I. at Vienna. French refugees assisted, when resolutions were CHAP. passed in favour of a German Republic. The relations between the revolutionary party in Poland 1820-48. and their friends in Germany were becoming so intimate, and the expression of their views so open, that the Emperor of Russia in the autumn of 1833 met the Emperor of Austria and the Crown Prince of Prussia at München-Grätz to discuss the condition of Germany and Poland. The sovereigns decided Conferences that a ministerial conference should be held at Vienna, and on January 13, 1834, Prince Metternich opened the first sitting. The resolutions then agreed upon were, that the head of each State should hold firmly to his sovereign rights, and that he should in no way make concession to the demands of his Assemblies; that the Diet should, in case of necessity, send troops to help the sovereign, and that a Federal Court of Appeal should be established for settling differences between the sovereign and his people. This latter resolution was never carried into effect. The Carlsbad decrees were again formally renewed. Russia, while she was apparently acting in harmony with the two great German Powers, secretly circulated through the Middle States a note in which she warned them against the pretensions of Imperial Austria and of Constitutional Prussia, and urged them to look upon her as their natural and only true friend. The camp which she formed at Kalisch two years later, and at which her troops, Camp at Kalisch. 1. 1820-48. CHAP. mingled with those of Austria and Prussia, were to give to the world an example of brotherly love, failed completely. It was in March of this year Emperor (1835) that the Emperor Francis died, the last Hapsburg who had borne the German Crown. Death of Francis. CHAPTER II. Meetings in Baden-The Vor Parlament'-Dissolution of the Diet— CHAP. II. 1818. Meetings THE July revolution of 1830 passed by, as has been said, almost without notice; but in 1848 the long repressed bitterness and discontent found expression. The first symptoms of the coming revolution in in Baden. Germany were visible in Baden, where meetings were held with a view of altering the present Constitution. The demands which were then made, and which were afterwards accepted as the Liberal programme throughout Germany, were as follows: A German parliament, elected by and from among the whole male population; trial by jury; freedom of the press; arming of the people; equality of all religions; abolition of feudal burdens. The Diet at the first rumbling of the storm lost its head completely, and made concession after concession. The smaller States immediately followed its example, and granted all these demands, with the exception of that for a German parliament, which was beyond their The leaders of the revolutionary movepowers. ment, Itystein, Gagern, Struve, and others, met and revolution and pro Meeting gramme of ary leaders. CHAP. II. 1848. Diet's con cessions. Concessions of Austria and Prussia. formed a commission to prepare the way for a national representation. A preliminary parliament (Vor Parlament) was to be called together, formed of members elected from the Assemblies of the different States, to debate upon the best mode of obtaining a National Diet. The Diet endeavoured to anticipate the demands of the people by declaring every German State to be at liberty to abolish the censure; by calling upon the several Governments to depute delegates for a revision of the Constitution on a more national basis; and finally by decreeing elections for a German parliament. All these resolutions merely showed the weakness of the Diet, as the leaders of the new movement steadily pursued their course, and showed themselves perfectly indifferent to the proceedings of that body. The disturbances which took place simultaneously at Berlin and Vienna forced the Governments of both countries to make the desired concessions, and they attempted to conciliate the popular mind by taking the chief reformers into their ministries. While, however, the Government of Austria limited their concessions to matters of internal government, the King of Prussia went a step farther, and on March 18, after abolishing the censure and promising to call the Landstag together, he declared himself ready to replace the Confederation by a Federal State. This statement created considerable dissatisfaction and distrust at Vienna and other capitals; it appeared as if Prussia were taking advantage of the disturbed state of Germany to further her own CHAP. projects and ambition. II. 1848. Meeting of Parla constitu The Vor Parlament' met in Frankfort on March 31, in the Church of St. Paul. The several States the Vor were most unequally represented. Prussia, for ex- ment. ample, sent one hundred and forty-one deputies, Austria two, and Hesse Darmstadt eighty-four. The majority were inclined to constitutional monarchical principles, but there was a large and active minority who desired to see a constitution framed on the model of that of the United States of America, introduced into Germany. It was determined that Plan for the Constitution of Germany should consist in a tional chief of the Empire, assisted by a diet composed of a senate and a representative assembly. All the demands made at Baden were ratified, and it was decided that the future Constitution of the Empire should be settled by the National Assembly about to be elected, without reference to the several GovernThis was placing all power in the hands of the democratic party. The advanced party, led by Hecker and Struve, attempted to have the German Republic declared, and then the permanency of ments. 6 reform. of extreme moderate the Vor Parlament' voted, but in vain. It was now Separation that the extreme party separated itself entirely from party from Gagern and the moderate reformers, and proceeded reformers. to acts of overt rebellion, which took some time to suppress. No greater mistake could be made than to suppose that the majority, either in the Vor Parlament,' or in the Assembly which it called into life, |