1849.

drawal of

deputies.

Character

of the re

ception of the Con

German

and who thereby saw the chance of a united Ger- CHAP. many slipping from their hands. The want of cohesion, combination, and organisation destroyed the possibility of the people gaining this end by themselves. The refusal, again, was quite unexpected by the Frankfort Parliament. Austria withdrew all Withher deputies from the Assembly. The Parliament Austrian determined to call upon all Germans to subscribe to the Constitution, the question of the head of the Empire remaining an open one, and to proceed with stitution by the elections, hoping to summon the new Reichstag States. in the early days of August. Nearly all the representative assemblies of the several States had accepted the Imperial Constitution. William of Wurtemberg was, however, the only king who had done so. Hanover and Saxony dissolved their assemblies sooner than accept the Constitution. This naturally gave rise to discontent and murmuring, in some places breaking out in open hostilities amongst the people, who considered that the princes were attempting to rob them of the little freedom the Constitution offered them. The republicans had not much hold on the country; in some instances they openly declared their aim to be the establishment of a republic, but in most cases their declared object was the introduction of the Imperial Constitution. If they had been successful, their demands would probably not have stopped there, but it would be too much to say that the wish of the people was for a republic.

CHAP.
II.

1849.

Resignation of Gagern. Appointment of

ist

Gagern resigned his office on May 9, finding he could not hinder the Parliament from passing revolutionary votes, and the Archduke John named a new ministry (Detmold Grävell), who were opposed to the unity of Germany and to the policy of Particular Prussia. There is some doubt whether the ArchMinistry. duke was really imbued with patriotic and liberal views. He may have been alarmed by the excessive demands of the Liberals and hurt as an Austrian Prince by the position of Prussia. He may have therefore gone counter to his past acts and intentions, and named this Particularist Ministry. It shows little political insight if he imagined that such a ministry was practicable at that time.

Resignation of

Parlia

ment.

The result of his move was that more than 150 members of members of the National Assembly resigned their seats or were recalled by their Governments, including Gagern and his party. The remnant of the assembly, composed chiefly of members of the extreme Left, transported itself to Stuttgart, declared the Archduke deposed, named a regency of five members, and demanded men and money from Wurtemberg and other countries in order to maintain peace and order. Their demands were refused, and the Wurtemberg troops were ordered to disperse the members if they continued to hold their sittings. This order was carried into effect on June 18, and the Frankfort Parliament ceased to exist.

Forcible dissolution of Frankfort Parliament.

Prussia's

attempts at Constitu

Prussia now attempted to commence her work of reorganisation in Germany, but she failed. A

CHAP.
II.

1849.

tional

King'

conference of princes was held at Berlin in May, but it lasted only a few days. Austria and Bavaria soon withdrew from it; the former when she discovered that the discussions tended towards her reforms. exclusion from the Germanic Confederation, and the Conference of princes latter because she saw that the object was the at Berlin. establishment of a Federative State (Bundes Staat) under Prussia. Hanover and Saxony, the other two States who attended the conferences, remained, however, firm to Prussia, and concluded with her the Three Kings' Alliance. This alliance, to which any Three member of the Confederation might attach himself, Alliance. was chiefly to occupy itself by drawing up a Constitution for Germany. By this Constitution, drawn on the same lines as that of Frankfort, a court of appeal was to be instituted at Erfurt to which every member of the Confederation was to submit himself. The term Empire (Reich) was to be given to this smaller Confederation (Austria being naturally excluded), and the head of the Central Power, though he was not to take the title of Emperor, but of head of the Empire (Reichsvorstand) was to be a Hohenzollern. He was to govern with the help of a college of princes, consisting of six members; viz. Prussia; Bavaria; Saxony, with the Thuringian States and Anhalt; Hanover, with the North German States; Wurtemberg, with Baden, Hohenzollern, and Lichtenstein; the three Hesses, with Luxemburg, Limburg, Nassau, Waldeck, Lippe, and Frankfort-on-theMain. The Reichstag was to consist of two cham

Ꭰ

CHAP.
II.

1849.

Refusal of
Archduke
John to
resign.

Withdrawal of Prussian Minister from

Frankfort

bers. Bavaria and Austria looked askance at this
Constitution; and the latter openly declared that
she would never agree to a German Parliament, and
that her only desire was the re-establishment of the
old Diet under her presidency.

The Archduke John still held the office of Ad-
ministrator, although the Assembly which had elected
him was dissolved. He declined to resign his ap-
pointment until requested to do so by all the
German Governments, and in this he was supported
by Austria, who saw in him the only link which at
present connected her with Germany. Prussia
therefore withdrew her minister from Frankfort, and
all relations between her and the central power
consequently ceased. She had obtained the adhesion
of most of the States to the Union of Three Kings;
but Austria succeeded in making Bavaria and Wur-
temberg cool with regard to this union by frightening
them with the consequences of the German Parlia-
ment which was to meet at Erfurt next year, and
for which Prussia begged her colleagues to prescribe
elections. Gagern called together a Rump Parlia-
ment at Gotha, but it immediately dissolved itself
after it had formally approved the policy of Prussia.
This Power, however, saw the impossibility of
realising the ideas which had inspired the union, in
the face of the opposition of Austria, Bavaria, and
Wurtemberg, and with the support of
very lukewarm
'Interim' adherents. She therefore began to enter into nego-
tiations with Austria, and on September 30 a treaty,

treaty.

1

CHAP.

II.

1849.

tion of Archduke

Meeting of

new Parlia

ment.

of Parlia

called the Interim,' was signed at Vienna. In this treaty the two Powers agreed that till May 1, 1850, the functions of the central power should be exercised by them conjointly, assisted by a Federal Commission (Bundes Commission). This Commission met at Frankfort in the middle of December, and Resignathe Archduke resigned his power into their hands. John. Prussia now made endeavours to obtain the summoning together of the new Parliament, and notwithstanding the opposition of Austria and the Middle States it met at Erfurt on March 20, 1850. But though Austria had been unable to prevent its meeting, it procured its dissolution; and on April Dissolution 29 it was suddenly prorogued, never to meet again. ment. The time for the expiration of the Interim' Treaty was now approaching, and at the end of April Prince Austria Schwarzenberg, the Austrian Prime Minister, made old Diet to a bold stroke, and summoned the old Plenum to meet at Frankfort. The Middle States and seven other Governments1 responded to the appeal, but Prussia and her allies protested. The Plenum met on May 10, and on September 2, Austria opened the smaller Council, and consequently re-established the old Diet. Owing to the state of tension in the relations between Prussia and the resuscitated Diet, it was evident that a severance must soon take place which would result either in submission or war. The eternally recurring differences between the

1 Electoral Hesse took a middle course, and sent representatives to Frankfort and to Berlin.

summons

meet at

Frankfort.