s or party, and not the whole population. Moreover, the Diet was prohibited from adopting any new measure, or making any change in the form of the Confederation, except by a _unanimous_ vote. The whole scheme was a remarkable specimen of promise to the ears of the German People, and of disappointment to their hearts and minds.

The Congress of Vienna was followed by an event of quite an original character. Alexander I. of Russia persuaded Francis II. and Frederick William III. to unite with him in a "Holy Alliance," which all the other monarchs of Europe were invited to join. It was simply a declaration, not a political act. The doc.u.ment set forth that its signers pledged themselves to treat each other with brotherly love, to consider all nations as members of one Christian family, to rule their lands with justice and kindness, and to be tender fathers to their subjects. No forms were prescribed, and each monarch was left free to choose his own manner of Christian rule. A great noise was made about the Holy Alliance at the time, because it seemed to guarantee peace to Europe, and peace was most welcome after such terrible wars. All other reigning Kings and Princes, except George IV. of England, Louis XVIII. of France, and the Pope, added their signatures, but not one of them manifested any more brotherly or fatherly love after the act than before.

The new German Confederation having given the separate States a fresh lease of life, after all their convulsions, the rulers set about establishing themselves firmly on their repaired thrones. Only the most intelligent among them felt that the days of despotism, however "enlightened," were over; others avoided the liberal provisions of the Act of Union, abolished many political reforms which had been introduced by Napoleon, and oppressed the common people even more than his satellites had done. The Elector of Hesse-Ca.s.sel made his soldiers wear powdered queues, as in the last century; the King of Wurtemberg court-martialled and cashiered the general who had gone over with his troops to the German side at the battle of Leipzig; and in Mecklenburg the liberated people were declared serfs. The introduction of a legislative a.s.sembly was delayed, in some States even wholly disregarded. Baden and Bavaria adopted a Const.i.tution in 1818, Wurtemberg and Hesse-Darmstadt in 1819, but in Prussia an imperfect form of representative government for the provinces was not arranged until 1823. Austria, meanwhile, had restored some ancient privileges of the same kind, of little practical value, because not adapted to the conditions of the age; the people were obliged to be content with them, for they received no more.

[Sidenote: 1817.]

No cla.s.s of Germans were so bitterly disappointed in the results of their victory and deliverance as the young men, especially the thousands who had fought in the ranks in 1813 and 1815. At all the Universities the students formed societies which were inspired by two ideas--Union and Freedom: fiery speeches were made, songs were sung, and free expression was given to their distrust of the governments under which they lived. On the 18th of October, 1817, they held a grand Convention at the Wartburg--the castle near Eisenach, where Luther lay concealed,--and this event occasioned great alarm among the reactionary cla.s.s. The students were very hostile to the influence of Russia, and many persons who were suspected of being her secret agents became specially obnoxious to them. One of the latter was the dramatic author, Kotzebue, who was a.s.sa.s.sinated in March, 1819, by a young student named Sand. There is not the least evidence that this deed was the result of a widespread conspiracy; but almost every reigning prince thereupon imagined that his life was in danger.

A Congress of Ministers was held at Carlsbad the same summer, and the most despotic measures against the so-called "Revolution" were adopted.

Freedom of the Press was abolished; a severe censorship enforced; the formation of societies among the students and turners was prohibited, the Universities were placed under the immediate supervision of government, and even Commissioners were appointed to hear what the Professors said in their lectures! Many of the best men in Germany, among them the old teacher, Jahn, and the poet Arndt, were deprived of their situations, and placed under a form of espionage. Hundreds of young men, who had perpetrated no single act of resistance, were thrown into prison for years, others forced to fly from the country, and every manifestation of interest in political subjects became an offence. The effort of the German States, now, was to counteract the popular rights, guaranteed by the Confederation, by establishing an arbitrary and savage police system; and there were few parts of the country where the people retained as much genuine liberty as they had enjoyed a hundred years before.

[Sidenote: 1830. REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS.]

The History of Germany, during the thirty years of peace which followed, is marked by very few events of importance. It was a season of gradual reaction on the part of the rulers, and of increasing impatience and enmity on the part of the people. Instead of becoming loving families, as the Holy Alliance designed, the States (except some of the little princ.i.p.alities) were divided into two hostile cla.s.ses. There was material growth everywhere: the wounds left by war and foreign occupation were gradually healed; there was order, security for all who abstained from politics, and a comfortable repose for such as were indifferent to the future. But it was a sad and disheartening period for the men who were able to see clearly how Germany, with all the elements of a freer and stronger life existing in her people, was falling behind the political development of other countries.

The three Days' Revolution of 1830, which placed Louis Philippe on the throne of France, was followed by popular uprisings in some parts of Germany. Prussia and Austria were too strong, and their people too well held in check, to be affected; but in Brunswick the despotic Duke, Karl, was deposed, Saxony and Hesse-Ca.s.sel were obliged to accept co-rulers (out of their reigning families), and the English Duke, Ernest Augustus, was made Viceroy of Hannover. These four States also adopted a const.i.tutional form of government. The German Diet, as a matter of course, used what power it possessed to counteract these movements, but its influence was limited by its own laws of action. The hopes and aspirations of the people were kept alive, in spite of the system of repression, and some of the smaller States took advantage of their independence to introduce various measures of reform.

[Sidenote: 1840.]

As industry, commerce and travel increased, the existence of so many boundaries, with their custom-houses, taxes and other hindrances, became an unendurable burden. Bavaria and Wurtemberg formed a customs union in 1828, Prussia followed, and by 1836 all of Germany except Austria was united in the _Zollverein_ (Tariff Union), which was not only a great material advantage, but helped to inculcate the idea of a closer political union. On the other hand, however, the monarchical reaction against liberal government was stronger than ever. Ernest Augustus of Hannover arbitrarily overthrew the const.i.tution he had accepted, and Ludwig I. of Bavaria, renouncing all his former professions, made his land a very nest of absolutism and Jesuitism. In Prussia, such men as Stein, Gneisenau and Wilhelm von Humboldt had long lost their influence, while others of less personal renown, but of similar political sentiments, were subjected to contemptible forms of persecution.

In March, 1835, Francis II. of Austria died, and was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand I., a man of such weak intellect that he was in some respects idiotic. On the 7th of June, 1840, Frederick William III. of Prussia died, and was also succeeded by his son, Frederick William IV., a man of great wit and intelligence, who had made himself popular as Crown-Prince, and whose accession the people hailed with joy, in the enthusiastic belief that better days were coming. The two dead monarchs, each of whom had reigned forty-three years, left behind them a better memory among their people than they actually deserved. They were both weak, unstable and narrow-minded; had they not been controlled by others, they would have ruined Germany; but they were alike of excellent personal character, amiable, and very kindly disposed towards their subjects so long as the latter were perfectly obedient and reverential.

There was no change in the condition of Austria, for Metternich remained the real ruler, as before. In Prussia, a few unimportant concessions were made, an amnesty for political offences was declared, Alexander von Humboldt became the king's chosen a.s.sociate, and much was done for science and art; but in their main hope of a liberal reorganization of the government, the people were bitterly deceived. Frederick William IV.

took no steps towards the adoption of a Const.i.tution; he made the censorship and the supervision of the police more severe; he interfered in the most arbitrary and bigoted manner in the system of religious instruction in the schools; and all his acts showed that his policy was to strengthen his throne by the support of the n.o.bility and the civil service, without regard to the just claims of the people.

[Sidenote: 1844. THE GERMAN-CATHOLIC MOVEMENT.]

Thus, in spite of the external quiet and order, the political atmosphere gradually became more sultry and disturbed, all over Germany. In 1844, a Catholic priest named Ronge, disgusted with the miracles alleged to have been performed by the so-called "Holy Coat" (of the Saviour) at Treves, published addresses to the German People, which created a great excitement. He advocated the establishment of a German-Catholic Church, and found so many followers that the Protestant king of Prussia became alarmed, and all the influence of his government was exerted against the movement. It was a.s.serted that the reform was taking a political and revolutionary character, because, under the weary system of repression which they endured, the people hailed any and every sign of mental and spiritual independence. Ronge's reform was checked at the very moment when it promised success, and the idea of forcible resistance to the government began to spread among all cla.s.ses of the population.

There were signs of impatience in all quarters; various local outbreaks occurred, and the aspects were so threatening that in February, 1847, Frederick William IV. endeavored to silence the growing opposition by ordering the formation of a Legislative a.s.sembly. But the _provinces_ were represented, not the people, and the measure only emboldened the latter to clamor for a direct representation. Thereupon, the king closed the a.s.sembly, after a short session, and the attempt was probably productive of more harm than good. In most of the other German States, the situation was very similar: everywhere there were elements of opposition, all the more violent and dangerous, because they had been kept down with a strong hand for so many years.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

THE REVOLUTION OF 1848 AND ITS RESULTS.

(1848--1861.)

The Revolution of 1848. --Events in Berlin. --Alarm of the Diet. --The Provisional a.s.sembly. --First National Parliament. --Divisions among the Members. --Revolt in Schleswig-Holstein. --Its End.

--Insurrection in Frankfort. --Condition of Austria. --Vienna taken. --The War in Hungary. --Surrender of Gorgey. --Uprising of Lombardy and Venice. --Abdication of Ferdinand I. --Frederick William IV. offered the Imperial Crown of Germany. --New Outbreaks.

--Dissolution of the Parliament. --Austria renews the old Diet.

--Despotic Reaction everywhere. --Evil Days. --Lessons of 1848.

--William I. becomes Regent in Prussia. --New Hopes. --Italian Unity. --William I. King.

[Sidenote: 1848.]

The sudden breaking out of the Revolution of February, 1848, in Paris, the flight of Louis Philippe and his family, and the proclamation of the Republic, acted in Germany like a spark dropped upon powder. All the disappointments of thirty years, the smouldering impatience and sense of outrage, the powerful aspiration for political freedom among the people, broke out in sudden flame. There was instantly an outcry for freedom of speech and of the press, the right of suffrage, and a const.i.tutional form of government, in every State. Baden, where Struve and Hecker were already prominent as leaders of the opposition, took the lead: then, on the 13th of March the people of Vienna rose, and after a b.l.o.o.d.y fight with the troops compelled Metternich to give up his office as Minister, and seek safety in exile.

In Berlin, Frederick William IV. yielded to the pressure on the 18th of March, but, either by accident or rashness, a fight was brought on between the soldiers and the people, and a number of the latter were slain. Their bodies, lifted on planks, with all the b.l.o.o.d.y wounds exposed, were carried before the royal palace and the king was compelled to come to the window and look upon them. All the demands of the revolutionary party were thereupon instantly granted. The next day Frederick William rode through the streets, preceded by the ancient Imperial banner of black, red and gold, swore to grant the rights which were demanded, and, with the concurrence of the other princes, to put himself at the head of a movement for German Unity. A proclamation was published which closed with the words: "From this day forward, Prussia becomes merged in Germany." The soldiers were removed from Berlin, and the popular excitement gradually subsided.