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 ^<Z-'J 
 
 <fx-- 

 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE 
 
 ISAAC FOOT < 
 
 Ex Libris
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HOUSE OF AUSTRIA, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ACCESSION OF FEANCIS I. 
 
 TO THE 
 
 EEVOLUTION OF 1848. 
 
 IN CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY WRITTEN BY 
 
 ARCHDEACON COXE. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 GENESIS; 
 
 OE, 
 
 DETAILS OF THE LATE AUSTRIAN REVOLUTION. 
 By an officer OF STATE. 
 
 ©ranslatji front tfje ®crman. 
 
 LONDON: 
 HENEY G. BOHN, YOEK STEEET, CO VENT GAEDEN. 
 
 1853.
 
 
 rRi.vTKD oy 
 
 cox BniiTIIKRS) AND WVMAV, GRKATQURBN ¥TKKKT, 
 LINCOLN's-INN PIELim.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The work wliich forms the greater part of this volume is 
 in some respects a thing unique in literature. Its author, 
 Count Hai-tig, a Conservative Austrian statesman, honom^ed 
 by the confidence of his sovereign, professes to expound the 
 causes of the revolution which lately shook the empire to its 
 foundations. In so doing, he criticises the course of the 
 Imperial administration with a freedom unexampled by any 
 public writer of liis class and countiy ; for, except during the 
 chaotic times of 1848 and 1849, it has always been a rule 
 with the Austrian Government to discountenance all com- 
 ments on its own proceedings, whether on the part of 
 friends or opponents. The work thus singularly charac- 
 terized is executed with great ability, and must always be 
 valued by the political inquirer as an authoritative expo- 
 sition of the momentous crisis to which it relates, as seen 
 from an Austrian point of view. It produced an extraor- 
 dinary excitement when first published, and went through 
 several editions with great rapidity. 
 
 The work has been translated in compliance with the 
 advice and desire of a most distinguished personage, and is 
 presented as a valuable appendix to Coxe's " History of 
 the House of Austria," already piiblished in the Standard 
 Library. Prefixed is an original epitome of the history 
 of the empire, embracing the period from the accession 
 of the Emperor Francis I. to the close of the war in Hun- 
 gary, in 1849. In the compilation of this portion of the 
 volume reference has been made to the best and most recent 
 authorities, both English and foreign. 
 
 Walter K. Kelly.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 KriToMK OF THK HISTORY OF AUSTRIA, 
 From the Acetmon of Francis I. to the Close of the Revolution of 1848-9. 
 
 CHAn-KK 1. - First War with France. 1702-1797 . . Pao*^ xiii 
 
 Fcelile Inva-MJon of the Netlnri.iiids by the French. . . . ib. 
 
 lUtllrrt of Vnlmy nnii .U-ni.iiniLH .. .. .. •• xiv 
 
 Fir!<t (Jent-ml Coalition a;;:iin.st France 
 
 Seizure of (.'ondi- ami Valenciennes . . 
 
 Reln-at of the Aiwtrians. Defection of the Prussians 
 
 CamjMiijn» of 17'.*4. Partition of Poianrl 
 
 I'iunpaign of 1 71';» 
 
 t'anipaijfn of 17i't! 
 
 Peace of Canipo Formio 
 
 Fall of Venice .. 
 CllArTEK II.— Second War with France, 1798-1804 
 
 Murder of French Envoys at Ha-tadt 
 
 Coalition of Au.Htria, Russia, and England .. 
 
 Campaign of the Alps . . 
 
 New Strategy of the Allies .. 
 
 Recall of the RuHsian Forces . . 
 
 Ilatlle of Marengo 
 
 Battle of Hohenlinden. . 
 
 Peace of LuncTille 
 
 The Title of " Emperor of Austria" assumed 
 Chapter III. — Fir»t War with the French Enijnre, ISO/^-ö 
 
 Surrender tif tieneral Mack .. 
 
 The Tyrol taken 
 
 Napoleon marches upon Vienna 
 
 Battle of Austerlitz. Peace of Presburg 
 
 Disgolution of the (iennan Empire .. 
 Chaptkr IV. — Second War with the French Empire . . 
 
 The AiMtrians F'ive Times defeated by Napoleon . . 
 
 Nafjoleon ilefcated at Aspern. . 
 
 I>attle of Wagram 
 
 Peace of \'icnua 
 CHAPrEU v.— From the Peace of Vienna to the Fall of Napo- 
 leon, 1810-1815 
 
 Marriage of Napoleon and Maria Louisa 
 
 AuHtria enters into a Conditional Alliance against Napoleon 
 
 Battle of Dresden 
 
 Battle of Leipnic 
 
 Invasion of F'rance 
 
 Alxlication of Napoleon 
 
 His Return from F^lba and Final Relegation to St. Helena 
 
 Share of Autitria in the New Partition of Europe . . 
 CHAPTEK VI. — From the Congress of Vienna, ISlö, to the Revo- 
 lution of 1848 Iv 
 
 XV 
 
 xvi 
 xvii 
 xviii 
 
 xxi 
 xxii 
 
 XXV 
 
 xxvi 
 xxvii 
 
 ib. 
 
 xxviii 
 
 xxix 
 
 ib. 
 
 XXX 
 
 xxxi 
 
 xxxii 
 
 ib. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 ib. 
 
 xxxvi 
 
 xxxvii 
 
 xxxviii 
 
 ib. 
 
 xl 
 
 xli 
 
 xlii 
 
 xliii 
 
 xliv 
 
 xlv 
 
 xlvi 
 
 ib. 
 
 xlviii 
 
 xlix 
 
 1 
 
 ib. 
 
 liii 
 
 liv 
 
 ib.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 Affairs of Naples, Spain, and Greece 
 
 Death of Francis and Accession of Ferdinand 
 
 Insurrection of Galicia 
 
 Incorporation of Cracow with Austria 
 
 Affairs of Italy . . 
 Chapter VII. ^ — Revolution of 1848, from March 
 
 Bombardment of Prague 
 
 New Constitution of Hungary 
 
 Duplicity of the Imperial Government 
 Chapter VIII. — Lombai-do- Venetian War, 1 
 
 The Austrians driven out of Milan . . 
 ,, ,, Venice . . 
 
 Charles Albert attacks Eadetzki 
 
 Battle of Somma Ca^ipagna . . 
 
 Radetzki enters Milan. . 
 
 Campaign of Novaro . . 
 
 Siege of Venice 
 
 Venice capitulates 
 Chapter IX. — Revolt and Bombardment of Vienna, 
 tion of the Emperor Ferdinand .. 
 
 Battle of Schwechat . . 
 
 Rights of Hungary 
 Chapter X. — Second Invasion of Hungary 
 
 Its Rapid Success 
 
 Its Subsequent Total Defeat . . 
 
 Hungarian Declaration of Independence 
 
 Siege and Storming of Buda . . 
 Chapter XI. — Third Invasion of Hungary 
 
 Görgei's Insubordination 
 
 His Retreat across the Carpathians . . 
 
 Battle of Temesvar 
 
 Surrender of Vilagos . . 
 
 Capitulation of Komorn 
 
 Atrocious Acts of Vengeance. . 
 
 Present Condition of Austria . . 
 
 to September 
 
 Abdica 
 
 Iviii 
 
 Ix 
 
 Ixii 
 
 Ixiii 
 
 ih. 
 
 Ixvii 
 
 Ixix 
 
 Ixx 
 
 Ixxii 
 
 Ixxiii 
 
 Ixxvii 
 
 Ixxix 
 
 Ixxxii 
 
 Ixxxiv 
 
 Ixxxv 
 
 ib. 
 
 Ixxvvii 
 
 xc 
 
 ib. 
 
 xcvii 
 
 cii 
 
 civ 
 
 cv 
 
 cxiii 
 
 cxvi 
 
 cxix 
 
 ib. 
 
 cxx 
 
 cxxii 
 
 cxxiii 
 
 cxxiv 
 
 cxxv 
 
 cxxvi 
 
 cxxvii 
 
 GENESIS OF THE REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA, 
 
 Author's Preface 
 Preface to the Third Edition 
 Chapter T. — Introduction . . 
 Chapter II. — Before March, 1848 
 The Emperor Francis . . 
 The Emperor Ferdinand 
 Austrian Government Machinery 
 System of Government 
 Commotions previous to March, 1848 
 J, in Galicia 
 ,, Austrian Italy . . 
 „ Hungary.. 
 ,, Transylvania 
 
 Page cxxxi 
 cxxxiv 
 1 
 
 8 
 ib. 
 17 
 19 
 37 
 59 
 61 
 62 
 69 
 78
 
 XU CONTtLNTS. 
 
 Cominntiunit in liohoinin 7i 
 
 ,, Lower AwHtria .. S'i 
 
 ClIArTKn III. Tbl- FjvrU IWl of tlio month of March, 1848 .. »J 
 
 K.v, Itit;. ii:\!_v Movi'nu'nU in Wi'HU'rn Kuropo .. .. ib. 
 
 'hv Lower AuHtrian Trinlci» Union 108 
 
 r Urform 110 
 
 vi-mcntM in I'nijfuo .. •. 115 
 
 ■ i:»n I'arlianniit .. .. .. .. 118 
 
 1 . .1 i«.rniih on thu Evo of tho Rovolution . . I"i2 
 CflArTER J\.- Kventi» of tho 13th, 14th, and 15tli of ÄLircli, 
 
 1S4S. in Vienna 1'28 
 
 Ciurrr-R v.— Socond Ilnlf of the montli of March, 1848 1(53 
 
 In Vienna ..... 164 
 
 In HmiL'nry .. .. 178 
 
 In I'-ohi'min .. .. .. .. 184 
 
 In I'ahii.iti«. C'roftti.i, and Sclavonia. . .. .. 187 
 
 In AuKlrian Italy .. .. .. .. 191 
 
 CUAITEK \'I. — From March, 1848, to the Opening of tho Cou- 
 
 Mtituunt Diet at Vienna . . . . . . . . 196 
 
 Procoetlings in Vienna ■ .. .. .. 197 
 
 I"' ht of the KmiKjror to InnHpruck. . .. .. .. -'60 
 
 ■.irdmi-nt of rriigue . . . . . . . . 245 
 
 1 -ion of the Constituent Diet 250 
 
 Arcliduke John ajidumes the Viceroyalty .. .. .. 253 
 
 Affairs of Hungnry .. .. .. .. .. 268 
 
 Cosci-rsiox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 
 
 Appendix 309 
 
 Im|>eriil Decree of March 15, 1)*4S .. .. .. .. ib. 
 
 Mini«Uri:il rrociaiii.ition of ^L•ly 26 and 27, 1848 . . . . 311 
 
 Imperial Announcement, Innspruck, May 20, May 21, and 
 
 June 3, 1848 314 
 
 Minist^irial Proclamation declaring the Provisional Govern- 
 ment of Prague to he ille;,'al .. .. .. .. 318 
 
 Imperial ProcLimation, Innspruck, June 16, 1848.. .. 320 
 
 Prtwlamation hy the Archduke John . . . . . . 321 
 
 Viceregal S|K.'ech on 0|)ening the Diet of tlie Empire .. 322 
 
 AddreHu of the Vienna Committee of Safety to the Diet .. 324 
 Atuiwer of the Hungarian Ministry to the Estates of Tran- 
 
 Hvlvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 
 
 Speech from the Tlirone on Oj)ening the Hungarian Par- 
 liament 328 
 
 INVESTIGATION INTO THE MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 
 
 Prcf»ce 334 
 
 FiKHT Section.— Events in the War Office on the 6th of Octo- 
 ber, 1848 335 
 
 Secomj Si:<tion. — Direct Agents convicted of the Crime . . 369 
 Thii'.u SK(TIO.v. — The Assassination : it.s Originators and Pro- 
 moters .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 416
 
 EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF AUSTRIA, 
 
 Frorii the Accession of Francis II. to the Close of tJie Revolution 
 of 1848-9. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The First War witit France. 1792-1797. 
 
 A FEW days affcei' his accession to the throne, the Em- 
 peror Francis received the reply of France to the note 
 addressed to that jwwer by the Emperor Leopold shortly 
 before Ms death. Some further negotiations and mutual 
 recriminations ensued; and the ultimatum of Austria was, 
 that the monarchy should be re-established on the footing 
 on which it had been placed by tlie royal ordinance of June, 
 1789; that the property of the Church in Alsace should be 
 restored ; the fiefs of that province, with the seignorial rights, 
 given back to the German 2:)rinces, and A^-ignon with the 
 Venaisin to the Pope. These propositions were I'ejected; 
 and on the 20th of April the unfortunate Louis XVI. took 
 the fatal step to which he was urged alike by his friends, his 
 ministers, and his enemies. He repaired to the National 
 Assembly, and with, a tremulous voice j^i'oposed that war 
 should be declared against the King of Hungary and Bo- 
 hemia. The proposal was almost unanimously adopted, 
 many of the most enlightened members of the Assembly 
 voting for it even against theii- own convictions. 
 
 Hostilities began on the 28th of April Avith an attempted 
 invasion of Flanders, in which the French were ignomi- 
 niously routed at evei-y point, their undisci})lined troops 
 flying at the first discharge, or even before a shot was fii'cd. 
 Had the Austrian forces in Flanders been more efficiently 
 commanded, they might have marched witii ease to Paris, 
 and tenninated the war in the first cam})aign. As it M'as, 
 
 6
 
 xiv UISTOUY OK ALSTUIA. 
 
 the t'Xtifino fucility with which tlioy had ie])ellcd the iii- 
 \'a«UTs had tho injurious i-lfect of in.siiiring the Austrians aud 
 tht'ir allifs witli a» «ivfrwecuing cunteinpt fur theii- uppo- 
 m-utH, — a thiu^ which is always «hingerous in war. 
 
 Mt-aiiwhiK' th«- Austrian and rniasian forces were slowly 
 juisi-uiMin;^' un the frontier, and on the L'Otli of June the 
 duki- of 15i-unswiek, the conmiandor- in -chief, established his 
 hi ad-quarters at t'oblentz. The king of I'russixi joined the 
 Jinny on the '2'n]\ of July, and on that day the duke of 
 Bni'nswick ix'luctantly issued what he justly termed " that 
 deitlomhle uianifesto," in which he was made to declare, 
 auiong other tilings, his intention to level Paris with the 
 ground, should the French refuse to submit to the authoiity 
 of their soveivign. Instead of being terror-struck by this 
 manifesto, the French were only maddened with rage; they 
 d<|«.-.d iuid imprisoned their king, and flew to arms for the 
 def.ncr of their territory. Crossing the French frontier on 
 the 150th of July, the allieil army advanced with a slowness 
 and circumspection strangely inconsistent wäth the tenour of 
 the manifesto, and with their professed cex"tainty of conquest. 
 At licst the fortress of Longwy wa.s invested ; it capitulated 
 on the23rdof Augu.st ; after another unaccountable delay, siege 
 wa.s laid to Verdun, which surrendered on the 2nd of Scptem- 
 Ijer, and there now remained no fortified place in a state of 
 defence on the road to Paris, nor an army capable of offering 
 even a momentaiy resistance. The French were without a 
 commander, General Lafayette having been compelled to seek 
 refuge from the violence of his own soldiers A\-ithin the Aus- 
 trian lines; and Dumoorier, his succe.s.sor, had only 25,000 
 men to (»jipose to more than four times as many invaders. 
 But he out-mana-uvred the duke of Brunswick in the field, 
 and made him the rlufie of secret negotiations, having for 
 their osten.sible object the recognition of the constitutional 
 throne by the French general, aud the junction of his ai-my 
 ■with the invading force. In this way Dumourier gained time 
 to collect considerable rcinforcemeut.s, and to unite liLs forces 
 to those of Kellermann from Metz. The two armies came 
 within sight of each other at Valmy; tlie king gave ordei-s 
 for battle, and the Pm.ssians were in the act of advancing 
 agaiiLst the heights occujüed by KellermanU; when the duke
 
 SUCCESSES OF THE FRENCH IX 1792. XV 
 
 suddenly gave orders to halt. A vigorous cannonade ou 
 both sides terminated the atFair, and the superb columns of 
 the Prussians were drawn oft' at night Avithout firing a shot. 
 This drawn battle produced upon the invaders the efiects of 
 a disastrous defeat ; for the French it was the inauguration 
 of that career of victory which carried their armies to Vienna 
 and the Kremlin. Negotiations now proceeded with in- 
 creased spii'it ; and the result was, that in the end of October 
 the allies evacuated France, abandoning the fortresses 
 they had won, and having lost more than a fourth of their 
 numbers by dysentery and fever, without any considerable 
 fighting. 
 
 Meanwhile other operations had been going on in Alsace 
 and the Netherlands. The Fi'ench were routed near Bruille 
 with great loss by Ai'chduke Albert, who then laid siege to 
 Lisle and bombarded it. But the retreat of the Prussians 
 enabled Dumourier to fall with his whole force upon the 
 archduke, whom he defeated at Jemappes (Nov. 6), and the 
 whole of the Netherlands fell into the hands of the Jacobins. 
 Another French army under General Custine, on the Upper 
 Khine, took possession of Mayence, the key to the western 
 provinces of the empii-e (Oct. 21). 
 
 Such was the disastrous result of the first campaign. On 
 the very day of the cannonade at Valmy, the republic was 
 proclaimed and royalty abolished in France. The "victory of 
 Jemappes was immediately followed by a decree of the Con- 
 vention, " promising fraternity and succour to every people, 
 who were disposed to recover their liberty ;" and this by 
 another, declaring that the French nation would " treat as 
 enemies the people who, refusing or renouncmg liberty and 
 equlitay, are desirous of preserving their prince and privileged 
 castes, or of entering into an accommodation with them." 
 Lastly, the revolution attained its climax by the execution 
 of Louis XVI. on the 21st of Januaiy, 1793. 
 
 The first great coalition against France was now formed, 
 with England at its head ; whilst at the same time the land 
 was rent by civil war, both la Vendee and a large portion of 
 the south of France, including the great city of Lyons, having 
 risen in support of the royal family. The Englisli attacked 
 France by sea, and made a simultaneous descent ou the 
 
 b2
 
 XV: ITISTOUY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 northern and soutliern cuasts. Tlio Sjtanish and Puituguose 
 trot)]>s crossed the IVreuees; the Italian princes invaded the 
 Alpine houudary ; Anstria, Fnissia, Holland, and the German 
 «•mpire threatened the Khenish frontier ; wliilst Sweden and 
 Russia stood frc>wning in the back-ground. In Sardinia the 
 anus of the repulilic were engaged in aggressive hostilities. 
 Tlje whole of Cliristian Europe was combined in arms against 
 France. 
 
 The Austrian army in the Netherlands was commanded by 
 Prince Coburg, and that on the Upper Khine by Count 
 Wurmser. The didce of Brunswick commanded the Prus- 
 sians ; and the duke of York besieged Dunkirk with an 
 army of 37,0U0 English, Hanoverians, Hessians, and Aus- 
 trians. Dumourier. who was disgusted with the rule of the 
 Jacobins, and openly avowed liis intention of overthrowing 
 the Convention, sutlered himself to be defeated at Alden- 
 hoven and Neerwinden, and the French were obliged to 
 abandon all their conquests in Flanders. Finally, Dumotnier 
 deserted to the Austrians. Valenciennes and Conde were 
 Vtesieged and taken possession of (July 13) in the name of 
 the emperor of Austria, as acquisitions to be permanently 
 retained by the contjueror. This act was in accordance witli a 
 vesolution adopted at Antwerp by a congi-ess of the ministers 
 of the allied powers, by which the object of the war was 
 totally altered. On the 5th of April, Cobui'g issued a 
 jiroclamation, wherein he said: — "I declare that our only 
 .object is to restore to Fi-ance its constitutional monarch, 
 ■with the means of rectifying such experienced abuses as may 
 
 exist I declare, on my word of honour, that I enter 
 
 on the French territory without any intention of making 
 conquest.s, but solely and entirely for the above-mentioned 
 jiurposes. I declare also, on my word of honoiu-, that if 
 militarj' operations should lead to any place of .strength 
 being placed in my hands, I shall regard it in no other light 
 than as a sacred deposit^" (fee. After the Congress of 
 Antwei-ji, Coburg issued another proclamation, revoking 
 the former one, and announcing that lie shoidd prosecute 
 the war with the utmo.st v-igour — that is to say, as a war of 
 aggrandisement. Ko step in the early stages of the war was 
 ever attended with more unfortunate consequences. It
 
 SUCCESSES OF THE FKENCH IX 1793. X\'ii 
 
 sowed divisions among the allies as much as it united its 
 enemies. From the moment Prussia saw her rival's ])ower 
 augmented by such an acquisition as Conde and Valenciennes, 
 she secretly resolved to paralyse all further operations of 
 her arms, and to withdraw, as soon as decency woidd permit 
 her, from a contest, in which success seemed more to be 
 dreaded than defeat. The Convention, on the other hand, 
 turning to the best account this announcement of intended 
 conquest, succeeded in inspiring a degree of unanimity in 
 defence of their country, which they never could have effected 
 had the allies confined themselves to the original objects of 
 the war. 
 
 The French army under Custine, which had shut itself up 
 within the camp of Csesar, was attacked and driven from its 
 trenches (August 8) with so much ease, that the rout could 
 hardly be called a battle. So precipitate was the flight of 
 the French, that, as at the Battle of the Spurs three centuries 
 before, hardly a shot was fired or a stroke given before the 
 whole army was dissolved. The allies, in great force, were 
 now grouped within one hundred and sixty miles of the dis- 
 mayed cajiital of France ; fifteen days would have brought 
 them, without impediment, to its gates. But instead of im- 
 proving their advantages, the Austrians temporised, as the 
 Prussians had done in the former campaign, and allowed the 
 French to I'ally and act on the offensive. Houchard defeated 
 the English at Hondscoten on the 8th of Septembei-, and 
 X'aised the siege of Dunkirk ; and Jourdan drove the Avis- 
 trians off" the field at Wattigny the day on which the French 
 queen -was Ijcheaded. Although the Austrians had main- 
 tained their ground on every other point, Coburg resolved 
 to make a general retreat, notwithstanding the urgent re- 
 monstrances of the youthful Archduke Charles, who had 
 greatly distinguished himself in the campaign. 
 
 ]\Iayence was retaken by the Prussians (July 22), after 
 a siege ot four months. The Austrians under Wurmser 
 stormed the lines of Weissenburg, and advanced to Hagenau. 
 The duke of Brunswick defeated the French general Hoche at 
 Kaiserslautern. But the army of the Rhine under Pichegru, 
 and the army of the Moselle under Hoche, now effected a 
 junction, and the Prussians and Austrians were signally
 
 XVÜi HISTORY OK ArSTRIA. 
 
 «lelrtitcil at W.'.rth aiul Friisdiwriler, and compelled to 
 ri'tnMit across the Kliiiie, the loft l>aiik of which was thus 
 lust to luTinaiiy. Thi* duke of l!i-unswick resigned the 
 command of tin- army to Miiilendorf. who fought one suc- 
 wswful luittle with the Frcndi at Kaisei-slautem (May 25th, 
 17;»4). Vnit thenceforth remainetl inac-tive. The Prussians 
 !uul the EstJites of the Enijtire were tired of the war, and 
 left Austria to beju- the burden of it alone. 
 
 The war ih-dared by France against Sardinia had resulted 
 in leaving the French masters of Nice at the close of the 
 year 171)2. In the following year, hostilities were resumed 
 between the Piedmontese ai-my, reinforced by 10,000 Aus- 
 triansand the republicans, but no decisive battle was fought. 
 The insm-rection of Lyons afforded the Piedmontese a golden 
 opportunity of establishing themselves in the south of France, 
 l)Ut they neglected it, and the campaign terminated, after an 
 e|>hemeral .succes.s, in their ultimate disgi-ace. 
 
 The emjieror Francis visited the Netherlands in person in 
 the spiing of 1794, ^vith the intention of marching straight- 
 way on Paris. But this was now become impractical>le since 
 the defection of the Prussians. The French remarked on 
 this occasion : "The allies are ever an idea, a year, and an 
 army behind-hand." The Austrians, nevertheless, attacked 
 the whole French line in March, and were at first \'ictoi'ious 
 on every side ; at Catillon, where Kray and Wernek distin- 
 gui-ihed themselves, and at Landrecis, where the Archduke 
 Charles made a brilliant charge at the head of the cavalry. 
 Lantlrecis was taken, but tliis was all. Claiifait, being left 
 unsupi)orted by the British, was attacked singly at Kortiyk 
 by Piohegru, and forced to yield to supei-ior numbers. Coburg 
 fought an extremely bloody but undecisive battle of eighteen 
 hours' duration at Toumay, where Picheginx ever opposed 
 fresh mas.ses to the Austrian artillery. 20,000 dead strewed 
 the field The emperor, di.scouraged by the coldness displayed 
 by tlie Dutch, wliom he liad expected to see rise en masse in 
 his cause, returned to Vienna. The Austrian troops were now 
 greatly dispirited ; and on the 26th of June, Prince Coburg 
 was defeated at Fleurus by General Jourdan ; and the duke 
 of York soon afterwards at Breda by Pichegni. All Flanders 
 was now in the hands of the French ; and Pichegru, pur-
 
 THE FIRST COALITION DISSOLVED. XIX 
 
 suing his victorious cai'eer, invaded Holland, which, before 
 the close of the year, was transformed into a Batavian 
 republic. In this year, also, the republicans carried Mount 
 Cenis, and before the end of May were masters of all the 
 passes of the Maritime Alps. During this period the hoirors 
 of the French Revolution were at their height ; but "the iron 
 rule of terror undoubtedly drew out of the agonies of the 
 state the means of its ultimate deliverance." 
 
 Upon the fall of Robespierre in July, 1794, the king of 
 Prussia suddenly abandoned the monarchical cause, and 
 negotiated a separate peace with the Directory, which was 
 concluded at Basle on the öth of April, 1795. By a secret 
 article of this treaty, Prussia confirmed the French republic 
 in possession of the whole of the left bank of the Rhine, be- 
 ing herself amply indemnified in return at the expense of 
 the petty German States. Hanover and Hesse Cassel parti- 
 cipated in the treaty, and were included ^vit]lin the line of 
 demarcation, which France bound herself not to transgress. 
 The countries lying beyond that line, the Netherlands, 
 Holland, and Pfalz Juliers, wei'e abandoned to her ; and 
 Austria, kept in check on the Upper Rhine, was powerless in 
 theii- defence. Sjjain and Portugal also seceded from the 
 coalition, and made peace with the French republic. 
 
 To the lukewarmness of Prussia in the contest with 
 France, more than to any other cause, is to be ascribed the 
 extraordinary success which for some years attended the 
 republican arms. The Berlin cabinet impatiently desired 
 to withdraw its army from the seat of war in the west, in 
 order to accomplish its arrangements with the Empress 
 Catherine for the partition of Poland. At a later jperiod, 
 Austria, too, became an accomjjlice in that most iniquitous 
 act ; and already, as we have seen, she had set her allies an 
 example of that rapacious policy, which was the immediate 
 and fatal cause of their disunion. 
 
 Prussia and Russia took upon themselves alone to execute 
 the second dismemberment in Poland, and in October, 1793, 
 the combined troops were, in the first instance, quietly can- 
 toned in the provinces they had seized. On the 3rd of March, 
 in the following year, Kosciusko closed the gates of Cracow, 
 and proclaimed the insurrection. The struggle lasted until
 
 XX UI.STOKY OF ALüTiUA. 
 
 tlio Ith i>l (.)clol)er, wiieii Kosciusko was tlefeated and taktMi 
 iinsoiuT at Maccüwice, in a battlt" which decitloil the fate of 
 Tolaud. After the fall of the hero, who sustained in liis 
 .single ju'i-stiu the fortunes of the republic, nothing but a 
 .veries of disiVitei-s overtook the Poles. The Austrian^, 
 takiuf advautiigo of the general confusion, entered Gallicia, 
 imd iK'cupied the palatinates of Lublin and Sandomier. On 
 the 4th of Xoveniljer, Praga and ^Yarriaw were stormed by 
 Suwarrotf. and an atrocious massacre of the inhabitants 
 Wits committed, which Russia cxi)iated in the conflagration 
 of ^loscow. Besides ten thousand Polish soldiers killed in 
 light, above twelve thousand citizens of every age and sex 
 were put to the sword. 
 
 '* The partition of Poland, and the scandalous conduct ot 
 the states who reaped the fruit of hijustice in its fall, ha\ o 
 been the freipient subject of just indignation and eloquent 
 complaint from the European histoi'ians ; but the connection 
 lictweeu that calamitous event and the subsequent disasters 
 of the pai-titioning ])Owers has not hitherto met Avith due 
 attention. Yet nothing can be clearer than that it was this 
 iniijuitous measure which brought all the misfortunes that 
 followed upon the Eurojiean monarchies ; that it was this 
 which opened the gates of Germany to French ambition, and 
 brought Xapoleon ■with his teri*ible legions to Vienna, 
 Berlin, and the Kremlin. The more the campaigns of 1793 
 and 1794 are studied, the more clearly does it ap])ear that 
 it wa.s the prospect ftf obtaining a share in the partition of 
 Poland which paralysed the allied arras, wliich intercepted 
 and tin-ued aside the legions, wliicli might have overthrown 
 the Jacobin rule, and created that jealousy and diAisiou 
 among their niler.s. which, more even than the energ}^ of the 
 republicans, contributed to their unifonn and astonishing 
 success. Had the redoubtable bands of Catherine been 
 added to the armies of Pi-ussia on the plains of Champagne 
 in 179-, or to those of Austria and England in the fields of 
 Flanders in 1793, not a doubt can remain but that the 
 revolutionary jiarty would have been overcome, and a con- 
 stitutional monarchy established in France, with the entire 
 concun-ence of three-fourths of all the respectable classes in 
 the kingdom, and to the infinite i)resent and future blessing
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1794. Xxi 
 
 of the whole inhabitants. Even in 1794, by a cordial 
 co-operation of the Prussian and Austrian foi'ces after the 
 fall of Landrecis, the whole barrier erected by the genius of 
 Vauban might have been caj^tured, and the revolution, 
 thrown back upon its o\vn resources, been permanently pre- 
 vented from proving dangerous to the liberties of Europe. 
 "What then paralysed the allied annies in the midst of such 
 a career of success, and caused the cam})aign to close under 
 circumstances of such general disaster 1 The prospect of par- 
 titioning Poland, which first retained the Prussian battalions, 
 during the crisis of the campaign, in sullen inactivity on the 
 Pchine, and then led to the precipitate and indignant 
 abandonment of Flanders by the Austrian forces."* 
 
 The operations of the allies on the Piedmontese frontier 
 were prosecuted with great vigour in 1795, and at first with 
 signal successs, the French being driven from all their 
 positions in the Maritime Alps. But the campaign enderl 
 with the great and decisive victory of Loano, gained by 
 Massena over the Austrians on the 23rd of November. 
 
 In the campaign of this year, Mannheim fell by treachery 
 into the hands of the French. Wurmser arrived too late for 
 its I'elief, but he routed the French forces before it, and took 
 General Oudinot prisoner. Clairfait at the same time, by aii 
 able manoeuvre, fell unexj^ectedly on the French force, Ije- 
 sieging Mayence, defeated it and raised the siege. Pichegru, 
 who had been called from Holland to take the command of 
 the Ujiper Rhine, was driven back to the Vosges. Jourdan 
 advanced to his aid from the Lower Rhine, but his van-guard, 
 under ]\Ioreau, was defeated at Kreuznach and again at 
 Meissenheim. Mannheim also capitidated to the Austrians. 
 The "svinter was now far advanced, and both sides willingly 
 concluded an armistice, which all the lesser princes of the 
 empire would gladly have seen converted into a permanent 
 peace; but Austria remained unshaken, and intrepidly pre- 
 pared for the mighty contest of 179G, being encouraged in- 
 her resolution by England, and aided by her with a subsidy 
 of six millions sterling. 
 
 The seats of war in 1796 were Germany and Italy. The 
 
 * Alison, Hiitory of Europe.
 
 Xxii HISTORY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 Austrian furcos wore conimniulc«! in the former by the Arch- 
 duke Charles, in tlio latter l>y Cieneral Beaulieu. The French 
 tx>nunan<lors wore Jounlan on the Lower Rhine, Moreau on 
 the Upprr Rhine, and Bonaparte in Italy. 
 
 iK-naparte was the first to take the lielcl. The Austrian 
 ooninmntior had incautiously extended his lines too far, in 
 onler to ])reserve a conimunioatiün with the English fleet in 
 the Mediterranean. Bonajiarte broke them, defeated the 
 Au.strians at Montenotte, Millesimo, and Dego, between the 
 lOth and 15th of Api'il ; then turning sharply upon the 
 equally attenuated lines of the Picdmontese, he beat them in 
 several engagements, the chief of which took place at Mon- 
 dovi. between the 19th and 22nd of April. The court of 
 Turin was panic stricken, and immediately submitted to a dis- 
 advantageous peace, which was of more service to the French 
 general than many victories. 
 
 Having now secured his rear by the treaty with Sardinia, 
 Bonaparte lost no time in pursuing the fliscorafited remains 
 of Bt-aulieu's army, which had retired behind the Po in the 
 hope of covering the ^Milanese territor}". He defeated them 
 at Pombio on the 7th and Sth of May ; then advancing to- 
 wards Milan, he effected, on the 10th of May, what he him- 
 self, so familiar with carnage, ever afterwai'ds styled " the 
 terrible passage of the bridge of Lodi,"' and, on the 1.5th, he 
 made his triumphal entry into the capital of Lorabardy. 
 Beaulieu threw twenty battalions of his best ti'oops into 
 Mantua, took up a defensive position along the line of the 
 Mincio ; Vjut being ch'iven thence with loss, retired into the 
 TntoI. The French laid siege to Mantua, the bulwark of 
 Austrian Italy. Wurmser was despatched from the 
 Khine with .30,000 Austrian« for its rehef ; but instead of 
 a<lvancing with his whole force, he divided it into two columns, 
 which marched by different routes. They were beaten 
 by Bonaparte in detail. Quasdanowich, Wurmsei''s second 
 in command, was compelled to fall back towards the moun- 
 tains. He himself entered Mantua on the 1st of August, 
 the French having suddenly rai.'^cd the siege ; and everything 
 seemed to promise him an easy victory over the retiring re- 
 mains of the enemy. Nevertheles.s, he sustained a double defeat 
 at Lonato an<l Ca.stiglione (Aug. 3rd), and being again beaten
 
 CAMPAIGNS OP 1796. xxiii 
 
 at Medob, (Aug. 5th), was forced to seek shelter in the 
 Tyrol. Having there received reinforcements, he again ad- 
 vanced in divided columns, one of which, led by Davidovich, 
 was defeated at Rovex'do, and the other, under Wui-mser 
 himself, near Bassano. Escaping thence with 16,000 men, he 
 shut himself up in Mantua. Meanwhile the Austrians were 
 collecting another army of 40,000 men under Alvinzi, whilst 
 the corps of Davidovich was raised to 18,000. Bonaparte's 
 forces amounted, altogether, to but 42,000 men, 12,000 of 
 whom, ixnder Vaubois, were defeated on the La\is (Nov. 1st), 
 with the loss of one-third of their number. Bonaparte's 
 position was now become perilous ; he himself was defeated 
 (Nov. 11th) at Caldiero, and finding that position too strong 
 to be cai'ried by an attack in front, he resolved to assail it in 
 flank by the village of Areola. Two desperate actions were 
 fought there on the 15th and 17th of November, in the 
 second of which Alvinzi was defeated. He retii'ed to Vicenza ; 
 Davidovich, also, was forced to retreat to the Tyrol, and 
 Mantua was reduced to the last extremity from want of 
 provisions. Alvinzi, again reinforced, retm^ned to its aid, 
 but suffered a feai-ful defeat at Rivoli, on the 14th of 
 January, 1797 ; and another Aixstrian force, under Provera, 
 was compelled to lay down its arms. Mantua capitulated on 
 the 28th of January, and the French were undisputed mas- 
 ters of Italy. 
 
 The campaign of 1796 in Germany was not begun imtil 
 the end of May. The consequences of this delay were fatal 
 to the plans of the Austrians. The French, under .Jourdan, 
 crossed the Lower Rhine, and gained some successes ; but 
 wei'e attacked by the Ai-chduke Charles on the 16th of 
 June, and forced to cross back again. Just then Moreau 
 effected his passage over the Upper Rhine at Strasburg, and 
 beating the Austrians in several partial engagements, reduced 
 the whole Swabian circle to submission. Jourdan, also, again 
 pushed forward and took Frankfort by bombardment. The 
 archduke, too weak, singly, to encounter the armies of Jour- 
 dan and Moreau, sent Wartensleben against the former, and 
 meanwhile drew Moreau after him into Bavaria, where, 
 leaving General Latour with a small corps to keep him in 
 check at Rain on the Lech, he recrossed the Danube at
 
 \X»V m.-rOUY OK Al STIIIA. 
 
 lujjol.stailt with the tlowor uf his army, and hastily aihanced 
 a.vjiiiust .lounlau, who was thus taken unawares. At Tei- 
 itingiMi ho suritriscfl and drove hack the advanced guard of 
 the Kivnch under Bernadotte. He defeated Jourdan witli 
 jjivat h>ss at Aniberg on tlie 24th of August, and again at 
 Wurtzhiu-g on th(! 3rd of September, in a battle which 
 deterniineil the fate of the campaign. The French made a 
 tlisa.strons retreat ; and the exasperated peasants rose ea 
 nuijijit', and hunteil down the fugitives. 
 
 MeaTiwhile 3Ioreau, instead of hiistening to Jourdau's aid, 
 had continued his advance into Bavaria. Tliis was just what 
 the archduki' desired. " Let Moreau advance to Vienna," 
 «lid he on parting with Latour ; " it is of no moment, pro- 
 vided I beat Jourdun." This re.s(jlute conduct of the Aus- 
 trian commander had the desired effect. Moreau was forced 
 to make a retreat, which he executed with consummate skill 
 and lirnniess. Defeating Latour at Biberach, he led the 
 main body of his army in safety through the deep, uaiTow 
 gorges of the Höllen thai in the Black Forest, and, after 
 maintaining a final struggle ^vith the archduke at Emmen- 
 dingen, he efl'ected a passage across the Rhine on the 20th 
 of October, and thus accomplished his memorable retreat 
 with compai-atively little loss. The taking of Kehl by the 
 imperiaUsts on the 9th of Januaiy, 1797, and of the teie 
 (k pant of Hiiningen on the 1st of Februaiy, were the crown- 
 ing events of this remarkable cami)aign. 
 
 The archduke was now i-ecalled from the Rhine to take 
 the .command in Italy. Immense efforts were made to sup- 
 ply the los-ses which the imperial forces had sustained ; it 
 therefore became B(jnaparte's jjolicy to anticipate the arrival 
 of the new le\'ies, and, on the 10th of [March, all the columns 
 of his army were in motion, across the Alps towards Vienna. 
 HocIk'. ut the same time, attacked the Lower, and Moreau 
 the \j\t\m- Rhine. On the 16th, the French crossed the 
 Tagliamento in face of the imperialists, who wx're forced to 
 retreat, and thu» hjst the prestige of a first success. On the 
 22nfl, Ma.ssena made himself master of the Col de Tai-vis, the 
 ci-est of the Alps, commanding the passes both to Carinthia 
 an<l Dalmatia. This important position was won after a 
 terrible conflict, known afterwards as " the battle above the
 
 TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO. 1797. XXV 
 
 clouds." The Alp.s were bow passed, and Bonaparte esta- 
 Mished his head-quarters at Klagenfurtli. Meanwhile ano- 
 ther French army, under Joubert, had invaded the Tyrol, and 
 though constantly successful in its opei'ations, was yet com- 
 jielled, by the menacing attitude of the population, to retire 
 upon Bonaparte's main army. Bonaparte himself, too, felt that 
 his own victorious position was highly insecure, since dangers 
 were thickening on his rear, as well as on his flanks and his 
 front ; and he was left by the jealousy of the Directory 
 quite unsupported to make his way at the head of 45.000 
 men into the heart of the Austrian empire. Wisely fore- 
 going, then, all thoughts of dictating peace under the walls 
 of Vienna, he oflTered terms of accommodation to the Aus- 
 trian government, whilst, at the same time, he terrified it by 
 the impetuosity with which he pressed upon its retreating- 
 forces. Preliminaries were accordingly .signed at Leoben on 
 the 18th of Api'il, and a formal peace was concluded at 
 Campo Formio on the 17th of October, 1797. 
 
 By this treaty the emperor ceded to France, Flander.s, 
 the line of the Rhine, and the Lombard provinces ; in com- 
 pensation for which, he received from the republic the ter- 
 ritory of Venice, which had been seized by Bonaparte sub- 
 sequently to the armistice of Leoben, the archbishopric of 
 Salzburg, and part of Bavaria, with the town of Wasserburg. 
 By this arrangement, Verona, Peschiera, and Porto Legnago 
 fell into the hands of the Austrians, who lost in Flanders and 
 Lombardy provinces, rich indeed but distant, inhabited by 
 3,500,000 souls, and received in the Venetian states a terri- 
 tory of equal riches, vnth a great seaport and 3,400,000 souls, 
 lying close to the hereditary states, besides an acquisition of 
 nearly the same amount, which they had made during the 
 war, on the side of Poland. The advantages of the treaty, 
 therefore, how great soever to the conquerors, were in some 
 degree also extended to the vanquished. 
 
 The object of these concessions on the victor's part was to 
 render implacable Prassia's ancient jealousy of Austi'ia. 
 Hence the secret articles, by wliich it was expressly provided 
 that " no acqiiisition should be proposed to the advantage of 
 Prussia." A convention was appointed to meet at Pastadt, 
 to piTjvide equivalents on the right bank of the Rhino for
 
 JllSTOUY OK AISTUIA. 
 
 ilu' |>nnct'8 di8|>ossc'ss<>«l on llit« loft, uiitl «itherwisc to settle 
 ilio lilViiii-s of till' cin|iiii'. The ecelesiitsiitiil ])r«])orty in the 
 inti-rioi- nf Cn'iumny wjls st'cularis«««!, and uj>jK»rtiüno(l among 
 thf tstntfs that ivt|uiivil intlruiniHcatiun. 
 
 Tin« tall uf Vi-nicf, anil the inii|uitt>u.s eunliscatii)n uf the 
 intle|H'nilence she hail niaintaineil I'ur rmnteen hundred 
 veai-s, demand mui-ethan a jiiusMug notire. " In cDiitemiilating 
 this memonihle event," says a writer strongly Ina.ssed in 
 favour of Austria,* " it is difheult to say whether most in- 
 ilignation is to he felt at the ]>er(idy of Fmnee, the cuj)idity 
 of Austria, the weakness of the Venetian aristocracy, or the 
 insanity of the Venetian j>eoj)le. For the conduct of Napo- 
 le<jn no jiossible a|)ology can be found. He first excited the 
 revolutionary spii'it to such a degree in all the Italian pos- 
 sessions of the republic, at the very time that his troops 
 were fed and clothed by the boiuity of its government, that 
 disturbances Ix'canie unavoidable, and then aided the rebels, 
 and made the eflbrts of the government U> cnish the insiu'- 
 rection the pretext for declaring wai* against the state. 
 He then excited to the uttermost the democratic sjnrit in 
 the capital, took advantage of it to paraly.se the defences, 
 and overtuni the government of the country ; established a 
 new constitution on a higlxly |)opular basi.s, and signed a 
 treaty on the 16th of May in Milan, by which, on payment 
 of a heavy ran.som, he agi*eed to maintain the indeijcndence 
 of Venice under its new and revolutionary government. 
 Ha\-ing thus committed all his supporters iii the state iiTe- 
 vocably in the cause of freedom, and got ])Os.session of the 
 cajiital, as that of an allied and friendly power, he plundered 
 it of everj'thing valuable it po-ssessed ; an<l then united 
 with Austria in partitioning the republic, took po.ssession of 
 on«; half of its temtories for France and the Cisalpine 
 1 ••pnblic, and handed over the other half, with the capital 
 ind its ardent denujci-ats, to the most ari.stocratic govern- 
 ment in Europe. 
 
 '• The conduct of Au.stria, if less perfidious, was not less 
 a violation of e\'eiT principle of public right. A^enicc, though 
 long wavering and in-e.solute, was at hngth committed m 
 
 • Alison, History of Europe, vol. vi.
 
 SECOND WAR WITH FRANCE. XXVU 
 
 open hostilities with the French repubUc. She had secretly- 
 nourished the imperial as well as the republican forces ; she 
 had given no cause of oflence to the allied j^owers ; she had 
 been dragged, late indeed and unwillingly, but iirevocably, 
 into a contest with the republican forces ; and if she had 
 committed any ftiult, it was in favour of the cause in whicli 
 Austria was engaged. Generosity in such ch'cumstances 
 would have prompted a noble power to lend the weight of 
 its influence in favour of its unfortunate neighbour. Ju-stice 
 forbade that it should do anything to aggravate its fate. 
 But to share in its spoliation, to seize upon its capital, and 
 extinguish its existence, is an act of rapacity for which no 
 apology can be offered, and which must for ever form a foul 
 stain on the Austrian annals." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Tlie S»cond War ivith France. 1798-1804. 
 
 The peace of Campo Formio was not of a nature to 
 promise long duration, and it was rendered untenable by the 
 events wliich immediately followed it. In 1798 and 1799, 
 Switzerland was subdued by the French, and converted into 
 a Helvetic republic ; and thus was the great barrier thrown 
 down that had protected the Austrian frontiers on the side 
 next France. The whole of Italy, with the exception of 
 the Venetian territory and Naples, was subjected directly or 
 indirectly to the French government. The conduct of the 
 French envoys at Eastadt had excited among the Germans 
 a universal feeling of indignation and hatred, which biu'st 
 forth during a popular tumult in Vienna, when the tricolour, 
 floating from the palace of General Bernadotte, the French 
 ambassador, was torn down and bm-nt. A worse violation 
 of the law of nations was also perpetrated during this 
 agitated period, in the murderous assault committed on the 
 Frencli envoys at Ptastadt by Austrian liussars, who had 
 been posted in a wood near the city gate to interce])t them, 
 on their departure (April 28, 1799). This crime, as Hormayr 
 observes, was at the same time a political blunder. Its
 
 XXVm niSTOKY OK AfSTIUA. 
 
 authors, ns he inforins us, were Tluijjiit ami Lelirbach, the 
 ruU'rsof the Austrian cnhinet, who had liopctl to find on the 
 j-tTsun» of the «-nvoys »liK-uuients in th<' iiandwriting of the 
 fh-ctor of liavaria, wliii-h would ;,nve tlicni the moans of 
 «K'|Misiny liini as a secr«'t ally «if Fnincc, and a traitor to the 
 «•nipin'. In tliis they woi*e wholly disiijijifjinted. Two of 
 tin- envoys were killed ; the third wa.s liadly woundcil, and, 
 with ditheidty. sjived his life hy Hight. Ci'iniinal a-s was the 
 loiiduet of the Austrian ministers on this occasion, it is 
 j.robalil«' that the ns«d('s,s guilt of assassination did not enter 
 into their «U'siinis though they were morally resjionsible for 
 the deed committed by their agents. 
 
 Austria had. In-fore this event, formed a second coalition 
 with England and llus.sia. The s<nzure of Malta by Napoleon, 
 and the dispersion of its knightly order, of which the em- 
 jx-ror, Paid 1., liad been elected gniiul master, afforded that 
 monaixh a jiretext for inteifering in the affairs of the Levant 
 and Italy. On the 1st of March, 1790, the Ionian Islands 
 wi-i-e cx-cupied by Ru.ssian troops, and a Kussian army, under 
 rht' terrible Suwan-off, moved, in conjunction with the troops 
 *i.f Austria, u]Mjn Italy. Di.sunion prevailed, as usual, in the 
 Austrian niilitaiy councils. The Archduke Charles pro- 
 }>osed the invasion of France from Swabia. The occupation 
 of Swtzerland was, however, resolved upon, and General 
 Auffenberg entei-ed the Grisons, whence he was expelled by 
 Mas-sena, after being defeated on the St. Luciensteig; Avhilst 
 Hotze iu the Vorarlberg, and Bellegarde in the Tyrol, re- 
 mained inactive, at the head of 15,0()0 men. The simul- 
 taneous invasion of Swabia by Jourdan now induced the 
 military council at Vienna to accede to the proposal formerly 
 mad<- by the Archduke Charles, who was despatclied with 
 tlie main bo<ly of the army to Swabia, where, on the 2Gth of 
 March, he gained a com[)lete \'ictor}' over Jourdan at Ostrach 
 and Stochach ; and would have annihilated him in his retreat 
 had he not U-en restrained by the ill-judi,'ed orders of the 
 AjiHc Council from advancing to the liliine, until Switzer- 
 land was dear of the enemy. The Grisons were retaken in 
 May by Hotze, and in June, the archduke joining him, 
 Massena was driven from Zurich, and the steep passes of 
 Mount St. Gothai-d were occujiied by the Russian general,
 
 CAMPAIGN OF THE ALPS. 1799. Xxix 
 
 Haddik. Switzerland was relieved from trie presence of the 
 French. 
 
 This campaign of the Alps was the most remarkahle 
 spectacle, in a military point of view, which the revolutionary 
 war had yet exhibited. From the 1-ith of May to the Gth 
 of June was nothing but one continual conibat in a vast 
 field of battle, extending from the ,sno^vy summits of the 
 Ali)s to the confluence of the great streams which flow from 
 their perennial fountains. " Posterity will hardly credit 
 that gi'eat armies could be maintained in such a situation, 
 and the same unity of operations communicated to a line 
 extending from Bellinzona to Bale, across the higliest moun- 
 tains in Europe, as to a small body of men manceuvring on 
 the most favourable ground for military operations. The 
 consumption of human life, during these actions, prolonged 
 for twenty days ; the forced marches by which they were 
 succeeded ; the sufferings and privations which the troops 
 on both sides endured ; the efforts necessary to find pro- 
 visions for large bodies in those inhospitable regions, in many 
 of which the traveller or the chamois-hunter can often 
 hardly find a footing, combined to render this warfare both 
 the most memorable and the most animating which liad 
 occurred since the fall of the Roman empire." 
 
 Meanwhile, the French, under Scherer, in Italy, wei'e 
 defeated (April 5), by Kray at Magnano, one of the most 
 glorious battles in the history of the Austrian monarchy ; 
 and, thenceforth, they fell from one disaster into another, 
 till they were driven over the Maritime Alps, and expelled 
 from the whole Peninsula, after their defeat in the great 
 battle of Novi, in which Joubert, their commander, was 
 killed, August 15, 1799. Dissensions now broke out be- 
 tween the members of the coalition. The English and 
 the Austrians wei-e both jealous of the presence of the 
 Russians in Italy, where twenty thousand of them, under 
 Suwarroff", had anived a few days after the battle of 
 Magnano; the consequence was, a new arrangement for 
 the prosecution of the war, in pursuance of which, 
 the archduke moved down the valley of the Rhine to co- 
 oj)erate with an Anglo-Russian force acting in Holland, 
 whilst Suwaroff" was to cross the Alps into Switzerland to 
 
 c
 
 XXX HISTORY OK AUSTRIA. 
 
 the aid of Koi-aiikotV, and ti> involvo liimsclf in a mountain 
 warfiuv, ill sviitod ttt the Imliits uf Lis soldiery. This insane 
 disltKiition of the allied loices was commanded by the Aulic 
 Uouneil, in sjtito of tlie remon.strances ol" Archduke Charles, 
 just when Mnssena wtus meditating oÜ'en.sivc operations. Its 
 immediate eonsi'<iuoucc was, that the important passes of the 
 St. Cu>thanl wore again carried hy the French ; and then 
 Massona, taking advantage uf the archduke's departure, 
 beset Koi-sakoÜ" at Zurich, where he had imprudently 
 stationed himself with his whole army, and pressed him so 
 closely, that, after an engagement that lasted two days, from 
 the loth to the 17th uf September, the Russian general 
 escaj>o<l the necessity of laying down his arms only by 
 forcing his way through the enemy, and abandoning 
 idl his baggage and artUleiy. Ten thousand men were all 
 that escaped. Hotze, who had advanced from the Grisonsto 
 Schwyz to Suwarrotl^s I'encoutre, was at the same time 
 defeat^iil and killed at Schäimis. Suwarrotf pressed on with 
 de«penite imjietuosity, bearing down all opposition, and 
 arrived on the 10th of October in the valley of the Rhine, 
 having lost in his exti-aordinaiy march the whole of his 
 artillery, almo.st all his hoi-ses, and a third of liis men. 
 
 The archduke, meanwhile, had taken Philippsburg and 
 Mannheim, but had been unable to prevent the defeat of the 
 English expedition, under the duke of York, by General 
 Brune, at Bergen, on the 19th of September. He now made 
 a retrogi-ade movement, and approached Korsakofi" and 
 Suwarrotf; but the czar, perceiving his projects frustrated, 
 suddenly recalled his trooj>s, the campaign came to a close, 
 and the coahtion was dissolved. The archduke's reax'-guard 
 was defeated in a succe».sion of petty skii-mishes at Heidel- 
 berg, and on the Neckar by the French, who again pressed 
 forward. These disasters were comitei-balanced by the 
 splendid victory gained by Melas in Italy, at Savigliano, 
 over the French general, Championnet, who attempted in 
 vain to save Genoa. 
 
 Meanwhile, Bonaparte had returned from his Egyj^tian 
 campaign to Paris, overthrown the Directoiy on the 0th of 
 November (iSth Brumaire), bestowed a new constitution on 
 France, and placed him.self; under the title of First Consiü,
 
 CAMPAIGNS OF 1800. XXxi 
 
 at the head of the republic. One of liis first steps was to 
 offer peace to Austria and England, which was rejected by 
 both powers, as he had fully anticipated it would be. He 
 then prepared for war -svith his usual promptitude. Moreau 
 had the command of the army in Germany, Massena of that 
 in Italy, which Bonaparte himself was about to join at the 
 head of an army of reserve, collected at Dijon. 
 
 Austria received from England a subsidy of two millions, 
 sterling, and pledged herself not to conclude a separate 
 peace before the 1st of February, 1801. The Archduke 
 Charles, who disapproved of the continuance of the wai', 
 was made governor of Bohemia, and superseded in his com- 
 mand of the Austrian forces by Field-Marshal Kray. 
 
 With such consummate skill did Bonaparte mask the 
 movements of his army of reserve, as to make its very 
 existence matter for derisive incredulity at Vienna ; nor 
 were the Austrians undeceived until he had astounded them 
 by his presence in Lombardy, after a stupendous march of 
 thirteen days across the Great St. Bernard. Genoa, gar- 
 risoned by Massena, had just been forced by famine to 
 capitulate. Ten days afterwards, on the 14th of June, 
 Bonaparte gained such a decisive victory over Melas at 
 Marengo, that he, and the remains of his army, capitulated 
 on the following day. The whole of Italy fell once more 
 into the hands of the French. Moreau had at the same 
 time invaded Germany, and defeated Kray in several engage- 
 ments, principally at Stockach and Möskirch, and again at 
 Biberach and Hochstädt, laid »Swabia and Bavaria under 
 contribution, and taken Ratisbou, the seat of the diet. The 
 Austrians were now threatened with invasion of the Here- 
 ditary States, in their most vulnerable quarter, the valley of 
 the Danube, when, fortunately for them, the trvice which had 
 been concluded at Alexandria, after the battle of Marengo, 
 was extended to Germany, \inder the appellation of the 
 armistice of Parsdorf (July 15). Overtures were now made 
 for peace between France on the one side, and Great Britain 
 and Austria on the other, but proved abortive, and hostilities 
 recommenced at all points, in the end of November. 
 
 Tlie command of the Austrian army had been taken from 
 Kray, and given to the Archduke John, a young man of 
 c2
 
 X\.\:i IMSTOKY OP AUSTRIA. 
 
 eighteen, with Lauer, tlie gi-ancl master of avtillerv, for his 
 advisor. On the 27th of November, he quitted his position 
 on the line of the Inn, and, ailvancini^ into Bavaria, surprised 
 Morean'.s lU'niy, on the march, and drove it back in extreme 
 ronfusion. But, instead of vigorously jiursuing tlio immense 
 advantages thus offered to him, he suflered Moreau to retire, 
 on the 1st of December, to Hohenlinden, and to spend all 
 the next day in concentniting his scattered forces. On the 
 3rd. the Austrians wi-re defeated, ^\^th immense loss, in the 
 tremendous battle of Hohenlinden, more momentous even 
 Than that of ]\Iarengo, in its military consequences. The 
 .shattered remains of the imperial army retreated behind the 
 Inn, disasters still tracking their footsteps. The Ai'chduke 
 Charles, whom the unanimous cries of the nation "now sum- 
 moned to the post of danger, b\ir.st into tears, when, instead 
 of the proud battalions he had led to victory at Stockach 
 and Zurich, he beheld only a confused mass of infantry, 
 cavaliy, and artilleiy covering the roads : the bauds of di.s- 
 ciiiline were broken ; the soldiers neither grouped round 
 their colours, nor listened to the voice of their officers ; 
 dejection and despair were painted in every countenance. 
 His heroic eflbrts to remedy the disoixler were imavailing. 
 The rout of the rear-guard, under Prince Schwartzenberg, 
 with the loss of twelve hundred men, compelled him to 
 solicit an armistice, which, after some hesitation, was signed 
 by Moreau on the 2.5th. At the same time, the fate of the 
 Italian campaign was determined, by the defeat of the im- 
 |>eiTalists at the passage of the Mincio (December 26). 
 These di.sasters once more inclined Austria to peace, which 
 was concluded at Luneville on the 9th of Febraary, 1801. 
 The Archduke Charles seized this opportunity to pi'opose the 
 most beneficial reforms in the war administration, but his 
 councils were again treated with contempt. In the ensuing 
 year, Kngknd also concluded peace at Amiens. 
 
 The Emperor Francis was com]ielled to sign the treaty of 
 Luneville " not only as emperor of Austria, but in the name 
 of the German empire." But by a fundamental law of the 
 empire, the emperor could not bind the electors and states, 
 of which he was the head, without either theh- concurrence, 
 or express powers to that effect, previously conferred. The
 
 TREATY OF LUNEVILLE. XXXÜi 
 
 want of such powers had rendered inextricable the separate 
 interests i-eferred to the congress of Rastadt ; but Napoleon, 
 whose impatient disposition coukl not brook such formalities, 
 insisted that the emperor should now act as if he possessed 
 the powers in question ; leaving him to vindicate such a step 
 as he best could to the princes and states of the imperial 
 confederacy. This the emjieror did in a dignified letter, in 
 which, after premising that he had been compelled to sign 
 as head of the empire without any title to do so, he added : 
 " But, on the other hand, the consideration of the melancholy 
 situation in wliicli at that period a large part of Germany 
 was placed, the prospect of the still more calamitous fate 
 with which the superiority of the French menaced the 
 empire if the peace was any longer deferred ; in fine, the 
 genei'al wish which was loudly expressed in favour of an 
 instant accommodation, were so many powerful motives 
 which forbade me to refuse the concurrence of my minister 
 to this demand of the French plenipotentiary." Touched 
 by this appeal from the first monarch in Christendom, thus 
 compelled to throw himself on his subjects for forgiveness of 
 a step which he could not avoid, the Diet of the empire 
 promptly gave the treaty of Luneville their solemn ratifi- 
 cation, grounded on the extraordinary situation in which 
 the emperor was then placed. 
 
 By the peace of Luneville, France was left in possession of 
 the whole left bank of the Rhine. The petty republics, for- 
 merly established by her in Italy, Switzerland, and Holland, 
 were also renewed and recognized. The Adige became the 
 boundary of Austi-ia on the Italian side. The Cisalpine 
 republic was enlarged by the possessions of the grand duke of 
 Tuscany, and of the duke of Moden a, to whom compensation 
 in Germany was guaranteed. This question of compensation, 
 which had been opened at the congress of Rastadt, was 
 resumed, and finally settled by a decree of the Imperial Diet, 
 on the 2oth of February, 1803. The three spiritual electo- 
 rates, Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, were abolished, their 
 position west of the Rhine including them in the French 
 territoiy. The archbishop of Mayence alone retained his 
 dignity, and was transferred to Ratisbon. The imperial free 
 cities were deprived of their privileges, six alone excepted,
 
 XXxiv UISTOKY OK AUSTRIA. 
 
 T.ubook. llaui>>urg, Brenu-u, Frankfort, Augsburg, and 
 NuixMiiU'rij. The unseoularist'd bisliojirics and abbeys were 
 jibolislu'd. The jtetty priuri's, counts and barons, and the 
 Teutonic order, were still allowed to exist, only to be in- 
 cluded ere long in the genend ruin. To the share of Pra.s.sia 
 fell the bishoprics of llildesheim and Paderborn, a part of 
 Münster, and numerous abbeys and imperial free towns in 
 Westphalia and Tlniringia. The compensations allotted to 
 Itavaria laid the foundation of her present greatness. Those 
 jt'^signed to Austria were as follows : Ferdinand, duke of 
 MiKJeusi, the emi)eror's uncle, obtained the Breisgau in 
 exchange for Ids duchy ; Ferdinand, grand duke of Tu.scany, 
 the emperor's brother, received Salzburg, Eichstädt, and 
 Pa.ssau, in exchange for his hereditary possessions. The 
 Archduke Anthony became Grand Master of the Teutonic 
 order. 
 
 The decision of the Diet with respect to the apportionment 
 of all these compensations was made in entire subser\-ience 
 to France and Russia, which powers acted in ])erfect concert 
 with each other, and uäth the acquiescence of Pmissia, whose 
 share of the indemnities amounted to more than fom- times 
 what .she had lost on the left bank of the Rhine. Austria, 
 the power best entitled to a preponderating share in the 
 negotiation, was very little consulted ; " and thus did Russia 
 and Prussia unite with the First Consul in laying the founda- 
 tion of that Confederation of the Rhine, from which, as a 
 hostile outwork, he was afterwards enabled to lead his 
 Winnies to Jena, Friedland, and the Kremlin."* 
 
 Meanwhile vast preparations had been made on both sides 
 of the channel for a renewal of hostilities between France 
 and England, which began with the conquest of Hanover by 
 the French (May, 1803). Naples was simultaneously invaded 
 by French troops. Di.s.sensions had already arisen between 
 the Emperor Alexander and the First Consul, and these were 
 further exasperated by the murder of the Due d'Enghien, 
 who was seized on the neutral territory of Baden, carried to 
 the fortress of Vincennes, and there .shot on the 21st of 
 March. This atrocious deed, wliich was not less impolitic 
 
 * Alidon, History of Europe. '
 
 FIRST WAR WITH THE FRENCH EMPIRE. XXXV 
 
 than criminal, gave an immense impulse to the fermenting 
 elements of a coalition against France. 
 
 Such was the state of things in Europe, when, on the 1 8th 
 of May, a decree of the French senate declared Napoleon 
 Emperor of the French. Instead of testifying any repug- 
 nance at this step, the Austrian cabinet had the address to 
 use it as the long-sought opportunity for a similar measure 
 on their own part ; and on the 11th of August, 1804, after 
 the Emperor Francis, in a full council, had recognized the 
 title of the Emperor Napoleon, he assumed for himself and 
 his successors in the Austrian dominions, the title of 
 '' Emperor of Austria." 
 
 CHAPTER III, 
 
 First War ivlth the French Empire to the Extinction of the Holy Roman 
 Empire. 1805-1806. 
 
 Ox the 11th of April, 1805, an alliance was formed 
 between England and Russia, for the purpose of resisting the 
 encroachments of France. Austria and Sweden joined the 
 coalition some months later. Prussia held aloof, in the 
 hope of receiving Hanover as a reward for her neutrality. 
 Baden, AVurtemberg, and Bavaria, sided with France. 
 
 Deceived by the vast efforts which Napoleon was ostensibly 
 making for the invasion of England, Austria broke ground 
 on the 9th of September, crossed the Inn, overran Bavaria, 
 and took post in the Black Forest. Meanwhile the camp at 
 Boulogne had been broken up, and the troops composing it 
 arrived on the Rhine, from the 17tli to the 23rd of the same 
 month. The Russian troojjs had been refused a passage 
 through the Prussian territory. The precipitance of the 
 Aulic council, in forcing on hostilities before their arrival, 
 Avas the ruin of the campaign. Napoleon sent orders to 
 Bernadotte, who was stationed in Hanover, to cross the 
 neutral Prussian territory of Anspach, without demanding 
 the permission of Prussia, so as to form a junction with the 
 Bavarian troops in the rear of the Austrians. Other corps 
 Avere, at the same time, directed by circuitous routes upon 
 the flanks of the Austrian army, which was assailed with
 
 NX.wi IlISTOHT OK AISTRIA. 
 
 »loulitlul Micco.ss Hi llapliiih (111 till- 11th of October, dc 
 fi';it«'<l witli loss lit .Mfiiimiiipron on the i;3tb, by Soult, and 
 fatally by Nov at KK-hiu,<,'fii on the 1 Itli. The Arch(luk( 
 Fonlinand. aloiio, svurcetlotl in ii,i,'litni,c; his way, with a par; 
 t>f tlu« cavalry, throui,'!! the enemy. Mack, the couimandei 
 ia-chief, who had stupidly sutlered liiniself to be thus sin 
 l-uiuuled and e:itraj)i)ed, shut hiinsi'lf up in Ulm, but was 
 foiled to surrender on the -Uth. With him GU,üOO Austriaus, 
 the cli(>' of the anny, fell into the liands of the enemy. 
 Napoleon could scarcely spare a sufficient number of men to 
 escort this enormous crowd of ])risoners to France. General 
 Werack, who hail been detaclied from Ulm, was also com- 
 i)elled to surrender at Trochteltingeu mth 8,000 men. 
 
 The blame of these disasters was wholly laid by the 
 AiLstrian government on General Mack; he was subjected 
 to a court of inquiry, and condemned to twenty years' 
 impiT-soument in consequence. Upon the conclusion of the 
 war. Napoleon interceded for him, but in vain. But, as 
 Alison justly remarks, although this unfortunate general was 
 üb\'iously inadequate to the dillicult task imposetl upon him 
 of commaniUng a great army, which was to combat Napoleon, 
 and although he e\'idently lost his judgment and unneces- 
 sarily agix-ed to a disgraceful aljridgment of the period of 
 the caj litulation at the close of the negotiations, yet the 
 whole diasters of the campaign are not to be visited on his 
 head The impr(j^"idence of the imperial government, the 
 faults of the Aulic Council, have much also to answer for. 
 Mack's authority was not firmly establislied in the army ; the 
 great name of the Archduke Ferdinand oversliadowed his 
 influence ; the necessity of providing for the safety of a 
 prince of the imperial house overbalanced every other con- 
 sideration, and compelled, against his judgment, that division 
 of the troops to which the unexampled disasters that fol- 
 lowed may be immediately ascribed. It is reasonable to 
 impute to the unfortunate general extreme im])rovidence in 
 remaining so long at Ulm, when Napoleon's legions were 
 clo.siag round liim, and gi-eat weakness of judgment, to give 
 it no severer name, in afterwards capitulating without trying- 
 some gi-eat eflbrt, with concentrated forces, to effect his 
 escape. But there appears no reason to suppose, as the
 
 INVASIOX OF THE TYKOL. XXXVÜ 
 
 Austi'ian go\erument did, that he wdlfuUy betrayed theii' 
 intei'ests to Napoleon ; and it is to be recollected, in 
 extenuation of hi« faults, that Ms authority, controlled by 
 the Aulic Council, was in some degree shared with an 
 assembly of officers, which, it is proverbially known, never 
 ado[)ts a l)old resolution ; and that he was at the head of 
 troops habituated to the discreditable custom of laying down 
 their arms, on the first reverse, in large bodies. 
 
 The Aulic Council, which had begun offensive operations 
 in Germany with the weaker of their two great armies, 
 obliged the stronger of them, under Archduke Charles, to 
 remain on the defensive in Italy, in presence of inferior 
 forces, wliilst they retained 20,000 men in useless inactivity 
 in the Tyrol, where as yet there was no enemy to comljat. 
 After Mack's suiTender, Napoleon, with his usual rapidity, 
 marched wdth his main body straight upon Vienna, wliilst 
 he despatched Ney into the Tyrol, where the peasantry, 
 headed by the Ai'chduke John, made an heroic defence. 
 The advanced guard of the French, composed of the Bava- 
 rians imder Deroy, made a successfvd irruption on the 
 eastern frontier, and blockaded Kuflstein. Augereau threat- 
 ened Feldkirch, whilst Ney carried the mountain entrench- 
 ment of Schaarnitz by storm, and reached Innsbruck, where 
 he captured sixteen thousand stand of arms. The Archduke 
 John was compelled to retire to Carinthia, in order to form 
 a junction with his brother Charles, who, after beating Mas- 
 sena at Caldiero, had been necessitated by Mack's defeat to 
 hasten from Italy for the pvu-pose of covering Austria. Two 
 corps, left in the hurry of retreat too far westward, Avere cut 
 oft' and taken pi-isoners, that under Prince Rohan at Castel- 
 franco, after having found its way from Meran into the 
 Venetian territory, and that under Jellachich on the lake of 
 Constance. Kensky's and Wartenleben's cavalry threw 
 themselves boldly into Swabia and Franconia, seized the 
 couriers and convoys to the French rear, and escaped unhurt 
 to Bohemia. 
 
 A new enemy was meanwhile rising up against Napoleon. 
 Bernadotte's maix-h through Anspach, in violation of the 
 Prussian territory, had given deep offence to the court of 
 Berlin, and exasperated its subjects in the highest degree.
 
 XXXviii lUSTOKY of AISTUIA. 
 
 At tlmt crisis tho KinptTor Alfxuiulor arrived at Bodiu, and 
 exrrtwl nil liis inlliu'iioo to induce the kin;^ to adopt a more 
 manly and rounij^cou.s policy. Alexander was warndy 
 .•H'oond«»d l»y tlio ipUH^n of Prussia ; French influence rapidly 
 tlivlined in the cjipital ; Duroc left it on the 2nd of No- 
 vcniU'r, without having been able to obtain an audience for 
 honie days previously either from the king or the emperor ; 
 and on tho following day a secret convention was signed 
 between the two nionarchs for the regulation of the affairs 
 of EuroiK', and the erection of a bai'rier against the ambition 
 of the French emperor. By this convention it was stipu- 
 lated that the treaty of Lunevillc was to be taken as the 
 basis of the arrangement, and all the acquisitions which 
 France had since made were to be wrested from it : Switzer- 
 land and Holland were to be restored to their independence, 
 and, without overturning the kingdom of Italy, it was to be 
 merely agreed that its throne and that of France were never 
 to be occupied W the same person. The Prussian minister, 
 llangwitz, wa.s to be entrusted with the notification of this 
 convention to Napoleon, with authority, in case of its ac- 
 ceptance, to ciTer a renewal of the former friendsliip and 
 alliance of the Prus.sian nation ; but in case of refusal, to 
 tleclare war, with an intimation that hostilities would be 
 commenced on the loth of December. But before that day 
 came, the opportunity was lost. After Alexander's depar- 
 ture, Pnis.sia relapsed into her old temporising habits ; her 
 armies made no forvvard movement towards the Danube, and 
 Napoleon was permitted to continue, without interruption, 
 his advance to Vienna ; while eighty thousand disciplined 
 veterans remained inactive in Silesia — a force amply sufficient 
 to have thrown him back with dissrace and disaster to the 
 Rhine. 
 
 Napoleon continued his advance, and on the 5th of 
 November established his head quarters at Lintz, the capital 
 of Upper Austria. He had ^vith him, marching in one 
 body, at least two-thirds of his whole army of 150,000 men, 
 whilst the whole allied force between him and Vienna, 
 including the Ru.s.sians under Kutu.soff, might be reckoned 
 at about G5,000. A bloody conflict took place on the same 
 <lay at Amstetten with the rear guard of the Kuasians, who.
 
 BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ. XXXIX 
 
 though overpowered by numbers, roaintained their ground 
 long enough to allow their main body to arrive at the 
 important rocky ridge behind St. Polten, the last defensive 
 position in front of Vienna. KutusoflF, however, finding that 
 position untenable, skillfully withcb'ew his whole ax'my to the 
 left bank of the Danube, and broke down behind liim the 
 bridge at Mautern, the only one which crosses the river 
 between Lintz and Vienna. On the 10th, an Austrian 
 corps, under Meerveldt, was routed, with the loss of 3,000 
 prisoners, by Davoust, at Mariazell. But the advanced 
 guard of the French being hurried forward too precipitately 
 by Murat, afforded KutusofF an advantageous ojiportunity 
 for attacking the French corps under Mortier, which was 
 next in advance. A desperate action was fought at Diiren- 
 stein (Nov. 11); Mortier's corps was with difficulty saved 
 from total destruction, and Napoleon's plans for the camj)aign 
 were for a moment disconcerted. Nothing, however, could 
 avert the humiliation of Vienna. The Austrians had neg- 
 lected to break down the city bridge : it was seized by 
 stratagem ; Vienna was taken, and Napoleon established his 
 head quarters at Schöubrunn. 
 
 KutusofTs finesse and Bagi-ation's heroic stand at HoUa- 
 brunn, ^\^th 8,000 Russians against five times their number 
 of assailants, enabled the allied forces to eflect a junction on 
 the 19th, at Wischau, in Moravia. Napoleon's situation 
 was now becoming critical. The necessity of guarding so 
 many points, and keeping up a communication from Vienna 
 to the Rliine, had gi'eatly reduced his army ; the Archduke 
 Charles, with 80,000 tried veterans, was i-apidly approaching 
 from the south ; the Hungarian insurrection was organizing 
 in the east ; 75,000 Russians and Austrians were in front of 
 liim ; Avhile Prussia was threatening a descent from Silesia, 
 with 80,000 men, on his communications with the Rhine. 
 Resolving, therefore, to strike a decisive blow, he selected for 
 the scene of action the field of Austerlitz, where, on the 2nd 
 of December, in presence of two rival emperors, he achieved 
 the most illustrious of all his victories. It was followed by 
 the peace of Presburg (Dec. 2G), which Austria purchased at 
 an enormous sacrifice. She ceded to Bavaria, now erected 
 into a kingdom, the whole of the Tyrol, Vorarlberg and
 
 xl HISTOHV 01" AUSTUIA. 
 
 Limliiu, Biiri^xii, P:iss;iu, Ku-hstiidt, Tn'iit and Brixoii, besides 
 M-vi'iiil jH'tty lordsliips : to Wurtembfi-g, likewise become a 
 kingdom, (he bordcrini,' Austriau dominiojis in Swabia : to 
 lliulfii, the 13ivis;;au, the Ortenaii, and Constance : to the 
 fiupcior of the French and king of Italy, the Venetian 
 tmitoi-v, Dalumtia, Albania, itc. She had to pay, moreover. 
 a wju- contrilmtiou of fonr millions sterling. For all these 
 los>es. Austria was merely indemnified by the possession of 
 iSalzlturg and Berchtesgaden. Ferdinand, elector of Salz- 
 burg, the fonner gi*and duke of Tuscany, was transferred to 
 M'urzljurg. Ferdinand of Modena lost the whole of hi^ 
 posjiessions. 
 
 Immediately after the conclusion of the peace of Presburg, 
 Napoleon withdrew his forces, and the Emperor Francis 
 re-entered Vienna, where he was received by his subjects 
 with a.s much respect and affection as though lie had con- 
 quered instead of losing so many provinces. 
 
 On the 12th of July, 1806, sixteen princes of Western 
 Germany concluded, under Na})oleon's direction, a treat}, 
 whereby they separated themselves from the German empire, 
 and founded the so-called Confederation of the Rhine, under 
 the supremacy of the emperor of the French. On the 1st of 
 Au,gu.st, Napoleon declared that he no longer recogoiised the 
 empire of Gennany. No one ventured to oppose his omni- 
 potent voice. On the 6th of August, 1806, the Emperor 
 Francis abdicated the imperial crown of Germany, in a 
 touching address, full of calm dignity and sorrow. The last 
 of the (Jerman emperors had showTi himself throughout the 
 contest worthy of his gi-eat predecessors, and had almost alone 
 .sacrificed all in order to preserve the honour of Germany, 
 until, abandoned by the gi-eater part of the German princes, 
 he wa.s compelled to yield to a stronger power. The fall of 
 the enijjire that had stood the storms of a thousand years 
 was, however, not without dignity. A meaner hand might 
 have levelled the decayed fabric with the dust ; but fate, 
 that seemed to honour even the faded majesty of the ancient 
 Caj.sars, selected Napoleon as the executioner of her decrees. 
 The standard of Charlemagne, the gi-eatest hero of the first 
 Christian age, was to be profaned by no hand save that of 
 the greatest hero of modern times. '^ 
 
 * Meuzel, Histor}- of Germany.
 
 SECOXD WAR WITH THE FREXCH EirPIRE. xlL 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Second War icillt the French Empire. 1806-1809. 
 
 The peace of Presburg was quickly followed by war be- 
 tween France and Prussia, in whicli tlie latter suffered a 
 terrible retribution for the selfish and base policy that had 
 induced her to leave Austria unaided in her heroic struggles 
 against the common foe of Europe. Great efforts were made 
 by Prussia's allies, England and Russia, to obtain the co- 
 operation of Austria, but that power prudently adhered to 
 the system of neutrality, which Avas needful to her after her 
 recent losses. She armed, indeed, and assumed a menacing 
 attitude, during the reverses sustained by the French in the 
 subsequent Polish campaign ; but upon the termination of 
 the contest, after the disaster of Friedland, she resumed her 
 pacific attitude. 
 
 Meanwhile, the government was not idle. During the 
 whole of 1806 and 1807, the efforts of the Archduke Charles, 
 now at the head of the war department, were incessant, to 
 restore the inaterlel lost in the last campaign, and to remodel 
 the army upon the admirable system adopted by Napoleon. 
 Emboldened by the diversion of a lai'ge portion of the Frencli 
 army from Germany, on the breaking out of the Spanish 
 war, the cabinet of Vienna issued a decree on the 9 th of 
 June, 1808, instituting a landwehr or militia to be raised by 
 conscription, which soon amounted to 300,000 men, whilst 
 the regular army numbered 350,000. 
 
 On i-eceiving decisive intelligence of these hostile pre- 
 parations. Napoleon returned with extraordinary expedition 
 from Spain to Paris, in January, 1809, and gave orders to 
 concentrate his forces in Germany, and call out the full 
 contingents of the Confederation of the Rhine. Some further 
 time was consumed by the preparations on either side. At 
 last, on the 8th of April, the Austrian troops crossed the 
 frontiers at once on the Inn, in Bohemia, in the Tyi-ol and 
 in Italy. The whole burthen of the war rested on Austi'ia 
 alone, for Prussia remained neiitral, and Russia, now allied 
 to France, was even bound to make a show at least, though 
 it were no more, of hostility to Austria. On the same day
 
 Xlii niSTOHY OF AUSTKIA. 
 
 on which the Austrian forces crossed the frontiers, tlie Tyrol 
 rose ii» iusunvctioii, and was swept clear of the enemy in 
 four days, with the exception of a Bavarian garrison, tluit 
 still lu'ld out in Kufsteiu. 
 
 The French army was at this time dis])ersed over a line ot 
 forty leagues in extent, M-ith numerous undefended apertures 
 lietweeu the corps j so that the faii'est jjossible opportunity 
 presented itself to the Austrians for cutting to pieces the 
 scattered forces of the French, and marching in triumph to 
 the Khinc. As usual, however, the archduke's early move- 
 ments were subjected to most impolitic delays by the Aulic 
 Council ; and time was allowed Napoleon to arrive on the 
 theatre of war (April 17), and repair the faults committed 
 by his adjutant-general, Berthier. He instantly extricated 
 his army from its peiilous position — almost cut in two by 
 the advance of the Austrians — and, beginning on the 19th, 
 he beat the latter in five battles on five successive days, at 
 Thaun, Abensberg, Landshut, Eckmühl, and Katisbon. The 
 Archduke Charles retired into Bohemia to collect re- 
 inforcements, but General Hiller was, in consequence of the 
 delay in repairing the fortifications of Linz, unable to main- 
 tain that place, the possession of which was important, on 
 account of its forming a connecting point betAveen Bohemia 
 and the Austrian Oberland. Hiller, however, at least, saved 
 his lionour by pushing forward to the Traun, and in a fear- 
 fully bloody encounter at Ebersberg, captured three French 
 eagles, one of his colours alone falling into the enemy's 
 hands. He was, nevertheless, compelled to retire before the 
 s\iperior forces of the French, and crossing over at Krems to 
 the left bank of the Danube, he formed a junction with the 
 Archduke Charles. The way was now clear to Vienna, 
 which, after a slight show of defence, capitidated to Napoleon 
 on the ll'th of May. 
 
 The Archduke Charles had hoped to reach the capital 
 before the French, and to give battle to them beneath its 
 walls ; but as he had to make a circuit whilst the French 
 pushed forward in a direct line, his plan was frustrated, and 
 he an-ived, when too late, from Bohemia. Both armies, 
 sepai-ated by the Danube, stood opposed to one another in 
 the vicinity of the impeiial city. Both commanders were
 
 BATTLE OF ASPERN. xUH 
 
 desirous of coming to a decisive engagement. The Frencli 
 had seciu'ed the island of Lobau to serve as a mustering 
 place, and point of transit across the Danube. The archduke 
 allowed them to establish a bridge of boats, being resolved 
 to await them on the Marchfeld. There it was that Rudolph 
 of Habsburg, in the battle against Ottakar, had laid the 
 foundation of the gi'eatness of the house of Austria ; and 
 there the political existence of that house and the fate of 
 the monarchy were now to be decided. Having crossed the 
 river, Napoleon was received on the opposite bank, near 
 Aspem and Esslingen, by his opponent, and, after a dreadful 
 battle, that was carried on -with unwearied animosity for two 
 days. May 21st and 22nd, 1809, he was completely beaten, 
 and compelled to fly for refuge to the island of Lobau. The 
 rising stream had, meanwliile, carried away the bridge. 
 Napoleon's sole chance of escape to the opposite bank. For 
 two days he remained on the island ■with his defeated troops, 
 Avithout jDrovisions, and in hourly expectation of being cut to 
 pieces ; the Austrians, however, neglected to turn the oppor- 
 tunity to advantage, and allowed the French leisure to re- 
 build the bridge, a work of extreme difficulty. During six 
 weeks afterwards, the two armies continued to occupy their 
 former positions under the walls of Vienna, on the right and 
 left banks of the Danube, narrowly watching each other's 
 movements, and preparing for a final struggle. 
 
 Whilst these events were in progress, the Archduke John 
 had successfully penetrated into Italy, where he had totally 
 defeated the Viceroy Eugene at Salice, on the 16th of April. 
 Favoured by the simultaneous revolt of the Tyrolese, he 
 might have obtained the most decisive results from this 
 victory, but the extraordinary progress of Napoleon down 
 the valley of the Danube rendered necessary the concentra- 
 tion of the whole forces of the monarchy for the defence of 
 the capital. Having begun a retreat, he was pursued Ijy 
 Eugene, and defeated on the Piave, with great loss, on the 
 8th of May. Escaping thence, without further molestation, 
 to Villach, in Carinthia, he received intelligence of the fall 
 of Vienna, together with a letter from the Archduke Charles, 
 of the 15th of May, directing him to move with all Ids 
 forces upon Lintz, to act on the rear and communications of
 
 xliv niSTOUV OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 Nui>olcoii. Instead of obeyin«,' tliese onlor.s, ho thought 
 jirojwr to iiiaivh into ITuiiu'arv. abaiuloiiiiiy the Tyrol and tlie 
 V. hok' jtrojcctod ojtoratioiis on tlic U]»jier Danube to their fate. 
 His (lisubedioneo was disjistrous to tlic fortunes of his house, 
 for it caused tlie fruits of the victory at Aspern to 1)6 hjst. 
 He nii^ht have arrived, witli .1(),00U men, on tlie 24:th or 
 l'öth, at Lintz, whei'o no one remained but Eernadotte and 
 the Saxons, who were incapable of offerinf;; any serious re- 
 .sistance. Such a force, concentrated on the direct line of 
 Napoleon's communications, immediately after his defeat at 
 Aspern, on the 22nd. would have de})rived him of all means 
 of extricatinif himself from the most perilous situation inwhich 
 he had yet been placed since ascending the consular throne. 
 
 After totally defeating Jellachich in the valley of the 
 3Iuhr, Eugene desisted from his pursuit of the army of 
 Italy, and joined Nai)oleon at Vienna. The Archduke Jolm 
 imited his foi-ces at Raab with those of the Hungarian in- 
 surrection, under his brother the Palatine. The viceroy 
 again marched against him, and defeated him at Raab on 
 the 14th of June. The Palatine remained with the H\m- 
 garian insxirrection in Komorn ; Archduke John moved 
 on to Presburg. 
 
 In the north, the Archduke Ferdinand, who had advanced 
 fuS far as War.saw, had been dri\-en back by the Poles under 
 Poniatowsky, and by a Prussian force sent by the Emperor 
 Alexander to their aid, which, on this success, invaded 
 ■iiaVicia. 
 
 On the 1 1th of May, the Tyrol was invaded bj'- the French 
 in great force under Lefebre, and by the Bavarians under 
 Deroy. Innsbruck was taken on the 1 9th, and affairs seemed 
 utterly desperate in the mountains ; but, on the 2Sth, the 
 Bavarian gamson was totally defeated by Hofer, Hasprnger, 
 «nd Specldjacher, and the Tja'ol was once more swept clear 
 of the iiiAaders. 
 
 ^Vllen Napoleon had completed his means of transit, and 
 obtained strong reinforcements, he again crossed the Danube, 
 and began the attack at Wagram, not far from the battle- 
 ground of Aspern. The conflict lasted two days, the 5th 
 and Cth of July. The object of the Austrian commander 
 was to maintain the light so long as to give time for the re-
 
 BATTLE OF WAGRAM. xlv 
 
 serve under the Arclidiike John, whom he had summoned from 
 Presburg, to appear on the right flank and the rear of the 
 French. The battle was one of the most tremendous in the 
 annals of war. The Austrians fought with admirable 
 gallantry, lost one of their colours, but captured twelve 
 eagles and standards of the enemy. Their heroic leader was 
 slightly wounded on the first day, whilst rallying one of his 
 battalions. For a day and a half the issue of the conflict 
 continued doubtful, until at last the Austrian left wing was 
 outflanked by the French cavalry. Then, in obedience to the 
 command of their chief, the Austrians slowly retired in regu- 
 lar order, without the loss of either prisoners or cannon. Two 
 hours afterwards, the heads of the Archduke John's columns 
 were seen approaching the bloody field. But they were now 
 too late to be of any use, and they fell back again on Pres- 
 bui"g. Had they arrived in time, there can be no doubt that 
 Napoleon would have been totally defeated. This is dis- 
 tinctly acknowledged by General Pelet, the French historian 
 of this campaign, and a distinguished actor in it. 
 
 The retreat was continued, without any serious molestation 
 from the enemy, to Znaym, where the Archduke Charles 
 took up a position on the 7th of July. A violent combat 
 took place there on the 11th, but it was intei-rupted by the 
 announcement of an armistice, which was followed on the 
 loth of October, after long negotiation, by the jjeace of 
 Vienna. Austria was compelled to cede Carniola, Trieste, 
 Croatia, and Dalmatia to Napoleon ; Salzbui'g, Berchtolds- 
 gaden, the Innviertel, and the Hausrukviertel to Bavaria ; 
 a part of Galicia to Warsaw, and another part to Russia. 
 She lost altogether 32,000 square miles of teri-itory, three 
 and a half millions of subjects, all contact with the sea, all 
 exit for her trade. As a crowning indignity, she had to 
 sul^mit to see the ramparts of Vienna blown up, — a wanton 
 act of military oppression, which exasperated the people in 
 tlic highest degree, and was a bad preliminary to the cordial 
 alliance which Napoleon desired. 
 
 By the convention of Znaym and the subsequent treaty of 
 Vienna, the Tyrol reverted to its Bavarian masters ; but 
 the brave mountaineers refused to acknowledge the conven- 
 tion, for their emperor had promised to conclude no peace 
 
 d
 
 xlvi IIISToKY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 which tli<l iii>t soi'iirc to liiin tlio possession of that loyal 
 liiml. Alter all the Austrian regular troops had witlulrawu 
 from the jM-ovinee. the ]ieasants, under Hofer, Haspinger, 
 Swchhaeher. and otlun- leadei-s. still maintained the contest 
 against Ii<>fel)vre and his 30,000 men. An advanced guard 
 of Freneh and I'avarians were defeated by Has])inger at the 
 bridge of Laditeh (Aug. 4), Avnth a loss of 12,000 men ; six 
 days afterwards, INlarshal Lefebvre himself, with 20,000 
 troops, was routed with immense loss on the Brenner (Aug. 
 10) ; and again he suffered a total defeat with all his forces 
 at Innspruck (Aug. 12), and the Tyrol was once more 
 evacuated by the invaders. But this triumph of the peasants 
 was of short duration. The Tyi'ol was again invaded with 
 an overwhelming force ; the insurgents were blockaded in 
 their mountain valleys in the depth of winter, and starved 
 into submission. Hofer was captured, tried by court-martial 
 at Milan, and shot by the express order of Napoleon. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Prom the Treaty of Vienna to the Final Overthrow of NapoUon. 
 1810-1815. 
 
 Immediately after the treaty of Vienna, Count Clement 
 Mettcrnieh, who had previously been ambassador to France, 
 became the leader of the Austrian cabinet, and minister for 
 foreign affairs, a position which he retained for thirty-eight 
 years. He had not been many months in office when a 
 treaty of marriage was concluded between the Emperor 
 Napoleon, who in the meanwhile had been divorced from 
 Josephine, and the archduchess of Austi'ia, Maria Louisa, 
 eldest daughter of the Emperor Francis. The nuptials were 
 solemnized with extraordinary pomp at Paris, on the 2nd of 
 April, 1810 ; but the conflagration of the house of the Aus- 
 trian amba-ssador. Prince Schwartzenberg, during a splendid 
 fete given by him to the newly-wedded pair, ominously 
 marred the festivities. Several persons perished in the 
 flames, — among the rest, the ambassador's sister-in-law, Prin- 
 cess Paulina Schwartzenberg, who had mshed into the burn-
 
 STATE BANKRUPTCY OF AUSTRIA. ISll. xlvii 
 
 iiig building to rescue her daughter. In the ensuing year 
 the young empress gave birth to a prince, Napoleon Francis, 
 who was laid in a silver cradle and provisionally entitled 
 king of Rome, to signify his future destiny to succeed his 
 father on the throne of the Koman empire. 
 
 Exhausted by her continual exertions for the maintenance 
 of the war, Austria now offered a melancholy contrast to the 
 magnificence of her new ally. The state could no longer meet 
 its obligations, and on the 15th of March, 1811, Count Wallis, 
 the finance minister, struck eighty per cent, off the value of one 
 thousand and sixty millions of bank paper, and reduced the 
 interest on the whole of the state debts to one half, payable 
 in the new paper issue. This fearful state bankruptcy was 
 accompanied by the fall of innumerable private firms ; ti'ade 
 was completely stopped, and the contributions demanded by 
 Napoleon amounted to a sum almost impossible to realize. 
 
 The alliance of Austria, secured to Napoleon by so inti- 
 mate a tie, seemed in the eyes of all Eiurope, as well as 
 in his own, an unfailing pledge of the pei'manence of his 
 dynasty. In reality it caused his destruction, by removing 
 the last impediment to his design of invading Russia. When 
 war was declared by France against that power in 1812, 
 Austria desired to remain neutral, bvit was compelled, like 
 Prussia, to furnish an auxiliary force under the command of 
 Prince Schwartzenberg. Napoleon crossed the Niemen at 
 the head of 600,000 combatants, of whom all but 80,000 
 perished. Among those who escaped were 30,000 Austrians 
 and 18,000 Prussians, so that the survivors of the proper 
 I French army were not above 32,000. 
 
 On the 30th of December, General York signed a conven- 
 tion with General Diebitch, in virtue of which the Prussian 
 troops became neutral, and only waited the commands of the 
 king of Prussia to unite themselves to the victorious Rus- 
 sians. Prince Schwartzenberg refused to follow this ques- 
 tionabl example, or to surrender Warsaw, to which he had 
 retreated ; but the Russians abstained from molesting the 
 soldiers of a nation which they foresaw would soon be alliöd 
 to their own. 
 
 Rallying with amazing promptitude from the tremendous 
 blow he had suffered iu Russia, Napoleon raised a fresh ai-my
 
 xlviü msTouv OK Austria. 
 
 of 300.000 nun in tlio ln'^riniiini^ of 1813, in order to crusli 
 the insnnvc'tion in which all Northern Germany had joined, 
 with tlie exci'ption of Saxony, after Prussia had openly 
 adhered to the Russian alliance. Great efforts were now 
 made bv the cahinets of IVrlin and St. Petersburg to detach 
 Austria from France ; and so strongly were the national 
 feelings declared in favour of that policy, that M. de Metter- 
 iiicli had tlie utmost difficulty in withstanding the torrent, 
 and evading the hazard of committing his government pre- 
 maturely. Temporizing with consummate art, he oflered the 
 mediation of liis government between the hostile parties, 
 and at the same time prosecuted his military prepai'ations on 
 such a scale as -would enable Austria to act no subordinate 
 part on the one side or the other in the coming struggle. 
 Meanwhile hostilities began ; the Russians and Prussians 
 were defeated by Napoleon at Liitzen and Bautzen, and were 
 fortunate in concluding an armistice ^vith him at Pleisswitz 
 on the 4th of June, 1813. 
 
 On the 27th, Austria signed a treaty at Reichenbach, in 
 Silesia, with Prussia and Prussia, by which she bound herself 
 to declare war with France, in case Napoleon liad not, before 
 the termination of the armistice, accepted the terms of peace 
 about to be proposed to him. A pretended congress for the 
 an-angement of the treaty was again agreed to by both sides ; 
 but Napoleon delayed to grant full powers to his envoy, 
 and the allies, who had meanwhile heard of Wellington's 
 victor)' at Vittoria, and the expulsion of the French from 
 Spain, gladly seized this pretext to break off the negotia- 
 tions. ]\Ieanwhile, Metternich, whose voice was virtually to 
 decide Napoleon's fate, met him at Dresden with an offer of 
 j)eace, on condition of the surrender of the French conquests 
 in Germany. Napoleon, with an infatuation only equalled 
 by his attempts to negotiate at Moscow, spumed the pro- 
 posal, and even went the length of charging Count Metter- 
 nich with taking biibes from England. The conference, 
 ■which was conducted on Napoleon's part in so insulting a 
 manner, and at times in tones of passion so violent as to be 
 overlieard by the attendants, lasted till near midnight on 
 the loth of August, the day with which the armistice was 
 to expire. The fiital hour passed by, and that night Count
 
 BATTLE OF DRESDEN. xlix 
 
 Metternicli drew up the declaration of war, on the part of 
 his government, against France. Austria coalesced with 
 Russia and Prussia, and in a certain degree assumed a i-ank 
 conventionally supei'ior to both. The Austrian general. 
 Prince Schwartzenberg, was appointed generalissimo of the 
 whole of the allied armies, and the manifesto of Count Met- 
 ternich spoke already in the tone of the future regulator 
 of the affairs of Europe. 
 
 The plan of the allies was to advance with the main body 
 under Schwartzenberg, 190,000 strong, through the Hartz 
 mountains to Napoleon's rear. Blücher, with 95,000 men, 
 was meanwhile to cover Silesia, or in case of an attack by 
 Kapoleon's main body, to retire before it, and draw it further 
 eastward. Bernadotte, who had become crown prince of 
 Sweden, was to cover Berlin with 90,000 men, and in case 
 of a victory, was to form a junction, rearward of Napoleon, 
 with the main body of the allied army. A mixed division 
 under Wallmoden, 30,000 strong, was destined to watch 
 Davoust, in Hamburg, whilst the Bavarian and Italian 
 frontiers were respectively guarded by 25,000 Austrians 
 under Prince Reuss, and 40,000 Austrians under Hiller. 
 Napoleon's main body, consisting of 250,000 men, was con- 
 centrated in and round Dresden. 
 
 The campaign opened with the march of a French force 
 under Oudinot against Berlin. This attack having com- 
 pletely failed, Napoleon marched in person against Blücher, 
 who cautiously retired before him. Dresden being thus left 
 uncovered, the alhes changed their plan of operations, and 
 marched straight upon the Saxon cajDital. But they arrived 
 too late. Napoleon having already returned tliither, after 
 despatchmg Vandamme's corps to Bohemia, to seize the 
 passes and cut off Schwartzenberg's retreat. The allies 
 attempted to storm Dresden, on the 26th of August, but 
 were rejjulsed after suffering a frightful loss. On the follow- 
 ing day Napoleon assumed the offensive, cut off the left wing 
 of the allies, and made an immense number of prisoners, 
 chiefly Austrians. The main body fled in all directions ; 
 part of the troops disbanded, and the whole must have been 
 annihilated but for the misfortune of Vandamme, who was 
 taken prisoner, with his whole corps, on the 29th.
 
 1 HISTOUY Ol' Al'STlilA. 
 
 At the same tinio (August 26) a splendid victory was 
 gniuoil bv HUiolier, on the Katzbach, over Macdonakl, who 
 ivacho<l Dresden ahnost alone, to say to Napoleon, " Your 
 urniy of the Bober is no longer in existence." This disaster 
 to the Frencli arms was followed by the defeat of Ney at 
 Dennewitz. by the Prussians and Swedes on the Gth of Sep- 
 tember. Napoleon's generals wei'e thrown back in every 
 quarter, with immense loss, on Dresden, towards which the 
 allies now advanced again, threatening to enclose it on every 
 side. Napoleon manoeuvred until the beginning of October, 
 vriih the view of executing a coup de nuiin against Schwart- 
 zenberg and Bliicher, but their caution foiled him, and at 
 length he found himself comy)elled to retreat, lest he shoidd 
 be cut off from the Rhine, for Bliicher had crossed the Elbe, 
 joined Bernadotte, and appi'oached the head of the main 
 army under Schwartzenberg. Moreover, the Bavarian army 
 under Wrede declared against the French on the 8th of 
 October, and was sent to the Main to cut off their retreat. 
 Marching to Leipsic, the emperor there encountered the 
 allies on the 16th of October, and fought an indecisive 
 action, wliich, however, was in his case equivalent to a defeat. 
 He strove to negotiate a separate peace vfith the emperor of 
 Austria, but no answer was returned to his proposals. After 
 some partial engagements on the 17th, the main battle was 
 renewed on the l8th ; it raged -ndth prodigious violence all 
 day, and ended in the defeat of Najioleon ; Lei{)sic was 
 stormed on the following day, and the French emperor nar- 
 rowly escaped being taken prisoner. He had lost 60,000 
 men in the four days' battle ; with the remainder of his 
 troops he made a hasty and disorderly retreat, and after 
 losing many more in his disastrous flight, he crossed the 
 Rhine on the 20th of October with 70,000 men. The gar- 
 ri.sous he had left behind gradually surrendered, and by No- 
 vember, all Germany, as far as the Rhine, was freed from 
 the presence of the French. 
 
 In the following month the allies simultaneously invaded 
 France in three direction.s, — Biilow from Holland, Bliicher 
 from Coblentz, and Schwartzenberg, with the allied sovereigns, 
 by Switzerland and the Jura ; whilst Wellington also was 
 advancing from the Pyrenees, at the head of the army which
 
 FIRST INVASION OF FRANCE. Ü 
 
 had liberated the Peninsula. In twenty-five days after their* 
 passage of the Rhine the allied armies had succeeded, almost 
 without tiring a shot, in wresting a third of France from the 
 grasp of Napoleon. Theh^ united forces stretched diagonally 
 across France in a line three hundi-ed miles long, from the 
 frontiers of Flanders to the banks of the Rhone. On the 
 other hand, the French emperor, though his force was little 
 more than a third of that wliich was at the command of the 
 allies, had the advantage of an incomparably more concen- 
 trated position, his troops being all stationed within the 
 limits of a narrow triangle, of which Paris, Laon, and Troyes 
 formed the angles. Besides this, there was no perfect una- 
 nimity among his enemies. Austria, leaning on the matri- 
 'monial alliance, was reluctant to push mattei's to extremities, 
 if it could possibly be avoided ; Russia and Prussia were 
 resolute to overthrow Napoleon's dynasty; whilst the coun- 
 cils of England, wliich in this diversity held the balance, 
 were as yet divided as to the final issue. There was a pros- 
 pect, therefore, that the want of concert between the allies 
 would afford profitable oi^portunities to the military genius 
 of the French emperor. 
 
 On the 29 th of January, Napoleon made an unexpected 
 attack on Blüchers corps at Brienne, iii which the Prussian 
 marshal narrowly escajied being made prisoner. But not 
 being pursued with sufficient vigour, and having procured 
 reinforcements, Blücher had his revenge at La Rothiere, 
 where he attacked Napoleon with superior forces and routed 
 him. Still Schwartzenberg delayed his advance and divided 
 his troops, whilst Blüchei", pushing rapidly forward on Paris, 
 was again unexpectedly attacked by the main body of the 
 French army, and all his corps, as they severally advanced, 
 were defeated with terrible loss, between the 10th and 14th 
 of February. On the 17th, Napoleon routed the advanced 
 guard of the main army at Nangis, and again on the 18th 
 he inflicted a heavy defeat on them at Montereau. Auge- 
 reau meanwhile, with an army levied in the south of France, 
 had driven the Austrians under Bubna into Switzerland, and 
 had posted himself at Geneva, in the rear of the allies, who 
 became so alarmed as to resolve on a general retreat, and 
 propose an armistice. Negotiations for peace had been iri
 
 lii HISTOUY OF AUSTRIA, 
 
 progress fjr several weeks at Chatillon, and the allies were 
 now iiiori< tluiii ever desirous that the terms thoy offered 
 hhouKl ln' aoc'optod. But so contideut was Napoleon in the 
 ri'turniuLj good fortune of his arms, that he would not even 
 n>usont to a suspension of hostilities while the conferences 
 for an armistice were going on. As for the conference at 
 ChatiUon, he used it only as a means to gain time, fully 
 resolved not to purchase peace by the reduction of his 
 empire within the ancient limits of the French monarchy. 
 
 Blücher became furious on being informed of the inten- 
 tion to retreat, and with the a])proval of ilm Emperor Alex- 
 ander, he resolved to separate from the main army, and push 
 on for Paris. Being reinforced on the Marne by Winzinge- 
 rode and Biilow, he encountered Napoleon at Craone on the 
 7th of Mai'ch. The battle was one of the most obstinately 
 contested of the whole revolutionary war ; the loss on both 
 sides was enormous, but neither could claim a victory. Two 
 days afterwards the emperor was defeated at Laon ; but 
 Blüchers army was reduced to inactivity by fatigue and 
 want of food. 
 
 Napoleon now turned upon the grand army, which he 
 encountered at Arcis-sur-Aube ; but after an indecisive 
 action, he deliberately retreated, not towards Paris, but in 
 the direction of the Bhine. His plan was to occupy the 
 fortresses in the rear of the allies, form a junction with 
 Augereau, who was then defending Lyons, and, with the aid 
 of a general rising of the peasantry in Alsace and Lorraine, 
 surround and cut off the invaders, or, at least, compel them 
 to retreat to the Rhine. But this plan being made known 
 to the allies by an intercepted letter from Napoleon to the 
 empres.s, they frustrated it by at once marching with flying 
 banners upon Paris, leaving behind only 10,000 men under 
 Winzingerode, to amuse Napoleon, and mask their move- 
 ment. After repulsing Mortier and Marmont, and capturing 
 the forces under Pacthod and Amey, the allies defiled within 
 sight of Paris on the 29th. On the 30th, they met with a 
 spirited resistance on the heights of Belleville and Mont- 
 martre ; but the city, in order to escape bombardment, 
 capitulated during the night ; and on the 31st, the sovereigns 
 of Rassia and Prussia made a peaceful entry. The emperor
 
 BATTLE OP WATERLOO. lüi 
 
 of Austria had remained at Lyons. Napoleon was compelled, 
 on the 10th of April, to resign the imperial crown, and 
 descend to the miniatiire sovereignty of the island of Elba. 
 On the 4th of May, Louis XVIII. entered the capital of 
 France, and mounted the throne of his ancestors ; and on 
 the 30th of the same month, a general peace was concluded 
 at Paris, by a treaty which reduced France to her limits as 
 in 1792. 
 
 Europe being now freed from her tyrant, a congress was 
 assembled at Vienna in the autumn of 1814, to adjust the 
 claims and mutual relations of the several states. This was 
 a matter of great difficulty, and there seemed much pro- 
 bability that the discordant victors would turn their swords 
 against each other, until concord was perforce restored by the 
 news that the common enemy was again in the field. 
 Napoleon had quitted Elba, landed on the coast of France 
 on the 1st of March, 1815, and in three weeks afterwards 
 entered Paris, the whole nation receiving him with acclama- 
 tion, not a single Frenchman shedding a drop of blood in 
 defence of the house of Bourbon. The allied sovereigns, 
 present in person or by their representatives at Vienna, at 
 once declared Napoleon an outlaw, and bound themselves to 
 bring a force of more than a million into the field against 
 him. The first contingents brought forward were a mixed 
 army of English, Dutch, Belgians, and Germans, under the 
 duke of Wellington, and a Prussian force under Blücher, 
 both of which were encamped in Belgium. Napoleon crossed 
 the frontier on the 14th of June, led the right wing of his 
 army against Blücher at Ligny on the 16th, and defeated 
 him with gi'eat slaughter, the marshal himself being among 
 the wounded and almost among the slain. On the same day, 
 but with very different fortune, Ney, with the left wing of 
 the French, encountered Wellington at Quatre Bras, and 
 suffered a severe defeat. After this, the Prussians retreated 
 to Wavi-e, pursued by 3.5,000 French under Grouchy, whilst 
 Wellington, falling back on the position he had chosen near 
 Waterloo, awaited the approach of Napoleon. In the stu- 
 pendous battle of the 18th of June, the flower of tne French 
 soldiery perished in their desperate efforts against the obdu- 
 rate valour of the British. The battle rajred from noon imtil
 
 liv HISTORY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 «•iilljt o'clock, with \incxamj)led fuiy. Blücher and lu's 
 l^russians iiuulo giijjantic ctVorts to reach the scene of action ; 
 but, marching over ground rendered almost impassable by 
 the lu-avy rains that had fallen, their main body did not 
 arrive until the victory was already won. Then they under- 
 took the j>ui-suit, and prosecuted it with unrelenting vigour 
 until nothing remained of the magnificent Fi'ench army but 
 a helpless mob of fugitives incapable of rallying again. 
 Napoleon returned to Paris to abdicate a second time. Then 
 failing in an attempt to escape to America, he surrendered to 
 Ca]>tain ^laitland, of his Britannic majesty's ship JJelleropfum. 
 With the concurrence of all the powers, he was conveyed, 
 under the custody of the English, to the island of St. Helena, 
 where he died on the 5th of May, 1821. His consort, Maria 
 Loui.sa, was created duchess of Parma, and his son lived, 
 under the title of duke of Reichstadt, with his imperial 
 grandfather at Vienna, until his death in 1832. 
 
 Meanwhile, Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law, who had 
 joined the allies against liim after the battle of Leipsig, 
 advanced into Upper Italy against the Austrians, upon the 
 reajipeai-ance of the ex-emperor in France. Mui"at was de- 
 feated at Tolentino and fled to Coreica, but his retreat to 
 France V)eing prevented by the success of the allies, he rashly 
 retunied to Italy wnth the design of raising a popular insur- 
 rection, but was seized on landing, and shot on the 13th of 
 October. 
 
 In the new partition of Europe, aiTanged in the congress 
 of Vienna, Austria received Lombardy and Venice under the 
 title of a Lombardo- Venetian kingdom, the Illyrian provinces 
 also as a kingdom, Venetian Dalmatia. the Tirol, Vorarlberg, 
 Salzburg, the Innviertel and Hausracksviertel, and the part 
 of Galicia ceded by her at an earlier period. Thus, after 
 three-and-twenty years of wai-, the monarchy had gained a 
 consideral^le accession of strength, having obtained in lieu of 
 its remote and unprofitable possessions in the Netherlands, 
 territories which consolidated its power in Italy, and made 
 it as great in extent as it had been in the days of Charles VI., 
 and far more compact and defensible. The grand duchies 
 of Modena, Panna, and Placentia, were moreover restored 
 to the collateral branches of the house of Habsbm-g.
 
 THE HOLY ALLIANCE. Iv 
 
 The ancient German empire was replaced by a German 
 confederation, composed of thirty-nine states ; and a per- 
 manent Diet, consisting of plenipotentiaries from the several 
 states, was established at Frankfort on the Maine, Austria 
 holding the permanent presidency. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 From the Congress of Vienna, 1815, to the Revolution o/1848. 
 
 The wars which, with little intermission, filled the first 
 three-and-twenty years of the reign of the Emperor Francis, 
 were in the main a struggle for national independence. On 
 their first invasion of France, Austria and her allies declared 
 their intention to quell the revolutionary spirit, and to up- 
 hold the cause of hereditary monarchy j but having failed in 
 the attempt, they soon abandoned, tacitly at first, and after- 
 wards in express terms, all pretensions to interfere in the 
 domestic concerns of an independent state, or to prescribe 
 its form of government. They fought against French 
 aggression, not for abstract ideas, but in defence of their own 
 rights and territories. After the last fall of Napoleon, how- 
 ever, the great powers of the continent reverted to their 
 original policy, and constituted themselves the champions of 
 the pi'inciple of absolute monarchy. The maintenance of 
 that p]-inciple ultimately became the chief object of the so- 
 called Holy Alliance established in 1816 between Russia, 
 Austria, and Prussia, and was pursued with remarkable 
 steadfastness by the Emperor Francis and his minister, 
 Prince Metternich. 
 
 The determination to resist all demands for constitvitional 
 rights, both in their own dominions and in every continental 
 state, was then an after-thought of the allied sovereigns, 
 who had previously made very liberal professions, and 
 apparently with perfect sincerity. The treaty of alliance 
 concluded at Chaumont in 1814 between Austria, Russia, 
 England, and Prussia, contained the following declaration : — 
 " The sovereigns recognise as the fundamental principle of 
 the high compact now existing between them the unalterable
 
 l\-i HISTOnY OF AISTUIA. 
 
 ns«tlu(i(>ii. neither in their own roci|)rooal concerns, nor in 
 tlu'ir n-hitious with other powers, to ih-jiart from Uic strich'st 
 ulKd'u-ticf to the maxims of popnhi/r riyht ; because the con- 
 stant application of these maxims to a permanent state of 
 jK.-ace atVonls the only eH'cctual guarantee for the inilej)en(l- 
 vnoe «)f each separate powei-, and the security of the whole 
 confederation." In the early part of the first Congress of 
 Vicnnii, Austria declared that *' the subjects of every German 
 state under the ancient empire possessed rights against their 
 sovereign which had of late been disregarded, but that such 
 disreganl must be rendered impossible for the future ;" 
 Prussia deliberately proposed a scheme of almost the same 
 constitution, wliich, thirty two years after, was revived by 
 the ])rescnt king ; and Austria, Prussia, and Hanover con- 
 curreil in placing on record a note (November IG, 1814), in 
 which was maintained the necessity of introducing uni- 
 venvilly Constitutional Estates, and giving them a voice in 
 «juestions of " taxation, public expenditures, the redress 
 of public grievances, and general legislation." 
 
 Such was the disposition of the leading members of the 
 German Confederation immediately after the first treaty of 
 Paris ; but the events of the hundred days appear to have 
 produced a total change iu their views. When the Congress 
 of Vienna resumed its sittings after that period, the question 
 of constitutional rights underwent a discussion of four 
 week.s, and the result, effected chiefly through the influence 
 of Au.stria, was the concise expression of the thirteenth 
 article of the Confederation, -viz. " A Representative Consti- 
 tutifju shall be adopted in all the federative states," — a phrase 
 which committed its authors to no very definite issue, and of 
 which the true meaning has been to this day a subject of 
 dispute. Thenceforth it became the avowed policy of the 
 chief .sovereigns of Germany to maintain the rights of 
 «IvTia-sties in an adverse sen.se to those of their subjects. 
 The people, on the other hand, deeply resented the breach of 
 those proini.ses which had been so lavi.shly made to them on 
 the general summons to the war of liberation. Disafiection 
 took the place of that enthu.siastic loyalty with which they 
 had bled and suffered for their native princes ; the secret 
 societies, formed with the concurrence of their rulers, for tliiB
 
 DESPOTISM AND REVOLUTION. * Ivii 
 
 purpose of throwing off the yoke of the foreigner, became 
 ready instraments of sedition ; and Germany has ever since 
 been j^ossessed by a revolutionary spirit, working through 
 liidden ways inscrutable to the police, compressible only by 
 an enormous preponderance of military force, and always 
 ready to break forth with devastating violence whenever that 
 pressiu-e is removed. 
 
 The antagonism thus briefly indicated constitutes the 
 dominant fact in the history of Austria, and of every German 
 state, during the last forty years. Its nature is thus por- 
 trayed by the philosophical historian Niebuhr, as reported by 
 the Chevalier Bunsen : — 
 
 " Europe is threatened with great dangers, and with the 
 loss of all that is noble and great, by two opposite but con- 
 spiring elements of destruction — despotism and revolution ; 
 both in their most mischievous forms. As to the former, 
 the modern state despotism, established by Louis XIV., 
 promoted by the Fi-ench Revolution, and carried out to 
 memorable perfection by Napoleon, and those governments 
 which have adopted his system, after having combated its 
 author, is more enslaving and deadening than any preceding 
 form ; for it is civilised and systematised, and besides the 
 military force, has two engines unknown to the ancient 
 world or to the middle ages. These are, first, the modern 
 state-government, founded upon a police force, which has 
 degenerated into a gigantic spy system ; and secondly, a 
 thoroughly organised and centralised bureaucracy, which 
 allows of no independent will and action in the country. So 
 likewise modern revolution is more destructive of political 
 life and the elements of liberty, than similar movements in 
 former ages ; for it is a merely negative, and at the same 
 time systematic reaction against the ancient regime, of which 
 it made the despotic part universal by carrying out uni- 
 formity, and by autocratic interference in the name of the 
 state ; whereas it gives no equivalent for the real, although 
 imperfect libei-ties, which the old system contained in the 
 form of privileges ; and in condemning such privileges under 
 the sanction of democracy, it destroyed the basis of liberty 
 under the pretext of sovereignty."* 
 
 * Life and Letters of B. G. Niebuhr, vol. iii.
 
 Iviii HISTORY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 In llit> winter of 1819, a German federative congi'ess 
 asst'iubletl at N'ienua. In May of tlie folU)wing year, it pub- 
 lishoil an art containing closer definitions of tlie Federative 
 Act, having for their essential objects the exclusion of the 
 various provincial Diets from all j)ositive interference in the 
 general allairs of Germany, and an increase of tlie jtower of 
 (he princes over their respective Diets, by a guarantee of aid 
 un the part of the confedei'ates. 
 
 During the sitting of this congress, on New Year's Day, 
 1820, the liberal party in Sjiain revolted against their un- 
 grateftil sovereign, Ferdinand VII., who exei'cised the most 
 fearful tymnny over the nation that had remained faithful 
 to him in his adversity. This example was shortly after- 
 waids followed by the Neapolitans, who were also dissatisfied 
 with the conduct of their sovereign. Prince Metternich 
 immediately convoked a congress at Troppau. The Czar 
 Alexandex', who had views upon the east, and was no stranger 
 to the designs of the pai-ty who were preparing a revolution 
 in Greece against the Turks, was at first unwilling to give 
 liis consent unconditionally to the interference of Austria ; 
 but on being, in 1621, informed, to his great surprise, by 
 Prince Metternich, of the existence of a revolutionary spiiit 
 in one of the regiments of the Russian guard, he freely 
 assented to all the measures proposed by that minister. The 
 new congress, held at Laibach in 1821, was followed by the 
 entrance of the Austrians under Frimont into Italy. The 
 Neapolitans fled without firing a shot, and the Piedmontese, 
 who unexpectedly revolted in Frimont's I'ear, were, after a 
 short encounter with the Austrians under Bubna at Novara, 
 defeated, and reduced to submission. Meanwhile, the Greeks 
 had risen in open insun-ection again.st the long and cruel 
 tyranny of the Turks ; but Piussia now no longer ventured 
 openly to uphold them, and the influence of Austria was 
 successfully exerted against them at the Congress of Verona 
 in 1822. Notwithstanding the professedly Christian spirit 
 of the Holy Alliance, and the political advantages which 
 would accrue to one at least of its members from the sub- 
 version of the Turkish empire, the revolt of the Greeks was 
 treated as rebellion against the legitimate authority of the 
 Porte, and was strongly discouraged. On the same grounds,
 
 AFFAIRS OF TURKEY. lix 
 
 it was decided that a French army should be despatched into 
 Spain to reinstate Ferdinand in his legitimate tyranny, and 
 this was accomplished in 1823. The Duke of Wellington, 
 who represented England at the Congress of Verona, pro- 
 tested, in the name of his government, against this violation 
 of the constitutional rights of Spain ; the protest was dis- 
 regarded, and Portugal would have been likewise coerced, 
 but for the landing of a protecting English force upon its 
 shores. 
 
 The establishment of the kingdom of Greece in 1827, under 
 the protection of England, France, and Russia, was regarded 
 with no favoui'able eye by Austria ; but she did not interfere 
 with the proceedings of the other ^Dowers, nor was the 
 harmony between her and Russia disturbed until the invasion 
 of Turkey by the latter had excited her alarm. In 1828, 
 England and Austria ^peremptorily intervened to prevent the 
 impending fall of Constantinople. France expressed her 
 readiness to unite with Russia, and to fall upon the Avistrian 
 rear in case troops were sent against the Russians. Prussia, 
 however, presented herself as a mediator, and a treaty M'as 
 concluded at Adrianople in 1829, by which Russia, though 
 compelled for the time to restore the booty already seized, 
 gained some considerable advantages, being granted possession 
 of several of the most important mountain fastnesses and 
 passes of Asia Minor-, a right to occupy and fortify the 
 mouths of the Danube, so important to Austria, and a pro- 
 tectoral authority over Moldavia and Wallachia. 
 
 The piratical seizure of an Aiistrian trading brig in 1828 
 occasioned a petty war with Morocco, and the appearance of 
 an Austrian fleet in the Mediterranean. Satisfaction was 
 obtained, and peace was concluded at Gibraltar in 1830. 
 
 The commotions that pervaded Europe after the French 
 Revolution of 1830, affected Austria only in her Italian 
 dominions, and there but indirectly, for the imperial authority 
 remained undisputed in the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom. 
 But the duke of Modena and the archduke of Parma were 
 obliged to quit those states, and a formidable insurrection 
 broke out in the territory of the Church. An Austrian 
 army of 18,000 men quickly put down the insurgents, who 
 I'ose again, however, as soon as it was withdrawn. The pope
 
 Ix HISTORY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 n^^uii invdkod tlio aid of Austria, wlioso troops entered 
 l{«>l()i;n!i in .lannarv, 1832, and estaMislied thoniselvcs there 
 in jj-.vrrison. Upon this, the French imnieiliately sent a 
 force to occupy Ancona, and for a while a renewal of the 
 oft -repeated eontlict between Austria and France on Italian 
 jjniund seemed inevitable ; but it soon appeared that France 
 wiLs not prepared to support the revolutionary party in the 
 ]>oj>e's dominions, and that danger passed away. The French 
 remained for some years in Ancona, and the Austrians in 
 Bologna and other towns of Roraagna. This was the last 
 important incident in the foreign aflairs of Austi'ia previous 
 to the death of the Emperor Francis I., on the 2nd of March, 
 IS.^/), after a reign of forty -three years. 
 
 During the last twenty years of Francis I., and the whole 
 reign of his successor, the care of the government was 
 directed with assiduity, and with no inconsiderable success, 
 towards improvements in the industrial resources of the 
 empire. Two great companies were formed for the conduct 
 of steam navigation, the one operating from Linz on the 
 Danube to the Black Sea, the other, the Austrian Lloyds, 
 effecting communication between Triest and Egypt, Asia 
 Minor and Constantinople. The state planned a net-work 
 of railways, extending over the whole empire, and undertook 
 the construction of a railway fi'om Triest to the Saxon and 
 Prussian frontiers. A private company began the railway 
 from Milan to Venice, and being favoured with extraordinary 
 aid from the government, was enabled to complete the 
 colossal viaduct across the lagunes, connecting Venice with. 
 the main land. Other important undertakings, supported 
 by private capital, are, the railway from Debreczin to Pesth, 
 and the noble chain-bridge over the Danube between Pesth 
 and Buda. But the solicitude of the Austrian govern- 
 ment for the material welfare of the people was in a great 
 degree neutralised by the erroneous policy which almost 
 prohil)ited commercial intercour.se Avith foreign countries, 
 and even between Austria and Hungary. In 1838, however, 
 a commercial treaty was concluded between Austria and 
 England, by which the Danube was freely opened to British 
 ves-sels as far as Galatz, and all British ports, including Malta 
 and Gibraltar, as freely to Austrian vessels.
 
 FERDINAND I. Ixi 
 
 Tlie Emperor Francis was succeeded by his son, Ferdi- 
 nand I., whose accession occasioned no change in the^ioliticalor 
 administrative system of the empire. Incapacitated, by 
 physical and mental infi-rmity, from labouring as his father 
 had done in the business of the state, the new monarch left 
 to Prince Metternich a much more unrestricted power than 
 that minister had ^vi elded in the preceding reign. One happy 
 effect of this circumstance was seen in the general amnesty 
 granted to political offendei's on the occasion of Ferdinand's 
 coi-onation in Milan, in 1838. Perfectly in unison as Francis 
 and Metternich had always been as to their political views, 
 no two men were ever more unlike in the disposition they 
 evinced towards offenders against their common system. The 
 homely good-nature of " Father Francis," as his petted 
 Viennese delighted to call him, gave place to barbarous vin- 
 dictiveness against all who sinned against his j^olitical creed. 
 The larger mind of the minister was incapable of this 
 fanaticism. He was averse to all extreme measures, and 
 particularly opposed to shedding human blood. No political 
 executions ever took ])lace at his instance. Francis himself 
 has been heard to say, " In pardoning, I am a bad Christian ; 
 it is too hard for me j Metternich is much more com- 
 passionate." 
 
 Once only during the reign of the Emperor Ferdinand did 
 the foreign relations of Austria assume a threatening appear- 
 ance. War had broken out, in 1839, between the Sultan oi 
 Turkey and his powerful vassal, the Pasha of Egypt, whose 
 son, Ibrahim Pasha, wrested Syria from the Porte, and over- 
 ran Asia Minor, and threatened the very existence of the 
 empire. The five powers — England, France, Russia, Prussia, 
 and Austria — interfered. While their envoys consulted in 
 London, the French and English fleets cruised in the Levant 
 to keep the truce. The case was now much perplexed by 
 the Turkish admiral having carried his ships to Alexandria, 
 and put them into the power of the Pasha. A strong sus- 
 picion was entertained that the French government encou- 
 raged the Pasha to retain this fleet, when he would otherwise 
 have given it up. The four other powers demanded its sur- 
 render by a certain day, and this not having been done, tliey 
 signed a convention on the 15th of July, to the exclusion of 
 
 e
 
 l\il HISTORY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 France. That power was jealous, and remonstrated tlirou^di 
 her minister, ^I. (Juizot ; and war seemed imniiniitit in 
 Kurope. The only way to prevent it was to extinj^uish the 
 war in the T^evant by a sudden blow before the cunllagration 
 spread farther ; and this was done by the ]5ritish lleet, aided 
 by a few Austrian ships. They blockaded Alexandria and 
 the Syrian ports ; and in September they bombarded 
 Boyrout. The Egyptians lost ground everywhere ; and in 
 November Acre fell before the attacks of the allied squadrons. 
 Jerusalem returned to its allegiance to the Porte ; and the 
 Egyptians had no other hope than that of getting back to the 
 Nile with the remnant of their force : Mohammed Ali de- 
 livered up the Turkish fleet, resigned his pretensions to 
 Syria, and in return received the firman, which gave the 
 dominion of Egy]Dt to himself and his heirs. A change of 
 ministiy took place in France, and peace was preserved. 
 
 The province of Galicia began early in the new reign to 
 occasion uneasiness to the government. The Congress of 
 Vienna had constituted the city of Cracow an independent 
 republic — a futile representative of that Polish nationality 
 which had once extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea. 
 After the failure of the Polish insurrection of 1831 against 
 Russia, Cr-acow became the focus of fresh conspiracies, to 
 put an end to which, the city was occupied by a mixed force 
 of Russians, Prussians, and Austrians ; the two former were 
 soon withdra%vn, but the latter remained until 1840. When 
 they also had retired, the Polish propaganda was renewed with 
 considerable effect. An insurrection broke out in Galicia in 
 1846, when the scantiness of the Austrian military force in 
 the province seemed to promise it success. It failed, how- 
 ever, as all pre\-ious efforts of the Polish patriots had failed, 
 because it rested on no basis of popular sympathy. The 
 nationality for which they contended had ever been of an 
 oligaj-chical pattern, hostile to the freedom of the middle and 
 lower classes. The Galician peasants had no mind to ex- 
 change the yoke of Austria, Avhich pressed lightly upon them, 
 for the feudal oppre.s.sion of the Polish nobles. They turned 
 upon the insurgents, and slew or took them prisoners, the 
 police inciting them to the Avork, by publicly offering a reward 
 of five florins for every susjjected person delivered up by them
 
 AFFAIRS OF ITALY. 1846 8. IxiÜ 
 
 alive or dead. Thus the agents of a civilized government 
 became the avowed instigators of an inhnmsin jacquerie. The 
 houses of the landed proprietors were sacked by the peasants, 
 their inmates were tortured and murdered, and bloody 
 anarchy raged throughout the land in the prostituted name 
 of loyalty. The Austrian troops at last x'estored order ; but 
 Szela, the leader of the sanguinary marauders, was thanked 
 and highly rewax'ded in the name of his sovereign. 
 
 In the same year the three protecting powers, Austria, 
 Kussia, and Prussia, took possession of Cracow, and ignoring 
 the rights of the other parties to the treaty of Vienna to 
 concern themselves about the fate of the republic, they 
 announced that its independence was anmdled, and that the 
 city and ten-itory of Cracow were annexed to, and for ever 
 incorporated with, the Austrian monarchy. 
 
 From this time forth the political atmosphere of Europe 
 became more and more loaded with the presages of the 
 storm that burst in 1848. It was the Italian quarter of the 
 horizon that first attracted the anxious gaze of statesmen. 
 For more than thirty years after the final settlement of 
 Europe by the treaty of Vienna, Austria exercised a per- 
 emptory control over the affairs of all Italy. From every 
 sovereign of that country she exacted the strictest main- 
 tenance of the established order of things in his own 
 dominions; and hence she became for all Italian malcontents 
 the object of tlieir supreme enmity, the common cause to 
 which they ascribed all their political and social grievances. 
 Agreeing in little else, they were unanimous in hating their 
 northern masters ; and gradually this communion in hatred 
 led them to fix their desires also upon one common object, 
 the achievement of Italian nationality. But they looked 
 upon Austria with no less dread than aversion, and plainly 
 acknowledged to themselves the impossibility of coping with 
 her in arms. They busied themselves only with conspiracies 
 to harass and annoy the Italian sovereigns, her subordinates. 
 " During these last thirty years," says one of the most 
 judicious Italian writers of the present day,* " the Italians 
 had only l>een feeling their way. They cared very little, and 
 
 * Mariotti, Italy in 184S. 
 62
 
 Ixiv HISTORY OF AUSTllIA. 
 
 understood even less, about the representative forms of 
 Transiilpiup freedom. The thorn in tlieir side was plainly 
 the foreigner. Thty tried him by indirect attacks, by a 
 fi'int ujion the Bourbon, or the Pope, at Naples, at Rome, at 
 Turin. Before they were fairly on tlieir guard, down he 
 came upon them ; and tliis ubicpiity of the Austrian, tliis 
 ))ron»ptnes.s and decision of his movements, this omnipresence 
 and omnipotence, ought, if anything, to have, as it actually 
 had, the eti'ect of simplifjiug the question and identifying 
 italian interests." 
 
 Ever preluding a levy of bucklers against Austiia, but 
 ever indetinitely postponing the moment of action, Italy was 
 ])rematurely overtaken in the midst of her preparations by 
 tlie fair-seeming but fallacious opportunity of 1848. Shortly 
 before that period, the Italians had become conscious from 
 fatal experience of the total inefficiency of seci'et conspiracies 
 and violent measures, and they had adopted a more cautious 
 and discreet policy, the watchword of which was "con- 
 ciliation, union, and moral force." This change of conduct 
 led to concessions on the part of the princes, the first 
 example of which was given by Charles Albert of Sardinia, 
 to whom the foreign yoke was even more galling than to the 
 meanest of his subjects. Some trivial differences "svith the 
 imperial government in 184G, on the subject of railways, 
 and about some matters of custom and finance, afforded him 
 a pretext for repudiating the dictation of Austria, and 
 assuming the tone and attitude of an independent sovereign. 
 This beginning was dexterously imjDroved by the leaders of 
 the national partj% and three more of the i)rincipal Italian 
 monarchs — the grand duke of Tuscany, the pope, and the 
 king of the Two Sicilies — were brought by clever manage- 
 ment to adopt, with more or legs reluctance, a course opposed 
 to the wishes of their imperial protector. 
 
 Italy was now fairly launched in what was vaguely called 
 " the way of progress," and which simply meant, rebellion 
 against Austria. A peculiar significance was attached to the 
 mustenng of the Italians in literary and scientific associations. 
 A trade and customs' union was largely discussed, and was 
 finally concluded at Turin on the 3rd of November, 1847. 
 After the accession of Naples, it seemed an easy step to con-
 
 AFFAIRS OF ITALY. 1847. IxV 
 
 vert that merely commercial agreement into a political com- 
 pact, an offensive and defensive alliance ; but this was not 
 attempted until after the declaration of war in April and 
 .May, 1848, when it was too late. 
 
 Austria was by no means indifferent to these tokens ; she 
 resolved to surjirise the Italians in the midst of their too- 
 leisurely deUberations ; but in the execution of that purpose, 
 she forgot her usual discretion, and made a false move, which 
 she was constrained to retract Avith discredit. She struck 
 the first blow and failed. Upon the publication of the pope's 
 decree of July 6, 1847, for the organization of a civic guard, 
 the Austrian garrison in the citadel of Ferrara marched 
 into the town, and took possession of it. Against this 
 "läolation of his territory, the pope protested in what the 
 friends of Avistria called at the time "unusual and in- 
 temperate language," but the act which had provoked it was 
 condemned by the whole civilized world, and Austria felt the 
 expediency of amicably revoking the step she had taken, and 
 withdrawing her troops within the citadel.* She had put 
 herself so palpably in the wrong on her first aggression, as to 
 make it difficult for her to venture .soon upon another 
 attempt of the same kind ; and so conscious was she of her 
 false position, that she tacitly abdicated the high protectorate 
 she had been used to exercise over the minor Italian states, 
 and even refused the benefit of her advice to the sovereigns 
 of Lucca and Tuscany in their perplexities. It Avas fortunate 
 for her that she had not to do with a pope like Julius II. to 
 head a national crusade, which would have leagued all Italy 
 against her. As it was, she was compelled to endui'e, at the 
 hands of Pius IX. and his minister. Cardinal Ferretti, a flat 
 and harsh refusal of a free passage to the troops she con- 
 templated sending to the succour of her Neapolitan ally. 
 Never was Austrian influence in Italian affairs at a lower 
 
 * " It was the dread of innovation that prompted the occupation of 
 Ferrara, — a measure in our opinion precipitate and impolitic ; the 
 <lomiiiions of the pope should have been held sacred from invasion ; aiid 
 the pretences, too, by which the measure is excused, are most frivolous." 
 — Quarterly Review, Dec. 1847. " Had .the pope declared war on 
 Austria at the time of the occupation of Ferrara, a pretext had at least 
 been afforded."- -/iicZ. June, 1848.
 
 Ixvi msTOllV OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 ebb since the coronation of Chavlos V. in 1530. Modciin 
 and rariua alone adheivtl to her unreservedly ; even NajiU's 
 wius wavering in its attachment. 
 
 " Up to the very opening of the year 1848, the Italians 
 had proved themselves tolerably shrewd and skilful tacticians. 
 They hud won their ground upon the enemy without ailord- 
 ing him an üi)portunity — a good reason at least — for un- 
 sheathing his sword. They had fairly kept on their own 
 ground ; given no alarm to the anxious guardians of European 
 ordei*. They had in fact listened to them ; to a certain 
 extent, acted by their advice." * Lord Palmerston displayed 
 great zeal for the independence of the Itdian states, 
 frequently remonstrated on their behalf with the Austrian 
 cabinet, encouraged the Italian princes to ado[)t reform as 
 a preventive against revolution, and gave his unflinching 
 support to Sardinia up to the declaration of hostilities 
 against Austria. Lord Minto, the father-in-law of the 
 English premier, and himself a mini.ster, was sent on a 
 mission to aid the Italians with his counsels in the pro- 
 secution of theii" "bloodless revolution." The policy of 
 France towards Italy during the years 1846 and 1847, 
 agreed in the main with that of England. Thus eveiything 
 favoured the hopes of the Italians, and tended to make 
 Au.stria's position in the peninsula increasingly precarious. 
 But that condition of things was reversed in a most un- 
 expected manner. Events which portended nothing less 
 than the dissolution of the Austrian monarchy, proved the 
 means of consolidating its power and restoring its lost in- 
 fluence. " All the Italians wanted was time, and this was 
 not given them. The success of their enterprise rested on 
 their consciousness of the magnitude of its difiiculties, and 
 fortune made it appear portentously easy." The temptation 
 offered by the Vienna catastrophe of March, 1848, lined the 
 Italian patriots to thoii' ruin. 
 
 * Mariotti.
 
 MARCH, 1848. Ixvii 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Revolutio7i of 1848, from March to September. 
 
 The revolution in Vienna began on the 13th of March, 
 on the occasion of the opening of the States for Lower Austria. 
 The business of the day had not proceeded more than half 
 an hour, when a mob, headed by the students of the univer- 
 sity, forced their Avay into the hall, clamouring for reform. 
 The members of the assembly at once concurred in the de- 
 mands of the populace, and agreed to march at its head to 
 the palace, where a cabinet council had meanwhile been 
 summoned. It was twelve o'clock when this strange pro- 
 cession set out, and at four o'clock it had not yet returned with 
 an answer. The people became exasperated by this delay ; 
 the students harangued them, and the tumult increased con- 
 tinually. The young Archduke Albert, who commanded the 
 garrison, attempted to disperse the mob by force ; but he was 
 wholly unacquainted with street warfare, and his measures 
 were so injudicious as only to augment the confusion, and 
 disspirit the troops, who were drawn out but to be ex- 
 hausted by fatigue and insult. No fighting took place, but 
 a few shots were fii'ed here and there, and about fifteen 
 ]ieople were killed either by the bullets of the soldiers or by 
 the pressure of the crowd. Further violence was for the 
 moment pi'e vented by the announcement that Prince Met- 
 ternich had resigned, that the emperor had acceded to the 
 popular demands, and had confided the keeping of the city 
 to the students and citizens, who were all to I'eceive arms. 
 Two days afterwards an imperial patent was issued which 
 embraced all the great concessions of liberty of the press, a 
 national guard, and the immediate convocation of the estates 
 of the realm with a view to the Constitution of Austria. 
 
 We pass rapidly over the events of March and the five fol- 
 lowing months, since they ai-e discussed at some length in the 
 narrative at the end of this volume. On the 25th of April, 
 Baron Pillersdorfi" the new minister for the home depart- 
 ment, pi'omulgated a complete constitution on the Belgian 
 model, which of course superseded the I'egular convocation
 
 Ixviii IIISTOUY OF AISTUIA. 
 
 of the states promised on tlio l/5th of March. Tliis con- 
 stitution oxisti'd for just twenty days, and perished in a 
 street rit)t. On the IGth of May anothei- inipeiial proela- 
 mation was issmnl, convoking a constituent assembly, wliieli 
 was to consist of but one chamber ; and thus just two months 
 had sullieed to l>nng the empire from the system of Prince 
 Metternich to the verge of a Convention. On the same day, 
 the emperor and liis family secretly quitted the capital and 
 retired to Innspruck. Tlie ministers and the whole popula- 
 tion of Vienna were thrown into consternation, and messen- 
 gers were despatched with the most pressing entreaties to 
 recall the fugitives, who obstinately rejected all such over- 
 tures. Another insurrection took place in Vienna on the 
 25 th of May, in consequence of a report that three regiments 
 were to enter the city at night. Barricades were erected, 
 but there was no fighting, tor the government purchased 
 another instalment of repose by an abject concession ; and 
 the result was the establishment of a " committee of citizens, 
 national guards, and students of Vienna, for the mainte- 
 nance of peace and order, and for the defence of the rights of 
 the people." From that moment the whole power in Vienna 
 was in the hands of this body, which was expressly declared 
 to be independent of any other authority. 
 
 On the 16tli of June a proclamation appeared, by which 
 the Archduke John was appointed the full representative or 
 Alter Ego of the emperor, not only for the opening of the 
 Diet, but for all the business of government. Besides this 
 weighty ta.sk, others had been heaped upon him, each of 
 which would have sufficed to employ the whole time and 
 energy of a younger man. He was to represent the sovereign 
 in Vienna ; he was to mediate between the Hungarians and 
 Croatians, already on the brink of war ; and, on the 28th of 
 June, he was elected vicegerent of the Germanic empire. 
 In the two former capacities his exertions were without 
 result, and shortly afterwards he withdrew altogether to 
 Frankfort, where he still rendered an important service to 
 Austrian interests, by maintaining that «juuterpoise against 
 the growing a.scendancy of Prussia, which Austria had, at 
 that time, no other means of supporting in the councils of 
 Germany. In consequence of these engagements, the formal
 
 BOMBARDMENT OP PRAGUE. Ixix 
 
 opening of the Diet was postponed until the 22nd of July. 
 The Emperor returned to his capital on the 12th of August. 
 
 In Bohemia the revolution ran a vehement, but very brief 
 course. The Czechs, or Bohemians of the indigenous race, 
 had long nurtured hopes of seeing the Austrian empire 
 transformed into a great Sclavonic confederacy, from whicli 
 the alien races should be excluded, or in which they should 
 hold a position corresponding to their numerical inferiority. 
 In March, a deputation from Prague presented a petition to 
 the emperor, demanding popular representation on the 
 broadest basis, and a responsible Bohemian ministry residing 
 in Prague. This was granted on the 8th of April. The 
 next step of the Czech leaders was to call upon all the 
 Sclavonian provinces of the empire, " to appear by their 
 representatives on the 31st of May in the ancient city of 
 Prague, to take counsel for the intei'ests of their race, and 
 especially to counteract the absorbing influence of the Ger- 
 manic body about to meet in Prankfort." Three hundred 
 deputies assembled at the appointed time, and, as if the more 
 to exasperate the Germans, the opening of the congress was 
 accompanied by the establishment of a provisional govern- 
 ment in Prague, the pretext for which had been furnished 
 by the events of the 26th of May, which seemed to sliow 
 tl.at the Viennese ministry were captives in the hands of 
 insurgents. On this ground the burgrave. Count Leo Thun, 
 created a council of regency in direct correspondence with 
 the emperor. Of the tliirteen members of this government, 
 two only were Germans. 
 
 0])ened on the 2nd of June, the congress was abruptly 
 closed on the 12th. The Viennese government could not 
 jardon the slight put upon it by the provisional government 
 of Bohemia, and it declared that body to be illegal, and its 
 acts null and void. This challenge was answered, as pro- 
 iiably it was intended that it should be, by an insurrection 
 which raged for five days, ending on the 17th of June ; nor 
 was it put down until Prince Windischgrätz, the Austrian 
 commandei-, had bombarded the town from the adjacent 
 heights, and laid much of it in ruins. Prague relapsed into 
 its former state of dependence on Vienna ; the Sclavonic con- 
 gress was dispersed ; and even the Bohemian Diet, which was
 
 Ixx HISTORY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 to liave opoiu'il on tho ISth of June, was indefinitely post- 
 }>(>no(l The tnimiuillity of Prague was never afterwards 
 »listurhed ; and in the subsequent debates of the Diet at 
 Vieinia and Krenisier, tlie Bohemian i)arty formed the 
 inielous of the right, or conservative section of the chamber. 
 
 On tlie liith of March the king of Hiuigaiy received a 
 deputation of 2Ö0 Hungarian gentlemen, headed by the 
 Palatine. Archduke Stci)hen, and beai'ing an address voted 
 l>v the Diet then sitting in Presburg. Dismissed from the 
 monarch's presence with a fiül assent to their requests, the 
 deputation I'eturned home ; and so energetically did the 
 Diet avail itself of the powers conceded to it, that in less 
 than a month all the reforms of the liberal part}' jiassed into 
 law by common consent, and the improved constitution of 
 the kingdom was established. Instead of the Aulic Chancery, 
 a responsible ministiy for Hungary was instituted under the 
 presidency of Count Louis Batthyany, with Kossuth in the 
 department of finance. All classes and races throughout 
 Hungary, Transylvania, Sclavonia, and Croatia, wei'e equalized 
 before the law ; and universal religious toleration was decreed, 
 with one exception in favour of the Eoman Catholic province 
 of Croatia, whose former law, forbidding Protestants to settle 
 in that country, was suifered to remain unaltered. The 
 censorshi[) of the press was abolished. The national guard 
 was established. A general taxation was introduced. The 
 mode of election was improved. The robot or labour service 
 due by the peasantry to their landlords was abolished; the 
 former were made free proprietors of the land they had 
 held as hereditary tenants, and the latter were to be 
 indemnified by the nation. Lastly, the union of Transyl- 
 vania with Hungary was mutually decreed ; and, on the 
 11th of April, the king came down in person and ratified 
 all these laws by oath. The Diet was then dissolved, and a 
 new one summoned to meet at Pesth in July. 
 
 With unbounded satisfaction the Hungarians regarded the 
 happy destinies thus apparently secured to them ; but now 
 new difliculties aro.se out of those animosities of race which 
 had been fostered by the immemorial policy of the house of 
 Habsburg, and which the Hungarian government took no 
 adequate jiains to allay. Not one of the Croatian leaders
 
 THE CROAT INSURRECTION. Ixxi 
 
 was admitted into the ministry, or into any of the higher 
 offices of state. This alone would have served to quench the 
 movement which had begun in Croatia in union with that 
 of Hungary. Austrian intrigue was not slow to avail itself 
 of this and other errors. Croats, Seiwians, and Wallachs 
 were incited by delusive promises, by hopes of plunder, and 
 by the instigations of their Greek and Romish priests in 
 Viennese pay, to wage civil war in defence of their emperor 
 and their religion, both which they were assured were 
 threatened by the rebellious and heretical Hungarians. 
 Jellachich, the Ban of Croatia, oj^enly organised a revolt 
 against the lawfully constituted government of Hungary. 
 He was summoned to appear before the emperor at Inn- 
 spruck to account for his conduct, and on his refusal to obey 
 the summons, Ferdinand issued a decree on the 10th of 
 June, by which the contumacious Ban was declared a rebel, 
 and the Hungarian Diet was exhorted to raise an army 
 against him. The king, however, always avoided giving his 
 final sanction to the bills passed for that purpose. Mean- 
 while, Eadetzki had defeated Charles Albert. Jellachich 
 threw off the mask which his countrymen alone had been 
 too blind to penetrate, and announced to Batthyany that 
 there should be no peace until a ministry at Vienna ruled 
 over Hungary. 
 
 The new diet was opened at Pesth on the 5tli of July by 
 the Palatine, Ai-chduke Stephen, in the name of his majesty 
 King Ferdinand V. The language in which he condemned 
 the Croat insurrection was uneqiaivocal. " The king," he 
 said, " after having spontaneously sanctioned the laws voted 
 by the Diet, has seen with grief that the agitators, especially 
 in Croatia, have excited the inhabitants of different creeds 
 and languages against each other. By harassing them with 
 false ruuiours and idle terrors, they have been driven to 
 i-esist laws which, they assumed, were not the free expression 
 of his majesty's will. Some have gone further, and have 
 averred that their resistance was made in the interest of the 
 royal house, and with the knowledge and consent of his 
 majesty. His majesty scorns such insinuations. The king 
 and his royal family will at all times respect the laws and 
 protect the liberties granted to his people."
 
 Ixxii HISTORY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 So spoke pultlicly the emperor's kinsman and representa- 
 tive, bis Alter Ego. But iu a letter to Vienna, dated 
 Mart;h 24, 1848, that is to say, a few days after the grant of 
 11 separate niinistiy, this same person is found to have sug- 
 gested three modes of destroying the Hungarian constitution : 
 either to excite the peasants against tlie nobles, as in 
 Galieia, and stand by -whilst the parties slaughtered each 
 other; or to tam])er with Biitthyany's honesty; or to invade 
 and overpower Hungary by military force. A copy of tliis 
 letter, in the archduke's hand-writing, was afterwards found 
 among his jjapers when he fled from Pesth, and was officially 
 jtul)lished with all the necessary verifications. The Austiians 
 have not ventured to deny its authenticity. 
 
 In Se})tember, as the king would neither allow troops to 
 be raised in Hungary, nor the Hungarian regiments to be 
 recalled from Italy for home defence, a Hungarian deputation 
 was sent to the Austrian Diet, but it was refused admittance 
 by aid of the Sclavonic party. On the 2nd of that month, 
 Latour, Austrian minister at war, solemnly disavowed in the 
 Diet any connection with Jellachich's movement ; yet two 
 days later, a royal ordinance (otficially published in Croatia 
 only), reinstated Jellachich in all his dignities : and he soon 
 afterwards crossed the Drave to invade Hungary, with a well- 
 appointed army, G5,000 strong. It was the duty of the 
 Palatine, the Archduke Stephen, as supreme captain of all 
 troops in Hungaiy, to lead the army against Jellachich. He 
 proceeded to the neighbourhood of Lake Balaton, there re- 
 viewed the troops, and then fled to Vienna without com- 
 municating with the parliament. In tliis ])osition, and as 
 Jellachich openly showed the king's commission, Batthyany 
 felt compelled to resign, since he knew not how to act by the 
 king's command against the king's command. No successor 
 was appointed, and the Hungarian Diet had no choice but to 
 form a Committee for National Defence. To embarrass them 
 in thi.s, the king re-ojjened a negotiation with Batthyany 
 (September 14), but still eluded any practical result by 
 refiLsing to put down Jellachich. Meanwhile (September 10) 
 despatches were intercepted, in which Jellachich thanked 
 Latour for suf)plics of money and material of war. The 
 Hungarian Diet published them officially, and distributed
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LAMBERG. Ixxiu 
 
 tliem by thousands. But Hungary was still unarmed, and 
 Jellachich was burning, plundering, slaughtering. Some 
 idea of the conduct of his troops and their auxiliaries may 
 be formed from the fact, that Mr. Fonblanque, the British 
 consul-general at Belgrave, in Turkish Servia, where their 
 plunder was disposed of, was obliged to complain to the 
 prince of Servia of the disgusting spectacle offered in the 
 market-place, where rings, still attached to the dissevered 
 ears and fingers of women, were exhibited for sale, like fruits 
 culled with the leaf to render them more tempting. 
 
 The next move made in the emperoi-'s name, professedly 
 with a view to put an eiid to the civil war in Hungary, was 
 to appoint Count Lamberg to take the command of the 
 whole kingdom and its contending forces ; a step, it has been 
 aptly said, about as hopeful and judicious as if Charles I. of 
 England had appointed a generalissimo over the royal and 
 parliamentary armies of his early wars, in the expectation of 
 stopping the civil conflict by the sim])le issue of that com- 
 mission. The Hungarian Diet immediately declared Lam- 
 berg's appointment illegal, and himself a traitor if he 
 attempted to act upon it. He persisted however, and, being 
 recognised as he crossed the bridge at Pesth, he was mur- 
 dered by the infuriated populace. 
 
 By this time Kossuth's eloquence had assembled masses of 
 volunteers, who, with the aid of only 3,000 regular troops, 
 met and repulsed Jellachich at Sukoro (Sept. 29), and 
 chased him out of their country. His rearguard of 12,000 
 men, under Generals Phillipovitch and Both, was obliged to 
 surrender twelve days afterwards, and 6,000 more were 
 destroyed by the Hungarian levies at Kanischa. 
 
 CHAPTEB VIII. 
 
 Lomhardo- Venetian War. — 1848-1849. 
 
 Nowhere in Italy was hatred to the Austrian more 
 intense or more universally cherished than in the Lombardo- 
 Venetian kingdom. Its people have published a long list of 
 grievances in j ustiücation of that feeling. The panegyrists of
 
 Ix MV lUSTOKY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 Austritv on tlio other huml, assert that her administration 
 " was more just and impartial, more provident ; above all 
 thinj,'s nioiv passionless than that of any of the so-called 
 independent Italian governments;" and they accuse Lom- 
 bardv and Venice of gross ingratitude and blindness to their 
 own interests, in their relations with a paternal government, 
 which treated them with such peculiar favour as excited the 
 keenest jealousy of the other provinces of the empire. AVith- 
 out entering into the merits of this controversy, it is enough 
 for our present purposes to accept the cardinal fact alleged 
 by the disputants on both sides — namely, that the Italian 
 subjects of the empire hated its yoke. They hated it above 
 all things because it was a foreign yoke, and for that reason 
 alone they would have hated it, however slightly it had 
 pressed their necks. Any aliment would have sufficed to 
 feed the rancour of their passion ; but three things especially 
 contributed to keep it fresh in their souls ; these were, the 
 swarms of Germans, Slavonians, and Tyi'olese, who filled all 
 civil offices to the exclusion of native functionaries, the very 
 judges being often unacquainted with the language of the 
 country, and discharging their office through interpreters ; 
 and secondly and thirdly, those two main evils, for which 
 Napoleon's rule had been held up to universal execration, 
 — the inquisitional police and the conscription. 
 
 The dread of Austria's power was stronger even than the 
 hatred she inspii-ed, and neither in Lombardy nor Venetia 
 did any political outbreak occur from 1814 to 1848; but 
 when the new system of " legal resistance" came in vogue 
 throughout the peninsula, it was adopted in those provinces 
 also, and prosecuted with great spirit. For two years Italy 
 had fought with no other weapons than shouts of " Viva 
 Pio Nono !" the Lombards caught up the strain, they had 
 a ' Pope's Hymn,' which did duty instead of a Marseillaise. 
 With this they greeted their new pastoi*. Archbishop 
 Romilli, on hi? .solemn entrance into his diocese on the 5th 
 of September, 1847. The apftointment of an Italian, after 
 the decease of a German prelate, was hailed as a return to 
 national jninciples. Austria was here forced to depart from 
 that system of denationalization, which had included the 
 very clergy. Eomilli was an Italian, and came in the name 
 of the Italian pontiiE The rejoicings, renewed on the 8th,
 
 L05IBAKDY AND VENICE IN 1847. Ixxv 
 
 and assuming a character of political demonstration that 
 could not be overlooked, led to the first bloody collision. 
 Remonstrances of a stiictl}' legal kind followed. Lombardy, 
 like most provinces of the empire, had a " constitution," 
 granted by the Emperor Francis I., and grounded upon old 
 local institutions. It had, however, been suffered to fall into 
 almost total desuetude ; partly owing to the abuses and 
 encroachments of the omnipotent police ; partly, also, owing 
 to the indifference or stubbornness of the people, always 
 determined " to spurn Austria and her gifts," always re- 
 reluctant to incur the charge of complicity with her govern- 
 ment even in the discharge of the most sacred duties. But 
 now, a recourse to these national forms such as they were, 
 suited the peculiar mood of the patriots of the day, and the 
 whole country was astir with municipal meetings, commis- 
 sions, &c., whose ostensible aim was merely to put into 
 operation the constitution of 1816, and see how far Austria 
 could be made amenable to her own laws and compacts. In 
 Venice, Daniele Manin, an advocate, and Nicolo Tommaseo, 
 a literary man, thought they could find, in the letter of that 
 constitution, a saiiction for the freedom of the pi-ess. Manin 
 presented a petition to that effect in December, 1847, and 
 Tommaseo read a paper to the same puqDose before the 
 Athenajum ; both of them were arrested, and thrown into 
 prison in the following month. 
 
 The Austrians, at this critical moment, were still smarting 
 under a sense of their blunder and discomfiture at Ferrara ; 
 and, with a fatality common enough in private life, they fell 
 from one error into another. They lost their temper just 
 when they had most need of it, — lost the very quality by 
 which they had, until then, prevailed over the more hasty 
 and mercurial Italians. The latter, on the other hand, per- 
 severed with growing zeal and complete unanimity on their 
 peaceful line of policy, and soon found means to make it tell 
 upon the government on its most vulnerable side. Calling 
 to mind that the Americans had begun their successful 
 struggle for independence by abstaining from the consump- 
 tion of excisable articles, the Lombards, one and all, resolved 
 to practise a total abstinence from tobacco, snuff", and the lot- 
 tery, three monopolies from which the imperial government 
 derived a very large revenue. But the populace, not con-
 
 Iwvi IIISTOKY OF AUSTUIA. 
 
 tent with strictly keopiniT tlio natiuiial plfdi^^e thoni.sclves, 
 uttoiiiptecl to cnlurco its \iiiivorsal obsorvancc by stuj)ping all 
 ]HM*soiis I'uuml smoking in the streets, and requiring thcni to 
 desist from the forbidden indulgence. On the other hand, 
 the Austrian soldiers, Avho had smoked before from incli- 
 nation, now smoked the more to show their loyalty and 
 their contemjjt for the Italians. Brawls, of coiirse, ensued 
 between the mob and the soldiers ; and the latter were 
 otheially reminded that they carried swords at their sides 
 for use on ])rovocation. The liint was not lost upon them. 
 On the 3ril of January, a party of military rioters fell npon 
 the defenceless crowd, killed eight persons and wounded fifty- 
 three. Five days afterwards another military outrage was 
 peri)etrated at Favia, and on this occasion two othcers were 
 ])roniinent in the fray. Up to the year 1848 nothing could 
 have been more admirable than the discipline of the Austrian 
 army ; both officers and soldiers had borne the mo.st con- 
 temptuous treatment at the hands of a subjugated race, with 
 a patience and forbeai'ance that excited the astonishment of 
 strangers ; but now a change had taken ])lace in their habits, 
 so sudden and complete, that it could only be accounted for 
 by a change of orders. It seemed, indeed, the deliberate 
 pui'pose of the cabinet of Vienna to goad the Lombards into 
 open rebellion. It did all in its ])Ower to aggravate the 
 existing evil by its uncourteous refusal to admit a Lombard 
 deputation (Jan. 10) ; by its senseless proclamation, pre- 
 cluding all hope of change (Jan. 17), and that in flat con- 
 tradiction to the promises of redress solemnly given by 
 Archduke Rainer only eight days before (Jan. 9) ; by 
 Marshal l^detzki's intemperate order of the day (Jan. 15) ; 
 by arbitrary arrests, proscriptions, and banishments of men, 
 too often conspicuous for rank and character, in some in- 
 stances perfectly innocent ; and finally, by that proclama- 
 tion of martial law (Feb. 22, though bearing the date of 
 Nov. 24, 1847), which, after the scenes of the two j^receding 
 months, seemed hardly needed to add to the unbridled 
 licence of the soldiery. 
 
 But all the high-handed efforts of Austria served only to 
 strengthen the tacit compact between her Italian subjects, 
 and to make them more obdurate in their passive resistance. 
 Had this state of tilings been sufiered to work out its own
 
 INSURRECTION OF MILAN. Ixxvii 
 
 issues independently of extraneous causes, Austria must 
 have submitted to make terms with the refractory provinces, 
 imless she had it in her power to exterminate theii- popula- 
 tion. But the Febiniary revolution of Paris led to a diÖerent 
 solution of the problem. Had that event, indeed, been 
 without results on central Europe, it would hardly have 
 accelerated the Lombard movement. But when it became 
 known that revolution had triumphed in the centre of the 
 monarchy, that Vienna was without a government, and the 
 great bond of Austrian unity was dissolved, the Milanese 
 and Venetians could no longer restrain themselves. 
 
 On the 18th of March, the day after this news had I'eached 
 Milan, the mimicipal authorities, headed by the mayoi", 
 Casati, and accompanied by the archbishop, presented to 
 the organs of the govei'nment assembled in the palace, peti- 
 tions praying the installation of a municipal magisti'acy, the 
 repeal of some severe laws, the liberation of political 
 prisoners, the election of deputies, and the estabUshment of a 
 national guard. The petitions were rejected, and thereupon 
 the people stormed the palace. The guard was overpowered 
 in a moment ; the governor, O'Donnell, was made prisoner ; 
 and the tricolour flag was planted on the palace. Some 
 Croats afterwards fired upon the peojjle and killed five or 
 six of them ; and this became the signal for a general rising. 
 Marshal Eadetzki ordered a battalion of Hungarians to 
 seize the town-hall, where there were only three or four 
 hundred citizens peacefully proceeding Ax-ith the organisation 
 of the civic giuird. Unarmed as they were they ventured 
 UJ301X some show of I'esistance ; but the doors were forced 
 open with cannon, and 300 prisoners were captui-ed. 
 The troops then scoured the broadest streets of the city, 
 and kept possession of the viceregal palace, the cathedral, 
 the town wall, and all the gates. But the inhabitants had 
 intrenched themselves behind lofty and solid barricades, 
 intersecting that vast labyrinth of narrow and crooked streets 
 and alleys, which harbours the densest population of Milan, 
 and which it was not possible to take without a bombard- 
 ment. Unwilling to have recoux-se to that extremity until 
 lie had communicated with Vienna, Radetzki acted only on 
 the defensive. The conflict was kept up for five days. At 
 last, on the evening of the 23rd, the insm-gents succeeded m 
 
 /
 
 Ixxviii irisTOKY of Austria. 
 
 seizing <>iio ^atc and the houses covering it, and thus 
 fstahlishing a coniniunicatioii with their friends outside. 
 Intfllis^fnce from Paihia, Venice, and other })oints, showed 
 that the wliole country wa.s in a state of revolt, and it 
 becjinie known that the king of Sardinia had crossed tlie 
 frontier with a formidable army. Radotzki's position was 
 no longer tenable, for Milan is a place of no military 
 strength ; he thei-efore began, at once, his retreat in the 
 direction of Verona. Twelve hom-s afterwards it might, 
 perhaps, have been too late. Even then great ])raise is due 
 to the brave veteran for the order and conduct of his retro- 
 gi-adc march. Two brigades he had summoned to his aid 
 on the first alarm, came up in this terrible juncture ; and 
 with this .seasonable reinforcement, in the face of a rising 
 population, hotly pressed 1)y the citizens, he was enabled to 
 cany with him not only all his artillery, liis prisoner.s, and 
 hostages, but even his mutinous Italian soldieiy, whom he 
 had now to encompass with more devoted troops, and to 
 spur on with German and Croatian bayonets. 
 
 In 184:7, and the beginning of 184:8, the Austrian police 
 had taken great pains to excite the Lombard pea.sants 
 against theh- landlords, and the lower classes against the 
 upper in the towns. Even after the events of March, 
 Count Ficquehnont flattered himself that " it was always in 
 the jjower of Au.stria to raise the Lombard peasantry 
 again.st theii* superiors."* But the attempt failed whoUy, 
 the people expressing their contempt for it in this pointed 
 sentence : — " The GalHcian florin (the blood-money paid at 
 Tarnow) shall not pass ciu'rent inLombardy." The agiicultural 
 population ro.se en masse, and flocked towards Milan, anned 
 with the muskets they had wrested from the surrounding 
 garri.sons, often under the captainship of their parish clergy. 
 To such a pitch of daring had they worked them.selves, a.s 
 almo.st to venture to confront Radetzki at the head of all 
 his host, on his retreat. They fell upon the Tyrolese rifle- 
 men of his vanguard at Melignano, or Marignano, a small 
 town on the road to Lodi, twelve miles from JVIilan ; they 
 took prisoner the commanding officer, Count Wratislaw, 
 adad demanded the arms of the whole corps. The main body 
 
 * Lord Ponsonby's Despatch, Vienna, April 2.
 
 REVOLT OF VENICE. Ixxix 
 
 of the retreating army came up at this jimctiu'e ; the puny 
 barricades reared by the rustics were forced with cannon, 
 and the town delivered up to mihtary execution. The 
 ai'oused peasantry returned to the charge nevertheless. They 
 harassed the enemy's rear ; they threw every obstacle in his 
 way, by broken bridges, blocked-up thoroughfares, and 
 flooded fields ; they fell on small detachments, couriers, and 
 stafi" oflicers, and swelled the Manara and Ancioni legions, 
 when these, after a short rest, set out in pursuit of the foe 
 from the emancipated city. These swarms of irregular com- 
 batants never lost sight of the Austrian, until the Pied- 
 montese battalions came to take the contest upon them- 
 selves. Not less than 30,000 of these inistic auxiliaries had 
 entered Milan immediately after the gates had been forced 
 open on the 22nd. So fatal had been the aim of the Swiss 
 and Milanese rifles, both within, and without the town, that 
 Radetzki Ls said to have lost, in the course of the five 
 days, no less than 5,000 men, killed or taken prisoners ; 
 and so many of his artillerymen had fallen at their guns, 
 tliat at Montechiai'i, near Brescia, on the 30th, he is repre- 
 sented as having barely five or six of that corps left to man i 
 the fifty or sixty cannon which he dragged along on his 
 flight. The Milanese compute theii" loss in dead at 329. 
 
 The revolt of Yenice, like that of Milan, immediately 
 followed the news of the revolution in Vienna. The Adriatic 
 capital was lost, not from any show of desperate courage on 
 the part of the people, but solely in consequence of the 
 imbecility and utter cowardice of the civil and military 
 L,'overnors of the place. On the morning of the 17th of 
 JMarch, the populace in St. Mark's Place, clamoured for the 
 release of Manin and Tommaseo. Hardly waiting for a re- 
 luctant assent, they forced open the prison doors, and bore 
 iorth theii- leaders in triumph. Collisions between the 
 people and the German soldiery were inevitable, especially 
 as the former were cheered on by the Italian grenadiers, who 
 were eager to join them. On the 18th, a turbulent crowd, 
 assembled in St. Mark's Place, was dispersed by a volley of 
 musketry, which killed five and wounded as many of their 
 number. Just enough blood had been shed to increase the 
 commotion, but not to dismay the disaffected, and Count 
 Palfy, the governor, became so alarmed, that he signed an 
 
 y2
 
 IXXX lU'^TOKY OK ACSTRIA. 
 
 unler for enrolling a civic guard, — an act equivalent to tlic 
 iibcliofttion of Austnan authority in Venice. 
 
 There waiii a lull during the next three days ; l)ut mean- 
 while a consjuiiicy was on foot, to aid which, the wildest and 
 most extravagiint reports were put in circulation : as that 
 the city was to be bombarded, or destroyed by mines dug in 
 various parts of it, or by rockets and other infernal devices, 
 designed to multiply death and destruction ; and that all 
 these diabolical schemes were the invention of Colonel Mari- 
 no\ic]i, the commandant of the arsenal. It is an old proverb 
 in Venice, that whoever is master of the arsenal is master 
 of Vemce. This the insurgents knew, and their measures 
 were taken accordingly. Their plan was simple : first, a 
 civic guai-d, as numerous and well informed as possible ; then 
 its introduction either by stratagem or force into the ai-senal, 
 and all was accomplished. Marinovich was a man of much 
 vigour and abUity, but detested by the mai'ines and workmen, 
 who accused him of great harshness towards the people 
 under him. Certain it is, that he had put an end to a veiy 
 extensive system of pilfering which had long prevailed among 
 them. He was murdered by the workmen on the 22nd, and 
 on the evening of the same day, the civic guards, led by 
 Manin, took possession of the ai-senal. A party of the 
 regiment of marines, wdiich had orders to resist them, re- 
 belled agamst their leader, ]\Iajor Bodai, murdered him, and 
 declared for the republic. Count Palfy immediately resigned 
 the civil authority into the hands of the militaiy commander, 
 Count Zichy, who without delay signed a capitulation with 
 the municipal authorities, by ^drtue of which, impregnable 
 Venice, with all its fortres.ses by land and sea, Avith all the 
 inaterid of war, — 30,000 muskets, the military chest, with 
 36,000,000 of Austrian lii-e (£1,200,000)— were .given up to 
 the insurgents. The Italian soldiers, nearly 4,000 men, were 
 to remain in Venice ; the foreign part of the garrison, -with 
 three months' pay, to be sent by safe conveyance across the 
 sea to Trieste. 
 
 Even after the capitidation was signed, proof was not 
 wanting of what might have been effected if the governors 
 had posses,s<;d a grain of resolution. The Kinski regiment 
 refused to lay down their arms ; gun-boats were brought up 
 before their baiTacks to compel them; still they stubbornly
 
 THE AUSTRIAN" FLEET. Ixsxi 
 
 refused to submit to such an indignity ; and so late as the 
 25th, they were only got rid of by a compliance with all 
 their demands as to military honours. 
 
 Thus Venice, almost by a miracle, had snatched from the 
 cowai'dice of her foreign rulers, the freedom which her no 
 less cowardly native rulers had tamely surrendered half a 
 century before. The republic of St. Mark was revived ; the 
 old standard was brought to light, the old war-cry revived. 
 A provisional government was established, of which Manin 
 had the presidency, with Tommaseo for his chief counsellor. 
 But one unaccountable oversight had been committed : the 
 Austrian fleet at Pola was lost, and with it the means of 
 preventhig a blockade of Venice. The disposition of mind 
 of the Italian seamen on board the fleet, might he jiidged of 
 from the conduct of the marines both in the harbour and the 
 arsenal, and still more clearly from the acts of the men and 
 officers on board an Austrian frigate stationed at Naples, and 
 two brigs cruising in the Adriatic, who, on the first announce- 
 ment of the Lombard movement, hoisted the national coloiu's, 
 and made sail for Venice. The provisional govei'nment made 
 sure of the same result with the whole of the Austro- 
 ItaUan fleet, and issued orders to that efiect. But they put 
 their despatches into the hands of the captain of a steamer, 
 which was to convey the ex-governor Palfy, and otlier 
 Austrian ofiicers, to Trieste, in accordance with the capitula- 
 tion. The captain's instructions were, that he should touch 
 first at Pola, and deliver the important papei's of which he 
 ■was the bearer, to the fleet ; but he was compelled, as it 
 apj>ears, by his passengers to make for Trieste without delay. 
 Thus his despatches fell into the hands of the Austrian 
 authorities, who took the necessary measures at Pola, and 
 had it in their power, by means of the land batteries, to keep 
 the fleet in check, aiid secure, by main force, the allegiance 
 of the mutinous crew. Only twenty-two officers were able 
 to escape from Pola to Venice, where they arrived on the 
 13th of April. 
 
 ExxKipt in the strong fortresses of Verona, Mantua, and 
 Peschiei-a, the Austrians retained no hold on any jiaiii of tlie 
 Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. The dukes of Parma and 
 Modena fled from their dominions, and all the other powers 
 of Italy sent troops to aid the provisional government of
 
 Ixxxii IlISTOKY OK AUSTRIA. 
 
 Milan. On tlir 22n(l uf Marcli, the Sardiiiiim minister 
 officially a.ss\u-o(l the Austrian ambassador that he woidd "do 
 all that dei>ended upon him to insure the relations of amity 
 and good-neighliourhood between the two states." On the 
 vor}' next day, the Sanlinian troops entered Lonibardy, and 
 on the ."JOth, the main body, led by Charles Albert in person, 
 arrived at Lodi. When the advanced guard reached Milan 
 on the -7th, Itadetzki was still within twenty-five miles of 
 that city. Had Charles Albert made two or three forced 
 marches, he might easily have prevented the concentration of 
 the AustrLau forces, and extinguished the war. Instead of 
 this, he allowed Radetzki to pm^siie his march without 
 molestation for a week, aiid take up an impregnable jwsition 
 under the walls of Verona, within the triangle formed by 
 that fortress, and the two other strongholds of Mantua and 
 Peschiera. 
 
 Delay was now the policy of the Austiian commander, 
 to allow the anival of General Weiden, Avith 10,000 men, 
 from the Tyrol, and General Count Nugent, with 30,000 
 men, from the Friuli. There was apparently no impedi- 
 ment to the approach of these reinforcements, for Radetzki, 
 in his official despatch, at this time represents Charles 
 Albert as "inactive at all points, and seeming to have 
 neither the courage nor the power to act upon the offensive," 
 though his best chance of success lay in assailing the 
 Austrian army in detail, rather than waiting until con- 
 centration should have made it invincible. Slight engage- 
 ments took place almost daily between the advanced posts of 
 either army, attended -with alternate .success ; but for five 
 weeks, the king of Sardinia never attempted to l)ring on a 
 general battle. Meanwhile, Nugent and Weiden pursued 
 their operations without check, and by the 25th of June, 
 the whole Venetian territory, with the exception of the 
 capital, had been reconquered by Austria. 
 
 On the Gth of !May, Charles Albert insanely attacked 
 Ptivdetzki in Ids impregnable position before Verona, and was 
 defeated -with a loss of 1,-500 men. On the 18th he laid 
 siege to Pe.schiera, which surrendered on the 30th ; but the 
 advantage of this capture was more than counterbalanced 
 by the junction of Nugent's army with that of Radetzki. 
 Whilst the king of Sardinia was busy jjushing his conquests
 
 VICENZA TAKEN BY KADETZKI. Ixxxiii 
 
 farther nortli, along the shores of Lago di Garda, Radetzki 
 made an unexpected sortie from Verona, and aj^peared before 
 Vicenza with 30,000 men. General Durando, the com- 
 mandant, capitulated, and entered into an engagement for 
 himself and his troops, not to take np ax'ms against Austria 
 for three months. Thus the Piedmontese lost the aid of the 
 Roman contingent ; the Neapolitan troops had previously- 
 been recalled in consequence of the events at home, in the 
 month of May. 
 
 On the same day (June 10) when Radetzki signed the 
 capitulation of Vicenza, Charles Albert affixed liis signature 
 to an act presented to him by the provisional government 
 of MUan, for establishing the union of Lombardy to the 
 kingdom of Sardinia. Already Austria had intimated her 
 willingness to acquiesce in that an-angement. She had pro- 
 posed a division of the country by the Mincio, retaining to 
 herself the fortresses of Peschiera and Mantua, provided the 
 Lombards would assume their portion of the public debt ; 
 and she had invoked the mediation of England and France 
 towards effecting a peace on that basis ; but Lord Palmerston 
 had refused the mediation on the part of England, on the 
 ground that the terms offered by Austria were not liberal 
 enough ; and the provisional government of Milan woiild 
 accept no terms from Austria short of the entire suiTender 
 of the Venetian territory also. 
 
 Thinking that the Austrians were still before Vicenza, 
 Charles Albert marched against Verona on the 1 2th of June ; 
 but already Radefczki had returned thither, and the Pied- 
 montese were obliged to reth'e within their lines, where they 
 relapsed into inaction. In the beginning of July, the Pied- 
 montese army of 65,000 men occupied a line of about thirty 
 miles in length, from near Mantua on its right, to Rivoli on 
 its left. The head-quarters, which had been at Peschiera, 
 were removed to Vallegio, and afterwards to Rivei'bella, and 
 the strength of the army was gradually accumulated on the 
 right wing, in order to invest Mantua, whilst the left wing 
 was most imprudently weakened. The lines of Rivoli were 
 not defended by more than 3,000 troops, and those of Somma 
 Campagna, extending from Bussolongo, on the Uj)per Adige, 
 to Vallegio, on the Mincio, by not more than 5,000. Radetzki 
 meanwliile was preparing to seize the game which his un-
 
 l\X.\i\ IIISTOKV Ol' AISTRIA. 
 
 skilful jintiigoiiLst was |)ljiyiii;,' into his liauds. Scfiiig tliaf- 
 C'liarU's Alport's whole attention was directed towards tln' 
 south, l>e kept him in that disposition l)y well-contrived 
 feints. A littli' victory gained by General Bava ovvv 3,00(1 
 or 4,000 Austrian» at Governolo, near the junction of the 
 !Minci(» and the Po, also contributed to the same end, and 
 tilled the king and his army Avith fallacious hojws. But 
 .sutldenly, on the 22nd of July, news arrived that the 
 Anstrians had been quietly passing the Upper Adige, at the 
 foot of the mountain that overlooks Eivoli, and had already 
 descended to La Corona, dri\ing before them the few Pied- 
 montese stationed thei'e. Next day they pushed on from 
 La Corona, and carried the plateau, and all the lines of 
 Rivoli ; whilst another Austrian force, 25,000 strong, under 
 Geneiid d'Aspre, assaulted the lines of Somnia Campagna. 
 Their 5,000 defenders made a gallant resistance, l)ut the 
 force of the assailants was overwhelming, and the Austrian« 
 regained the whole territory between the Upper Adige and 
 the Lago di Garda and th(! Älincio, from the foot of Älonte- 
 baldo, and from Bussolongo to Vallegio, Peschiera being 
 placetl in a static of complete isolation. 
 
 Getting together nearly 30,000 men, Charles Albert 
 advanced, on the evening of the 25th, against the heights 
 between Bussolongo and Vallegio. The decisive battle which, 
 was fought next day, bears the name of Somma Campagna, 
 where tlie centre of the Austrian force was estabhshed. It 
 lasted fi"om five in the morning to five in the afternoon, the 
 Piedmontese having at fii'st the advantage of numbers, and 
 fighting with desperate courage, until Badetzki brought up 
 a resei-ve of nearly 20,000 men from Verona, and obtained 
 a complete Aictory. 
 
 The retreat began on the following day, and on the 3rd of 
 August Charles Albert arrived at IVIilan, Avhere he culpably 
 sufiered the inhabitants to compromise themselves by erect- 
 ing Ijan-icades, and making other futile preparations for a 
 battle, which he j»romised to fight before the walls of the 
 capital, whilst he was, at the same time, entering into a 
 ca]>itulatiou with Eadetzki. When this fact became known 
 in ^lilan, the excitement was intense, and it was not without 
 difiBculty that Charles Albert esca})ed with life from a city, 
 whose inhabitants but a few weeks before had hailed him as
 
 CAMPAICIX OF KOVARA. Ixxxv 
 
 their deliverer und chosen 80"vereign. Next day the Anstrians 
 inarched into Milan, and Kadetzki issued an address to his 
 troops, in which he said, with just pride, " You have marched 
 from victory to victory ; and, in the short space of a fort- 
 night, advanced victoriously from the Adige to the Ticino. 
 The imperial flag waves again from the walls of Milan, and 
 no enemy any longer treads the Lombardian territory." 
 
 On the 9th of August, an armistice was granted to the 
 vanquished king by Marshal Radetzki, on as liberal terms as 
 could have been expected, at a moment when there was no 
 obstacle to the advance of the imperial forces to Turin, and 
 their dictation, within the walls of that capital, of such a 
 treaty of peace as would have severely punished their recent 
 assailant, and thrown u]3on Sardinia the expenses of the war. 
 The time of truce was spent by Charles Albert in preparing 
 to renew, under the most adverse conditions, a struggle in 
 which he had failed so WTetchedly when favoured by so many 
 conspiring circumstances. Agreeably to the stipulations 
 entered into between the belligerents upon the close of the 
 last campaign, notice was to be given of the denunciation of 
 the armistice eight days before the recommencement of 
 hostilities. The king of Sardinia having resolved to open 
 the war on the 20th of March, 1849, the required notice was 
 given on the 12th to Eadetzki, who immediately issued an 
 order of the day, concluding with the inspiring war-cry, 
 " Fox'ward, soldiers, to Turin !" 
 
 Though the resumption of hostilities was more sudden 
 than Radetzki had expected, he was far from being taken 
 by sux'prise, as the cabinet of Turin had been led to believe. 
 His measures were adopted with so much jjromptitude and 
 secrecy, that, on the night of the 1 9th, live of the six corps 
 composing the Austrian army in Italy, were concentrated 
 round Pavia, read}' to take the oflensive the veiy moment 
 the armistice should expire, whilst the people of Milan and 
 the Piedmoutese believed that he was retreating on the 
 Adda. But his plan was to carry the war into Piedmont, 
 and dictate a peace iinder the walls of Turin. At twelve 
 o'clock on the 20th of March, the moment when the ar- 
 mistice exj)ired, the Austrian« crossed the Ticino without 
 encountering the slightest obstniction from the enemy ; for 
 Eamorino, who commanded the Lombard division of Charles
 
 Ixxxvi IIISTÜKY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 Allu'rt'sariHV, liacl disoboyed the ordei-s given him to occupy 
 I*» Cava, so as to he able to act in tho direction of I'avia. 
 On the foHowingday an engageu\ent took place at Mortai-a, in 
 wliich two Piedmontese divisions were defeated Avith a 
 K>ss of GOO men and five cannons. Tliis disa.stei-, and the 
 advanced position of the Anstrians, placed the Piedmontese 
 aniiv in such a peiilous position as left its commander no 
 (.-hoico but to fight a decisive battle at Novara on the 23rd. 
 The Piedmontese were defeated beyond all possibility of 
 recovery, and that night Charles Albert abdicated in favom* 
 of his son Victor Emmanuel. 
 
 Next day an interview took place between Radetzki and 
 the young king, and an armistice was concluded upon the 
 following terms : occupation by 20,000 Avistrians of the 
 country lietween the Ticino and Sesia ; joint occupation 
 Avith the Piedmontese of the fortress of Alessandi-ia ; dis- 
 banding of Hungarian, Lombard, and Polish troops in the 
 service of Sardinia ; retirement of the Sardinian fleet from 
 the Adriatic ; negotiations for a permament peace to be 
 entered upon without dela}^ 
 
 While these successes attended the Austrian arms in 
 Piedmont, events of a different character were occurring in 
 Lombardy. Brescia, the second city of the province, wdth 
 40,000 inhabitants, having been left under the guard 
 of only 500 men in the citadel, determined to rise 
 and stiike for independence. An ineffectual attempt was 
 made to capture the citadel, and the insurgents were forced 
 by the few troops in the neighbourhood to shut themselves 
 np in the town. General Haynau, in command of the troops 
 then blockading Venice, arrived before Brescia on the 30th 
 of March, with between 3,000 and 4,000 men. The gates 
 of the city were captured without the discharge of a 
 single gun ; but then, the contest commenced. A part of 
 the town being in flames, the people endeavoured, in vain, 
 to escape over the walls, and were diiven into a corner 
 between two of tlie gates, which was fired at all points, 
 and where it is believed that great numbers of them 
 were burned to death. But the massacre did not end with 
 the combat, though it is stated in the ofiicial bulletin, that, 
 when all resi.stance was over, " the bodies of the insurgents 
 lay in heaps in the streets and houses." The most hideous
 
 SIEGE OF VEXICE. Ixsxvü 
 
 incident of this terrible »laughter is reserved for the closing 
 paragraph of General Haynaus bidletin : " All prisoners 
 taken -svith arms in their hands were shot publicly." 
 
 Brescia was now a heap of ruins ; the district was mulcted 
 to the amount of two millions of florins, and one million 
 compensation money for the widows and orphans of the 
 slain, the wounded and the troops engaged. 
 
 Venice, which for a while had declared lierself incorpo- 
 rated with the jDrospective kingdom of Northern Italy, had 
 resumed her republican character after the capitulation of 
 Milan, and had elected Maniii dictator. After the desertion, 
 of Naples, the Austrian occupation of Tviscany, the French 
 occupation of Rome, and even after the total defeat of the 
 Piedmontese at Novara, by which the Venetians were de- 
 prived of the eflicient aid of the Sardinian navy, they replied, 
 on the 2nd of April, 1849, when summoned by Haynau to 
 surrender, that they were resolved to resist " at any cost, 
 and to the last." Yet they had no stores of provisions suf- 
 ficient for a protracted siege, they were exceedingly in want 
 of money, and any hopes they might have placed in foreign 
 diplomacy were soon destroyed by the fate of their appeal 
 addressed, on the 4th of April, to the governments of France 
 and England. Both declined to offer a mediation which 
 Austria would by no means accept at such a moment, and 
 Lord Palmerston coupled his refusal with advice to make 
 terms with Austria while it was yet possible. 
 
 On the 4th of May, Marshal Radetzki arrived at the 
 head-quarters of the besieging army, and immediately issued 
 a proclamation, summoning the Venetians to surrender 
 within forty-eight hours, and offeinng a general amnesty to 
 all common soldiers and all subordinate officers of the army 
 and navy, and permission to every one who might choose to 
 do so, to leave the city either by land or water during the 
 space of forty-eight hours after the capitulation. These 
 terms being rejected, the siege was prosecuted with vigour, 
 and an attack was begun on the fort of Malgheri-a, situated 
 to the west of Venice, and at that time the only spot of the 
 mainland in the possession of the Venetians. Tliough an 
 ordinary ftn-t of the third order, and feebly manned, yet so 
 ably was it dfjfended, that its reduction gave the besiegi^rs 
 full employment for three weeks.
 
 Ixxxviii lUSTOKY OK AUSTRIA. 
 
 Two iui4es of water still iuterveiu'cl between the Axistriaiis 
 and the devoted city, which their guns were unable to 
 reach ; whilst it was defended by the foi-tification on Sar 
 Secundo and other islands, two batteries on the I'emains <^t 
 the niilway viaduct, several arches of which had been blown 
 U|», and by one lumdred gun-boats, each cari-jnug four guns. 
 The bombardnient began on the 15th, and the tiling was ke])t 
 uj) day and night, but with no great success, for the balls and 
 bombs for the most part fell short. Vexed by the fruitless 
 expenditure of an enormous amoimt of aiun\unition, the 
 Austrians had recourse to the novel device of bombarding 
 by means of balloons, five of which, each twenty-tive feet in 
 diameter, were constructed at Tre^-iso. From the car 
 attached to each balloon, five bombs were suspended by 
 long isolated copper wires, one end of which was in commu- 
 nication ^vith a powerful gah^anic battery placed on the 
 shore. The balloon having been launched and earned 
 by the wind in the required direction, the cutting of the 
 wires would eflect the double jmrpose of firing the fusees and 
 detaching the bombs, which Avoixld then fall per})endicularly 
 and explode on reaching the ground. By this means it Avas 
 thought that twenty-tive ])ombs a day might be thrown into 
 the city when the wind av'us favourable. Experiments made 
 previously at TreA-iso had succeeded comj^letely ; but when 
 the trial was made over the lagoons, on the 24tli of June. 
 with three balloons, it failed in consequence of a change in 
 the wind after the balloons were discharged, and the bombs, 
 in.stead of reaching the city, fell into the sea. 
 
 Toward the end of July the incessant roar of cannon, 
 which for thii-ty-two days and nights had sounded x\])on 
 the ears of the Venetians, began gi'adually to subside ; lead- 
 ing the besieged to conjecture that the enemy had aban- 
 doned the idea of taking the city by storm, and had resoh'ed 
 to rely for its reduction on famine, the first effects of which 
 were now muTufesting themselves. The croAvds round the 
 bakei-s' shops were alread}- so dense that several persons had 
 been i)re.s.sed to death. Meat and A\ine were almost com- 
 pletely exhausted, and Jn-ead of the worst quality exceedingly 
 scarce. Tlie blockade both bj- sea and land was so close as 
 to exclude all hope of obtaining supplies ; and that Venice 
 must fall by hunger in a short time was now apparent to
 
 VEXICE BOMBAKDED. Ixxxix 
 
 all. Still the town continued perfectly tranquil, nor was the 
 determination to resist the enemy in the slightest degree 
 impaired ; all classes were still resolved to hold out to the 
 last. Meanwhile Marshal Radetzki had been preparing 
 means to put their fortitude to an unexpected proof. When 
 the silence of the lagoons had for many days been unbroken 
 by a single hostile gun, on Sunday, the 31st of Jvily, at mid- 
 night, when the populace were in their beds, and the higher 
 classes, as was their custom, were promenading in the illu- 
 minated Piazza di San Marco, suddenly they found them- 
 selves in the midst of a shower of red-hot shot, which 
 covered at once nearly three-fourths of the city. In a 
 moment all Venice was alive. The streets were crowded 
 with men, women, and cHldren, hurrying from the exposed 
 districts toward the Castello and the public gardens, which 
 the projectiles did not reach. But the alarm did not affect 
 the constancy of the Venetians ; those who were liouseless 
 quartered themselves on the inhabitants of the safe quarters, 
 with as much imconcern as if all were members of one 
 family. By-and-by it was found that the balls seldom, if 
 ever, penetrated fui'ther than the roof and one story, and 
 the inhabitants remained imconcerned in the lower parts of 
 theii' houses. Some buildings were set on fire, but the 
 flames were quickly extinguished. 
 
 The means by which the Austrians succeeded, at length, 
 in throAving projectiles into the city, was by mounting 
 eighty pomiders and Paixhan guns of great calibre at San 
 Giuliano, and firing with muzzles greatly elevated. The 
 torrent of balls, which fell incessantly day and niglit, had no 
 other effect than to destroy propei'ty, and to demolish the 
 most beautiful works of architecture and sculpture. Many 
 chiu'ches suffered severely ; nearly every palace on the Grand 
 Canal was perforated, some of them with from thirty to forty 
 balls ; and one shot struck the Rialto. 
 
 Provisions were hourly becoming more scarce ; the supply 
 could last but two weeks longer ; and yet the people very 
 quietly said, " We will hold out until we have nothing more 
 to eat, and then the Croats may come and do what tliey 
 please." To add to the hoirors of their situation, the cholera 
 broke out amongst then in its most malignant form, its 
 ravages increased, no doubt, by the scanty and unwholesome
 
 XC HISTOUY OF AL'STUIA. 
 
 I'ooil uu wliii'li tliev had been compelled for some time to 
 subsist ; yet amid all these disjisteis not the least sign of 
 turlndcuce or despondency ai>peaied in the aHlicted city. 
 
 On the 14th of Anglist, Marshal Eadet/.ki, aware of the 
 state to which Venice was reduced, i-euewed his eflbi-ts to 
 induce it to capitulate, by offering nearly the same; terms 
 that had been ])revioiLsly rejected. But rejected they were 
 again, though ammunition, food, medicine, drink, and even 
 water was liiiling, and though the cholera wa« carrying off 
 from eighty to a hundred a day. On the 17th, however, the 
 president of the republic, after consiütmg the commandant 
 of the French squadron and the French consul, decided that 
 longer resistance was impossible, and tliat a deimtation 
 shoidd be sent to the Austrian camp with an offer of capi- 
 tulation. The offer, received on the 19th by the Austrian 
 commander, was ti"ansmitted to JMilan, and three days elapsed 
 before Marshal Radetzki's answer arrived. It was an 
 jinxious interval for the prostrate Venetians, who feared that 
 the terms to be im2:)osed upon them would be rigorous in 
 the extreme. They had but two days' provisions left, and 
 those of the worst kind ; the progi'ess of the cholera was 
 fiightfnl ; the absolute and unconditional suiTcnder of the 
 city within two days inevitable. Great, therefore, was the 
 joy of the Venetians, when it was made known to them that 
 Radetzki had generously foi'borne to impose any additional 
 stijjidations on his fallen foe. The capitulation was agi-eed 
 to by the municipality of Venice, in whose favour the Pro- 
 visional Government and the National Assembly had aljdi- 
 cated their powers ; the firing ceased on both sides, and the 
 republic of Venice was no more. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Hevoll and Bomlardraent of Vienna. Abdication of tlte Emperor 
 Ferdinand. 
 
 Tue jjroceedings of the Imperial Diet, fi-om the time of its 
 formal opening in Vienna, on the 22nd of July, 1848, do^vn 
 to the catastrophe of October, were marked by utter in- 
 capacity for any of the objects it was chosen to 2>i"omote. It
 
 DISORDERS IN VIENNA. XCI 
 
 occupied itself but nominally with the structure of the con- 
 stitution ; what it really aspired to, was the immediate 
 direction of the government by the terror which it affected 
 to exercise over the capital, the ministry, and the empire. 
 The condition of the people of Vienna, and especially of the 
 masses of the labouring population in the suburbs, had 
 become frightfully necessitous. Money was moi'e freely 
 distributed by the leaders of the movement for bidlding 
 barricades, than for any pursuits of lawful industry, which, 
 indeed, were universally checked ; and the Assembly con- 
 tinued to sit and wrangle within the grasp of the power 
 which was one day to destroy all semblance of control and 
 authority. 
 
 The first explosion after the opening the Assembly, took 
 place on the 23rd of August, and appears to have been con- 
 fined to the class of workmen, who were irritated at the 
 reduction of wages which had just taken place. A conflict 
 ensued near the Prater and the Brigettenau, between the mob 
 and a detachment of the national guard : six persons were 
 killed ; but the government allayed the tumult, by dis- 
 tributing relief to the people in the shape of fictitious public 
 work. This opportunity was, however, wisely taken to dis- 
 solve the " Committee of Pubhc Safety," on the gi-ound of its 
 having utterly failed to efiect its proposed object, whilst it 
 secretly tended to favour the projects of anarchy. On the 
 14th of September the disturbances were renewed with a* 
 more hostile and threatening character. On the evening of 
 that day, the oflices of the minister of war were surrounded 
 by large bodies of armed men, consisting partly of national 
 guards, partly of members of the academic legion, wearing on 
 their hats a printed bill, to the eftect that "the restoration 
 (jf the Committee of Public Safety could alone save the 
 threatened liberties of the free-minded citizens of Vienna." 
 This tumultuous body was dispersed by the best portion of 
 the national guard, backed by the troops of the line. 
 
 The disorders reached their climax on the 6th of October 
 <Jn the 3rd, the emperor of Austria, who, meanwhile, had 
 leturned to Schoubrunn, issued a proclamation dissolving the 
 Hungarian Diet, putting Himgary vindor martial law, and 
 appointing Jellachich, the Ban of Croatia, commissioner 
 plenipotentiary for the whole kingdom, with unlimited powei",
 
 Xcii IIISTOKY OF ALSTItlA. 
 
 livil and military. Orders were given that several regiments 
 should be disitatehed from Vicuna to aid the Ban. Among 
 the troi>i>s thus destined to aet against tlic Hungarians, was 
 the liichter battalion of grenadiers, who had been (juartered 
 for many years in Vienna, and were unwilling to accept the 
 sei'\ice imposed ujion them. Accordingly, they communicated 
 with the national guards of the suburb in wliich their 
 ban-acks were situated, and with the academical legion, botli 
 which coi'ps promised that measures should be taken to 
 jirevent the dejiai'tui'e of the grenadiers. 
 
 Parties of the confederates went Ijy night, and broke up 
 the railway to some distance from the station, whilst others 
 erected a barricade on the Tabor bridge, which the battalion 
 woidd have to cross in oi'dcr to reach the next station. The 
 gi'cnadiers were ordered to storm the barricade, but instead 
 of doing so, they went over and joined the national guards 
 and the academical legion, now assembled behind it in con- 
 siderable force. Cavalry, infantry, and artillery were 
 employed against the mutineers, but were completely routed 
 by the latter, who then marched into the town. The con- 
 flict became general, and the government troojis were eveiy- 
 where defeated. The war office was stormed ; Count Latour, 
 the minister of war, was taken there, and savagely murdered. 
 His mutilated body was flung out of a window, stri]iped 
 naked, and hung on a lamp-post, where it was exposed for a 
 whole day to the brutal indignities of the mob. 
 
 At six o'clock, the arsenal was the only place left in the 
 city for the refuge of the troops and national guards who re- 
 mained faithful to the government. The insm'gents assailed 
 it with cannon-balls and Congi-eve-rockets ; the garrison 
 re} »lied with grajje and canister; and though part of the 
 tuilding took fire, they succeeded in keeping down the flames, 
 and holding their as.siiilants aloof througli the entire night ; 
 nor dill they yield until next morning, when summoned to 
 do so by their own commander, Coimt Auersperg, who had 
 entered into stiimlations with the Diet for the surrender. 
 The arsenal wa.s given up into the hands of the national 
 guard and the academical legion, who had engaged to occupy 
 and defend it ; but it was innnediately plundered by the 
 populace. Two hundred thousand new muskets became the 
 spoil of the rabble, and with them all the trophies and
 
 SECOND FLIGHT OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY. xciü 
 
 militaiy relics, collected from the period of tlie crusades to 
 the present times. The sword of Scanderbeg was sold in 
 the streets for two shillings. 
 
 In the midst of these bloody deeds, the Diet, now reduced 
 to the rump of a faction by the withdrawal of all the Bohe- 
 mian deputies, declared its sittmgs permanent, and elected a 
 Committee of Safety, whose decrees shoiüd be signed by the 
 minister Honibostel. A deputation was also appointed to 
 carry an address to the emperor, demandmg the foi'mation of a 
 new and })opular cabinet, including Dobllioff and Honibostel; 
 the removal of the Ban Jellachich from his governorship of 
 Hungary ; the revocation of the last proclamation agamst 
 the Hmigarians ; and an amnesty for those implicated in the 
 riots of that day, including, especially, the avowed murderers 
 of Count Latour. The Diet made itself an accomplice after 
 the fact in a deed, wliich it described as " nothing more than 
 an act of popular self-preservation, residting from regretable 
 circumstances." 
 
 The emperor returned an evasive answer, and quitted the 
 
 palace of Schönbrunn at four a.m. on the 7th, with the 
 
 other members of the imperial family, leaving behind him 
 
 a sealed proclamation, which the minister Kraus read the 
 
 same morning to the Diet. In this document, the emperor 
 
 said he had done all that a sovereign could do ; he had 
 
 , renounced the unlimited power he had received from his 
 
 I forefathers ; he had been obUged, in May last, to quit the 
 
 I palace of liis late father ; he had come back without any 
 
 I guarantee, and in full confidence, to his people. A strong, 
 
 I but audacious party, however, had urged things to the last 
 
 '■ extremity ; pillage and crime reigned in Vienna, and the 
 
 minister of war liad been murdered. He trusted in God and 
 
 his own good right, and he now left the vicinity of liis 
 
 capital in order to find means to bring aid to his oppressed 
 
 Ipeoplu. Kraus added, that he had refused to countersign 
 
 ' tliis unconstitutional and tlu'eatening proclamation." 
 
 The Diet having already assumed to itself executive as 
 }weU as deliberative powers, began, along with the tliree 
 ministers, to act as a jirovisional goveminent, affecting, how- 
 ever, the oljservance of constitutional fomis, and using the 
 emperor s name to countei'act the emperor's measures. Depu- 
 ations were sent, one after another, to invite the monarcli 
 9
 
 Xciv Hl.STORY or AUSTRIA. 
 
 U> roturn, uuiKm- the iinj)licil peril of forfeiting lii.s throne. 
 Coimt Auei*sperg, who was outside Vienna with 12,000 men, 
 was cjilleil iiin)n to come in, and iiid in maintaining order 
 within the walls ; that is, in reality, to surrender himself to 
 the forces of the Diet. This he declined, on the plea that 
 he couUl only act \mder the instructions of the minister of 
 war ; the ordere of the late minister, the mxu'dered Latour, 
 did not allow him to enter Vienna, but he would obey a new 
 minister of war as soon as any should be duly appointed. 
 The Diet succeeded no better "with Jellachich, who was at 
 Ebersdorf with his Croats, within two hours' march 
 of the city, having ai'rived there on the 9th, by forced 
 niarches from Raab, where he had been severely defeated by 
 the Himgarians. Simimoned to retire, he replied bluntly 
 that he was the emperor's oflicei', commanding the emperor's 
 forces, and that he awaited the imperial orders. The Diet 
 then turned to Jellachich's enemies, the Hungarians, who 
 had pur.sued him to the confines of Austria ; and Ms 
 majesty's rebels, appealed to by liis majesty's ministers, 
 returned a gracious promise that, if called on by the Diet, 
 they would .support the Viennese against the common 
 enemy, invade the metropolitan province, and clear it of his 
 majesty's forces. But the Diet, which had not hesitated to 
 sanction the murder of the emperor's minister, and the 
 robbery of his arsenal, nor scnipled to usui-p liis power, was 
 overcome with constitutional qualms at the thought of ex- 
 tending to the Hungarians the invitation which the latter 
 burned to receive, though such a .step would have rendered 
 the Diet invincible by any force tliat Austria could at that 
 time have brought against it. 
 
 The empire was now in a state of extreme peril and 
 jjmost imintelligible confusion ; nor was this dismal imbroglio 
 the work of the revolutionary party alone. The jjolicy of 
 the Austrian caTjinet from the events of March to this period, 
 was chai-acterized only by indecision, inconsistency, and 
 duplicity. It contributed neither to consolidate the move- 
 ment in which it originated, nor to counteract the evils to 
 which that movement gave Ijirth. It had been faithful to no 
 principle it professed a;^ its own. It had not protected the 
 interest it promised to guard, but brought the imperial 
 authority first into contempt, and then into danger. It had
 
 PROCLAMATIONS FROM OLMÜTZ, OCT. 1849. XCV 
 
 been weak, timid, intriguing, and jjcrfidious. No small part 
 of its dealings with Hungaiy had been eminently of tliis 
 character ; raising hopes which it never meant to fulfil, 
 making promises which it had no intention to perform, it 
 thus greatly contributed to render formidable that in- 
 siu'rection, which was now hurrying thousands of armed men 
 to rescue from the menacing hands of loyalty the beleaguei'ed 
 capital of sedition and treason. Without question, it was 
 the consciousness of the insincerity with wliich they had been 
 treated that aggi'avated the hostile passions of the Hungarians, 
 ah'eady too prone to recognise an insult and revenge an 
 injury. To be satisfied of the duplicity that was practised, 
 we need only recall the proceedings toward the Hungarians 
 and Croatians. On one day, the emperor grants to the 
 Hungarians political government and control over the 
 Croatians ; on another, the Croatians are fiu-nished with 
 men, money, and arms, and encom-aged to resist all en- 
 croachments of the Hroigarians. At one time the Ban 
 of Croatia is proclaimed a traitor ; at another, he is 
 nominated imperial commissioner plenipotentiary for Hun- 
 
 The time was now come when there should be no more 
 faltering, if the throne of Habsburg was to be saved. 
 Quietly seated under the protecting guns of the strong 
 foi'tress of Olmiitz, the emperor threw off all disguise, and 
 in his proclamations of the IGth and 19th of October, de- 
 clared open war against the revolt in his capital and other 
 places. The rebels were to be put down by force of arms, 
 and the murderers of liis faithful servants Lamberg and 
 Latour, should be handed over to avenging justice. To 
 this end, he appointed Prince Windischgrätz commander-in- 
 chief of all his forces, except those under Radetzki in Italy, 
 and he gave the prince full power to do all things " accord- 
 ing to his judgment, within the shortest time." 
 
 On the 23rd, Prince Windischgrätz arrived before Vienna 
 with an army of some 100,000 men and 140 guns, and sum- 
 moned tlic city to surrender within forty-eight hours. 
 Meanwhile, i)reparations had been made for its defence with 
 much bustle, but little practical ability. Bodies of fighting 
 men had flocked in from the country round ; barricades and 
 fortifications had been raised, and mounted with cainiou ; 
 
 9 ^
 
 XCVl HISTORY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 tlif oomumiul ol" till.' iiiitional giiai-il had bocii givon to 
 Mosst'iilmusor, loniu-rly an officer in the Aiistiian army, 
 aiultliat of the mobile guard to General Dem, a Pole, and a 
 man of remarkable military' talent. The forty-eiglit liours 
 allowed by Prince Windiscligriitz having expired, the attack 
 began on the morning of the I'Oth, and, after twelve hours' 
 iighting, the exterior line of the Leopoldstadt faubourg was 
 taken, but the interior remained in the hands of its de- 
 fenders. The next day was spent in unavailing negotiations. 
 On the :28th, the attack was renewed on all sides with great 
 vigom-, especially on the east and south. The city was set 
 on tire in many places, and the co)itest was continued all 
 night in the Leopoldstadt and Wieden faubourgs. On the 
 29th. the Viennese sent a deputation to Prince Windisch- 
 gi'ätz, with proposals of surrender. The prince refused to 
 abate his ])revious demand for disarming the workmen and 
 the students, but agreed to suspend hostilities for twelve 
 hours, while the besieged held a last deliberation. 
 
 The deputation retui-ned, and summoned a meeting of the 
 town council, which was attended by Messenhauser, the 
 commander of the academic legion, and some members of 
 the Diet. Messeuhanser declaimed tliat he and the officer 
 imder him were ready to hold out, if the council decided to 
 do so ; but the situation was nearly desperate. The troops 
 ■wei-e in ])ossession of the suburbs to the foot of the glaci.s, 
 and the waUs were incapable of genei'al defence against 
 escalade. On the question being put to the vote, it was re- 
 solved by three-fourths of the town councillors that the 
 defence should cease. This resolution was announced to 
 Prince Win«lischgi-ätz, and the disarming wa.s actually com- 
 menced ; but on the 30th, a brisk cannonade Avas heard in 
 the dii-ection of Hungaiy, the sentinels on St. Stephen's 
 Tower announced the long-expected approach of the Hun- 
 garian army, and the citizens were again summoned to arms, 
 notwithstanding their engagements to sun-ender. To puni.sh 
 this breach of faith, Windischgi-ätz recommenced the bom- 
 bardment of .some of the faubourgs knoAvn as the most 
 rebellious, and the filing was continued until nightfall. 
 
 The camionade which had so raised the hopes of the 
 Viennese in the moraing was that of an engagement 
 which took place at Schwechat, twelve miles from Vienna,
 
 BATTLE OF SCHWECHAT. XCVU 
 
 between a Hungarian army of 22,000 men, coming to 
 the aid of the city, and 28,000 imperial troops despatched 
 against them under Auersperg and Jellachich. The 
 Hungai-ians had been awaiting on the frontier for many 
 days the call of the Austrian Diet. At last, on the 
 28th of October, Kossuth himself joined the army. The 
 twenty columns of fire that rose that night from amid the 
 palaces of Vienna, show^ed but too fearfully the need there 
 was of speedy aid for the devoted city ; and without 
 Avaiting longer on the Austrian Diet, Kossuth gave the order 
 to advance. It was too late, for on that very day had the 
 fatal blow been stiiick. On the 30th the Hungarians came 
 up with the scattered detachments of the Imperialists, ch'ove 
 them out of Fischamend and Albern, carried Mannsw^orth 
 by storm, and pushed on toward Vienna, whilst Jellachich 
 and Auersperg awaited their approach in most secure and 
 advantageous positions. 
 
 The main body of the Himgarians was between tiie 
 Danube and the Schwartzen Lachen, a sluggish arm of that 
 river, as broad and deep as the Danube itself At the head 
 of tliis body of water the Austrians, with a park of sixty 
 guns, stood ready to receive them ; while ten regiments, 
 principally cavalry, had been sent out to gain their rear and 
 inclose them in the defile. So gross a blunder could not 
 escape the military eye of Görgei, who was at that time 
 invested with Ijut an unimportant command ; he directed 
 Kossuth's attention to the fact, and by an immediate retreat 
 they narrowly escaped the trap and avoided a total defeat, 
 in which an hour's advance would inevitably have involved 
 them. They were pursued by the victorious Austrians both 
 that day and the follo^ving, and drivf-n back into Hungary. 
 This was the battle of Schwechat, in which Colonel Görgei, 
 for the etficient service rendered in saving the Hungai-ian 
 araiy from the cfid de sac, was promoted on the ground to 
 the rank of general. 
 
 In c(jnsequence of the bombardment of the 30th, the city, 
 on the following morning, declared, for a second time, its 
 unconditional submission. A deputation from the munici- 
 pality communicated to the field-marshal the fiict that the 
 greater part of the citizens were willing to surrender without 
 reserve ; but that they were too feeble to carry theii" deter-
 
 xoviii lüSTOUV OF Al'STUIA. 
 
 miiiatiou into otVert in (ipixisition to tlio radiijil dul), the 
 comniittoc of stiulonts, iind the arniod luob, who thieatonod 
 to act the city on lire, and l)uiy themselves l)eneath its 
 ruins. After receiving the deputation, tlic imperial general 
 ordered large bodies of troops into the faubourgs, the uncon- 
 ditional surrender of which was betokened by the wliite 
 flags hanging from the bastions and the adjoining houses ; 
 but no sooner had the unsuspecting troops made theii- 
 appeai-ance on the open glacis, than their ranks were torn by 
 a murderous fire of grape and musketry, poured upon them 
 from the ramparts. Incensed by tliis treacherous act. Prince 
 Windisfhgrätz ordered a boml)ardment of the inner city, 
 and an attack by storm on three of the eastern and south- 
 easteni gates. The imperial library, several public buildings, 
 and two churches were set on fire. The Burg Thor was 
 carried by the troo])S, and a short but bloody fight began in 
 the streets. The defenders being still, as on the 29th and 
 30th, divided among themselves — some only of them for 
 fighting, more for yielding — the success of the besiegers was 
 i-apid ; and before midnight the greater part of the capital 
 was subdued. The contest, however, was continued at de- 
 tached points on the following day, and the north-westerly 
 parts of the city were not mastered until dawn on the 2nd' 
 of November. The fire in the imperial libraiy wa.s extin- 
 guished ^v^thout much injury to its valuable contents, but 
 the Augustin church was nearly destroyed. Prince Windisch- 
 grätz ]jroclaimed that, in consequence of the breach of capi- 
 tulation, the conditions which he had at first agreed to were 
 null and v(jid ; he declared Vienna in a state of siege ; the 
 academic legion dissolved for ever, and the national guard 
 for an indefinite time ; all newspapers and political associa- 
 tions suspended ; domiciliaiy visits to be made for the dis- 
 covery of concealed arms, &c. 
 
 The loss of ])roperty occasioned by the siege of the 
 Austrian capital has been estimated at about a million and a 
 (juartcr sterling. The loss of life was much less than might 
 have ]>een expected after so protracted and desperate a 
 .struggle. Of the 1,G00 persons arrested, nine only were 
 punished with death, nine sentenced to imprisonment for 
 a term of yeai-s, 09G discharged, and the remainder were 
 tried by civil tribunal. Many of the most influential
 
 THE SCHWARTZENBERG MINISTRY. XCIX 
 
 participators in the revolt escaped by flight before the 
 troops entei'ed the city. General Bern made his way 
 into Hungary in disguise. Among the pi'isoners tried by 
 court-martial were two members of the Diet of Frankfort, 
 sent thence by the deputies of the extreme left to aid 
 by their counsels the insurrection in Vienna. One of 
 them, Robert Blum, member for Leipsig, being condemned, 
 " on his own confession of having made revolutionary 
 speeches, and opposed armed resistance to the imperial 
 troops," was shot on the 9th of Novembei*. The other 
 deputy, Fröbel, Avas sentenced to be lianged, but after- 
 wards received a free pardon on the score of " extenuating 
 circumstances." Messen hauser, the commander of the national 
 guard, was shot. 
 
 After the subjection of Vienna, the imperial government 
 entered upon a conciliatory course towards all but the 
 Hungarians, who were sharply admonished against lending 
 themselves to the intrigues of the traitor Kossvith. A new 
 ministry was formed, the two 2:)rincipal members of which 
 were Prince Felix Schwaiiizenberg, premier and minister for 
 foreign affairs, and Count Francis Stadion, minister of the 
 interior. The Diet assembled at Kremsier on the 22nd of 
 November. On the 27th the premier delivered a speech 
 <leclaring the principles on which he and his colleagues pro- 
 posed to act in their government. 8o far as appeared from 
 that manifesto, the statesmen who subscribed to it were 
 honestly and judiciously intent on consolidating tlie liberties 
 acquired by the revolution of March ; but read by the light 
 of subsequent events, it remains a monument of the premier's 
 bad faith. Prince Schwartzenberg declared that, whilst re- 
 solved to vindicate that authority in the executive without 
 which no government could exist, the cabinet disclaimed all 
 reactionaiy intentions, and instead of endeavouring to I'e- 
 establish the Austria of LS 1-5, they sought to develop a new 
 Austria suited to the altered state of Europe. Tliis was to 
 be effected by organizing a true representation of the people, 
 on the basis of free institutions and local solf-gov(!rnmcnt, 
 with a vigorous central administration. Such a constitution 
 of the em] tire would be the very opposite to that wliicli 
 existed down to 1848; that was a centraUsed bureaucracy, 
 ruling over provinces kept in a state of subjection, scpai-a-
 
 c iiisrouY or aistri.v. 
 
 tiou, juiil liiutual igiKfiaiioe : tlu' now plan, if realizptl, woiilfl 
 huvf boon a poi>nlar inacliineiy of goverumcnt, and a fodoial- 
 izod oonsolidatiun. Tlio i>a.ssages in tlio ministerial pro- 
 gi-jimmo, wliich rolatcd to the ovganizatiun of the state, wore 
 as follows : — 
 
 '• "NVo undertake the administration of the jiower of 
 government, whioh his iNIajesty has handed to us, and at the 
 siime time the responsibility of that power ; for while it is 
 our tirm resolution to keep aloof from all miconstitutional 
 iuiluence, we shall not allow any encroachments upon the 
 executive authority. . . . We -wish for a constitutional mo- 
 narchy ui)rightly and without resenation. We desu'e that 
 foxTU of gmernment whose existence and secure character 
 can be recognised by the monarch and the representative 
 body of Austria. We wish these to be founded on equal 
 vight.s, and the free development of all nationalities ; as also 
 on the equality of all members of the state before the law, 
 secured by publicity in all branches of the legislature. We 
 wish that the internal concerns of the country districts 
 should be carried on by free members, and by a free move- 
 ment among the country people themselves ; the whole being 
 bound together by the common bond of a strong central 
 power. . . . The cabinet does not mean to stand in the rear 
 of the progi-ess to free and populai- institutions. It feels 
 itself in duty bound to head that movement. . . . The free 
 state must be founded on free communes. It is .strictlj' 
 neces.sary that, through a liberal communal law, each com- 
 mune be guai-antced its indej^endence of management within 
 the limits prescril^ed in reference to the general welfare. As 
 a necessary and una^■oidable consequence of the indeijendence 
 of the communes, may be mentioned the independence of 
 the state govennnent, and the regulating of the authorities 
 in a way correspondmg vdih the wants of the times. Suit- 
 able measures will be laid before you regarding those cii-- 
 cumstances, as well as relating to the improvement, in a 
 constitutional spirit, of the administration of justice, the 
 establishment of communal tribunals instead of patiimonial 
 ones, and the complete severance of government from the 
 affairs of justice." 
 
 A project, which had been discussed in Mav, after the
 
 FRAKCIS JOSEPH THE FIRST. ci 
 
 fliglit to Inspruck, was now carried into effect ; and on the 
 2nd of December, the Emperor Ferdinand abdicated th.e 
 Austrian throne ; Francis Charles, liis next brother, and 
 legal heir, renonnced the succession ; and Francis Joseph, a 
 young man only in his nineteenth year, and son of the 
 renouncing archdiike, was proclaimed emperor of Austria, Sec, 
 by the name of Francis Joseph the First. The young 
 emperor's inaugural proclamation was far from indicating 
 the intention he cherished to return to the old despotic 
 system : — 
 
 " We, Francis Joseph the First, by the grace of God, 
 emperor of Austria, &c. 
 
 " By the resignation of our lieloved uncle, the Emperor and 
 King Ferdinand the First, in Hungary and Bohemia of that 
 name the Fifth, and by the resignation of our beloved 
 father, the Lord Archduke Francis Charles, and summoned 
 by virtue of the Pragmatic Sanction to assume the crown of 
 the empire, proclaim hereby solemnly to our people, the 
 fact of our ascension of the throne, under the name of 
 Francis Joseph the First. 
 
 " We are convinced of the necessity and the value of free 
 institutions, and enter with confidence on tlie path of a 
 prosperous reformation of the monarch}-. 
 
 " On the basis of true liberty, on the basis of the equality of 
 rights of all our people, and the equality of all citizens before 
 the law, and on the basis of their equally partaking in the 
 repi'esentation and legislation, the country Avill rise to its 
 ancient grandeur ; it will acquire new strength to resist the 
 storms of the time ; it Avill be a hall to shelter the tribes 
 of many tongues, under the sceptre of our fathei's. 
 
 " Jealous of the glory of the crown, and resolved to pro- 
 .ser\e the monarchy uncui-tailed, but ready to share oiu" 
 privilege with the representatives of our peojile, we hope, by 
 the assistance of Cod and the co-operation of oiu" peojilc, to 
 succeed in uniting all the countries and trilies of the 
 monai-cliy into one integral state. We have liad acxorc 
 trials ; trampdllity and order have been disturbed in many 
 l)arts of the empire. A civil war is <i\cn now raging in one 
 part of the monarchy. Preparations have been made to
 
 oii iiisTonv OF Austria. 
 
 r«\stoiv Icijiil oi"dor rvcryvvliiri'. Tlic cuiKimvst over I'ebellion 
 ami t})0 n-turn of doiiu'stic iteiice, are tlu' lii-st conditions to 
 the ijrrat work which we now take in lianil. 
 
 " In this, we rely contideiitly on the sensible and candid 
 co-opoiiition of the nation by its representatives. 
 
 " We rely on the sound sense of the loyal inliabitants of 
 the countiy, whom tlie new laws on the abolition of ser\'i- 
 tude and imposts have admitted to a full enjo}Tuent of civil 
 rights«!. 
 
 " We rel/ on the loyal servants of the state. 
 
 " We expect our glorious army -will persevere in their 
 ancient fidelity and bravery. They will continue to be a 
 pillar of the throne, and a bulwark to the country and its 
 free institutions. 
 
 " We shall be happy to reward merit, without any dis- 
 tinction of birth or station. 
 
 " People of Austria ! it is an a%vful tiiue in which we 
 mount the throne of om- fathers. Great are the duties of 
 oui* office, great is its responsibility. May God i:)rotect us ! 
 
 "Fr.vncis Joseph. 
 " schwartzenberg. 
 
 " Olmiitz, December o, 1848. 
 
 Time has not yet revealed the secret history of the court 
 revolution, by which Ferdinand was dethroned, and his 
 nephew piit in his place. Was the abcUcation voluntaiy or 
 not ? Did the emperor, weak in mind and body, harassed by 
 the riolent commotions that shook his throne to its founda- 
 tions, throw doMTi a sceptre too heavy for liis arm ? Or was 
 he removed because liis courtiers and his family found, in his 
 religous scrujiles, an obstacle to the accompHslunent of de- 
 signs opposed to the oath which he had swoni to his people? 
 By wliatever means the change was effected, one thmg was 
 gained by it — the new emperor liad never sworn fidelity to 
 the amtract made V)y the house of Habsburg Arith the 
 people of Hungaiy, and therefore had no oath to break. 
 The proclamation which announced tliis impoi-tant event to 
 the Hungarian nation, was answered by a declaration of its 
 Diet — tliat no change could take place on the throne of 
 Hungary without the consent of the Diet, as long as the
 
 RIGHTS OF HUNGARY, CUl 
 
 former king lived ; and that no king could be recognised, 
 according to ancient law, until he had been crowned, after 
 having first taken the oath to the constitution. 
 
 The correctness of the constitutional laAV thus laid down 
 had been fully tested and confirmed sixty years before. 
 When the native dynasty of Hungary becatne extinct, in the 
 year 1527, she, of her own fi."ee will, elected her king from 
 the house of Habsbiu-g, upon the condition that he should 
 govern according to ancient law, maintain iuAdolable the 
 nationality of the people, preserve the independence of the 
 country, its liberties, and its constitution, and not absorb the 
 nation into the common mass of his imperial dominions. 
 Hungary was in fact to be to Austria as to laws, what 
 Hanover was to Great Britain. In 1687, the throne, which 
 had pre\dously been elective, was declared hereditary in the 
 reigning family, but on the condition that, before being 
 crowned, each pi-ince should take the oath to defend the 
 constitution, and to maintain the nationality inviolate. How 
 literally this was understood by both parties to the contract 
 appears from the fact, that Joseph II. had purposely abstained 
 from solemnising his coronation as king of Hungary, in 
 order that he might violate the constitution; and that all 
 his acts were in consequence abrogated and declared null 
 (in 1790) by the succeeding king, Leopold II., who thei-eupon 
 made a peculiarly distinct avowal (Art. 10), that "Hungary 
 with her appanages is a free kingdom, and in regard to hei* 
 whole legal form of government (including all the ti-ibunals), 
 independent ; that is, entangled with no other kingdom or 
 people, but haA'ing her own peciüiar consistence and con- 
 stitution ; accordingly, to be governed by her legitimately 
 crowned king, after her peculiar laws and customs." 
 
 The late king, Ferdinand V., after swearing the oath that 
 his forefathers had dared to break — but never with impunity 
 — received with all solemnity the separate crown of Hungary, 
 in the Dom of St. Martin, at Presburg. Ho important was 
 the ceremony of the Hungarian coronation considered, that 
 on his marriage six years afterwards, he brought his queen 
 to Presburg to be crowned with the same solemnity queen of 
 Hungary. His declaration of title, the coins of the realm, 
 every communication to foreign courts, every patent, and
 
 CIV HISTOUV OK AUSTRIA. 
 
 CMTV ilccroc, \\ liilo it (locl:iio<l Fcrdinaiul to hr omperor of 
 Au.sh-ia, (locjavt'il him also to bo only king of Hungary, und 
 athrnicil Jiungary to l)e a kingdom." 
 
 But such considt'i-ations as these were totally disregarded 
 by the inii)cnal family, which now deemed itself strong 
 enough to achicvt the conquest of Hungaiy, al)sorb it into the 
 empire, and accomplish, in the extinction of its liberties, an 
 object which their house had vainly pui*sued for three hun- 
 dred veai's. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Second Invasion of Himr/ary. 
 
 ViEXXA having been subdued, it was expected that the 
 cami)aign against Hungaiy Avould be opened in a few days ; 
 but it was not until the 1.5th of December, that Prince 
 Wiudischgi-Utz began his mai'ch. Even that long delay had 
 scantily enabled the Hungarians to offer a show of resistance 
 to the forces which, entering their temtory from uiiie points 
 simiiltaneously, were about to inclose it ^\•itlün a ring-fence 
 of bayonets and cannon. The invasion was planned on the 
 princi^jle of those gi'eat sporting battues, in A\hich eveiy head 
 of game in aJarge district is cLiven on before a continually 
 narrowing cii'cle of huntei-s. The impeiial main army 
 marched eastward from Austria in three di-s-isions, re- 
 spectively commanded by Jcllachich, Simonich, and Ser- 
 belloni. From the Galician frontiei', General Sclüick dii-ected 
 his march due south towards the heart of the kingdom. 
 Nearly opjwsite liim was the force advancing luider Dahlen 
 from the IlhTian pro^-inces ; while Puchner, Urban, and 
 Wardener, who liad already put down the insurrection in 
 Trauifvlvania, were pressing upon the eastern frontier. 
 
 " The forces which the Hungarians had at this time,'' says 
 Klapka,t " were as nothing com})ared with the masses of our 
 enemies. We had some garrisons in fortresses. Görgei and 
 Perczel had 30,0<J0 men on the Upper Danube. In Upper 
 Himgary they had an ill-trained corps of 8,000 men ; and 
 in Transylvania they could not e-\en disjwse of 6,000 troops. 
 
 * Edinburgh Review, cxcvii. f Klapka, War in Hungary.
 
 SECOND INVASION OF HUNGARY. CV 
 
 The luo.st efficient force was still in the Bats country, and iu 
 the Banat, where they fought against the Raizin (or Servians). 
 These troops, including the Islockading corps round Arad, 
 numbered 20,000 men." Of the whole Hungarian force, 
 not more than 35,000 men were regulai-ly armed, and only 
 10,000 wei'e disciplined soldiers. The rest consisted of militia 
 (honveds), or of raw recridts, waiting for muskets, or armed 
 with pikes and scythes. There was a great lack of arms and 
 ammunition, and manufactories for the supply of such tilings 
 hardly existed, for the imperial government had always dis- 
 couraged their establishment in Hungary. But these 
 deficiencies were supplied by the extraordinary exertions of 
 Kossuth, who was now President of the Committee of 
 Defence, which had been established after the resignation of 
 the ministry. Foundries, powder-mills, saltpetre-manufac- 
 toi'ies, tfec, were established at various points ; sulphur, for 
 making gimpow^dei', was extracted at great cost from copper 
 ore ; and for metal, recourse was had to the church bells. 
 
 Under the extraoi'dinary expenses of the government, 
 money soon failed in the treasury ; but this deficiency was 
 eflectually met by the issue of paper, chargealjle upon the 
 natioiial domains. These government notes, being based on 
 valid security, circulated freely at par in preference to the 
 depreciated pai^er-money of Austria. 
 
 The success of the Imperialists in the beginning of the 
 campaign was rapid and universal. Oedenburg was taken on 
 the first day, Tyi-nau on the second, and Presburg on the 
 third. Görgei, who commanded the Hungarian army on 
 the frontiers of Austiia, unable to resist the force opposed 
 to him, contented himself rather with obstructing its jirogress 
 by petty engagements, wldlst efiecting a general retreat to 
 Eaab. There he hoped to maintain his ground behind the 
 three rivers and his strong intrench ments ; but the elements 
 decided otherwise. The weather had been unusually mild in 
 the early ]iart of the winter, but on the 20th of December, 
 it suddenly became intensely cold. The Austrian troops 
 crossed the frozen waters of the Little Danube, and Giirg(ii, 
 compelled to retreat, abandoned to them the for'inidablo 
 intrenchments at Pvaab. Before he could form a junction 
 Avith Perczel's corps, the latter was routed at Mijr l)y JeJ- 
 lachich, with tlie loss, by deatli or dispersion, of all but
 
 CM IIISTOKY OK AUSTRIA. 
 
 2,000 of his men ; and nothing remained for Gorgei but 
 to rotij-e beyond the Danube, wliicli he crossed at Pesth on 
 the 3rd of J^muary, 1849. On the same day, Kossuth and 
 the governnu-nt k-ft Pesth for the fortress of Debrecziii, 
 taking with tliem all the ])ublic funds, and the ancient and 
 vcnenitod crown of St. Stephen ; and two days aftei-Awirds, 
 Prince AViiidischghitz entered tlie Hungarian capital without 
 striking a blow. 
 
 In the southern dLstidcts, the im])erial arms had been 
 equally successful ; the troojjs which had entered from the 
 north and west were free to move towards the centre ; in 
 less than three weeks, foiu'-fifths of the whole country had 
 been reduced to subjection, and the imperial supremacy so 
 far re-established, as to leave little apparent probability that 
 the Hungarians would ever again be able to resume the 
 offensive. But these advantages Avei'e all frittered away by 
 Piince Wintlischgrätz, who loitered for neai'ly two mouths at 
 Pesth, engaged iu the ixseless task of reorganizing the adminis- 
 ti-ation thi'oughout the conquered districts, whilst he suffered 
 to pass imimproved the only season of the year in Avhich his 
 artillery could be made available, and allowed his opponents 
 time to recover from their consternation, gather recniits, and 
 discipline their forces. 
 
 Gorgei had proposed, even before the invasion of the 
 Austiian army, to transfer the seat of government and the 
 military depots beyond the left bank of the Theiss, to the 
 gi'eat plain bounded by that river, the Maros, and the moun- 
 tains of Transylvania. The two rivers I'un a very rajiid and 
 irregidar course between low banks, bordered by marshes of 
 great extent ; so that all the year round, but pxincipally in 
 spring and autumn, the transit of an army and its ti-aiu is a 
 matter of the gi-eatest dithculty. The mountains of Tran- 
 sylvania protect the eastern side of this plain, and offer but 
 few pa.sses jn-acticable for troops. This protected position, 
 iDoreov er, includes the most fertile pait of the country, one 
 ])eculiarly rich in gi'ahi, cattle, and especially horses ; so that 
 it affords all the reqviisites necessary for forming and %dctual- 
 ling an army, and for recruiting and mounting cavalry. 
 Here then it was that Göi'gei desired to have the whole 
 national force of Hungaiy concentrated, until the army 
 .should be reorganized ; but Kossuth objected, chiefly because
 
 KOSSUTH AND GORGEI. Cvii 
 
 he apprehended that the nation wovdd be too much dis- 
 couraged, if the government retreated before tjie enemy had 
 crossed the frontier ; and it was witli him a consideration 
 of the first importance to keep alive that popular enthusiasm, 
 on which he mainly reHed for the salvation of the coimtry. 
 Gorgei, on the other hand, looked with profound scorn on 
 the vapoui'ing enthusiasm of untrained multitudes and dis- 
 orderly volunteers, and insisted that thei'e was no safety 
 for Hungary, except through the efforts of a well-disciplined 
 « regular army, such as it was impracticable to form on the 
 frontier. Out of this piimary difference of views, there 
 grew up by degrees that personal antipathy of the military 
 for the civil leader, which was fatal to them both and to- 
 their country. 
 
 The event proved the correctness of Görgei's views as to 
 the opening of the campaign j for the muster on the frontiers 
 was worse than useless, serving only to enhance the easy 
 triumph of the Austrian main army to such a degree, that 
 the Hungarians were panic-stricken, and the Diet and 
 government so humbled, as to send a deputation to Prince 
 Windischgratz, in the desperate hope of making terms with 
 him. These overtures had no other result than the im- 
 prisonment and subsequent execution of Count Louis Bathy- 
 any, the ex-minister, who headed the deputation. The 
 government thereupon departed instantly for Debreczin, in 
 a manner more resembHng a flight than a well-arranged 
 removal ; but it left behind it an order for Gürgei to risk a 
 decisive battle before the capital, coupled with two incom- 
 patible provisoes, namely, that he shovild keep in view the 
 means of securing the retreat of the army to the left bank 
 of the Danube, and likewise, by aU means, the pi-eser\'ation 
 of the capital. Now the only way by wliich the army could 
 pass the Danube was by the chain-bridge between Buda and 
 Pesth, which was barely practicable ; and its retreat that 
 way, after a lost battle, would expose it to utter destruction, 
 if neither the suburbs of Buda nor the town itself were to 
 be occupied and defended, lest they should incur the dangers 
 of a hostile attack. Upon these considerations, a council of 
 war, summoned by General Vetter, countermanded the 
 battle, and ordered Görgei to march up the left bank of the 
 Danube, in order to divert the Austrian main army from
 
 » Vin lilSTOUY OF AL'sTUlA. 
 
 tlif shortt'si lino ul" uporutiou against Debrec/.iu. Thus was 
 tin- pivstigo of authurity iiii)iaiiv(l ; tht^ army was left to 
 an-.uigc its own course ; and liaving folt the want of energy 
 In tlie oivil nders, it began to act iii(li|i(ii(lc)itly. Hence 
 ensmi.l sul»sc'(|Uent catastrojjhes. 
 
 The tirst act showed what wa.s to be expected. On 
 arriving at Waitzen, Gürgei issued a prochimatiou in tlie 
 name of his tu'niy, decUiring that it fouglit for nothing else 
 than the laws of 18-i8, and the legitimate Icing, Ferdinand V., 
 and that its mission was to defend the constitution both 
 against the public enemy without and republican move- 
 ments at home. Tliis went tlie whole length of pronouncing 
 the precise conditions on wliich the army would obey ; it 
 was a renunciation of implicit obedience to the civil 
 power. 
 
 Advancing by forced marches from Waitzen, in the direc- 
 tion of Kremnitz and Schemnitz, Görgei was overtaken on 
 the 21st, on the ])lateau before the latter place, by the 
 Austrians luider Czoric, and suffered a severe check. Never- 
 theles.s, his operations at this peiiod deserve to rank with the 
 most remai'kable known in the liistory of war. In the depth 
 of a severe winter, he led his troops and artillery over the 
 rugged Carpathians; one wliile a})pearing on the fi-ontiers of 
 Galicia, at another, escaping to the mouutahi towns and 
 villages. His situation soon became extremely critical, 
 jiressed as he was on all sides ; and making his winter 
 marches and countermarches over fields and mountains of 
 ice and snow, he found liimself in liis native country of Zips, 
 suddenly shut in on tlu-ee sides ; while Hammerstein, in 
 Galicia, was marshalling all the disposable ti'oops to the 
 frontier to oppose liis fom-th and last exit. 
 
 Guyon, at the head of Görgei's northern column, suc- 
 ceeded in cariying off all the gold and silver stores of 
 the govennuent from the mining districts, and the gun- 
 pr.wder from Neusohl. He reached the country of Zips 
 withcmt serious difficulty. The Austrians sm-prised him at 
 Neudort" on the night (jf the 2nd of February ; but after 
 a bloody struggle hi the streets, the Hungarians were vic- 
 torious, and dispersed the enemy. Guyon then advanced to 
 the country of Saro.s, where he found himself opposed by 
 one of Schiick's di\-isions, which occupied the steep heights
 
 THE BRANYISZKO PASS. CIX 
 
 and defiles of the Eranyiszko. This ragged pass, which, 
 from its elevation, was deemed impregnable, was the only 
 road from Leutschau to Kaschau, and the sole outlet for 
 Görgei and his troops, by which their junction with the 
 army of the Theiss could be efiected. Attacking it from the 
 valley below, and encountering a terrible battery at every 
 turn of the mountain road, Guyon was obliged to sacrifice 
 one-fourth of his heroic troops before all the defiles were 
 carried. 
 
 Guyon ordered four of his battalions to lay down their 
 arms; and for five whole houi'S, from eight o'clock in the 
 evening till one o'clock in the morning, they climbed up 
 steep footpaths, known only to the natives of the country, 
 carrying the ammunition and the dismantled cannon piece- 
 meal on their shoulders, or dragging them up by ropes. The 
 rest of tlie troops, at the entrance, were continually making 
 feigned attacks, to divert the attention of the Austrian s, and 
 prevent the silence of the night from betraying the move- 
 ment of those engaged in the ascent. At last a gun from the 
 heights gave the signal for a general attack. Ten succes- 
 sive times did the troops stationed below advance to the 
 assault. The Austi'ians abandoned one intrenchment after 
 another, fighting as they retreated, till the last was captured, 
 and they fled in the utmost confusion tkfough the opposite 
 outlet of the pass, losing a third part of their numbers and a 
 great portion of their artillery. Next morning Görgei's 
 vanguard passed through the defile. On the 6th of February 
 he reached Eperies, and re-established his communications, 
 interrupted for four weeks, with the army of the Theiss and 
 the government at Debreczin. 
 
 Meanwhile Prmce Windischgrätz had begun to des]»atc]i 
 his forces towards the Theiss. The railroad was reo]iened to 
 Szolnok, and that important point was occupied by Ottinger's 
 brigade, which was there attacked on the 23rd of January, 
 and, owing to the negligence of their commander, sufi'ered 
 one of the most signal defeats that occurred during the whoK; 
 war. The Hungarians under Perczel and Damjauic, cross- 
 ing the frozen river, sun-ounded Ottinger's vanguard, that 
 held the bridge over the Theiss. Those wild riders tlie 
 czikus (Hungarian horseherds), contributed greatly to the 
 success of this surprise. They were close at hand before 
 
 h
 
 ex IIISTOItY OF AUSTKIA. 
 
 Szolnok when tlip trumpet of the Austrian cuinossicra sounded 
 to hoi-se; the officei*s barely saved themselves by flight, most 
 of them riding away without saddles, and the common sol- 
 diei-s were cut down in the stables, before they could momit; 
 1,^MI0 were made jirisoners, and the remainder escaped to 
 Czegled. It was no battle, but the loss to the Austrians 
 was greater than that of many a regular engagement, with 
 cannons firing from moniing to night. Subsequently, General 
 Ottinger, reinforced by Prince Windiscligriitz, advanced 
 ag:\in upon Szolnok ; but the Hungarians, instead of giving 
 battle as was expected, retreated across the Theiss. 
 
 After the Hungarians under Meszaros had been defeated 
 by Schlick on the heights of Pareza, the former was super- 
 seded in his command by Klapka, who made a successful 
 stand at Tokay, Tarczal, and Bodroy Keresztur. Schlick 
 attacked those positions severally on the 22nd, 23rd, and 
 31st of January, and was repulsed on each occasion. Tlie 
 Austrians were not only prevented from advancing on 
 Debreczin, but were driven back iii)on Kaschaii and Eperies. 
 Schlick, who had considered G(5rgei as buried alive, drew 
 his sabre in a fury when a major, on the 6th of February, 
 brought him news to Eperies of the defeat at Branpszko. 
 " Dogs that ye are — all of you dogs !" he exclaimed ; " that 
 pass I would have held against a hundred thousand men !" 
 He instantly decamped from Eperies, to escape Görgei's 
 superior forces, and cook the route to Kaschau. There he 
 learned that Klapka, who had lost sight of him since the 
 battle of the 31st, was advancing upon him, and he was now 
 fixed in the same position as Görgei had been tlie very 
 evening before. But Schlick was as familiar with the 
 northern counties of Hungary as his enemy, and by masterly 
 manoiuvres he succeeded in escaj)ing by Easzo, Rosenau, and 
 Rima Szoinbat to Losoncz, and subsequently effected a junc- 
 tion with thf! main Austrian army. Of the army w-hich he 
 led from Gulicia, not one-fourth returned ; and yet he might 
 boMly claim the gratitude of the emperor. No other of the 
 Austrian generals would have saved a single horse's shoe, nor 
 probal)ly his own person, from the hands of the Hungarians 
 amid the defiles of the Carpathians.* 
 
 * Schlessinger's War in Hungary,
 
 BATTLE OF KAPOLNA, CXI 
 
 During the operations on the Theiss, Perczel's inability to 
 command became so manifest that he was superseded, and 
 General Dembinski, a Pole, was early in February invested 
 with the command in chief of all the Hungarian armies, 
 except that under Bern in Transylvania. This was in every 
 way an unlucky appointment, and especially so as it was 
 made at the moment when the Hungarian forces assembled 
 behind the Theiss were ready to assume the otiensive. Dem- 
 binski had highly distinguished himself in the Polish cam- 
 paign of 1831 ; but his conduct in Hungary by no means 
 corresponded to his former reputation. Kossuth, who had 
 not forgotten Görgei's {)roclamation from Waitzeu, was glad 
 to secure a commander-in-chief who would hold the other 
 generals in hand, and who, as a foreigner, would have no 
 motive for joining an opposition party. He thought, too, 
 that the military renown of the Polish general would excite 
 the confidence of the army ; but, in thus calculating, he for- 
 got the Hungarian character, forgot what he above all men 
 should have remembered, that a nationality so jealous as that 
 of the Hungarian, woidd not long tolerate the idea that its 
 army needed a foreign commander. 
 
 On the 24th of February, Windischgrätz left Buda for the 
 seat of war, and on the 26th and 27th a general engagement 
 took place at Kapolna and its vicinity. There was hard 
 fighting, with severe and probably equal loss on both sides. 
 The Austrians were victorious, but neutralised the effect of 
 their victory by abstaining from pursuit of the enemy. TJie 
 Hungarians retii'ed beyond Maklar, near which a severe and 
 extensive cavalry engagement took place on the 28th, when 
 the Austrians were compelled to retreat with the loss of their 
 guns ; but notwithstanding this success, Dembinski continued 
 his retrograde movement. 
 
 On the 2nd of March, the Hungarians, pursued by the 
 Austrians, crossed the Theiss at Tisza-FLired. On the 3rd, a 
 council of war was held under the presidency of Gorgei, in 
 which the assembled officers expressed their want of confi- 
 dence in Dembinski, and required the commissary of the 
 government, Szemere, to appoint another commander ad 
 interim. iSzemere complied, and nominated Gorgei. Dem- 
 binski refused to relinquish the command, and was i)ut under 
 arrest by Gorgei. At this conjuncture Kossuth arrived, 
 
 Ä2
 
 i-xii IIISTOKY OF AISTUIA. 
 
 witli Afoszaros. the minister of war, and General Vettor. llie 
 t'oniHT coiuinaiuU'r of the army of the sontli. An inv<'sti/^fa- 
 tion was liclil, which resulted in Dcml)in8ki'.s removal and 
 the nomination of Vetter as commander-in-chief. Thus the 
 ill-advised act of appointing Dcmhinski to lead the national 
 forces, had given occasion for another deadly blow to be 
 struck at the civil authority. The army had rejected the 
 commander whom the government had set over them. Jlis 
 removal w-a.s necessary; and how could the government 
 punish the movers in this opposition after it had acknow- 
 ledged they were right 1 This independent conduct of the 
 arniv therefore remained unpunished ; the authority of the 
 government ft'U ; and when Vetter was disal)led by illness, 
 the government could no longer resist the wish of the army, 
 and was obliged to appoint as commander-in-chief that 
 general w-ho was most formidable to its power, and who had 
 shown the greatest unwillingness to submit to its authority. 
 
 The following were the positions of the Austrian army at 
 this time. Tokay was occupied by the brigade under Götz; 
 Miskolz by Jablonovsky ; Schlick's corp was round Erlau, 
 and extended thence to Szolnok ; the first army coqis under 
 Jellaohich, was at Czegled, and the second, imder Windisch- 
 grätz, was between Buda and Hatvan. On the part of the 
 Hungarians, it was now resolved to resume the offensive, 
 whicli had for a time, under Dembinski's management, been 
 changed for the defensive. 
 
 On the 8th of March G'övgei recrossed the Theiss, Vetter 
 marched on Szolnok, and Aulick remained in Tirza-Fiired. 
 Strange to say, the Austrians had taken no steps to seciu-e 
 Szolnok, a place of great importance from its jjosition on the 
 Theiss. It was surprised by Damjanic and Vecsey, and the 
 Austrians stationed there were partly dispersed and partly 
 driven ijito the Zagyva, a confluent of the Theiss, with a 
 less of 500 prisoners, most of their cannon, military waggons, 
 <kc. This surprise was the beginning of a brilliant .series of 
 victori&s, by which the Austrians were rapidly forced to 
 vacate the capital, and many of the u|)per distiicts of the 
 country. At the same time Görgei, who, in consequence of 
 Vetters illness, had now the chief command, coming uj) with 
 the enemy at Erlau, drove him back upon GyÖngös. There 
 the imperial rearguard attempted to check the pm-suing
 
 WINDISCIIGRATZ ROUTED. CXUl 
 
 Hungarians, and cover the retreat of the main body ; but 
 were repulsed at the first attack, and sixteen pieces of 
 artillery, two standards, twenty-one waggons of ammunition, 
 and 1,400 prisoners fell into the hands of the Hungarians. 
 The pursuit was continued along the road to Pesth, and 
 after a running tight of six hours, the Austrians were driven 
 beyond Hatvan. At Gödöllö, the last tenable post on that 
 side of Pesth, the Austrians secured themselves from further 
 pursuit by destroying the bridge ; and they took up a line 
 of defence, which, after some changes, ultimately extended 
 from Gödöllö to Tapiobicze. 
 
 On the 4th of April, Vetters corps, now led by Klapka, 
 came up with the Austrian right wing at Tapiobicze, com- 
 manded by Jellachich. Misinformed by his scouts as to the 
 enemy's strength, Klapka incautiously ordered his whole 
 army across the only bridge over the Tapio into the midst 
 of an ambush prepared for them by Jellachich's entire corps. 
 Klapka's Hungarians were panic-stricken, and Damjanic's 
 opportune arrival alone saved them from a most disastrous 
 defeat. In half an hour the Austrians saw all their advan- 
 tages wrested from them, and were forced to retire from the 
 village. By this victory the Hungarians had achieved the 
 first step toward the grand strategical operation of flanking 
 Gödöllö. Next day they came up with Jellachich's force, 
 concentrated near Isaszeg, whose heights, covered by the 
 intervening forests, and defended by batteries of 120 guns, 
 were considered inexpugnable. Again was Jellachich de- 
 feated and the position seized. The battle for it had been a 
 sharp one, and cost both sides a loss of several thousand in 
 killed and wounded. 
 
 On the morning of the 6th, the Hungarian right wing, 
 under Görgei, encountered the Austrians at Gödöllö, and took 
 from them 3,200 prisoners, twenty-six cannons, seven stan- 
 dards, and thirty-eight waggons of ammunition. The battle of 
 Gödöllö is mentioned in the Austrian bulletins as one of 
 Prince Windischgrätz's " splendid successes." Its immediate 
 result was the expeditious arrival of the imperial army on 
 the plain of Rakos, in front of Pesth ; its retreat over the 
 Danube, and the prince's recall from tlie scene of his defeat. 
 With his return to Pesth his mission terminated, and he 
 was invited by an imperial note to Olmiltz.
 
 cxiv HISTORY OF AUSTKIA. 
 
 Wl)ilst tlio TTnngarian arms were thus victorious in the 
 c<Mitre ot" the kiugiloui, fortune favoured tliein also in Tran- 
 sylvania, where liein's feehki force had l)ef()re been unable to 
 withstand I'uchner's 15,000 disci}»lined Austrians. 
 
 The Saxons and Wallachs, who form the bulk of the 
 population in Transylvania, were from the first liostile to the 
 Mag' ars. whose cause was esj)ous(Hl by the other section of 
 the inhal)itants, the Szeklers, a wild and warlike race, who 
 )ilaced themselves under the command of Bem. This force 
 Bein soon organized and discij)lined ; and being reinforced 
 by some troojis that had evacuated the fortress of Arad, he 
 •was in a few weeks in a condition to resume the offensive at 
 the head of 20,000 men. Falling first on General Gideon, 
 who was at Bistritz with G,000 Austrians and Wallachs, he 
 drove him into Bukowina, and cut him off entirely from the 
 main body of the army. Thereupon General Puchner, who was 
 then in the Saxon district, applied for aid to General Lüders, 
 the commander of the Russian army in Wallacliia, who sent 
 6,000 men to Hermanstadt, and 4,000 to Kronstadt. But 
 Bem soon swept Russians and Austrians alike out of Tran- 
 sylvania. 
 
 After sustaining a severe defeat at Deva, Puchner re- 
 treated to Hei-manstadt, but left it soon after for Maros- 
 Vasarhely, on hearing a false rej)ort of an insurrection. Bem 
 immediately marched against the Russian force at Herman- 
 stadt, defeated an Austrian corps on his way, beat the 
 Russians, and made himself master of Hermanstadt. Puch- 
 ner retiuned thither only to see his forces seized with a 
 panic, under the influence of which their members dwindled 
 down in a few hours from 8,000 to 2,000. Bem next 
 entered Kronstadt without firing a shot ; and with the 
 exception of the garrison ot Klausenberg, and a few thousand 
 Wallach jiartisans in the mountains, he was undisputed 
 ma-^ter of Transylvania. 
 
 On the 8th of April, two days after the battle of Gödollö, 
 the Hungarian forces divided, one portion of them being 
 led off by Görgei to the relief of Komom, and the other 
 remaining under Dembinski to keep watch upon Pesth. On 
 the 0th. Görgei carried Waitzen by storm, defeating 12,000 
 Austrians under Generals Czoric and Götz, the latter of whom 
 wa3 killed in the tight. He then pursued his march towards
 
 TOTAL DEFEAT OF THE INVADERS. CXV 
 
 Koraorn, and was suffered to tlirow a temporary bridge over 
 the raj »id and swollen Gran, and to cross that stream without 
 obstruction on the 18th. On the following day he was met 
 by the Austrians under Wohlgemuth, in the neighbourhood 
 of Nagy Sarlo. The two armies were nearly equal in 
 numbers, and both being commanded by able generals, 
 the battle, which began at early moi-ning, was hotly con- 
 tested, and was not decided until the evening, when the 
 Austrians retreated, abandoning tlieir camp to the victorious 
 Hungarians, who pursued their inarch without more inter- 
 ruption to Komorn. 
 
 The new Austrian commander-in-chief, Field-Marshal 
 Lieutenant Weiden, had meanwhile arrived at the seat of 
 war. Erroneously supposing that the main efforts of the 
 Hungarians would be directed against Pesth, his first measures 
 were devoted to the defence of tliat city. But finding his 
 mistake, and that the Hungarians had moved higher up the 
 Danube, so as to threaten his communications with Vienna, 
 he evacuated Pesth, and ordered Warbna and Schlick to 
 follow them, prevent the relief* of Komorn, and keep the 
 road open to Vienna. But this attempt was made too late ; 
 for already, on the 20th of April, Görgei had reached 
 Komorn, repulsed that portion of the besiegers who were 
 on the left bank of the Danube, and thrown reinforcements 
 of men and provisions into the f( trtress. After this it oidy 
 remained for him to clear the right bank of the Danube, 
 where was placed the main body of the Austrians, now rein- 
 forced by the troops from Pesth, headed by the commander- 
 in-chief Throwing a bi'idge over the river, Görgei stormed 
 the Austrian inti'enchments, and defeated Weiden near New 
 Szony, in a battle which decided the fate of the campaign. 
 Next day the retreating Austrians were overtaken at Raab, 
 where, having again suffered severely, they were driven over 
 the frontier into Austria. About the same time the Him- 
 garians took Tyrnau ; Temesvar surrendei-ed to Bem, and 
 the whole of the Banat, the gi-anary of Hungary, submitted 
 to his authority. In short, Hungarian power was in the 
 ascendant everywhere except in Buda, where the Austrians 
 had left a garrison of six thousand men. 
 
 After this splendid series of .successes, nothing but the 
 judicial blindness, or the perversity of their civil and military
 
 CXVl HISTORY OK Al'STHIA. 
 
 leiidei"», could have liiiulovoil tlie iruiigarians from ninrcliiiii; 
 to Vienna, and dictating such a jioaco as would tor ever 
 have secured the liberties for which they fought. Ikit the 
 fateful o])jH)rtiuiity was neglected by (jiirgei, whilst Kossuth 
 misused it for launching at the house of llabsburg, the blank 
 thunder of a decree of dethronenuiut. 
 
 After the battle of Kapolna, Prince Windischgrätz had 
 despatched a bulletin to Vienna, in which, as usual, he 
 greatly exaggerated the importance of his victory, and stated 
 that the last Hungarian army had been beaten, and that the 
 war was nearly at an end. On receipt of that intelligence, 
 the emperor abiniptly dissolved the Diet of Kremsier as 
 incompetent to the task of framing a constitution ; and he 
 bestowed on the empire, on the 4th of March, 1849, a charter 
 ditiwn up by liis ministei', Count Stadion, which ])roclaimed 
 the unity and indivisibility of the empire, the existence 
 of separate,, but of course powerless provincial diets, and the 
 establishment of one central chamber at Vienna, by which 
 the affair's of the empire were to be regulated. In fact, it 
 was a decree which annulled, by a stroke of Count Stadiou's 
 pen, the ancient constitution of Hungary, extinguished its 
 nationality, and reduced the kingtlom to the condition of a 
 mere proAdnce of Austria. All the other provisions of this 
 mock constitution were merely illusory. Under the form of 
 a boon to the whole empire, it was simply intended as an 
 act of aggression upon the rights of Hungary, as is nu\nifest 
 from the fact that, when no longer needed for that purpose, 
 it was wholly abrogated by an imperial decree of the 1st of 
 Jaiuiaiy, 1852, and every semblance of liberty was destroyed 
 that had thinly veiled the autocracy of Francis Joseph. 
 
 It was in answer to this arbitrary act of the 4th of March, 
 that Kossuth proposed and carried in the Diet a measure 
 which entirely changed the character of the war, and con- 
 tributed more than the combined arms of Austria and Russia 
 to the niin of his country. After three days' discussion with 
 closed door.s, and one in open session, the Diet, on the 14th 
 of A[)ril, 1849, issued a proclamation embodying four reso- 
 lutions, of which the second and fourth were as follows : — 
 
 " The house of Habsburg Lorraine, having by treachery, 
 perjury, and levying of war against the Hungarian nation, 
 as well as by its outrageous violation of all compacts in
 
 HUNGARIAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. CXVU 
 
 breaking up the integral territory of the kingdom in the 
 separation of Transylvania, Croatia, Slavonia, Fiume and its 
 districts from Hungary ; farther, by compassing the destruc- 
 tion of the independence of the country by arms and by 
 calling in the disciplined army of a foreign power for the 
 purpose of annihilating its nationality, by violation both of 
 the Pragmatic Sanction and of treaties concluded between 
 Austria and Hungary, on which the alliance between the 
 two countries depended ; are, as treacherous and perjured, for 
 ever excluded from the throne of the united states of Hun- 
 gary and Transylvania, and all their possessions and depen- 
 dencies, and are hereby deprived of the style and title, as 
 well as of the armorial bearings belonging to the crown of 
 Hungary, and declai'ed to be banished for ever from the 
 united countries, and their dependencies and possessions. 
 They are therefore declared to be deposed, degraded, and 
 banished for ever from the Hungarian territory. 
 
 " The form of government to be adojJted for the tuture 
 will be fixed by the Diet of the nation. 
 
 " But until this point shall be decided on the basis of the 
 foregoing and received principles, which have been recognised, 
 for ages, the government of the united countries, their j^os- 
 sessions and dependencies, shall be conducted on personal 
 responsibility, and under the obligation to render an accoimt 
 of all acts, by Louis Kossuth, who has by acclamation, and 
 with unanimous approbation of the Diet of tlie nation, been 
 named governing president {Guhernator), and the ministers 
 whom he shall appoint." 
 
 It is hardly worth while to discuss the abstract justice of 
 a measure so indefensible on the ground of policy. Aptly 
 has it been remai'ked,* that, if dethronement was the just 
 reward of the house of Habsburg for outraging the Hungarian 
 constitution, this step should have been taken at the com- 
 mencement of the war, and thus the nation would have 
 known from the first for wliat it was fighting. Therefore, 
 if judged by the mere justice of the case, the declaration 
 came too late, and if viewed in the light of expediency, too 
 early ; for it was a crowning provocation offered to the house 
 of Habsburg. There was no medium now between sepa- 
 
 • Edinburgh Review.
 
 CXVm HISTORY OF Al'STRIA. 
 
 nition and siibjugation. It was easy to foresee that Austria 
 would accept the offers of her mighty ally, Russia, ratht^r 
 than descend from her position as a first-rate })ower in 
 Europe, which would have boen the inevitable consequence 
 of the loss of ilungary. Russia had abiuidant reason to 
 seize the lirst opportunity to humble her rival, and to crush 
 at the s:ime time that dangerous movement in Ilungary, 
 which serveil as an example for the Poles. Moreover, Russia 
 had nothing to apprehend from any other foreign inter- 
 vention, as the popular party was everywhere subdued, and 
 there was no reason to anticipate that England or America 
 woidd interfere in favour of the dethronement, since, having 
 no diplomatic relations with Hungary, and at that time, like 
 the rest of the world, being very ignorant of the merits of 
 the case, they were not m the position to take the question 
 in hand. 
 
 A division in the army was another e^vil likely to follow 
 the declaration of independence. Many of the officers in 
 Görgei's army had been in the Austrian service. They 
 fought in obedience to the oath they had sworn to the con- 
 stitution, but were by no means disposed to partake in a 
 war against the dynasty of Austria. The measure carried 
 with it not one advantage. It had no insinring efl'ect on the 
 nation. It did not enlarge the means of defence ; on the con- 
 trary, it diminished them. It increased the number and 
 hostility of the enemies of Hungary, and there is no evidence 
 that it gained one additional friend to the cause. Nation- 
 ality and liberty were intelligible and eminently practical 
 objects of the nation's desire, and so long as it contended for 
 them it was victorious ; but when theories were set before 
 it, when a negative idea, the dethronement of the royal 
 house, wtus held up as the reward of its exertions, from that 
 moment the national movement began to decline, and the 
 cause wa.s lo.st. 
 
 Having broiight the conflict with Austria to an issue 
 which precluded all possi})ility of compromise, the Hungarian 
 govenimeut was bound in common prudence to follow u[) its 
 advantages with redoubled ardour, and give no respite 
 to its routed foes. After the victories of Apnl, when the 
 Austrian troops were flying and disorganized, and but two 
 dava' march iutei-vened between Görgei and Vienna, there
 
 THIRD INVASION OF HUNGARY. CXIX 
 
 remained no force in the Austrian empire, except the army 
 of Radetzki in Italy, which could have offered him any 
 serious resistance. The capital and the emjiire were at his 
 mercy. Had he marched with the bulk of his force upon 
 Vienna, as he was ordered, he might there have dictated his 
 own terms, and for ever rendered harmless all threats of 
 Eussian intervention. Instead of doing so, he sent only a 
 few thousand men in pursuit of the enemy, and marched 
 with the greatest part of his troops to besiege Buda, where 
 the Austrians had left a garrison merely as a bait to lure 
 the Hungarians from the proper object of their operations. 
 Isolated in the hpart of a hostile country, the garrison of 
 Biida was incapable of doing mischief, and might without 
 detriment have been suffered to remain until a moi'e con- 
 venient season. After a three weeks' siege the fortress was 
 taken by a biilliant assault. Austria had saved her capital 
 at the expense of a most intrepid garrison ; and in the 
 mean time her forces were reorganised, and a Eussian army 
 had assembled on the frontier. 
 
 Thus was lost through Görgei's disobedience, the decisive 
 moment on which hung the destinies of his country ; and 
 for that disobedience a pretext and an opportunity had been 
 furnished by Kossuth. The president had accompanied the 
 army in its march from the Theiss to Gödöllö ; and he 
 quitted it before its work was finished, to go to Debreczin 
 and urge u])on the Diet his proposal for the deposition of 
 the imperial family. He gave up the substance tor the 
 shadow. 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 Tliird Invasion of Iluvgary. 1849, 
 
 It was not until the middle of June that hostilities were 
 resumed. After his splendid but fatal achievement at Buda, 
 G rgei still loitered inactively on the Waag dui-ing the 
 long pause that ensued before the Austrians and Kussiuna 
 had concentrated their forces. The army of the lormer 
 had received a new commander, Field-Marshal Lieutenant 
 Haynatz, already notorious for his savage deeds at Brescia,
 
 CXX HISTOUY OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 iiiitl (liV'^tinod to (I('(')K'i- infiuuy tor those ho was about to 
 ji'T[ictratr in Hungary. The invaders mustered together 
 nearly »00.000 nion— 230,000 Austrians, and 1()0,000 Rus- 
 sians — and were di.strihuted as follows : — 
 
 The tirst army cor|)s (Austro-Russian), under Tlaynau, 
 entering Hungary at Presburg, advanced in the dii'ection of 
 the eapital, Ruda Pesth. 
 
 The second (Russian), under Prince Paskievitcli, crossing 
 tlie CJallician frontier at Dukla. marched ujoon Debreczin. 
 
 Tlie third (Austro-Russian), under Puchner, entering 
 Transylvania from the north, stormed Bistricz and moved 
 upon Klausenburg. 
 
 The fourth (Kiissian), under Lüden, entering Transyl- 
 vania from the south, through the Tömös pass, took Krons- 
 tadt and marched upon Herinan.stadt. 
 
 Tlie tifth (Russian), entering at Orsova, advanced to join 
 Jellachich and his Austro-Croatian army, ojjerating in the 
 territory between the Danube and the Theiss. 
 
 According to Kossuth's statement, the Hungarian forces 
 at this time amounted to 140,000 men, of whom 45,000 
 formed Görgei's corps ; there were 30,000 in the Banat, and 
 40,000 under Bern in Transylvania. Kossuth's plan of 
 defence was to concentrate all the armies either on the 
 Upper Danube or within the Theiss, so as to act from a 
 central position on the isolated bodies of the enemy. Had 
 Kossuth been a general, or had Görgei obeyed him, this 
 plan might have been successful. At least it might have 
 been possible to protract the campaign until September, 
 when the periodical fevers would have rendered the interior 
 of the country untenable for the invaders. But no system 
 of defence coiild have saved a country foredooTued by the 
 disunion among its leaders. The genei-als were all jealous of 
 each other, and of the civil governor. As for Görgei, he 
 hated Kos,suth with a rancour which he seeks to justify in 
 his memoirs on public grounds, but in which there evidently 
 mingled a large share of personal envy. Kossuth was aware 
 of this ; he knew that the safety of the state required 
 Gllrgei's removal from his command ; but instead of bringing 
 the disobedient general to a court-martial, he tem]iorised 
 from mistaken notions of policy, and aflfected towards him a 
 contidence he did not feel. Görgei did more than this ; in
 
 GORGEIS INSUBORDINATION. CXXl 
 
 his relations with the government he descended to direct 
 treachery, like those Austrians ofl&cers who accepted the 
 commissions of the Hungarian ministry,, intending to betray 
 it. In his address to the army, dated Komorn, 29th of 
 April, 1849, Görgei openly approved the declai-ation of 
 independence at the very moment when, as he himself tells 
 us, he purposed to compel the Diet by force of arms to 
 revoke that act. 
 
 Görgei began offensive operations by pushing forwaixl, 
 across the Waag and the Neuhausler Danube, some small 
 corj)s, which were repulsed in several engagements from the 
 16th to the 20th of June. On the latter day he took the 
 command in person at Szered, where he defeated the 
 Austrians ; but on the coming up of the Russian reserve 
 he was compelled to fall back on Komorn, whence with 
 sarcastic complacency he gave notice to the government at 
 Pesth that it must speedily leave the capital, as he was 
 unable to cover it. On the 27th the allies carried Eaab, the 
 garrison reti'eating with little loss to Komorn, where the 
 Hungarians were attacked in their entrenchments by Hay- 
 nau on the 2nd of July, but without success. Görgei 
 behaved that day with the temerity of one who courted death. 
 He was wounded in the head by a sabre cut, but the balls 
 seemed to avoid the general whilst they decimated those 
 around him. On the evening after this successful stand 
 against the enemy, despatches arrived from the Hungarian 
 government, ordering that Görgei should be removed from 
 the chief command, because he had refused, at the frequent 
 and pressing instances of the government, to march with his 
 troops to Pesth, but had persisted in I'emainiug uselessly 
 about Komorn, while the capital was abandoned to the 
 eueiny. Unfortunately for the Hungarian cause, Görgei's 
 heroic conduct on that day had so coutirmed the confidence 
 reposed in him by his officers, that it was unanimously 
 resolved in a council of war that he alone should lead them. 
 The government was obliged to acquiesce, and thenceforth 
 Görgei acted independently of all control. 
 
 His only cotu\se now was to unite his forces with the 
 armies on the cc^ntral plain of Hungary, and act thence on 
 the various invading bodies marcliing in from the cii'cum- 
 ference. He waited, however, until it was too late, and
 
 ex XU niSTOÜV OK AlSTUIA. 
 
 failiHl in n gnuul iittcMn|»t to break throut;h llir Austrian 
 linos on llic soutli. The only other ovitU't was tliroiigli tlie 
 Kiissian forevs on the east. By sonic masterly mauiuiivres, 
 an»! altir a sjiiii^uinary battle at AVailzi-n on the 13th of 
 July, he succeeded in turning the llussian lines, and retreat- 
 ing into the Carjuthians. '• During this battle," says Kos- 
 suth, " General IV'rczel was only a few miles distant, and 
 Görij;ei neither wrote nor sent." 
 
 Alter this, succeeded one of tlie most ably conducted 
 retreats on record. With enemies hemming hini in on 
 every side, Gürgei baffled them, turned their positions, made 
 his retreat a means of attack, and often overwhelmed them 
 with assaults from the quarter whence they least expected 
 them. Twice during this masterly retreat he might have 
 xniited his force with the Hungaran army on the plain within 
 the Theiss, and have saved Hinigary. About the 20th of 
 July, when Görgei was at Putnok, Paskievitch was at 
 Miskolcz, just half way between him and Dembinski, who 
 was at Solnok on the Theiss with the new army of thirty 
 thousand men intrusted to his command. Had the two 
 Hungarian generals acted in concert, they might have 
 annihilated the main Russian army, which was attenuated 
 by its dispersion over a great extent of ground, and disabled 
 by the ravages of the cholera, which was carrying otF thou- 
 sands daily. Again the same thing might have been done 
 when Görgei was at the Hernad, where he commanded the 
 only two passages over the Theiss, those at Tisza Fured and 
 at Tokay. A junction between the two generals at that time 
 would not have failed to prolong tlie war until the peiiod of 
 the fatal Theiss fevers, which begin in those marshy plains 
 in September, and which no foreigner can withstand. Görgei 
 wilfully neglected both opj)ort unities, and at length crossed 
 the Theiss when it was too late. 
 
 Again, when near Debreczin, he refused all aid tn the 
 heroic little body under Nagy Shandor, making theii 
 desperate stand against tlie Russians— 8.000 men against 
 80,000. He was well aware of the attack which awaited 
 Nagy Shandor, whom he had detached from his owm corjis 
 for no other conceivable rea.son than his hatred of the man 
 he thus expo.sed to destruction ; for Nagy Shandor had 
 openly declared that " if there was a man in Hungary who
 
 BATTLE OF TEMESVAR. CXXIU 
 
 aspired to be a Caesar, he would himself be his Bratus." 
 " To-morrow, Nagy Shaiidor will get a dressing," was 
 Gorgei's remark to his staff on the evening preceding the 
 engagement. 
 
 jNIean while Dembinski, who had been defeated by Haynau 
 at Szoreg, instead of reti'eating, as he was ordered to do, 
 upon the Hungarian fortress of Arad, which would have 
 afforded him a safe point cTappui, and where he must have 
 met Görgei, directed his course to Temesvar, which Avas 
 still in Avistrian hands. There he was overtaken by Haynau 
 and Jellachich, and the last battle of the war was fought on 
 the 9 th of August. Bern, who had been overpowered by 
 superior numbers, and forced to evacuate Transylvania, 
 arrived at Temesvar in time to take the chief command, to 
 wliich he had meantime been appointed. The battle began in 
 the morning, and fur some hours the Hungarians had the ad- 
 vantage. The Aiistro-Russian cavalry, reserves and all, were 
 brought forward to the number of twelve thousand, but 
 were driven back in the utmost disorder by Guyon's sever, 
 thousand hussars. Bern continued to advance with his left 
 wing till half-past four o'clock, driving the enemy from 
 position to position. At this time the victory of the Hun- 
 garians seemed assured, and Haynau, it is .said, had already 
 lied from the field, when suddenly Bem's cannon ceased. He 
 had gone into action without discovering that part of his 
 ammunition had been sent off the preceding night to Arad. 
 Prince Lichtenstein now charged the Hungarian right wing, 
 and retrieved the day. Guyon made a last gallant effort 
 with his hussai's to captur'^ the Aiistro-Russian artillery ; 
 but men and horses had been without food and forage for 
 twenty-four hours ; the attempt failed, and all was lost. 
 Tlie Hungarian army retreated unpursued, but in passing 
 through a forest at night, they were seized with a panic, and 
 dispersed in all directions. On the following morning not a 
 thousand men could be got together. 
 
 The disaster at Temesvar gave Görgei the opportunity he 
 had long sought, to gi'atify his personal resentments at the 
 co.st of his country and of the brave soldiers that had so 
 trusted and loved him. When the news of the defeat 
 reached the government, then sitting at Arad, Görgei was 
 there also, intriguing to obtain the dictatorship, that he
 
 ex XIV HISTORY OF AUSTUIA. 
 
 i»ij»ht siirrcndor to the Russians ; for with cliaracteristic 
 j)nilo. hi' hiul always said he would light till tlu; last man 
 wiu» killod rather than surrender to the Austrians — the 
 oni'iny whom he had conquered. To facilitate his design, he 
 had craftily diflnscd a report that Russia was willing to 
 estalilisli a constitutional monarchy under a Russian prince, 
 and to turn her arms, if necessary, against Austria. Thus 
 he prepared the minds of the other generals to follow his 
 own exauiple without distrust. He now declared that lie 
 could yet s<vve Hungary if the government would commit 
 the whole military and civil power into his hands, but that 
 he neither could nor would do so on any other terms. The 
 urgency of tlie case allowed of no delay. An informal 
 council was held, in which the ministry sent in their resig- 
 nation to the governor; but three of them, Duschek, Szemere, 
 and Ca.simir Batthyany were not present at the meeting. 
 Kossuth then signed an abdication in favour of Görgei, and 
 sent it to them for their signature, " accom])anying it," says 
 Vucovics, "with certain conditions, as that Görgei m i>t 
 preserve the independence and nationality of Hungary." 
 But the new dictator immediately issued a proclamation, 
 desiring the Hungarians to retire each man to his home, and 
 i:)ffer no further resistance to the enemy. At the same tiuie 
 he dismissed the general levy, and sent a letter to General 
 Rüdiger, stating that he was ready to lay down his arms un- 
 conditionally. " At that moment," says Görgei,* " I might 
 indeed have retreated from Arad by way of Radua into 
 Ti-ansylvania ; but" — what hindered him? — "my afiection 
 for my country, and my desii-e to restore it to peace at any 
 price, induced me to surrender !" The preliminaries for this 
 act of infjiiny were concluded at Vilagos on the night of the 
 12th of August ; and on the following day, an unconquered 
 Hungarian army, twenty-four thousand strong, with a 
 hundred and forty -four canons, laid down their arms before 
 the Russians. 
 
 The fbitresscs of Arad and Peterwardein soon afterwards 
 surrendered at discretion ; but Klapka still held out in 
 Komom. Euiboldened by two successful sallies made in 
 July, he had assumed the oflFensive on the 1st of August, 
 
 * Letter to Klapka, August 16.
 
 CAPITULATION OF KOMORN. CXXV 
 
 and issuing from the fortress, had routed the besiegers with 
 gi'eat slaughter, captured an enormous booty of provisions 
 and ammunition, retaken Raab, and swept that ])art of the 
 country clear of the imperialist forces. His success excited 
 great alarm in Vienna, which was thus exposed to his 
 assaults, with only eight thousand men to defend it, whilst 
 a victorious army of twenty thousand men held the country 
 in Haynau's rear, cutting off his lines of communication 
 with Austria. After six days spent in Raab in raising 
 recruits, and completing his preparations, Klapka was about 
 to march on the night of the 11th to invade Styria. This 
 was on the very day that Gorgei became dictator. But the 
 intended ex}:)edition was abandoned in consequence of the 
 alarming intelligence received in the evening from beyond 
 the Theiss, and Klapka returned with his forces to Komorn. 
 The fortress was now invested by the whole Austrian force, 
 and after many debates in council of war, it capitulated on 
 the 29th of September, the stipulations being, that the 
 garrison should be allowed to secure a portion of its pay, 
 and retire unmolested in person or property. These con- 
 ditions were held towards the officers, but broken as re- 
 garded the soldiers, who were forcibly drafted into the 
 imperial army. The capitulation is said to have been 
 brought about by double-dealing. The principal motive 
 which induced the victorious garrison to surrender, was the 
 assurance given them by the Austrian negotiators, that the 
 emperor waited but for that act to show clemency to their 
 captive companions in arms and to their coinitrymen in 
 general. In corroboration of this assurance, it was alleged 
 that the emj>eror had sent Count Griinne, his own 
 adjutant-general, to Arad, to stop the execution of the 
 sentences of death which had been jmssed by the courts- 
 martial sitting in that fortress. But Klapka and his men 
 were not told tliat this seeming act of gi'ace was only 
 a lure ; tliat the executioner's hands were stayed only 
 until Komorn should have fallen ; not a man of them was 
 aware that the only reason Haynau had for urging the 
 capitulation, was his desire to execute the bloody sentences 
 agabist the doomed patriots with impunity.* Hence they 
 
 * Klapka'a Letter to Haynau, dated London, Feb. 6, 1850. 
 
 i
 
 CXXVl IIISTOnV OF AIRTRIA. 
 
 i-onsented to claim amnesty only for themselves, and not for 
 the wliole country ; therein yielding to the assurances of the 
 Austrian negotiators that the latter stipulation was sujwr- 
 fluous, and to their rejn*esentations that the acceptance of 
 such a condition for the surrender of a fortress would be in- 
 compatible with the dignity of the emperor. 
 
 And now the savage executioner of Brescia befjan his 
 congenial work of cold-blooded butchery. Finst came the 
 scourging of Hungarian ladies, forced to run the gauntlet 
 half-naked between two lines of Austrian soldiers, armed 
 with rods. Next occurred the execution of generals and 
 officers. Görgei had obtained his pardon, by desire of the 
 emperor of Russia ; but whilst the chief was spared, no 
 mercy was shown to his subordinates. Thirteen genei-als and 
 iield-officers were hanged or shot at Arad on the 6 th of 
 October. Ten ministers and civil officers were executed 
 soon afterwards ; and it is computed that more than a 
 thousand gentlemen of station and character died by rope or 
 lead in Hungary that year under Austrian hands. The 
 colonels and majors of the Hungarian army were sentenced 
 to imprisonment for eighteen and sixteen years I'espectively, 
 or to serve as privates in the Austrian ranks ; and the landed 
 aristocracy were visited unsparingly with fines and confis- 
 cations. 
 
 Immediately after Kossuth's I'esignation, himself and 
 several other civil and military leaders, with about five 
 thousand officers and soldiers, escaped over the Turkish 
 frontier, and took refuge in Widdiu. The emperors of 
 Russia and Austria demanded the extradition of the re- 
 fugees. This was peremptorily refused by the Sultan, whom 
 Sir Stratford Canning, the BritLsh ambassador, encouraged 
 by his advice to jjersist in that determination. The emperor 
 of Rus.sia reiterated the demand in menacing language ; but 
 the appearance of a British fleet in the Dardanelles, whether 
 fortuitous or designed, induced him to lower his tone. The 
 two emperors now contented themselves with requiring that 
 the exiles should be removed to a more distant part of the 
 Turkish empire. They were transfei'red accordingly to 
 Kutayah, where they remained until the middle of the year 
 18Ö1, when the government of the United States .sent a 
 man-of-war, which, with the Sultan's consent, conveyed
 
 HER CONDITION SINCE 1849. CXXvii 
 
 away Kossuth and his companions, except a certain number 
 of them who had made a voluntary profession of Islamism. 
 
 More than three years have now elapsed since Austria 
 bartered her independence for a renewal of her old system of 
 absolutism and centralization, and acquired the power to 
 extinguish the ancient immunities of Hungary at the cost 
 of her own vassalage to Russia. In all that time she has 
 not made the slightest progress towards the consolidation of 
 her factitious greatness. She subsists only by virtue of a 
 permanent state of siege and martial law. Her subject 
 populations, who rose against her in 1849, are more dis- 
 affected than ever, and she has alienated the very races 
 that then took up arms in her defence. Her despotism 
 rests on no saving basis of a common nationality ; no 
 inward ■vitality binds together the heterogeneous elements 
 of her empire ; the prestige of her might is gone, the sanc- 
 tuary of her authority has been profaned, her weakness 
 made manifest, the mechanism of her power laid bare. She 
 maintains her state by terrorism alone, the most precarious 
 of all tenures. 
 
 t2
 
 GENESIS 
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA.
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 There are no abrupt transitions in nature. Tliis axiom 
 holds good in tlie moral as well as in the physical world. 
 
 When, therefore, a Constituent Parliament, composed of 
 democratic elements, was observed in Austria, in the month 
 of July, 1848, by the side of the throne (which in the pre- 
 ceding month of March was still absolute), laying claim to 
 the sovereignty, and that, too, before the chasm between 
 those two conditions of government had been bridged over 
 by a popular victory, the qviestion at once suggested itself, 
 how this change could so suddenly have taken place. 
 
 It is the task of this work to show that even in tliis 
 case the unchangeable laws of nature maintained their 
 course, inasmuch as the phenomena of the year 1848 were 
 only the result of long-subsisting causes, which at length 
 became evident to all. 
 
 The title of these leaves (Genesis) will indicate that they 
 are not intended to be either a chronicle or a minute detail 
 of the events of the period. They enter on liistorical ground 
 only when such a course appears necessary to accomplish 
 their design, which is to explain the original causes of the 
 change of circumstances alluded to. 
 
 The first motto upon the title-page indicates the intention 
 to maintain a strict impartiahty. 
 
 The second motto will justify the boldness with which, 
 without regard to the approbation of any party, it has been 
 attempted to discharge the duty resulting from the first. 
 
 Should this work succeed in removing from the public 
 mind those prejudiced views which, in a time of political 
 excitement, partisans are accustomed to form concerning 
 both things and individuals, and so correct the errors and 
 injustice which result from such opinions, its object wül 
 have been attained. 
 
 In order to prevent the reader from being misled by the
 
 OXXXU AUTIIOUS PREFACE. 
 
 name of the author, and fi-om perusing these leaves with a 
 mind jtrejudicod either in favour of or against the views they 
 maintain, tlie A\Titer has thought it better to presei'\'e an 
 incoijnito. He is conscious of liis honoural)le determinatiou 
 to observe strict truth in the circumstances he relates. 
 Should he hii\c given admission to any erroneous statements, 
 he will cheerfulh^ adopt their correction, for the sake of tiiith, 
 and will rejoice at the opportiniity for such correction being 
 afforded to him. Wherever he has expressed an opinion, he 
 has obeyed the voice of his ovm conviction. He is reluctant, 
 however, to force his own opinions upon any one, and there- 
 fore he is not disposed to engage in a polemical dispute with 
 those who difter from him. 
 
 The topics treated of in this work have been already 
 discussed in other quarters, — for example, by Philipps and 
 GröiTes in the 21st and 22nd numbers of a brochure styled 
 " The Historical and Political Pamphlet for Catholic Ger- 
 many ;" also by F. von B., in a work called " A Re^dew of 
 the Political Commotion in Austria in the Year 1848 ;" and 
 in several other ephemeral publications in which this last 
 book is criticised. Again, a work by Count Leo Thun, in the 
 Bohemian language, called, " Reflections on the Present 
 State of Things, -with particular Relation to Bohemia," is 
 partly occujded with the same subject. The Genesis was 
 already finished when these pamphlets met the eye of the 
 author, and he has not found himself obliged by their con- 
 tents to alter what he had previously written. Should the 
 reader, therefore, detect in these pages any resemblance with 
 the sentiments of other wiiters, he must attribute the cir- 
 cumstance, not to plagiarism, but to the irresistible power of 
 truth ; and should he, on the other hand, discover any 
 points of difference, he must not consider this work as a 
 polemical essay. 
 
 The judgments passed in these pages upon individuals 
 have relation only to their political character as it has been 
 evinced by their public conduct. 
 
 The mention of names notorious on the political stage has 
 been found necessary for the object of this work, and has 
 appeared at lea.st as unobjectionable as the affected conceal- 
 ment of the mere name, accompanied, however, by a sketch of 
 the individual through the medium of a transparent descrip-
 
 AUTHORS PREFACE. CXXXIU 
 
 tion. The names of persons, however, are not mentioned, 
 who have remained secluded from public Hfe, and at a dis- 
 tance from the eye of the world. 
 
 In estimating the merits of this work, the reader will bear 
 in mind that it is not a state document ; that it is not com- 
 posed by a man of letters for the perusal of the mere learned, 
 but the work of one unknown to the literary world — a mere 
 quiet observer of the passing events of the age — and has 
 been written for those whose tastes resemble his own, 
 "absque irä et studio," indeed, but nevertheless in a style 
 which, by means of a lively colouring imparted to the narra- 
 tive, seemed adapted to soften in some measure the sober 
 seriousness of the subject, and dissipate the tedium of the 
 reader. 
 
 Atigust, 1849.
 
 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 The first edition of the " Genesis" was sold in a few 
 weeks. Tlie voice of the critic had not yet readied the 
 autlior during the preparation of the second edition. He 
 has become acquainted with it by this time, and thinks it 
 his duty to jiay it regard as far as it tends to promote the 
 object of this work, which seeks to euHghtcn tlie judgment of 
 tlte world on one of ilie least expected of catastrophes which 
 Itave ever shattered tJie foundations of a great state. All 
 observations on the " Genesis" which have aj)peared in p\iblic 
 journals or in pamphlets, and have illustrated the events of 
 the year 1848, whether proceeding from the pen of friend 
 or of foe, have been welcome to the author. 
 
 There are three publications which demand especial notice 
 on occasion of the present edition. The first is the review 
 of " Genesis" in the " Historical Papers for Catholic Germany 
 for 1850," numbers I. and II., by G. Philipps and G. Görres 
 (Historische Blatter fr das Katholische Deutschland). This 
 review bears the marks of having been written by a practised 
 observer, in high position and of great experience in the 
 affairs of the world. The second is a pamphlet of 73 pages, 
 large octavo, i)ublished in 1850 by T. N. Passy, at St. Pölteu, 
 and by P. Rohi-mann, bookseller to the court at Vienna. 
 Its title is, " The Estates of Lower Austria and the Genesis 
 of the Revolution in Austria in 1848." The anonymous 
 author of this pamphlet declaies, at page 2, that he has 
 taken up a '^'■party position, and closely and sincerely sym- 
 pathizes tvith tJte acts of tlie Estates of Lower Austria.'" That 
 declaration is important, as it renders it possible to complete 
 the description of the events of March, by citing several 
 facts which, in the absence of a guarantee on behalf of the 
 party of the E.states itself, did not previously seem suitable 
 for publication. The third treatise, by L. Count Ficquel- 
 mont, entitled, " Illustrations of the Period from the 20th of 
 March to the 4th of May, 1848" (Aufkhii-ungen über die
 
 PREFACE TO THE THIED EDITION. CXXXV 
 
 Zeit vom 20 März bis zum 4 Mai, 1848), was published in 
 1850 by J. A. Barth, at Leipzic, and by Fr. Beck, bookseller 
 to the University at Vienna. The " Genesis" is not in terms 
 aUuded to in this work, though its author, a statesman, in 
 every respect honourable, who furnishes us with elucidations 
 derived from the fountain-head, seems to have been induced 
 by the " Genesis" to make the gi*ant of the constitution of 
 the 25th of April, 1848, the subject of a veiy cai-eful inves- 
 tigation, which could not be passed ovex* in silence in the 
 present edition. 
 
 Voices have been raised here and there which have pro- 
 nounced the " Genesis" to be a party work, called forth by 
 those who were in authority before March, as a means of vin- 
 dicating their honour. It would have been especially flatter- 
 ing to the author, if those personages had intrusted to his pen 
 the task of vindicating their honour. However, it is not, and 
 for this simple reason could not be, the fact, — because states- 
 men, who were unwilling to sacrifice their inward convictions 
 to fashionable theories and to popular favour, might perhaps 
 endanger the shining diadem of glory and the golden wreath 
 of fortune, but never that precious jewel — honour. The 
 author wrote under the im})idse of no other motive than the 
 desire of furnishing to future impartial historians intimations 
 from other sources than those from which the swarm of 
 publications of the present day have originated. 
 
 The new materials have been added in the shape of notes, 
 as they allow of comparative glances at the present without 
 interrupting the descriptions of the past. Whatever judg- 
 ment the reader may form from such comj)arisons, we beg of 
 him to keep in mind, that those who are now occupied with 
 the task of re-erecting the Austrian state edifice are not to 
 be reproached for the troublesome dust occasioned by the 
 removal of the rubbish, and for the comfortless damp and 
 chilliness pervading the new-built halls, which have not been 
 allowed time to dry. 8uch are the inevitable consequences 
 of rebuilding:.
 
 GENESIS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The sea roars from the west : the storm impels the billows 
 against the harbour wall : the latter bids them a proud de- 
 fiance ; some few waves with difficulty reach the simimit, and 
 appear on the broad parapet which protects the pier, to glide 
 away without a trace. Within the harbour, too, the calm 
 water-level is disturbed by smaller waves, that portend no 
 danger : when suddenly the wall bursts asunder, the tide 
 iiishes fiercely in and inundates the shore, scattering destrac- 
 tion wide ai'ound. 
 
 With astonishment and wonder, the spectator beholds the 
 fragments of the ruined wall which he had deemed imperish- 
 able — he marks how the waves, which appeared to flow off 
 from the surface, had gradually formed a channel through 
 the crevices of the outer-works, and as the inner stones were 
 already secretly penetrated and decayed, how they had 
 reached the foundation of the wall, so that its destruction 
 became inevitable. 
 
 So it happened with Austria. The revolution raged in 
 the west. The Austrian Government conceived that as she
 
 L' GENESIS OF THE 
 
 had once formed the bulwark of Eiuropean civilization against 
 the encroachments of bai'bai'ian Mahometanism, so she might 
 now stand firm as a defence against the propaganda of the 
 revolution. The sincere loyalty of the peoj)le to the imperial 
 djTiast}'', the influence of habit, the sense of comfort arising 
 from the secure administration of the laws, the tender 
 anxiety for the commercial interests which developed them- 
 selves more and more eveiy year, these wei'e regarded as the 
 fii'm foimdation of this defence, while the regulations of the 
 police to prevent the circulation of revolutionary doctrines 
 by word or writing furnished a protecting complement to the 
 work ; but these measures, though competent, apparently, 
 to suppress hostile manifestations of discontent, could not 
 prevent its gradual increase. Moreover, the very foundation 
 itself had been already shaken by the internal attacks which 
 the government had to sustain from the hand of one, who 
 now showed as much anxiety to divide her authority, as she 
 had exhibited for the same purpose some centviries before — 
 and hence arose the crash on the 1 3th of March. 
 
 The catastrophe of the days of Maich astonished all parties, 
 both the government and the governed. By the first it was 
 not apprehended, by the latter it was not expected in the 
 way in which it actually occiu'red. Accordingly, botli parties 
 entered wholly unprepared into new reciprocal relations with 
 each other. Errors on the one side and exaggerated demands 
 on the other must have been expected by all reflecting men, 
 as the consequence of such a sudden change, but the event 
 unfortunately exceeded aU anticipations. 
 
 The inundation which, in the month of March, gave up 
 the otheiTV'ise happy territory of Austria a prey to the de- 
 vastation of the raging waves, was prepared through a 
 long course of previous years, partly by circumstances, and 
 partly by design.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 3 
 
 Since the time wlien Jean Jacques Rousseau first published 
 his theory of a " Social Contract," a party has always ex- 
 isted in evexy civilised country, opposed to the absolute 
 power of monarchs. In France, in consequence of some 
 j)eculiarly favourable circumstances, this party first achieved 
 the overthrow of the throne and the altar. Even at 
 that time, it was not without adherents in Austria, but 
 the seed fell upon a soil not yet sufficiently prepared for 
 it. The reforms of the Emperor Joseph, in advance of the 
 sjiirit of the age, partook of a philosophical, but at the 
 same time of an absolute character, and while they had 
 alleviated the most crying evils of the people, they had also 
 extended the power of the sovereign. The mass of the people, 
 therefore, felt no sympathy for the revolution, while the 
 government was ia. full possession oi all the public and private 
 resources to suppress any attempt at a popular insurrection. 
 It happened, by a dispensation of Providence not unfavour- 
 able for the propagation of the principles of the French revo- 
 lution in the eighteenth centuiy, that at the time when that 
 revolution was in preparation, the sceptres of Prussia and of 
 Austria were wielded by two monarchs who were philosophers, 
 and at the same time despots in the strictest meaning of 
 the word. The ovations which were ofiered to both these 
 rulers by the national heroes of the new era, could be no 
 more than mere irony, if they did not arise from the most 
 complete thoughtlessness. After the days of March in Vienna, 
 the mad joy of the mob at their success in having obtained 
 for the people the right to carry arms, the freedom of the press, 
 and the restraint of the absolute monarch withia the limits 
 of a constitution, induced them to proceed to the equestrian 
 statue of Joseph, in order to place a crown on that emperor's 
 head. Must not every cool and well-informed spectator 
 have asked himself at that moment, what would have been 
 
 B 2
 
 4 CEXESLS OF THE 
 
 the answer of tlmt liiglily-honouied uioniirch to liis joyous 
 woi-sliippei-s, it' his spirit could then but have animated his 
 statue '/ Would not the ponderous weight of his brazen arm 
 have crushed them in indignation at their acliievements 1 
 
 The unimpaired jiowera of government bequeatlied by 
 Joseph and Prederic to their successors rendered it possible 
 for the latter, at the outbreak of the fu'st Fr-ench revolu- 
 tion, to resist throughout their own kingdoms the si)irit of 
 enthusiasm, wliich was partially awakened in particular 
 classes of society in fa vom* of " fi-eedom and equality." The 
 coui*se which that revolution took subsequently, destroyed 
 the number of its foreign adherents, since it became evident 
 that its public boastings in favour of the rights of man were 
 mere absurdity, inasmuch as such privileges were only valu- 
 able to the adherents of the lading party for the time being, 
 its opponents finding their freedom in exile, and their 
 equality in being condemned to the guillotine. The bloody 
 war of conquest carried on by the young reijublic completely 
 alienated from her all hearts in Austria ; for when one's o^\^l 
 fire-side is threatened, every thought is directed to avert the 
 appi-ehended danger, and for the moment, the dreams of 
 freedom and equality vanish into aii*. The people gladly 
 beheld the conversion of the French Eepublic into an empii'e, 
 and the thrones of Europe had no farther cause to fear being 
 overturned Ijy their own subjects. But, on the other hand, the 
 thii-st for conquest which seized the Emperor of the French, 
 threatened the ruling dynasties ^vith the loss of their crowns. 
 In this extremity they gi-asped at a means of safety, power- 
 ful, no doubt, in its operation, but on whose effects it was 
 impossible to reckon ; namely, to awaken the sentiment of 
 independence amongst their people, and array them in opi>o- 
 sition to the conqueror of the world. Napoleon fell ! After 
 his fall, the spirit whose aid had been invoked, was not allayed.
 
 REVOLUTION IX AUSTRIA. Ö 
 
 It turned against the very power by wliicli it had been aroused. 
 The tliirty-foiu' years which had elapsed since the banishment 
 of Napoleon to Saint Helena present the picture of a perpetual 
 contest with this spii'it. The Governments wliich have been 
 exposed to this struggle, have pursued different Imes of con- 
 duct. Some have thought to escape the difficulty, by im- 
 posing vokuitary restraints on the absolute power of the 
 crown, and by adopting a constitutional form of government, 
 modelled in such a fasliion that the power of the sovereign 
 with regard to the framing of laws and the imposition of 
 taj;:es is controlled by hereditary and elective representative 
 estates, while the other privileges of the government remain 
 untouched, and the maxim of the sovereignty of the people 
 never came under discussion. Others adopted the notion 
 that the authority of government, when divided, and con- 
 sequently weakened by division, is less capable of defending 
 itself than Avhen it remains sti'ong and undivided, whereupon 
 they allowed no limit to be placed to the authority of the 
 monarch, but endeavoured to maintain tliis power unimpaired, 
 by every means whidi stood at their command. The events 
 of the year 1848 have proved that both these plans have 
 failed in their object, since the people ruled by constitutional 
 laws, no less than the peojile living under a despotic govern- 
 ment, have endeavoured to usurp the sovereign authority for 
 themselves. 
 
 In Austria and Prussia the last-mentioned course was 
 followed. Its adoption laid the foundation of the so-called 
 " Mettemich system." In order to act consistently, the 
 advocates of this system were obliged to oppose all 
 concessions tending to diminish the authority of the 
 monarch, not only at home, but abroad, since, where 
 power is the question, popular coalitions can exist as 
 ■well as coalitions of princes. It was a herculean task to
 
 6 OEXESIS OF THE 
 
 struggle against the spirit of the age, which animated the 
 people. Single-handed, no government could accomplish it 
 eflectuaUy. As long as the two chief powers of Germany, 
 Austria and Pi-ussia, piu-sued the same coui-se in union, the 
 authority of government was maintained unimpaii-ed. But 
 as soon as the King of Prussia had determined to share this 
 authority, though only in some tri%äal pai-ticulars, with a 
 popular assembly, it became evident that the downfall of 
 absolutism must soon be the result in both kingdoms ; since 
 a principle of such importance, which enters deeply into all 
 the relations of life, and oflfers homage to the spirit of the 
 age, can never be affirmed in part, and negatived in part, 
 according to the arbitrary fancy of the moment, but must 
 either be rejected wholly or acknowledged wholly, -with all its 
 attendant consequences. The utter rejection, therefore, of 
 the principle, involving a division of the sovereign powei", 
 which had been half acknowledged by the king of Prussia, 
 was the problem reserved for Austria singly to solve, 
 on the soil of Germany and in the west of Europe. The 
 system of Mettemich was applied to the solution of 
 this problenL But its solution was not effected ; the 
 system gave way. No sooner did it faU, than every voice 
 was raised in its condemnation. It was pronounced exe- 
 crable, and to its influence were attributed all those 
 dreadful excesses which took place afterwards in the im- 
 perial capital, as if this system had actually engendered 
 the hostile force which it was unable to cinish, instead of 
 being in fact a bulwark raised against the very power by which 
 it was eventually vanquished. An objection which might 
 have been urged against it with greater justice, was its 
 untenableness. This was acknowledged, on March 13th, by 
 the man whose name it bore, and who sought to maintain 
 it ; and he accordingly gave way before a superior power. A
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 7 
 
 system of a wholly different nature was introduced, without 
 the necessity of a previous contest with arms. The in- 
 evitable course of events was allowed to pursue its way in 
 peace. 
 
 That it did not so happen — that six months later fire and 
 sword raged in the heart of Austria, can only be ascribed to 
 a fauure of the new system, or to the errors of those who 
 were summoned to execute it.
 
 GEKESIS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BEFORE THE MONTH OF MARCH, 1848. 
 
 Havin'g in a cursory manner doscril)e(I tlio ori<,an of tlie 
 geuei-.il discontent, to whicli Austria had endeavoured to 
 oppose herself as a ban-ier, it now l)ecomes our task to 
 explain by what means it happened that the advancing 
 influence of the spii-it of the age succeeded in effecting a 
 gnidual diminution of that resisting power, which the Aus- 
 trian Government considered itself to possess. This diminu- 
 tion of power Avas not the work of a recent period. Its origin 
 is to be found in the peculiarities which existed in the heart 
 of the monarchy for a long series of years, and wliich Avere 
 already in full operation at the accession of the Emperor 
 Ferdinand. We must, therefore, in the first place, take a 
 glance at the government of the Emperor Francis. 
 
 THE EMPEROR FRANCIS. 
 
 The year ISIG was the culminating point of the imperial 
 power, not only in a matei-ial, but more particularly in a 
 moral point of view. The peace of Paris had made ample 
 compensation for the losses wliich the monarchy had sus- 
 tained since the outbreak of the first French revolution. 
 The Emperor Francis commanded the liighest esteem on 
 account of liis own personal merits, which had been displayed 
 to the gi-eatest advantage in conferences with many other 
 monarchs and European personages in Paris and Vienna; and
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 9 
 
 he was lionoured as a sage. The love of his people, who 
 had evei* remained faithful to liim in adversity, was bestowed 
 upon him in increased measure when he suddenly became 
 the favourite of fortmie ; and the well-gi-ounded expectations 
 of a happy fiiture excited his subjects even to enthusiasm. 
 The rich countries which had lately become annexed to the 
 monarchy, the enormous sums which France had been con- 
 demned to pay, and the certain duration of a long peace, 
 seemed to offer a complete security for the diminution of 
 the state burdens, and for the establishment of content and 
 prosperity. These hopes, however, wei'e not realised in 
 their fullest extent. A disastrous system of finance, founded 
 on a mere delusion — the extinction of the old national debt — 
 increased annually the burden of interest due by the state, 
 without furnishing by way of compensation any new capital 
 to open fresh soui'ces of national wealth ; a bigoted attach- 
 ment to whatever was established, closed the door against 
 such improvements in the legislative or executive depart- 
 ments as were suitable to the exigencies of the times ; and 
 even when a conviction of the necessity of reforms was 
 acknowledged, they Avere delayed, or their effect rendered 
 nugatory by numerous doubts, and by endless discussions, 
 as to whether, in place of the alteration proposed, some- 
 thing better might not perhaps be substituted. The task 
 which Austria had undertaken to accomplish, viz. to 
 establish a barrier against the movement which a powerful 
 party was directing from the west, in favour of the sove- 
 reignty of the people, entailed upon her the necessity of 
 maintaining numei'ous and burdensome regulations of police, 
 a system mucli less rigorously exercised even in Pi'ussia, 
 although that country was by no means disposed to renounce 
 her absolute form of government, and far less strictly ])ursued 
 in other countries, where the authorities had commenced a
 
 10 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 coui'se of concessiou iu order to appease the temper of the 
 disaflcctcd ; and hence it haiijicucd that from the com- 
 parisons Avliich were naturally instituted between these 
 respective fonns of governments, discontent was engendered 
 in Austria. The difTei-ent provincial states observed that 
 similar boelios iu other districts of Germany enjoyed a larger 
 shai'e in the executive and legislative functions than was 
 conceded to them, and they panted to regain their old privi- 
 leges. From these causes it happened that in the latter part 
 of the reign of the Emperor Francis an inward feeling of 
 discontent became general, which, though it might not have 
 been loudly expressed, was nevertheless deeply rooted. 
 Diu-ing his lifetime these sentiments were counterbalanced 
 by tho sincere attachment and filial reverence to which liis 
 own personal worth had given birth. Dming a long seiies 
 of years his subjects had shared with him feelings first of 
 national humiliation, and subsequently of national rejoicing. 
 They recognised and appreciated his deep sense of justice, and 
 his plain and simple mode of living, and the peciüiar appro- 
 priateness of his answers to their prayers and grievances, 
 which were always uttered in the most familiar tone, 
 invested him with the influence of a popular chieftain. The 
 judgment with which he selected his most intimate asso- 
 ciates strengthened this sentiment, as in those cases where 
 the brilliancy of the court was not so much concerned, as his 
 own feelings of personal confidence, his choice generally fell 
 upon indi\iduals taken from amongst the ranks of the 
 people. At the same time, however, it was well knowTi 
 that, notwithstanding his simple and unostentatious mode of 
 life, he was inflexible in the maintenance of his sovereign 
 authority, and that every assaiüt upon it would be resisted 
 by every means at his command ; no persons ventured, 
 therefore, to exhibit in Ids presence either their discontent
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 11 
 
 or the feelings which, they nourished in their bosoms; 
 on the contrary, they sought to conceal such emotions from 
 his observation by the most joyous display of love and 
 respect. The consequence, therefore, was, that the emperor 
 remained wholly ignorant of the opinions of his subjects, and 
 had no idea of the general feeling of wide-spread discontent 
 which reigned in almost all classes of society ; but he lived 
 imder the illusion that the few expressions of dissatisfaction 
 which reached his ears, were uttered by mere visionaries or 
 by malevolent individuals. It is the misfortune of all those 
 who hold power in their hands, that they never see mankind 
 except in holiday apparel or in their holiday behaviour ; and 
 this is the case no less with monarchs who are born heirs to 
 the purple, than with nders who have sprung from the ranks 
 of the people. Mankind dissembled its sentiments before 
 CromweU as well as before King Charles ; before Eobespierre 
 as well as before Louis, and no less before Napoleon. But 
 even if the Empei-or Francis ' had been acquainted with the 
 sentiments of his people in their fullest extent, he was not the 
 man ever to swerve from the groundwork of his system, which 
 was termed the Metternich system, and wliich consisted in an 
 unbending resistance to every effort to impose restraint upon 
 his absolute authority, and this arose not so much from 
 vanity as from the dictates of conscience. He was a reli- 
 gious man, and considered it a duty of conscience to desire 
 only what was good and right ; and every voluntary consent 
 to weaken the authority placed ia his hands by God, 
 awakened his apprehension lest he might be impeded thereby 
 in the discharge of those duties which he recognised as either 
 good or right ; and he would, in fact, have considered his 
 conscience burdened with all the wei<;ht of the «rood omitted 
 or the evil committed against his conviction, which might 
 have resulted from any diminution of his authority ; so that
 
 1- (.KNIISIS OF TIIK 
 
 if tlie foivc tif (.iiruinstaiicc's liad ubligccl him t(t ivuouuce 
 absolutism, as lie had once been coustniinecl to abaxulou 
 jn'ovinces, and to oHor up his daughter a sacrific(>, as it were, 
 to ]\Ioloeh, he would ])ro1>ably have chosen to descend from 
 the throne leather than to do <.>utrage to his conscience and 
 peril the sjilvation of his sonl. This conscientiousness 
 constituted his gloiy as a man, but at the same time was his 
 niisfoi-tmie as a nder. Con^-incod of the purity of his inten- 
 tions, but immoderately mistnistfid of his owai sagacity, he 
 often became entangled in doubts wliich prevented liim from 
 adopting any course of action. The soiu'ce of this weakness 
 spi-ung partly from the rude; style in which his uncle Jose])!! 
 had undertaken to initiate him into public business. Failing 
 to discover in him his own peculiar energy of mind, he made 
 the young prince so sensible of his full displeasure on that 
 account, that the latter became discouraged and lost all self- 
 confidence. Tlie unfortunate vicissitudes which marked the 
 latter half of the reign of the Emperor Francis were not cal- 
 culated to remedy the evil. But they served, at the same time, 
 to awaken in his mind a feeling of mistrust in the judgment 
 or uprightness of the coimcillors by whom he was sun-ounded, 
 and whose ad\'ice, when acted upon, was so often followed 
 by no favourable residt. Hence, in addition to a doubt in 
 the correctness of his own judgment, there now ensued a 
 want of confidence in those who were called to aid him in 
 the fonnation of Ids opinions. In order to avoid being 
 mi.sled by these, he conceived it his duty to make himself 
 personally acquainted with the details of business, and, in 
 cases of doubt, to consult ^\ith different individuals unknown 
 to each other, and Avho were oftentimes even complete 
 strangers to the service of the state : the conflict of opinions 
 which ensued, only .sei*\-cd to render his own judgment more 
 imcertain, and prevented him from coming to any decision, and
 
 IIEVOLUTIOX IX AUSTRIA. 13 
 
 the utter paralysis of public business was generally tbe resvilt. 
 Had the emperor relied more upon his own practical sense 
 and experience, or reposed full confidence in any one of his 
 councillors, the delay in the despatch of business which occa- 
 sioned so many well-grounded complaints, would not have 
 occurred. It is an opinion very generally entei-tained, par- 
 ticularly in foreign countries, that Prince Metternich exer- 
 cised an imbounded influence over the emj^eror. This 
 opinion is wholly erroneous, for in the home department of 
 government the prince was seldom heard, but was inten- 
 tionally kejit at a distance ; here the emperor himself toiled 
 Hke a chief clerk, and seemed wonderfully pleased at paying 
 himself the very humble comi:)liment " of being Hkely to 
 become a valuable privy councülor." With advancing age 
 bis doubts and scniples of conscience mcreased, business was 
 more and more procrastinated, and so it happened that the 
 Austrian government remained far behind the demands of 
 the age even in those impi'ovements wliich could not by 
 j)Ossibility impair the principle of absolutism. The emperor 
 and his minister have been accused, imjustly, of remaining 
 .stationary, in accordance with certain maxmis ; but the 
 fict is, they only remained stationary because they were 
 unable to determine with which foot they should begin 
 to march forward. But the consequence of thus remaining 
 stationary, from whatever cause it may have proceeded, was 
 melancholy ii?. the extreme, for it undermined the confidence 
 of the people in the intentions or -the capacity of the 
 government, and thereby weakened their moral energy and 
 j)0wer to I'esist the I'evolutionary party, who carried on their 
 machinations in secret. That this party did not then enter 
 tlie lists against the government, as it did in the year 1848, 
 miist be asci'ibed alone to the circumstance that domestic 
 and foreign events oflTei'ed them no px'ospect of victory.
 
 14 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 These obsen-atious on the Austrian aduiiiiistration in 
 general require only the assistance of a few supplementary 
 remai'ks with respect to that portion of the monarcliy whci'e, 
 from time immemorial, constitutions were established, 
 namely, Hungary and Transylvania. In both these countries 
 the Estates enjoyed a share in the legislative power, and in 
 many cases a share also in the general government. Thus, 
 the fundamental law required the periodical convocation of 
 the Diet, in Hungary every three yeai's, in Transylvania 
 every yeai*. But the convocation of these Diets was inter- 
 mitted for a long period of years, and for this reason every 
 species of improvement was also intermitted, which required 
 to be called into life by a formal decree of the legislature, 
 and did not depend upon the mere authonty of a royal 
 rescript. When the convocation of the Hungarian Diet 
 at length once more took place, in the year 1825, in conse- 
 quence of the loud complaints of the people, the king occu- 
 pied a most painfid position with regard to it ; for he 
 was obliged to make an acknowledgment detrimental to 
 the royal authority, and to confess, " That he had en-ed." 
 Concessions were afterwards suently made for the puqiose 
 of conciliating men's minds, which, however, entailed 
 far more imjiortant consequences than were foreseen, 
 and led the way to the undermining of the complicated 
 constitution of Hungaiy, in which it was an inherent 
 peculiai-ity, that a custom acquii-ed the force of law even 
 against the king, when he allowed it to pass without oppo- 
 sition. Thus it happened, that already in the Diet of 
 the year 182.5, and more particularly in subsequent years, 
 for want of active opposition on the part of the king, the 
 very groimdwoik of the Hungarian constitution became en- 
 tirely altered, either by usurpations on the side of the 
 Estates, or by errors on the side of the viceroy, although the
 
 KEVOLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 15 
 
 government neither intended nor suspected sucli a result. 
 The following examples may serve as illustrations : — The 
 counting of individual votes in the assembly of the Estates, 
 and the consequent power of the majority, formed no part of 
 the Himgai-ian constitution, the spirit of which was rather to 
 be found in the maxim, " vota non numerantur, sed ponde- 
 rantur ;" and hence it was intended, not that the " vota 
 majora," but the " vota saniora," should have preponder'ance, 
 by which means the influence of the high nobility was se- 
 cui'ed ; because it was the duty of the pi'esident, not only in 
 the coimty assemblies, but also in the assemblies of the 
 Estates, to declare the result according to the votes of the 
 most influential and intelligent members. Upon the occur- 
 rence of accidental circumstances, in particular cases, ex- 
 ceptions were made to the above-mentioned maxim, and 
 individual votes were counted, by which means a custom was 
 introduced, which ia the year 1830 was silently adopted by 
 the Diet, and was particularly acceptable to the movement 
 party, inasmuch as it afibrded them an opportunity of pur- 
 chasing a majority in the county assemblies, by introducing 
 the corrupt lower order of nobles, who, though qualified to 
 vote, had never previously appeared in those assemblies, and 
 of afterwards substituting in the Diet the illegal majority 
 of individual votes for the constitutional preponderance 
 of the high nobuity. The well-known excesses of the 
 so-called Cortes in Hungary, which often occasioned blood- 
 shed, spiimg from this mistake. The restriction of the 
 right of the towns to vote in the Diet, was the result of a 
 president of the Tabic of Estates in the year 1830, when the 
 system of counting individual votes was first introduced, 
 reckoning at the scrutiny the votes of all the members for 
 the towns, as constituting a majority of one collective vote. 
 Similar oversights occurred in numerous other instances,
 
 IC GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 Nvhich, being unnoticed by the ciowii, -were adopted as 
 customs, and thus tore one stone after another from the 
 foundation of the constitution, wliich, though antiquated, 
 ■was constructed after an intelligent design, until eventually 
 the ediüce liad lost its solidity. 
 
 The coiu'se of afiairs in Transylvania, where the constitu- 
 tion had conceded to the sovereign the a])j)ointment to the 
 highest offices in the administration only upon the recom- 
 mendation of the Estates, was similar to that wliich has been 
 already described in Hungary; and therefore, during a long 
 period, the greater part of the Government officials were 
 considered by the Diet to be acting in the illegal dis- 
 charge of their functions, inasmucli as their appointment by 
 the crown was defective, by reason of the susj^jcnsion of the 
 Diet. 
 
 It was a fortunate circumstance for the government of the 
 Emperor Francis, that the movement of the popular mind 
 in the south-eastern parts of his empire was directed to 
 an entirely diffei-ent object from those pursued in the west, 
 and that the so-tenued Holy Alliance, whose founder was the 
 Emperor Alexander, as well as the resolute support of the 
 King of the French, offered no encouragement to the move- 
 ment party to cany out theii' plans. The fermentation in 
 Hungarj' and Transylvania was, in tnitb, not occasioned by 
 any chimera of the sovereignty of the people, but by the 
 desire of the pii\-ileged classes to assert and to extend 
 theii' privileges in opposition to the throne, combined with 
 the endeavour to exalt the Magyar people to become 
 the predominant power in Hungary and its crown land;?. 
 In those regions the theory of the sovereignty of the 
 people had never been heard of In the west, where, 
 as we have already observed, such a doctrine had been 
 circulated after the war of liberation, the opinion pre-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 17 
 
 vailed (whether correctly or not is unimjiortant) tliat the 
 Holy AUiauce concealed under its title an alliance of sove- 
 reigns against theii- subjects ; the demagogues had expressed 
 tliis opinion at the time of its institution, and the sentiment 
 seized at least to discourage them, notwithstanding the 
 bitter hate with which they regarded the alliance itself, 
 from commencing a ivar against half a million of bayonets, 
 Avhich the princes of that alb'ance had at their command, 
 more particularly as the King of the French, who had been 
 established by the will of the sovereign French people (or at 
 least of the Parisian mob), in the year 1830, did not exhibit 
 the smallest inclination to engage in a contest in support of 
 such a theory. The Emperor Francis closed his ea;i-thly 
 pilgiiinage in peace, and as his conscience must have re- 
 minded him that he had nobly consulted the welfare of liis 
 people, and, like a loving father, ceaselessly laboured for the 
 same to the best of his ability, so he might be content to die 
 in the belief that he would ever continue to be regarded as 
 the object of their veneration and love, and bequeath these 
 sentiments as an inheritance to liis son and successor, 
 together wnth. all his widely-extended powei'. 
 
 THE EMPEROR FERDINAND. 
 
 The disappearance of a monarch, who with a strong hand 
 liad personally held the reins of government during almost 
 half a century, who had witnessed, first the curtailment, and 
 then the geographical and political enlargement of his king- 
 dom, who had gained marvellous experience, and had earned 
 for himself personally the respect of all Europe, must have 
 rendered the position of his successor one of extreme ar- 
 dour and difficulty. The Emperor Ferdinand had inherited 
 
 C
 
 18 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 fi'orn his father a veneratiou for rectitude, and a zeal for 
 all that is good, no less than an anxiety for the welfare 
 of' his subjects. But nature had not endowed him with 
 equal capacity to undergo bodily and mental exertions. 
 The impossibility, tlicrefore, of his canying on the affairs of 
 government in the same manner as his father had done, was 
 at once apparent. To the latter, business had become an 
 habitual occupation, with which he could not dispense. The 
 first care, therefore, of the new government shoiild have 
 been to remove from the superintendence of the monarch 
 that mass of business in detail, in the management of which 
 the deceased emperor had taken so much delight, and to 
 entrust it to the care of responsible ministers. The unas- 
 suming character of Ferdinand, incapable as he was of mis- 
 trust, could not possibly offer any obstacle to a change so 
 fully in accordance with the spirit of the age. It should 
 have been commenced, however, immediately after his ac- 
 cession to the throne, since if once delayed, it was easy to 
 foresee that a love for what was already established would 
 retard the desired improvement, by the argument so con- 
 stantly employed in life, that there is no good reason why 
 that which happened yesterday and happens to-day should 
 not happen again to-morrow : in which observation we 
 forget that between to-day and to-moiTow, the night inter- 
 venes, in the shadow of whose darkness much may be pre- 
 pared to ÜTistrate the usual order of events. A feeling of 
 regard for the memory of the Emperor Francis, honourable 
 in the extreme, but inconsistent with political duties, led, 
 immediately after his decease, to the resolution, that not 
 only the system of government, but the very machinery 
 of the state, as he had used it, should be preserved un- 
 changed, — an unfortunate decision, since the hand failed 
 that was so skilled in putting the machine in motion, and
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA, 19 
 
 the spirit, moi'eover, failed, wHch in case of necessity was 
 to supply the defects in the worn-out machinery. The con- 
 struction of this complicated macliine, particularly in its 
 internal parts, is so little understood beyond the limits of 
 Austria, that a sketch of it, in this place, cannot be con- 
 sidered inappropriate. 
 
 THE AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT MACHINERY. 
 
 Until the month of March, 1848, there was no ministry in 
 the Austrian empire, but only court offices, and they were 
 of this description. For the chief government of the home 
 department there were three aulic chancellorsliips (viz. an 
 imited aulic chancellorship for all parts of the empire not 
 belonging to Hungary or Transylvania, and a separate chan- 
 cellorship for each of those last-mentioned provinces). For 
 the departments of finance, rents, domains, mines, trade, in- 
 dustry and the post-office, there was one general auHc- 
 chamber. For the administration of the law in those dis- 
 tricts which formed no part of Hungary or Transylvania, 
 tliere was a chief-justiceship. For the united military depart- 
 ment, there was the celebrated aulic council of war. For the 
 business of the police and censorship, there was an aulic-de- 
 partmcnt bearing those titles. For the control of the public 
 accounts, there was a general directory of accounts ; and finally, 
 for conducting the business of the imperial household and 
 of foreign afiairs, there was a private house-court-and-state- 
 chancellorship. In the united aulic chancellorship, there 
 was a 'separate department for the management of public 
 education, under the title of the aulic commission of studies ; 
 and, annexed to the chief-justiceship, there was an aulic com- 
 mission of legislation to frame all laws relating to the adininis-
 
 20 OEXESI.S OF Tlti: 
 
 tration of justiio. Thcso cmirt olVict's, -with tlio exceptiou of 
 the police and censorship, and the house-court-and-state-clian- 
 celloi^sliip, had a collegiate aduiiuisti*atiou ; that is to say, 
 all theii' measures were determined at boards by a relative 
 majority of votes ; each referendary and voter possessed au 
 individual vote, as well as the president, whose duty it was 
 not to allow any decisions to come into practical operation, 
 if he apprehended any injury might arise therefrom to the 
 service, without first submitting tliem to the emperor for 
 decision. These court offices were in former times con- 
 sidered as secretarysliips of the monarch, they acted in his 
 name, and received the title and the address of " Your 
 IMajesty." This custom subsisted up to the days of March, 
 with respect to the chief department of justice, and the 
 two aulic-chancellorshijjs of Hungary and Transylvania, 
 which bodies controlled the administration of justice in 
 those countries. 
 
 Originally the heads of the court offices had the same 
 jurisdiction as state secretaries, or ministers, in the real 
 meaning of the word, and sometimes enjoyed that title and 
 rank on account of their own personal qiialifications. The 
 head of the house-court -and-state-chancellorslii}) always en- 
 joyed this distinction, oftentimes even in connection with 
 the still more exalted dignity of state chancellor, as was the 
 case first with the celebrated state chancellor Prince Kaunitz, 
 and subsequently with Prince Mettemich. They were sum- 
 moned to councils by the monarch, and up to the last years 
 of the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa there- was no 
 corporation in existence to whom the examination and 
 review of the projects emanating from the court offices 
 was committed ; but the more important affairs of state 
 were considered, and afterwards decided in councils formed 
 of the chiefs of the court offices under the presidency of the
 
 REVOLUTION IX AUSTRIA. 21 
 
 monarch, held iii the presence of a few confidential j^ersons, 
 who had attained the rank of minister of state, or minister 
 of conference, wliich was the highest office in the empii-e after 
 that of state-chancellor, although such person might have 
 ceased to hold a portfolio. The rapid development of the 
 moral and industrial resources of Austria, and the reforms in 
 the administration of the home department, instituted by the 
 empress, with the assistance of her son Joseph, tended to 
 increase the amount of public business, and to render it more 
 complicated, and thence arose the necessity for increasing the 
 number of confidential persons in the imperial councils, 
 wliich was effected by employing jiersons from each separate 
 department, who were wholly unfitted, in respect of their 
 other qualifications, to fill the highest offices in the state. 
 The empress therefore created the council of state, and sum- 
 moned to the same a small but carefully selected number of 
 nobles from the difierent branches of the administration^,, 
 who might, in conjunction with the ministers of state and 
 the ministers of conference, form her political court of con- 
 science. The duty which she imposed on the members of 
 this new council was very characteristic. They were bound 
 to speak according to their indii-idual convictions, with the 
 additional understanding that they should receive, during the 
 period of their lives, the lai'ge yearly salary of 8,000 florins, 
 even in case of their secession from the council, and this 
 aiTangement was made for the express purpose of ensuring 
 their protection, lest apprehension from the consequences of 
 the imperial anger, occasioned by an unrestrained expression 
 of their sentiments, might cause them to swerve from the 
 conscientious discharge of their' duty. 
 
 As long as the original character of these court offices 
 and of the court council Avas preseiwed, the want of an 
 united ministry could never be felt in Austria. But in the
 
 L'l: GENESIS Ol" THE 
 
 coui-se of time these bodies lost tlieir i^cculiar character. 
 During the first jjart of tlie reign of the Emperor Francis, 
 he })resided in poi"son at tlie conferences, and to assist liim 
 in the discharge of his duty, he had a cabinet minister 
 at liis side, who was in constant connection, not only 
 officially, but personally, with the president of the court 
 offices, the state-councillors, and the ministers of state and 
 conference, and he daily brought before the notice of the 
 emperor the subjects to be considered. In the year 1805 this 
 cabinet minister (who at that period was the Count Colloredo) 
 was dismissed from his post at the desire of Napoleon, and 
 the office has never since been filled up : the emperor per- 
 sonally undertook the arduous task of holding together all the 
 threads of the general administration, and availed liimself of 
 the occasional assistance, first of one and then of another of 
 his ministers of state or conference, but never otherwise than 
 in a temporary and partial manner. Oral communications 
 between the emperor and the heads of the state departments 
 became now more and more rare ; they were obliged to 
 submit everything to the emperor's notice in writing ; they 
 were forbidden to appear before him in discharge of their 
 official business, without a summons, or without the imperial 
 permission previously obtained, and many months often 
 elapsed withoixt their being summoned together. After 
 this fashion, those who filled the court offices gradually 
 sunk from their rank of participators in the government, to 
 the condition of mere officials of the administration ; each 
 busied himself in his own particular department, without 
 regard to the duties of the others, and a substantial co-opera- 
 tion was wanting for the general benefit of the state. The 
 council of state, which should have formed the focus for con- 
 centrating the rays of government, did not fulfil such an inten- 
 tion ; for the great mass of business in detail, which had been
 
 REVOLUTIOX IK AUSTRIA. 23 
 
 referred to this body for its advice, had produced an impor- 
 tant increase in the number of its members, not by the addi- 
 tion of bona fide pri-vy councillors, but by the introduction 
 of official referendaries of lower rank and inferior capacity, 
 and dividing them into sections adapted to the various 
 departments of business. The personal credit of the mem- 
 bers of the state council was materially diminished, their 
 proceedings were tedious and procrastinated, each section 
 deemed itself the representative of that particular branch of 
 business committed to its superintendence, and considered 
 that the whole was represented only by the Emperor 
 Francis. It did not happen, however, that all the business 
 which came before the throne was referred for decision to 
 the state council, to whose province it belonged. The em- 
 peror caused a large proportion of it to be transacted with- 
 out the intervention of that council, in '' cabinet fashion," 
 as it was termed, by a single member of the body, whom he 
 selected, or by one of the ministers of state or conference, 
 occasionally even by persons who belonged to neither cate- 
 gory, and were even strangers to the service of the state : in 
 which case it was forbidden to those who were so honoured 
 with the imperial confidence to speak of the transaction. It 
 often became the difficult task of the monarch alone to 
 con.sider the efiect which certain measures proposed by 
 one department might exercise on another branch of the 
 administration. The state council was not capable of taking 
 a general view of the afiairs of government, and could not, 
 therefore, supply the deficiency which existed in the veiy 
 heart of the executive, for want of a ministerial council. In 
 consequence of this manner of conducting the public busi- 
 ness, everything depended upon the personal qualifications 
 of the emperor. But as personal qualifications are not here- 
 ditary, like the throne, it was a matter of the most urgent
 
 21 
 
 GENESIS CF THE 
 
 necessity, on the accession of the new emperor, to effect a 
 cliange, adaptecl to the wants of the time, in the whole 
 j^ystem of the eoiut offices and the council of state. The 
 system of transacting business at boards by the court 
 offices, which had no cognizance of matters of law, might, 
 at the time of its institution, when the quantity of 
 business and the number of members wei'e not very 
 large, have been liable to no strong objection ; but of late 
 they had to contend with the two-fold disadvantage of im- 
 peding the discharge of pressing business and acting in con- 
 cert with a class of officials who were exempt from personal 
 responsibility, since the quantity of business to be transacted, 
 often, too, of the most complicated nature, allowed neither a 
 thorough discussion nor a comj)lete decision, the discussion 
 being in most cases a mere matter of form, Avliich served 
 merely to screen the official from all subsequent responsi- 
 bility. The Tmfitness of this collective system of transacting 
 matters of business which, from theü* nature, required des- 
 patch, secrecy, and special knowledge, wa.s already e\ident ; 
 and for this reason the system of presidential management was 
 introduced as a palliative. According to tliis system, the pre- 
 sident withdrew a portion of the business from the manage- 
 ment of the board, in order to despatch the same by virtue 
 of his own mere authority, with the aid of a councillor's or 
 secretary's pen. In many of the coiui; offices, particularly 
 in the general court-chamber, the business was exces- 
 sively procrastinated. But this system had the evil result 
 of directing the attention of the president too much to 
 such affairs as were reserved for liimself, and to the business 
 of the boards, and diminished the superintendence he was 
 bound to maintain over the referendaries and voters, as in 
 such superintendence lay the only guarantee against inat- 
 tention, ijrejudice, or obstinacy on thek" part.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 25 
 
 The Jurisdiction of these court offices was strictly defined 
 by the emperor j whatever duties lay beyond or above such 
 jiu'isdiction was reserved for the impei'ial determination. 
 But the boundary was found sometimes to lie more in matter 
 of form than of substance. Strictly speaking, whatever 
 matters were not in accordance with established precedent 
 ought to be referred to the throne, but whatever lay within 
 the confines of j^recedent might be immediately decided 
 by the court office to the jurisdiction of which it belonged. 
 The most extraordinary contradictions resulted from this 
 maxim. A conscript, for instance, summoned for military 
 service, if his claims of exemption were not admitted by 
 the civil and military officials, could, strictly speaking, only 
 be relieved from service by an imperial decree, wliilst the 
 duty of determining the number of recruits to be annually 
 kept on foot, although this varied eveiy year, depended 
 altogether on the decision of the war department. The 
 thousand workmen who, duiing a great many years, had 
 found fixed employment in the public works, but who had 
 not gone thi'ough the formality of taking an oath, when 
 they became disabled, could not be entitled to the smallest 
 pension without the previous consent of the emperor liimself, 
 because, according to established precedent, the oath of alle- 
 giance alone gave a title to the protection of the state. The 
 conversion of the smallest portions of forest into arable land 
 required the special permission of the throne, because the forest 
 laws enacted, in order to prevent a scarcity of wood, that the 
 extent of the forests should not be diminished. A landlord 
 wisliing to purchase a few square yards of ground from his 
 tenant for building, or the formation of a garden, was obliged 
 first to obtain the permission of the emperor himself, because 
 the tenant laws forbade the increase of domains l)y any addi- 
 tion of peasant lands.
 
 26 GKXESIS OF THE 
 
 Besides tlie iinpccliments tliiis oflferccl to the efficiency of 
 the court offices l>y the offi'ct of a particular system, they 
 were not unfrcqueutly intertered with by the emperor liim- 
 self, even in matters which came pai-ticularly within their 
 attribution. The absolute rulers of Austria had, for instance, 
 given their subjects so imcontrolled a right of petition- 
 ing, that eveiy indi\-idual might apply immediately to the 
 emperor, and was allowed not only to hand in his petitions 
 personally, at the weekly audiences, but even to send them by 
 post, as the post-office authorities had received dii-ections to 
 forward all commxmications for the emperor to the imperial 
 cabinet. The applications were examined on theii- arrival, and 
 if their contents seemed to require no particular attention, 
 they were transmitted forthwith to the court offices, to be 
 dealt -svith by those departments. But if circumstances wei'e 
 therein stated which appeared either to entitle the petitioner 
 to a favour, or raised a doubt as to tlie impartiality of the 
 authorities, the emperor marked (signed) the petition, — that 
 is, he wrote with his own hand in a comer thereof the name 
 of the president of the particular court office to whose cog- 
 nizance the matter belonged ; every such, signature had the 
 effect of preventing the petition from being dealt with by 
 the office before the whole transaction had been explained 
 to the emperor, and before the intended decision of the comi; 
 office had been approved of by him. These signatures (as 
 they were technically termed), which so constantly occurred, 
 produced as a necessary residt, not only the delay of business, 
 but impaired the efficiency of the administration. The 
 superintendence exercised over the court offices, for the 
 purpose chiefly of preventing them from overstepping their 
 jurisdiction, was ensured by a regulation, which rendered it 
 necessary to submit to the emperor a j>rogramme of the 
 business which was to be transacted at eveiy sitting. The
 
 RSVOLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 27 
 
 examination and supervision of this progi-amme devolved 
 upon the council of state, which exercised a strict control. 
 
 Although by these means valuable precautions were taken 
 against the abuse of official authority, the working of the coiu't 
 offices was, however, a good deal trammelled, and a species of 
 intimidation was exercised, not only over them, but over 
 their sub-functionaries. The result was, that every official, 
 in order to escape responsibility in doubtful cases, instead of 
 acting, had recourse to consultations, and thus the subaltern 
 leaned upon his superior, and the superior upon the emperor, 
 upon whom consequently, in the opinion of the people, rested 
 the responsibility of all obnoxious measures. 
 
 The court offices had no connection with the state 
 councu, or -with the voters of the cabinet. They submitted 
 their proposals to the emperor. Thus their original cha- 
 racter of secretaries of state was maintained in form, since 
 the state council was not interposed between them and 
 the emperor, but stood behind the latter, to receive their 
 proposals from him when they had been considered by the 
 state council, and to retiu^n them to him when they had 
 undergone revision. But this strict adherence to form 
 carried with it a material injury to the substance. The 
 court offices only learned the emperor's decision upon theii' 
 measures through the medium of cabinet letters (wliich 
 were termed hand-billets), and even then only received the 
 emperor's determination, briefly annoimced, without any 
 reasons being given for the same ; and this course was pur- 
 sued in conformity with the maxim, that it was not deemed 
 compatible with absolute power to render any account res- 
 pecting tlie grounds of an imperial decree. In numerous 
 cases, therefore, when their proposals were not adopted, or 
 were subjected to material modifications, they were unable 
 to learn the motive of the rejection or tlie alteration, they
 
 28 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 could nevei' thci'^fore comprehend the spirit of their master's 
 orders, but were circumscribed in canying them into execution 
 by the limits wliich seemed to be contained ^äthin the strict 
 letter of tlie decree. ^Misiuidcrstandings and indifference fol- 
 lowed the execution of such decrees, and displays of vexation 
 and malicious joy were not wanting at the imsuccessful result 
 of a groundless decision against their opinion, so that not 
 imfrequently the secretaiies of the emperor came into moral 
 conflict with their master. This serious evil might have 
 been remedied by the simple arrangement of calling in the 
 chiefs of the court offices to consider the amendments of 
 the state or cabinet council, whenever it was proposed to 
 reject, or materially to alter, the propositions emanating 
 from the couii; offices ; but in opposition to this plan, a 
 love for c>ld us;iges arrayed itself, together \n.th the satisfac- 
 tion which the councU of state and the cabinet voters found 
 in claiming part in the infalHbUity of their client. 
 
 In the chief towns of the provinces, the countiy magis- 
 trates were subject to the com-t offices at Vienna, and amongst 
 these, always excepting the management of the police, the 
 collective system of transacting business was established, and 
 was followed by the same e"\dl results. The poUce establish- 
 ments occupied a two-fold position ; they were, for example, 
 subject to the pro\incial authorities, and Avith resj^ect to 
 matters that concerned the inferior police, subject even to 
 the inferior authorities ; but at the same time they received 
 their orders immediately from the court office of police, and 
 made reports immediately to it, a course, as is generally 
 known, which gives rise to perpetvial suspicions and discon- 
 tent on the part of both the pro\-incial and the inferior 
 authorities. 
 
 The provincial authorities for the management of the 
 iBterior (political) as well as the finance administration,
 
 EEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 29 
 
 had in the chief city of every cii'cle (in the Lombardo- 
 Yenetian kingdom, in every province), the government 
 officers at theii" disposaL By those to whom the adminis- 
 tration of the finance was entrusted, the system of transacting 
 business by boards was practised ; by those who conducted 
 the interior (political) administration (called cii'cle-offices, 
 and in the Lombard© -Venetian kingdom, delegations), the 
 official authority and responsibility was transferred per- 
 sonally to the president (called the captain of a circle or 
 delegate). 
 
 The provincial authorities for the administration of justice 
 exercised control over the judges of the first instance, who 
 in some places consisted of boards of magistrates appointed 
 by the prince or the toAvns, in others, were single judges 
 appointed by the prince or the lord. 
 
 In Hungary and Ti-ansylvania this difference existed, 
 that the provincial authorities for the interior administration 
 and for the affairs of justice, had no government officers 
 under theü' control in the separate departments (the counties), 
 but only municipal officers ; who, Avitli the exception of the 
 supreme counts, nominated by the prince, and irremovable 
 from office, or, in their absence, the removable administrators 
 of counties, elected by the counties themselves, were either 
 badly or not at all paid, and were irremovable for the 
 period of their office, and on this account, particularly of 
 late, only obeyed such orders as they deemed consistent 
 with their municipal authority. According to the esta- 
 blished proceedings of the boards, the president appointed by 
 the prince (ei<hei tlie supreme counts or the administrators) 
 had no power to enforce obedience to sxxperior orders. 
 
 In the crown lands wliich did not form part of Hungary, 
 sometimes civic magistrates, sometimes government district 
 commissioners, sometimes private manorial officers, were the
 
 30 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 chief authoiities of the interior (political) administration 
 under the circle-oflSccs ; whilst under the delegations in the 
 Lombardo -Venetian kingdom, there were always govern- 
 ment district commissioners, to which essential dilTcrence we 
 must ascribe the more orderly course of proceedings so re- 
 markable in that kingdom. 
 
 In those provinces of the empire where the estates, as 
 they were called, existed, these latter assumed some times co- 
 ordinate, at other times subordinate authority, with respect to 
 the imperial authorities, which conduct was the unavoidable 
 soui'ce of differences between them. These estates had 
 not the character of representatives of the people, in the 
 sense which, in our days, is attributed to the expression ; 
 they were privileged corporations, who only represented 
 their own rights, which had been conceded to them by 
 monai'chs at various times ; rights which neither gave them 
 a direct share in the legislation, nor required their consent 
 to the imposition of taxes in general, but were limited to 
 the announcement of the direct taxes to be paid by the 
 province annually, before theh' imposition, and to certain 
 branches of the administrative business apportioned to them, 
 viz. the imposition, assessment, and levying of the direct 
 taxes ; farther, to the distribution of funds placed at their 
 disposal by the princes, sometimes for settled pm'poses, some- 
 times for objects subsequently to be declared, and to the 
 management of the institutions supported by such funds, as 
 well as to the maintaining and discharging the credits which 
 had been opened by the state in former times. They repre- 
 sented the general interests of the people only so far as these 
 coincided with theh* own particular advantage. For this 
 reason, and more particularly because they were a privileged 
 corporation, they enjoyed no remarkable sympathy at the 
 hands of the people. The Emperor Joseph II, had considered
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA, 31 
 
 them an impediment to his plans of reform, and discontiaued 
 their sittings, a proceeding which mcreased his populax-ity in 
 the eyes of all those who did not belong to the pri\'ileged body, 
 and, in conjimction with the suppression of the power of the 
 church, earned for him great respect and veneration from 
 the philosophers of that age and their dependants, friends of 
 enlightenment, as they were termed, and who were very 
 numerous in the higher and middle classes of society. The 
 Emperor Leopold II. re-estabhshed the estates. The Em- 
 peror Francis allowed them to continue, not destroying 
 their form, but allowing them the smallest possible degree of 
 influence in the administration, and scarcely any in matters 
 of legislation. 
 
 In the discharge of business, it was a maxim with all the 
 officials to permit nothing to be decided upon moral convic- 
 tion, but in administrative as well as in judicial matters, to 
 ground the decision of aU disputed points upon formal 
 proofs, and, on the other hand, in administrative measures, 
 previously to take the opinions of all the officials concerned, 
 beginning with the lowest. The course of appeal against 
 decisions which did not relate to the functions of the tri- 
 bunal (in which case two similar decisions precluded all 
 further appeal) lay thi'ough all the courts ; thus in an ad- 
 ministrative question, an appeal lay, against a decision of 
 the authorities of a particular place, to the office of the 
 circle, from thence to the office of the province, and from 
 thence to the office of the court ; and even against the last- 
 mentioned decision one might appeal to the emperor, and if 
 he signed the petition of complaint, it went once more through 
 the whole seiies of officials, setting aside all the previous pro- 
 ceedings, sometimes occasioning new steps to be commenced, 
 which were again brought before the throne, and at length 
 sent with the imperial decree to pursue the same course
 
 32 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 again. However lionourable such a system iiiiglit l)e for the 
 monarch's heart, whoso object was to cui-b the arbitrary con- 
 duct of his officials, and wliich certainly, in a moral point of 
 Anew, restrained his own absolute power, since he regulai'ly 
 decided no cause wliich he liad not himself heard, it never- 
 theless produced an immense increase and delay of business 
 as the inevitable result. 
 
 The task of setting bounds to the functions of the pro- 
 vincial officials, and of preventing them from exceeding their 
 proper limits, was proA-ided for by measures similar to those 
 already mentioned, wldch controlled the officers of the court. 
 The jealousy wliich these superintendents felt against their 
 subordinates increased in indirect proportion to their rank ; 
 so that those who stood in immediate connection with the 
 people had the smallest field to exei'cise their activity. A 
 system of consulting in place of acting was thus gradually 
 established, since a consultation -with a superior was sure 
 to protect an inferior official from responsibility, because, 
 generally speaking, the neglect of timely activity was 
 considered far less culpable than any accidental excess of 
 authority. The result of all this necessarily was a weari- 
 some, timid, and slow course of business. And since, 
 moreover, the super\-ision of the jurisdiction of the tri- 
 bunals rather raised the question whether a given matter of 
 busineas shoidd be transacted at all, than how it should be 
 despatched, the art of protracting litigation attained a high 
 degree of refinement, by means of new proceedings, and 
 agi'eements -svith assistant officials, and consultations with 
 those who filled a higher department. Like ci-iminals con- 
 demned to the tread -mill in England, who are obliged to 
 keep on treading, even though the wheel jiroduces no bene- 
 ficial result, so did these officials often pursue their labours 
 without any advantage accruing from their exeiiiions. It is
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 33 
 
 easy to imagine liow they became weary and dispirited by 
 such unproductive efforts. Their discipline was no longer 
 moral, but became a mere matter of form ; many of the offi- 
 cial persons, for example, considered it their duty, not so 
 much to transact their business according to the sph-it of the 
 government, as to work after a certain prescribed form ; and 
 even hi this respect, it often happened that just enough was 
 done to screen the officials from the displeasure of their 
 superiors. The superiors themselves, indeed, had much diffi- 
 culty in controlling the mode of transacting busmess, since 
 every individual who was in the actual service of the state, 
 I from having taken the necessary oath, became, from that 
 ■ circumstance, almost immoveable fi'om office ; because no 
 i official who had once been swoni into the lowest office could 
 j be dismissed without the consent of two councillors of justice, 
 I except under the sentence of a criminal court ; and against 
 i an actual sentence of dismissal there was an appeal to all 
 i! the higher courts, and even to the throne ; and, indeed, the 
 ,1 councillors of justice, whose duty it was to pronounce the 
 
 I first decision, but still more the superior authorities, consi- 
 [^ dered it their chief duty to protect the individual officei"s, 
 ., paiticvdarly if their superiors had the character of being 
 ;| unusually strict and rigorous. Under such circumstances, it 
 :.\ redounded much to the honour of the Austrian officials, that 
 )'. with the exception of their character for indecision already 
 ;] alluded to, and their indifference in carrying out the views of 
 J I the government, they seldom gave occasion for well-grounded 
 
 I I complaints of inattention, prejudice, or over-famüiai'ity ; the 
 ;*' exceptional cases, whei'e the officials were negligent in atten- 
 ;j tion to their duty, dishonest in their conduct, or personally 
 y\ condemned by public opinion, were not more freqiient in 
 
 1 Austria than in other countries. The cause of any wcll- 
 I founded discontent, which might be heard at the working of
 
 34 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 tbo state-machine, was not to be found in the unfitness of its 
 pai'ticulai- jiai-ts, so much as in its general construction, 
 which impeded its motion by the excess of friction, or more 
 especially in the insufficiency of its mo^öng power. Tliis power 
 became languid, and it worked more efficiently in particular 
 parts, than upon the entire mass of the mechanism ; or in 
 other words, the state was administered, but not governed. The 
 ordinary business wliich required to be transacted was done, 
 if not with extraortlinary despatch, at least coi'rectly and 
 justly ; but that business which from its very nature shoidd 
 have commenced rather with the superior than with the in- 
 ferior authoxities, \dz. the quiet reform of antiquated prac- 
 tices, in conformity with the exigencies of the time, thoM 
 well-planned regular improvements in the institutions of the 
 country, upon a scheme, which shoidd consider and include 
 the empire at large — such changes were neglected, exce]it 
 perhaps in some instances, where the operations of tli. 
 government were anticipated by classes of subjects who wen; 
 not appointed for that purpose ; and the government itself, 
 that should have taken the initiative in such measures, was 
 obliged to follow in the wake. 
 
 After this fashion was the Austrian state machine con- 
 structed, when the Emperor Ferdinand ascended the throne, 
 and so it remained in fact tül the month of March, 1848. 
 One defect, however, had, soon after his accession, become 
 too evident to escape his attention. This was the joint 
 ti-ansaction of business by the court offices and the privy 
 council which sui-rounded the emperor, whose duty it was to 
 consider and examine the propositions of the former. To 
 remedy this evü without much disturbance to the exi.sting 
 order of things was a perplexing task. The solution of the 
 difficulty was attempted, by introducing a new form in the 
 central administration of affah's, and by constructing a new
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 35 
 
 board, the Conference of State, wliicli was to be a deliberative 
 body in the strictest sense, and was formed partly of per- 
 manent and partly of temporary members. According tp 
 the "Austrian State and Court Hand-Book" for the year 
 1848, which annoimces it at the head of the second division, 
 entitled '• The State," the two Arch-Dukes, the Chancellor 
 of State, and the senior Minister of State and Conference in 
 point of rank, were to form the permanent members. 
 
 The temporary ministers are mentioned in the same place. 
 They are the remaining ministers of state and conference, 
 according to the importance of their duties, the chiefs of 
 sections who were councillors of state, the councillors of state 
 and conference, and the presidents of the court offices. 
 
 This plan was not sufficient to remedy the great evil of 
 the state-machine, which consisted in the want of solidity 
 in that organ which, fixed in the centre, conducted the 
 business of all branches of the administration, viz. the 
 ministry, or the court offices, as they were termed in 
 Austria ; for the chiefs of this organ were not permanent, 
 but temporary members, being only in particular and ex- 
 ceptional cases, supplementary members of the state confer- 
 ence, and consequently they preserved their former isolated 
 (•haracter. The objection to this plan was, that it was ani- 
 mated by no active spirit, since the two men of business, whose 
 task it should have been to infuse this activity into it, coiild 
 not spare the necessary time from their other occupations. 
 The chancellor of state was, for example, fully occupied in 
 transacting the business belonging to the ministry of foreign 
 affairs, which was committed to his immediate superintend- 
 ence ; and it required all the quickness of thought and rapid 
 facility of expression, all the remarkable activity and devotion 
 to the service of the state which even the enemies of Prince 
 Metternich must admit that he possessed, to preserve him 
 
 D 2
 
 36 (;enesis Ol' Tin: 
 
 from giving way untk-r the iiia.ss ol' Imsiiu'.ss that ]trc.>so(l 
 upon him at his atlvanccd jige ; the other, Count Kolowrath, 
 hold no portfolio, Imt, as is gouerally known in Vienna, lie 
 ■was constantly «Mnj)loye(l in the oilieial iluty of sujKU'intending 
 the most important and contideutial affairs of state, of examin- 
 ing all mattei-s conneeted with the court and the expenditure 
 of the imperial family, and of reviewing and examining the 
 ■work of the councillors of state and the cabinet olHcials 
 before they came before the Arcliduke Louis, to be sub- 
 mitted to the emperor ; and he had in addition to perform 
 the duty, if not to enjoy the title, of the cabinet minister who 
 had been always at the side of the Emperor Francis till tli»? 
 year 1805. This duty was so extensive, that to assist in 
 its discharge, two liigh state officials — councillors of court — 
 with several official clerks, were assigned to him ; and this 
 business required the more attention, from the fact that any 
 observations he might make on the various matters which 
 he undertook to examine, were never communicated to 
 others, and therefore he had to pnmounce the final opinion, 
 which beciime the more imj)ortant in consequence of the 
 confidence which the emperor reposed in him. Time could 
 not be found for regidar oral consultations with the mem- 
 bers of the state conference on business relating to the 
 empire in general ; the reference of jjai-ticular subjects to 
 that board for consideration did not occur regularly, but by 
 fits, and accidentally, and the decision ou such occasional 
 matters was usually communicated only in writing, and 
 accordingly without artbrding any o])portunity for comparing 
 idea« and correcting impressions. For tliese reasons, this 
 institution, which was intended to supply the want of a 
 ministerial coinicil, failed in its purpose, and produced no 
 other result than to add a third system to the two oiiginal 
 plans (to wit, the state council and the cabinet), through
 
 KEVOLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 37 
 
 whicli business to be transacted by the emperor was brought 
 before his notice, and thus in place of promoting a union, 
 occasioned a greater division. The temporary members of 
 the conference of state could exercise no beneficial influence 
 upon that body. Their position resembled a cipher in 
 aritlunetic, which only • has value when a figure stands 
 befoi'e it. 
 
 A gross injustice would be committed against the statesmen 
 of Austria by supposing that they had not long recognized 
 the defects of the state machine. All those who have ever 
 been in confidential communication with them, must acknow- 
 ledge that the evils had not escaped their attention. Above 
 all, Prince Metternich made no secret of his conviction that 
 the chief fault of the government lay in its not governing, 
 and that this defect arose from confounding the executive 
 with the legislative departments. But an admission, to 
 produce benefit, must embody itself in action. And the 
 force of habit, combined with the want of decision and union, 
 prevented the intention of acting from being reduced to 
 practice. No one deemed the storm so near, and when at 
 length it burst forth, the worn-out machinery was no longer 
 capable of governing the vessel of the state, and it became 
 the sport of the wind and the waves. 
 
 THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The causes which had prevented a timely reform of the 
 state machine, on the accession of the Emperor Ferdinand, 
 though they were of such a nature as (except in Hungary 
 and Transylvania) to depend on the will of the monarch 
 alone, must have stood still more in the way of a change in 
 the system of government, besides which the relations of
 
 38 GEITESIS OF THE 
 
 Austria to foreign powers were to be taken into considera- 
 tion. It was for this ixiason that the system of govcmraent 
 of the Emperor Francis remained wholly untouched. 
 
 "We have already adverted to the chief maxim of this 
 system ; it was the unabated maintenance of the sove- 
 reign's authority, and a denial of all claim on the part of 
 the people to a participation in that authority. This maxim 
 was accompanied by two others, which were meant to sei-ve 
 as props to it. One was the maintenance of the paternal 
 character of the government, and the other the defence and 
 encouragement of Catholicism. 
 
 Fi'om these three maxims emanated all the proceedings 
 of the government. The contradictions which an attentive 
 observer may notice in particular government measures will 
 be explained by considering the predominance of one or 
 other of these maxims : sometimes it might be accidental, and 
 at other times it might arise from the force of circumstances. 
 Thus, the police provisions respecting passports, the strict 
 censorship exercised over publications, the restrictions on 
 public meetings, the direction of the species of instruction to 
 be taught in schools of every kind, the suppression of the 
 provincial estates, were consequences of the first maxim. On 
 the other hand, in the execution of all ordinances and pro- 
 hibitions, the second maxim gave rise to so lax a system, 
 that their full weight was felt by only a few individuals, and 
 those were persons whose conduct had made them particularly 
 obnoxious or had provoked in too marked a manner the atten- 
 tion of the police. The strictness of the censorship, more 
 especially, was only exercised against works and journals pub- 
 lished in the country, and against the public advertisements 
 of booksellers. All foreign literary productions were easily 
 obtained in private, so that a man of any literary pretensions 
 would have been ashamed in society to acknowledge himself
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 39 
 
 unacquainted with a forbidden hook or journal tliat Jiad 
 excited observation : for instance, even in the presence of the 
 highest officials, and in the most public places, it was customary 
 to speak openly of tlic worst articles in the journal Die Gi'enz- 
 hoten, since no one tliought it his business to inqiiire how the 
 speaker became acquainted with such an article.* Directions 
 wei'e previously given to the professors, prescribing in what 
 manner and on what subjects they were to lecture ; but if they 
 taught differently, they incun-ed no censure provided their 
 teaching impugned no dogma of Catholicity. For instance, 
 after possession had been taken by Austria of the territory of 
 Cracow, a professor at Vienna chose for a subject of public 
 disputation for a doctors degree a question which afforded an 
 opportunity of condemning this act of the government in the 
 severest terms. The circxmistance caused excitement ; the pro- 
 fessor was examined, and he excused himself by proving the 
 good intention which had actuated him to choose this subject, 
 being desirous to correct the erroneous opinions of those who 
 had expressed themselves loudly against the government. 
 And though from the style in Avhich he had ojiposed the 
 candidate for the degi'ee, in the public disputation, it was 
 
 * Tlie following decree which appeared in tlio Gazette of Vienna 
 {Wierwr Zeilunr/) of 14th July, IS.'iO, forms a contrast to the proceed- 
 ings before March : — 
 
 " Vienna, 12fh July, 1850, 
 
 " Sentence of imprisonment (profoson-arrest) for four weeks was pro- 
 nounced against Joseph Sclionpflug, for receiving the Presse, a for- 
 hiddcn newspaper," &c. &c. 
 
 .IVorn the imperial Royal Central Military Commission. 
 
 It is probable i\\!\,t before March 1848, the military provost would 
 liavc: liiund it ncccHsary to provide receivers of n(!\vHpai)crs with l)oard 
 ;ind lodging, if a state of siege, in the .alisenco of war, hiud been at that 
 time iiiiown in Austria. Tliat such a resouroe was ludcnown, and that 
 tliero were no laws .against riots, was a defect in the legislative system, 
 which was not recognised before the events of March, when tlie neces- 
 sity of Hup])lying such a defect became evident. It aj)pears tliat the 
 completion of the Austrian laws <ih to exceptional cases whici» wore 
 previously unknown, was also a consequence of those events.
 
 40 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 inauifest that he desirerl ti) inothuc the very contrary cflt'ct, 
 yet he continued professor. In the month of March, liS48, 
 this professor became an active leader in the disturbances 
 created by the students. The government, for the purpose 
 of acting a paternal part, behaved like a good-lunnoured 
 father, who takes no notice of the inattention of his children, 
 proWded he at the same time preserves his authority unim- 
 paired. The com-t itself aflforded an illustration of this, 
 inasmuch as pei-sons who hatl signalized themselves as noto- 
 rious opjiosers of its measures, met sometimes with a more 
 friendly reception on public occasions than its warmest advo- 
 cates. However much such conduct may testify to the good- 
 ness of the jirince's heart, it mu.st always be open to question, 
 since it lessens the influence which he might exert by the 
 expres.sion of his dLs.satisfaction in those cases where the law 
 has been set at defiance. How great was the impression wliich 
 the imperial discontent was capable of producing may be 
 proved by an example that occurred in the time of the Em- 
 press Maria Theresa. A Hungarian archbishop of her aj)- 
 pointment had not subsequently supported her cause -with tlie 
 zeal that was expected fi-om him. On one occasion, there- 
 fore, she passed him by, at a levee, as if .she had not obsenxd 
 him. The chamberlain, under the impression that she had 
 accidentally o^•erlooked him, dii-ected her attention to him, but 
 received a short answer from the empress in the blunt reply, 
 " The proud priest does not care for me." The high .spiritual 
 functionary found himself so oj^pressed by the weight of his 
 monarch's anger, that he took to his bed, and this example 
 sei-ved as a warning to others. From tlie maxim of govern- 
 ing paternally emanated the system of governing too much, 
 smce in place of the ob.sers'ance of that rale which seciu'es 
 the real freedom of each individual, — viz., that government 
 should only command what is absolutely necessary for the
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 41 
 
 public good, and only proliibit what is absolutely inj m-ious, — 
 the Austrian government considered itself bound to extend 
 its imperative influence over matters which were likely to be 
 more or less useful, as well as to protect the interests of 
 individuals. Innumerable orders and proliibitions were the 
 consequence of tliis error ; but as, for the most pai't, they 
 were not enforced in consequence of the predominating pater- 
 nal mildness of the government, the consequence was, that 
 the government lost respect. The maintenance of the doc- 
 ti'ine of absolutism against the continual assavxlts of tlie 
 spirit of the age could not be attained by a system of 
 paternal mildness, but only by an exercise of Napoleon-like 
 rigour. The effect of two such opposite maxims entangled 
 the government in contradiction with itself, and being thus 
 exposed to the ridicule and the attacks of the evU- disposed, 
 it gradually lost the confidence of its subjects. The third 
 maxini, — viz., the defence and encoux'agement of Catho- 
 licism, — might at least have produced the effect of afford- 
 ing a .strong support to the temporal power by contri- 
 buting the whole weight of the spiritual authority in aid 
 of the doctrines of government as opposed to the theory of 
 the sovereignty of the people, and in maintaining the prm- 
 ciple of pure monarchy, if it had been fully applied to that 
 purpose. But this was not the case. The CathoUc Church, 
 in spite of the example of later times, even in consti- 
 tutional governments, was not liberated from that superin- 
 tendence which, since the reign of Maria Theresa and 
 Joseph II., different laws and regulations had sulijected her 
 to ; the opposition in some points that existed b(,^twecn the 
 Canon and the Austrian law, particularly on questions of 
 man-iage, and which gave rise to endless disputes with 
 Eome, was not removed, and on this account tlie discontcnf, 
 of Rome and her dependants wtis perpetuated. On the
 
 42 GENESIS OF TOE 
 
 other hand, the government adopted, in highest spheres, 
 tliiit most injurious of all measures, namely, connivance, 
 and favoured hy its tacit indulgence a breach of many 
 of the laws and regulations in particvdar cases, by which 
 means the under-officials, who considered the maintenance of 
 tliose niles to be their duty, often came into conflict with 
 theri' spii'itual superiors. Such conflicts necessarily produced 
 an injurious efiect on the ultramontane party, on that 
 niunerous body of indifierent persons Avho belonged chiefly 
 to the middle classes, and upon such as Avere not Catholics, 
 iis they e^dnced an ii-resolution or an incapability to change 
 those things openly which the sovereign, by the state of 
 the existing law, admitted to be opposed to the doctrines of 
 Catholicism and the i-ights of the church ; or else they indi- 
 cated a fear on his part to administer laws which, whilst they 
 were disagi'eeable to the church, he had not corn-age to 
 repeal.* The favour extended to the monks, especially to 
 
 * Tlie Emperor Francis and some of his advisers had long cherished 
 the desire of relieving the Apostolical See of its difficulties, and of re- 
 storing the tmion between church and state by a modification of the 
 laws affecting the Catholic Church. The interview of the emperor 
 with Pope Pius VII. at liome, after the restoration of the Pope's terri- 
 tory, converted that desire into a determination. The emperor, how- 
 ever, during his subsequent reign of twenty years, found himself defi- 
 cient in that energy which was required for the execution of his design, 
 which met with opposition on the part of many eminent statesmen, as 
 well as from public opinion. His delay alarmed him on his death-bed, 
 and he demanded from those who were to inherit his power the execu- 
 tion of what he had not been able to accomplish himself. The govern- 
 ment which followed also hesitated to revoke the laws of the Emperor 
 Joseph, referring to the Cliurch, and tliis will excite no surprise, if we 
 only regard the effect which that modification in 1850 produced among 
 all classes, altliough it was an inevitable consequence of the triumph of 
 the popular element in 1848. Were not those free citizens, who, 
 through tlie JIabtas Corpus Act (the fundamental laws of the 4th of 
 March of 1849), had been secured against any external power of the 
 chiefs of the Catholic Church, seen to tremble when they read in the 
 imperial decree of the 18th of April, 1850, among the rights of the 
 Catholic bishops, that of inflicting ecclesiastical punishments? These
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 43 
 
 • 
 
 those two orders whose influence indeed was a subject of 
 unnecessary apprehension to many — the Jesuits and the 
 
 stunning words (which it would have been wise and easy to avoid), by 
 reflecting upon tlie mind the terrors of the middle ages, such as excom- 
 munication, whipping, and other degrading penances, expiated at the 
 church doox-s, created so powerful an excitement, as to induce the Ca- 
 tholic bishops to issue pastoral letters in the interest of religion, in 
 order to pacify the faithful. The effect of a similar ordinance issued 
 before March, at the time when the State was called a jwlice State, 
 would have been of a more terrifying and lasting nature. There existed 
 at that time a dominant religion in Austria, whose ministers had re- 
 course, for the execution of their statutes, to the aid of the police. The 
 government of the Emperor Ferdinand and that of his father were 
 wanting in courage to enforce the above measure. It was owing to this, 
 and by no means to any hostility towards the Catholic Church, that the 
 laws of Joseph in ecclesiastical matters underwent no alteration ; their 
 severity was softened by a lax enforcement of them. During the sixty 
 years of their existence, however, the Catholic religion in Austria wa^ 
 in no way exposed to danger. Tlie numbers of the Catholics increased 
 every year, by individuals of other confessions who voluntarily joined 
 them. The bishops and other members of the church were not abso- 
 lutely precluded from access to the supreme head of the church ; on the 
 contrary, an imperial agent at Rome interceded for them at the least 
 possible expense in aU their concerns with the Apostolic See. The regu- 
 lations for Divine worship, which had been issued with the cognizance 
 of the archiepiscopal ordinary at Vienna, did, it is true, limit the ex- 
 cessive luxury exhibited at church services, but did not interfere with 
 its edifying and solemn nattire. The executive power, in matters of 
 discipline, with regard to the diocesan clergy, had never been with- 
 drawn from the bishops. They were allowed to administer the penal 
 system of the canon law, without any interference on the part of the 
 government, except in cases of deposition from cures, for which a pre- 
 liminary consultation with tlie civil courts was required. It was requi- 
 site also that the episcopal ordinances in general should receive the 
 assent of the government before their publication. As a reason for this, 
 we must, as it appears to us, refer to the claims which the state church 
 had on the temporal power for the maintenance of its enactments. The 
 4th of March, 1849, had cancelled those claims ; their effects, conse- 
 quently ceased also, and the anticipations of the Ijenefits ensuing from 
 it, both to the Church and to tlie State, called forth expressions of joy. 
 But why were those rejoicings combined with invectives against the 
 Austrian government previous to the month of March ? Why must we, 
 for instance, hear and read language like the following ? — 
 
 " The ears and the mouth of the holy father have now at last been 
 freed from their unworthy fetters, and the mortifying barriers liave 
 been removed within which suspicion had confined him." 
 
 " Let the network of petty considerations and anxieties be now rent
 
 a c;enesis ov rrrE 
 
 Ligiioriiins, — iind ilic use niiidt' of tlio police authority to 
 enforce obedicnoo to mere eoclesiiistical regulations (for 
 example, the infliction of punishment for joining in music 
 and «lancing, even in non-Catholic houses, on Fridays and 
 Saturdays ; the orders given to tavern-keepers, and which 
 occasioned so much coarse ^vit, on days of abstinence, to 
 sepai-ate those who ate meat from those who followed the 
 Catholic regulation of fasting), — such things were too much 
 opposed to the habits and spirit of the age not to become 
 subjects of complaint and ridicule, and, in most cases, to 
 be wholly tlisobeyed. Most injurious to the non-Catholics 
 ■was the established custom, that in the apjilication of the 
 law of toleration to the establishment of non-Catholic alms- 
 houses and schools, the government officials requh'ed the 
 opinion of the Catholic bishop as the ordinary ; for endless 
 postponements of the decision were the consequence, whilst 
 Catholic priests and bishops Avere placed in the disagreeable 
 situation of being considered as lukewarm pastors, if they 
 gave an instantaneous approbation, or of coming into collision 
 with the authorities, if they raised objections and scruples 
 from orthodox grounds, without any other residt being pro- 
 duced than that which the temporal authorities alone could 
 have gathered from the enactments of the temporal law. 
 Complaints of the non-Catholics, and dissensions with such 
 of the Catholic clergy as could not wholly agree in opinion 
 
 aifunder, surroundeil by which ,i suspicious watchfulness over the 
 Church was regarded as the essence of political wisdom." 
 
 " By the legislation of former times, the Church in Austria was con- 
 demned to sink down into a state of utter exhaustion," &c. &c. 
 
 Might not similar language,- -as it reproaches the Austrian govern- 
 ment up to the 18th of April, 1850, with hostile sentiments against Lhe 
 Catholic Church and the Pope, — have been more appropriately uttered 
 by those political fanatics of Italy, who in such reproaches find sophis- 
 tical reasons for those crusades, which they, two years back, undertook 
 •with consecrated arms against Austria ']
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 45 
 
 with the authorities, were the consequence of such an objec- 
 tionable coiu'se. 
 
 From this hasty sketch it is evident that the Austrian 
 system of government was untenable, since it depended upon 
 maxims which were in contradiction to one another. The 
 force of circiunstances, personal influence, or mere chance, 
 gave the preponderance to one or other of these maxims 
 alternately, and the conduct of the government acquired 
 thereby an uncertain and wavering character, and it lost 
 all respect aud confidence. There is a certain species of 
 euAdous and malicious satisfaction inseparable from human 
 nature, which evinces itself in endeavouring to discover the 
 weak points of any authority to which we are subject, and 
 in preferring to display them to public notice rather than 
 point out its peculiar advantages. Accordingly by follow- 
 ing siich a course every defect of the government was ren- 
 dered much more prominent than the good qualities by 
 which it was distingidshed, and which were both numerous 
 and valuable. It would not be easy to find a govern- 
 ment in whose eyes the prerogatives of justice were held 
 more sacred than the Austrian — a government by which 
 equality before the laws in every condition was more dis- 
 interestedly recognized, which more sedulously promoted 
 the real welfare of its subjects, or exhibited greater zeal in 
 examiaing the best means whereby this welfare could be 
 secured for every rank of life. The establishment of the 
 national school system has been acknowledged by foreigners 
 well versed in such matters to be one of the best of its kmd 
 in Europe, and its further improvement has ever been an 
 object of constant anxiety with the government. To what 
 a height education was cai-ried in natural history, mathema- 
 tics, physics, chemical and technical science, may be best 
 illustrated by the impulse given to trade, commerce, and
 
 46 GENESIS OF TIIK 
 
 manufactures, the productions of which enter into competition 
 witli those of foreign countries; and particuhvrly by the con- 
 struction of immense public works ; for example, the i-ail- 
 roads, the most difficult in Europe, in whose construction no 
 other persons than native engineers, educated in native 
 institutions, were employed. The course was open to indi- 
 viduals of all nations, all classes, and aU Christian creeds, to 
 attain the highest offices of the state ; hundreds of examples 
 coidd be adduced in support of this assertion, but it AviU 
 suffice to allude to the two last presidents* of the Exche- 
 quer chamber (the ministers of finance, properly so termed), 
 both of whom, >\-ithout the advantages of noble blood, or 
 comiection with influential officials, or the gifts of fortune, 
 attained their high position and baronial rank by means of 
 their own personal meiit alone, and to the vice-president of 
 the superior court of justice, Baron von Gärtner, and to the 
 court councillor in the united court chancery, Baron von 
 Frossdik, both of whom were non-Catholics. It was not 
 the rule to inquire into the nationality of an official. The 
 great majority of officials, even in the higher departments, 
 sprang from the rank of citizens. Promotion in the army 
 was attained by men of all nations and all creeds, by 
 citizens as well as by nobles. Offences in the nature of parti- 
 zansliip and of patronage exercised by individual superiors 
 in appointments and promotions are by no means rare in 
 constitutional states, and even in republics. In Austria, 
 therefore, they did not arise from the system of absolute 
 government, to which at most indulgence to the oflienders 
 might be imputed. The discovery of faults and errors in a 
 system of government should never render us blind to its 
 advantages. The unmeasured abiise with which the Austrian 
 press, as soon as it became free, in the middle of March, 
 
 * Baron d'EichhofF and Charles Fred. Baron Kubeck. — Ed,
 
 REVOLUTION IN" AUSTRIA. 47 
 
 assailed the government -which had existed prior to the 
 month of March, mnst fill aU unprejudiced persons with 
 contempt and disgust. Whoever may have read in the 
 daily press the charges of a crushing coercion and of a sys- 
 tematic stupifying influence practised by Austria against her 
 subjects, without ever having visited the coiintry ; whoever 
 may have read in the Constitution (No. 174, p. 1637), a 
 paper glowing with love for the people, that before the days 
 of March the Austrian peasant and the ox that drew his 
 plough were on a perfect equality, and then immediately 
 after those days may have observed how, in spite of this 
 crasliing coercion, in spite of this universal stupefaction, a 
 thousand gallant combats for liberty took place in all 
 quarters of the empii'e ; how a thousand keen and enlight- 
 ened statesmen arose, who, by speech and writing, taught 
 their profoimd wisdom in unions, clubs, provincial assemblies, 
 and parliaments, by the aid of books, newspapers, and mural 
 advertisements — a thousand philosophers, who annoimced 
 the results of their sagacious inquiries — a hundred thousand 
 electors, who were capable of choosing lawgivers for Buda- 
 Pest, Vienna, Frankfurt, and half a dozen Austrian provin- 
 cial parliaments, — such an unprejudiced witness must be asked 
 to believe that the deluge of March carried away all the 
 enslaved, and stupified population of the Austrian empire 
 into the depth of the ocean, and that a new host, like 
 Pyrrha and Deucalion, came forth from the House of Assem- 
 bly at Vienna and the Hall of the Diet at Presburg, who, 
 by their successful exertions, caused the demoi"alized, ignorant 
 mob, of the days antecedent to March, to rise up weU-in- 
 structed and accomplished citizens, ripe and ready to under- 
 take the duties of self-government. 
 
 If, in accordance with a sense of honour, it be mean and 
 unworthy to insult a fallen foe, what judgment does the
 
 48 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 abuse of a fallen government deserve, — a goverament which, 
 without an eflbrt to defend itself by arms, yielded to tlie 
 loudly-expressed oj)iuiüii of tlie people ; which, though it 
 may be charged with errors in the course it adopted, can 
 never be accused of malevolent intentions. The system 
 which it adopted, sprang from the conviction of the heart 
 and the conscience of the Emperor Francis. He and liis suc- 
 ces.sor recognized in this system the conditions on which the 
 empire depended for its existence, and the most certain 
 means for advancing and establishing the happiness of 
 their people : their most distinguished statesmen enter- 
 tained this conviction, and honourably supported it. The 
 future alone can show whether they were in error, whe- 
 ther they misunderstood the notion of jwpular happiness : 
 «nemies of the nation, however, such an error could not 
 render them.* No notion is more relative to the individual 
 
 * Tlie allusion to this conviction of the Emperor Francis, li.as brought 
 upon this work the suspicion of reactionary tendencies, though it has 
 pronounced no opinion upon the soundness or eiror of that conviction. 
 Whether the views of the Emperor Francis and of his successor were 
 correct or otherwise, experience alone will show. It would be prema- 
 ture to found a definitive sentence concerning them upon the events 
 which have hitherto transpired. In the course of the year 1848, pain- 
 full apprehensions could not but be excited in the breast of every 
 Austrian as to the .soundness of the convictions which the Emperor 
 Francis entertained. Everything was out of joint ; the Imperial Diet 
 had only uttered what tended to destruction and disorganization ; even 
 the conservative party in it maintained its name only by its efforts to 
 preserve the monarchical principle and social order, whilst it did not 
 exert itself to keeji up the union between those races, which constitute 
 the empire, and the entire dissolution of that union was only averted in 
 1848 and 1849, by a resort to the mo.st absolute of all powers, the force 
 of arms. The veil of the future still conceals what will again be at- 
 tempted, when the so-called exceptional state of things will have to 
 make way for the true constitutional system in various parts of the 
 empire. Wlieii each citizen of the empire, though the first words, which 
 by a mother's teaching, he has been alile to stammer forth, may have be- 
 longed to the German, Magyar, Wallachian, Italian, or some Sclavonic 
 language — when he, after the example of the citizens of the United 
 Kingdom on the other side of the English Cliannel (who, in spite of
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 49 
 
 tlian that of happiness. What one person considei-s as hap- 
 piness, another regards as misfortune. The tranquil fisher- 
 man, who, after successful casts of his net, steers his smoothly- 
 gliding bark, laden with rich spoil, to his native shore, 
 C(jnsiders it happiness, if the undisturbed sea allows his boat 
 freely to obey the rudder ; wliilst the bold sailor, on the 
 contrary, who at the same time impatiently awaits in the 
 harboiu- the moment for liis departure, in oi'der speedily to 
 reach a distant coast, considers it a misfortune if a fresh gale 
 does not spring up to inipel the waves in the dh-ection of liis 
 cour,se, which, tossing his vessel on the foaming biUows, may 
 bear it, with expanded sail and redoubled speed, to its wished- 
 for destination. The Emperor of Austria and his council 
 resembled the fisherman, — the popular leaders were like the 
 .sailor ; but can this difference in intention afford a reason 
 for suspecting the designs of the former, or loading their- 
 names with contumely 1 One may expose eri'or without 
 abusing the individual who eiTS, as luifortunately has oc- 
 curred, and may again happen. With difficulty was the 
 .statue of the Emperor Francis, in the squai-e of Vienna, pro- 
 being Scotch, Irish, or English, exult in the common name of Britons), 
 schall feel himself most honoured by the name of "citizen of Austria," 
 niu\ by the exclamation of " Hail Austria," shall be enfl.amed to patri- 
 otic enthusiasm, like the Briton by his " Rule Britannia :" when respect 
 for the law, and the consciousness of a duty to see it enforced, even at 
 tlie sacrifice of self, shall have gained imdisputed possession of the heart 
 of every citizen of Austria, when there shall be no difference of opinion 
 with the government of the time being as to whether there should be a 
 great, pf)werful, and united Austria, but only as regards the ways and 
 means to maintain and secure its grandeur, its power, and its unity, — 
 when the Maf/na Charta of his liberties, and the Hulicas Corpux Act, 
 sliall not be used by the Austrian as a bulwark behind which the dis- 
 trust of the people against the intentions of the government shall 
 intrench itself, but they sliall rather serve as a guarantee of confidence 
 between the governing and the governed ; when all these conditions 
 shall have been fulfilled, it will be shown to have been an error to sup- 
 pose that the existence of the Austrian Empire was fundamentally 
 based upon the principle of pure monarchy.
 
 50 GENESIS Ol' THK 
 
 tected from the fuiy of a fanatical iiKjb. Tiio l)ouos of tlio 
 omporor a^oic to have Iteeu tijru from their resting-place, and 
 exposed upon the ramparts of A'ienua to the bullets of the 
 imperial troops, who were struggliug with the insurrectiou. 
 
 The miuister""' whose mime this system of government bore, 
 because he held the portfolio of foreign atfairs from the year 
 1809, and who was obliged to be the representative before 
 the world of tliis system of the emperor, agi-eeing as 
 it did with, his o^vn innermost conviction, became an ob- 
 ject of general hatred and calumny. To his colleague,t who, 
 from the year lS'2ö, assisted him in piloting the A'essel 
 of Aiistria, was attributed tlie gi-oss injustice of asserting, 
 that he was hostile to this system, and yet maintained a post 
 in which he contributed to its suj)port ; conduct which in 
 an honourable, independent statesman would have been a 
 moral impossibility. In particular cases, there must neces- 
 sarily have existed differences of opinion between two states- 
 men, one of whom pursued his course abroad, with his atten- 
 tion directed chiefly to Europe, whilst the other confined 
 his observation to the interior of the empire, and so attained 
 the highest eminence in the state, including a nomination to 
 the supreme council, — differences respecting the application of 
 state maxims, — ^but to neither of them should it be imputed 
 as a reproach that he subjected liis own individual sentiments 
 in such cases to the opinion of the absolute sovereign ; but 
 as to condemning the system of government, it cannot be 
 conceived possible that a statesman woidd keep his lAace 
 where his principles coiJd not be reduced to practice, unless 
 he had to expect on his retbement, that the silken bow-string 
 would be forwarded to him by an exasjDerated sultan. . 
 
 We have given our opinion so freely respecting the state 
 
 * Prince Metternich. — Ed. f Count Kolowrath. — Ed.
 
 EEVOLUTIOK IN AUSTRIA. 51 
 
 macMaery and system of government of Austria, that we 
 believe "we may, without subjecting oui'selves to the charge 
 of reactionaiy tendencies, venture, as unprejudiced and inde- 
 pendent spectators, in opposition to exaggeration and mis- 
 representation, to speak the tiiith, even though it should be 
 in favoui- of the government as it existed before March. 
 
 The preservation of peace in Europe for a period of thirty- 
 three years, to which it cannot be denied that Austria con- 
 tributed a decisive assistance, ought to have some favourable 
 influence upon the friends of the people, who exhausted 
 themselves in denunciations against the chief Austrian 
 statesmen previous to March. 
 
 The credit which the Austrian exchequer enjoyed through- 
 out Europe previous to March, in spite of the difficulties it 
 had to contend with, of which the interest on Vienna bank- 
 notes, and the high coui"se of exchange upon government bills 
 up to March, 1848, affords a proof, will serve to show that 
 the Argus-eyes of the European moneyed powers, which could 
 not surely overlook the government in Austria, found never- 
 theless no reason for suspecting that a state bankruptcy was 
 about to occur. 
 
 The security which person, honour, and property enjoyed 
 in Austria, may afford a proof that Themis, even though the 
 old government chmg to her, had made proper use of her 
 scales and sword. 
 
 Mercury, during the time of the old government, could 
 scarcely have been less favourable to Austrian commerce 
 than he has shown himself since its abdication. 
 
 Mars and Bellona have, in truth, since the fall of the old 
 government, again restored to the Austrian army that high 
 fame which had made her warriors, dtiring many years, the 
 object of universal honour and admiration ; but this army 
 was not called suddenly from the eai-th by a stamp of the foot 
 
 E 2
 
 02 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 on tlie purt of those who exercisod power subsequent to 
 March ; the education of the army, the spirit wliich 
 inlhienced it, its organization, wliich in the moment of 
 necessity rendered its increase and full development a })0s- 
 sibility, were the work of many years' exertions, during 
 the epoch of the old government. If, however, we must 
 thankfiUly acknowledge the destruction of the old govern- 
 ment as an improvement, let us not inconsiderately condemn 
 an age and a race of men who could not enjoy this improve- 
 ment, as thousands have condemned them since the days of 
 March, and amongst whom are many who, imder that very 
 government, gradually rose to the highest posts of office and 
 honour, without ever giving expression to their discontent. 
 The Austrian government, as it existed before March, is 
 often subjected to the reproach of having lagged behind other 
 governments in the race of improvement, because it could 
 not decide how it should step forward. But let those who, 
 with the bitterest feelings, indulge in tliis reproach, ask their 
 own consciences whether they have not themselves given 
 cause for siich indecision. An improvement, for example, is 
 inconceivable without a change of situation ; but when, before 
 the days of March, some comfortable post was destined to be 
 abolished in consequence of an improvement intended by the 
 government, its possessors liad recourse to every means in 
 their power to enable them to retain it. It was part of the 
 paternal character of the government to lend an ear to those 
 who apprehended injury from the abolition of the post 
 which they enjoyed ; and thus, many an important reform 
 split lipon this rock. Was it not, for example, the cry of 
 terror raised by a few of the manufacturing classes that, a 
 few yeai's ago, prevented the change * projected by the govem- 
 
 * This change has been carried into effect by Prince Schwarzenberg's 
 administration.
 
 It EVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 53 
 
 ment from a proliibitive to a protective system of customs 1 
 Who threw obstacles in the way of a more rapid improve- 
 ment in the plan introduced to effect a general engineering, 
 survey of the country, by curtailing the pecuniary grant 
 which, from the beginning, had been annually dedicated to 
 that piu'pose l Who prevented the proportionate taxation 
 of home-manufactured sugar determined upon many years 
 before, mth respect to wliicli branch of industry the English, 
 who were fully qualified to fomi an opinion in this respect, 
 considered that the loss wliich the state finances would 
 thereby suffer in the duty on cane-sugar, was nothing else 
 but a source of pi'ofit to the producer 1 Who delayed, by 
 refusing to introduce the conscription, and to abolish the i5ri-\i- 
 lege of the nobility on the subject of bearing anus, the intro- 
 duction of a timely law of recruiting ? Woiüd no impedi- 
 ments have been offered to a compulsory removal of the 
 burdens pressing on the land and soil, if the government 
 had proposed it, by those who were in perpetual conflict 
 with the government authorities, for seeming to show more 
 partiality to the villein, than to the freeholder of the 
 soU, or by those who, shortly before the eventful year 1848, 
 had proposed to the government, for the greater protection of 
 tlic right of shootbig, to forbid the sale of a hare, or a par- 
 tridge, or any other game, unless the seller was qualified mth 
 a previous license 1 How would an equal toleration of all 
 religions in the eye of the government have been received by 
 those provincial authorities, who, in one province,* on the 
 ground of ancient privileges, had required and obtained t!u> 
 banishment of numerous families natives of the soil, because, 
 forsooth, they did not live in the bosom of the Catholic Church ; 
 whilst, in another province, the costly gift of a foreigner, wlio 
 
 * In the Ziller-Tlial, where before the charter of March 4, 1S49, tho 
 Roman Catholic Church was exclusively dornin;n.t. — Ed.
 
 54 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 ■was allowed by the govenmient to purchase land, and which 
 he, from motives of gi-atitude, had dedicated to a generally 
 jusefiü and long-desired object, was rejected, because the 
 generous donor was a Jew ? And with regard to the 
 freedom of the press, we ^■enture to ask whether many of 
 those who, as friends of literature and art, complained the 
 loudest and the boldest on the subject of the censorship, as it 
 existed before March, against reviews of a pamphlet or a 
 play, did not feel themselves aggi-ieved by the lukewarm 
 censorship exercised by their own officials, when their indi- 
 vidual vanity or interests were thereby aggrieved ? The 
 president of the police may answer this question by a 
 reference to his proceedings. 
 
 Though it may betoken irresolution and weakness on the 
 part of the Austrian government before the month of March, 
 deplorable and highly deserving of censure, that she suffered 
 herself to be impeded in her progi-ess by such a host of petty 
 obstacles, it ill becomes those who have derived advantage 
 from such ÜTCSolution and weakness to stand forward now, 
 as the bitterest accusers of that government, and seek to 
 proscribe its supporters, because less progress was made 
 than the spirit of the age demanded, less than has been 
 undertaken since the days of March, when those opposing 
 obstacles were removed. The powers, the ministry, and 
 Diet which succeeded it, have not put a stop to the 
 former " vis inertise," nor the activity of foimer selfish- 
 ness, since those who, before the events of March, raised 
 their voices loudest against every change in their situation, 
 were afterwards silenced, and bore -with, resignation what- 
 ever happened to them. Till the dissolution of the Diet, 
 the activity of the new authorities was particularly devoted 
 to the work of demolition ; the rebuilding came afterwai'ds. 
 Upon that task the present government is actively engaged.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 55 
 
 No town council, no aristocratical or clerical influence, no 
 imperial cabinet, no council of state, and, at the present 
 moment, no parliament, or diet, comes with, its obstacles and 
 delays in the way.* The officers xmder the ministry must 
 yield unconditional obedience to its commands, since he who 
 cannot or will not instantly obey, is now immediately 
 replaced by another, t N'o regard to the maintenance of the 
 paternal character of the government, as it existed before 
 March, can impede the exercise of its fidl powers. Pater- 
 nal affection can never be the attribute of a constitutional 
 government, whose authorities are responsible for their con- 
 duct, not to a warm-hearted and feeling niler, but to the 
 uncertain majority of a sharply-scnitinizing parliament. 
 Thus, the existing ministry is likely to complete -with 
 <lespatch the building which it has commenced. May it be 
 no adapted to the wants of the country, and so durable, 
 that future Diets may not be able to overturn, but may 
 have it in their power to complete it. The architect of the 
 present age may achieve greater works than his predecessors, 
 since, in reconstructing the edifice of the state, he is not 
 trammelled by all those considerations which must fonnerly 
 have been noticed, even in slight alterations. Whoever 
 
 * Those words, written in the month of August, 1849, remain true 
 in August, 1850. Ministerial propositions, examined by the ministers 
 only, are from henceforth in great number, and in rapid succession 
 ( i-ansfonned into legislative acts, in the shape of decrees or provisional 
 laws. On the 1st of the month above mentioned, already 308 numbers 
 of " Tlie Cjovernment and Imperial Law Journal" (Reichsgesetz und 
 Regienmgsblatt) were filled with those decrees. Such an astonishing 
 activity on the part of the ministers had never been anticipated. 
 
 + It is on this account that we see at present government officials, 
 and those who are under their influence, bow down in a more respectful 
 manner before the responsible and constitutional ministers and their 
 deputies. It likewise supplies the reason why we see ministers expresf? 
 their satisfaction with siihonliriato authorities by cabinet letters in the 
 public journals, in a manner which previously used to be exclusively 
 adopted by the absolute emperor only.
 
 r>G 
 
 GENESIS OK THE 
 
 possesses a liouso whioli, altliouLjli ulil, is lial)it;il)lt', will cer- 
 tainly not decide upon a change in the huilding, -without first 
 well examining if the Hnn connection of the other i)arts may 
 not, perhaps, be endangereil ])y the alteration, and whether 
 substantial means arc foi'thcoming for the completion of the 
 building. But whoever sees his house destroyed by an earth- 
 quake, docs not consiilor about the most convenient mode of 
 rebuilding it, but provides the means of doing so, at any price, 
 even by issuing securities, Avhich may absorb part of the future 
 rent. So it happened now in re-constinicting the demolished 
 edifice of the state in Austria. Many of the changes adoi)ted 
 at present were pre^äously contemplated, and were only de- 
 layed because the means for that jjurpose were not forthcoming. 
 The suppression of hereditary courts of justice, the establish- 
 ment of a gendarmerie, the alterations in prisons, and houses 
 of correction, the improving the condition of the instructors 
 of youth, the extinction of \-illeinage, and other changes, were 
 admitted, and encouraged by previous statesmen of the old 
 government, as consistent with well-recogiiized theones ; 
 but the millions of florins whicli were annually required for 
 the existing necessities of the state, were wanting to carry 
 out these changes, and as expexience proved that an altera- 
 tion which materially concenis the state, is sure at some 
 time to be eftected, they were unwilling to oppress the 
 present or futm-e tax-payers with new burdens for these 
 improvements.* But the people, who since that time have 
 
 * We may judge of the amount of these expenses from several data 
 which have become public. The administration of justice, which, up to 
 1848, claimed about "ij millions of florins from the State treasur\, 
 required 12 millions in 1S50. The four ministerial departments, tlie 
 attributes of which were fomierly comprised in the Court-Chancery, the 
 Court-Commission of Studies, the Police, and the Court-Censorship, 
 and which usually figured in the State budget under the head of "Poli- 
 tical funds and establishments," with an expenditure of about 16j 
 millions of florins, and under the head of "Police," with 2,V millions of
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 57 
 
 attained a partnership in tlie sovereignty, have misunderstood 
 this unwillingness ; they have torn down the old state edifice, 
 
 florins, consequently with an annual total expenditure of IS-J- millions : 
 these four ministerial departments, viz. that of the Interior, that of 
 Ecclesiastical Affairs and Public Instruction, that of Commerce, Industry, 
 and Public Buildings, and that of Agriculture, have in the first quarter 
 of 1850 absorbed already 9,112,692 florins. Accordingly, the total 
 expenditure of the current year may rise to 36 millions of florins, which 
 will be almost double that of former years. The national debt, which 
 up to 1848, entailed an annual charge of about 49 millions of florins, 
 has cost the nation in the first quarter of 1850 already 13,960,618 
 florins ; the expense for the whole year will consequently rise to 56 
 millions. The army will cause the most considerable increase of expen- 
 diture in the budget of the constitutional empire. Tl;e amount required 
 for its support during the time of the absolute monarchy, notwith- 
 standing the preparations for war against France in 1841, and the 
 reinforcements sent into Lombardy, never exceeded 55 millions in any 
 year, but according to the results of the first quarter, its cost will 
 amount, in 1850, to 125 millions. There is a probability of a diminution 
 in this sum of about four millions, if the fratricidal dispute in federal or 
 confederate Germany, as to German unity, should be adjusted without the 
 roar of cannon. The expenses, however, of the army will not, and cannot 
 l)e reduced again to their ancient limits, as they existed before March ; for 
 to Austria the words now apply which the deputy to the Spanish Cortes 
 at Madrid, Donoso Cortes, Marquis de Valdegamos, uttered during the 
 discussion on the budget, on July 30, 1850, when he declared himself 
 against the reduction of the army, viz. " That in our days the armies alone 
 'prevent civilization from being dried up in the bottomless sands of barba- 
 rism, inasmuch as the world has now before its eyes the strange phenomenon 
 of the force of ideas leading to barbarism, and the force of arms piressing 
 forward to civilization." Tlius greatly augmented expenses demand 
 larger contributions on the part of the free citizens to cover them. The 
 land-tax has already been raised about oue-third, the tax on houses 
 about tlie same ; the stamp duty has equally been augmented. There 
 lias also been imposed a new income-tax, and a new duty of 3 J per cent, 
 of the value upon the transfer of immovable property. We do not refer ■ 
 to these fresh burdens with the intent nf loading the present ministry 
 with reproach ; there is no blame attached to them : those burdens are 
 the inevitable results, althougli they are not yet fully developed, of 
 what was acquired for the people in the year 1848, both by their self- 
 styled and by their duly elected representatives. Tlie ministers even 
 spared the fatliers in some degree by raising credit, for which the sons 
 and grandsons will have to be answerable. Tliey resorted, for instance, 
 to paper money, to assignments on tlie revenues, to assignments on the 
 central chest, to Exchequer-bills, to State loans, and to the capitalization 
 of interest. It is right and equitable that the next generation should 
 not be established in the enjoyment of their gains, without having caiwo
 
 58 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 and tliereby imposed upon themselves the task of bearing 
 
 the expense of erecting- anotlicr building adapted to the 
 
 wants of the age. Theii* noble profusion may excite aston- 
 
 isliment ; the anxiety of the present architect of the state to 
 
 avail himself of such c^xtravagance may be approved, and 
 
 the timidity of liis predecessors be lamented, but no gi'ovmd 
 
 is thereby ftimished for detesting and depreciating those, 
 
 who cATuced more solicitude for the taxation of the people^ 
 
 to remember the distress of the present genei-ation. The free commimes, 
 which are the basis of a free state, cLaim, like it, sacrifices wliich were 
 previously not at all required, or only to a small extent. The two 
 spheres of activity for the communes, marked out by the communal 
 law of the 17th of March, 1849, viz. the 'iiatural one and that covferred 
 upon them, comprise so many fimctions, with which government or patri- 
 monial oflBcials were formerly charged, that their management will 
 entail loss of time, labour, and money on the part of the members of 
 the communes. 
 
 Besides the burdens of the free commimes, the citizen of a free state 
 has, in addition, the personal obligation to act as an elector, as a national 
 guardsman, as a member of the communal council, and as a sworn jury- 
 man ; services which not only deprive him of his time — to millions as 
 valuable as money — but which were previously unknown to him, and were 
 attended to by soldiers, officials, and courts of justice, which received 
 their remuneration from the state. The people's coming of age, in 1848, 
 Las consequently been bought at a very high price. We trust that it 
 may be to the nation a source of happiness and prosperity. In Vienna 
 and in Prague, where, in 1848, the loudest declamations were uttered 
 against the guardianship of the government, there does not appear to 
 have been any great rejoicings in respect of their lately acquired rights ; 
 if the zeal, wdth which those rights are exercised, is to be regarded as a 
 measure of it. At Vienna, both the press and the government had to 
 muster all their strength in order, at last, to induce 6, 21 7 persons, out 
 of the large mmiber of citizens, to inscribe their names in the electoral 
 lists. The president of the college of the constituency of the city of 
 Prague was, on the 17th of June, 1850, obliged to declare, " that the 
 neglect of the city constituency in regard to their duty of attending at 
 the sessions, would compel him for the future to publish the names of 
 the absent members, especially as there were several members who had 
 never yet been present." We would, under these circumstances, ven- 
 ture to ask the question, whether the ministers who were in power be- 
 fore the month of March in Austria, might not merit a bill of indemnity 
 as regards the charge made against them of not having, of their own 
 accord, granted to the people those rights which the latter have ac- 
 quired at so high a price, and with such few reasons, apparently, of 
 rejoicing at the result.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 59 
 
 than seems to actuate tlie people tliemselves. Tlieii- inten- 
 tions were good, tlieu- conduct was in accordance witli their 
 intentions, but unfortunately secured no approbation, because 
 the views of the people were not in unison with then." own. 
 
 The people may now rejoice that their views are carried 
 out, but should hesitate to sully the purity of their joy, by 
 unjust reflections upon those who, under different ch-cum- 
 stances, were compelled to adopt a different line of conduct. 
 
 We beg the reader will attribute no other object to these 
 remarks, than a wish to dissipate liis prejudices respecting 
 the Austrian statesmen during the time of absolute monarchy, 
 and by this means enable him to fomi a correct opinion of 
 them. 
 
 COMMOTIONS PREVIOUS TO MARCH, 1848. 
 
 The introduction of moderate reforms was confidently ex- 
 pected on the accession of the Emperor Ferdinand ; their 
 postponement increased the discontent which already existed ; 
 at the same time the want of that determined will and ex- 
 perienced hand which belonged to the old emperor was 
 clearly perceptible. The feelings of discontent were uttered 
 in louder tones than heretofore, and paved the way to dis- 
 turbances which gTaduaUy increased in all parts of the 
 monarchy, emanating from the higher and middle classes of 
 society, and finding acceptance amongst the lower orders of 
 the people, in consequence of the pressure of the taxes, 
 and more particularly of two measures of finance, namely, 
 the tax* upon articles of food and drink, and the stamp act, 
 which appeared in the year 1840, and whose provisions were 
 advantageous to the rich. 
 
 These commotions resolve themselves into two creat 
 
 * Verzehrungsteuer, a tax corresponding to tlie octroi in France, levied 
 .•it the gates of toNvns upon all articles of food and drink. — En.
 
 GO GEXESIS OF THE 
 
 cla>;ses, namely, those of which the principal aim was to ctt'ect 
 au absolute separation from the empire, and those which con- 
 templated the extension and establishment of the right of 
 the pco])le ti» participate in the government. The stniggU- 
 after national supremacy was common to both. 
 
 The commotions in the Polish and Italian parts of the 
 empire belong to the first class ; the commotions in Hungary 
 anil Transylvania, as also in Bohemia and Moravia, and the 
 German provinces, belong to the second. 
 
 In order thoroughly to understand the events which 
 occurred after March, 1848, it must be particularly kept in 
 mind, that the high or pri\-ileged classes of the people com- 
 pletely agreed with the intelligent middle classes in one 
 chief point, namely, in their aversion to the system of go- 
 vernment, and their mistrust in the efficiency of the state 
 machine, as well as in their wish to alter both ; but in all 
 further ^^ews they were diametrically opposed to each other. 
 The fii'st class, for example, wished, upon the ruins of the 
 existing edifice, to (»rect a building in which they might 
 occupy the best and most convenient apartments, and 
 graciously leave to the others the occupation of the attics 
 and the gaiTets. The other class wished, on the contrary, to 
 complete a buüding, in which all apartments should be alike, 
 but in which they shoiüd leave no I'oom for the first class. 
 Both these parties exerted themselves together to tear 
 down the existing edifice, \vith the intention, when the time 
 should come for reconstruction, of claiming the building- 
 ground for themselves. Hence the apparent harmony in 
 the work of destniction until the days of March, and the 
 subsequent disunion. 
 
 Besides tliis general difference in the motive, there existed 
 in the several parts of the empire the essential difference 
 in the object in \iew, which has been above alluded to.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. " 61 
 
 The tendency to insui-rection was first embodied in action 
 in the Polish parts of Austria, namely, in GaUcia, in the 
 winter of the year 1846. But the disturbances there ori- 
 ginated from another source, and had another object than 
 those which took place in the other parts of the empire ; they 
 sprang from recollections of the ancient kingdom of Poland, 
 and they contemplated its restoration ; the spirit which 
 actuated them was not democi'atic, since their object was not 
 to elevate the people to a participation in the government, 
 but to establish a Polish dominion in place of the Austrian, 
 which latter was to be suppressed. For this reason, its 
 authors did not succeed in seducing the people ; but the 
 latter crashed the revolution in its bii-th. It is very remark- 
 able that the government was taken by surprise and unpre- 
 pared, although the civil and militaiy chief of the province 
 had held the reins of government in his hands for fourteen 
 years, and was an archduke of the house of Este, a famuy of 
 whom it cannot be said that it is not quick in spying out 
 revolutionaiy tendencies. The key to this difficulty may be 
 found in the fact, that the archduke directed his attention 
 more to the movements of the poor and inconsiderable 
 ■democrats, and was not a match for the hypocrisy of the 
 deceitful and treacherous Polish aristocracy, by whom he 
 was ensnared.* This revolution, so soon sxibdued, might have 
 
 * The editor of the "Historische Blätter, by G. Philipps and G. 
 Görres," remarks on this head, at page 26 of the first number for 1850, 
 " that, according to the evidence of other well-informed judges of those 
 affairs, the archduke was not only far from being "ensnared," but, on the 
 contrary, was fully aware of the hypocrisy and deception of the revolu- 
 tionai-y Polish nobles ; that he had, however, imagined them to be un- 
 willing heedlessly to bring about their own certain ruin, at their own 
 risk and expense, considering the well-known dispositions of the pea- 
 santry." We sliall not raise a dispute as to the fact, wliether the 
 Governor-general of CJalicia was taken by surprise by the revolt in 1846, 
 because the Polish nobles had " ensnared" him, or rather because hi« 
 confidence in their discretion had deceived him. The error was equal
 
 62 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 fui-nislied a wholesome Avaming to the Austrian government 
 against similar sui'prises, but uniortimately it only regarded 
 the fa\'ourablc side of the transaction, namely, the assistance 
 ■which it received from the people ; it considered this an the 
 necessary result of the paternal system adopted by it, and it 
 w'as strengthened in the delusion that this system w'ould 
 eveiywhere, even beyond the limits of Poland, enlist the 
 sympathy and support of the people, without reflecting that 
 the sympathy of the Galician peasantry arose chiefly from 
 theh- antipathy to theh- Polish landlords, and from the re- 
 collection, by no means remote, of the intolerable oppression 
 which they had been forced to endure under the dominion 
 of a Polish aristocracy. 
 
 In Austiian Italy the commotions before March had a 
 similar object as in Austrian Poland, since they were 
 intended to effect a separation from the empire. But the 
 important difference between them consisted in this, that 
 the Poles had a fixed object in view, to which their strug- 
 gles were directed, — the re-estabhshment of the ancient king- 
 dom of Poland, whilst the Italians only had before theii- 
 eyes a something of which they disapproved, namely, the 
 Austrian dominion, which was rather irritating to them 
 by its petty goadings, and wearisome by its tedious forms, 
 than oppressive to their nationality, or regardless of their 
 
 in either case as regards liis discrimination of their sentiments. This is 
 also the very reason why we do not concede to the editor of the " His- 
 torische Blätter " the right of ascribing our remarks upon the conduct of 
 the Archduke to the offence which "his jyrofound Catholic convictions 
 had, as was to be expected, at all times occasioned to the ruling officials, who 
 propayated the principles and doctrines of Voltaire." We believe, how- 
 ever, that these Cathohc convictions could have no connection whatever 
 with either of the two mistakes ; and we equally believe that those 
 errors do not, in the slightest degree, darken the lustre of the arch- 
 duke's noble character, or lessen the acknowledgment of the meritorious 
 services which that prince of the imperial house has on so many occa- 
 sions rendered to the throne and to the state.
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 63 
 
 substantial interests. Hence it happened that Avliilst the 
 Poles sought to attain theii* object by deeds, the ItaUans 
 evinced their disapprobation like children or women, by 
 pouting, teasing, and abusing theii* masters, without the 
 probability of ever coming to blows, if the apparent dissen- 
 sion between the Pope and Austria, respecting the trans- 
 action at Ferrai'a, and afterwards the ambition of the King 
 of Sardinia, but more particularly the revival of the republic 
 in France, had not awakened in them the hope of attaining 
 this great end with little trouble. 
 
 The strengthening of the Austrian garrison at Ferrara, 
 undertaken in the year 1847, with military ostentation, was 
 the result of a wish, which could not be misunderstood, to 
 oppose a barrier to the disturbances likely to prove injurious 
 to Austrian Italy, and which had been excited against the 
 existing order of things by the fugitives who had been mi- 
 wisely pardoned en masse by the Pope, and had returned to 
 the States of the Church. This proceeding was quite lawful 
 for Austria, and was only the repetition of what had taken 
 place under the previous Pope, Gregory XVI., and had been 
 acknowledged by him with thanks. 
 
 But the commander in Lombardy committed the ana- 
 chronism of forgetting that in 1847 a different head wore 
 the tiara, and that tliis head was influenced by different 
 opinions. But the cabinet of Vienna cannot be blamed 
 for this anachi'onism, for it first became acquainted with 
 the fact when accomplished, and it was obliged, therefore, 
 to assert its own legal rights. For the movement party, the 
 protestation of the Papal government was a jjowerful wea- 
 pon against Austria, since it afforded an ostensible ground to 
 preach a crasade against the alleged enemies of the Cliurch, 
 in wliich couise they were zealously assisted by the Italian 
 priesthood, who are, for the most part, an ignorant body,
 
 G4 ' GENESIS OF THK 
 
 :uiil wlio d(i not osteem the Germans to bo genuine Catlio- 
 lios. By this course the inoveiuent ])arty, who belonged to 
 the niiiUUe and higher orders of society, obtaineil a support 
 iVoni the h)wcr classes which they had previously wanted j 
 for in Italy, as elsewhere, the ])eople who depended upon 
 their own labour foi- sui»poi-t, were not disijosed in favour 
 of political strife, unless connected with their own personal 
 interests, whether founded on jn-ospective physical a<lvan- 
 tages, or on considerations of spiritual weltai'e, for which 
 latter the Italian peoj>le (alter their o^v^l fasluon, by a 
 display of outwiu-d I'eligious practices) seem more anxious 
 than the inhabitants of Gennany. Moreover, the hope of 
 <;xpiating a multitude of suis by a manifestation of hatred 
 against the German enemies of the Church jn-oduced a great 
 effect upon the lower oi'ders, j)ai-ticularly as a distribution of 
 money, or other favours, was adopted by the rich, to connect 
 their temporal with their eternal interests. The demon- 
 strations against the Austrians, which had formerly been 
 evinced by a few indi\-iduals only, and with gieat timi- 
 dity, increased in both number and boldness. The poHce 
 authorities, for j)reventing and repressing such excesses, 
 were powerless against such a multitude of malcontents ; 
 they were forced to limit their activity to the detection of 
 the ringleaders ; but even in such efforts they were not fully 
 successful, since their sub-officitils lent them but indifferent 
 aid. The measures which they employed failed in their 
 object, and operated like goads, which provoke without 
 destroying an antagonist. The coiu'se of events now as- 
 simied such an aspect, that it was easy to see the Austrian 
 authority could be maintained by nothing else than military 
 force. For this pm*pose the aimy in Italy was continually 
 increa.sed with great sacrifices on the part of the straitened
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 65 
 
 exchequer. ■"■ It seems tliat those who conducted the mea- 
 sures of defence were but ill read in Italian history, which 
 
 * The commander in Italy had, in December, 1847, 55,000 men and 
 5,600 horses at his disposal. The emperor ordered forthwith, in the 
 same month, the Italian army to be increased by 9,800 men, and, in 
 case of any gi-eater emergency, further by 13,000 men and 1,000 
 horses ; he ordered, likewise, the division of the troops into two army- 
 corps, of which the first, in Lombardy, was to be composed of 29 move- 
 able battalions, 22 squadrons, and 66 field-pieces, and 4 stationary bat- 
 talions ; and the second, in the Venetian territory, of 17 moveable 
 battalions, 14 squadrons, and 42 field-pieces, and of 7 stationary bat- 
 talions. The emperor assigned to the Italian army, in the course of 
 January, 1848, a fresh reinforcement of 9,000 men, with 2 batteries ; 
 it was thus raised to 85,000 men, to which, in February, 2 battalions of 
 infantry, 6 squadrons, and 2 batteries were further added. The expense 
 incurred by these reinforcements increased the army-budget of that 
 year by 5,000,000 of florins ; and though an attack on the part of the 
 King of Sardinia was at that time hardly credible, the new burden was 
 nevertheless not shunned, for the sake of maintaining peace in the in- 
 terior of the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom. The greatest part of the 
 Austrian forces in that kingdom consisted of Italian troops ; but almost 
 up to the very commencement of the revolution their loyalty had not 
 only not been doubted, but every allusion to such doubts — whicli are 
 said not to have been wanting in the cabinet — was looked upon as a 
 violation of military honour. This prejudice was so extensively pre- 
 valent, that even in the month of Februaiy, when martial law against 
 high treason and rebellion was proclaimed in the Lombardo -Venetian 
 kingdom, and the military were made subject to it, this latter circum- 
 stance was even in the highest circles of Vienna looked upon with 
 displeasure, as an attack upon the honour of the soldier, although the 
 field-marshal himself had consented to the measure. The subsequent 
 perfidy of so many Italian battalions has furnished a sad proof of its 
 having been adopted with good reason. 
 
 Our allusion to this circumstance has been provoked by an attempt 
 on the part of several persons to construe the remarks of " Genesis," 
 on the rapid loss of the Italian provinces, as evincing ingratitude for the 
 services of the grey-headed and victorious general. They were not, 
 however, made in that sense. Iladetzky's glo'y springs from the mas- 
 terly discipline he knew how to give to his troops — from the prudence 
 with which, wlien the catastrophe had burst forth, he knew liow to 
 preserve them for future victories — fi-om the foresiglit with which lie 
 ■waited for the opportunity for those victories, — and finally from the 
 valour by whicli he gained them. It was perfectly true, as he said 
 at the time of evacuating Jjomliardy, — "Milan has been loH at 
 Vienna," — for the events of Vienna caused both the rising of the
 
 6Ö GENESIS OF THK 
 
 teaches that there the towns liuve ever controlled the pro- 
 vinces, and that, therefore, whoever is master of the former 
 can govern the latter, since, but for tliis ignorance, they 
 would have found means in the ti'oopa which they com- 
 manded, and in their munitions of war, to enable the gamsons 
 of the large to'WTis to strike a blow against theh- imperfectly 
 armed antagonists, and defy a people who were so little expe- 
 rienced in militaiy aftairs. It would not then have occurred, 
 that, beginning ^vith INIUan, all the towns, except Mantua and 
 Verona, were evacuated by the imperial troops in the space of 
 a week, without an attempt being made at bombardment, 
 the most efficient means, as is universally admitted, of 
 reducing insun-ections in towns. Even duiiug the contest 
 in Älilan, which lasted for several days, field-pieces alone 
 and no shells were employed, although the towers of the 
 citadel completely commanded the town ; indeed, it has 
 been observed that the citadel was wholly \mpro%dded with 
 shells. This remarkable circumstance may have resulted 
 from the timid character of the Austrian government ; and, 
 paradoxical as it may sound, we cannot doubt the fact, when 
 we reflect that in the government there existed an actual 
 fear of the apprehension of danger ; and therefore it was 
 that, notwithstanding the daily increasing tumult and daring 
 conspiracy — -fronderie, as it may be termed (and German 
 purists mil excuse the foreign idiom, as no German word can 
 so completely express the idea), — the government neglected 
 to take timely and proper measures for enabling the garri- 
 
 MUanese and the King of Sardinia's violation of the law of nations by 
 the assistance which that king gave to the rebels. Grand and pro- 
 phetic were the first words hi; pronounced, after his arrival at Verona, 
 — " Nothina as yd is l(>st." We rejoice at his fame, but we feel also, as 
 impartial observers, called upon to combat that erroneous opinion, whicli 
 accuses the men wlio were in possessiop of the reins of government at 
 Vienna before March, as having caused the first disasters of the Lom- 
 bardo- Venetian kingdom by a denial of the necessary means of defence.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 67 
 
 sons of the towns to defend them, effectually against the 
 mob, because they were afraid of c\dncing theh- fear of insur- 
 rection by precautionaiy measures, which it was impossible 
 to conceal. 
 
 If this was indeed the cause of the incomplete measures of 
 defence, we must observe with Horace, — " In ^dtium ducit 
 culpa3 fuga, si cai'et arte." Since, how great soever may be 
 the fault of a government, when, by a prematiu'e display of 
 military power, it betrays a mistrust of its subjects who are 
 but partially excited, it cannot be imprudent to exhibit its 
 ftdl preparations to a people who, by provocations and con- 
 tinued abuse of the authorities, have long evinced then- 
 decided intention to overturn the government, thereby pro- 
 voking the preventive and restrictive operations of police 
 measures, and even the summary proceedings of military 
 law, to suppress their political intrig-ues. The most un- 
 fortunate event, however, which could have occurred, hap- 
 pened in Milan, on the 3rd of January, 1848 : a few hun- 
 dred soldiers, whom the disturbers of the public peace would 
 not allow to smoke cigars, actiug under the con\dction that 
 they would fail to receive protection from the authorities 
 against the anger of the people, sought to procure justice for 
 tl emselves by the aid of their weapons, and, in bhnd revenge, 
 cut down the innocent with the guilty. This unfortunate act 
 of self-defence aided the enemies of the Austrian government 
 to excite the people to mad tumult, and they knew how to 
 take advantage of this accidental circumstance, and for the 
 same purpose they had recourse to another expedient. They 
 influenced the deputy of the Milan Central Congregation, 
 Nazzari, to lay a petition before that body, whicli was insti- 
 tuted by the Emperor Fi-ancis for the representation of the 
 Linded interests, in which petition the grievances of the 
 country were detailed and its -wishes expressed. This 
 
 r 2
 
 6S GENESIS OF THE 
 
 example wiis iimnediately imitated in Veuice, and iu the 
 provincial assemblies, as well as in many miiiiicijtalities, and 
 by such means a universal commotion was excited. Such 
 was the object of a step made under the pretence of loyalty. 
 It would have- been a serious mistake to believe that, even if 
 this step had had a favourable result, the position of the 
 Austrian government would have been improved in the eyes 
 of the people, since the point in dispute was not the im- 
 provement of their condition luider an Austrian govern- 
 ment, but their actual separation from it : eveiy concession, 
 therefore, would have been misused, in order to strengthen 
 their means of opposing Austria. This was not suspected by 
 the Austrian officials in the country, since they ad\'ised an 
 immediate compliance with the popular demands, though it 
 was at once perceived by the central authority in Vienna, 
 who, in consetpience of this conviction, and from an appre- 
 hension of the eflects which concessions in the Lombardo- 
 Venetian kingdom might produce iipon the other portions of 
 the empire, refused to recede from its customary cautious 
 course, and declined to give a decisive answer. That the 
 plans of the Lombardo- Venetians were completely pene- 
 trated, is now proved by the public admission of one of the 
 most intelligent of the Milan insurgents, Carl Cattaneo, who, 
 in his work, pubUshed in Paris, entitled " L'Insurrection de 
 !Milan en 1848," page 18, observes : " Les banquiers de Vi- 
 enne insistaient dejä aupres du Conseil Atiliqu« (under which 
 expres.'<ion the Italians meant the central government, whose 
 constnaction they never clearly understood), sur la necessite 
 d'en venir avec nous a des transactions. Nous serions deve- 
 nus libres par des franchises, et le conflit le serait engage ä 
 propos d'une innovation quelcouque dans Timpot." And again, 
 page 38 : " Le moment etait favorable pour mettre en etat 
 d'agir en freres d'armes de cette federation Italieune, a la-
 
 KEVOLUTtON IN AUSTRIA. 69 
 
 quelle la oommunaute des interets nous conduisait naturelle- 
 ment." From the acuteness of the Italians, especially of 
 the Lombards, we cannot believe that they had attached 
 much hope of success to this pretended loyal proceeding of 
 their assemblies, since they knew too well the character of 
 the Austrian government not to perceive, that the accordance 
 of the important concessions to which they laid claim would 
 not take place either quickly or easily. But the refusal or 
 delay of the same they foresaw would be useful for their 
 purpose, since it would afford new grounds of complaint 
 against the government, and new materials for exciting the 
 people. 
 
 Whilst in the north-east and south-west parts of the 
 empire these commotions took place, with the object of 
 effecting a separation, the other parts of the empii-e were not 
 quiet. In these latter, however, the object in ^iew was only 
 the extension or recovery of old privileges, an increase of 
 influence over the provincial administration, combined -with 
 a diminished degree of dependence upon the court officers of 
 Vienna, and the resuscitation of their nationality. 
 
 The character of these commotions was more or less 
 decisive, according to the particular circumstances of the dif- 
 ferent countries, two of which, namely, Hungary and Tran- 
 sylvania, were in full possession of a long-established con- 
 .stitution of Estates, which secured to them an active share 
 in the government ; others, however, in consequence of the 
 events of the seventeenth centuiy, possessed representative 
 Estates, with certain privileges, but without exercising, by 
 right, any decisive influence upon the legislation ; and others 
 again, after their restoration in 1814, had been allowed 
 representative bodies, with a very limited sphei*e of action. 
 Some, as Salzburg, Vorarlberg, Goritz, Istria, and Dalniatia, 
 had not yet received such a privilege. The greater or less
 
 70 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 importance of the insurrection against the goverament was 
 in proportion to the Aveight which was possessed by these 
 provincial estates, or by the aristocracy, who always con- 
 sidered themselves boimd to throw down the gauntlet to the 
 so-termed bureaucracy, arising partly from the extent of the 
 privileges they possessed, and partly from their connection 
 with members of the central government. 
 
 The movement was most threatening in Hungary ; its 
 special object was to extend the municipal rights of the 
 counties, and to increase the influence of the diet, with the 
 view of crippUng the power of the king in the admiiiistra^ 
 tion of the executive authority, which had hitherto been 
 most carefully preserved, and at the same time to extend 
 and establish the supremacy of the Magyars over the other 
 races inhabiting the country. 
 
 Up to the yeaa* 1848 its tendencies were by no means of a 
 democratic character. The privileged classes coquetted with 
 the people in order to win. their sympathy and to deprive 
 the throne of the support it found in tlieir dependence, but 
 they never contemplated sharing their privileges with the 
 people ; on the contraiy, they endeaAoured, under the old 
 system of Estates which was the essence of the Hungarian 
 constitution, to imitate the parliamentary language of those 
 limited monaix-hies where a representative system existed, 
 since, by this confusion of phrases, they had more room for 
 their intrigues ; in particular they endeavoured, and not 
 without some success, to establish the fiction that at the 
 side of their irresponsible king, who was carefully and posi- 
 tively protected by law from all impeachment, there should 
 exist a separate administration, which, in consequence of this 
 separate existence, they might with impunity, in the con- 
 gregations of the counties, and the sittings of the diet, and 
 even elseAvhere, mistrust, abuse, and even degrade. The
 
 EEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 71 
 
 organs of the king hesitated at first io oppose this faction, 
 which, in discharge of their diity, they ought to have done, 
 because a separation of the sovereign from the government 
 can only be tolerated in those states where a ministry, res- 
 ponsible to the nation, stands in such a relation to the 
 sovereign, that the latter can give validity to no act of 
 government without the warrant of his minister. But in 
 the Hungarian constitution a maxim of the very opposite 
 nature prevailed. According to this maxim, there was no 
 ministry, but only a royal chancellorship, appointed for the 
 purpose of giving effect to the royal decrees, which should 
 thus issue with the royal signature. How strictly this 
 maxim was observed, even to the latest period, may be 
 proved by the well-known circumstance, that even trans- 
 actions such as a private gentleman, living in. Vienna, was 
 accustomed to intrust to his agent in Hungary, reqiiired to 
 be confirmed by the king's sign manual before they were 
 recognized by the Hungarian officials. 
 
 The distinction artfully introduced between the king and 
 his government was eagei'ly and cleverly taken advantage of 
 by the movement party to dispute the royal commands, 
 under the pretence that they were not the expression of his 
 wül, but the work of his ministry, hoping thereby to loosen 
 the reins of legitimate authority. Every Hungarian diet 
 ended by abridging the royal privileges, and the opposition 
 never failed to assume a bolder attitude against the govern- 
 ment under the warmest assertions of their respect and devo- 
 tion to the person of the king. The prorogued diet of the 
 years 1843-44 exhibited, in two occurrences, important symp- 
 toms of the increasing discontent. The first took place imme- 
 diately upon its opening : a law affecting religion, proj^osed by 
 the king, was rejected by the Diet without observing the cus- 
 tomary forms of deliberation, and without the deputies having
 
 72 GEXKSIS OK THE 
 
 received the usual iiistnictions from their counties. The 
 second consisted in the fact that the dc]nities of the adjoining 
 provinces were impeded in the use of tlie Latin hinguago, 
 wliich, according to the niles of the constitution, was 
 employed in the debates. A dissolution of the Diet by 
 the king would have been a bold step, which, if properly 
 followed lip, woidd ]n-obably have checked the threatened 
 evil ; this step, however, was not taken, because the ruler of 
 Hungary, like a man who, when attacked, delays to dis- 
 charge his pistol for fear of the repoi-t, wished to avoid the 
 excitement which such a step would have excited at home and 
 abroad. The pri\-ileges of the adjoining pro\inces were sacri- 
 ficed by the introduction of a law which obliged the deputies of 
 the Hungarian diet, after a period of six years, to use the 
 Magyar language, an unknown and dete?<ted tongue, in place 
 of the Latin language, wldch they spoke fluently, and in 
 which, according to the constitution, all their proceedings 
 had been hitherto carried on. From tlds time the hostility 
 between the Slavonic race and the Magyars increased from, 
 day to day, and in Croatia often led to bloody contests. In 
 the Hungaiian covmties the revolutionaiy j^arty, which, in 
 the technical language of the representative system, termed 
 itself the Opposition, became stUl bolder. The Obergespanns 
 and the Administi-ators of Coimties, the only persons ap- 
 pointed by the crown, were accu.stomed to consider their 
 honours as sinecm-es, and to leave their business to be trans- 
 acted by a tempoi'ary substitute called a Vice-gespan, who 
 was chosen by the Estates of each coimty, and seldom had 
 the will or the power and necessaiy authority to insure 
 obedience to the laws and commands of the king. It thus 
 necessarily occurred that every county, under the pretence 
 of maintaining its own authority, degenerated into a sort of 
 republic, which usui-ped that share in the legislation which
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 73 
 
 properly belonged to the diet, since in the county assem- 
 blies the questions to be proposed for the consideration of 
 the two legislative tables were previously discussed, reso- 
 lutions adopted, and the charge of these resolutions com- 
 mitted to the deputies of the counties as a duty, which 
 obligation the deputies felt themselves obliged strictly to 
 discharge, as theii- electors possessed the power of recalling 
 them diiring the sitting of the Diet, and of naming othei's 
 in their places. This authority of the counties, which crip- 
 pled the operations of the diet, was no part of the original 
 constitution j like many other abuses, it crept in siu'repti- 
 tiously, and became at last sanctioned by custom. To bring 
 the counties to order there was no other plan for the govern- 
 ment than to bring back the office of the Obergespanns and 
 the Administrators to their original duties, and to insist 
 that those officials should reside in the counties with which 
 they were intiaisted, and should preside as chairmen in the 
 transaction of all administrative business as well as in 
 judicial proceedings (sedrien). It was evident that many 
 of these, on account of other offices which they filled, 
 or of theh" own private circumstances, could not reside 
 within the circle of their duties, and could not therefore 
 fulfil the intentions of government. In addition, the pe- 
 cuniary sacrifices which their offices entailed, were not 
 recompensed by the small remuneration which they i-e- 
 ceived from the country, and therefoi-e the government was 
 obliged, out of its own resources, to provide for them the 
 large yearly salaiy of 5,000 or 6,000 florins, stipulating that 
 those who filled another office should vacate it. This resto- 
 ration of the office of obergespann and of the administrators 
 of counties to their original intention was called tlu^ 
 "Aj)pony system," although the measure was actually 
 adopted in the diet of the year 1844, before Appony
 
 74 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 was appointed to the Hungarian court chancellorship ; but 
 inasmuch as he had to complete the measiu-e, in general 
 opinion he was considered its author, and on this account 
 was hated and ^^olently attacked, because the movement 
 party were sensible of the great influence which must result 
 therefrom to the king in the counties, and therefore opposed 
 it with all their power. This was an easy task, because 
 many of those officials, whose own interests were affected, 
 and who were unable or unwilling to act consistently with 
 the altered duties of their situations, which they were 
 therefore compelled to resign, notwithstanding their attach- 
 ment to the king, made no secret of their dissatisfaction, and 
 because, moreover, errors occun-ed in the election of the per- 
 sons who were chosen to succeed them. In several counties 
 there was much opposition to the appointment of adminis- 
 trators, whose number considerably increased, because the 
 obergespanns were immoveable, and they were appointed to 
 replace such of those dignitaries, who, Avithout submitting 
 to the new law, showed an unwillingness to retire from 
 their offices. 
 
 The right of presiding in the Sedrien was violently 
 combated, because the new obergespanns and adminis- 
 trators were considered as pensioners of the king, who 
 ought not to exei'cise any influence over a judicial office. 
 The weakness of many of those who enjoyed the royal con- 
 fidence, which prevented them from asserting their consti- 
 tutional rights, increased the boldness of their opponents ; 
 the consequence was, that these measures, supported though 
 they were by a considerable outlay from the public ftmds, 
 did not produce the desired result, but even increased the 
 popular discontent throughout the countiy. The exertions 
 of the government were therefore directed to obtain a majo- 
 rity in the Hungarian Diet, to be convoked at the end of
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 75 
 
 the year 1847, for the purpose of securing the co-operation of 
 its adherents in passing such legislative enactments as might 
 be required for the repression of the daily-increasing agitation 
 and the fast approaching anarchy. The measure was -well 
 intended, but it had to encotmter insuperable obstacles, in 
 the divisions which existed amongst the Conservatives. This 
 body was divided into two parties, of whom one believed 
 that security could only be found in the preservation of old 
 forms and institutions, whilst the other considered them no 
 'onger tenable, and proposed theh- gradual reform. The 
 ftjrmer party consisted chiefly of the old magnates, the offi- 
 cials, and the land-owners ; the latter, of the younger men 
 who had not attached themselves to the opposition. At the 
 head of the latter party stood the Hungarian court chan- 
 cellor. Count Appony. The aversion of the former party 
 lor the latter party was almost as great as that of the yovmger 
 |)arty for the opposition. From motives of loyalty to the 
 throne, it refrained from every species of agitation, but it 
 tlid not support the projects of the other party. The latter, 
 for the present, was possessed of power, and endeavoured 
 by its exercise to secure a majority in the approaching 
 parHament, by advancing such persons only to offices, ho- 
 nours, and situations, as could be depended upon for increas- 
 ing the government majority, either by means of their own 
 votes or those of their dependents. Many honourable claims 
 and expectations were thereby injured, and the opposition 
 seized the opportimity to damage the character of the govern- 
 ment throughout the country, by charging them with the 
 immoral use of corruption to attain their ends. The worst 
 of the business was, that the party of the old adherents 
 of the throne expressed themselves in this way, so that 
 the others coidd not rely on them for support ; a considera- 
 tion, however, which did not shake the sanguine self-confi-
 
 76 OEXKSIS OK TIIK 
 
 dence of tho lattor, or prevent them fVoiii preparing those 
 plans of reform whicli tliey intended to lay before the Diet, 
 iiTid which were defieient in nothing but the means of 
 insuring their success.* A year before the summoning of 
 tho Diet a new difficulty arose, in the death of the Pala- 
 tine, the Archduke Joseph, who had filled the highest office 
 in the state during half a century, and had earned for himself 
 a rich fund of experience, and the respect of all j)arties. 
 He was a sensible, prudent, and also a shrewd man ; his want 
 of decision of character was the occasion, it is true, that 
 many a stone was torn from the foundation of the con- 
 stitution, but his prudence always made the attack recoil 
 upon the heads of the assailants. With a speed liitherto 
 unprecedented in Austria, his son, the Archduke Stephen, 
 was nominated as the \"icar of the jialatine immediately 
 after his decease, and the desire of the king was thus inti- 
 mated that the nobles who had the power of selection might 
 choose him for palatiiie. An opportunity was thus lost of 
 
 * From the sketch of its programme (Appendix No. 1) the intentions 
 of that conservative party with which the government at that time 
 co-operated may be gathered. In the Austrian daily press it is fre- 
 quently spoken of at present imder the name of the "old conservatives," 
 though tlieir proper name, according to our terminology, would be the 
 " 1J0U1UI conservatives." Tlie programme embraces the entire field of 
 administration and legislation. It was to have been passed into law, 
 and gradually put into force by the Estates assembled at the next Diet, 
 and in common co-operation with the government. The ancient inge- 
 nious Hungarian constitution of King Stephen, so full of years, yet 
 so full of wisdom, would thus, without being overthrown!, have been 
 adapted to the demands of the age and to the wants of the Austrian 
 imited monarchy. 
 
 The sober mind and the youthful energy of the Archduke Stephen, 
 the new palatine, seemed to have called him expressly to the execution 
 of this great undertaking. In case of success, the name of Stephen, in 
 like measure as, 800 years ago, it was inseparable from the foundation, 
 so it would now have been inseparable from the completion of the Hun- 
 garian constitution. Instead of this, however, that name, when it, at any 
 ftiture day, recalls the origin of the constitution, will equally awaken 
 the recollection of its overthrow in bloodshed.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 77 
 
 liaving a pre nous understanding with tlie Archduke Ste- 
 ])hen witli respect to his willingness to carr'y out the projects 
 of the Hungarian coui-t chancellor, Count Appony. A 
 difference in their sentiments soon became manifest, which 
 was sedulously encouraged by the opponents of the new 
 system, who siuTounded the archduke, and consisted of men 
 not only from the Conservative, but from the Opposition 
 party. 
 
 The young archduke was anxious to imitate the example 
 of his father, and not attach liimself to any party ; bvit for 
 this purpose he needed the experience of his father, and the 
 skill with which the latter was accustomed to use the 
 balancing-pole, in order to mamtain an equal degi'ee of in- 
 fluence between the contending parties : he thus fell unsus- 
 pectingly into the arms of the numerous and steady oppo- 
 nents of the government system. The unanimity ynth 
 which he had been elected palatine, even by the counties 
 most hostile to the government, was ominous, but neverthe- 
 less was a subject of congratulation in Vienna. The journey 
 which he made through the country in the time that inter- 
 vened between his election and the convocation of the 
 Diet, a few months afterwards, was a splendid triumph, 
 and exercised a beneficial influence on the minds of the 
 Croats, who were at that time but unfavourably disposed 
 towards the Magyars. 
 
 The Chancellor Appony and his young adherents expected 
 to find in the youthful acti^^ty of the new palatine a 
 sfjurce of powerful support, ])articularly for the preserva- 
 tion of order in the Diet, and thciy indulged in the most 
 sanguine expectations. At the same moment, also, the 
 Opposition calculated with certainty on obtaining a victory. 
 In both camps, therefore, pi'ejiarations wei'e made for tin; 
 parliamentary campaign, with confidence as to the result.
 
 78 GENESIS OF TlIK 
 
 But that section of the Consei-vatives wliich was outside the 
 camp a.«siinu;cl a grave a.«ipect, aiid a])peared overpowered by 
 a gloomy anticipation of tlie events that were to follow. In 
 the middle of November, 1847, the eventful Diet openuil 
 its sittings at Prcsburg, and so early as Januar)^, 1848, the 
 government saw the impossibility of improving the state of 
 the country by means of its assistance, and contemplated its 
 dissolution ; but the necessary preparations for so important 
 a step had not yet been made when the events of March 
 broke out." 
 
 The commotions in Transylvania were a copy of those iii 
 Hungary, relieved by some sUght differences arising from the 
 more limited extent of territoiy, the absence of wealth 
 among the movement party, the greater degree of intelli- 
 gence and more tenacious power of resistance which the Gei'- 
 man element in the character of the Saxon, people furnished. 
 
 In consequence of the ability, skill, and superior sagacity 
 Ot' Baron JosLka, the coiu-t chancellor of Transylvania, sup- 
 
 * As the imperial government is at present introducing extensive 
 reforms in the crown-land of Hungary, conquered by force of arms, it 
 might be of some interest to see which of these reforms the crown, toge- 
 ther with the Estates, had, at the diet of 1847, by means of a mutual and 
 peaceable understanding, endeavoured to accomplish. Tlie j)rogTamme of 
 the government party sliows to their full extent the plans of reform (in 
 existence) before March. One diet, however, did not suffice to give effect 
 to them. Tlie reader will perceive from the " most ffracioiis royal propo- 
 sitions," of the 11th of November, 1847 (see No. 2, of the Appendix), 
 which of them, as being of the greatest urgency, had lieen proposed for 
 the consideration of the last diet at Presburg. Tlie manner in which they 
 were proposed itself exhibits an important innovation. Tlie crown had 
 in the previous diets confined itself to a general indication of those 
 laws wliich were to be discussed, and concerning which they were 
 to deliberate and to come to an understanding with the king. The 
 Estatm t/icmsdvc.1 had tlius to draw up the first project of every law. On 
 the occasion, however, in question, a complete project of law was laid 
 before the diet, in order to shorten the proceedings and to give them a 
 definite direction, a method which was beyond all doubt most practical, 
 and moreover analogous to that already observed for a considerable time 
 by the legislative assemblies of other countries.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 79 
 
 ported by his numerous and acth'e adherents, he succeeded 
 in unexpectedly obtaining for the government a favourable 
 issue from the Transylvanian Diet, which closed its sit- 
 tings in 1847. Disputes which had lasted for years about 
 the appointment io offices, the completing of the Tran- 
 sylvanian regiments, and other subjects, were an-anged, not, 
 however, without some saciifice on the side of the government, 
 but only of such rights as were merely nominal, and in practice 
 had long been unproductive of any result. The first step 
 was also taken in the way of settUng the condition of the 
 peasantry by passing an urbarial law, and in the way of an 
 approach towards the central government, inasmuch as the 
 Estates conferred upon its most distinguished German mem- 
 bers the unexpected dignity of the Transylvanian incolate, 
 or a right to establish theii* residence in the country. 
 
 This favourable conduct of the Transylvanian parliament, 
 imexpected as it was, had the efiect of exalting the hopes of 
 the young Hungarian party devoted to the government, and 
 led them to expect a similar result at Presb\irg ; but the very 
 reverse occurred, for the Hungarian movement party were 
 able to seduce the Transylvanians from the course they had 
 commenced, and force them along with them in their own 
 movement. 
 
 After Hungary and Transylvania, Bohemia was the coun- 
 try where, from time immemorial, the existence of the assem- 
 bly of the Estates was dearest to the memory of the people. 
 The recollection of the importance of these bodies before the 
 eventful battle on the White HUl, near Prague, was stUl vivid, 
 and gave occasion to regret tliat that importance had been 
 destroyed, and that Bohemia was now dependent on the 
 court officials of Vienna. A feeling of jealousy of the Czechs 
 against the Austriaus, and a wish to resuscitate the nation and. 
 the language of that people, had never been extinguished.
 
 so GENESIS OF THE 
 
 'rill' tonus ot" tlic old constitution of tlio Estati-s liail 
 boon irtiiine«! in IJohcniia more closely than elsewhere. 
 The jiroviucial otKci'rs of the Estates were always the per- 
 sons who stood at the head of the provincial administration ; 
 the fii-st provincial officer, who was styletl the " Oberstbin-g- 
 graf," was the chief of the province, and the presidents of 
 the courts of justice (courts of appeal and courts of trial) 
 were necessarily jjrovincial officei-s, and therefore members 
 of 'the Estates. Tliis semblance of former things, it is true, 
 had lost its value, for the ajijjointees to any situation, if they 
 were not membei^s of the Bohemian Estates, were imme- 
 tliately invested with the incolate and the necessary gi-ade 
 of nobility by the sovereign ; and tliis very circumstance 
 caused the remembi-ance of the old privileges to be re- 
 tained. The demand for taxes on the part of the king, 
 and various other requisitions, were usually taken into 
 consideration by the Estates in their annual diets, and 
 these diets always closed with a perfectly amicable undei*- 
 standing between the king and the Estates on the subject 
 of the royal wdshes. For a long period the Bohemian 
 Estates had attached no value to such jiroceedings of the 
 diet ; they were considered mere acts of form, and re- 
 mained doiTuant for thirty years. A few years ago, how- 
 ever, the united court chanceiy had the imprudence (in con- 
 sequence of some delay in the proceedings of the diet, and 
 the vote of taxes therewith connected) to compel the Estates 
 to observe them, and tlms üamished a powerful Aveapon 
 against the government. The domestic funds apportioned 
 to the Estates coidd be dispensed by that body, without 
 the dictatorial superintendence of its chief, and even the 
 crown it.self had no control over these ftmds without the 
 consent of the Estates ; and although, from the imimportance 
 of the supplies, this privilege might appear of no gi'eat im-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 81 
 
 portance, it yet afforded tlie first opportunity for a decisive 
 movement on the part of the Bohemian Estates. 
 
 The necessity of a consiütation with the Estates, to obtain 
 their previous consent to certain plans of improvement and 
 amelioration, seemed to Count Chotek, who was Oberst- 
 burggraf in Bohemia, in consequence of his anxiety to do 
 good, too slow a proceeding to ensure his compliance with the 
 custom, and he therefore frequently took upon liimself the res- 
 ponsibility of anticipating the consent of the Diet, and dealing 
 with the funds. The influence wliich Count Chotek enjoyed 
 with the Emperor Francis may have been the reason why the 
 Estates, during his government, assented in silence to such an 
 intei'pretation of their sentiments. But when his credit tlid 
 not stand in the way, they took courage to oppose such usvu'pa- 
 tion. The favoui-able hearing wliich they experienced in 
 Vienna caused them to take pleasui'e in entering into con- 
 tests with their Oberstburggraf, and thus these became the 
 order of the day. This was the first commencement of all 
 those dissensions with the Estates in Bohemia, which had 
 never been dreamt of till then. It is the character of every 
 species of opposition, that it endeavours to extend its sphere 
 of action. And hence it happened, that in addition to de- 
 nying the authority of its cliief, the Bohemian Estates began 
 now to weigh the conduct of government ; at first only 
 in matters where they thought their own privileges were 
 affected, but afterwards in points which concerned the whole 
 country as much as themselves individually. They raised their 
 voices against the nomination of j)ersons to fill certain offices 
 in the government, which were restricted to members of the 
 Estates, and in which persons were installed who, before their 
 appointment, did not belong to that order. When, upon the 
 resignation of Count Chotek, the governing vice-president, 
 Count Salm, was nominated in his place, his appointment gave 
 
 G
 
 82 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 rise to loud complaints for the privileges of the Estates being 
 slighted, by establishing in authority over them a jierson who 
 had enjoyed no oflicial situation in the country, and was not 
 possessed of the legal qualification in property. And yet the 
 precedent was not new ; form the year loll, Count Kolow- 
 rath was, under similar pei'sonal peculiarities, nominated 
 by the Emperor Francis to the same situation, and was 
 recognized by the Bohemian Estates, without opposition, as 
 their provisional chief The government, on this occasion, 
 gave way. A pro\äncial official was persuaded to renounce 
 his post, in order that it might be conferred on Count 
 Sahn. He then received from his brother a property in 
 Bohemia, and thus became qualified, in the opinion of the 
 Estates, to accept the post conferred upon him. After this 
 victoiy the Bohemian Estates sought new causes of contention. 
 They fii'st took into consideration the question of their domes- 
 tic fimd. And here they foimd cause for \'iolently opposing 
 the Adews of the government upon an uniinportant question. 
 The expenses of some foimdation-members of the militaiy 
 academy at Vienna, who were presented by the Estates them- 
 selves, were charged to the domestic fimd, whereas such 
 expense had previously, very unjustly, fallen on the shoul- 
 ders of the clergy. Although the question was restricted to 
 the more correct apportionment of a charge which had long 
 existed, and which was incurred for the sole advantage of 
 the dependants of the Estates themselves, they nevertheless, 
 in order to prevent the government from intermeddling with 
 the domestic fimd, refused to contest the point at the ex- 
 pense of those funds, although they could well afibrd the 
 means of so doing, and the appointments were taken posses- 
 sion of by government. 
 
 Thev now exerted themselves to obtain a still greater 
 influence than formerly over the distribution and allot-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 83 
 
 ment of the direct taxes. In order to assert their claita 
 to the sole right of levying taxes, their leaders in the 
 Diet had recourse to the extraordinary plan of transfer- 
 ring to the dominical (or socage) landowner a part of the 
 taxes paid by the rustic (villein) landowner, with which 
 plan was probably united the intention of seciuing the 
 gratitude of the peasantry. The majority of voters wei'e in 
 favour of the proposal of their leaders, -without considering 
 the consequences of the system of increased taxation, smug- 
 gled in under the name of an alteration in the assessment, 
 and were very disagreeably surprised at discovering that tliis 
 alteration in the system of taxation, which seriously affected 
 the socage landowner, was received by the peasant, to whom 
 it secured a scarcely perceptible diminution of taxation, with 
 the utmost indifference, and without the smallest indication 
 of gratitude. The voting of the dii-ect taxes, which was the 
 duty of the Estates in the so-called Postulaten-Diets, although 
 the amount of taxation remained unchanged, was considered 
 Wtherto as mere matter of form ; but now it was intended to 
 have a practical meaning ; for the Bohemian Estates availed 
 themselves of the opportunity afforded by the order which 
 was issued by the united court cliancery, that they should 
 make regular pai'liamentaiy decrees, to connect their claims 
 with the votes for taxes, and to defer the decree, as well as 
 the levying of the taxes, till the moment when their claims 
 should be recognized. 
 
 Hence arose an active struggle with the government, 
 Avhich found it impossible to make the payment of taxes de- 
 j)end upon an agreement with the Estates, on many subjects 
 which bore no relation whatever to the question of taxation. 
 The president of the Estates, Count Salm, who, by the ap- 
 pointment of the Archduke Stephen to the post of provincial 
 chief in Bohemia, had received the character and title 
 
 O 2
 
 84 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 of second governing jirrsidcnt, was obliged to represent the 
 government, and on tliis aceomit became as much disliked as 
 his predecessor, Count Chotek, had been. He had, however, 
 far less opportunity than the latter to secui'e the respect and 
 regard of the country, because he was not, like the Oborst- 
 burggi-af, the representative of the sovereign ; for th(> 
 archduke stood above liim in that capacity. And in 
 addition, we must recollect that the latter, in his efforts to 
 secure j)opiüarity, endeavoiu-ed as much as jiossible to avoid 
 eveiy unpleasant collision wth the leaders of the Estates, and 
 succeeded admirably in this object, by means of his intel- 
 lectual j)arts, liis lively disposition, liis playfid wit, and liis 
 agi-eeable exterior. 
 
 The assemblies of the Bohemian Estates were the most dis- 
 contented, after those of Hungaiy and Transylvania. A bad 
 symjitom displayed itself in the ch-cumstance that the 
 sovereign did not escape attacks, but was constantly re- 
 minded of his coronation oath. This boldness towards an 
 absolute monarch can be explained by the sympathy which 
 many of the chiefs of the Bohemian opposition found among 
 the higher circles at Vienna, and even among the influential 
 friends of the throne, in consequence of wliich the whole 
 matter was viewed in the mildest light, and considered a 
 mere stonu in a glass of v>-ater ; and the abusive speeches 
 which were uttered against the impei'ial decrees opposed to 
 the wishes of the people, were explained away by saying 
 that they were directed against the courtiers, or the coun- 
 cilloi-s at the side of the emperor. Such a connivance 
 of the liigher circles Avith the Estates, evident as it was, 
 natm-ally encoui-aged their discontent, and increased their 
 aversion to the bureauci"acy, as it was termed. To this 
 last class, not only in Bohemia, but in the other provinces of 
 the empire, all the blame of the good that was omitted,
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 85 
 
 and the evil that was committed, was ascribed, but without 
 justice, as the bureaucracy had no authority to alter 
 the state machine or to change the system of govern- 
 ment. But the aversion with which they were regarded 
 was not wholly unfounded, because they had the imperti- 
 nence to lay claim to universal knowledge, and frequently 
 were harsh in the exercise of the power that was intrusted 
 to them. But they were doubtless oftentimes irritated and 
 vexed at the hatred which the Estates and the liigh aristo- 
 cracy evinced towards them. 
 
 "Wlioever worked with zeal in a government office, even 
 though by bii'th and social relationship he was a mem- 
 ber of the higher orders, was regarded by his fellows as a 
 biu'eaucrat, and it was a rule, j^articiüarly with that portion 
 of the higher aristocracy Avho were called in derision '• la. 
 creme'' of society (because they raised themselves above 
 theh" fellows as cream does above mUk), to behave to the 
 bureaucracy in a friendly and polite manner, only when they 
 needed their assistance. And thus a system of reciprocal 
 anhnosity was established, which led to continual an- 
 noyance. 
 
 Those who were not members of the aristoci'acy felt no 
 sympathy for them, but rejoiced at their disagreements with 
 the government, because they hoped, by the humiliation 
 of the latter, to raise themselves to power. 
 
 The foreign press (particularly that widely-circulated, but 
 strictly-prohibited, joiu*nal, the Grenzhoteii) praised the 
 heroic courage of the Bohemian Estates, but lamented that 
 they entered into contests for their own indiAddual privi- 
 leges, and did not defend the general interests of the people. 
 This censure fell upon a fruitful suil, for the Bohemian Estates 
 soon enlarged the field of their complaints. In order to .stjt 
 about the recovery of their privileges, they established a com-
 
 SG GENESIS OK THE 
 
 mission chosen from amongst themselves, who were to examine 
 all doenments in their archives which might sei-ve to support 
 their claims against the government. At the same time they 
 brought muler their revision transactions of the administra- 
 tion which had no relation to the Estates as a body, but 
 affected the country at large, or the kingdom in particular. 
 By this means they usurped the attitude of " representatives 
 of the people," a position for which they had never been 
 designed, and for which, from their very elements and 
 composition, they were wholly \uifitted. Many plans were 
 now brought forward, which, partly fi-om their great hn- 
 portanco (of which the proposers themselves were unaware), 
 partly from the serious influence they might exercise on the 
 credit of the state or on the money market, and partly on 
 account of the impossibility of defraying the attendant 
 expenses, were not supported by the officials who were 
 called to take them into consideration. The rejection of 
 any such project was the occasion of loud complaints against 
 the detested biireaucracy, who were accused of fettering 
 the good intentions of the king, and of bringing every spe- 
 cies of calamity on the monarchy. And although such 
 charges did not lead to present blows, they paved the way to a 
 revolution, by undennining all confidence in the intelligence, 
 and all faith in the goodwill and power of the government, 
 and established in its place that mistrust which brought 
 all the mischief of the present time upon the empire. 
 
 To render themselves completely the representatives of 
 the Czech people, the Estates now applied themselves to 
 fanning the flame of popular independence, which had never 
 been perfectly extinguished, but continued to bum faintly 
 in the bosoms of the people. Those who spoke GeiTnan 
 much more fluently and more correctly than Bohemian 
 assumed the character of genuine Slavonians ; in the principal 
 
 i
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 87 
 
 taverns and coffee-houses of Prague, where scarcely a tongue 
 imacquainted with the German language ever tasted refresh- 
 ment, the biUs of fare were drawn vcp in Bohemian; invitations 
 to parties were also issued in the same tongue, although they 
 were not addressed to the humbler classes of society, among 
 whom alone an ignorance of the German language could possi- 
 bly exist ; and in the covmtry towns, whose population con- 
 sisted of Germans, the streets invariably received Bohemian 
 names, if the chief magistrate happened to be a native. And 
 thus squabbles about the language, to wliich the gx-eater part 
 of the people had never paid any attention, were called into 
 life. As it had always been the custom to promulgate the 
 laws and decrees in both languages, and as in the Czechish 
 districts, the clergy, the schoolmasters, and public officials, 
 always used the Bohemian language in their intercourse 
 with the people, the result was, that, in spite of the linger- 
 ing feeling of nationality, scarcely a trace of real animosity 
 towards the Germans was to be found among the Czechs ; 
 on the contrary, it had come to be a very general custom for 
 Bohemian parents to send their children to friends in German 
 districts, and to take charge of their cliildren in return, in 
 order that both parties might enjoy the opportunity of 
 becoming acquainted with each other's language. The pre- 
 sent division, therefoi'e, on the subject of tongues and 
 national feelings, did not arise from that portion of the 
 Czech people who are ignorant of the German language, but 
 rather it has been called into being by the upper classes, in 
 order thereby to weaken the central administration, after 
 the example which had been given in Hungary. After a 
 silent battle had been fought in this way for many years, 
 an open rupture took place, in the year 1847, between 
 the government and the Bohemian Estates, wliicli, as a 
 forerunner of the events which subsequently took place
 
 88 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 in March, 1848, desenes to l)o more particulai'ly uoticod 
 here. 
 
 For a long time tlie royal towns of Bohemia had decided that 
 they were no longer subject to defray th^heavy and constantly- 
 increasing expenses of the existing criminal courts out of 
 their own resources, and therefore they energetically lu-ged 
 the necessity of some relief. The justice of this demand was 
 univei"sally acknowledged, and the amount to be contributed 
 by the different towns for the piu'pose was calculated at 
 50,000 florins, annually. The government, to pi'otect the 
 state finances from a new outlay, proposed to the Bohe- 
 mian Estates to charge this payment for the towais on 
 the domestic fund of the State ; but the latter i-ejected 
 the proposal, declaring that the domestic fund was not 
 liable to this charge, relating, as it did, directly to tli<' 
 purposes of the State. In this they were quite right, as the 
 government, in fact, admitted, the latter ha^-ing imdertaken, 
 as a state charge, the support of the tow^is in deti-aying the 
 expenses of the cr imina l couits. Here the matter would 
 have been settled, if a desire to indemnify the finances for 
 this new impost had not occasioned the unfortunate measure 
 of making this unimportant addition to the direct taxes of 
 Bohemia alone. Tlie additional amount of taxation which 
 was therefore imposed, and amiounced to the Bohemian Estates 
 in the royal demand, was earned tlu'ough the parliament 
 first in the year 184Ö, and aftei'wards in 1846, not wathout 
 opposition. The title of tliis new tax was not expressly 
 declared, because it was generally customary to accoimt to the 
 Estates fur the allotment or distribution of the taxes. 
 
 Although, in the Diet of 1847, held for considering tin; 
 estimates, a precisely similar sum was demanded for th*; 
 year 1848, the Estates, nevertheless, considered themselves 
 justified in asking the goveniment by what authoxity the
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 89 
 
 taxation, since the year 1845, had been increased by the 
 sum of 50,000 florins. 
 
 This demand suggested the reflection, that the first step was 
 thei-eby made by the Estates towards controlling the govern- 
 ment in granting the supplies. The government, therefore, 
 adopted the usual course, and requested the Estates to allot 
 and appoint the required taxes for the year 1848 in the 
 same pi-opoi-tion as they had done for the two preceding 
 year.s. The Estates refused obedience, and declared afterwards 
 that they only consented on this occasion, by way of excep- 
 tion to the general rule, to instruct their committee to grant 
 taxes to the same amount as had been allowed up to the year 
 1848, and this for the purpose of preventing inj my which 
 would accinie to the public service, if, acting on their sense 
 of right, they should, on account of the existing difierences, 
 postpone the question of taxes till the end of the Diet, 
 of wliich there was no immediate prospect. Thus the 
 gauntlet was thrown down. The government was obliged 
 to take it up, and engage in the contest, if it did not wish 
 to see its position totally changed in relation to the Bohe- 
 mian Estates, and afterwards in relation to all other Estates^ 
 whose privileges could be traced from an eai'lier origin, and 
 were, in substance, identically the same. 
 
 The entire amount of taxes demanded was thus imposed on 
 the tax-payers by the chairman of the Estates and governing 
 president, with the privity of the Corporation of the Estates, 
 and measures were thus taken efiectually to meet eveiy 
 refusal to pay the taxes. This caution appeai-ed necessaiy, 
 because on an occasion some years before, when, on account 
 of a delay in the closing of the Diet, the proper taxes were 
 assessed in the usual way through the office of the Estates be- 
 fore the close of the Diet, some members of the Estates, of high 
 rank, threatened to refuse payment, though they were then
 
 90 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 the organs of the Estates, and had no scmiple in making the 
 siifety of th(^ public service to depend on a matter of form. 
 But, iu tlie mean time, no such demonstration was made on 
 the present occasion. Advantage was taken of the decided 
 conduct of the government in every possible manner to 
 i-ender it and the statesmen, who were considered as its 
 authors, objects of avemon, in order still more to excite the 
 national feeling and to prepare for the ensuing contest with 
 the government when the Diet should assemble in the 
 ensuing spring. The arsenal of the Estates was in the mean 
 time properly prepared for tliis contest by the committee of 
 the Estates, which, as already mentioned, was appointed to 
 make a report of the documents embodying the rights to 
 which the Estates were entitled. After two years' laboiu-, this 
 report was so voluminous that the Estates did not consider it 
 proper that it should be laid in its full extent before the 
 throne, but that it should be preserved in the archives of 
 the Estates for use upon fit and proper occasions, and only 
 submitted the general effect of the same to the emperor in a 
 report of the Estates, with a view of having some security 
 for the maintenance of their old privileges, which had been 
 set aside by the bureauci-acy. 
 
 It is beyond the limits of our task to enter upon a descrip- 
 tion and critical examination of the claims of the Estates. Be 
 it enough to mention that at the head of these claims, 
 althougli the recollection of the privilege was certainly not 
 very opportune, was placed the right to choose a king in case 
 the ruling dynasty should become extinct, as also the demand 
 that the imposition of taxes should be made dependent on 
 the previous consent of the Estates, and that their advice 
 should be taken on every law and regulation affecting the 
 country. The attitude which the Bohemian Estates thus 
 assumed with respect to the absolute Emperor of Austria,
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 91 
 
 and the daring way in which they acted, might well betolcen 
 how sensible they were of theh' own strength — a strength 
 which coiild only arise from their strict union with the 
 Estates of the other Austrian provinces, and from a cer- 
 tainty of obtaining support among the unprivileged classes 
 of society. This commimity of purpose was, in fact, not im- 
 known to the government, who were fully aware of the 
 agi'eement which the directors of the movement of the 
 Bohemian Estates had formed with those of Mora^da, Lower 
 Austria, and Hungary ; they were also aware of the efforts 
 which they were making to cross over the gulph which 
 yawned between them and the unprivileged classes on the 
 bridge of their common national feeling. Notwithstanding 
 all this, they remained tranquil spectators, in firm reliance 
 on the so mvich vaunted attacliment which the masses of the 
 people were expected to display when the hour of danger 
 should arrive. The government hoped, moreover, to avoid 
 that critical horn* by a compromise with the Estates. For 
 this purpose a special department was opened in the United 
 Court Chancery for the purpose of settling the relations of 
 all the provincial Estates -with the government, on the basis 
 of right and of practical consistency, and to settle the prin- 
 ciples of their regulation. The plan was a happy one, but 
 it came too late, and faued in its intent, for the new de- 
 partment in the court chancery had not yet given signs of 
 life, when the events of March dealt a death-blow not only 
 to it, but to the court chancery, and to all the ancient 
 privileged Estates. 
 
 "We may perhaps have wearied the patience of the reader 
 by the details which we have given of the agitation in the 
 Bohemian Estates, but we have done so, because it was the 
 prototype of what occurred in the other provinces, where 
 ancient privileged Estates existed, with some variation in
 
 92 GENESIS OK THE 
 
 the ilegrec of determination und obstinacy, in proportion to 
 the power which they severally possessed. 
 
 Till' Moniviau Ustates, nearly allied as they were with those 
 of Bohemia, were their eiu'liest and most zealous imitators. 
 But the secession of the most influential and important man, 
 who liad placed himself at fii"st at the head of the Opposition, 
 but subsequently became an adherent of the government in 
 Bohemia, where he was also a member of the Estates, in addi- 
 tion to the great influence of the governor of the country 
 (who was also chief of the Estates), gave the movement a very 
 inoffensive cliaracter. 
 
 In Styria there were some indi\"idual membex's of the 
 Estates who felt themselves disposed to struggle against the 
 government ; the majority, however, were too much disposed 
 for peace to allow themselves to be forced by the othei's to a 
 stronger manifestation of their feelings, and they knew, 
 moreover, that they were not independent and influential 
 enough to break with the government, particularly as they 
 could not overlook, what so often occurs in mountainous 
 countries, that the democracy was quite a match for the 
 aristocracy, a result wliich had been in a great measure 
 brought about by an agricultural society of long standing, 
 chiefly composed of country ])eople and tradesmen, which 
 had extended its branches all over St}'Tia, and was in 
 imcea-sing confidential communication with the Archduke 
 John. It could not, therefore, have escaped the obsei'\-ation 
 of the Estates, that a contest with the government must be 
 attended with great danger to themselves, since the demo- 
 cracy is ever the enemy of priA-ileged orders. They adhered, 
 therefore, to the old path, and presented their wishes or their 
 complaints in the old accustomed peaceable and respectful 
 manner to the emperor. The Estates of Carintliia, and of
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 93 
 
 the district above the river Enns, were circumstanced pre- 
 cisely in a similar manner. 
 
 These countries, although they too were in the possession 
 of veiy ancient privileges, did not approve of entering into a 
 contest with the crown for their assertion, being convinced 
 that in such a straggle they would find no support. The 
 Estates of Silesia entertained the same conviction. 
 
 The corporations of the Estates in the other provinces 
 (with the exception of Lower Austria, of which we shall say 
 more hereafter) were created by the Emperor Francis, after 
 he had reconquered those counti'ies, and were so constituted, 
 that an opposition on their part against the government 
 would have been without any basis of justice. In all 
 these provinces, thei'efore, although they were in trath not 
 strangers to discontent, and even entertained a desii-e to 
 extend their* own influence, and to effect some alterations in 
 the system of government, they were entirely opposed to 
 any violent movement. 
 
 This was not the case, however, in Lower Austria, where 
 the ciy wliich went forth from the Estates to the landowners 
 in the 1 7th centiuy, " Subscribes Ferdinandule," still lived 
 in the r'ecollection of the inhabitants, and dissensions between 
 the Estates and the government officials were the order of 
 the day. It is tiiie that these dissensions arose at first 
 merely from certain orders issued from the circle-authori- 
 ties in Lower Austria, or it might be fi-om the court chan- 
 cery; but the relation of the Estates towards the throne 
 remained imdisturbed. But as this relation had become the 
 very source of dispute in Bohemia, and a meml^er of the 
 Bohemian Estates, who was also one of the highest order of 
 the aristocracy, stated, upon his introduction into the Lower 
 Austrian Assembly, his conviction that the privileges of tlie
 
 94 GENESIS OF Tin: 
 
 Estates were as little acknowledged aud respected iu one 
 place as iu the' other, this expression aroused theii' energies 
 to demanil theii* rights, aud assert them even in Vienna.' 
 In addition to the ordinary assemblies of the Estates, meetings 
 were held of members who agreed in political opinions, 
 complaints against officials and against the crown were 
 drawn up at length, extensive i-emedies were proposed, and 
 addi-esses to the emperor were thereupon prepared, which 
 deputations afterwards presented at the foot of the throne. 
 
 Under the modest title of a plan to regulate the busineÄS 
 of the Diet aud the general assemblies of the Estates, a 
 species of chai-ter was prepared, which would have entii-ely 
 changed the relation between the Estates and the throne. 
 The failure or rejection of such plans and proposals gaA'e 
 occasion to veiy loud complaints of oppression against 
 the bm-eaucracy, of inactiA-ity or incapacity against the 
 
 * Tlie pamphlet, " Die Nieder Oesterreichischen Landstände und 
 die Genesis" ("The Provincial Estates of Lower Austria, and the 
 Genesis"), &c., which has been mentioned in the preface of the 
 third edition, corrects (pp. 10 — 12) the above assertion. It assures us 
 that the endeavours of the Estates of Lower Austria to dispel the apathy 
 of the assemblies of the Estates, which liad almost become proverbial, 
 and to awaken them to constitutional activity, are traceable back Ijeyond 
 the year 1835. The attempts made since that year to rouse themselves 
 up from that apathetic state had, for the greatest part, been without 
 effect. The Estates of Lower Austria had not staggered fonvard out 
 of their sleep before 1840, and the ten following years, when they had 
 been aroused by those few of their members who, apparently slumbering, 
 had neverthless l)een watchful. According to this, the endeavours of 
 the Estates of Lower Austria to display once more their activity 
 manifested itself in the last years of the reign of the Emperor Francis. 
 Attempts were made, in the year «f his death. Tlie real staggering 
 forth did not, however, commence until after the year 1840. It was 
 exactly at that time that the Bohemian Estates, which had been 
 amalgamated with the a-ssembly of the Estates of Lower Austria, 
 reproached the latter in the manner we have stated. As we did not 
 enjoy the favour of belonging to the Estates of Lower Austria, we hoj>e 
 to be pardoned for not having been aware of their activity during tlieir 
 apparent slumber, and in consequence of which we referred its com- 
 mencement to that moment when we saw them stagger forth. 
 
 I
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 95 
 
 central government, and of hostile designs entertained by 
 one or other members of the same. The tendency of every 
 step was to obtain some degree of control over the direction 
 of the finances, and a participation in the legislatvire, and to 
 secure in important matters the same privileges as existed in 
 Bohemia, with the exception of what had reference to their 
 nationahtyj for on these points the German inhabitants of 
 Lower Austria had no new rights to assert. But for this 
 very reason, that there was no occasion to appeal to the 
 feeling of nationality amongst those people, they failed in 
 seciu'ing for their projects that source of strength which is 
 to be found in the sympathy and assistance of the lower 
 orders ; a resource, however, of which the Bohemians could 
 always avail themselves. They were obhged, therefore, to 
 seek other assistance. Accordingly they had recourse to 
 the middle classes of society, with whom, on account of 
 the ch'cumstances in which the capital was placed, they 
 had also formed a more intimate connection. Members of 
 the Estates now took an active part in the various so- 
 cieties established in Vienna, amongst which, the Com- 
 mercial and the Legal-and-Political Reading Society showed 
 the greatest disposition for active operations in the poHtical 
 field. The commercial body, which had felt itself crippled in 
 its speculations by the proper control which the administra- 
 tion of finance exercised over the Lower Austrian National 
 Bank, by counteracting various projects for dealing in its 
 shares, was not slow on its part to blame and discredit the 
 government ; men of letters and pretended literati, who 
 foiTned a numerous class, and a multitude of teachers who 
 were in the pay of the state, in difierent pubHc institutions, 
 poured forth their wrath at the fetters in which the j^ress 
 was held bound, and expressed theh- discontent that a 
 general system of liberty was not established for learning and
 
 9G GENESIS OF THE 
 
 toacliing. The angiy speeches of iiiaiiy eminent bankers, 
 and also of some oftlie respecteil |>i-ol'essors of tlie university of 
 Vienna, ])r<)dnce(l a poweHul impression, in the first pUice, 
 upon the lower order of tradespeople and artizans, and in 
 the second place, upon the students and, tlu'ough their influ- 
 ence, upon their parents, wliich had the effect of exciting 
 mistnist in the government, breeding general discontent, 
 and nourishing a gloomy con^•iction of the unavoidable 
 necessity of a total change in the political system. Even 
 the veiy officials themselves were not free fiom this conta- 
 gion. In the casino of the nobles, in the reading club, oia 
 the exchange, in tavenis and coffee-houses, in the courts and 
 pubUc offices, everywhere were heard loud expressions of 
 censure and want of confidence in the government, uttered 
 openly and without apprehension. 
 
 Even in the veiy neighbourhood of the court were found 
 men, who not only joined in expressing the same sentiments, 
 but that in so noisy a mannei-, that the emperor, a short 
 time before the events of March, found it necessary to 
 admonish them on the subject. The discontented Poles, 
 Hungarians, and Italians, who hai)i)ened to be in Vienna, 
 assisted with all their energies to increase the .spü'it of hostility 
 against the government. 
 
 The Lower Aixstmn Estates, moreover, found a strong 
 host of allies ready to assist them in any endeavours to 
 oppose the existing order of things, willing to stand by them 
 in every effort to destroy, but by no means disposed to aid 
 afterwards in their attempts to rebuild. 
 
 Such was the aspect of affairs in the different pai-ts of the 
 Austrian empire, previous to March, 18i8, and in tliis con- 
 dition they might perhaps liave continued to remain, if into 
 the inflammable materials wliich had been thus collected 
 together, the spark of a trimnphant democracy in France
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 97 
 
 had not suddenly and unexpectedly been thrown to excite a 
 general conflagi'ation. The news of this victory reached 
 Vienna on the 29th February, 1848, by means of a courier to 
 the state chancellor ; it was published on the 1 st of March, and 
 on the 13 th of the same month its effect was already 
 apparent. 
 
 Before we pass to the events of March, we must request 
 the indulgence of our readers for having subjected their 
 patience to so severe a trial, by having so long dwelt upon 
 the pi'e\ious epoch. To many of them oiu* sketch of the 
 Austrian state machine, the accoimt we have given of the 
 Austrian government system, of the excesses of the j^ro- 
 vincial Estates, »fee, will have aj)peared wholly unnecessary, 
 because we have related nothing new ; but whoever has 
 not been placed in relations of official business to the 
 different Austrian authorities, will find in our account of 
 their cUvisions and commotions the key to the solution of 
 many perplexing difficulties which happened during the 
 days of March and the subsequent time. It is not our task 
 to wi'ite a chronicle of the year 1848 ; we -wish to inquire 
 into the origin of that convulsion to which the whole form 
 and constitution of Austria, as it existed previovisly to March, 
 was obliged to succumb in its entirety, and in every indi- 
 vidual part. For this purpose it seemed necessary to ex- 
 amine the nature of the seed, and mark the first budding and 
 gi'athial ripening of that fatal fruit, which, greedily and im- 
 moderately enjoyed, has thrown old Austria into a paroxysm, 
 from wliich no person can with certainty foresee her recovery, 
 though we may in a manner exj^ress our ardent wishes that 
 that prophecy may be truly fulfilled, which these five mys- 
 terious letters, A, E, I, O, U, were intended to announce, 
 " Austria erit in orbe ultima."
 
 98 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE BEQINXING OF THE MONTH OF MARCH, 1848. 
 
 The morning of the 1st of March conveyed to the inha- 
 bitants of Vienna, through the medium of the public papers, 
 the news of the victory wlxich the democrats of Paris had 
 obtained over the citizen king, and the substitution of a 
 republic for the monarchy. Heaven seemed willing to give 
 notice to the inhabitants of Vienna of the calamity which 
 this news portended to their city. At cai'ly dawn thick 
 clouds enveloped the town ; towards foui* o'clock in the 
 afternoon they were alarmed by a storm of thunder and 
 lightning, — a rare occuirence at such a period of the year. 
 The aspect of the physical seemed to resemble that of the 
 moral world. 
 
 The accoimt of the occun-ences in Paris on the 24th of 
 February at first excited the utmost astonishment ; the conse- 
 quences of the events which had taken place lay hid in dark- 
 ness : as these became gradually displayed, there burst forth 
 one of the most terrible political stonns, Avhich no resident 
 in the previously quiet and happy imperial capital could 
 have conceived possible ; popular inile and popular terrorism 
 were predominant, and the traces of their destructive agency 
 will long remain behind. 
 
 The fii'st impression produced by the convulsion in Paris 
 seemed to be the same on all cla.sses of society, and on all 
 parties, — that of astonishment at so rapid and unexpected a 
 dethronement of the King of the French, who, in general 
 opinion, was regarded as the most prudent, most shrewd, and
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 99 
 
 most experienced ruler of the age. One might have under- 
 stood the possibility of the throne becoming vacant in 
 France by the assassination, but not by the expulsion of 
 King Louis Philippe. 
 
 This feeling of sm'prise was soon succeeded by reflections, 
 which had often before arisen, in contemplating what might 
 possibly occur at the future decease of the first king of the 
 house of Orleans, and these reflections were as various as dif- 
 ferent political sentiments could render them. The friends of 
 peace and order looked forward to the future with apprehen- 
 sion, the leaders of the revolution, on the other hand, with 
 hope. Fear ever produces inactivity, whue hope prompts to 
 action. Among the friends of order, thei'efore, a helpless inert- 
 ness succeeded the first feeUngs of astonishment, whilst among 
 the movement party, on the contrary, a prompt activity at 
 once displayed itself in the Rhine provinces, and subsequently 
 extended itself further. The democratic societies took ad- 
 vantage of the fear which was once more awakened in the 
 German governments, lest the newly-established French re- 
 pubhc might now wish to realize the desire they had evinced 
 in 1840, to extend their frontier to the Rhine, in order to 
 preach up the necessity of German unity and concord, and to 
 maintain that this end could never be accomplished with the 
 speed that circumstances reqviired through the Frankfort 
 Diet, which had failed for thirty years to produce imion 
 and strength in Germany, but must be attained by the 
 liands of the German people themselves. An assembly of 
 the people of Germany, in a house of self-elected representa- 
 tives, without any interference of the princes, was announced 
 as the only means of displaying the people's power of re- 
 sistance, and everything was speedily prepared which could 
 conduce to the development of this plan. The govex-nments 
 had not the power to oppose this popular movement. The 
 
 h2
 
 100 GENESIS OK TUE 
 
 tlomocratio unions in Vienna, mIucIi subsisted in spite of 
 the so nuich hoiistod wattliful ami suspicious police, lent 
 a diligent hand to the preparation of these measures in the 
 imperial capital, though they were at first conducted in 
 silence and with caution. The Austrian govenunent was so 
 full of a lamentable over-confidence in its security against 
 internal attacks, that it only directed its attention to the 
 danger which threatened it from Germany and Italy. Pre- 
 parations were neces-sjiry to meet this danger. For this pur- 
 pose the requisite pecuniary resources were to be got ready. 
 A new loan was already projected, but it could only be em- 
 ployed to supply the momentary want of money : measui'es 
 were first to.be taken to establish a permanent uniformity be- 
 tween the income and the expenditure of the state. And as 
 a diminution of the latter was not possible, under existing 
 circumstances, it was obviously essential to increase the 
 former, which wa.s impracticable without discovenng new 
 sources of revenue. Though the condition of the Austrian 
 finances, at the commencement of the year 1848, was not 
 such as to alarm competent judges, they were yet, according 
 to public opinion, in a critical position. 
 
 On this subject public opinion was misled partly by the 
 general system of secrecy in state matters, partly by the 
 imprudence of high personages, who, in order to justify the 
 rejection of demands upon the state finances, wliich came 
 before them, alleged their disorder by way of pretext, some- 
 times even with an allusion to an approaching national 
 banki^uptcy. This imprudence aftei-wards bore bitter fndt, 
 inasmuch as it increased and established a mistrast of the 
 government, and a general discontent with its proceedings. 
 The head of the finance department. Baron Kiibek, president 
 of the Court Chamber, recognized the overpowering impor- 
 tance of these circumstances. From his anxiety to reduce
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 101 
 
 witliin the compass of tlie strictest necessity the expen- 
 diture of the state, in its most expensive branch, namely, 
 the military establishment, he was engaged in perpetual 
 conflict with the war department, which, on its side, being 
 pressed by the iirgent demands of the commander-in-chief of 
 the Italian armies, laid claim to all the disposable funds to 
 increase the army and establish it on a war footing. This 
 army, as early as February, 1848, was increased to 85,000 
 men, and was thus rendered, according to the judgment of 
 experienced men, sufficiently strong to preserve order ia the 
 country. An attack from King Charles Albert, without a 
 previous declaration of war, and in direct opposition to liis 
 assurances of friendly alliance, could not but appear to men 
 of justice and honour, such as were then in the Austrian 
 cabinet, to be a moral and political impossibility, more par- 
 ticularly after the explanation given to the treaties of 1815 
 by the Eui-opean powers, with a view of acknowledging the 
 bearings of those treaties upon their relations with Italy. 
 
 The reproach of an ill-advised parsimony, which has been 
 directed by some persons against the Avistrian central govern- 
 ment, on the ground of a supposed neglect of the Itahan 
 annies, and which found a vent in the columns of the Augs- 
 burg Universal Gazette, particularly m their Itahan corres- 
 pondence, is therefore incorrect ; since the burdens ah-eady 
 imposed on the Austrian finances, almost too heavy to be 
 borne, the universal outcry against the pressui'e of the exist* 
 ing taxes, which rendered their further increase impossible, 
 and the general mistrust in the condition of the finances, 
 arising as already stated, and diligently encouraged by 
 the enemies of the government, rendered it a duty for 
 the statesmen of Austria, although they were as yet resjoon- 
 sible to no parUament, but only to an absolute monarch 
 and their own consciences, not to dij) deeper into the
 
 102 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 purees of the citizens thau iiudoubted and unavoidable 
 necessity demanded. But so earnest, particiüarly in the 
 capital, was the anxiety of e^cry one to blame and misrepre- 
 sent every proceeding of the government, that the very same 
 individuals who complained of financial difficulties, approach- 
 ing bankruptcy, and oppi-essive taxation, actually censured the 
 government for iiot establisliiug a larger and more powei-fiü 
 army in the Lombardo-Venetiau kingdom. Indeed, the cir- 
 cumstances of this kingdom were a never-failing source of 
 agitation. In the same moment one might hear voices com- 
 plaining of the weakness and unseasonable müduess of the go- 
 vernment towards its Italian subjects, which had continually 
 spared and favoui-ed them at the expense of the rest ; and 
 again, voices, -which ascribed the discontent in the Lombardo- 
 Venetian provinces to the Austrian system of oppression, ex- 
 tortion, and neglect. And thus all respect and confidence was 
 systematically withdrawn from a government, whose love for 
 its subjects, and untiring solicitude for their general welfare, 
 and strict uprightness, shone forth in aU its dealings, and 
 which should only have been charged with an excess of cau- 
 tion, and, as a necessary result, a languor of administration. 
 The immediate consequences of this lamentable state of 
 things upon the branch of government intioisted to his super- 
 intendence, namely, the finances, did not escape the sharp ob- 
 servation of Baron Kiibek. His position justified and required 
 him to adopt some remedy. The publication of the state budget 
 would have been sufficient at any other time to coi-rect the 
 opinion of the public ; but, in the excitement wliich then 
 existed, it would have probably produced the very con- 
 trary effect : since the abandonment of the perfect secrecy 
 which was formerly obsei'ved so strictly, that in the statistical 
 tables which were officially communicated to the heads of 
 the several departments, no notice of the state debts was
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 103 
 
 ever inserted, with the adoption of a system, which made 
 public those secrets, would have been considered as an 
 attempt to deceive the public, and as a cunning artifice to 
 obtain undeserved credit. 
 
 He proposed, therefore, to requii-e the Estates of all the 
 provinces to send deputies to Yienna, that they might there 
 receive the most complete explanation, supported by docu- 
 ments, and might consider such ways and means of managing 
 the finances, as might lead to a restoration of equality be- 
 tween the income and expenditure of the state. This step 
 might have proved of incalculable importance, and might 
 have paved the way to a constitutional adjustment of 
 the monarchy. The plan was not rejected by the emperor, 
 but rather approved of. But when the details of the mea- 
 sure were discussed, doubts and delays arose agaiu in tlüs 
 instance, and thus it happened that the 1 3th of March arrived 
 before a single step had been taken in the matter. But for 
 this delay, the government might have opposed the threat- 
 ened revolution with a greater degree of moral strength, 
 for it could no longer be accused of closing its ear to the 
 wishes of the Estates, who wished to play the part of x'epre- 
 sentatives of the people, and the change from an absolute to 
 a constitutional monarchy would have been less hasty and 
 less destructive in its effects. For, after the victory which 
 the doctrine of the people's sovereignty had so unexpectedly 
 obtained in Paris on the 24th of February, the chiefs of 
 the popvilar party in Germany were able to use their power 
 to effect the overtlirow of their German rulers. As the 
 princes, in the year 1813, in order to strengthen their power 
 against the Emperor of the French, had evoked the spirit 
 of freedom in their people, so they deemed it advisable, in 
 their fear of an approaching contest with the French republic 
 in 1848, not to oppose Avith force the impetuous efforts of the
 
 104 GEXlCSrS OF THE 
 
 German people to obtain their independence. One glance 
 at the events which occurred in Germany immediately after 
 the Febniary revi)lutiou in I'aris will establish the truth. 
 
 As early a.s the 20th of Februar}^, the ministry of Baden, 
 at Carlsruhe, being hard-pressed by the demagogues, notified 
 to the Chamber of Deputies that the ministry was prepared 
 to bi'ing forward measures for the establishment of complete 
 freedom of the press, trial by jury, and the arming of the 
 people. In the evening of that veiy day the citizens appeared 
 tmder ai'ms ! At Stuttgart, on the 2nd of March, a petition 
 Avas signed in an assembly of the citizens^ and addressed to 
 the kbig, requiring him to summon a German parliament, to 
 establish the jury system, unfettered freedom of the press, 
 the privilege of holding public meetings and debates, a legal 
 equality of all religious denominations, equality of taxation, 
 freedom of land tenure, earnest efforts to develope the com- 
 mercial and political resources of Germany, and an arming of 
 the people, — which petition produced the immediate convo- 
 cation of the Estates, in order that suitable projects of law 
 might be j^roposed for their consideration. SimUar requests 
 were made at the same time in the duchy of Nassau, and 
 for the most part were granted. The Diet sitting at Frank- 
 fort found itself comjielled to declare, even so early as the 
 3rd of March, that it should be hvtt^il for every German 
 state of the confederation to abolish the censorship and 
 establish Uberty of the press, under guarantees to secm-e, 
 as far as possible, the other states, and indeed the entire 
 confederation, agahist an abuse of this pri\-ilege. On the 9th 
 of March, the coloui-a, black, red, and gold, were adopted as 
 the colours of the confederation. In Munich, King Louis, 
 after a popular tumult, which lasted for many days, and a 
 plundering of the arsenal, on the 4th of March, felt himself 
 compelled, in a proclamation, dated March 6th, to convoke a
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 105 
 
 meeting of the Estates for the 1 6th of the same month (the 
 lower chamber had been dissolved on March 3rd, and he 
 revoked this dissolution), in order to submit to them projects 
 of law of nearly a similar tendency, and at the same time 
 the immediate swearing of the army to the constitution, and 
 the aboUtion of the censorship in domestic and foreign 
 matters, which had been postponed, was commanded. In 
 Berlin the king declared, on the 7th of March, that the 
 right of periodically assembling, wliich had hitherto been 
 conferred only on the united committee of the provincial 
 Estates, was transferred to the united Diet, and on the 
 8th, that the censorship should be abolished and freedom of 
 the press established ; which announcements, however, were 
 not sufficient to prevent a jjopiüar assembly from meeting in 
 the zoological gardens on the 13th of the same month, which 
 proceeded to the palace, and, midst the insults of the sol- 
 diery, shouted for liberty and freedom of the press, a sample 
 of the serious events which wn-o subsequently to occur. 
 
 The King of Saxony was obliged, on the 6th of March, to 
 consent to the immediate convocation of the Estates, and to 
 the dismissal of his minister', " von Falkenstein," who was an 
 object of aversion to the people. 
 
 It does not fall within the limits of our task to describe 
 the popular commotions which took place in all the provinces, 
 of Germany about the same time. They were all formed 
 after the same model. Some governments were fortunate 
 enough to postpone the tumult, none could succeed in defeating 
 the movement. On the contrary, in Heidelberg, the doctrine 
 of the sovereignty of the people obtained a triumph on the 5th 
 of March, which was full of portentous results for the whole of 
 Gennany. There, on the above-mentioned day, a body con- 
 sisting of fifty-one individuals, who had proposed themselves 
 as representatives of the German people, came to the resolu-
 
 106 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 tion, that since the Diet no longer possessed the confidence 
 of the nation, a general assembly of trustworthy men from 
 all the provinces i)f the (Jerman empire should meet together 
 %\ith all speed, to tako immediate measures for a national 
 representation, which sliould be ixdopted in all the depen- 
 dencies of the country by popular election, according to the 
 ixmoiint of the inhabitants. To make preliminary an-ange- 
 ments. a committee, consisting of seven of those present, was 
 immediately appointed. In the course of a week this com- 
 mittee published an invitation to all those who ever had 
 been, or at that time might be, members of the Estates, or 
 belonged to the legislative bodies in any of the countries of 
 Germany, to meet in Frankfurt-on-the-Main, on Thursday, 
 March 30th, for the purpose of considering apian for the 
 formation of a German national parliament, with the proviso 
 that particular invitations should be forsvarded to a certain 
 number of other eminent men who possessed the confidence 
 of the German people, b\it who had not previously been 
 members of the Estates. 
 
 The German governments were obliged in sUent submis- 
 sion to witness this bold movement, which asserted the 
 sovereignty of the people ; but with regard to the Italian 
 princes, the case was not mucli better. On March 5th, 
 the constitution was proclaimed in Turin. On March 6th, 
 the King of Naples, who had already given a constitution to 
 his own subject.s, which, however, found no approval in 
 Sicily, convoked the SicUian parliament to meet on the 23rd 
 of March, in Palermo, in order to adapt to the existing state 
 of things the constitution of the year 1812. 
 
 On March 7th, the Pope had to excuse himself to the Roman 
 people, on the ground that in the States of the Chiu'ch a 
 constitution could not be prepared so speedily as in other 
 kingdoms, and sought to appease the excited populace with
 
 KEVOLUTION IK AUSTRIA. 107 
 
 an assiu'ance that lie would be able to satisfy tliem iii a few- 
 days. 
 
 And thus we see, that no sooner was the throne over- 
 turned in France, than the princes of Germany and Italy 
 became at once subject to the will of their people ! 
 
 Thus, totally destitute as the kingdoms of western Eiu'ope 
 seemed to be of all power of resistance against the force of 
 democracy, it became evident that even in the Austrian 
 monarchy the feehngs of all those parties who were averse 
 to the existing form of government, who were dissatisfied 
 with the action of the state machine, and were excited by 
 a desire for reform, could not long remain inactive. The 
 moment for commencing the movement must have ap- 
 peared so favourable to the reformers in Austria, that they 
 could scarcely expect a moi'e advantageous one to occur, 
 since the embarrassment of the government in Italy, in con- 
 sequence of the national hatred which was excited and sup- 
 ported from abroad ; in Hungary, in consequence of the 
 increasing arrogance of the Magyars ; in Bohemia, in conse- 
 quence of the open collision with the Estates ; in Lower Austria, 
 in consequence of a similar division, which was every day 
 apprehended ; the condition of the finances, which rendered 
 a still deeper plunge into the pockets of the citizens un- 
 avoidable, and the feelings of discontent and distrust of the 
 government, which were now loudly expressed in the higher 
 and middle classes of society, encouraged the hope that a 
 resistance on the part of the government, which even in 
 Paris, under circumstances of infinitely less difficulty, King 
 Louis Philippe, who was considered a prudent and resolute 
 man, had not been able to carry into effect, and which German 
 princes had never attempted to imdertake, would not be 
 made in Vienna against the movement party, or at least was 
 not much to be anticipated.
 
 108 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 Renewed actmty wtvs now oliscnahlo in all tlio cor])orii- 
 rations, unions, and clubs, und even among itrivatu iiidivi- 
 duals, and wishes which were lurnierly ex2)ressod oidy in secret, 
 were now opeidy announced. lu the fii-st place, the voice of 
 intelligence, as it is termed, became loud ; it had com- 
 j)lained, for many years, of the enchainment of the mind, 
 which resulted from the rules of the censorship, and from the 
 manner of theii* administration, and had been encouraged to 
 expect a reform in that objectionable system. This measure 
 of reform, which had been so ardently expected, commenced 
 on the 1st of February, 1848, but produced, upon those 
 whose hopes had been thereby excited, a perfect astonish- 
 ment ; since they recognized in these measures of reform 
 i-ather a stricter superintendence over the press than any 
 favour confeiTed iipon it. Soon after the commencement of 
 the new censorsliip regidations, the principal booksellers in 
 Vienna presented a petition to the emperor, for the abolition 
 of the censorship grievance, admirably drawn up in an 
 original tone, in the style of the Lord's Prayer, and ad- 
 dressed to him in the .second person (but not Avi-itten in verse), 
 and immediately afterwards a re])ort wa.s circvdated that 
 several book establishments were about to close for want 
 of means, if immediate help Avas not extended to them, 
 and thus the sources of bad feeling were increased amongst 
 the educated classes. 
 
 The Trades Union of Lower Austria on the Gth of March, 
 in one of its ordinaiy montlily meetings, at wliich the 
 Archduke Francis Charles, and the minister. Count Kolow- 
 rath, were present, voted an addi'ess to the emperor, in which, 
 whilst they noticed the astonisliing events which had oc- 
 curred in the west of Europe, they set forth the deep woimd 
 given to public credit, the cessation of all trade, and the 
 magnitude of the impending danger ; and they further de-
 
 KEVOLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 109 
 
 clared that nothing but a strong and cordial union of the 
 government with the Estates and the citi2ens, a strong and 
 cordial union of Austria with the interests of the entire Ger- 
 man fatherland, coupled with perfect sincerity, could win 
 back that old national confidence which had so often been 
 put to the test ; and they added an assurance that every 
 member of the union was ready to sacrifice his wealth and 
 his hie for the hereditary imperial house, in the conviction 
 that the emperor would adopt the wisest and best means to 
 avert the impending danger. In the composition of this ad- 
 dress, in spite of the appended and parenthetical vows of self- 
 devotion, one could plainly read a wish to efiect a radical 
 change in the government ; for such declai-ations were by no 
 means called for, inasmuch as the French republic, which 
 had been re-established, gave not the slightest occasion to 
 suspect its mtention of threatening other states, and it was 
 little in accordance with the purpose and position of the 
 Lower Austrian Trades Union to step forth as a prophet 
 and counsellor in the field of politics. It was therefore clear 
 that they were glad, under pretence of sincere devotion to 
 the imperial dynasty, to seize the opportunity of passing a 
 vote of distrust of the government, in the presence of two 
 permanent members of the state conference, one of whom 
 was the presumptive heir to the throne, and by the acclama- 
 tion with which it was received, to make the first attempt 
 at a demonstration. The thanks which the archduke re- 
 turned in the assembly, amidst gi-eat applause, in an extem- 
 pore speech, proved that this attempt was successfid ; for he, 
 in his goodness of heart, suspecting no evil, was overcome 
 by the assurance that they were willing to risk life and 
 property in the defence of the imperial house. 
 
 The courage of the reformers now increased. A few days 
 after this prelude, men of all classes ascended the stage, and
 
 110 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 ivssisted in thousands in oompleting a, petition proposed by 
 the members of the university of Vienna, and the Legal and 
 Political re;uling elub, in which their real objects were more 
 cleai'ly and minutely detailed. In the commencement it 
 stated the desire, which, for many yeai's, eveiy true patriot 
 had felt, and the necessity, so often adverted to in words and 
 speech, of beholding tlie glorious and mighty land of Austria 
 marching onward in the path of peaceable, but substantial, 
 improvement ; then followed the remark, that the late 
 events in the west of Europe rendered it impossible to reject 
 or postpone these demands without endangeiing the peace 
 of the world, the credit of the state, and the security of pro- 
 perty and right in eveiy kingdom. The course which it then 
 behoved Germany to piu'sue was next pointed out, in order 
 to preserve her against every disaster, and to secure her 
 support and strength at home and abroad, in the firm con- 
 \dction that Austria, whose rulei*s had filled the German 
 throne for centuries, could only find real security in a firm 
 union "svith (jrerman interests and Gennan politics. The 
 petitioners then averred their enduring afiection and attach- 
 ment to the high imperial house, as Austiian citizens, and 
 they subjoined, in the discharge of a holy duty, an open and 
 plain exposition of the measures which they considered to 
 be alone calculated to impart new strength and vigour to 
 the government and the empire at large, in the fearful cir- 
 cumstances of the age. 
 
 These measiires were : — 
 
 " The immediate publication of all matters relating to the 
 adminis-tx'ation of the state household. 
 
 " The periodical conA'Ocation of a united assembly of the 
 Estates of all the provinces of the monarchy, representing 
 all classes and interests of the people, with the right of 
 assenting to the taxes, and of controlling the financi^,!
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. Ill 
 
 department, and likewise of taking part in the legisla- 
 tion. 
 
 " The establishment of a legal status for the press by the 
 introduction of a restriction law ; the enactment of a funda- 
 mental law of publicity in the administration of justice, and 
 in all government proceedings ; the concession of a municipal 
 and commercial charter, adapted to the times ; and as a basis 
 for the same, the representation of the agricultural, indus- 
 trial, commercial, and educated classes, which were imper- 
 fectly or not at all represented in the assembly of the Estates." 
 This petition, having in view a radical change in the inter- 
 nal organization of the whole monarchy, was not addressed 
 to the emperor, but to the provincial Estates of one of the 
 smallest provinces of the empire, namely, the Archduchy of 
 Austria below the Enns, with the request that they, as the 
 constitutional organ to meet the wants of the people, would 
 in their next assembly take the proposed measures into 
 consideration, and lay before the throne a proper plan for 
 their immediate execution; a most remarkable proceeding, 
 since it must be observed that the Estates, in their existing 
 condition, could not express the complete sentiments of the 
 country. It is evident, therefore, that a few individuals in 
 Vienna, who were only competent to express their own 
 separate views, and to represent their own individual inte- 
 rests, elected themselves without any authority to be the repre- 
 sentatives of the whole Austrian population, and became the 
 bearers of a petition which was destitute of whatever value 
 it might have been entitled to, if it had emanated from the 
 Corporation of the Estates, which body they roundly declared 
 never to have been the complete representatives of the 
 province of Lower Austria, and never to have possessed any 
 authority to submit to the emperor a plan for changing the 
 whole system of government throughout the monarchy.
 
 11- GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 The connection of the interests of the reigning dynasty with 
 the proposjil to divide the govornment between the sovereign 
 and the j^eojile, presented at tliis moment, when in France 
 the mling family hiwl been driven out by the people, the 
 appearance of a threat, because there was nothing in the po- 
 litical circumstances of Europe to expose the imperial family 
 of Austria to the ajiprohension of such a danger. We have 
 already seen that the Trades Union had adopted the same 
 means for exciting teiTor ; their object was, no doubt, to 
 frighten the royal family and their advisers. During the 
 whole of the Austrian revolution, its originators aud ad- 
 herents, over and over again, had recoui'se to this plan, with 
 dexterity and success, to cripple the power of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 It must be ascribed to the fears of the government that 
 the proceedings of the Trades Union on the Gth of March, 
 instead of being met by an order to dissolve or close the 
 "union, were responded to by an expression of thanks from 
 the heir to the throne, and that the adcb-ess of the Austrian 
 citizens in Vienna was allowed in many places to be exposed 
 for the collection of signatures up to the 12th of March with- 
 out the interference of the Austrian police, who were accused 
 over all Europe of posse.ssing Argus' eyes and vulture's claws. 
 Amongst the many persons who assisted to compile tliis peti- 
 tion, one individual particularly demands attention, who has 
 distinctly declared his concurrence with the same, apj^ended his 
 whole name, style, and title thertito, John, Baron of Deresenyi, 
 royal and imperial court coimcillor and referendary of the do- 
 mains in the General Coiu-t Chamber. This declaration was, 
 doubtless, intended to establish, that a royal official by no 
 means violates his duty or hLs oath in supporting, from mo- 
 tives of indi^•idual conviction, such a petition, deeming it con- 
 sistent with the true and real interests of the people. Such a
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 113 
 
 declaration was calculated to exercise a great influence upon 
 the whole body of officials, as the man from whom it emanated 
 was the son of one who enjoyed high and powerful patro- 
 nage, the president of a court office, who had retired in 1840. 
 This may serve as a proof of the observation we have akeady 
 made, that moral discipline had enth-ely disappeared amongst 
 the officers of the state. 
 
 To the two above-mentioned demands for a reform of the 
 government, both of which were without any legal autho- 
 rity, succeeded a third, on the 12th of March, which was 
 equally iUegal, and came from the students of Vienna. 
 These young people, whose pursuit should have been study, 
 allowed themselves to say to the emperor that, according to 
 their conviction, freedom consisted in strongly uniting 
 prince and people, in making them capable of gi-eat deeds, 
 and of bearing great trials with fortitude and valour, and that, 
 therefore, the students of Vienna conceived they discharged 
 a sacred duty in declaring their conviction, that the assertion of 
 this freedom was a compulsory obligation in the present cri- 
 tical situation of afiairs, on which account they implored the 
 emperor to grant freedom of the press and freedom of 
 speech, for the establishment of mutual confidence and agree- 
 ment between prince and people, a change in the system of 
 popular instruction, and above all, the introduction of free- 
 dom in'-teaching and learning ; an establishment of equality 
 between the members of all religious creeds, publicity and 
 onva voce management of all legal proceedings ; and that 
 these improvements should be especially introduced into such 
 portions of the kingdom as belonged to the German con- 
 federation. This petition was brought forward on March 
 11th, and on the following day (Sunday) it was agreed to in 
 the hall of the university (afterwards the infamous Aula), 
 with the co-operation of many members of the Polytechnic 
 
 I
 
 114 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 lustitution, at a very boistci'oiis meeting. The advice offered 
 by the iliivctor of the political law chiss produced no effect, 
 for the heads of tlie young people had been, for a long time 
 previously, no doubt intentionally, too much excited by 
 some of the professore to attend to the dictates of prudence 
 and reason, when other voices demanded the removal of the 
 Austrian government. 
 
 Wlien we consider the nature of the demands that were 
 made by the students, involving questions of the most com- 
 plicated kind, on which the best instructed and most expe- 
 rienced statesmen of all nations are at variance, and which 
 the former considei'ed as settled, we cannot doubt that the 
 presumption and daring of these inexperienced persons ai'ose 
 from their youth, and that they were led astray by an 
 excusable desii-e "jurare in verba magistri ;" so that these 
 magistri, of whose hostile dispositions towards the govern- 
 ment we have already spoken, must be considered the real 
 authors of this petition. In fact, the authority of the 
 university, instead of opposing these proceedings on March 
 11th, and of supporting the interference of the dii'ector on 
 the 12th, rather chose to try a plan of arrangement by pro- 
 mising the excited youths to forward the petition on the 
 same day to the emperor through a deputation. In this 
 deputation the same professor took part who, in the year 
 1846, chose the seizure of the territory of Cracow sdl a sub- 
 ject of discussion, to qualify a candidate for a doctor's legal 
 degree, and who endeavoured to screen tliis offence under the 
 j)retence of good intentions, when he was called to account 
 for his conduct. 
 
 And this deputation, which was called together by boyish 
 arrogance, not^vithstanding that on other occasions deputa- 
 tions even of the Estates had been refused admittance, when 
 the emperor disapproved of the object they had in view, re-
 
 REVOLUTION m AUSTRIA, 115 
 
 ceived an audience of the absolute emperor in tlie evening of 
 the very same day, a most unusual time to enjoy such an 
 honour. Was not this a proof that the powers of absolu- 
 tism were broken by faction, and that the revolution was 
 triumphant 1 What remained but to circulate the news of 
 this triumph in Vienna ? This soon occurred ; but before we 
 consider what occuiTed on those remarkable days, the 13th, 
 14th, and 15 th of March, we must take a glance at the 
 effects which the popular victory in Paris had produced in 
 some other parts of the empire. 
 
 We will first dii'ect oiu' attention to Bohemia, whei-e the 
 Estates were preparing themselves for an obstinate struggle 
 in the next Diet, for the re-establishment of their old 
 privileges. Shortly before the month of March, the Bohe- 
 mians, in pm-suance of the terms of their constitution, had 
 received an oberstburggraf as tlieü- provincial chief, in the per- 
 son of Count Rudolf Stadion, who had been governor of Mo- 
 raAT.an Silesia. In Moravia he had had the good success to 
 overcome the opposition pai-ty in the assembly of the Estates. 
 A similar advantage was exjjected from him in Bohemia, as 
 an accommodation of the dispute about the taxes was an 
 object of the greatest anxiety on the part of the central 
 government. 
 
 The minds of the people in Pi-ague were much agitated 
 by two causes ; the Estates and their adherents were excited 
 by the struggle in which they were engaged to establisli 
 their claims, and the other classes by the jealousy that 
 existed between the Czechs and the Germans. 
 
 For a very long time, meetings of the partisans of 
 the Czechs had been held ia a favourite hotel, called 
 " Wenzelsbad," the members of which evinced their attach- 
 ment to their party by the custom of only speaking 
 the Bohemian language at these meetings. Such was 
 
 I 2
 
 1 1 G GENESIS OF THE 
 
 also the practice in many other hotels in Prague, ■whose 
 proprietors, without jjosscssing much education themstilves, 
 in order to fui-ther the projects of Czechish literati and 
 officials who resorted tliithei-, endeavom-ed to prove their 
 national j>redilections by the ])ractical measures they ado2)ted, 
 of furnishing no refreshments to their guests which were 
 not called for in the Bohemian language. The proprietor 
 of the house, the notorious Faster, obtained by this means 
 the character of a Czechish patriot. As these meetings 
 had neither the appearance of a club, nor were the result 
 of any political object, but seemed to be established to 
 encoui-age a love for the Bohemian language, literatm-e, and 
 nationality, they were not interfered with by the authorities. 
 But after the news of the proceedings at Paris, their origi- 
 nal object either changed altogether, or the inoffensive veil 
 in which it had been enveloped was thrown aside. The 
 effect of those proceedings in Prague -svas alarming. The first 
 expression of feeling which it called forth showed the 
 opinion which was there entertained of the Austrian go- 
 vernment. It was evinced by a inin on the branch estab- 
 lisliments of the National Bank, to prociu'e pajTuent of the 
 notes of the Central Bank, which bore three per cent, in- 
 terest ; which was, "svithout doubt, a silent but unequivocal 
 vote of distrust. 
 
 Many members of the Bohemian Estates resolved in a 
 private meeting to endeavoui* to jn'ocure the convocation of 
 an extraordinary Diet by the oberstburggraf, in order to 
 demand timely concessions from the emperor, amid pro- 
 testations of the most loyal intentions. A repoi't was soon 
 circulated that a meeting of the citizens was to be held in 
 the above-mentioned hotel of the Wen^elsbad, to prepare an 
 address to the government, on the necessities of the time. 
 Anonymous invitations to attend at the hotel on the 11th
 
 BEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 117 
 
 of March, in the evening, which were circulated through the 
 town, reduced these reports to a certainty. At six o'clock 
 in the evening of the appointed day, every room in the 
 Wenzelsbad was filled with guests of the better classes, 
 amongst whom the most prominent members of the Bohe- 
 mian Trades Union appeared in the most significant manner. 
 The doors were closed against the people and the mere 
 youths, who attended in crowds. 
 
 The hotel-keeper, Faster, had the honour of appearing as 
 the spokesman, or as he may be rather designated, on account 
 of his impudence, natural eloquence, and clear-toned voice, 
 the herald of the general sentiments of the assembly. Amid 
 repeated cheers, he read aloud in the Bohemian language, 
 a statement of the following demands, to be embodied in a 
 petition to the throne. EquaHty in a national point of view 
 between Germans and Bohemians, in schools, coiu-ts of justice, 
 and befoi-e all the authorities, as well as with regard to the 
 appointment of officials who could speak both languages. 
 A united representation of the Estates of Bohemia, Moravia, 
 and Silesia, the place of meeting to be Brdnn and Pi'ague 
 alternately, in which the towns and pro\'inces should be 
 represented. A free communal constitution, with inde- 
 pendent administration of their funds, and election of the 
 town magistrates and communal ofiicers. Equality of all 
 rehgions. Independence of the courts of justice of the district. 
 Publicity and viva voce proceedings in the same. Complete 
 freeedom of the press, under mere restrictive regulations 
 against the abvise thereof A responsible central govern- 
 ment. Abolition of feudal burdens and of privileged 
 court fi Abolition of the robot.* Abolition of the tax upon 
 
 * Tlie " Rol)ot " was a customary labour-rent, in payment of which the 
 peasants worked for their lords a certain number of days in the year, 
 according to tlie extent of the peasant-lands which they held and culti- 
 vated for themselves. — Ed,
 
 118 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 ax'tk'los of consumption. Altemtiou of the stamp and tax 
 laws. Univei-sal liability to militaiy sendee. Recruiting 
 by ballot. Four yeai-s' military service. Security of per- 
 soual liberty. No impiisonmcnt but by virtue of a Judicial 
 seutence. These demands were to be prepared by a com- 
 mittee, and di'awn u}) in the form of an address. 
 
 The motion of the hotel-keeper was supported, seconded, 
 and tran.slated into German by a person holding an in- 
 fluential office in the province. His name was Trojan, and 
 he was also one of the mo.st active members of the Bohemian 
 Trades Union. It was adopted by acclamation. They pro- 
 ceeded immediately to elect the membei-s of the committee, 
 upon whom the preparation of the address mtliiu eight days 
 was imposed as a duty, in order that the same might be for- 
 warded ^vith a deputation to Vienna. The demands of tlii.s 
 petition had a two-fold object, the alteration of the absolute 
 into a representative system of government, and at the same 
 time, the separation of Bohemia and her crown lands in mat- 
 ters of administration from the other parts of the monarchy. 
 That such proposals should have been made in such a manner 
 to the uncontrolled nder of Austna appears to us a proof that 
 the revolution in Prague, as well as in Yienna, previous to 
 its formal introduction into the palace (on the 13th of 
 March), was already virtually in operation. Even the people 
 themselves in Prague appeared to be of the same opinion, 
 for in the year 1849, the day appointed to be celebrated, as 
 the anniversary of their triumph in the previous year, was 
 not the 13th nor the 15th, but the 11th of March. 
 
 The Hungarian Diet assembled at Presburg took advan- 
 tage at once of the imperious attitude which the people had 
 assumed towards their nders, upon the overthrow of royalty 
 in. Paris, in order to declare openly and decidedly their revo- 
 lutionary tendencies. As early as the 3rd of March, when
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 119 
 
 allusion was made by a deputy to the want of confidence in 
 the notes of the Austrian National Bank, which prevailed in 
 Hungary, the result of an intention to bring them into dis- 
 credit, Kossuth moved the Estates, interrupting the order of 
 the day, that a committee should be appointed to advise the 
 king on the measures demanded by the exigencies of the 
 time. The motion was unanimously carried. A Himgarian 
 councülor of state and magnate, who, before the sitting of 
 the Diet, had with difficulty carried his election as deputy, 
 with the declared intention of putting down the agitator 
 Kossuth in the assembly, regardless of his resolution, sup- 
 ported the motion with the greatest zeal, after a most violent 
 attack upon the government. The warning of Kossuth 
 not to lend the assistance of Hungary, as in the first 
 struggle against the French revolution in 1790, without 
 demanding guarantees for the future welfare of Hungary, 
 was received with general approval. 
 
 On the same day the nature of the representation to be 
 made to the king was debated fii-st in the cireidar, and 
 immediately afterwards in the formal sitting of the Estates. 
 It set out with a charge that the central government had 
 hitherto not pursued a constitutional course, and consequently, 
 could not be in accordance with the independence of the na- 
 tional government or with its constitutional existence. This 
 course had hitherto only prevented the development of the 
 Hungarian constitution, but now it was evident that if it were 
 continued, and the state government should not be brought 
 into unison with the latter, the most dreadful consequences 
 might result to the throne, to the monarchy, which was 
 united to Hungary by the pragmatic sanction, and to the 
 country at large. The reforms in the administration of the 
 home department, and the duty of the Diet in relation 
 thereto, were afterwards set forth ; but a conviction was at
 
 120 GENESIS OF TUB 
 
 the same time expressed thut the constitutional life of Hun- 
 gjiry could only bo niaiutainod under a real representative 
 system, and that her substantial interests demanded a basis of 
 fi'eedom for their support ; that further, the system of defence 
 needed a radical change, and that the direction of the 
 accounts and the responsible management of the Hungarian 
 revenue by the Diet could no longer be refused. As it 
 would be necessary, therefore, to come to an arrangement 
 with the hereditary provinces, the Hungarian Estates were 
 ready to make an advance for that purpose, papng regard, 
 howevei*, to their own independent national lights and 
 interests, and they were convinced that the laws necessary 
 to support the constitutional existence, as well as the intel- 
 lectual and substantial welfare of the nation, could be set 
 ill rigorous operation only by the establishment of a national 
 government, free from every foreign influence, which should, 
 in accordance with the constitutional doctrine, be respon- 
 sible to and represent a majority of the people. On this 
 account the Estates ought to consider a complete change of 
 the present system of government by boards, for a responsible 
 Hungarian ministiy, as the chief condition of, and important 
 guai-antee for, all reforms which they were resolved to 
 accomplish in the present Diet, with the support and 
 concurrence of the throne. But as this end was not 
 to be obtained without some disturbance of tranquillity, 
 and symptoms of disturbance wei-e already observable in 
 other i>rovinces of the monarchy, which Avere vmited with 
 Himgaiy by the pragmatic sanction, and these symptoms 
 awakened the greatest apprehension, on account of the unfor- 
 seeii occun'ence of recent events in foreign parts, the Hungarian. 
 Estates were con\anced that the surest protection against all 
 possible misunderstanding and the firmest suj^port of the 
 throne and reigning family would be provided by the throne's
 
 REVOLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 121 
 
 resolving to sm-roiind itself with constitutional institutions, in 
 all its important relations, in conformity with the demands 
 of the age. These demands, which contemplated an utter 
 change in the constnaction of the state edifice, were 
 mingled with allusions to measm-es already ia readiness, and 
 with assurances of unshaken loyalty, these last being com- 
 pliments invariably appended to petitions of the people. 
 The Board of Magnates, on receiving the resolution of the 
 Estates, at the proposal of the presiding Judex Curiae, had 
 resolved to postpone the consideration of the question tiU the 
 return of the Palatine, who was then in Vienna ; and when 
 afterwards the question was resumed, on the 14th of Mai'ch, 
 they wanted courage and resolution to oj^pose such an 
 address, although many of the magnates, particularly those 
 who belonged to the Hungarian cro^vn provinces, recognized 
 therein the seed of those calamities which subsequently 
 spread thi'ough the land, though the terror which the 
 galleries exercised over the rest of the Diet tied their 
 tongues. 
 
 With this adoption of Kossuth's motion in both assembhes, 
 the course of the revolution in Presburg began. The ring- 
 leaders stretched forth the hands of brotherhood to their 
 adherents in Vienna, and excited their courage by publicly 
 promising effective assistance in case of need. Hungarian 
 agents, who were joined by Italians, Poles, and Germans, 
 inflamed the heads of the Viennese by speeches and the 
 distribution of money, and excited them to action on the 
 appointed day. 
 
 All these commotions might surely have been sufiicient ta 
 point out to the government the danger that threatened on the 
 approaching meeting of the Estates of Lower Austria, but more 
 direct evidence was added. In the beginning of Marcli an 
 anonymous notice was appended to the door of the house in
 
 122 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 which the cliief court of justice held its sittings, in which the 
 proclamation of the coustitution was announced for the raid- 
 die of the month. Numerous anonymous letters, filled with 
 threats and warnings, were forwai'ded to the chancellor of 
 state, and a person tilling one of the highest offices in the 
 impci'ial pahice received intimation that there were people 
 working for the establishment of a constitution. 
 
 Ladies in the cii'cles of the higher society, whose houses were 
 situated in the neighbom-hood of the Diet, gave utterance 
 to their fears about the approaching assembly of the Estates, 
 others were advised by a young physician to prepare for 
 probable disturbances about the middle of March. 
 
 On the evening of the 13th, a state official, of high stand- 
 ing, directed the attention of Piince Metternich to the 
 danger which threatened him personally. Several members 
 of a foreign embassy came, mthout invitation, to the 
 residence of the diplomatist, who resided opposite the 
 assembly-house, in order to have an opportimity of observing 
 from the •udndows of his residence the natm-e of a Vienna 
 emeiUe. The president of the government of Lower Austria, 
 who had heard the reports of an approaching outbreak of a 
 plot in Vienna on the 12th of March, held a consultation with 
 the authorities, convened for the preservation of peace and 
 order, as to the natiu-e of the measures to be adopted, but 
 he received the most positive assurances from the chief of 
 these authorities, that nothing was to be feared, and that 
 precautionary measures were unnecessary. It must appear 
 strange that the poUce of Vienna, whom no one can accuse 
 of blindness or inacti\-ity in cases of poUtical disturbance, 
 made no preparations to prevent the threatened outbreak of 
 the revolution on the 13th of March. We believe that the 
 solution of this mystery is easily found in the descriptioii 
 we have already given our readers of the mechanism of the
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 123 
 
 Austrian government, in the want of independent power in 
 her organs, in their mistaking the effectiveness of the exag- 
 gerated popularity of the government, in their unwillingness 
 to appear afraid, and their aversion to forsake their usual 
 course of conduct. They were unwilling, by unusual pre- 
 ventive measures, to encourage the idea that it was possible 
 to attempt a revolution in the capital, and they were content 
 with hoping that the announced demonstrations wovdd 
 dwindle to a mere mob gathering before the assembly-house, 
 and to a cheer for some of the liberal members of the Es- 
 tates ; and that the street excesses which might follow could 
 be easily suppressed by the ordinary means which were always 
 in readiness. This opinion was strengthened by the conduct 
 of the Estates of Lower Austria, for the provincal marshal, 
 the president of that body, who was appointed by the empe- 
 ror without their nomination, and enjoyed the perfect confi- 
 dence of the government and their court, considered no other 
 precaution necessary beyond proposing that the members 
 should come to the assembly, not arrayed in their state 
 robes, as was customary, but dressed as citizens, without 
 display,' in order not to attract the attention of the people.* 
 
 * The pamphlet entitled " Die Nieder Oesterreiscliisehen Landstände 
 und die Genesis, etc.," reported to be published under the auspices of 
 some of the members of the Estates of Lower Austria before March, 
 expresses its surprise at the total neglect of preventive measures, and 
 remarks, at page 24, as follows: "We shall not give credit to the 
 rumour, that the government, in allowing, after a protracted discussion, 
 the assembly of the Estates to be held, had secretly no other object in 
 view than to avail itself of an opportunity for a cmq^ d'etat, by seizing 
 the ringleaders of tlie movement amongst the Estates, and that for this 
 purpose even the warrants had been issued." 
 
 The allusion to this rumour, which never became public, and proba- 
 bly merely circulated among the partisans of the Estates in the shape 
 of vague apprehensions, induces me to observe how little the govern- 
 ment before the 13th of March was compelled to take refuge in a coup 
 d'4tat as regards the leaders of that movement amongst the Estates, 
 there being nothing to prevent all such parties as seemed dangerous
 
 124 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 Wo must cnnfoss that, iho iiriiorauoo of the true state of 
 things, ami the want of foresight oxhihitod by those wliose 
 duty it wius to adopt measures for the jireservatiou of order, 
 cannot he justified. But "we believe a consi(h'rati(>n of the 
 attendant circumstances vnW, in some measure, palliate their 
 inactivity, as it was the result, not of their own choice, 
 but of overruling events. Intentional ti'eachery cannot be 
 imputed to them ; they were, doubtless, tme servants of the 
 emperor, but no doubt luiequal to the demands of the time.* 
 
 That greyheaded statesman, who, on the 13th of March, 
 
 from being taken into custody by the ordinary police. If the government 
 had intended to make use of the asseinblj' of the Estates of the 13th 
 of March as a mere trap, it would certainly liave taken the proper steps 
 for seizing its prey when in the snare. That rumour is of importance as 
 indicating the apprehension of the partkans of the Estates. How could 
 such an alarm have arisen, if they had not been aware tliat some men of 
 high station were informed of wliat was to take place in tiiat assembly ? 
 "\Vhy did not those persons cause some jireventive measures to be 
 adopted ? AMiat was the ground of their remaining inactive spectators, 
 as the artifice above alluded to could not be the cause ? We are proba- 
 bly not mistaken in supposing tliat those who knew of the unusual agi- 
 tation which was to be expected in tlie next assembly of the Estates of 
 Lower Austria, did not, however, perceive the full extent and bearing 
 of that agitation. They merely anticipated that, hke an electric shock, 
 it would stimulate the relaxed organs of the state to more vigorous 
 action and accelerate desirable changes, both of men and measures, with- 
 out endangering the principle of pure monarchy and social order. Such 
 an illusion, however lamentable it may have been in its consequences, 
 ought nevertheless to Ije excused, as even the assemliled Estates both 
 of Lower Austria and of Bohemia had no notion that their agitation 
 would lead to the overthrow of all existing institutions. 
 
 * The hatred against those men manifested iip to this very hour by 
 the daily pres.s of Austria furnishes the most striking proof of their 
 faithfulness. One of them who, since the 14th of March, 1848, had 
 lived far from Vienna in quiet retirement, and who, in June 1850, only 
 set foot in that city as he was i)assing through it, became immediately, 
 and owing to that circumstance, the oijject of base attacks in the 
 Viennese journals. The art of building barricades and dexterity in 
 cat's-music was imported from Paris into Vienna ; but indulgence 
 towards the supporters of fallen systems of government, Vienna lias still 
 to learn from Paris, where the press does not delight in calunmiating 
 statesmen who now only belong, as such, to historj'.
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 125 
 
 declared that he had played out his part, and whose task it had 
 been through life to watch the poUtical horizon far beyond 
 the cii'cuit of the Austrian monarchy, had long foreseen the 
 impending danger to which the monarchy then fell a prey. 
 At home and abroad, those persons to whom he unfolded liis 
 views, and they are not few, can confirm this statement. He 
 always denounced the non-governing system as the chief evil 
 of the state, and as oi'iginating in the confounding of 
 administration with government. The existence of this 
 evil was evident to him, and if his influence over the admi- 
 nistration of the interior had been as powerful as the 
 imperfectly-informed public believed, a remedy (but only 
 in the monarchical sense) would long previously have been 
 the result. It had by no means escaped his observation, that 
 where this great fault does exist, kingdoms may continue to 
 pursue their weary com'se without being outwardly dis- 
 turbed, according to all appearance, until the authority 
 which has been left unexercised, and which will always find 
 itself a channel, falls from the hands of the highest into 
 those of the lower classes, and an abnormal commotion 
 amongst those classes who, with or without design, have 
 occupied the sphere of government, leads at once to revolu- 
 tion. Those persons with whom Prince Metternich has ever 
 been on terms of intimacy, will remember these and similar 
 observations to have been used by him. They will serve to 
 show that he was conscious of the danger, and unceasingly 
 spoke of the evil of neglecting it. Sins of omission in the 
 sphere of government he considered as sure to avenge them- 
 selves the most severely, and their consequences to be the 
 most pernicious in regular governments, from their not 
 being discovered until the governing power has given way ; 
 for states, like all machines which require a " vis motrix " 
 for their operation, after this has disappeared, may pro-
 
 iL'O GENESIS OF THE 
 
 ceed for a given time, m v-iiiuc (if tlieir firat impulse, but 
 
 the moment of their ytoppagc soon arrives, and it is the 
 
 moment of theii* death. If pi-actical importance liad been 
 
 attributed to these views of the chancellor pf state, the 
 
 movement in favour of the sovereignty of the people in the 
 
 year 1848, which, resulting, according to our conviction, 
 
 from the French revolution, did not spare Austria, would at 
 
 least have fovmd the go^•ernment provided with better means 
 
 of resistance, and would have been less destructive in its 
 
 eifects. Convinced as we are that the danger we have alluded 
 
 to was not unperceived by the chancellor, it might seem at 
 
 first sight astonishing that, notwithstanding and in spite of 
 
 positive warnings, the events of March 13th came upon him 
 
 by surprise. But this appai'ent contradiction will ilisappear, 
 
 by drawing a proper distinction between appi-ehensions for 
 
 the distant futm-e, and perceptions of evil which has already 
 
 commenced. Metternich foresaw that a catastrophe could 
 
 not be avoided, but he could not convince liiinself that it 
 
 would soon occui" ; because that branch of the government, 
 
 whose duty it was to watch the sentiments of the people, to 
 
 mark their evident tendencies, to prevent party excesses, 
 
 and to warn the emperor of approaching danger, expressed 
 
 no apprehension, although they were not ignorant of the 
 
 threats and notices which reached the chancellor. Upon 
 
 him, such efibrts to intimidate, and such expressions of 
 
 hatred or sympathy, were wholly unavailing ; for, during the 
 
 long period which intervened between the Vehmgericht,* 
 
 to which Sand had lent his arm as the executioner 
 
 of Kotzebue, and the days of March, in Vienna, he had 
 
 * "Vehmgericht" waa a secret tribunal of criminal justice peculiar 
 to Westphalia during the Middle Ages, held by private individuals, 
 without the authority of the state, when the government was too weak 
 to act for itself. The last regular Vehmgericht was held at Celle, in 
 1568.— Ed.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 127 
 
 become so accustomed to notices of such a natui-e, that 
 they 110 longer gave him uneasiness ; they did not move the 
 courage or determination of the man who felt himself con- 
 scientiously bound not to swerve from the maxims which 
 the world declared and insisted were his, and which his 
 understanding compelled him to adopt as the very source of 
 existence to the Austrian government. And so it might 
 well happen, that to the distant prophet the approaching 
 danger was not perceptible on the evening of the 13th of 
 March. One may, perhaps, here observe, that he resembled 
 that astrologer who, while his eyes were employed in reading 
 remote dangers in the stars, was blind to the precipice 
 beneath his feet, into which he accordingly fell. We are 
 satisfied to adopt the simile, and answer, it was not the 
 fault of the astrologer, if his guides, whose duty it was to 
 warn him of the earthly precipice, whilst he, in discharge 
 of his vocation, was lost in contemplating distant objects, 
 did not themselves perceive the danger. The police autho- 
 rities and the home administration should have been his 
 leaders, but they failed in their duty ; whether it happened 
 that their dim vision could not distinguish the brink of the 
 precipice, or that their imprudence overlooked the real 
 moment of danger. Their arm afterwards lacked the power 
 to save him in the act of falling, as, perhaps, they had fondly 
 imagined they could do — they fell together with him.
 
 128 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE IStu, 14th, and 10th of march, 1848, in Vienna. 
 
 On the 13th of March, at nine o'clock in the morning, the 
 students, dressed in proper costume and without weapons, 
 proceeded to the house of the Estates, and drew themselves 
 up in front of it ; a crowd of inquisitive persons followed 
 them. The streets and even the court were filled with 
 people who did not belong to the lower classes, and who 
 were allured thither and harangued by some students who 
 were chiefly Poles, assisted by others of similar opinions 
 with their own. The members of the Estates in the mean 
 time took their seats in theii* hall. A conversation was soon 
 commenced from the windows of the assembly-room with 
 the votaries of the muses, who thronged together in the 
 courtyard. The provincial marshal and several members of 
 the Estates zealously encouraged this mutual imdcrstanding, 
 wliich was canied on amid continued shouts of " Long live 
 the Emperor !" A Pole soon afterwards came into the street 
 ii'om a door of the assembly -house in a state of great excite- 
 ment, holding a written paper in his hand, and immediately 
 set the whole crowd in motion.* 
 
 * This paper, as the " Nieder Oesterreischischen Landstände und die 
 Genesis, &c.," tells us, had been thrown into the courtyard by a person 
 who had forced his entrance into the assembly of the Estates ; and it pro- 
 posed that the people should not rest satisfied with what the assemliled 
 Estates should demand. We learn from the same pamphlet (page 25), 
 that the order of the d.ay embraced three projects of an address to the 
 emperor, all of which referred to the common interests of all the provinces 
 of the monarchy. 
 
 The first demanded the convocation of the representatives of all the
 
 REVOLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 129 
 
 Did it arise from a feeling of indiflereiice in the assembly 
 of the Estates, or from sympathy -with the mob outside, that 
 
 provincial Estates, to be completed with men from those corporations 
 and other political elements which were not represented, in order to 
 examine the financial condition of the state, and to propose measures 
 calculated to establish permanently general confidence, by placing the 
 public finances on a secure footing, and by developing indisputably the 
 representative system of the country. 
 
 The second address supported the petition of Atisti-ian citizens to the 
 Estates of Lower Austria, alluded to in the pre\'ious chapter. 
 
 The third requested of the emperor to effect an union of all the 
 German federal states, under a common law of the press, with tlie 
 abolition of the censorship, and the adoption of a system for repressing 
 abuses. 
 
 There was, however, added to these long-prepared projects of an 
 address another subject for the order of the day, namely, an imperial 
 cabinet letter, first published in the before-mentioned pamphlet, which, 
 on the evening of the 12th of March, had been directed to the high chan- 
 cellor, and which the emperor had also communicated to the provincial 
 marshal. Count Montecucoli. (See No. 3 of the Appendix.) The im- 
 perial resolutions announced in this letter harmonized in the most 
 essential parts with the demands which the Estates of Lower Austria 
 intended to lay at the foot of the throne. Was this important concession 
 of the sovereign not read aloud, or was it not listened to in the assembly 
 of the Estates ? One or other of these results must have occurred, for 
 there would have been, beyond a doubt, persons amongst the Estates 
 who would have recognized a most undoubted guarantee of the honest 
 wish of the emperor in regard to a suitaljle reform of the system of 
 government in the resolution which he had freely adopted, " of uniting 
 ike repi-esentatives of the various j^^ovinccs into one body, who should be 
 consulted with reference to the relations of the Estates and the requirements 
 of the moment, and to whom, if necessary, the assistance of the entire body 
 of the various provincial Estates shoidd be granted." The prorogation of 
 the assembly of Estates, which commenced under the influence of a 
 riotous mob, ought to have been the first fruit of the announcement of 
 the emperor's honest wishes ; it ought to have followed that announce- 
 ment out of respect for the other provincial Estates, which, according to 
 the emperor's wish, were henceforth to take into consideration the 
 general interests of the empire in conjunction with the estates of Lower 
 Austria. On what grounds could the latter claim as their prerogative 
 to press forward as the mouth-piece of all the Estates ? It is an un- 
 doubted fact that many of the members who were present in the assembly 
 were not made acquainted with the important imiierial caliinet paper of the 
 12th of March, 1848, before its appearance in the pamphlet, "Die Nieder 
 Oesterreichischen Landstünde, &c." Wo Iiave also acquired the con 
 viction that this document liad laid on the table of the houses of as.scnil)ly 
 on the morning of tlie 13th of March, and was left altogetlier unnoticed. 
 
 K
 
 130 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 they were induced to prolong their sittings in spite of the 
 popular demonstration, which every moment increased, in 
 place of adjourning the meeting and separating one by one 
 as they had assembled, upon such indications of a near ap- 
 proacliing storm ? They continued together untu the crowd, 
 fanaticised by some orators, who suspected a stratagem from 
 the accidental shutting of a door, rushed \'iolently from 
 the court into the assembly-room, and tearing up the seats, 
 chairs, and benches, put an end to the meeting by such 
 acts of outrage.* At the same time the people tlironged 
 to the BaU-place, before the house of the state chancellor, 
 and to the other squares, where agitators, elevated on the 
 shoulders of others or standing on the pumps, insisted on 
 the necessity of wresting by force from their rulers those 
 objects which had either been already obtained by the inha- 
 bitants of neighbouring countries, or were at that moment 
 the object of similar struggles. The passing mihtary, not 
 being required by the magistracy to interfere by force of 
 
 This disrej,^rd of so important a letter, which is to us so inexplicable, 
 at first created the impression in our mind that the emperor's letter of 
 the l'2th, by some delay in its delivery, had not yet reached the assembly 
 on the 13th of March, and therefore, in describing the occurrences of 
 that day, ought not to be taken into account. As we never had the 
 honour of being classed among "the men of confidence" of the Estates 
 for Lower Austria, our first erroneous impression may be excused. But 
 we cannot help smiling at the suspicion which has been excited against 
 us, of having in our first and second editions of "Genesis" made no 
 mention of that imperial letter, "in order to preserve in oblivion that 
 most Tmsuccessful note of the State Conference, as if it were the song of 
 the dying swan." We are inclined to believe that this oblivion would 
 \>e desirable only in the interest of the Estates which made professions 
 of their loyalty ; for how can the entire failure of the song of the dying 
 swan be made to agree with such professions ? 
 
 ■* We think it our duty to observe that the pamphlet, " Die Nieder , 
 Oesterriechischen Landstande und die Genesis," corrected this statement 
 by saying " that at the rusliing in into the assembly, it did not happen as 
 mentioned in 'Genesis,' that chairs and benches, &c., were broken in 
 the hall, but that in one of the adjoining saloons the benches broke 
 under the weight of those standing on them."
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 131 
 
 ai'Dis, necessarily remained quiet spectators of the commotion, 
 or at most could only act on the defensive, in resisting the 
 pressui'e of the mob upon themselves. 
 
 The moment, when the sitting of the Estates was inter- 
 rupted by the intruders, marked precisely the point of 
 departure from a street brawl to a revolution. Had the 
 Estates decided that, in consequence of the violent inter- 
 ruption of their meeting, they could neither consider nor 
 adopt any further pubHc measures, and that, therefore, they 
 must postpone their debates until the restoration of tran- 
 quillity, and commit the conduct of afiaii-s to the autho- 
 rities appointed for the preservation of oixler, and then dis- 
 solved themselves, they would have reduced the character of 
 the iusiu'rection to a mere ordinary disturbance, for the tem- 
 porary suppression of which at that moment the means at 
 hand would have been imdoubtedly sufficient had they been 
 employed by the Estates for their protection, since the dis- 
 turbance had not then extended to the other parts of the 
 town or the suburbs. But the resolution of the Estates to 
 lay the demands of the people before the emperor without 
 delay, and with the pro\'iucial marshal at their head to march 
 in a body to the castle, -with a promise that they would 
 announce the decision of the emperor to the expectant mul- 
 titude, imparted to the tumult a grave political importance, 
 since it was no longer a self-willed mob with which the 
 authorities had now to deal, liut at the head of this mob 
 ,-,tood the Corporation of the Estates of Lower Austria, 
 who had made the business their own, and had taken ad- 
 vantage of theii- right to petition in order to call on the 
 sovereign to change the existing order of things, in conformity 
 with the spirit of the age, and who supported this demand 
 with their whole political weight, relying upon the concur- 
 rence of the Estates of the other provinces, in accordance with 
 
 k2
 
 132 CIKNESl.S Ol" THK 
 
 tlioir wi'll-known sontiiufut.s. It uu longor remiiinod for 
 the iiuthorities, it wiis for the sovereign alone now to act. 
 
 When the Estates reached the castle, the permanent State 
 Conference, ^v^th the addition of some members of the State 
 Council, were actually engaged in considering the events of 
 the day. At this critical moment the want of a properly- 
 org-anized ministerial council was very keenly felt ; no mem- 
 ber of the superior executive power (president of the court 
 offices) assisted at the consultation. None of those present 
 ■was invested Avith executive authority, and therefore no 
 resolution could be promptly acted upon with the common 
 consent of all those engaged in the discussion. 
 
 The Estates submited the demands of the people to the as- 
 sembled council of the emperor, more in the character of medi- 
 ator than as petitioners on their own account, and begged 
 for a promjit and favourable decision, inei'oly for the .sake of 
 public peace and tlie presenation of the throne from threat- 
 ened danger. It was a prudent step on their part to adopt 
 the character of mediatoi-s, since they were thus protected 
 from responsibility on the score of participating in the dis- 
 turbance in case of failxire, and were sui-e of obtaining their 
 own desires by the concessions which shotdd be gi-anted 
 nominally to the people. The empei'or was now in one of 
 those difficult positions wliich sometimes occur in life, where 
 one's conduct, should the event prove favourable, is rather 
 the resvdt of inspiration than of a carefiü consideration of all 
 possible chances that may occur. The immediate answer, 
 "Those who send you are rebels, and you who undertake 
 this mi.ssion are partners in the rebellion, whom I wll \n\t 
 doAvn with a strong hand ;" or a reply on the other hand to tliis 
 effi'ct, '■ I have already taken proper measures to give my jieopl < ■ 
 the freest institutioas in Gei-many, and we will consider toge- 
 ther, without delay, the best mode of fidfilling these my inten-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 133 
 
 tioiis ; convey tliis decision to those who sent you, and bid them 
 take heed how they bring upon themselves the arm of just 
 punishment by distiu'bing the public peace :"' one or other 
 of such answers woiüd have put an end at once to the 
 threatened danger, but they wei-e compatible only with the 
 personal decision of a wholly irresponsible rider, who could 
 x'ely for support on his o"svn unchangeable determination ; no 
 board of councillors could propose such answers in any state, 
 since a council must, in its proposals, follow the dictates 
 of cool calculation, and not obey mere inspiration, which 
 varies much according to individual character, and often 
 leaves us to oiu' own resources. The Austrian State Confe- 
 rence, therefore, must not be censured for having offered 
 advice to the emperor, which elicited no such decisive 
 language. We must place ourselves in the condition of 
 men who are clearly sensible of some of the faults of the 
 existing government, and have an indistinct perception of 
 others, and then consider Avhether, in siqiport of such a 
 government, a war should have been commenced ; whose 
 issue, moreover, could not possibly be foreseen, on account of 
 the difficulty of calculating the magnitude of the opposing 
 forces. At the head of the army stood an imperial prince, 
 young, talented, courageous, and active, but inexperienced in 
 wax-, and to whom, in tmth, as liis first essay in the career 
 of generalship, one would not willingly intrust that most 
 difficult of all the duties of war, viz. the conduct of a street 
 battle against an excited people. The daily occurrences in 
 the Austi-ian monarchy and its several provinces must have 
 occasioned a doubt, whether the insurrection could have been 
 actually suj)pressed or merely postponed by a momentary 
 victory obtained in the palace at the cost of torrents of 
 blood. There seemed to be a natural connection between 
 the forcible entry of a fanatical mob into the imperial castle,
 
 134 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 which was in uo respect prepared for resistance, aud the 
 flight of the royal family of Orleaus, which had occurred iu 
 Paris scarcely three weeks pre^'iously. A. hold sti'oke, 
 which a daring iider might undertake from his own impulse, 
 >ra.s more than the considerate advisei^s of Ferdinand ven- 
 tured to propose. The councillors of the emperor were just 
 as incompetent to suggest an answer of the second kind. 
 Every man may sun-ender as much as he pleases of his own 
 lights, but the protector of another's rights should never 
 advise the sacrifice of more than is requii'ed by the strictest 
 necessity. To a deliberative body the change of an absolute 
 monarchy into a constitutional form of government coiüd 
 never be i-egarded as a necessary result of a demonstration 
 made not only without an appeal to arms, but even by mi- 
 armed men. It seemed, however, indispensable, imder any 
 cii'cumstances, that an attempt should be made to appease 
 the storm with, the smallest possible sacrifice. Whoever 
 considers, without prejudice, the posture of afiairs in the 
 afternoon of the 13th of March, mvist admit that the plan 
 proposed by the State Conference was the only one morally 
 possible. They obtained from the emperor an assurance, which 
 they were to communicate to the Estates of Lower Austria, to 
 this efiect : " That whatever the present emergencies might 
 require should be submitted to a committee to be appointed 
 for the purpose, and then laid before the emperor, and that 
 his majesty would then speedily decide what was meet, 
 having regard to the general welfare of the whole of his 
 beloved subjects. And his majesty further relied on the 
 attachment and unimpaii-ed fidelity of the people of the 
 capital for the establishment and future maintenance of 
 peace." This imperial assurance was given orally to the 
 Estates of Lower Austiia ; and furthermore, the president of 
 the Lower Austrian government, being summoned for that
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 135 
 
 purpose, was commissioned, to give public notice of the same 
 by a proclamation of his own ; and further, to take care that 
 the civil authorities, in their official costume, should require the 
 people thi'ee times to disperse peaceably before the mihtary 
 power was brought out for that purpose. The commence- 
 ment of the proclamation announced " that the Estates of 
 Lower Austria, with the laudable intention of tranqiiillizing 
 the excited population, had proved their readiness to lay their 
 desires before the emperor, and that his majesty had been 
 gi'aciously pleased to receive them." It was intended by 
 this that the character which the Estates had undertaken of 
 mediators, should be made known, and that the idea should 
 be abandoned that they shared the popular sentiments, 
 which idea had made them the bearers of the petition, 
 because the hope was generally indulged that the Estates 
 would materially influence the leaders of the popular move- 
 ment. But the hope was fallacious. The proclamation 
 failed in its effect. The Estates, in public opinion, were con- 
 sidered not only the bearers but the representatives of the 
 petition they carried (and this was quite in accordance with 
 the maxim " vox populi vox Dei "), but the popular leaders 
 expected a weightier and more decided result from, their 
 influence. The still increasing mob, who awaited their re- 
 turn with impatience, was not satisfied ; its impatience and 
 anger at the military, who watched its motions, increased 
 every minute, untU at length the soldiers, pressed hard at 
 some points, in order to remain masters of theh' post and to 
 defend themselves from personal attacks, had rec'oui'se to 
 their arms. The number of those who were killed, partly 
 in this manner and partly by injuries arising from the pres- 
 sure of the mob, was estimated at seventeen, and amongst 
 them was one of the most active popular orators, a Jewish 
 student named Spitzer, wlio was wounded in the head witli
 
 136 GENESIS OK THE 
 
 a sword in an attempt to deprive a soldier of his liorse, tliat 
 lie might luoimt it hinisclf and parade the town, and so 
 from IUI eminence addn-sss his audience with greater cöcct. 
 When one hears these unfortunate beings spoken of as 
 heroes wlio fell fighting for the liberties of the people, one 
 scarcely gnulges them tliis small share of fame, in their 
 graves, bestowed as a tribute by their friends ; but it has no 
 foimdation in fact, for without fighting there can be no hero, 
 and there was no fighting. There was an accident, it is tnie, 
 like that wliich hapjjened some years ago in an ItaUan town 
 at a theatrical representation wliich took place in an arena. 
 The disapprobation of the spectators was expressed louder 
 than usual at the badness of the acting, and the persons 
 whose duty it was to preserve order considered themselves 
 justified in firing a volley. Some indiAaduals fell a saciifice, 
 but it never entered the heads of any one to maintain that 
 they were heroes who had fallen in defence of the liberty of 
 hissing. 
 
 The deaths wliich occiuTed in Vienna on the 15th of 
 March are the more to be deplored because they tended in 
 no degree to forward the wishes of the people, and they 
 either resulted Irom the hardihood of a few indi\dduals, who 
 ventiu'ed to insult the military, or' else they arose from 
 accident; at all events, they fiuTÜshed the evil-disposed with 
 a new pretext for abusing the government and exciting the 
 passions of the people. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon a strong body of journey- 
 man mechanics issued from the suburbs, celebrating the 
 festivities of blue Monday, as it is termed ; they entered 
 the town unarmed, and thronged towards the castle. The 
 members of the civic guard likewise appeared there in 
 unifonn, the officers of which corps were allowed the entree to 
 the rooms on coiirt festivals ; the honourable unifoi-m which
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 137 
 
 tliey wore procured them admission to tlie castle, from 
 wliich they would otherwise have been excluded by the mili- 
 tary. These persons also played the part of mediators, and 
 under this title sought an audience of the emperor. But 
 his majesty, deeply shocked at the events of the day, had 
 retired. His uncle, the Archduke Louis, received them, and 
 heard, with his customary tranquillity and kindness, their 
 vows of attachment to the imperial house, theii- prognosti- 
 cations of the approaching danger, their wild plans for re- 
 sisting its approach, and even their very grievances, which 
 last were confined to a misunderstanding that had taken 
 place at the door of a police office, in consequence of which 
 the police soldiers, drawn up there, had fired on a body of 
 citizens in uniform, who were in the act of approaching too 
 near. It is remarkable that the grievance seemed to consist, 
 not so much in the actual firing, as in the shots having been 
 directed against the citizens ; the warmth of the spokesman 
 caused a distinguished military officer who was present to ob- 
 serve, " that when citizens became rebels, even they must be 
 fired upon." The spokesman thereupon fell into such a rage, 
 that he rushed into the ante-room, shouting, " that he would 
 go down and announce to the faithful and loyal citizens of 
 Vienna that they were to be shot." Some considerate indi- 
 \-iduals, however, succeeded in seizing and restraining the 
 excited man. He was a well-known wine- merchant, and 
 seems on that day to have made too free vrith his own com- 
 inodities. 
 
 The members of the Estates, who had previously acted as 
 mediators, now united themselves Avith the citizens, and ap- 
 peared again in the same capacity. They unanimously in- 
 sisted on the necessity of appeasing the excited mob, by 
 j)a3''ing immediate attention to some of their demands, as 
 the population of the subiirbs and of the neighbouring vil-
 
 13S GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 lages ab"eady took part in the gcnenil tumult. But what 
 those demands exactly were, the fulfilment of which would 
 allay the storm, it was not so easy to ascertain, in con- 
 sequence of the confusion and disturbance which reigned 
 aromid. 
 
 ^Meanwhile night approached. Like the Moor, in Schiller's 
 Fiesco, who, when he had lent all the assistance in his power 
 to liis master's design to strip old Doria of the ducal mantle, 
 in the evening began to think of making something for him- 
 self and his adherents; so the people of Vienna were T\Tlling 
 to close that day of commotion, in whose noon-tide business 
 they had taken part, by turning the evening to tlieir own 
 account. Bands of robbers and murderers over- awed the 
 suburbs and the neighbomhood ; rumours of the most alann- 
 ing kind were circidated through the town. A forcible 
 attack was made on the shop of the com^t apothecary, a 
 building which was connected A\dth the castle by a passage, 
 in order, as is supposed, to force an entry through that un- 
 defended way into that part of the castle wliich was close to 
 the apartment inhabited by the emperor. 
 
 At that critical moment, a third set of mediators appeared 
 before the Archduke Loms, viz. the academical senate of 
 the xmiversity, with their grey-headed " rector magnificus" 
 at their head, distinguished by the colane* appended from 
 his neck. It was the object of this deputation to make a 
 positive request, viz. for permission that the students might 
 take weapons from the imperial arsenal, and hasten to the 
 suburbs, to stop the dreadful attacks which were there making 
 upon Life and property. The proposal to put arms in the 
 hands of the very persons who, when unarmed, had been the 
 promoters of disturbance during the whole day, must have 
 
 * " Colane," the badge of office worn by the rector.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 139 
 
 occasioned some surprise. But, after a long negotiation, the 
 rector of the university threw himself on liis knees before the 
 archduke, and implored him to confide in these young men : 
 two thousand of them, he said, the hope of so many families, 
 were tilled -with such enthusiasm, that, if attacked, they were 
 ready to fling themselves bliudly on the bayonets of their 
 opponents ; what streams of noble blood would then flow : an 
 opportunity now ofiered to avoid this danger, by giving their 
 ardour a proper direction ; they burned with anxiety to prove 
 their readiness to defend order and right ; the military were 
 too few, and ah^eady wearied by the exertions of the day, to 
 resist the threatened danger with success : why, therefore, 
 should they not, in defence of property, avail themselves of 
 the willingness and youthful energy of the students ? Let 
 them only be trusted, and they woidd show that they were 
 fiüly worthy of such confidence. 
 
 This address of the old man, delivered with enthusiasm, 
 could not fail in its effect on the noble and benevolent sph-it 
 of the Archduke Louis. The request was first orally granted, 
 and subsequently a proper order was drawn up by a secre- 
 tary, addressed to the authorities, to the following effect : — 
 '' That for the preservation of peace and order, the arming oi 
 the students (with the exception of foreigners) should be per- 
 mitted, under pi'oper regulations." The order was handed to 
 the assembled members of the State Conference for perusal. 
 Those members of the Estates who had appeared in the capa- 
 city of mediators were present in the room during the above 
 negotiation. One of them took up the order, and (with a 
 pencu) added the following sentence, as an amendment : — " It 
 is further expected that all citizens wiU lend their aid to the 
 above, by enrolling themselves in the civic guard, and will 
 assist in the preservation of peace." And this amendment, 
 though introduced by an imauthorised hand, was considered
 
 140 (iENESlS or TIIK 
 
 so miR'h a matter i)f course, aud so uuiinjiortant in its mean- 
 ing, that it was not oitposed. 
 
 In tliis manner tlie arming of the jteople was unadvisedly 
 introduced in the capital. 
 
 Scarcely wa.s it effected, before the mediators from the Es- 
 tates, and the citizens who still lingered in the chauibers of the 
 archduke, i-aised a loud cry for the liljerty of the press. It hap- 
 pened by accident that, on the 1 3th of March, the royal order 
 of the Pnissiau cabinet, wliicli was issued on the 8tli of the 
 same month, ajipeared in the Vienna newspapers, witli a royal 
 decree for a refonn in the laws of the press, based upon the 
 abolition of the censorship. With this example before them, 
 wliich was set, moreover, by that jiower of Germany which 
 had ever been most friendly to the Austrian maxims of 
 government, a resistance to the popular demand did not 
 seem advisable : moreover, as we have already said, in our 
 sketch of the Austrian state maehine, the censorship in Aus- 
 tria had failed in its effect ; no voice, therefore, in the State 
 Conference could recommend a contest in support of the cen- 
 sorship ; on the contrary, it was deemed prudent to yield to 
 the demand, precisely as it had been acceded to by the Pi-us- 
 sian goveiTiment. The chancellor retired to the adjoining 
 cabinet, and placed himself at his desk, to prepare the sketch 
 of an answer, in the spirit of the Pi-ussian order, to 
 be laid before the emperor. The leaders of the people 
 having now secured offen.sive and defensive weapons, both 
 for the hand and head, availed themselves of this momen- 
 tary absence, to get rid of the man whose charactei-, prin- 
 ciples, experience, and authority would have checked all 
 excess in the use of those weapons. In a decisive tone, they 
 demanded, that, to appease the people, Pi-ince Metternich 
 should retire from his post. The increasing tumidt in the 
 -adjoining room called the chancellor back from Ids desk ;
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 141 
 
 he approaclied the archduke, and asked what the noise 
 meant. He was informed that liis own retirement was pro- 
 posed. This was the moment when all the strength of soul 
 which distinguished that great man, was put to the proof. 
 To leave a post which he had filled with the greatest re- 
 nown for nine-and-thii-ty years, in which he had earned the 
 confidence not only of the whole imperial house, but of all 
 the lailers of Europe, and had taken an influential part in 
 the most impoi-tant afiairs of the world ; to witness the clouds 
 of incense in wliich he had been enveloped, by sincere as well 
 as by hypocritical reverence, suddenly dispersed by a gust of 
 wind ; to reap the basest ingratitude in return for his ceaseless 
 exertions to promote the interests of the state and the wel- 
 fare of his fellow-citizens ; all this was doubtless calculated 
 to waken feelings in an old veteran, so bitter in their effect, 
 that one could hai'dly have been surprised, if he had sunk 
 under their weight. But such was not the case. With un- 
 moved tranquillity and dignified composure, he declared, 
 " that the task of his life had been to work for the welfare 
 of the monarchy, in the position which he occupied ; but if 
 it appeared to any that his continuing in the same would 
 peiil the monarchy, he would consider it no sacrifice to retii'e 
 from his post." He then turned to the Archduke Louis, 
 and said, he placed his ofiice in the hands of the emperor. 
 He then addressed the leaders of that mixed assembly which 
 on that eventful evening besieged the palace of the arch- 
 duke, in the following memorable words of farewell : — " I 
 foresee, too plainly, that a false opinion will spread abroad, 
 that in retiring from my post I have dragged down the 
 monarchy along with mc. But I enter my solemn protest 
 against such an assertion. Neither I nor any other man has 
 strengtli onougli to dosti'oy a state. Empires may vanish, 
 but only when they Ijctrny themselves." The deportment
 
 112 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 of the venci-able statesman, when confronting the fury of his 
 enemies, cannot be better described than in the words of 
 the Roman poet : — 
 
 Justum et tenacem propositi virum 
 Non civium ardor prava jubentium 
 
 Mente quatit solidä : 
 
 Si fractus illabatur orbis, 
 Impaviihim ferient ruinae. 
 
 In remarkable contrast with this magnanimity of soul 
 was the deportment of his exulting foes. On hearing the 
 news of his retirement, they shouted with triumph, and has- 
 tened to convey the jo}iful intelligence to the mob, whose 
 i-eprosentatives they were. 
 
 The chancellor, who had so suddenly and so unexpectedly 
 closed his political career, was so little moved by this change 
 of cii'cvmastances, that he discoursed for a long time with liis 
 fiiends in his ciistomaiy manner over the events of the day 
 and their consequences, as if he himself had been by no 
 means personally interested in them. The observation of 
 some friends, that his retirement from the helm of the state 
 could not be considered as certain, since the emperor had 
 not given his consent, which he would probably withhold, 
 elicited the decisive answer, " That he would never agree to 
 retain his place in such a manner, as his retirement would 
 then be looked upon as a mere farce, to which he would be no 
 pai-ty ; that his decision was taken, and nothing could change 
 it but the entreaties of those who had occasioned its 
 adoption." 
 
 Thus ended the 1.3th of March, the day on which the 
 virtual revolution which, as we have shown, commenced 
 long before, was formally proclaimed in the capital. The
 
 KEVOLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 143 
 
 events of this day were, — "An acknowledgment of the 
 necessity of timely reforms, with an assurance that they 
 would be immediately considered and speedily introduced by 
 the emperor ; the arming of the students and citizens of 
 Vienna ; the deteiiui nation to grant freedom of the press 
 after the example of Prussia ; and the removal of the most 
 distinguished opponent of the sovereignty of the people." 
 Dui-ing the night many thousand stands of fire-ai-ms were 
 distributed with the greatest speed to the students and 
 other inhabitants of Yienna from the imperial and city 
 arsenals, without any regard to the personal chai'acter of the 
 applicants. All who were anued in this manner laid claim 
 to the honour of being ready to march against the bands 
 of robbers in the suburbs and beyond the limits of Vienna. 
 
 On the morning of the 14th of March the streets were 
 again filled with men. The suddenly-equipped City-guard 
 assembled in the neighbourhood of the castle. They were 
 sensible that the consent to their establishment wore the 
 appearance of a measure suddenly reqidred by the emergency 
 of the times, and that they had thus no guarantee for their 
 continuance. Under the advice and guidance, therefore, of 
 experienced advisers, their exertions were directed to pro- 
 curing for themselves a chai-acter of stability. On this 
 account they prefeiTed the double request, that they might 
 assume the title of National Guard, and have a commander in 
 the person of one of the imperial princes (the Ai'chduke 
 "William). Neither of these requests was approved of by 
 the council of the emperor. The first failed, because it was 
 thought that the arming of the students and citizens under 
 a momentary pressure for the maintenance of peace in Vienna 
 ought to receive a title adapted to the local origin and object 
 in view. But the question, whether a measure which might 
 be necessary for Vienna should at once be converted into a
 
 1 t-i GENESIS OF THE 
 
 • 
 
 national institution, was a point not discussed, nor likely to 
 be discussed in times of sueli distvu'banco, and demanded, at all 
 events, the most careful consideration, especially in regard to 
 the Italian provinces, where the revolutionary party placed 
 tlieii" chief strength in the arming of the people. For these 
 reasons, the title of " the Vienna Cixic Guard " was adopted 
 as imobjectionable. The second request failed, because, on 
 the morning of the 14th of JNIarch, the Archdiike Albert 
 had resigned the command of the troops to Piince Win- 
 dischgi'ätz, who happened accidentally to be present in 
 Vienna, because it was not considered advisable that there 
 should be an immediate connection between one of the 
 impeiial princes and an excited people. The citizens, 
 therefore, withdrew their second request, but with regard 
 to the fii^t tbey Avoidd not accept a refusal. Accordingly, the 
 mediators of the pre\dous day again volunteered their inter- 
 ference. Wliether it arose fi-om short-sightedness or fear, 
 or was a fixed plan, they maintained that the title given to 
 the newly-raised body was a matter of unimportance, and 
 not worth the danger to the throne which might result from 
 a contention on the subject. Persons high in office, and 
 aristocrats in the strictest sense of the word, were of tliis 
 opinion, without reflecting that the Aery obstinacy witli 
 which the people, under the guidance of their leaders and 
 seducers, insisted on the title of " National Guard," must 
 have had some deep design at the bottom. They succeeded, 
 liowevcr, in obtaining the emperor s consent. Count Hoyos, 
 field marshal and colonel of the rifles, was appointed to be 
 commander of the national guards. On the first annoxmce- 
 ment of this news in Vienna, the magic effect of a title 
 which had been represented as wholly imimportant, was at 
 once apparent, for, with the exception of the governor of 
 Galicia, Count Francis Stadion, no land chief could prevent
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 145 
 
 the people from considering the arming the people of Vienna 
 as a national institution, consented to by the em2ieror, to be 
 adopted everywhere without restriction. The consequence 
 of this was, that the effective power of the authorities in 
 opposition to the people was sensibly weakened. 
 
 Thus the jjossession of all material means for fighting 
 the battle of freedom was secured to the people. 
 
 It now only remained to place moral weapons in the hands 
 of the people. On the 13th of March it had been resolved 
 to gi-ant the libei-ty of the press ; but in this measure the 
 peaceful example of Prussia was to be followed, and with the 
 removal of the censorship, certain measui-es were to be in- 
 troduced for the purpose of repressing abuses. Even as 
 early as the 14th, the State Conference was engaged in 
 framing the intended measm-es. But a peaceful transition 
 from- the- tyranny of the censorship to the freedom of the 
 press by no means satisfied either the domestic or foreign 
 demagogues, who were the leaders of the popular distur- 
 bances, any moi'e than the vain and speculative literati, or the 
 students who were under theii' control. The censorsliip 
 must be instantly abolished. They united all their efforts to 
 excite the mob of Vienna, whose throats and vigorous arms 
 they needed for the furtherance of their own objects, to a 
 pitch of enthusiasm in favoiir of the liberty of the press. 
 Although the mob did not enjoy the reputation of being- 
 able to set a very high value on those intellectual enjoyments 
 which the liberty of the press secures, they became, never- 
 theless, so enthusiastic for the possession of these unknown 
 Ijenefits, tliat their violent conduct became even more 
 alanning than it had been on the previous day. 
 
 The mediating friends of the throne and the dynasty now 
 discovered a new field for the exea'cise of their activity. 
 They intiaided into the antechambers of the emperor to ofier 
 
 L
 
 146 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 their wt'll-iueant a<lvico. lint tlio wise resolution had been 
 adopted, that the sovereign slionld not treat personally with 
 riotons petitioners and threateners, and their admission was 
 therefore refused by the chamberlain on duty. Regardless 
 of tlie prohiibition, they sought to force a Avay into the cham- 
 ber. The officer, a noble Hungarian magnate, remembered 
 and respected the duty to which he was sworn, and standing 
 in the doorway with liis liaud upon liis sword, vowed in a firm 
 tone that while he occupied that post no one should cross the 
 threshold. The mediatoi's retired, and, finding a back en- 
 trance, they succeeded in laying their btnevolent apprehen- 
 sions and i^roposals before the emperor. Shortly afterwards it 
 was announced publicly, " That his majesty had been pleased 
 to decree the abolition of the censorship, and the immediate 
 publication of a laAv to regulate the press ! " 
 
 Shouts of joy re-echoed amongst the masses, for the leaders 
 of the mob saw themselves in possession of the physical and 
 moral means necessary to establish the sovereignty of the 
 people. In their intoxication of joy they resolved to decorate 
 the statue of the Emperor Joseph II. with a crown of flowers, 
 and to fasten a banner to his brazen hand bearing the inscrip- 
 tion, " Liberty of the Press." Those who acted thus, forgot 
 the short duration of the concessions which this pliilosophic 
 emperor had himself made to the spirit of the age, otherwise 
 they would assm-edly not have allowed the anuoimcement of 
 such a boon to glitter in the very hand which had formerly de- 
 prived them of a similar blessing ! But the popular joy arose 
 not so much from the favours already obtained as from the 
 certain prospect of achieving a ti-iumph which was already 
 amiounced by a thousand voices in the streets, though it had 
 not yet been proposed to the emperor by any of the medi- 
 ators, as an indispensable condition for the salvation of the 
 monarchy and the dynasty, — viz., the gi-anting a constittt-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 117 
 
 tion. Every one exclaimed in the streets that the national 
 guard and freedom of the press had been obtained bit by 
 bit, and that the rest would soon follow. 
 
 The sagacious leaders of the revolution were aware that 
 in the word " constitution " was included the destruction of 
 all the elements of the subsisting government, and they knew 
 that even the hasty and inconsiderate use of the expression 
 itself in presence of the throne woiüd excite the government 
 to resist its introduction by every means in their power. It 
 was therefore necessary to proceed more quietly, and with 
 greater caution than had been observed in introducing those 
 other partial and popular measures, which seemed to have 
 aiisen from the veiy circumstances of the time. It was 
 especially requisite to prevent the popvüace from abandoning 
 themselves to excess of joy at the acliievements of the day, 
 lest, whilst they reposed on theh.- laurels, they should disre- 
 gard their hazardous situation, which might, jDerhaps, demand 
 further services from the mediators. The manner in which the 
 imperial resolution with regard to the press was drawn up, 
 gave occasion to this suspicion, and was tu.rned very cleverly 
 to account. The favourite term, "Liberty of the Press," 
 was not employed therein, although the substance of that ex- 
 ])ression was included in the abolition of the censorship, and 
 in the introduction of a law to regulate the press. But the 
 inteUigence of the Vienna people was not sufficiently ad- 
 vanced to recognize this truth. And upon this the leaders 
 of the disturbance constructed their plan : they endeavom-ed 
 to misrepresent the intentions of the emperor, and started 
 the idea, that only the laws of the existing censorship were 
 abolished, and that the press would remain still fettered by 
 the laws which it was intended to enact. To the joy of the 
 people now succeeded a feeling of disappointment, which was 
 rendered more acute by the idea that they had been deluded 
 l2
 
 14S GENESIS OF THE 
 
 aud deceived. The iutensity of this feeling may lie esti- 
 mated by the fact that, on the follo^v-i^g day, wlieu eveiy 
 demand had been acceded to, the publishers of Vienna cir- 
 culated a manifesto declai-lng that, in order to put an end to 
 imju-oper and malicious reports Avhich asserted that the liberty 
 of the press had not been granted in the real meaning of the 
 ■«rord, they were detennined to exercise the privilege of a 
 free press, and to call on all the intelligent classes in the 
 monarchy, by an active participation in such freedom, to 
 establish the welfare of their couutiy aud the peace of the 
 community. 
 
 The misiuiderstanding which was kept alive by this 
 means sensed as a sufficient ground for continuing to advise 
 that all the still subsisting causes of danger should be re- 
 moved. But tills was done, not as formerly tlu'ougli nume- 
 rous deputations to the emperor himself, or to the State 
 Conference, but by means of more waiy and cautious appli- 
 cations indii'ectly to the presumptive heir to the throne, in 
 the confident expectation that if they could succeed in 
 making liim friendly to a constitution, and in rendering 
 him its advocate, he would not meet with any strong oppo- 
 sition from his brother or his ad\iser.s, being himself the 
 immediate successor. This manoeuvre was supported by cir- 
 ciüatmg the most fearful reports of alarming assemblages in 
 the subiu'bs of the toAvn. A notorious theatrical poet, who 
 was at the head of the political regenei'ators, and had suc- 
 ceeded some time before in introducing a play on the boards 
 of the Burg Theatre, which ridiculed the government, and 
 even the highest personage in the state, rushed, as if panic- 
 sti-uck, into the Burg, and wi-ote down in an ante-room the 
 announcement that an excited mob was approacliing. It 
 was due to the calm and correct apprehension of Piince 
 Windischgi'iitz, aud to his cool presence of mind, intrusted
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 149 
 
 as he was vnth the safety of the court and the town, 
 tliat such alarming news did not lead to the adoption of 
 improper measures. But they fully attained their object, 
 since, on the evening of the same day, at the request of the 
 presumptive heir to the throne, the State Conference was 
 summoned, at wliich, also, the heir expectant to the tlu"one 
 (the Archduke Francis Joseph, the present emperor) attended, 
 in order to consider whether it was not ad\-isable that the 
 emperor should voluntarily meet the demands of his people, 
 l)y the promise of a constitution. 
 
 On the follo^ving day (March 15) the inhabitants of 
 Vienna were astonished, on awakening, by the proclamation, 
 '•' That liis majesty, taking into consideration the existing po- 
 litical events, had determined to assemble around the throne 
 the Estates of his German and Slavonian dominions, as also the 
 Central Congregations of the Lombardo -Venetian kingdom, 
 by means of representatives, in order to insure their co-ope- 
 ration in legislative and administrative questions. For tliis 
 purpose liis majesty would take the necessary steps to con- 
 voke the said assembly for the 3rd of July, in the present 
 year, if not earlier."* 
 
 * On comparing the contents of this manifesto with that of the l'2th 
 of March, concerning which, as we have been informed, the Provincial 
 Marshal had been consulted in the evening of that day, and which im- 
 niediately upon its birth was buried among the dust of the arcliives, we 
 Laiiiiot help noticing that the tenor of these two manifestoes was very 
 similar. It so happened, however, that the manifesto of the 12th of 
 March was contemptuously laid aside, — that of the 1.5th, received with 
 shouts «and acclamations. The reason of the I'ecej^tion of these mani- 
 iestoes being so ojjposite to each other in their nature, was, that on tlie 
 13th of Marcli, when that of the 12th was before tlie assembly. Prince 
 Metternicli still held the reins of government, and tlie originators of 
 the movement were not yet in possession of the physical and moral 
 v/eapons which, on the 14th, the creation of the national guard, and tlie 
 abolition of the censorship furnished to them. Tliey miglit, conse- 
 <iuently, not entertain any hope of enforcing such an interpretation of 
 the emperor's words as would suit their ends. On the 15th of March,
 
 150 OEafESIS OF THE 
 
 Thoro is no douht tliat this imperial docrec, \shitli was 
 niiule public l>y moans of a printed i)roclamation on the 
 morning of March l.Oth, was the result of a eonfcrence 
 which lasted to a late hour in the night, and which, accord- 
 ing to the nimours of tlu- town, was attended by the Arca- 
 diikes Francis Charles, Francis Joseph, Albrecht, and Louis, 
 the minister of state, Coimt Kolowi-ath, the temporary cliief 
 of the militaiy and ci\*il affairs at Vienna, Prince Windisch- 
 giütz, the minister of state, Count Münch-Bellinghausen, the 
 ])resident of the Exchequer Chamber, Baron Kiibeck, and 
 the chiefs of the sections of the State-Council for the affairs 
 of the interior and of justice, Count Hartig and Baron 
 Pilgram. By considering what this proclamation says, and 
 what it omits to say, we may discover the maxims which 
 guided the conference. 
 
 In the first place, the emperor's decree anuoimces the 
 con^äction, that the concessions which had been made to 
 the Lower Aiistrian Estates, and to the citizens of Vienna, 
 since the 13th of March, which comprised the arming of the 
 people and the freedom of the press, had rendered an essential 
 refonn in the system of government an inevitable necessity, 
 and that this reform must consist in the renunciation of 
 absolutism, since, for the future, the representatives of the 
 jieople were to take jirirt in the legislative functions, and in 
 the control of the administration. 
 
 Everytliiug was thus admitted which forms the essence 
 of a constitutional system. 
 
 But when we obsei-ve that in the proclamation made on 
 the moiTiing of the 15th of March, the word "constitution " 
 is not mentioned, Ave ai'e forced to inquii-e the reason for the 
 
 however, they were in possession of the means for multiplj-ing the free 
 concessions of the emperor by extorting others. Hence the shouts of 
 acclamation.
 
 EEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 151 
 
 omission of tliis woi'd, since we cannot suppose that if the 
 substance was promised, the mere expression was accidentally 
 omitted. 
 
 An attentive regard to the form of the Austrian monarchy 
 may answer the question. It consisted at that time of divi- 
 sions, some of which (such as Htingaiy and Transylvania) 
 already possessed an ancient form of constitution, which 
 had been sworn to by the sovereign, whilst others were 
 governed absolutely, in which, however, there existed cer- 
 tain corporate bodies, who enjoyed a share not so much 
 in the government as in particulai* branches of the adminis- 
 tration, by virtue of important privileges which had been 
 conceded to them by the sovereign. It is therefore clear 
 that the advisers of the crown, in omitting the word " con- 
 stitution," in respect of the new chai-acter of the sovereign 
 towards these latter portions of the monarchy, had care- 
 fully considered the importance of the expression, since by 
 proclaiming a constitution that was to serve for some parts 
 of the empii'e and not for others, the unity of the Austrian 
 monarchy would have been endangered, and its disrupture 
 into separate constitutional states have been prepared. These 
 states, indeed, might have perhaps for some time preserved 
 the semblance of union, by having a common head, but this 
 union would have subsisted only so long as no conflict respect- 
 ing theii- separate interests, or rivaliy between the representa- 
 tives, placed the executive power of the common head be- 
 tween the opposing demands of the di\'ided legislative bodies, 
 and thereby rendered an open breach inevitable. The 
 events which had happened ia the Diet of Presburg showed 
 tliat the moment for such a conflict was not far distant. 
 Moreover, the proclamation of a constitution for those parts 
 of the monarchy which did not belong to Hungary or 
 Transylvania, rendered the abolition of Constitutional Estates
 
 152 GENESIS OK TJIE 
 
 necessary in the provinces whei'c they existed, to whicli 
 step the Conference tliil not tliink proper alone to advise 
 tlie emjU'ror, in opposition to the wislies of the Lower 
 Austrian Estates and tlie citizens of Vienna, since the 
 privileges of the Estates had been confirmed partly by the 
 oath of the emi)eror, and jiartly by his sign-manual. Con- 
 sidered in this point of view, the omission of the expression 
 " constitution," in the imperial proclamation, seems to have 
 been quite in character with the circumstances, particularly 
 as the future course of proceeding was not com2:)i'omised ; 
 but the question was rather left open for the considei*atiou 
 of the representatives of the particular provinces, who wei'e 
 to assemble round the throne, at latest in the beginning of 
 July, in order to advise on this point, whether it were 
 possible, by an imderstanding wth the Estates of Hungaiy 
 and Ti"ansylvania, to convert the aggregate monarchy into a 
 single constitutional state. 
 
 The first impression made upon the jiopulation of Vienna 
 by the proclamation which appeared on the morning of the 
 15th March, and which had been determined upon the night 
 before by the emperor, upon the i:)ro2iosal of the Conference, 
 was very favourable, notwithstanding the omission of the 
 word "constitution." The manifesto of the publishei"s of 
 Vienna, and the general rumour that the censorship \;pon 
 the newspapers liad that day ceased, overcame the mistitist 
 entertained for the sincenty of the goverament. The pubUc 
 feeling tlisplayed itself so gi-atefuUy to the emperor, that he 
 resolved to show himself to the people, during a drive 
 in the afternoon. This diive clearly proved that popular 
 opinion resembles the air-bubble in a levelling macliine, 
 which is impelled fii\st to one side, then to another, 
 as it is directed by the hand which guides it. The 
 same people who two days before had threatened the
 
 REVOLUTION IX AUSTRIA. 153 
 
 residence of the emperor, wislied now to prove their attach- 
 ment to liini by taking the horses from his carriage and 
 substituting theii- own personal strength in their stead. It 
 afforded at once matter for laughter and for serious reflec- 
 tion, to mai'k a member of the Lower Austrian Estate« 
 clearing the way for the imperial carriage. It was not in 
 
 tiiith 
 
 "A noble count on prancing steed," 
 
 like the baron in the ballad of the brave hero who, with a 
 well-filled purse in his hand, offered a reward to him v^ho 
 should save the jjoor tax-gatherer from drowning ; but Avitli 
 the weapon of the Estates at his side, and the three-cornered 
 hat of the Estates upon his head, our Count sought by the 
 magic influence of these distinctive emblems to throw his 
 sliield over the emperor, and protect the latter from his 
 rejoicing people ! So great was the sympathy of this people 
 either for the person of the " noble count on prancing steed," 
 or for the assembly to which he belonged, that every one 
 fimüy believed he had been summoned to j)i"ecede the lord 
 of the realm in the capacity of his protectoi'. What coald 
 have occasioned such an idea, if not the consciousness of 
 former exertions to win popular favour, and of the influence 
 arising from its possession and direction ? We relate this 
 unimportant anecdote, as it wül help us to estimate the cha- 
 racter and real nature of the events which have lately taken 
 place. * 
 
 * Our .supposition tliat the member of the Lower Austrian Estates 
 rode before the emjieror with the intention of protecting him, is con- 
 tradicted in tlie '"Nieder Oesterreichischen Landstiinde und die Gene- 
 sis." It is there stated that " the first occasion of it is said to liave 
 been the wish to convert the drive of the emperor into the Prater, as 
 jirojected by the courtiers, into a drive through the various parts of tlie 
 city." 
 
 We are inclined to doubt whether at that time a diive into the 
 Prater bad been projected. But if such had been the case, tlie deter-
 
 lüi GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 Dui-ing this triumph of the mob, the men who held in 
 their hands the strings by which the theatrical puppetrf 
 were set in motion, I'tmnd new materials to produce discord 
 by circulating unjust suspicions. They found fault, for 
 instance, with the omission of their favoiu'ite catch-word 
 " The Constitution " in the late imperial proclamation, and 
 i-emarked that under the term " The Estates " those claases 
 of the people who were formerly unpri^-ileged should be 
 included, an object of long contention. They asserted that 
 this proclamation had not been published in the official 
 Vienna gazette of the day (which, doubtless, occiu-red from 
 the news having been earned too late to the office) ; they 
 conceived that the form of customaiy ceremony in which all 
 the imperial concessions of the 13th and 14th of Mai'ch had 
 been published, shoidd be obsei-ved in events of such impor- 
 tance, and they commenced awakening suspicions with regard 
 to the sincerity of the government, and exciting distxu'- 
 bance. The State Conference was informed of the thi-eatening 
 dissensions, and endeavom-ed to prevent them by annoimcing 
 that on that very day, to put an end to the popular commotion, 
 an imperial decree woidd appear as the Magna Charta of the 
 Austrians, in which each concession granted during the past 
 days would be successively enumerated, the satisfaction of 
 the emperor at the gratitude exhibited to liim on the occasion 
 of his appearance would be expressed, together with a hope 
 that the mind.s of the people would be tranquillized, that 
 the b-tudies of the university would be pursued as usual, and 
 that trade and peaceful commerce woxild once more flourish. 
 
 mination of a member of the Lower Austrian Estates, — who did not 
 belong to the court — to change, according to his own pleasure, the di- 
 rection of that drive, must have originated in the consciou-sness of the 
 moral power possessed by himself, or by the body whose insignia be 
 wore. Tliough we may, therefore, have been mistaken with regard to 
 the intentions of that member, the inference which we may have drawn 
 from his conduct seems to have been correct.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 155 
 
 In this decree (wHcli will be foimd at full in the supple- 
 ment to this work, No. 1) the declaration could be fearlessly 
 made, that the convocation of the provincial Estates would 
 take place with a fuller representation of the citizens, and 
 with proper attention to the provincial Constitutions, be- 
 cause these very points, even before the month of March, 
 had been discussed in the Estates. It was remarkable, 
 however, that the word "Constitution" should be found in 
 this decree, as it seemed to be imperative, for the grave 
 reasons already mentioned, that it should have been 
 avoided. The information we have carefiilly collected esta- 
 bhshes the foUo^ving fact : — The State Conference -wishetl 
 to substitute in the patent, in place of the ominous word 
 " constitution," the expression " a constitutional arrangement 
 of the coimtiy," by which phrase, on the one hand, a 
 pledge was given for a real shaiing of the legislative power 
 between the sovereign and the representatives of the people, 
 and on the other, it was intimated that this object was to be 
 attained not in the stereoty]3ed manner lately adopted, but 
 by having due regai'd to the peculiar circumstances of the pro- 
 vinces of the empii-e. Whoever considers, without prejudice, 
 the nature of the materials of which the Austrian monarchy 
 is composed, must admit that the plan chosen was the most 
 jid\dsable, with a view to reconcile with the existence of the 
 state the demands of the people who reposed so little confi- 
 dence in the government. But there were persons who 
 insisted that theii* favourite catch-word should be pronounce<t 
 by the emperor, not as an adjective, but as a substantive, in 
 an absolute sense, and they succeeded in this case, as on the day 
 before in reference to the naming of " the National Guard." 
 By representing the matter as an unimportant verbal distinc- 
 tion, they induced the kind-hearted monarch to comply witli 
 their request. We coasider it our duty to mention to oui
 
 1Ö6 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 readers those circiuustiuices, clerivccl as tlioy are from uikjihs- 
 tionable authority, on account of tlie general censure whicli 
 has bt'cn heaped upon tlic chief advisers of the crown Ixjtli 
 by the Consen'ative and the revohxtionaiy party, wlietlier 
 justly t>r unjustly it is not for us to say. We content our- 
 selves with stilting we]l-knu\vn facts, in order to place in a 
 true light the conduct of those men who figured in the three 
 days' aita5troi>he. 
 
 On the 15th of March the inhabitants of Vienna might 
 exclaim " Post nubila Plia^bus," since the gloomy i)oliticaI 
 horizon of the pre^äous days wjis converted into a momentaiy 
 biightness. To the joy of the morning succeeded in the 
 afteiiioon and in the evening a second and a tliii'd triumph. 
 Tlie Archdiüie Stephen, Palatine of Hungarj^, came from 
 Presbiu-g to Vienna. He was accompanied by the Himga- 
 rian deputation, who were bearers of the celebrated address 
 ])roposed by Kossuth on the 3rd March, and adopted by 
 both Estates of the kingdom. The deputies were attended 
 by a crowd, consisting of many hundi-ed young Magj'ai-s. 
 The ai-chduke was received with acclamations of joy. The 
 same vain homage which had been offered to the emperor some 
 hours before, was paid to him. The deputies and their at- 
 tendants were received with shouts of applause by the national 
 guard and citizens, and attended to their dwellings. What 
 coidd be the object or the meaning of such ovations 1 The 
 strangers had e\'idently contributed nothing to those conces- 
 sions, from which the inhabitants of Vienna expected so 
 much happiness. It must, therefore, have been in comsequence 
 of some secret combination that these latter felt themselves 
 compelled to offer their thanks to those who, on that im2:)or- 
 tant day, appeared in Vienna, with the intention, doubtles.s, of 
 dissolving the union of a hinidred years between Hungary and 
 Austria, in order to substitute in its place a new bond of a
 
 EEVOLUTIOX IX AUSTRIA. 157 
 
 less eiiduviug kind. The day of this meeting with the Hun- 
 gariau deputation, mamerons in itself, and accompanied by 
 still move numerous followers, was that on which it had been 
 pre\'iously determined that the populace should shout for a 
 constitution in Vienna, but whether this was to result from 
 the free exercise of imperial generosity at the moment of 
 meeting it was impossible to determine. It seems, there- 
 fore, beyond doubt that the enthusiastic reception of the 
 Hungax'ian strangers was intended as a tribute of thanks for 
 their willing help, which was ready for action on the de- 
 cisive day, though their aid was for the moment no longer 
 necessary. The part which the Magyars played in the fol- 
 lowing October, reduces this susjiicion to a certainty. 
 
 But in the midst of all this triumph the distui'bers of the 
 public peace never ceased to fan the flame of discontent. 
 Men who, from their external appearance, were strangers in 
 Vienna, mingled with the tln'ong, and whispered to the by- 
 standers " ere the constitution is ready the Russians will be 
 here." 
 
 When we consider the events which happened in Austria 
 and its provinces in the first half of the month of March, 
 and remember the lessons of experience which teach, that in 
 tlie depths of human determination and action none but un- 
 important words and deeds are allowed to meet the public 
 eye, we must feel convinced that the party whose object was 
 the establishment of the sovereignty of the people, had cast 
 out their nets with wonderful skill to entrap the honest but 
 thoughtless ftiends of gi-adual refoiin, and place them appa- 
 r-cntly at the head of the movement, deluding them with the 
 hope of observing all proper restraints of right and justice, 
 and aftei-wards discarding them as tools no longer fit for 
 use. It cannot be uninteresting to hear the voice of one of 
 the organs of this party on the subject of the events at
 
 158 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 Vienna. The paper published under the title of the Consti- 
 tution coutiiins ill its numlHi- for the 19th of October, 1848 
 (No. 173), the following remai-kable announcement : — . 
 
 " There are men who would render public writers, and even, 
 jomualists, resjwnsible for all those occurrences in a revolu- 
 tion which do not coiTespond with their o^vn \aews, not to 
 mention others to whom the very idea of a revolution is a 
 heinous crime. But do such men conäder what writers the 
 1 3th of March called forth ? It would seem that if a public 
 press had previously existed in Austi-ia, the transition might 
 have been easier from the old to a new state of things. Doubt- 
 less there did exist a certain class of public writers before 
 the 13th of March, but who can say that theh- works pro- 
 duced any effect upon the people ? It has been seen that in 
 March the movement affected those classes of society who 
 had not yet tasted the apple of knowledge, no less than those 
 who had ever been opponents of reform. It is thus dear that 
 some other power than the press occasioned the events of 
 the 1 3th of March, namely, a sense of increasing oppression, 
 ■which caused a terrible reaction. Can it be thought that 
 the dealers in the public funds were enticed by the syren 
 voices of the pubUc press 1 We well know, and have al- 
 ready pointed out the authors of the 13th of March ; we 
 well know who would have made cats'-paws of the brave 
 students, and it is now provoking to them, that the students, 
 and the people who joined them, will themselves eat the 
 chestnuts which they have snatched ii-om the flames. The 
 lower Austrian Estates, wished to retrieve the honour wliich 
 the bureaucracy have lost," «fee. 
 
 It were well to compare with the above passage from a 
 highly radical pen, another which is the production of a 
 very eminent statesman, who differs wlioUy in opinion from 
 the contributors to the above mentioned gazette, — Count
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 159 
 
 Montecuculi, who, before the month of March, filled the 
 office of provincial marshal at the head of the Lower Avisti'ian 
 Estates, expresses himself as follows, in a memorandum ad- 
 dressed to the high assembly of the empire (page 13), dated 
 Mitterau, July 5, 1848, wliich he afterwards published : — 
 
 " It was, in truth, no easy task, and demanded in many 
 instances no small degree of self-denial, properly to represent 
 and to protect the interests of the people, when they were 
 not in unison with the measures of the government ; but in 
 tliis conflict I have never shrunk from representing such 
 interests, and defending with zeal the welfare of those who 
 were incapable of protecting themselves. I can appeal 
 boldly to the whole of my past career, and to the testimony 
 of those who have watched my conduct as captain of a 
 district, as privy councillor, as vice-president, and, above all, 
 as provincial marshal for two years, and who have had 
 an opportunity of knowing me fully. All Vienna witnessed 
 my conduct in the days of March, which brought the people 
 of Austria to the age of majority, and I have received the 
 most honourable acknowledgment of my exertions." 
 
 A glance at the measures which the Lower Austrian 
 Estates had prepared for the Diet on the 13th of March, 
 makes us fui"ther acquainted with the publication of certain 
 proceedings which they had drawn up for that Diet. We 
 annex a passage from the draft of a petition for freedom 
 <jf the press, which appeared in the Austrian Imperial Vienna 
 Gazette of the 22nd of March, No. 82 : — 
 
 " Your Majesty ! Your Austrians are a tiiie people, who 
 have proved their truth, and are worthy of your love and of 
 your confidence. The more bitterly, therefore, must it af- 
 fect them and the deeper must be their sorrow, that they are 
 not fully blessed with this confidence. We, your majesty's 
 most tnily obedient Estates, fully accjuainted with the wishes,
 
 100 GEXESIS OK TIIK 
 
 and knoAniii; tlio wants of the people amongst whom we 
 live, whose intiTt'sts we shave, venture, witliout hesitation, to 
 hiy this (leehu-atioii before tlie stejis of your throne : that 
 yoiu" subjects, in the measures wliich have been adopted by 
 your government for the carefid supenäsion of their actions, 
 even when they are tlirected to the promotion of j^ublic im- 
 dertakings, in the constant control that is exercised over the 
 management of their affairs, in the narrow bounds within 
 which tlieir eveiy action is confined, but, above aU, in the 
 prohibition of an active interchange of thought, by tlie exis- 
 tence of an oppi'essive censorship, find cause for an expi-ession 
 of their mistrust, which should never subsist between your 
 tlu'one and the hearts of yoiu* people." 
 
 Such words, worthy of a tribune of the people, proceed- 
 ing from tlie mouth of the Lower Austrian Estates, in con- 
 junction with those confessions of a democrat, and those ad- 
 missions of one who enjoyed the confidence of the government 
 previous to March, oblige us to consider the overtlu'ow of that 
 government as the effect of two causes, enth-ely dissimilar in 
 their nature, but which worked together upon this occasion. 
 Against such a united opposition, no resistance, founded iipon 
 the maxims of paternal authonty, covdd have proved eÖ'ec- 
 tual. A result, wliich could no longer be avoided, happened on 
 the 13th, 14th, and 15th of March. Whether bayonets and 
 cannon coidd have deferred the result must remain doubtful; 
 that they could not prevent what was ine\'itable, is certain.'"" 
 
 * The party, which in the three remarkable days of March, by com- 
 l)ining indefatigable activity with crafty circumspection, accomplished 
 the overthrow of the system of government, evinces displeasure at the 
 representation which is given in " the Genesis" of its proceedings, and tries 
 to weaken that representation by contrasting it with the description of 
 the state of govenmient before Älarch, by which it has been shown in 
 the "Genesis" that the government was destitute of all power to withstand 
 the revolution. The author is accused of duplicity, and doubts are even 
 raised whether those two representations emanate from one and the same
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. IGl 
 
 The revolution ought to have ended vdth. the decree of 
 the 15th of March. Had such been the case, it would have 
 been invested with the milder character of a reform : but 
 unfortunately it happened otherwise. The system of govern- 
 ment was broken up. The government machine, as we have 
 described it with a pei-fect regard to truth, could work but 
 impei-fectly even under a ti'anquil order of things. The me- 
 chanism was incapable of resisting the destructive blows of 
 modem days. The creaking wheels revolved lazily, and 
 their motion was uncertain, unequal, and difficult. The 
 bulwark, whose firm security was believed capable of pro- 
 tecting Austria from the billows that foamed from the west, 
 had been overthro%vn. Tlie tide nished in, and as the breach 
 was not repaired, nor the waters carried off by a powerful 
 and skilful hand, the wall ci-umbled daily more and more, 
 and the raging element scattered destruction around. 
 
 The task of the Genesis should here conclude. It would be 
 foreign to its object and would be a vain task to pursue the re- 
 volution through its various phases. We should have to sketch 
 ii picture of popular arrogance unrestrained, of domineering 
 civic j)ride, of presumption, selfishness, knavery, ambition, 
 sophistry, and weakness with all its consequences, — fickleness, 
 hypocrisy, helplessness, treachery, lies, and deceit ; and lastly, 
 tlu! \iolation of right, Ijloodshed, and civil war, the prevention 
 of which was th(! noble object which the intei'ference of the 
 
 .nitlior. We shall not advance any polemical arguments on this occa- 
 sion, but merely ask a question. 
 
 If, in describing the causes of a destructive conflagration, attention 
 has li'.'en first called to the decayed ccnidition of the building and its 
 liability to take fire, then the accumulation of combustil)le materials 
 witliin and without has been described, and the neglect of a|)])Iying 
 .any remedy has been exposed : if, thereupon, the originator of tlie con- 
 flagration, who either maliciously or carelessly threw burning coab 
 among the combustil)le materials is pointed out, can the narrator 
 lie accused, with any justice, of duplicity and Bclf-contradictiou in so 
 'loing ? 
 
 M
 
 162 GENESIS OF TnE 
 
 cmpex'or contemplated in the days of March, — an object wliich, 
 unfortunately for the people of Austria, was not attained. We 
 must content ourselves, therefore, with casting a glance upon 
 those mistakes and errors which produced such disastrous 
 consequences, which prevented the revolution of March from 
 being arrested in its progress, and forbade us from entering 
 upon the paths of refonn, as should have been the case.
 
 BEVOLUTIOir IN AUSTRIA. 163 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SECOND HALF OF THE MONTH OF MARCH, 1848. 
 
 The Austrian statesman, who at the close of the day which 
 witnessed the bii-th of a constitutional Avistria, should have 
 abandoned his naind to serious political reflections, must have 
 felt deeply perplexed in anticipating the effect which the 
 late occurrences would necessaiily produce in the interior 
 of the monarchy. He would have felt no distm-bance at the 
 thought, that in future the legislative power would no longer 
 exclusively i-est in the hands of the emperor, but he would have 
 been startled at the reflection that the latter must henceforth 
 share his power with the people ; and he would, above all 
 things, have felt dismayed at contemplating, on the one hand, 
 that course of measures which had occasioned the determina- 
 tion of the emperor, which was to be attributed to an irregular 
 arming of the people and the .sudden release of a licentious 
 press from aU restraint, and at observing, on the other 
 hand, the perilous example of countless offences being 
 passed over without any judicial prosecution, and although 
 stigmatized by the law as crimes, exalted, by theii- suc- 
 cessful issue, to the rank of civic virtues. 
 
 It should have been an object of primary solicitude with the 
 government to prevent elsewhere an imitation of the example 
 which had been set at Vienna, of a promiscuous distribution 
 of anns to the people. And in fact the pi'ovincial cliiefs were 
 actually admonished by the emperor, not to permit the sudden 
 establishment of a national guard in the provincial towns. 
 M 2
 
 IC) 4 OENESIS OF THE 
 
 Alt.houf!;li, ;u^ it is assoi-tod, tliis orJci" wa.s circulattHl as exten- 
 sively as possible by lueaus of the telegraph, yet immediately 
 after the fifst correct intelligence had been received of the arm- 
 ing of the students and citizens of Vienna on the 13th of March, 
 the very same thing took jilace in most of the provincial ca])i- 
 tals, though the same reasons did not exist, namely, the 
 necessity of providing })rotection against bands of robbers 
 and murderers. This suffices to prove the weakness of the 
 executive goveniment. 
 
 It vras no less imi)ortant to put a stop to the alniscs of 
 the press by means of a legislative enactment, which during 
 the existence of the censorship was wholly unnecessary. The 
 proper authoi'ities, therefore, received directions, immediately 
 after the removal of the censorship, to prepare ^\ithout delay 
 the plan of such an enactment. But, in order to prevent the 
 weapons of the press, Avhich were "wielded in a thousand 
 places, from becoming obnoxious to the sovereign, to the state, 
 to religion, and to social order, during the time which must 
 necessarily elapse in planning, considering, sanctioning, and 
 introducing a*system for the regulation of the press, resem- 
 bling the form already adopted in other German states, the 
 emperor, on the 1 7th of March, forwarded a cabinet order to 
 the president of the United Court-Chanceiy, in which he pre- 
 scribed to the latter the course to be pursued. He arranged 
 a temporary scheme for dealing with offences of the press, in 
 conf(}rmity with the general penal code, a plan probably ar- 
 i-anged by lawyei"s of liberal sentiments ; and it was further 
 ordered that the rules should be immediately commimicated 
 to the provincial chiefs by means of circulars, that they might 
 serve as models to the authorities in their official duties, till 
 the publication of a legislative enactment. This scheme 
 consisted of six short paragraphs, the first of which defined 
 the nature of an abu.se of the press, grounded on the
 
 REVOLUTION I^" AUSTRIA. 165 
 
 maxims of justice. The second declared, with precision, the 
 individuals re.sj^ousible for such abuses. The third appointed 
 the tribunal to take cognizance of such abuses. The fourth 
 pointed out the cases in which a prosecuted publication or 
 picture should be forfeited. The fifth subjected the punish- 
 ment of offences of the press to the enactments of the 
 first and second j^art of the penal code. And finally, the 
 sixth decreed the further apphcation of those enactments 
 against those who should in any manner circulate the pub- 
 lications and pictures described in the first section. With- 
 out doubt, this short and clear plan for subjecting offences 
 of the press to the penal code, in conformity, as it was, 
 with public opmion in many parts of Germany, would have 
 provided suificient protection to the government, when the 
 censorship was first removed ; but the imperial cabinet order 
 was not obeyed, the scheme was not cii'culated, and the pi-ess 
 remained for many months free from all restraint. To 
 account for this inattention to so important a command of 
 the emperoi", at once surprising and deplorable, w^e must 
 remember that on the 17th of March the emperor, according 
 to an announcement in the Vienna Gazette of the 18th, had 
 determined to form a ministry charged vnth the introduction 
 and completion of the mea-sures promised in the decree of the 
 15th of March. In consequence of tliis x-esolution the High 
 Chancellor retired from public life, and the person who 
 pro\i.sionally assumed his post, and who, some days after- 
 wards, was nominated Minister of the Interior, con- 
 sidered it better to lay aside the imperial decree, and to 
 propose hastily a more detailed enactment respecting the 
 press, after the model of the one existing in Baden, and 
 more comiilicatcd in its application, but wdiich enactm(;nt, 
 after it had been sanctioned by the emperor, he pronounced 
 to be wholly inadequate, upon the suggestion of those whose
 
 ICG OEJTESIS or THE 
 
 excesses it was intemlcd to control. In the middle of the 
 month of May ho ]»iiblished another plan, which, us it 
 was intended to be connected with the jury system, could 
 not be put into operation for a considerable time. AbiLses of 
 the press were the inevitable result of the state of excite- 
 ment, daring hatred, and suspicion that then existed, arising 
 fi'om the imprudence or ignorance which incautiously in- 
 trusted the freedom of the press, that resembled Pandora's 
 box, to the hands of thoughtless or crkoinal individuals. So 
 great was the indifference of the minister, that, forgetful of 
 the old maxim, which teaches that the press, when it inflicts 
 wounds, should be compelled to heal them, he occupied him- 
 self in establishing a ministerial paper and circulating talented 
 and loyal pamphlets to neutralize the poison by means of anti- 
 dotes. And now axose the strange confusion of ideas between 
 the liberty to produce an article and the license of compelling 
 its consumption. Since the reign of Joseph II. there was 
 full liberty to produce many articles, linen yam for instance, 
 but it never occxrrred to the imagination of any one that in 
 order to indulge their own caprice in forcing the consump- 
 tion of their own goods, the weavers might la^vfully fill the 
 streets with criers of their wares, commissioned to force 
 them on the passers-by, as was the case in. Yienna with the 
 products of the free press, tül the town was declared in a 
 state of siege. This gave rise to a low street-literature, 
 which for infamy of character actually surpassed that of 
 Paris in the worst periods of the French revolution, and 
 circulated most dangerous poison for the popular mind. 
 
 It was further an object of the greatest importance to re- 
 move from the minds of a people not yet familiar with the idea 
 of a constitution, tlie erroneous notion that the latter was to 
 have the effect of nullifying the operation of aU previously- 
 existing laws. For this purpose the emperor at once adopted
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 167 
 
 proper measures. So early as tlie 1 9tli of Marcli an imperial 
 decree was announced, by wMcli, in. consideration of the press- 
 ing necessity that pubKc business should be once more re- 
 sumed, and with a view to place the government in a condition 
 to satisfy the demands of the present and of the future, it was 
 commanded, " That all official authorities should strictly 
 maintain the existing laws and ordinances, so far as they 
 were not legally repealed, as was the case with the laws of 
 the censorship, by the patent of the 15th. of March ; and his 
 majesty expected, moreover, from liis loyal and intelhgent 
 subjects, that they would not only obey the same, but would 
 each in his own special capacity support, to the best of his 
 abUity, the exertions of the pubUc authorities." 
 
 These orders of the cabinet prove, that in the imperial 
 councu attention was paid to those points which most 
 demanded it, during the change that was gradually 
 taking place in the Austrian monarchy. But everything 
 depended on the careful and vigorous execution of what 
 was commanded. It is evident that under the new circum- 
 stances which had arisen, no such result could be expected 
 from the old and rusty state-machine, the defects of which 
 have already been described to our readers. For this reason, 
 on the 17th of March, the formation of the ministry before 
 mentioned was resolved on by the emperor. The ministerial 
 councU was to consist of the minister of the imperial house 
 ;ind of foreign affiiirs, the minister of the interior, the 
 minister of justice, the minister of finances, and the minister 
 of war. The ministerial coimcil was to be presided over by 
 a president appointed by tlie emperor. Persons in commu- 
 nication with the cabinet assert, that at the same time 
 doubts were removed from the mind of Archduke Louis, 
 who up to that time had always assisted the emperor, 
 whether his former appointment was compatible with the
 
 IGS CF.yEsis OF Tin: 
 
 new ordor of tilings, ami this was done under a promise that 
 he would resign his new post, should such a step be con- 
 sidered ad^•isJlble. But it was the general opinion of the 
 cjibiuet, that during the period of transition from absolutism 
 to a constitutional form of goveriunent, as the new system 
 was not capable of complete applicixtion, — that is, until the 
 deputies of the Rstates were assembled from the jn'ovinces to 
 aid the emperor in establishing the proposed constitution, 
 there would be no objection to preserve near his person the 
 man who enjoyed liis confidence, who with unexampled 
 self-denial had ever proved the support of the crown in its 
 most ditficult emergencies, without being taint(>d by an 
 ambitious or corru])t tendency. The deep knowledge of 
 men and things, the penetrating look, tlie invanal)le tran- 
 (piillity and self-possession, the indefatigable industry, and 
 the strong love of truth Avhich marked the Archduke Louis, 
 of whom it might truly be said, that though he was often 
 silent, yet he never spoke an imtruth, were qualities which 
 made his adherence to liis 2)ost indispensable for the welfare 
 of the state ; at least until the new constitution, which 
 was determined upon, should come into practical operation, 
 and until the personal assistance which he had afforded to 
 his so^■ereign could be sup2)lied by a ministry chosen by a 
 })ai"liameutaiy majority, to whom, in pursuance of a contem- 
 plated enactment, that ministry should be responsible. 
 
 In yielding to this A\-ish, the Archduke Louis, in accor- 
 dance with general report, declared that he had promised the 
 late Emperor Francis to pursue liis system and maxims of 
 go^■emment michanged, and to undertake no duty wliich 
 should entail upon him the necessity of opjDosing proper 
 refonns in the state, and thus to e\änce his readiness sincerely 
 to promote those changes in Austria which circumstances had 
 rendered inevitable. In our opinion, much evil would have
 
 BEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 169 
 
 been avoided if, after the lapse of fourteeu days, disti-ust aud 
 deception, in conjunction -witli popular efirontery, had not ren- 
 dered this noble resolution vain, since the establishment of the 
 ministerial council had remedied that e\"il in the central con- 
 duct of state aflairs, wliich had rendered the procrastination ot 
 the Archduke Louis, in forming his resolutions, an object of 
 censure. His experience, his character, and his rank, were 
 yuflicient to prevent indecision, inconsistency, and mistakes, 
 even in measures which required promptness of decision. 
 
 The names of the new ministry were published on March 
 tlie 21st. In the mean time tlie functions of president wei'e 
 pro\isionally discharged by Count Kolowrath. Count Ficquel- 
 mont was appointed minister of the imperial house and of 
 foreign affairs ; Baron Von Pillersdorf was named minister of 
 the ulterior ; Count Taafe, minister of justice ; Baron Von 
 Klibeck, minister of finance. The emperor delayed, for the 
 present, tlie nomination of the minister of war. His choice 
 had fallen upon men who had already been engaged in the 
 same departments of business. During a state of transition 
 this Avas unavoidably necessary, to prevent utter confusion in 
 the discharge of business. There was discord in the term 
 " provisional " as applied to the ministerial president, forth(> 
 president is the soul of the ministerial council ; upon him 
 is the difficult duty of holding in check the centrifugal ten- 
 dency of each minister, and of directing their united efforts 
 to one common point, namely, the welfare of the state. At 
 that critical moment no one was better adapted for tliis 
 purpose than Count Kolowrath, as well on account of the 
 high and influential office he had filled in the state for 
 twenty-two years, as on account of his rare fortune in enjoy- 
 ing the confidence of the emperor aud the favour of the re- 
 formers. The word " provisional," therefore, left room for 
 doubting whether he would continue to discharce the difficult
 
 170 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 «liity of regulating the transition from absolutism to a con- 
 stitution. As it turned out, after a fortnight, the Vienna 
 (iasette announced that, for his health and repose, he had 
 resolved to retire for a time from public business, and had 
 actually ceded the presidency of the iiiiiiisterial council to 
 Count Ficquelmont. But this was also a temporary mea- 
 sure. 
 
 Next to the minister-president, the minister of the inte- 
 rior was the most important personage at that period of 
 commotion and change. Baron Pillersdorf seemed the fittest 
 person to fiU tliis station in that moment of distrust in the 
 government, — renowned as he was for the clearness of his 
 imderstanding, in addition to being an attractive speaker, 
 a decided friend of reform, an opponent of the late Metter- 
 nich system, as it was termed, and enjoying the confidence 
 of the reformers, though not of the Conservative body. 
 The former deplored the small degree of influence he had 
 hitherto possessed in the conduct of afiairs, although in the 
 business of the interior he had for many years assisted the 
 infii-m liigh chancellor. On account of his mature age and his 
 gradual elevation in the service of the state, the government 
 had reason to hope that he would employ his credit, as well 
 as his remarkable talents, in efiecting a quiet and deliberate, 
 but not an utopian and revolutionary, change in the system of 
 the state. How far this hope was fiilfilled we may learn 
 from an account of the events in Austiia down to the period 
 of Pillersdorf's resignation — a clu'onicle which it is no part 
 of our ta.sk to write. We shall not inquii-e whether the 
 evil results of the dictatorship which he gradually assumed 
 in the ministry, contrary to the original intention of the 
 emperor, were to be ascribed to his principles, or his en-ors, 
 or liis weakness of character, or whether they arose from acci- 
 dental causes. We deem it enoiigh to repeat the joke with
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 171 
 
 whicli he was ridiculed in Vienna in 1842, wlien lie filled 
 the office of court chancellor, as assistant to the chief chan- 
 cellor, a joke which subsequently acquired a significant im- 
 portance. The people of Vienna said that the chief chancel- 
 lor was the lantern and Baron Pillersdorf the light. This 
 witticism afterwards verified itself in a manner not then 
 foreseen. For no sooner was the light separated from the 
 lantern, than, blown about by the wind upon aU sides, it 
 set fire to whatever it touched, and might have occasioned a 
 destructive conflagi'ation, if it had not been luckily extin- 
 guished by a gust of wind, and gradually reduced to an ex- 
 piring ember. 
 
 The minister of finance. Baron Kiibeck, would have been 
 the man to direct the course of the government at the 
 commencement of its constitutional existence in a regular 
 channel, on account of Ms cool penetration, his great know- 
 ledge and experience, and his firmness of character. He 
 stood very high in public opinion, and had not attained 
 his position by being a member of the aristocracy, but 
 was promoted to the ranks of the latter body on account of 
 his sexwices, wliich secured for liim the confidence of the 
 people. But ill-health obliged him to abandon liis ministe- 
 rial office. The other ministers were active men of business, 
 as was also his successor. Baron Von Kraus, who had ac- 
 cepted the port.folio of the finances, which, as ah'eady stated, 
 had been previously offered to and refused by Count Sta- 
 dion, the governor of Gralicia. Such likewise was the Field 
 Marshal Lieutenant Zanini, who had in the interim been 
 appointed minister of war ; and the Baron Von Sommaruga, 
 to whom, in the subsequent ministry, was intrusted the 
 department of pubUc education. But these persons, by virtue 
 of their office, could only exercise a subordinate direct influ- 
 ence over the affairs of the ministiy, and did not possess
 
 172 OENF-SIS OF THE ' 
 
 thoso qualities which wouhl have secured for Baron Kiibock 
 an iutlueiK-e of an indirect nature. It happened, therefore, 
 that Biiron Pilleredoif — who at first managed the interior 
 department in conjunction with the two provisional })resi- 
 dents, Kolownith and Ficquehnont, after the secession of the 
 former and the expid-sion of the latter by the audacity of 
 the students and the mob — remained alone at the head of 
 affairs. For, after Count Tiuife was di'iven from the ministry, 
 wliicli was effected, however, Avith less scandal than had 
 happened to Count Ficquehnont, the duties of provisional 
 president were discharged by Baron Pillersdorf as senior 
 minister in rank. 
 
 There were three principal errors whicb misled the minis- 
 try immediately after its formation. 
 
 The first consisted in the mistaken idea that when the 
 emperor had expressed his determination to e.stabli.sh a con- 
 stitution, a constitutional regime was then actually com- 
 menced. 
 
 The second consisted in the recognition of an ineflScient 
 mini.sterial responsibility in respect of a representative 
 system not yet set on foot. 
 
 The third and last consisted in the optimist notion that 
 an excited and unbridled people, in gi-ateful acknowledgment 
 of the freedom bestowed upon them by their ruler, would 
 never exceed the limits of jastice ^^'ithout requiring any 
 measures of prevention. 
 
 The first of the.se errors occasioned the cessation of those 
 temporary enactments which were in force up to July 3rd, 
 according to which the representatives of the several pro- 
 vinces were to assemble in Vienna, and for which period of 
 transition the general ministry sliould have estabH.shed a firm 
 system of restraint. Contradiction and inconsistency in the 
 measures of particular ministers, and the usurpation of that
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 173 
 
 control over the ministers which properly belonged only to 
 the legal representatives of the people, but which was assumed 
 by cei'tain temporary societies claiming to act in such a cha- 
 racter, were the lamentable consequence. In this period of 
 transition the ministry in the first place yielded to the in- 
 fluence of the Vienna Committee of Safety and to the Central 
 Committee of the National Guard, which held its sittings in 
 the hall of the university, and at a later period to the United 
 Conmiittee of the Citizens of Vienna, the National Guard, 
 and the Academic Legion, just as if they had been the repre- 
 .sentatives of all the nations of the Austrian empii'e, by wliich 
 means these revolutionary local associations obtained a 
 despotic influence over the entire monarchy. 
 
 The emancipation of the ministers from the superinten- 
 dence of the emperor (by substituting other ad-\dsers, who wei'e 
 intrusted with no portfolio) was the result of the second 
 error, of wliich the minister Pülersdorf cleverly took advan- 
 tage, in order to remove the State Council (in place of intro- 
 ducing proper changes therein), to abolish the State Confer- 
 ence, to remove the Archduke Louis from the presence of 
 the emperor, and to make it impossible for the latter to hear 
 any other voice than the minister's, by rendering all those 
 whom the emperor wished to consult confidentially ■s'ictims of 
 ])C)j)ular hatred, under the designation of a " Camarilla." But 
 since the minister, who, under the delusion of his own 
 responsibility to the nation, prescribed laws for the emperor, 
 himself obeyed the tlictatcs of a local association in Vienna, 
 the capital groaned under a tyi-anny whereof history affords 
 few examples. 
 
 The consequence of the third error was the removal of the 
 police authorities, and the abolition of the very name of the 
 police (an institution whicli even in i-epublican France was 
 allowed to continue both jw-actically and nominally) ; the un-
 
 174 OEKESIS OF THE 
 
 seasonable promulgation of a species of Habeas Corpus Act, 
 by a notice from the minister Pillersdorf, dated tlic 28th of 
 March, and addressed to all the proAdncial authorities, which 
 had the effect of impairing their efficiency in ca.ses where 
 the public peace and order were disturbed ; the diminution 
 of the number and strength of the military power in the 
 capital ; the silent permission to form associations, a privilege 
 not mentioned in the patent of March 15th, and the omission 
 to make any regulations for their control ; the impunity en- 
 joyed by the public disturbers of the peace, according to 
 which cats'-music and rioting became the order of the day ; 
 and, finally, the intimidation and abandonment of all the effi- 
 cient officers of government, of which two examples may be 
 here adduced as illustratiorLS. The first occurred in the case 
 of I\Iartinez, the president of the Vienna Committee of Safety, 
 who was forced to resign liis post in consequence of ha^-ing 
 di'iven away the notorious agitator. Schütte, though this step 
 is said to have been taken with the connivance of the minister. 
 The second happened in May, 1848, with relation to the Count 
 Montecuculi, of which the memorandum already alluded to 
 wdll affijrd an explanation. According to its tenor, he had, in 
 his capacity of president of the administration of Lower Aus- 
 tiia, at the request of the minister, Baron Pillersdorf, prepared 
 the order of the 25th of May, which had been determined on 
 by the Ministerial Council, respectiag the dissolution and dis- 
 arming of the Vienna Academical Legion, but he was after- 
 wards abandoned by the same minister, or rather given up 
 as a prey to the popular frenzy, from which he was only 
 saved by his immediate flight. 
 
 A ministry consti-ucted on such erroneous principles must 
 have been incompetent to resist a revolution, even of a less 
 complicated character. It was uttei'ly incapable of pro^'ing 
 a match for that which had broken out in Austria, in which
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 175 
 
 difficulties -were to be encountered tliat had never previously 
 arisen. 
 
 These difficulties lay partly in the tendency of the popular 
 discontent, and partly in the position of the ministiy, in 
 relation to the united monarchy. Two revolutions in France 
 had for their object and result the destruction of the thi-one 
 and the establishment of a republic ; but the people by whom 
 they were occa-sioned, desired the continuance of a united 
 French nation. The Austrian revolution did not seek the 
 destruction of the monarchy (at least in the intention of the 
 majority of its originators), but only the dindnution of its pri- 
 vileges. There were, however, four separate races, Vv^hich, in 
 conjunction with this common object, sought to reali^ie their 
 own separate interests. They were the Germans, the Sla- 
 vonians, the Magyars, and the Italians, though the last con- 
 templated an absolute severance from the empire. German 
 Austria was content to belong to Austria ; Slavonian Aus- 
 tria desired a government separate from that of Germany ; 
 Hungary sought to establish her independence, and only 
 to submit to the Austrian emperor as her Mng : Italian 
 Austiia threw herself into the arms of the other Italians, 
 with imprecations of "death and destruction to the fo- 
 reigner." Each of these countries asserted with equal vigour 
 its ovna. national claims, but was hostile to the others who 
 did the like. Hence arose a contest of a two-fold charac- 
 ter, against the sovereign and against one another. No 
 previous I'e volution had affiorded an example of similar dif- 
 ferences. 
 
 In France one and the same ministiy was effective through- 
 out all parts of the country. But the influence of the March 
 ministiy of Vienna Avas confined to only half the kingdom : 
 those parts of the monarchy which belonged to Hungary 
 refused to acknowledge its authority, and arrayed themselves
 
 17G GENESIS OF THE 
 
 ander another ministry, respousible to that country ; and this 
 responsibility wixs not imaginary, but real, since in Hungary 
 there existed a system of popular representation, which could 
 bring the ministry to account. The Hungaiian revolution was 
 much better organized than the Austrian, and as far as con- 
 cerned the establishment of the principle of popular sove- 
 reignty, the former extended to the latter a sister's hand. The 
 minister of Vienna wiis unable, by any effective measures, to 
 jirevent this union ; for the river Leitha was the Rubicon which 
 liis power coidd not i)a.ss. Tliis proves the necessity of having 
 only one central government for the entii*e Austrian mo- 
 narchy, if the constitutional iiiler, placed between two inde- 
 pendent ministers, and responsiljle to two different parliaments 
 of equal authority, would avoid the fate of the man who be- 
 tween two stools falls to the ground. A hasty glance at the 
 exertions which the four nations displayed in the month of 
 March, in the infancy of Austrian freedom, to insure a re- 
 iCOgnition of their sevex'al claims, each without regard to the 
 other, will enable us to estimate the magnitude of the diffi- 
 culties with which the centi-al adnainistration had to 
 <3ontend. 
 
 The Germanistic mania appeared in Vienna as a soi-t of 
 prologue to the drama of the revolution enacted in the Trades 
 Union on the Gth of March, Avhen the declaration to the em- 
 peror was resolved upon, " that nothing but a finn and cordial 
 xmion of Austria with the common interests of the German 
 fatherland could restore their ancient, oft-tried confidence." 
 No sooner had the glorious days of March destroyed the 
 control of the jiolice, than the three Gennan colours adopted 
 by the Federal Assembly of the 9th of March were pub- 
 licly worn in the form of cockades, scarfe, ribands, and ban- 
 ners. The tricoloured flag soon aftei-wards Avaved from the 
 tower of St. Stephen's^ and even from the balcony of the
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 177 
 
 ancient imperial chancery ; and no sooner had the emperor 
 appeared at a ^\^ndow of his dwelling to the Academical 
 Legion assembled in the onter Burg Square, than Profes- 
 sor Endlicher handed liim a New German banner, that 
 he might, ]>y waving it, take part in the general enthusiasm 
 for Germany, upon which the congi'egated multitude burst 
 forth into joyful acclamations. Whoever was fortunate 
 or imfortunate enough to attract the public notice of 
 the inhabitants of Vienna, immediately planted a similar 
 banner to wave before his house, whether "ad captandam 
 benevolentiam " or " ad redimendam vexam." The very 
 name of black and yellow was not only discreditable, but even 
 ominoixs ; black, a mixture of all colours, and gold, the 
 colour of the sun, had been already made famous by 
 the brave armies of Austria, united with German troops in 
 those battles which Austria, for the establishment of Ger- 
 man civilization and freedom, had been obliged in former 
 times to wage against the Turk, and in latter times against the 
 red Phrygian cap which had been imported into France from 
 ancient Rome, — and now, alas ! these colovirs were destined to 
 maintain their renown only on condition that the colour of the 
 said Phrygian cap should be incorporated with them, against 
 which Austrian and German warrioi^s had so often and so 
 bravely fought ! — an ommous union of colours, which seemed 
 to indicate that young Germany, deserting the principles of 
 her brave ancestors, was ready to embrace those tenets of 
 the Red RepubUc which the latter had ever rejected ! In 
 Vienna and in other German localities of tlie empire, the 
 independent feeling of the Austrian was changed into a wish 
 to be merged in Germany. The ministry encouraged this 
 idea in the dehision of being able to find therein a guarantee 
 for the gi'owtli and prosperity of tlie new-born child of 
 constitutional fieedom. 
 
 N
 
 ITS 0EXESI3 OF TIIK 
 
 Contemporaneously with the previilence of the Gerraanistic 
 spirit, the Magyaiistic mania raised its pretensions. The Hun- 
 garian deputation, which had entered Vienna on the 15 th of 
 March and on the folknving day appeared at the foot of thu 
 thi'one, was the bearer of a manifesto adopted by the Hunga- 
 rian Diet at the suggestion of Kossuth, addressed to the king, 
 which clearl}^ described the jiolitical state of Hungary, and 
 demanded the removal of every government-interest unfa- 
 vom-able to the Magyars. The German Michel, who was 
 employed in Vienna, was so benevolent as to give a trium- 
 phant reception to the Magyar champions, and to flatter their 
 leader \vith a gracious look or a kind Avord ; but notwith- 
 standing liis satisfaction at his own acquisitions, and the 
 tributes wliich were plenteously showered upon him by the 
 Magyai-s in their speeches from the windows of their dwell- 
 ings, he experienced the humiliation of afterwards hearing 
 that the tiibune of the people, Kossuth, on his return, to 
 Presburg, in a public speech, ascribed these boasted acquisi- 
 tions to the presence of the Magyar deputation, although tln^ 
 latter Avas only in the act of disembarking when the sounds 
 of triumph Avere resounding thi'ough the streets of Vienna 
 to celebrate the new Constitution. The tmth is, that the 
 reformers of Vienna and Presburg were morally combined 
 in those critical da3-s to make an attac^k on the government 
 which, although it emanated fi'om opposite quarters, weakened 
 its efficiency. Tliis effect must be ascribed to those conces- 
 sion.s, so injurious to the imperial prerogative, wliich had been 
 made to the Magj-ars on the well-known remonstr'ance of 
 the Presburg Diet ; for if the Austi-ian Emperor could have 
 depended on the ready co-operation of Ids imperial subjects 
 for the protection of the Apostolic King against the attacks 
 of the Hungaiian Estates, a different answer would ha\e 
 been given to the demands of the latter than that which tlic
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 179 
 
 Archduke Steplien brought back to Presbui-g on the 15th of 
 March. In this first answer of the king, however, certain 
 important privileges were preserved, and the interests of the 
 other parts of the empire in some degree maintained. In 
 particular, no permission was therein given to separate the 
 command of the Hungarian troops from that of the whole 
 imperial army, and the right to establish a separate ministry 
 of finance for Hungary was coupled with the condition of pro- 
 A-iding an adequate civu list for the king, a proportionate con- 
 tribution to the common treasury, the defraying a proper por- 
 tion of the national debt, and the support of the royal troops 
 garrisoned within the bounds of Hungary and its dependen- 
 cies. But to this very moderate limitation of their demands, 
 which had in view the preservation of the Pragmatic Sanc- 
 tion, the Magyars would not consent, but succeeded in the 
 month of March in obtaining all those concessions, so inju- 
 rious to the country, which ai'e included in the royal decree 
 of the 11th of April, 1848, and particularly in the third article 
 of law of the Hungarian Diet for the year 1847 — 1848. 
 
 This article of law, so pi'egnant with miscliief (in the 
 second section), places the executive power, with full 
 authority, in the hands of the palatine, whenever the 
 king shall be absent from the country, and declares the 
 existing palatine, the Grand Duke Stephen, to be in- 
 violable, whereby the rights of the apostolic king, during 
 his residence in his imperial palace elsewhere than in Hun- 
 gary, are withdrawn and conferred on his representative. 
 The third section makes the efficiency of a royal order 
 depend on the co-operation of a resj^onsible Hungarian 
 ministiy. The fifth section decrees that the seat of the 
 Hungarian ministiy shall be at Buda-Pesth. Tlic sixth refers 
 all matters fonnerly transacted in the ofiiccs of the Hungarian 
 Court Chancellorship, Court Exchequer, and Lord-Lieutenancy 
 
 N 2
 
 180 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 at Vienna, particularly such matters as related to militarv 
 affairs, to the defence of the country, and to the finances, 
 exclusively to a Hungarian ministry, by which means a 
 complete sej>aration was established between the Hungarian 
 and the imperial government. The eleventh section con- 
 cedes to the palatine the nomination of the minister-presi- 
 dent dvu'ing the absence of the king from the country, only 
 reserving to the king a power to approve the appomtment. 
 The twelfth section, which relates to the appointment of 
 the other ministers, binds the king to approve the proposal 
 of the president. The inevitable result of these legal reso- 
 lutions must have ol>liged the emperor either to take up 
 his residence in Hungaiy, or to renounce the exercise of 
 his royal privileges in that country. In either case the 
 victory of the Magyars over the interests of the united 
 monarchy was beyond a doubt. 
 
 It is important here to consider whether the imperial 
 Austrian cabinet, in consideiing the addi-ess of the Diet 
 presented by the Hungarian deputation, foresaw this conse- 
 quence, or whether the concessions made to the Magyars 
 should be ascribed to some other influence. The answer to 
 such a question would be easy to one familiar with the secrets 
 of the Austrian cabinet and of the imperial family, if they 
 could not be collected from facts published at the time by 
 the daily press, or well known as matters of common conver- 
 sation. We have already dii'ected the attention of our 
 readers to the celebi-ated manifesto of the Rstates wath 
 relation to the independent administi-ation of Hungary, 
 to its temporary postponement, as also to its subsequent 
 unanimous adoption by the assembly of Magnates. The 
 Pre.sburg Gazette gives a literal account of this consent of the 
 Magnates at their sitting of March the 14th (the day when 
 the events of Vienna of the 13th became known in Pres-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 181 
 
 burg). After observing that tlie appearance of the archduke, 
 the imperial palatine, amongst the Magnates on that day had 
 occasioned immense applause, the palatine is said to have 
 spoken the following words : — 
 
 " High Magnates ! from the postponement of the mani- 
 festo wliich lies before me, and has just been read [alluding 
 to the one which upon Kossuth's motion had already been 
 adopted by the Estates], I venture to entertain the hope 
 that the high Magnates Avill agree to its entire contents." 
 After it had been agreed to by acclamation, the palatine pro- 
 ceeded ■s\dt]i his speech : 
 
 " In obser\dng that the high Magnates adopt this petition, 
 I cannot conceal my wish and my warmest anxiety that tliis 
 Diet may produce successful results. I assure you, at the 
 same time, that to this end I .shall direct all my personal 
 and independent influence, and that I consider it my duty, 
 for the purpose of developing our constitution, to go with 
 you hand in hand in that path which the estimable assembly 
 of the Estates has jiursued. But I recognize only one 
 means for the attainment of this object, namely, a thorough 
 harmony and union in these difficult times — an end to which 
 I invite the high Mag-nates, with the fullest confidence, ou 
 the present occasion." 
 
 In what manner the palatine fulfilled his promise of 
 directing his influence to give effect to that mischievous re- 
 solution of the Diet the Hungarian papers afterward.s 
 informed us, by announcing that he had gone so far as to 
 declare his determination of renouncing the office of palatine, 
 if the royal sanction should be withheld. There is no room 
 for doubting the perfect coiTectness of this newspaper an- 
 nouncement, at least iu the opinion of the most intelligent 
 persons in Vieima. Many sagacious Austrians could not find 
 in this declaration of the archdiikc sufficient reason for grant-
 
 182 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 iug a concession, the consequence whereof might be so injuiious 
 to the iuipciiiü prerogative ; for be tlve position of any ser- 
 vant of the state ever so high and so important, it can never 
 be supposed that his services are actually indispensable, for in 
 the course of nature we may witness the man who was to-day 
 considered indispensable, stretched to-morrow on the bed of 
 sickness or consigned to his coflSn, in either of which cases a 
 substitute must be provided. But it might be whispered to 
 such profane doubters, by the initiated, that the matter 
 would not be settled by the retirement of the palatine, since 
 it might afterwards be expected that he would be elected 
 king of Hungary by the Diet. The first view of such a 
 spectre as a neighbouring king in Hungary might indeed 
 teri'ify, but when viewed closer, it ought not perhaps to 
 appear so formidable. The idea should not have surprised 
 the imperial family as a thing wholly unprecedented, for 
 they had shortly before bewailed the loss of one of their 
 most distinguished members, the conqueror at the Rhine and 
 at Aspern (the Archduke Charles), whom in the night 
 of November 21st, 1790, upon the outbreak of the first 
 French revolution, the rebeUious Estates of the Austrian 
 Netherlands had, in their congi-ess, nominated as hereditary 
 Grand Duke of the Burgundo-Belgian provinces, on condi- 
 tion that he would never more incorporate those pro'vdnces 
 with the monarchy, and that he would always reside within 
 their limits. A s this appointment produced no efiect on the 
 mind or conduct of the Archduke Charles, and did not pre- 
 vent him from supporting the imperial throne, it was to be 
 hoped that in like manner the noble character of the Arch- 
 duke Stephen would render a similar attempt in Hungary 
 inefiectuaJ. The designs of treasonable hypocrites were 
 th\xs exposed, the eyes of their deluded friends wei'e opened, 
 and thus that extreme distress was avoided which at a sub-
 
 REVOLUTIOK TN AUSTRIA. 183 
 
 sequent period spread over Himgary. A report prevalent 
 iu tlie town evinced a presentiment of those events wliicli 
 occurred some months afterwards, nnder far less favourable 
 circumstances. The councu of the emperor, with relation to 
 the affairs of Hungary and Transylvania, was composed of 
 the members of the State Conference appointed before March; 
 a voice in this conference is said to have declared aloud that 
 rather than yield to the demands of the Himgarian Diet, it 
 were better for the king to intrast the protection of his 
 crown to the Croats and Slavonians, who, true to him, were 
 long weary of the Magyar yoke, and were ready to join the 
 brave and loyal troops in Himgary, who, in the preceding- 
 March, before the promise of a union between Transylvania 
 ;ind Hungary, had been strengthened by reinforcements 
 from Transylvania. The struggle would not then have 
 proved so violent and deadly as that of October. For the 
 bold warriors of Hungary had not yet been led astray from 
 their duty to the king by orders proceeding from an Hun- 
 garian ministry of war, and woidd at that time have had to 
 contend with enemies destitute both of cannon and of for- 
 tresses, with both of which they were provided on the com- 
 pletion of the above-mentioned article of law. That advice, 
 liowever, was not responded to, as is proved by the moral 
 disheartenment of the government at the events which oc- 
 curred, and by the advice which their intimidated or false 
 friends, and even the Austrian constitutional ministers, 
 offered them not to enter into a contest about the affairs of 
 Hungary, particularly as the cunning of the Magyars had 
 not failed to insert in the proposition of their Diet an assu- 
 rance " to maintain inviolable the preservation of the union 
 of the throne and the monarchy, and to have regard to 
 the relation which sliould be maintained with the pro- 
 vinces" — an assurance which must either be considered as
 
 184: GENESIS OF THE 
 
 mere idle words, or else wholly destructive of those conces- 
 siuus with Avhich they were evid(;ntly incompatible. 
 
 Whilst the Austrians who were infected with the Ger- 
 mauistic mania panted fur union, and the Mag}'ars desired 
 to presers'e merely a nominal connection with Austria, the 
 Slavonians in the north and south sought to establish their own 
 independence. The Bohemians, in the north, at a meeting 
 held in Prague on the 11th of March, in the rooms of the 
 Wenzelbad, had agreed to the petition before alluded to, and 
 wliich had the aliove object in view. On the 20th of 
 March it was brought to Vienna by a nimierous deputation, 
 who were invested with no legal character, but were the 
 tools of a club, headed Ijy the innkeeper Faster, under the 
 assumed title of the citizens and inhabitants of Prague. 
 They succeeded in obtaining a conference with the pro\-i- 
 sional niinister-pi'esident, and with the minister of the 
 interior ; in consequence of wliich an imperial cabinet 
 order, dated March 23rd, was directed to Baron Pillersdorf, 
 in which an ans^^'er was returned to every point of the 
 petition. This answer was partly in appi-oval : partly it 
 alluded to the concessions whicli had already been made by 
 the decree of the 15th of ^Marcli, and partly promised to ex- 
 amine and take into immediate consideration their requests. 
 The imperial ans^ver to the complaint made in the fifth section 
 of the petition excited the utmost astonishment and wonder. 
 It put an end to the Robot system in Bohemia fi'om the 
 end of March, 1840, in consideration of a tritiing compensa- 
 tion. This was a decision extorted from the sovereign upon 
 a subject which, by \-irtue of the decree of the 15th of 
 March, should have been submitted to the consideration of a 
 pro\"incial parliament, to be summoned immediately, or else 
 to an assembly of deputies from all the pro\incial Estates, 
 which should be con\'oked at latest on Jidy 3rd ; but it
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 185 
 
 should never have been conceded in an extemporaneous 
 manner to a deputation composed of the inhabitants and 
 citizens of Prague. This concession to a deputation, fur- 
 nished ^^'ith no legal title, and composed of a motley crew, 
 emanating from a public-house in Prague, exposed the 
 weakness of the new ministry, and gave reason to fear that 
 new associations would obtain a like favourable hearing, and 
 would claim a similar attention to their Avishes (either with 
 or without a riot), an apprehension which was soon after- 
 wards actually realized in Vienna. The ministry openly con- 
 fessed that it wanted the courage and the will to execute the 
 decisions of the patent of the 15th of March with dignity and 
 firmness, but it was ready to pvu'chase momentary repose by 
 the abandonment of those decisions. But in this expectation 
 it was gi'ievously deceived, for, though Faster and his adhe- 
 rents were siitisfied with the audacity displayed by them in 
 Vienna, thek* feelings of satisfaction did not extend to the 
 inhabitants of Prague. On the return of tlie deputies of 
 the Wenzelbad to Prague, a burst of dissatisfaction, excited 
 liy the students, arose at what had been achieved. It was 
 pronoimced insufficient, as it was wholly silent on those points 
 calculated to satisfy the spiritual interests of the Bohemian 
 nation. The cause of this unfavoiu-ablc result of minis- 
 terial weakness lay in the fact that, at the meeting at the 
 Wenzelbad on March the 11th, some members of the univer- 
 sity of Prague maintained that the claims of the intelligent 
 classes were not sufficiently represented ; thereupon a 
 meeting of the heads of the university was appointed for the» 
 15th of March, to consider the nature of those claims. 
 Faster and his dependants did not deem it prudent to 
 await the decision of this meeting, or to tak(; i)art in tho 
 petition, Itut hurried to Viemia with the one adopted on 
 March the 11th. The students of Prague, on their side,
 
 186 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 were anxious to emulate the inliabitants of Vienna in activity 
 and zeal. They had forwarded them an address, which was 
 published by the newspapers, in wliich they had expressed 
 their feelings of admiration and gratitude to them, and they 
 thei-efore transmitted to tlie foot of the throne the petition 
 adopted by the university on March the 15th. In conjunc- 
 tion with some adherents of the Wenzelbad party, Avho had 
 remained beliind in Prague, and were dissatisfied with the 
 success which had attended Faster and his followers in 
 Vienna, they excit(»d a considerable disturbance on the 
 return of the deputation, the consequence of which was, the 
 transmission of a second petition to the government, which 
 had been agreed to in Prague on March 29th, and in which 
 those demands were repeated which had not been previously 
 granted. Thi-eats and abuse were employed against those 
 members of the cabinet whose sentiments were considered 
 doubtfiU. The ministry condescended to treat with the 
 second deputation from Bohemia. The political importance 
 of the -club of the Wenzelbad in Prague was increased by 
 their success. When, on the return of their first deputa- 
 tion, they annouaced to the Bohemian people that the 
 Robot system was abolished, this news secured the popular 
 sympathies, and gave them that degree of influence which, 
 two months later, induced the populace to take part in the 
 insurrection that broke out in Prague. 
 
 The north Slavonians of Poland, from the remembrance 
 of the evil fate which had attended their hoisting the war- 
 banner in 1846, thought it impnident to rekindle the flames 
 of revolution at home. They resolved, therefore, to remain 
 satisfied with providing, in the first place, that the fire should 
 be kept alive beneath the ashes, whilst they applied them- 
 selves to the task of stirring and spreading the flames 
 through the temtories of Germany, Slavonia, Hungary, and
 
 REVOLUTION IX AUSTRIA. 187 
 
 Italy ; in which endeavour they were assisted by thousands 
 of emissaries, consisting not only of men, but even of ladies, 
 from the very elite of society (p-hne de Velegance). 
 
 The excited feelings of nationahty amongst the South Aus- 
 trian Slavonians had, in the beginning of March, assumed a 
 more decided charactei-. In Agi-am, an extempoiized national 
 committee convoked, on March 25th, a national assembly, 
 foi-med from the three united (?) kingdoms of Dalmatia, 
 Croatia, and Slavonia, in which it was agi-eed, that a nu- 
 merous national deputation shoiüd ascertain and fully state the 
 demands which the nation had to lay before the throne. At 
 the outset of these demands, a wish was expressed to remain, 
 as formerly, under the Hungarian crown. But in compaiing 
 this wish with the natiu^e of the various claims, stated under 
 thii-ty distinct heads, it will be seen that it was expressed -svith 
 as little pretensions to seriousness as the assurance of the 
 Hungarian Diet to preserve intact the union of the cro^vn 
 and the monarchy, and at the same time to take into consi- 
 deration the relations of Hungary to the hereditary provinces. 
 That celebrated saying of Talleyrand, that language has been 
 given to man, not for the purpose of expressing his thoughts, 
 but rather to conceal them, was here fully exemplified ; for 
 whilst their words asserted their desire to continue the union 
 between the three kingdoms and Hungary, their thoughts 
 were bent upon the complete dissolution of those ties by 
 which they were connected. The first pohit of these demands 
 required that the Ban Jelacic, who had been alreadj^ elected 
 by the people, should be appointed captain of the nation, 
 with all the accompanying attributes of the office. In the 
 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5tb, 6th, 8th, lOtli, 15th, 16th, 19th, and 29th 
 points, the South Slavonians demanded the convocation of 
 their Diet in A gram, on the following 1st of May ; the 
 incorporation of Dalmatia, and of the military provinces (with
 
 18S GENESIS OF THE 
 
 I'espect to their jx)litical iidministratiou), and such otiuu- por- 
 tions of their country as by the course of time had become 
 united with tht; Hungarian counties or other portions of 
 the Austrian dominions ; national independence ; a separate 
 independent ministry, responsible to the Diet of the three 
 kingdoms ; the introduction of the national dialect in all the 
 legislative departments and seminaries of education ; yearly 
 diets, to be held alternately in Agram, Essegg, Zara, and 
 Fiume ; the establishment of a national bank ; the resti- 
 tution of their national funds and banks to the management 
 of their own responsible finance minister, instead of lea\'ing 
 them, as liitherto, to be controlled by Hungary ; the swearing 
 in of the national troops to the common constitution, to 
 fidelity to their king, to the freedom of their nation, and of 
 all the free people of the Austrian monarchy, according to the 
 principles of humanity ; and lastly, the concession of all ofiices, 
 spiritual and temporal, without exception, to members of the 
 united kingdom exclusively. These demands were diametri- 
 cally opposite to those of Hungary, having only this one 
 point in common, the isolation of the three kingdoms from 
 the other parts of the monarchy ; a design clearly indicated 
 by the 18th j)omt, which demanded that the national troops 
 of each division should remain in their own country, and be 
 officered by their own countrymen, commanded in theii* own 
 dialect, and when on foreign seiwice, or on cordon duty, 
 should be provided with pay, food, and clothing ; that foreign 
 soldiers should be dismissed from the countiy, and that the 
 border troops in Italy should be alloAved to return home. 
 In the other points of their demands, the South Slavonian na- 
 tions were not behind the other peo2:)le who were stiniggliug 
 for freedom. The most pmdeut and the wisest step which 
 the Austrian go\ernnient of that stormy peiiod ever took, 
 was, that they (in pursuance of the advice of some friendl}'
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 189 
 
 Croatian nobles, even before the meeting of the national as- 
 sembly on March the 29th) anticipated the demand made in 
 the first point, and, by an official announcement of the Vienna 
 Gazette, on March the 28th, appointed the Baron Jelacic to the 
 office of Ban of Croatia ; for wliilst, by the exercise of their own 
 power, they thus gave to the nation a leader universally beloved 
 and esteemed, one tiidy devoted to the reigning dpiasty, and 
 having at heart the maintenance of the united monarchy, 
 they also adopted the surest means of restraining the exag- 
 gerated demands of the people within the bounds of mode- 
 I'ation, by the influence of a person possessed of unlimited 
 confidence. How great is the controlling influence possessed 
 by a popular ruler, traly devoted to his sovereign, was fully 
 exemplified by the events of October and November, when 
 the Ban Jelacic, at the head of his national ti'oops, fought 
 to preserve the unity of the monarchy. By this appoint- 
 ment, the most powerful bulwark was opposed to the Magj-^ar 
 insuiTection. Tliis the chiefs of the Magyar pai'ty fully ad- 
 mit, and they tried to represent this step of the king as his 
 first act of treason against the Hungarian ministiy. Thus 
 speaks the representative of the Hungarian government, 
 Count Ladislaus Teleki, to the French repubUc, in liis mani- 
 festo to the civilized people of Europe, in the name of the 
 Hungarian ministry (Leipsig, by Keil and Co.), page 21 ; 
 and he endeavours to prove his assertion by observing, " that 
 the ministiy on this occasion were not applied to or consulted, 
 and that the king's appointment of the Ban was not confirmed 
 by the consent of the ministiy." But in this observation the 
 learned count has overlooked the fact, that in Hungarj^ and 
 its tributary provinces the resolutions of the Diet, wliich 
 had been sanctioned by the king, were only rendered opera- 
 tive on the prorogation of the Diet, by the publication of 
 such matters as had been agreed to between the cro^\^l and
 
 190 GENESIS OF XnE 
 
 the EstAtes ; that this publication did not take place till the 
 11th of April, 1848, by means of a royal decree, and that 
 therefore, in the appointment of the Ban of Croatia in the 
 month of March, reference was had only to the ancient laws 
 and the peculiar statutes that related to the crown lands of 
 Hungary {partes culnexce). These, however, neither allude to 
 any responsible ministiy, nor make the validity of a royal 
 decree dependent upon the joint signature of any official. 
 
 With respect to the appointment of the Ban of Croatia, 
 they merely prescribe the previous consent of the Palatine, 
 which regulation was followed as a matter of course ; for 
 when it was proposed to confer the honour of the banship 
 on Jelacic, the application of the palatine to the ajiostolic 
 kinji, and their mutual conference upon this subject, took 
 place. In addition to this, the sentiments and chaiucter of 
 the newly-appointed Ban were sufficiently known to the 
 Magnates, to the deputies who composed the parliament of 
 1847-48, and to the Hungaiian minLstiy, so as to enable 
 them to perceive that if, by this appointment, the govern- 
 ment had committed a violation of the estabUshed forms, 
 complaints upon the subject would have been made im- 
 mediately from Presburg, and not have been left tül the 
 following year, to come from Paris by way of Leipsig. If, 
 in the interests of the young Magj'ar diplomacy, a royal act 
 has been adduced in Teleki's manifesto as the first instance 
 of treason, against the legality of which not one word was 
 uttered by the Magyar Diet, still sitting at Presburg at 
 the time of its announcement, it is clear that the first act of 
 treason never occurred, and the civilized nations of Eiu-ope 
 wUl consequently have reason to doubt the actual occurrence 
 of the second, thh'd, and subsequent ones. 
 
 We have now seen how the maxim " L'amoiir bien con- 
 ditionne commence par soi-meme" was truly followed out in
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 191 
 
 the days of March by tlie Germans, the Magyars, and the 
 Slavonians, for the pui-pose of realizing the objects of each na- 
 tion, without reference to the others, or regard to the exis- 
 tence of theh' common mother, Austria. The fourth race, the 
 Italian, acted upon the same maxim, and sought, by means 
 of violence, to attain its long-cherished wish, namely, a sepa- 
 ration fi-om the Austrian empire, which had latterly been 
 fanned into a flame by the ai'ts of its royal neighbour, and the 
 pohtical weakness, imprudence, and inexperience of the head 
 of the CathoUc Church. There were those in Vienna who 
 expected that the granting of such a constitution as had 
 been promised by the decree of the 15th of March would 
 satisfy the Lombardo- Venetians. They overlooked that the 
 attaining of political rights was but a secondary object with 
 the Italians, and that the principal point they had in \-iew 
 was their liberation from a foreign yoke. 
 
 It was singadar enough that these persons did not even 
 abandon their error, when the Austrian army ceased to re- 
 tain possession of a greater pai-t of its Lombardo- Venetian 
 kingdom than was contained hi the triangle formed by the 
 citadels of Mantua, Legnano, Peschiera, and Verona, when 
 King Charles Albert reigned in Muan, and the repubUc of 
 St. Mark was actually proclaimed in Vienna. The March 
 ministiy either must have felt itself much embarrassed in that 
 respect by the complaints of the tradesmen of Vienna, who, 
 for the sake of their own speculations in goods, money, and 
 railway shares, wished to see peace restored with Italy at any 
 price, or must have been intimidated by the sense of its own 
 weakness, when at the end of March it formed the resolution 
 of makmg an elibi-t to tranquillize Austrian Italy by moans of 
 l)lenipotentiaiy commissioners. The complete failure of sucli 
 an attempt was to be anticipated, for it found an obstacle 
 on the one aide in the hatred towards the foreigner, and in
 
 192 GEXESIS OP TUE 
 
 thelir-st intoxication of victory felt by a nation that was now 
 ibr a moment liberated from the Austrian yoke, and on 
 the other sside in the woiuided honour of the imperial army, 
 whicli was panting to efface the sad recollectiou tliat they 
 had, in tlieir hasty retreat, abandoned the richest part of 
 the empire to Italian disloyalty, treason, and rebellion, if not 
 tlirough theh.- own fault, at least in obedience to the dic- 
 tates of dire necessity. Under such circumstances, the 
 appeal of the pacificators must have proved to the nation 
 but an empty echo, and to the aiiny a distastefid sound. The 
 ministiy might have kno^\^x this well, since it enjoined tho 
 commission to organize ami regulate pro\nsionally those 
 parts of the empire which should be restored by force of 
 arms to the Austiian rule, -with a declaration of the piinciple 
 that the submission of the people now-a-days, as the political 
 world was constituted, could not be maintained, except by 
 their own consent (from a conviction of their own advantage). 
 From this popular principle, it became the task of the 
 court commissioner, in re-organizing the countiy, not only 
 to consider the general wants of the loyally-disposed citizens, 
 but also the desires of those who were aiming at na- 
 tionality. In adopting this principle in the reconquered 
 Italian prorinces, the new government was brought into 
 perpetual collision with the views and objects of the mili- 
 tar}' general, and therefore as long as war lasted, it was ren- 
 dered imjxossible. But as no truce occurred, the object of 
 the ministry was in tliis second respect impracticable. The 
 statesman who undertook this mission might have fore- 
 seen such a difficulty, for he was well acquainted with 
 Italy, and the dependence of the government upon 
 military authority. It is not our task to inquire why he 
 wasted his strength in pursuing an unattainable object. 
 We content ourselves with observing, that when the at-
 
 REVOLUTIOK IX AUSTRIA. 193 
 
 tempt at pacification was resolved u})on by the ministry, it 
 was known in Vienna that the estabHshment of a truce was 
 intended, and the co-operation of the English cabinet was 
 expected to bring the contest to a happy termination. When 
 that purpose was abandoned and that hope frustrated, the 
 court commissioner saw that he was no more required, and 
 he resigned a mission which at least proclaimed to the world 
 the generovis and conciliatory intentions of the emperor, 
 and the failure of wliich has at least produced benefit to the 
 empire and insiu'ed immortal glory to the brave and loyal 
 ai'mies of Austria as well as to their general, whose con- 
 stancy bade defiance to the frowns of fortune.* 
 
 * The Italian questions of the year 1848, have lately attracted 
 greater interest through the communications of Üie English Secretaiy of 
 State for Foreign Affairs, and the discussions consequent thereupon, as 
 also through the negotiations relative to the new organization of tli& 
 Lombardo- Venetian kingdom. We think it requisite to add to the pre- 
 sent edition of " Genesis," under No. 5 of the Appendix, the original 
 proclamation of the Aulic commissary to the Italians in the Lombardo- 
 Venetian kingdom, which, though ineffectual, explained his mission ; 
 we add it, because it expresses the views and the intentions of the 
 Austrian cabinet, and because it may serve to prove that the partisans 
 of Italian nationality would have been of more service to the Lombardo- 
 Venetians by inducing them to accept the proffered hand of reconcilia- 
 tion than by nourishing their eagerness for battle. As, however, actions 
 alone are the true test of the sincerity of words, we place before our 
 readers in No. VI. of Appendix, the copy of a letter from Udine, pub- 
 lished in No. 65 of the evening edition of the Wiener Zeitunej, of tlie Gth 
 of June, 1848, as supplying ])roof, founded on facts, that the words of the 
 proclamation, had they been listened to, would have been realized. For 
 tlie measures which were taken in Venetian Frioul, immediately after 
 its return under the dominion of Austria, must be viewed as a pattern of 
 tlie treatment which the Austrian government then had destined for tlie 
 whole of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. The Aulic commiss,ary had 
 in this affair, not, as it might be supposed, followed the dictates of his 
 own feelings, but the ministerial instructions, with the full assent of the 
 conqueror of Frioul, Field-marslial CJount Nugent, a soldier as intelli- 
 gent as he is brave, and whose heart and soul knew how to wreathe a 
 branch of olive around his sword. The measures adopted on this occa- 
 sion were sanctioned on the part of the ministry, and were to be im- 
 mediately applied to all the other parts of the country, which returned 
 under the sceptre of the emperor. To support these attempts at recon- 
 

 
 194 UENIESIS OP THE 
 
 When we consider the struggles which were earned on by 
 the four gi*eat national divisions of the empire for indepen- 
 dence, and which we have here hastily sketched in a general 
 manner, and also the contemporaneous efforts made in different 
 places by corporations and individuals to effect the realiza- 
 tion of unripe schemes of freedom and plans of independence ; 
 when Ave compare such powerful and energetic exertions 
 with the insignificant resources, both moral and physical, 
 which the Austrian ministry coiüd command in the latter 
 half of the month of March, we must deeply lament the 
 weak and wavering conduct of such a ministry as we have 
 described, wliich was hastily formed of heterogeneous mate- 
 rials, and which acted without any preconcerted plan of united 
 operation. But we should be unjust indeed if we made this 
 circumstance a ground of personal accusation against aU 
 those men who were summoned by their emperor to take 
 
 ciliation, the Aulic counsellor Von Hummelauer was, in the first days of 
 May, despatched on a mission to London, in order to prevail upon the 
 Foreign Office there to exercise its influence to promote a peaceful ad- 
 justment of the dispute in the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. In case 
 of the acceptance of the proposals, namely, the constitutional govern- 
 ment of the kingdom on a national basis, under a prince of the empire, 
 with a reservation to Austria of certain sovereign rights, and subject to 
 the contribution of ten millions of dollars towards the annual interest of 
 the national debt, further steps were to have been immediately taken 
 by the pacificator, with the co-operation of diplomatic agents, who wovüd 
 have been despatched to him. Count Ficquelmont had already dravtm 
 up the instructions for Hummelauer. That minister never intended 
 the complete separation of any part of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom 
 from the Austrian empire. It was only subsequently to the unsucces- 
 ful negotiations in London that his successor. Baron Wessenberg, had 
 recourse to the desperate attempt of offering to Count Casati, the chief 
 of the provisional government at Milan, through the medium of a con- 
 fidential letter forwarded to hira in the beginning of Jime by an impe- 
 rial counsellor of legation, the perfect independence of Lombardy, 
 provided Lombardy would take upon itself, as the price of peace, a pro- 
 portionate part of the Austrian national debt. Count Casati did not 
 entertain this offer, inasmuch as he declared to the ministerial envoy, 
 that the obligations of the provisional govermnent towards its allies 
 prevented it from commencing any negotiations of its own.
 
 REVOLUTION IX AUSTRIA. 195 
 
 charge of the vessel of the state, whicli with weather-beaten 
 sails was diiven about, the sport of the stormy ocean, the 
 greater part of which ministiy, moreover, obeyed the call 
 from a feeling of duty rather than from theii' own inclina- 
 tion. Like those physicians who at the outbreak of the 
 Asiatic cholera treated the new disease according to its out- 
 ward symptoms, and only employed medicines which relieved 
 the outward appearances, and failed to reach the root of the 
 e%"il, but oftentimes increased it, so these new ministers were 
 too inexperienced in the moral epidemic which, in the month 
 of March, suddenly attained a fmious height in Austria, to 
 be able to rmderstand the necessity of applying a bold re- 
 medy. They sought by gentle means to assuage the disturb- 
 ing sjrmptoms, but the source of the disease was only in- 
 CTeased by such treatment. Thus it happened that in the 
 latter half of the month of March the revolutionaiy epidemic 
 was not only not extinguished as one could have wished, but 
 was even increased in intensity and fury, and thi'eatened to 
 bring the kingdom to a fearftd end. Whether, indeed, 
 another and a bolder line of conduct, in pursuance of the 
 decree of March the 15th, would have produced a different 
 and more favom*able result, is a problem which we cannot 
 resolve with full certainty, because its explanation depends 
 upon hypotheses whose realization must ever remain doubt- 
 ful. This much, however, is certain, that a more fearful 
 result could scarcely have occurred. 
 
 2
 
 106 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 rUOJI THE MONTH OF MARCH, 1848, TO THE OPENING OF THE 
 CONSTITUENT DIET AT VIENNA. 
 
 GuizOT, in his work upon Democracy in France, observes, 
 tliat the republican government used every exertion to pre- 
 vent the realization of the apprehensions which were con- 
 nected with its institution, and then adds the following- 
 remarks : " Efforts impuisants, qui ralentissent, mais qui 
 n'arretent pas le mouvement de I'etat sur une pente fimeste. 
 Les hommes qui voudraient I'arreter ne prennent pied nulle 
 piU't : ä chaque instant, ä chaque pas, ils ghsseut, ils de- 
 scendent : ils sont dans I'omiere r^volutionaire, ils se debat- 
 tent pour ne pas s'y enfoncer. mais ils ne savent, ou n'osent, 
 oil ne peuvent en sortir. Un jour, quand on y regardera 
 lil)rement et serieusement, on sera epouvante de tout ce 
 qu'ils ont livre ou perdu, et du peu d'effet de leur resis- 
 tance." These observations of an author so esteemed, and of 
 a statesman so experienced, might be well apphed to the 
 Austrian government after the month of JNIarch. 
 
 In place of " the con^'ocation of deputies from aU the 
 Pro^•incial Estates, which had been appointed by the Em- 
 peror Ferdinand to take place on the 15th of March, 
 together with a meeting of representatives from the Central 
 ("/ongi'cgations of the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom, vrith. the 
 least possible delay, and a more complete representation of 
 the citizens, paying ftdl regard to existing pro^'incial consti- 
 tutions, for the purpose of considering the form of constitu-
 
 REVOLUTION IX AUSTRIA. 197 
 
 tion for the countiy whicli had been agreed upon hy the 
 emperor," after the lapse of a few months came the destruc- 
 tion of aU the provincial systems of government ; the adoption 
 of a democratic monarchy ; the excesses of a Diet assembled 
 for the pm'pose of framing a constitution, but considering 
 itself as sovereign ; the hanging of a minister upon a lamj)- 
 post ; the scaring away of the emperor from his palace ; the 
 bloody defence of the palace against the imperial ai-my ; 
 the obstinate civil war in Hungary and Transylvania; tlie 
 abdication of the emperor, the refusal of his immediate suc- 
 cessor to succeed to the throne, and the union of Russians 
 with the Austrian troops, to contend not so much against a 
 nation as against the barbarians of the 19th centuiy, who, 
 under the false banner of freedom and a love for the people, 
 threatened the destruction of tlie tin-ones and civilization of 
 Eui'ope. 
 
 Although the first appearance of the ministry appointed 
 by the emperor on March 17th, and which commenced its 
 proceedings a few days afterwards, and was responsible for 
 the completion and perfection of the imperial decree of 
 March 15th, was not calculated, as we have already observed, 
 to ius]»ire hopes that it would succeed in accomplishing its 
 task ; no one, howevei", could possibly suppose that it would 
 completely lose sight of the object for which it was respon- 
 sible, and adopt another view diametrically opposite, juid 
 iudeed such conduct was not approved by the majority of 
 its members. Unfortunately, the ministry was at the very 
 commencement of its career placed by the Minister of the 
 Interior upon a steep declivity, and was imable afterwards to 
 retain its footing. Without following its down-slidings stcj» 
 by step, we ought to recite all the circumstances which, in our 
 opinion, contriljuted in the gi'oatost degree to leave the state, 
 whose establishment and fovmdation upon a constitutional
 
 198 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 basis was the object of the good emperor, a prey to the 
 Utopian schemes of yoimg boyish fanatics, and to the passions 
 of a few interested indi\ddnals, to loosen the bands of order, 
 and to prc])are the indescribable evils into wliich Austria 
 ■vvas doomed to behold her dreams of happiness converted. 
 Amongst the circumstances of tliis character, we particularly 
 distinguish the follo^ving : — 
 
 1. The suppression of the provincial law to regulate the 
 press, enacted on March 31, 1848, even before its introduc- 
 tion, by the influence of the Aula of Vienna and their ad- 
 herents. 
 
 2. The destruction of the constitution of the Estates in 
 Bohemia, and the concession of a popular representation, 
 foimded on democratic principles, tlu'ough the influence of 
 the club of the Wenzelbad in Pi-ague. 
 
 3. The departure from the jiath pointed out by the decree 
 of March 15th, 1848, for establisliing a constitution for the 
 coimtry, by granting the constitution of April 25th, which 
 had been debased by the minlstiy. 
 
 4. The unpunished assaults of the people of Viemia upon 
 the spiritual and temporal authorities, the attacks against 
 the privileges of the crown by assailing the new consti- 
 tution and by usiu'ping an influence in the appointment of 
 a ministry. 
 
 5. The suspension of the constitution granted by the 
 charter of April 25th, 1848, and the nomination of a Diet 
 to frame a constitution. 
 
 6. The departm'e of the emperor from Vienna, abandoning 
 tlie reins of empire to the incapable ministry that remained 
 beliind. 
 
 7. The in'esolution of the ministry in the face of the 
 demonstrations of the students of Vienna, the National 
 Guards, and the working classes on the 26th of May.
 
 REVOLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 199 
 
 '8. The paralysing of the emperor's independence in Inns- 
 bruck, by the appointment of a minister to advise him, who 
 was a stranger to the monarchy, and of another who was 
 the offspring of tlie revolution and inexperienced in the 
 state. 
 
 9. The feai-ful attempt of the Czechs at separation in 
 Prague, which was suppressed by Prince Windischgrätz, not 
 by the power of, but in spite of, the inefficiency of the central 
 government of Vienna. 
 
 10. The contmuance of the city of Vienna mider the 
 dominion of clubs and demagogues untu the assembling of 
 the Diet to frame a constitution. 
 
 11. The inactivity of the friends of order at the elections 
 for membei's to serve in the Diet, contrasted with the 
 zeal displayed by the advocates of disorder, who were 
 favoured not only by the elective laws but by the regulations 
 of the ministry. 
 
 12. The appointment of an imperial alter ego at Vienna, 
 in addition to the one already in existence at Buda-Pesth. 
 
 13. The transformation of the Diet from an assembly 
 convened to dehbei'ate upon a form of constitution into a 
 legislative body. 
 
 14. The alteration of the ministry, in obedience to the 
 will of a united committee of citizens, National Guards, and 
 students in Vienna, at the moment of the meeting of the 
 Diet. 
 
 To the circumstances here enumerated many others might 
 be added which equally contributed to drag the government, 
 after the month of March, to the brink of a precipice ; but, 
 for the sake of brevity, we confine ourselves to the catalogue 
 above mentioned as the most influential. 
 
 1. On April 1, 1848, the official sheet of the Viemia 
 Gazette pubUshed a provisional law with relation to the press
 
 fOO GENESIS OF Tin: 
 
 (uf tlie 31st of March) ; on the 7th of the .surnc month tlicrc 
 aiipeared again in the official part of the same Gazette an 
 address from the Minister of Justice to the collected presi- 
 dents of the Courts of Appeal, who were subordinate to the 
 Siiprcnie Court of Justice, which gave instructions as to the 
 adniiiiistratiou of the now law ; but on the 1 8th of April the 
 observation appeared in the same Gazette, that the editor 
 relied upon the declaration so repeatedly made by the minis- 
 ter PiUersdorf, " that the law \ni\\ relation to the press was 
 not binding, because it had not been published officially 
 (through the authorities of the coimtry)." According to 
 tliis announcement, the Minister of the Interior had neglected 
 to annoimce to the authorities of the country who were 
 imder his control the official notice of a law proclaimed by 
 the sovereign, and which had already been published in the 
 official sheet of the Vienna Gazette, whilst the Minister of 
 Justice ch'ciüated instructions to the judicial functionaa-ies 
 Avith regard to its administration. Such a line of conduct 
 was not by any means calculated to inspire res2:)ect for the 
 impeiial decrees and confidence in the united co-operation of 
 the ministers. But if we only .call to mind the notorious 
 cause that influenced tliis course, namely, the terror inspired 
 by the auto-da-fe w\i\iv/\\\c\i the literati and the students of the 
 Aula had the daring hardihood to threaten that enactment, 
 we must find cau.se for lamenting that the conduct of the 
 minister Pulersdorf, which was utterly destructive of all 
 law and order, publicly recognized the supremacy of the 
 Aula, which conduct soon weakened the independence of the 
 ministry, and degraded it till it became a mere plaything in 
 the hands of demagogues at home and abroad. To these 
 seditious per-sons alone must we ascribe the seduction of the 
 academic youth, who sui*rendered themselves to their gui- 
 tlancCj in the conviction that the object of tlieir exertions was
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 201 
 
 at once great and noble. These experienced destructives 
 could, in fact, have found no tools more fitted for effecting 
 their designs. In England and France the first combatants 
 of the Austrian revolution were covered with I'idicule ; rush- 
 ing (as it was said) from their school-rooms, they imdertook 
 to play the part of state refoi'mers ; but if we reflect that in 
 order to convert the masses of the people to new ideas of 
 freedom, a passionate style of eloquence should be employed, 
 and that the students at the higher institutions afibrded a 
 Avide field for efforts of this nature, in consequence of their 
 connection with pax'ents, relations, friends, boarding-house 
 keepers, and many families whose children they were in the 
 habit of instructing in elementary knowledge, and that the 
 more talented, the more active, and the more sincere a youth is, 
 the more easy it will be, in consequence of his inexperience 
 in the ways of the world, to excite him to rave enthusiasti- 
 cally in support of those rash doctrines which Schiller jxits 
 into the mouth of his Marquis Posa, and to undertake daring 
 deeds, exclaiming with Bürger, " that to die for virtue, justice, 
 and freedom, is the most sublime courage — is the Redeemer's 
 death :" when we remember this, we must admit that the 
 grand masters of the revolutionary party coidd find no plan 
 more prudent, nothing better adapted for their purpose, but 
 at the same time nothing more detestable, than to excite those 
 inexperienced youths — a prey to the impressions of the mo- 
 ment — to political fanaticism, in order to use them as apostles 
 and emissaries of the revolution. Beguiled as they were, they 
 desei've our pity ; but the curse of evil deeds should fall upon 
 their seducers, and the reproach of weakness should lie upon 
 that ruler of the state who, when the duty of his office 
 required him to resist such wickedness, gave way before thü^ 
 same. 
 
 2. In the official part of the Vienna Gazette of April lltb,
 
 202 ciKNEsis Ol' Tin: 
 
 1848, the Minister of the Interior pul>lishecl an imperial 
 eubinet order, du-ected to hiin on the 8th of the month, in 
 which a concession was made of those points of tlie petition 
 wliich had been previously refused to the deputation of the 
 Wenzclbad of Prague, and which proceeded to Vienna, for 
 the second time, at the latter end of March. The points 
 were these : — Perfect equality in the use of the Bohemian 
 dialect with the German in all branches of general adminis- 
 tration and of public instniction ; in the place of the meeting 
 of the Estates of Bohemia, which were shortly to assemble, a 
 proportionate representation of the people, embracing all the 
 interests of the country, and formed upon the broadest pos- 
 sible basis of elective and i-eprescntative qualifications, Avith 
 the right to take part in debating and determining all the 
 affairs of the country ; the estaVjlishment of a responsible cen- 
 tral board of officials for the kingdom of Bohemia, in Prague, 
 with a wider sphere of operation ; the filling of aU pubUc 
 offices and judicial posts with persons convei-sant with both 
 languages ; a free, imcontrolled right of petitioning, and 
 many other demands of less importance. In the same cabi- 
 net order, the representation of the people in the Diet was 
 decreed, and the right of voting, both active and passive, was 
 regulated. To the previously existing members of the 
 Diet, an increased number of members for the towns was 
 added ; that is, one member was pro\ided for each to"WTi with 
 a population of 4,000 inhabitants, two for a population of 
 8,000, and for the rest of the people, two members for each 
 ck'cle of the Adce-regency ; the election was to be direct, and 
 every person was qualified who paid taxes, who was twenty-five 
 years old, and was not imder guardianship, and not stained 
 by any degrading offence, forbidden under a penalty by the 
 criminal code. Every native was eligible as a representative, 
 ■who had attained his thirtieth year, subject to the excep-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 203 
 
 tions above enumei'ated. We believe that this important 
 measiire was adopted in the Ministerial Council, which the 
 official part of the Vienna Gazette of AprU 2nd announced to 
 have been held under the presidency of the provisional minis- 
 ter, Coimt Kolowrat, and in which the decree for the admi- 
 nistration of Bohemia was considered and decided. The ap- 
 pointment of the Archduke Francis Joseph (now emperor) 
 to the lieutenancy of Bohemia, and of Count Leo Thim to 
 the office of Governing President, was made on Apru 6tli. If, 
 in the preceding conduct of the ministry, the victoiy of the 
 Aula over the executive, with relation to the press enact- 
 ments, was apparent, the triumph of the Wenzelbad Club 
 of Prague was evident from the nature of the concessions 
 made to the Bohemians. The destruction of the Bohemian 
 constitution, for whose maintenance in its original extent the 
 Bohemian Estates had spared neither money, nor time, nor 
 labour, and had even reminded the king repeatedly of his 
 coronation oath, and had threatened an appeal to the German 
 Diet, was given up, without hesitation, to the demands of a 
 club-deputation ; and in place of that constitution, a new 
 order of things was established, which threatened to uifringe 
 on the rights of the throne even more than the old pri\Tleges 
 of the Estates had done. For, in the active right of voting 
 which was given to every tax payer, and in the passive right 
 which belonged to him who paid no taxes, the democratic 
 ])rinciple was admitted : the concession of a responsible cen- 
 tral administration for Bohemia, to transact business in its 
 capital, paved the way for a separation of that province, after 
 the plan which had already succeeded in Htmgary : the 
 nomination of the heir-apparent to the lieutenancy of Bo- 
 hemia would necessarily lead there to the imitation of an 
 institution which was quite unsuited to a constitiitional king- 
 dom, viz., that of the responsible Hungarian palatine ; for
 
 204 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 it could never be endured tliat the archduke, wlio was to suc- 
 ceed to the throne, should be made subject to the Bohemian 
 Provincial Diet or to the general Imperial Diet. The conces- 
 sions to Hungary were at all events made by the legal repre- 
 sentatives of the country, and in the solemn manner which be- 
 longs to acts of government of such impoi-tance. Those to Bo- 
 hemia resvdted fi-om the pressing demands of a private society, 
 clothed \vith no legal title, and were in the form of a gi'ant 
 made on petition. Some ministers of high influence, who 
 happened to be in Vienna, and were members of the Bohe- 
 mian Estates, and whose names are published by the Vienna 
 Gazette of April 10th, as follows — Prince Ferdinand Lob- 
 kowitz, John Adolphus Schwarzenbm-g, Vincent Charles 
 Anersperg, von Schönburg and Hartenstein, Charles Paar, 
 then the Count Eugene, Joromir and Ottokar Czemin, 
 Francis Ernest Harrach, Vincent Bubua, and H. Liitzow, — 
 presented an address to the emperor, dated April 2nd, which 
 set forth the follo^^-ing prayer : — 
 
 " (a) Tliat the claims of the Czechish nationality should be 
 placed upon a perfect eqiiality ^vith the German nationality 
 in all things, but particularly in public instruction, and in 
 the public administration of Bohemia : (b) that for the fu- 
 ture, in Bohemia, not only the citizens, but, as far as possible, 
 all classes who were posses.sors of property, and who at pre- 
 sent were either not at aU, or but inadequately represented, 
 should be represented in the most complete manner in the 
 Diet, or other national assembly, by means of deputies 
 chosen by themselves." 
 
 This address, however, not^vithstanding the great respecta- 
 bility of the persons who jirepared it, could not 2:)ass for the 
 expression of the wishes of the Bohemian Estates, and was 
 therefore only entitled to the weight of a private opinion. 
 At all events, it would have been necessary to jjass a mea-
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 205 
 
 sure with relation to the decree of March 15th, which pro- 
 mised "a convocation of all the pro\'incial Estates, with a 
 fuller representation of the citizens, paying regard, however, 
 to the existing provincial constitutions :" indeed, tliis should 
 have been the first care of a ministry responsible for the ful- 
 filment of that decree, and should have been transacted in. 
 the form usual for so important an act of government, viz., 
 by means of an imperial decree, as had been done about the 
 same time in Lower Austria, Styria, and Carintliia (on the 
 1 1th of April in the two former countries, and on the 25th 
 in the latter), when a measure of far less importance, \'iz., 
 the abolition of the feudal burdens, was announced by the 
 emperor, at the instance of the Estates of the above pro- 
 Ainces, which was to take effect from the end of the year 
 1848, in consideration of a reasonable compensation. But 
 that a radical change should be inti'oduced in the Bohemian 
 pro^■incial constitution, at the request of the deputies of a 
 Prague club, " in order (as the ministry made the emperor 
 say) to afford a new proof to his loyal subjects m Prague of 
 his patriotic intentions and his solicitude for the welfare of 
 Bohemia," displayed a most lamentable proof that the "Wen- 
 zelbad ruled in Prague, just as the Aula did in Vienna. The 
 excessive abuse of this authority subsequently brought upon 
 Prague, on the ensuing Wliit-monday, and upon Vienna, on 
 the 28th of October, the thunder of artillery and a storm of 
 bullets. However, the new administration of Bohemia, 
 which was forced upon the government, never saw the light ; 
 for the archduke, who had been nominated to the lieute- 
 nancy, retired, first to the ai-my in Italy, where ho I'emaiued 
 till July 7th, and then to the emperor's family at Innsln-uck, 
 where he remained till tlie return of the latter to Vienna, 
 witliout having assumed the office destined for him. This 
 was certainly a pnideut course, since it could never have
 
 206 GENESIS OF THi: 
 
 appeared proper for au imperial prince, particularly for the 
 heir-apparent to the throue, to take up a position between a 
 nation actively engaged in piu-suit of its separate interests, 
 and a sovereign who had the united welfare of the mo- 
 narchy at heart. The example which Hungary so repeatedly 
 offered should have restrained the ministiy from such a 
 course. Moreover, the democratic Bohemian Diet was not 
 united. AU these measm-es, therefore, had no other effect 
 than to display the weakness of the ministry, and to strengthen 
 the desire to abuse it. 
 
 3. The 25th of April was the day on which the decree of 
 March 15th was annulled in its most important parts (viz., 
 in the regulations for the constitution of the country), by 
 those very persons who were responsible for its performance. 
 For on that day appeared the charter of a constitution, " with- 
 out the co-operation of the deputies from all the provincial 
 Estates, who were to be summoned to Vienna in support of 
 the constitution." 
 
 "We shall not investigate the peculiar properties of this 
 bantling, which was bom on Apiü 25th, and was carried to 
 the grave on May 15th (the bastard offspring of Vienna radi- 
 calism and of ministerial vanity) ; such a task would be mere 
 waste of time. Respecting its appearance, we may observe, 
 that the clubs, which in Vienna tyrannised over the ministry 
 of the interior, found it incompatible with their views and their 
 impatience, that the constitution which had been determined 
 upon by the emperor on March loth should be constructed 
 on the foundations of those provincial institutions which 
 were already in existence, vnth the joint co-operation of the 
 former guardians of the old and the dispenser of the new 
 franchises, but -wished to see a temple of liberty, that should 
 by no means narrow their desh'es, erected on the ruins of all 
 the plans which existed previous to the month of March,
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUüTKIA. 207 
 
 which, if not of stone, should at least be formed in the mo- 
 dem fashion of pasteboard, that could easily be destroyed ; 
 and we may further observe, that the minister Pülersdorf, in 
 his bygone hours of idleness, had, out of mere whim, ah'eady 
 constructed such a temple for the Austrian empire. Both 
 parties now united to consider the propriety of copying this 
 model, which was for the most part made after the plan of the 
 constitutional edifices in Belgium and Baden. The adaptation 
 of these to the small countries for which they were destined, 
 composed as they were of homogeneous elements, by no means 
 argued a hke capability in them to suit the widely-extended 
 Austiian monarchy, which was formed after the fashion of a 
 piece of mosaic. The concurrence of the ministerial council in 
 this project Avas not obtained without the opposition of some 
 of the members, one of whom, the Minister of Justice, Count 
 Taaffe, retired from the ministry, shortly before the appear- 
 ance of the chai-tered constitution, on April 19 th. But the 
 persuasions of the Minister of the Interior suenced the ob- 
 jections of his colleagues in this case, as in others, and his 
 woi'k made its appearance with the signatures of all of them 
 attached. None of the statesmen who had assisted in the 
 compilation of the decree of the 15th of March were then 
 present, to defend its principles ; Munch and Kübeck had, in 
 the course of the month of March retired from business ; 
 Windischgi-ätz no longer filled the post which he had occu- 
 pied on March 14th, in the conference on the question of the 
 constitution ; Hartig was absent on April 1 ; the Archduke 
 Louis, who, on the 15th of the same month, was released from 
 all share in public business, had been removed, with Pilgram, 
 the day previously ; and Kolowi-at, on the 19 th of April, 
 was definitively deprived of the presidency in the ministerial 
 coimcil. The Archduke Francis Charles had received ordera, 
 on April 7th, to aid the emperor in the care of public busi-
 
 -OS GENESIS OF TIIK 
 
 ness, within tlie bounds marked out by the ndes of the con- 
 stitution, and to mainttiin the power of ftilly superintending 
 the business transacted by the Ministerial Council (by which 
 means all dii-cct participation in the same was excluded). 
 The appointment of the Archduke Francis Joseph was to 
 Prague, but before his departure, according to the Vienna 
 Gazette, the consent of the emperor was given that he should 
 ti-avel for some days through Tp-ol, towards those parts of the 
 Lombardo- Venetian kingdom which then attracted general 
 attention, in order to have a fiill view of the preparations 
 and means of defence which Field Marshal Radetzky had 
 collected, and by means of which, at the head of the coura- 
 geous Austi'ian army, he opposed those agitators and enemies 
 of peace, who had entered the country from foreign parts. 
 By thus banisliing all the ad%-isers of the throne who, on 
 March 14tli, had counselled the constitutional reconstiiictiou 
 of the Austrian monarchy upon the basis of the existing 
 pro\'incial governments, and with the co-operation of depu- 
 ties from the provincial parliaments, the eloquence of the 
 Minister of tlie Interior might easuy succeed in j^ersuading 
 the Ministerial Council to abandon the course already chosen, 
 and to pursue another, which, in liis opinion, Avas shorter and 
 more dignified ; since the reasons which had been adduced 
 on the 14th of March for erecting the edifice of the consti- 
 tution on those pillars of the state which were stul in exis- 
 tence, supported as those reasons were by subsequent events, 
 ceased to be maintained by any parties.* 
 
 * These remarks of " Genesis " seem to have induced Count Ficquel- 
 raont to state, in his pamphlet, " Aufkliirungen über die Zeit vom 
 20 März bis zum 4 Mai, 1848," published by Joh. Ambr. Barth, at 
 Leipzic, — the motives which determined him to vote for the grant of a 
 constitution, " although the wording of the imperial patent of the 15th 
 c.f March, 1848, prevented him from considering himself authorized to 
 adopt any other course than that indicated by the patent." He had an 
 aversion to any constitution which should be framed by a constituent
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 209 
 
 The birtli of the chartered constitution (to which the army- 
 was called upon to swear allegiance by an order issued on 
 
 assembly, to be convoked in accordance -with the political notions pre- 
 valent in April, 1848 ; for at that period no other electoral law would 
 have been thought admissible for the convocation of the Imperial 
 Diet, but that which the Assembly at Frankfort had enforced. He 
 also lays stress on the circumstance that in the midst of the various 
 causes of profound excitement a demand for the promised constitution 
 was unanimously expressed." He lastly reminds us, "that in his 
 capacity of minister to the reigning house he had not been able to 
 countersign the document which modified the basis of the power and 
 the position of the reigning house .so long as that document had not 
 been sanctioned by the united imperial house," and that consequently, 
 in his presence, and under the presidency of tlie Archduke Francis 
 Charles, a conference had been held, at which the Archduke Franci.s 
 Joseph (the present emperor). Archduke Louis, and the remaining 
 members of the imperial house then present at Vienna attended. After 
 the introduction of a few modifications, which were essential in order to 
 put to rest the conscience of the supreme council, a foi-m of the mildest 
 tone was adopted, which was more suitable to the times than the men. 
 We feel pleasure in inserting in " Genesis " these remarks of a states- 
 man so well known and highly respected by all the cabinets of Europe, 
 because they confirm our opinion already given, tliat the minister- 
 president. Count Ficquelmont, the council of ministers, and — as we 
 have since learned — the council of the imperial family, merely submitted 
 to the dictates of the times in leaving the path traced out on the 15th 
 of March, when they accepted the project of a constitution forced lipon 
 them by the Minister of the Interior. We cannot, however, retract 
 our assertion that the grounds which decided the state conference to 
 choose that path in the night of the 14th were no longer defended by 
 any one in the council of ministers on the occasion of adopting the 
 chartered constitution. For altliough, as Count Ficquelmont tells us, the 
 archdukes who liad been present at the state conference expressed in the 
 family council their opinion respecting Pillersdorf 's project of a constitu- 
 tion before they quitted Vienna, they voted and acted at that time no 
 longer as members of the cabinet, and charged with the government, but 
 as agnates of the head of the dynasty. Any opposition on their part, in 
 that capacity, to the constitution projected by the Minister of the 
 Interior, who was still in possession of tlie pojnilar favour, and whose 
 project had already reached the throne, was at that time of no more 
 avail than the opposition of the minister-president. The circumstance, 
 also, that the free grant of a constitution was less prejudicial to the 
 authority of the sovereign than if it were framed in co-operation with 
 the provincial Diet, made the jirinces of the imperial liouse lean towards 
 the project of the minister Pillersdorf. Though such conclusions were 
 evidently correct, that minister ought still to have carefully weighed 
 whether they could at that time find a practical application in Austria.
 
 210 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 the same day that they renoiuiced- theii" allegiance to theii- 
 colours) was celebrated by joyful displays of all kinds, as 
 AvoU Jis by a monstrous torchlight procession to the Imperial 
 Burg, at which the emperor on the foUoAving day expressed 
 his gratification in a cabinet letter to the Minister of the 
 Interior, the contents of which Baron Pillersdorf published 
 on AprU 27th, in the official part of the Vienna Gazette, tes- 
 
 Pillersdorf, if he had properly solved that question, would have imme- 
 diately in March commenced liis ministry by preparing the convocation 
 of the provincial Diets, in order thus to calm the impatience of those 
 who looked forward with eagerness to the jiromiscd constitutional 
 government of the empire. The patent of the 15th of March had, on 
 that very ground, been every\vhere received l;y the majority with 
 enthusiasm, because it had granted to the provinces a participation in 
 framing the constitution. Tlie radicals, however, whom it did not 
 satisfj', were much less likely to l)e appeased by a chartered constitu- 
 tion. The Viennese press, which was ruling everything, had, until the 
 first days of April, defended the patent in public opinion. A dispute 
 even arose amongst noted literary personages about the honour of its 
 authorship. In proof of this, we submit to the reader the reclamations 
 of the editor of the Oomt^tutional Gaztttc of (he Danube, which he pub- 
 lished in that journal on the 2nd of AprU, in order to vindicate that 
 honour for himself against the popular poet Bauernfeld, who had been 
 active during the days of March, and to whom that honour had been 
 attributed. To aisk, under such circumstances, the free grant of a 
 constitution, instead of framing it, as had been decreed by the emperor, 
 with the co-operation of provincial deputies, was a hazardous enter- 
 prise, for which the minister Pillersdorf alone is responsible, and before 
 resorting to which he should have duly considered the " qxdd valeant 
 humeri." Had he not in March omitted to make the necessary pre 
 parations for assembling quickly, and with modifications suitable to the 
 times, about twelve provincial diets, he would have had to meet in July, 
 on the subject of framing a constitution for the country, those deputies 
 only who would have been elected with caution, and in small numbers 
 by those diets, instead of being obliged to resign office in the fece of 
 379 deputies of the imperial Diet, the offspring of confused and stormy 
 popular elections, and to leave the joint framing of a constitution, in 
 conjunction with so many, and, for the greatest part, such badly-quali- 
 fied debaters, to a man of the people, who, after wasting three months 
 was likewise compelled to flee from the arena. We therefore are 
 pleased to declare that we fuUy coincide with the pamphlet of Count 
 Ficqueknont in aU that concerns him personally, yet we do by no means 
 deviate, as regards the objective value of the free grant of the con- 
 stitution, from the opinion which we have in that respect already 
 pronounced.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 21] 
 
 tifying his delight and approbation, at the conduct of the 
 National Guards, the several clubs, — viz., the Legal Political 
 Eeading Club, the Ai'tists' Club, the Men's Singing Club, — 
 and ordered that the inhabitants should be informed " that 
 he felt in the iunermost depths of his heart the great 
 honour of being called upon to guide the destinies of such a 
 people." 
 
 These gracious words of the emperor by no means failed 
 in their effect on the joyful midtitude; but they could not 
 protect the child, whose birth was then celebrated, against 
 the mischievous nature of its parent ; which we have pointed 
 out radicahsm to have been. In its very nature, as in that 
 of the Satiirn of heathen antiquity, was implanted the im- 
 pulse to devoiu' its .own offspring. And such was actually 
 the fate of the new-born constitution of May 15th. 
 
 4. The Austrian ministiy had now abandoned the course 
 which it had been dkected to follow on its appointment, and 
 had chosen another for itself ; but even here it was imable to 
 retain a firm footing on the steep declivity upon which it 
 stood. It wanted the power to take advantage of the proper 
 moment for abandoning the previous favovuite system of 
 yielding to every demand, in order to offer a determined 
 opposition to demagogue excitements. The Minister of the 
 Interior, in whose hands the police authority was placed, 
 should have been chiefly responsible foi' tliis com'se. But he 
 adopted no such measures, but continued to yield to the 
 veiy persons whom he ought to have opposed with Angour. 
 Many scandalous scenes were the consecpience of tliis weak- 
 ness. The two following occurrences will forcibly pouriray 
 the existing state of things. 
 
 Pillei'sdorf, according to the statements in the newspapers, 
 communicated to a deputation, composed of the citizens and 
 students of Vienna, the proceedings wliich had been insti- 
 
 p2
 
 212 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 tuted on account of the ussuults of the people in tlie month 
 of March on the Liguorian ])iiest8, anil wliich were now 
 luidergoing investigation. Tliis irregular coniinunicatioix 
 occasioned a gi'eat excitement in the university against the 
 persons who were conducting this complaint against the 
 -violence of the jjeople, more })articiüarly against the Arch- 
 bishop of Viemia, in consequence of which, on the night of 
 May 2nd, the archbishop's house was sun-oimded by stu- 
 dents, citizens, and National Guards, the archbishop was 
 insulted with cats' music, and even the windows of liis house, 
 before which the German colours were planted, were shat- 
 tered to pieces, the flags torn away, and the staff carried 
 about as a trophy. 
 
 Count Ficquelmont (the provisional jiresident of the 
 ministry) had to endure a similar public insult, because he, 
 also, was out of favour with the Vienna mob leaders. The 
 latter sent their emissaries to liim, who, immiiidful of that 
 German principle which is always so respected, that " my 
 house is my castle," not only searched his official residence 
 for him, but forced themselves \iolently into the dAvelling 
 of his daughter, in order to compel him to make a promise 
 to vacate his office immediately. The cause of this act of 
 violence was a suspicion that Covmt Ficquelmont, as former 
 ambassador to Petersburg, entertained sympathies for Russia, 
 and had occasioned the retii'ement of the War Minister 
 Zaniui, and the appointment of the Master of the Ordnance, 
 Count Latour, to fill his place.* 
 
 * We are surprised at learning fi-om the pamphlet, " Die Nierler 
 Oesterreichischen Landstände und die Genesis, &c.," that already, on 
 previous occasions, attempts had been even made by members of the 
 Diet to drive from office the councillors of the crown who had displeased 
 them. We read, at page 38 of that pamphlet, that the Estates of 
 Lower Austria twice suggested the necessity of his resignation to Count 
 Hartig, who at that time was Minister of State and Conference, with- 
 out a portfolio, and that fact has been confirmed from an authentic
 
 REVOLUTION IX AUSTRIA. 213 
 
 The retirement of Coiuit Ficquelmont caused the presi- 
 dency in the comicü to pass to Baron Pülersdorf, according 
 to the announcement of the VieiiTia Gazette of the 5th of 
 May, in its official part. The public insults offered to per- 
 sons entitled to respect, and filling high situations, the vio- 
 lation of the sanctity of private dwellings, the disturbance of 
 ti-anquilHty during the night in the streets of Vienna, the con- 
 tempt for that privilege which belongs to evei'y constitutional 
 monarch, to place persons who enjoy his confidence at the 
 head of his ministry; all these offences against freedom, 
 order, and the royal prerogative, should have called for 
 strong measures from the Minister of the Interior, who was 
 at once chief of the poHce and also president of the ministry, 
 in order, by pmiislüng their authors and by the enforcement 
 of jiroper measures, to prevent the repetition of similar out- 
 breaks of unrestrained popular violence. In jilace of this, 
 there was issued a paternal admonition of the emperor 
 (dated May 4th), to his beloved citzens of Vienna, containing 
 the coimter-signature of Pülersdorf, in which he philoso- 
 phises on the necessity of preserving public order, and in 
 which the preservation of this order is committed to the 
 honourable sense of the inhabitants, but particularly to 
 the National Guard and the Academic Legion, vnth whom 
 
 source. Some expressions which the count ventured to use on the 13th 
 of March towards the deputies of the Estates who liad sought shelter 
 in the apartments of Archduke Louis, are assigned as the reason of 
 this suggestion. He is said to have told them, if they wished only for 
 the protection of the Assembly against the uni-uly crowds of people, 
 they should have applied for that protection to the authorities charged 
 with the maintenance of order and personal security, who, if it had 
 been chdmed in due time, would certainly have afforded it. 
 
 Tlie poignant truth contained in those words seems to have deeply 
 touched several of the leading men of the Estates, and to have excited 
 their fears of seeing any further demands resisted by the ])ersoii who 
 ventured to utter those words, in case he v/as to remain in tlie councils 
 of the emperor. Count Hartig's mission to Ita}y relieved them from 
 those fears.
 
 214 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 they Avcre united, as well as to the corps of citizens, \vith 
 the fullest confidence, and containing the assurance of the 
 emperor that he always felt safe in theii- presence, and that 
 it could not but fill him and eveiy properly-disposed pei-son 
 with deep gi-ief to witness that, notwdthstanding such pro- 
 tection, the fi'cedom, the lives, the safety, and the honour of 
 peaceable citizens were endangered. The minister who, after 
 such repeated popular excesses, could proj^ose to his sove- 
 reign such an address to Ids rebelUous subjects, and sign his 
 own name thereto, signed at the same time a record which 
 can leave no room for doubting the judgment of the world 
 as to his fitness for the office which he had undertaken. 
 
 It is said that the new president of the ministry paid a 
 \'isit on the following day at the house of his predecessor, 
 whom he had removed from office, and expressed his regret 
 that he had been impeded on the previous evening in his 
 exertions to protect him, by the pressure of the crowd ; to 
 which the latter replied, that sui'ely other means than his 
 personal presence were at the command of the Minister of 
 the Interior, after a tumult had bi'oken out, if he was really 
 serious in his wish to proAdde protection. There covdd be 
 no doubt of this in a theoretic point of view; but, as facts 
 had already proved, the minister Pülersdorf was not the com- 
 mander, but rather the subject, of the Vienna Town Council, 
 and especially of the Administrative Council of the Academic 
 Legion and the National Guard. Both these bodies, the 
 ofispring of the March revolution, were imder the control of 
 native and foreign agitators, so that in the last resource these 
 persons were the real masters. 
 
 We have already observed that the depaii^ure from the 
 coui-se pointed out by the decree of March 15th, for esta- 
 blisliing the constitution of the country, was the work of the 
 Eadicals, because such a constitution was intended to spiing
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 215 
 
 from the existing provincial institutions, and a new state 
 organization, upon tlie foimdation of the Estates, was with 
 them an object of aversion. They took advantage of the 
 vanity of the Minister of the Interior, whue they got rid of 
 the necessity of preserving tliis basis, to institute the con- 
 stitution of April 25th ; but they became immediately dis- 
 contented with this also, as it provided no radical law of 
 election in corresjjondence with the object they had chiefly 
 at heart, viz., a continuation of the revolution. They already 
 by anticipation expressed their distrust of the results of the 
 measure, on the score of its liberaHty, and they found fault 
 \\ith the composition of the fii'st chamber, because the 150 
 members who were to vote for the same were to be chosen 
 from amongst their own body (that is, from amongst the 
 nobles and the higher ranks of the clergy), by the votes of 
 the most important landowners, and the crown, in addition, 
 had resei'ved to itself the right of nominating members 
 of this chamber : they censured the system of secretly 
 managing afiairs, a relic of the old government, in conse- 
 ijueuce of which the chartered constitution, as well as the 
 law of election, which was so very defective, could not be 
 made subjects of discussion by the daUy press before those 
 measures had received the imperial decision. On May 5th 
 tlie committee of the students at Yienna presented a peti- 
 tion to the Minister of tlie Interior that the intended law of 
 election for the choice of members for the second chamber 
 should not fix any census, and that for members of the first 
 chamb(!r, in place of the most important land-ownership, 
 an ownership which was not entirely unimportant should be 
 a qualification, and that this election, also, should be made 
 by the people, and that the crown should exercise no right 
 of nomination therein. The same Gazelle wliich, on the 27th 
 of April, in its official part, liad pul)lishcd the expression of
 
 21 G GENESIS OF THE 
 
 the emperoi*'s satisfaction at the joy and gratitude exhibited 
 by the loyal inhabitants of his capital, on their receiving 
 the constitution, expressed itself in the following terms in 
 a leading article on the 7th of May with relation to that 
 very exhibition : — 
 
 " The constitution of April 25th was a Torso, which might 
 just as well have belonged to aThersites as to an Acliilles. The 
 conviction, or at least a suspicion, of this incompleteness was 
 general — hence the lukewarmness Avith which the law, which 
 was destined to solve the important question of our entire 
 political existence, was received. There was no excitement, 
 none of that excessive joy, with which the imi)erial announce- 
 ment of May 15th was received and re-echoed, but there 
 was also none of that irritation, none of that determined 
 opposition which arose, for example, against the enactments 
 with relation to the press, which was only one ingredient in 
 the organization of our constitutional freedom." 
 
 The public contradiction which was offered by such ob- 
 servations to the emperor's cabinet letter of April 26th, 
 and the opposition to the enactments concerning the press 
 (which were imfortunately crowned with success), were suf- 
 ficient indications that the chai'tered constitution Avould not 
 be maintained without resistance. 
 
 As early as May 6th the ministiy announced that several 
 memorials had been presented to them in the name of the 
 Isational Guard and of the CiAac Guard of the capital, by 
 members of the council of administration of that guard, as 
 representatives of their companies, in the name of the com- 
 mittee of the council and of the students of Vieima, making 
 numerous demands on the subject of the assembling of the 
 approacliing Diet, the intended law of election, the forma- 
 tion of a ministry for the exclusive superintendence of agri- 
 culture, trade, and commerce, the employment of the idle
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 217 
 
 by means of public works, and tbe necessity of holding daily 
 open and confidential communications with the public, on 
 the circumstances of the time and on then- own views (that 
 is, the views of the ministry), with relation to the same. In 
 place of rejecting with bold determination such officious 
 intermeddling with legislative affairs and matters of admi- 
 nistration, the minister offered excuses for what he had not 
 yet performed or said, i^romised to pay speedy attention to 
 the several demands of the different I'espectable bodies, and 
 philosophized on the necessity of maintaining order, tran- 
 quillity, and confidence, in sweet sentimental tones ; but did 
 not neglect obediently to annoimce to his masters, the insti- 
 tution, on the 9 th of May, of two new ministerial offices, one 
 for the management of public works, the other for agricxil- 
 ture, trade, and commerce. The first was filled by the former 
 professor of natm-al history, who was afterwards director 
 of the imperial porcelain manufactory, and subsequently 
 director of the tobacco manufactory, the privy covmcillor 
 Andi'eas Baumgartner, a worthy, plain man of business; the 
 latter was filled by Baron von Doblhoff", a leader of the op- 
 position and reform party in the Lower Austrian Estates, as 
 that body existed previous to the month of March. This 
 new minister possessed no experience in business, and was 
 so little acquainted with matters and persons not comprised 
 in the province of Lower Austria, that in reply to questions 
 in the Diet, put to liim as Minister of the Intcrioi-, he could 
 only answer in the style that Majocchi, the witness from 
 Lombardy, formerly answered in the celebrated green-bag 
 process in London, who, in his prepared answers of "iimi lo so," 
 or "non mi ricordo" yvon for himself such a laughable noto- 
 riety with his hearers and readers of that time. Doblhofi", 
 in like manner, made himself ridiculous in the following 
 instance : — Two months and a half after his appointment
 
 218 GENESIS or TUE 
 
 to the ministry, in the sitting of the Diet of July 25th and 
 iGth, he was nimble to offer any explanation to the question 
 of the deputy Mahalsky. " how it happened that, in addi- 
 tion to Count Stadion, who was governor of GaUcia, two 
 other poi-sous were acting there in an oflScial capacity?" He 
 could only make reply, that as he had but lately been ap- 
 pointed Minister of the Interior, he must request indidgence 
 till the next sitting of the Diet ; which ignorance of the 
 minister occasioned the wits of Vienna to announce as a 
 prize essay, "that a proper reward will be given to the 
 Minister of the Interior if he can say, by the next sitting of 
 the Diet, who is the governor of the province of Galicia." 
 
 The creation of these two places, and the appoiutment 
 of Doblhoff as minister, had, in the estimation of those who 
 usurped the authority of the goveroment, the value and 
 effect of a new concession, and tended to increase their 
 boldness. 
 
 5. The ease with which the Vienna demagogues succeeded 
 in accomplishing theii- wishes, encoiu-aged them to be no 
 longer content with half measures, and emboldened them 
 to require the formal recognition of that popular authority, 
 which had hitherto existed merely by permission. 
 
 They declared loudly, and without reserve, that nobody 
 wovdd believe either that the chartered constitution was 
 anj-thiug more than a temporary expedient, imless it were 
 adopted either expressly or tacitly by the next Diet, or. 
 that a charter in the old meaning of the word could at the 
 present day be instituted by the government, and that, 
 therefore, the next Diet must infallibly have authority to 
 fiame a constitution. The system of two chambers was 
 loudly censured, and even the lower order of nobles, who 
 should at least liave been contented with this system, were 
 willing to see e-s'ery approximation to the aristocratic prin-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 219 
 
 ciple banished from the first chamber. The election law, 
 which was sanctioned by the emperor on May 9th, upon the 
 unanimous proposal of the Ministerial Council, occasioned 
 the most violent outcries against the government, because 
 the preponderance of the influence of the aristocracy in the 
 first chamber could be e'Nadently foreseen as the result. 
 
 The Political Central Committee of the Vienna National 
 Guai-d formed the focus in which were concentrated the rays 
 of discontent, mistrust, anger, and opposition, which streamed 
 from all quarters. The origin of a Political Central Committee 
 commenced with the time when the imiversity, before the 
 organisation of an Academic Legion, had taken the lead in the 
 struggle for fi'eedom. Wlien, at a later period, after the forma- 
 tion of this legion and its union ■Rath the National Guard, an 
 administrative cou.ncil was formed by means of represen- 
 tatives from each company of the Guard, in order to arrange all 
 matters relating to the service, this committee invited the 
 National Guard as well as the armed Civic Guard to send 
 plenipotentiaries to attend their consultations, which request 
 was cheerfully obeyed, and caused the institution of " The 
 Political Central Committee of the Vienna National Guard." 
 In imitation of the preliminaiy parliament of Frankfurt, 
 this committee, in the absence of any other assembly of 
 popular representatives, pretended to act as the expression 
 of public opinion, and claimed authority in opposition to a 
 government hitherto never conti'olled in its tendencies, 
 which were destructive of freedom. The Minister of the 
 Interior thought such a control not only becoming, but sub- 
 mitted to its influence in obedience to the same maxims 
 which had induced him to entertain members of the Aca- 
 demic Legion daily at his table, and to establish in the 
 ministerial offices (formerly the palace of the Bohemian Coui-t 
 Chancery) a department, presided over by the celebrated
 
 220 GENESIS OK THK 
 
 Professor Endlicher, in ordtr to maintain an uniiitoiTuptcd 
 conuiuuiioation witli the Anla. If the pure morals of the 
 philiisojiher deserve eomnieudation, who "vvLshed that he 
 possessed a ti-ansparent house, in order that liis every action 
 might be under observation, the optimism of the statesman 
 must sm-ely provoke a smile of i»ity, who sought to rule the 
 state from the centre of a transpai'ent cabinet, particularly in 
 a time of unbridled licentiousness, when hostile factions were 
 l)erpetually opposed to each other. The committee, con- 
 sisting of 200 members, made no secret that it would only 
 consider its mission accomplished after the interment of the 
 election law, Avhich had, in tnith, been still-born, and after a 
 real representation of the people should have been established; 
 and thus a government should exist for the 2)eople of Austria, 
 enjoying theh* perfect confidence, and not, as was now the case, 
 possessing the frdl and well-deserved mistrust of the nation. 
 These sentiments were published by the joui'nal which was 
 employed by the government to make its official announce- 
 ments, namely, the Vienna Gazette (evening supplement, 
 No. 44), and which was, therefore, officially circulated — a 
 circiunstance for which we should vainly look for an example 
 even in the pages of the Fi'ench Moniteur in the times of 
 the firs-t French revolution. Tins committee furthermore 
 neglected no arts to win the favour of the mob both in to^vn 
 and country. All complaints, demands, or requests of the 
 inhabitants of the toAvn and the subiu-bs received attention 
 and advice from the Aula. Under the pretext of a dissuasion 
 from opposition to the landloi'ds, an address of the students of 
 Vienna was published to the people, in which they announced 
 themselves as the warmest friends and most vigilant de- 
 fenders of public freedom, and laid claim to the most com- 
 plete popular confidence. The working classes, above all,
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 221 
 
 were cajoled by the zeal witli wliicli the Aula had insisted 
 on the undertaking of public works, and on the appointment 
 of a ministry for that purpose. To the men who sought to 
 establish the rule of popular supremacy we must concede the 
 possession of astonishing skill in the pursuit of their object. 
 They displayed this in selecting a fit moment for destroying 
 the constitution of Apru 25th. They availed themselves for 
 this piu'pose of the discontent expressed by the National 
 Guard at an order of theii- commander, Count Hoyos, because 
 the Political Central Committee was abolished by that oi'der, 
 as being inconsistent with the natnre and character of an 
 armed body. At first the National Guard was induced by 
 the committee to remonstrate with its commander, but after- 
 wards, when Count Hoyos was found to be firm and inflexi- 
 ble, they rushed in tumiüt to the ministry with a clamorous 
 petition to revoke the order. This happened on May lÖth. 
 The ministers assembled on that day for one of theh* ordi- 
 nary consultations. The president had received notice of an 
 impending popular disturbance, and observed to his col- 
 leagues that it would be advisable to bring their deliberations 
 to an early close. But the National Guards were more 
 prompt than the ministers ; they forced themselves into the 
 Impei-ialBurg (where the IVIinisterial Council was imprudently 
 holding its sittings, in a room close to the ante-room of the 
 emperor's residence, although there was no want of a locality 
 adapted for such a purpose in the palace of the Minister of 
 the Interior) ; a deputation from the Central Committee pro- 
 ceeded to the council and demanded the revocation of the 
 order alluded to, an alteration of the election law, and (in 
 order, as they pretended, to appease the anger of tlie people 
 against the government, to whom they attributed the inten- 
 tion of abolishmg by militaiy f<n-ce tlie freedom which hud
 
 222 GENESIS OF THli 
 
 been extorted) the ])roniise that the calling out the militaiy 
 to preserve ordei* should in liitiu'C only take place at the 
 i-eqiiest of the Guard, and that tlie patrolling of the Burg 
 should be shared by the Guard in conjunction with the 
 military. The ministerial president, in liis usual fashion, 
 addressed sweet woi'ds to the rioters, and besought them to 
 retire in order that their demands might be taken into 
 immediate consideration. The Vieima garrison, at the first 
 indication of a timiult between the National Guard and the 
 people, was drawn out in its accustomed place of assembling. 
 The pressure of the mob was momentarily increased by the 
 addition of the workmen, who hastened to the spot. The 
 object of this gathering was knoAvn to but few; the majority 
 wei'e satisfied at hearing that the government had e^^nced 
 the most bostüe intentions, which it was necessary to oppose ; 
 that for tliis purpose the students and National Guards were 
 ready, but must be supported in their endeavours by the 
 brave working classes. But the Ministeiial Council resolved 
 not to give in so quickly as the impatience of those Avho 
 waited outside had led them to expect. Whereupon Giskra, 
 doctor of laws and of philosophy, one of the most active of 
 the violent since the days of March, and subsequently 
 celebi'ated as a deputy in the Frankftirt Parliament, nished 
 into the room with a cry that it was now too late, that 
 the people would no longer be controlled, that the demands 
 of the Central Committee would no longer satisfy them, 
 and that they demanded a Constituent Diet without two 
 chambers. The stairs which led to the place where the 
 ministers were assembled and to the residence of the emperor 
 were already beset with armed guards. The council now 
 thought to subdue the storm by promising to procure a con- 
 cession to the demands made by the Central Committee.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTKIA. 223 
 
 No allusion was made to the other measm-es proposed by 
 Giskra. The proclamation of the ministerial determination 
 satisfied the multitude. The ministers might separate peace- 
 ably ; the imperial ante-rooms, which were fiUed with armed 
 men, who boasted that the buUets were ah-eady in the baiTels of 
 their muskets, were gradually emptied, and the evening found 
 the streets of the city frequented only by peaceably-disposed 
 individuals. But the party of whom Giski-a had been the 
 speaking-trimipet, thought they had not sufficiently profited 
 by the commotion of the day, and wished to prosecute theh- 
 own plans, unknown though they were to the great mass of 
 the Yienna population, as they supposed the same feelings of 
 fear, which had been the cause of the late concessions, could 
 also produce the repeal of the chartered constitution and 
 the convocation of the so much wished for Diet for the 
 purpose of framing a constitution. Dm-ing the operation of 
 this feai', therefore, on the mind of Pillersdorf, who was at 
 the head of the executive power, they endeavoured, at the 
 approach of night, to regain what they had lost ; certain 
 members of the Central Committee conducted a mob to his 
 residence, forced themselves into his chamber, and extorted 
 from him a written promise to persuade the emperor to make 
 these further concessions. The teiTified president did not 
 neglect to fulfil his promise by surprising the emperor sud- 
 denly, without consultation with his colleagues, and as it is 
 said, without even having previously made the presumptive 
 heh' to the throne acquainted with his intentions. 
 
 Thus arose the imperial proclamation of May 1 Gth, whose 
 most impoi-tant and eventfiil feature, namely, that clause 
 which destroyed the chartered constitution, and gave birth 
 to a Diet for the purpose of framing a constitution, did 
 not result from the resolutions of a Ministerial CoimcU,
 
 224 GEXESIS OF TUE 
 
 Imt was the woi'k of one single minister, and was only adopted 
 without a protest from the other ministers, because it was 
 considered an event already completed, and which could 
 not, under existing circumstances, be averted. Tliis pro- 
 clamation was as follows : — 
 
 " In order to quiet the disturbances which took place in om* 
 capital on May loth, 1848, and for the sake of preventing a 
 breach of the public peace by acts of \'iolence, by the ad\"ice 
 of our Ministerial CouncU, the -wdthdrawal of the order issued 
 on May 13th, 1848, to our National Guard, with relation to 
 the proceedings of the Political Centi-al Committee, has been 
 decreed, and the two requests made by the National Guard 
 have been granted, -vi^., that the city gates and the main 
 guard at the Burg, in all its divisions, shall be occupied 
 jointly by the military and the National Guard, and that 
 the militaiy shall be called on to afford necessary assistance 
 only in cases when the National Guard shall requii-e the 
 same. By the ad\ice of our Ministerial Council, in order to 
 remove all remaining causes for displeasure and excitement, 
 Ave annex to these resolutions the additional announcement, 
 that the constitution of April 25th, 1848, shall be sub- 
 mitted to the immediate deliberation of the Diet, and 
 the provisions of the election law which have given cause 
 for apprehension, shall be subjected to a new examina- 
 tion. 
 
 " That the establishment of the constitution by means 
 of the Diet convoked to frame a constitution, may be 
 effected in the most certain manner, we have decreed that 
 only one chamber shall be elected for the fii-st Diet, in 
 pursuance of which no census shall be established for the 
 votes, and all doiibts of an insufficient representation of the 
 people shall be set at rest. 
 
 " We cheiish the conviction that all classes of citizens -n-ill
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 225 
 
 await vnth patience and confidence the early opening of the 
 
 Diet. 
 
 " Ferdinand. 
 
 '•' Pillersdorf, Minister of tlie Interior 
 and Provisional President. 
 
 " Sommaruga, Minister of Justice and 
 Public Instruction. 
 
 " Kraus, Minister of Finance. 
 
 " DoBLHOFF, Minister of Trade. 
 
 " Baumgartner, Minister of Public Works." 
 " Vienna, May im, 1848." 
 
 When "vve compare the contents and expression of tliis 
 imperial proclamation with the decree of March 15th, we 
 must feel astonished at the rapid march of the revolution 
 and the depression of the power of the government during 
 the short period of two months. When we remember the 
 words adcbessed by the emperor to the inhabitants of 
 Vienna on April 2Gth, only three weeks before, "that he 
 felt in the deepest foundation of his heart the great honour 
 of being called on to guide the destinies of such a people," 
 we must feel the most painfiü sensations at witnesshig this 
 ])eople so quickly hurried away to deeds of violence, which 
 the sovereign could only subdue by revoking the same consti- 
 tution, for the grateful reception of wliich he had addressed 
 to the inhabitants of Vienna those expressions of his 
 satisfaction. The epithet " Constituent" (Assembly of the 
 Puialm) was not even avoided in the proclamation, although 
 it might have been equally as well described by the epitlict 
 "next," without giving room for the charge of any mystery 
 or uncertainty in expressing the imperial determinations; but 
 that epithet having been inserted in such a manner, afforded 
 an oj)portunity, soon after the assembling of the Diet, for 
 introducing the epithet " sovereign " aa part of the deacrip- 
 
 Q
 
 226 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 tiou, and tliiis to declare that the power of government 
 emanated fruni the people. If the words of the imperial 
 proclamation were calculated to proclaim the triumph of the 
 revolution, this result was accomplished in a still more un- 
 doubted manner, by a ministerial announcement published 
 in the evening edition of the Vienna Gazette of the same 
 date (May 16th), which we here subjoin Hterally, as a most 
 remarkable document, and one that completely explains the 
 character of the ministry- : — 
 
 " Since the withdrawal of the order issued by the com- 
 mander of the National Guard against the conduct of the 
 Political Committee of the same, has been demanded from 
 the assembled Ministerial CouncU by repeated deputations, 
 the commander has not thought it proper to grant the re- 
 quest, accompanying his decision with the threat that he 
 wovild resign his authority into the hands of the king, if the 
 National Guard should evince a want of confidence in him. 
 
 '• This declaration was received with decided disajiprobation, 
 and with the answer that the puljUc safety and tranquillity 
 were gravely thi*eatened, and that the worst was to be 
 apprehended. Moreover, the ministers received very alarm- 
 ing information on the matter in dispute, and on the great 
 sympathy and interest which the subject of the petition had 
 excited, and upon the measures that might be reqiiired to 
 oppose any display of feeling on the part of the people, who 
 were in a state of great excitement. These circumstances 
 demanded the most serious consideration, for thousands of 
 workmen had thronged into the town, and showed a dis- 
 position to take violent steps. 
 
 " In this state of things, the ministers considered it their 
 most sacred duty, regardless of all personal reflections, to 
 provide for the safety of the throne, the dynasty, and the 
 unity of the monarchy. These duties obliged them to make
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 227 
 
 great sacrifices in order to avert a still greater roisfortmie. 
 They liad cancelled the obnoxious order, had established, in 
 conformity with the determination of his majesty the joint 
 occupation of the gates of the town and of the main, guard 
 at the Bm'g by the mUitary and the National Guard, and 
 had also ordei'ed that the military should only be called upon 
 to act in those cases of extreme danger, when the National 
 Guards themselves should require it. But even these con- 
 cessions were not sufficient to tranquillize the general ex- 
 citement. The establishment of the constitution by a 
 Diet convened to frame a constitution was called for, as 
 also a revision of the election law, and by granting these 
 demands was the preservation of peace only declared pos- 
 sible. Called upon, before all things, to protect the sacred 
 power of his majesty, the constitutional throne, and the safety 
 of the royal residence, which is seriously threatened, and 
 also to strengthen the conviction that his majesty is sincere 
 in each and all the concessions wliich he has made, the 
 ministers have assumed the responsibility of proposing to 
 his majesty to declare that the first Diet shall be con- 
 voked to frame a constitution, and that the election for the 
 same shall be confined to one chamber, for which piu-pose 
 the elective qualifications established for the senate shall 
 upon this occasion be sufficient, and the temporary election 
 'aw shall be submitted to a new examination. Little as 
 they are disposed to shrink from the responsibility of these 
 measures, they feel, however, that such proceedings, and 
 their tendency, have diminished their power and oppor- 
 tunity of contributing by their services to the support of 
 the throne. 
 
 "Their feelings of duty have therefore placed them under 
 the unavoidable necessity of surrendering into the hands of 
 liis majesty the ministerial functions intrusted to them, in 
 
 q2
 
 228 OKNKHIS OK TIIK 
 
 onlor that tlio monarch may ha^-o an opportunity of sur- 
 vounding himsolf with councillors who enjoy a more general 
 and more powerful support." 
 
 In this declai-ation we may observe a repetition of that 
 style of language -which in the month of March had hecn 
 used by the Lower Austrian Trades' Union, by the Austrian 
 citizens when presenting their petitions, and by those well- 
 intentioned meddlers, for the purpose of intimidating th6 
 emperor and the royal family with the prospect of the near 
 danger that threatened the throne and the ruling dynasty, 
 and thus rendering them incapable of resistance. In the 
 mouth of any speaker, such words might serve for the expres- 
 sion of exaggei-ated apprehensions or as tlii'cats ; but when 
 uttered publicly by the ministry, they were entitled to all 
 the serious weight of an admission that the revohition wa.s^ 
 now in its highest phase, because the throne and the person 
 of the sovereign were no longer considei-ed sacred. An ad- 
 luission of this kind could only be permitted to a ministry 
 which should find it necessary to justify the unsparing use of 
 the sword ; when used as a justification of theh- unconditional 
 surrender, without any attempt at resistance, it must be con- 
 sidered to operate as a premiuni on rebellion and high trea- 
 .son : that such was the effect, is 2:)roved by the history of 
 the October days, — a history which is written in letters of 
 blood. The establishment of an act of govemment, such as 
 that of May 15th, on the foundation of such fears, must, 
 under any circumstances, have been condemned as impohtic, 
 even when such fears might be well grounded. But these 
 apprehensions Avere eiToneous ; for the throne of the Aus- 
 trian emperor did not rest upon a single pillar, viz., upon the 
 capital of Vienna, — it was supported also by the provinces, 
 which were by no means disposed to bow patiently under 
 the yoke of the Vienna demagogues. If the revolution of
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 229 
 
 JVlarcli found an echo in tlie provinces, tliis only i-esulted 
 because it promised an accomplishment of the mshes wliich 
 were generally felt for improvement, in accordance Avith the 
 sentiments of the age ; but that this improvement should lead 
 to the destruction of the throne, was never contemplated by 
 Austrians, Styi'ians, Illyrians, Hungarians, Croats, Tyrolese, 
 Bohemians, Moravians, SUesians, or others ; at least not by 
 the overwhelming majority of those very persons who had so 
 imequivocally stepped forward to oppose the revolutionary 
 party of Vienna, immediately after they had made a pul)lic 
 avowal of such principles. But, in addition to this, the loyalty, 
 attachment, and bravery of the imperial army supplied a 
 firm pillar to the throne. Possibly, indeed, a fanatical mob 
 might, on May 15th, have threatened the person of the em- 
 peror, a danger wliich ought to have been avoided by other 
 means than by ministerial timidity. If these means were 
 not available on March 13th, it must be ascribed to the fact 
 that the events of that day were as surprising as a thunder- 
 .storm in a clear sky ; but, in trath, even this would not have 
 been a subject of siu-prise, if the voices of those prophets had 
 not been neglected who, under shelter of the suiTOund- 
 ing trees, foretold the approaching storm. Long previous to 
 May loth the thunder clouds had threatened fearfully ; time 
 liad been allowed to discharge the duty of providing lightning 
 conductors for the protection of the emperor and his family : 
 in case of extremity, the garrison of Vienna might have 
 gathered round those dear heads, and have accom})anied 
 them from the city to a place of protection, as occuri-ed in 
 the following Octol)er under far less favourable circum- 
 stances. The conclusion of that ministerial explanation is, 
 in truth, a remarkable event in the history of constitutional 
 ministries. One may observe, ii'oin a study of such Idstorie-s, 
 that ministers always conceive it their duty to abandon their
 
 230 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 posts when they cannot approve of the demands of tlie 
 people, or fail to secure the concurrence of the crown in tlie 
 mea.sures they i)ropose ; but that a ministry which had ad\'o- 
 cated the popular ^vdshes before the sovereign, in which 
 wishes they had found the latter willing to acquiesce, should, 
 in a moment of excitement, retii'e from office and leave to 
 other men the completion of their own plans, — ^this is an 
 event which has never yet happened in a constitutional state 
 either on this or on the other side of the ocean. 
 
 6. The immediate consequence of the events alluded to in 
 that ministerial explanation appeared on the following day. 
 It is important to bear in mind how this residt, namely, the 
 departure of the emperor and the imperial family from the 
 capital, was viewed by the ministry itself, and publicly an- 
 noimced in the two following proclamations : — 
 
 '• This evening, at nine o'clock, a verbal and unexpectetl 
 commvmication has been made to the ministry', that his ma- 
 jesty the emperor, for the benefit of liis health, accompanied 
 by the empress, and the illustrious Archduke Francis Charles, 
 with his ulustrious wife and three children, have left the 
 palace and have taken the route to Innsbnick. The vmder- 
 signed ministers, who are unacquainted with the reason and 
 immediate motives of this journey, consider themselves bound 
 to communicate it to the inhabitants of the capital. They 
 haA'e also considered it then* fli-st duty to despatch a confi- 
 dential person, to his majesty during the night, namely, the 
 Count Hoyos, commander of the National Guards, to make 
 an urgent request that the people might be tranquillized 
 by the return of the emperor, or by a public statement of 
 the reasons which render such a course impossible. The 
 same urgent request wül be made to the archdixke, through 
 the medium of the president, Count Wüczek. The Minis-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 231 
 
 terial Council are sensible of tbeir sacred duties in this im- 
 portant moment, to dedicate their whole care and attention 
 to the interests of the countiy, and to act on theu' responsi- 
 bility as circumstances may demand. The support of their 
 fellow-citizens, and of all well-disposed persons, will enable 
 them to preserve peace and order, and contribute to tran- 
 quillize the public mind. All further information upon this 
 subject, which the ministers may acquire, will be communi- 
 cated truly and fully to the public ; and as soon as they 
 shall receive from the monai'ch any direct orders or commu- 
 nications, they wiU publish the same without delay. 
 " The temporary Ministers, 
 
 " PiLLEESDORF, SOMMARUGA, KrAUS, LatOUR, 
 DOBLHOFF, BaUMGARTNER. 
 
 "Vienna, tJie 17th May, 1848." 
 
 " The Ministerial Council has read in the non-official part 
 of the Vienna Gazette of this day, a comparison of the de- 
 part lu-e of his majesty the emperor from Vienna, which is 
 there considered only as prospective, with the flight of King 
 Louis XVI., with the observation appended, ' that the last 
 day of his majesty's presence here would be the first day of 
 the republic' 
 
 " The JVIinisterial Comicil assuredly acts as the organ of the 
 united inhabitants of Vienna, as well as of all persons loyally 
 disposed towards their good monarch, in repudiating, with 
 the utmost indignation, all participation in such sentiments, 
 or in any views of the inhabitants of Vienna to overturn 
 the monarchial constitution. In such an interpretation of 
 the decision of his majesty, with respect to his intention of 
 taking up his temporaiy residence in this or that part of the 
 constitutional monarchy, the Ministerial Council can only
 
 232 GEXESIS OF THE 
 
 I'ccogiike a deplorable ein-or, ox' the calumny of a few indivi- 
 duals, tigainst the xinshaken loyalty of Austiiaiis of all races 
 to their mouai'ch. 
 
 '* Tlie tenijiorary ministry owes this explanation to all the 
 inhabitants of Vienna ; and in full concord with the whole 
 population of Vienna, antl in union vnth the National Guai'd, 
 in all its di\isions, and also A\ätli the military, they will 
 firmly and resolutely adopt measui'es, not only to maintain 
 the public safety and tranquillity, but they will also with 
 earnest detennination protect monarchial order, and the in- 
 violable loyalty and attachment of subjects to theh* beloved 
 emperor. 
 
 " The temporary Ministers of his INIajesty 
 the Emperor. 
 
 " Vienna, May I8th, 1848." 
 
 These two ministeiial proclamations suffice to display the 
 revolution iu its complete development. The sovereign 
 ■with his famUy fugitives, and the supreme poM er in the state 
 exercised by a temporaiy ministiy, who coolly admit that 
 they are ignorant of the cause, and know not what they can 
 do more than send confidential persons in pui'suit of the 
 illustrious travellers to persuade them to retm-n ; and who, 
 when a dariug newspaper threatens that a republic will com- 
 mence if the emperor shoidd leave Vienna, in place of handing 
 over the editor to the strong arm of the law, content them- 
 selves with words, which, however mighty they sound, must 
 be considered as no more than empty echoes, after every- 
 thing which that same ministry had in the pre^'ious days 
 been known to tolerate and to utter. 
 
 The desti-uctive party took advantage of the departure of 
 the emperor and his family to heap abuse on the aristocracy, 
 who were charged with enticiug the former away to avenge
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 233 
 
 themselves on the citizens of Vienna, and on a pretended 
 camarilla, wlio were said to have advised such a course. Both 
 statements were grossly untrue. The occm-rences of May 
 15th, and the publications of the following days, must 
 assuredly have intimated to the imperial family that they 
 were no longer safe in. Vienna ; and at the moment when the 
 emperor could no longer enjoy the privilege, exercised by 
 eveiy private individual, of confiding the care of his house to 
 the guardians of liis own choice, the Empress Maria Anna 
 must have called to mind the captivity of Louis XVI., since 
 she had passed her years of chudhood in the island of Sartli- 
 :;aa, whither her parents had fled after the French revolu- 
 tion, amongst the traditions of that time of terror : we can, 
 therefore, readily understand her anxiety to withdraw from 
 similar dangers which had been often threatening since the 
 month of March, before the care, or rather the watching, of the 
 Imperial Bui-g should be undertaken by those same National 
 Guards, of whom the greater part had abeady so shamefully 
 and audaciously violated their duty to the emperor, and the 
 reverence which they owed to the imperial family. The prepa- 
 rations for the united occupation of the Bm^g by the military 
 and the National Guards were to be completed on May 17th ; 
 no time was therefore to be lost, in order to realize this reason- • 
 able desh'e. The strictest seci'esy was therefore observed, and 
 none of the household were made acquainted with the plan. 
 A drive to Schönbrunn was undertaken in the evening, and 
 from thence orders were given to proceed along the road. 
 One of the chamberlains who was present, was then instructed 
 to acquaint the Minister of War with the departure of the 
 court. The latter hastened to inform the other ministers of 
 the fact, and detained the bearer of the news in the palace of 
 the Minister of War, until he had been examined by tlie 
 I^linisterial Councu concerning his errand ; but he was able to
 
 234 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 communicate nothing further than that he had been told the 
 emperor had resolved upon a joimiey to the mountains of 
 Tyrol for the benefit of his health, and that the family would 
 not leave him alone. The court and the aristocracy of 
 Vienna were not less astonished at this departure than the 
 ministry and the other inhabitants of the city. 
 
 7. This wisely-determined and jti-udently-managed decision 
 of the emperor to -wdthdraw himself from the influence of the 
 Vienna democracy, if it had only been combined with other 
 measures, might have put a stop to the fui-ther progress of 
 the revolution ; isolated, however, as he remained, he only 
 gave opportunity for the fonnation of a dangerous ministerial 
 regency, which led to violent I'ecriminations, and strenuous 
 exertions to bring the court back again to Vienna. This, 
 however, was only effected, when such attempts were 
 repeated in no very delicate manner by the Diet that 
 assembled in Vienna in the month of July, without having 
 previously restrained the excesses and violence which had 
 driven the emperor from his residence. In the first burst of 
 surprise and soiTOw which seized all classes in Vienna at the 
 absence of the court, the ministry might have foimd a power- 
 ful support even in the majority of the National Guards, if 
 they had taken advantage of the movement to suppress the 
 excesses of a part of that guard, of the press, of the Aula, and 
 of the clubs. But in this respect they did nothing which was 
 effective. In the room of the Political Central Committee, 
 wliich liad voluntarily dissolved itself, they allowed a Commit- 
 tee of Safety to be established, which was only calculated to 
 weaken the efficiency of the legally-constituted organs of go- 
 vernment. On May 20th they published a provisional law in 
 relation to the press, which, however, could not but be ineffi- 
 cient to meet the pressing demands of the time, because its 
 application depended on conditions which demanded a consi-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 235 
 
 derable time to complete, viz. the institution of public judicial 
 proceedings and properly-constituted jvuies. The dissolution 
 and re-construction of the corps of N^ational Guards, which had 
 become false to its origiaal design, had never been contemplated, 
 any more than measures against abusing the right of holding 
 meetings. On May 25th, for the first time, the ministry, 
 on the requisition of a professor, who in March had placed 
 himself at the head of the movement, but who was now tired 
 of the daily-increasing violence of the students, determined 
 to dissolve the Academic Legion.* This resolution was to 
 have been canied into operation on May 2Gth by means of the 
 National Guard, and muitary interference (in accordance 
 with the imperial proclamation of May 15th) was only to 
 be allowed on their application to that effect. But, 
 instead of this mode of proceeding being observed, the 
 military alone, in insufficient numbers, were opposed to 
 the Academic Legion ; members of the latter hastened 
 as deputies to those companies of the National Guard 
 who sympathized Avith them, and also to the numerous 
 workmen who were assembled in Vienna and the subiu'bs, a 
 Ijody of men whom the students had ever patronised, and 
 whom they now implored for assistance, alleging that a 
 reaction had already commenced; that the Committee of 
 Safety, formed after the departure of the emperor, for the 
 
 * It was tlie same professor to whom we liave already twice alluded 
 without naming him, first as an opponent of the Austrian policy in a law 
 exercise for the doctor's degree, and suljsequently as a member of the 
 university deputation, which, on the 13th of March, demanded tlic 
 arming of the students. The " Geisnel " (Scourge), a Viennese journal, 
 in its criticism of the "Genesis," intended to do homage to liim in its 
 number 277 of the year 1849, by publishing liis name in reference to the 
 above dissertation, as that of a man of progrcus hefure Marcli. We 
 believe it to Ije equally honourable to him if we mention him here as 
 a man of reflvcllon after March, and we therefore take leave to re])eat 
 the words of the " fJeissel." The professw who has twice been alluded to 
 is Ilye, the miniMerial councillor.
 
 '2'Mj genesis of the 
 
 j>restTvation of peace aud order, had sold itself to the aristo- 
 ci-ivcy aud the camarilla; that the coucessious wldch had beeu 
 ali'cady extorted were to be abolished by military i-iolence, 
 and that for this ituri)oso Prince Windischgratz was already 
 approaching Vieima with a considerable body of troops. This 
 appeal for assistance, supported though it was by falsehood, 
 (lid not faU to produce its intended effect. The streets of the 
 city were soon closed up \ni\i barricades, filled with National 
 Guards, and with the anned workmen, who were tlieii' tools, 
 and were stripped of the pavement, which Avas immediately col- 
 lected in heaps on the parapets of the windows of the houses, 
 in order to be hurled do\vn upon the passing military. But 
 such preparations for defence were altogether unnecessary, for 
 no attack was made on the disturbers of the public peace. The 
 most prominent members of the Committee of Safety, as also 
 the President of the administration of Lower Austria, Comit 
 Montecuculi, escaped by flight fi-om the popular tumult, and 
 the Ministerial Council once more purchased ti-anquillity by a 
 complete concession to the demands of the rioters, which was 
 announced by the ministerial 2)roclamations of the same and 
 of the folloAving day. (See Appendix, Sup. 2.) 
 
 This new triumph of the revolution increased its preten- 
 sions in the same degree that it weakened and humiliated the 
 government. From the iiiins of the Committee of Safety, 
 which had been scattered on May 26th, and from the frag- 
 ments of the Political Central Committee, which had pre- 
 A-ioasly existed, a sort of revolutionary assembly was fonned 
 under the title of " a committee of the citizens, National 
 Guards, and students of Vienna, for the presei'vation of peace 
 and order, and the protection of the rights of the people." 
 In the latter part of this title was involved an usiu'pation and 
 tlemand to exercise a constant control over the proceedings of 
 every minister, wliich soon grew into a complete protectorate,
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 237 
 
 SO tliat no minister could afterwards act in pursuance of his 
 own conviction, but only according to the permission of his 
 protector, who could depend, moreover, for support against his 
 pupil in the protection of a part of the National Guard, the 
 Academic Legion, and the mass of the working classes. The 
 miidstry, in the proclamation of May 26th, had promised the 
 workmen to provide employment for them, and had thus 
 admitted that that body was entitled to the dangerous privi- 
 lege of requh'iag the government to provide them with the 
 means of subsistence ; a demand wldch, wherever it has been 
 allowed, has never failed to produce the most melancholy 
 conflicts, and of which the working classes of Vienna had 
 never previously di'eamt. In the name of the Ministerial 
 Council, Pillersdorf, on May 27th, declared the above-men- 
 tioned lately-formed committee to be independent of all 
 other authorities, and thus established its formation u[)on 
 a legal basis. At the same time the minister announced that 
 the alternative had been offered to the emperor, either to 
 return to Vienna immediately, or to appoint an imperial 
 ])rince as Ms representative, an annoimcement of the most 
 dangerous consequence to the state. Thus a ministerial 
 I'ocognition was given to that maxim claimed by the ari'o- 
 guuce of the Viennese, that the Austrian monarchy could 
 only be governed ft'om Vienna, and the destiiictive exam])l(! 
 (if the Magyars was followed, who had been able, in the room 
 of their king, so long as he resided beyond the boundaries of 
 Hungaiy, to establish a viceroy, who almost entirely super- 
 seded the influence of the king himself 
 
 8. On May 20th the emperor issued a manifesto from 
 Innsbitick to his people, the publication of which took 
 l)lac;(' on the same day, and on the following day was an- 
 nounced by means of cabinet letters to the whole mnnarcliy, 
 as well as to the palatine in Hungary and to the minis-
 
 238 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 terial president in Vieuua. Tlie causes of the erajtcror's 
 w-ithdrawing from liis eapital were therein }>ubHcly stated, 
 and tlie feelings of the sovereign at tlie injury oftered to 
 him. on May 15th, by the Academic Legion, a part of the 
 National Guai'ds, and th<' citizens of Vienna, were fully 
 expressed. But on May 25th, the day when this manifesto 
 first appeared in Vienna, the moment was past in which 
 these words of the emperor, which were at once firm and 
 mild, could have produced a certain and decided influence 
 upon the events of the capitid, namely, when the first amaze- 
 ment was felt at the expidsion of the imperial family; they 
 echoed now without efiect, and were even used on the very 
 next morning as a means to provoke excitement, after a 
 fresh conflict had been commenced between the revolution 
 • and the government, and the former had proved victorious 
 without a struggle. An admonition of the sovereign, when 
 it is not obeyed, .should ever be followed by strong mea- 
 .sures, else majesty will lose both in respect and power. 
 Not only, however, w^re such measures not resorted to, but 
 the moral impression of the manifesto was entirely effaced 
 by a subsequent imperial proclamation, wliich was issued 
 from Innsbruck on June 3rd, inasmuch as its address " To 
 the loyal Inhabitants of my Capital," as well as its contents, 
 which announced a more friendly disposition of the em- 
 peror, excited astonishment, after the fresh insults that were 
 in the mean time ofiered to the authority of government in 
 Vienna. (See Appendix, Sup. 3.) This alteration, as it 
 coidd not have been the efiect of circumstances, must be 
 ascribed to the influence of the advisers of the crown who 
 had in the interim joined the sovereign. The manifesto of 
 May 20th was a complete expression of the feelings and senti- 
 ments of Ferdinand; no minister had assisted in its com- 
 pilation — none of them had prepared it. The proclamation
 
 REVOLtfTION IN AUSTRIA. 239 
 
 of June 3rd, ou the contrary, was an act of government 
 for wliicli two ministers, then in Innsbruck, Wessenberg 
 and Doblhoff, were responsible. The former of these two 
 ministers had "been nominated as successor of Ficquehnont, 
 as the minister of the imperial house and for foreign affairs, 
 as well as iii the presidency of the Ministeiial Coimcil, 
 and had come from Freiburg to Innsbruck; the latter had 
 been hastily sent by Pülersdorf to the emperor from Vienna. 
 Wessenberg, siace his mission to London, after the French 
 revolution in 1830, had fallen out with Metternich, and 
 was therefore favoured by the enemies of the latter ; he was 
 an honourable diplomatist and a liberal of sterling value.* 
 Doblhoff was a friend of reform and a zealous leader of the 
 opposition party in lower Austria ; by his connection with 
 that party, he therefore knew their sentiments, and by 
 means of the explanations which he could give to the 
 minister, he managed to acquire his full confidence. It is 
 tme that he was neither a man of business nor a statesman, 
 but yet he was better acquainted with the more intimate 
 affairs of the government than the ministerial president 
 himself. We may here perceive that the words which these 
 two men put into the mouth of the emperor partook of 
 that character of supreme forbearance, which had marked all 
 
 * The well-informed author of the review of the "Genesis," which 
 appeared in the first number of the twenty-fifth volume of the " His- 
 toriche Politische Blätter, &c.," corrects our statement of a rupture 
 having existed since 1 830 between Metternich and Wessenberg. Tlie 
 latter minister had incurred the displeasure of the emperor, who con- 
 sidered him to have exceeded his instructions in signing, in 1831, a 
 certain protocol relating to the regulation of questions at issue between 
 the kingdom of the Netherlands and Belgium. He had since that 
 jieriod disappeared from the diplomatic stage. This disa])pcarance was 
 ascribed by pui)lic opinion to a divergence from the political views of 
 Metternich. It equally explained the joyful welcome which was given 
 to the retired statesman on his entry into the constitutional ministry of 
 Austria.
 
 240 GENESIS OF TIIK 
 
 the acts of the ministry since the niontli of March, but was 
 jiot at all calculated to put ;m end to the revolution. 
 
 In all the })rovinces of the monarchy, as well as in Hun- 
 gaiy and its c^•o^v^l lands, the manifesto of the emperor, of 
 May 20th, had produced addresses of submission, and in 
 every place where it was possible to suppose that the em- 
 peror might take up liis residence, the -svish was expressed 
 to ^^'ituess the royal family, wlio had been scared away from 
 Vienna, estabHshing their abode there. But, however affect- 
 ing these expressions of attachment and sympathy might be, 
 and however sincerely those .sentiments, Avhich the addi'esses 
 had called forth, might be shared by the majority of those per- 
 sons, every attentive obsei-ver must have marked the injurious 
 influence which had been produced in all parts of the empire 
 on the minds of the people, by the repeated triumphs of the 
 revolution over the power and authority of the government 
 of VienBa, without encoimtering any serious or determined 
 opposition. The imperial family was no doubt an object 
 of pity with thousands ; but pity is never calculated to 
 exalt its object in the esteem of mankind ; sentimental 
 sympathy for a pei'son who is the sport of fate never in- 
 creases his power or authority, but, on the contraiy, dimi- 
 nishes both, when sen.stitions of admiration are not coupled 
 with such a feeling. When Maria Theresa, supporting her 
 little son upon her arm, advanced in front of the Hungarian 
 Estates and confided her own fate and that of her child to 
 the loyalty and valour of her Hungarian subject.s, an enthu- 
 siastic and universal shout might well resoiind of " Mori- 
 amur pro Eege nostro Maria Theresa!" since, with the feel- 
 ing of pity were united sentiments of admiration at the 
 heroic courage of a woman calmly contemplating an ap- 
 proaching battle. The complaints uttered by Ferdinand 
 the Good, with so much truth and dignity, on May 20th,
 
 EEVOLUTIOX IK AUSTRIA. 241 
 
 at the ingratitude of liis capital, ia order to j^roduce a 
 stronger impression than that of pity, ought to have been 
 followed by deeds, at least when the transactions which took 
 place at Vienna on May 26th showed that the imperial 
 address was destined to remain unheeded. It was the diity 
 of those councUloi's who influenced the imperial proclama- 
 tion of J\me 3rd to take such steps. Instead of destroying, 
 fni they did by such means, all hope that the emjDeror 
 was resolved to make no fiu*ther concessions to the revo- 
 lution, not only in Vienna, but universally, they should have 
 persuaded the emperor to prove his intentions by his deeds. 
 The appointment of a military governor armed with the 
 most extensive powers, and a simultaneou^s estabhshment 
 of martial law in Vienna, shoidd have succeeded the insm-- 
 rection of May 26th, in place of that j^aternal proclamation. 
 The Vienna National Guard at that time had not the can- 
 non which, in the mouth of July, wei'e delivered to them 
 from the imperial arsenal, and at that time the fury of the 
 Viennese could give rise to no apprehensions for the im- 
 ])erial family, who were dwelling imder the protection of the 
 loyal moimtaineers, and this pretence for weakening the 
 })0wer of the government could no longer be brought for- 
 ward as the chief justification of an ever-yielding weakness. 
 
 9. The loss of respect by the government, in all parts of 
 tlie empne, was moi-e or less evident. In the capital of Bo- 
 hemia it was most clearly displayed. There the committee 
 from the Wenzelbad, who had returned in triumph fi-om 
 their second mission, in the beginning of April, had served 
 us the nucleus of a national committee, of which Count Leo 
 Thun, who had been lately appointed President of the Ad- 
 ministration, became the chairman, and which, divided into 
 twelve sections, was employed in preparing, considering, and 
 propoiuiding plans for the first Bohemian Diet. The first
 
 242 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 sitting of this natioiiiil assembly took place on April 1 3th, 
 1848. Ou May 1st, it issued an appeal to all their Slavo- 
 nian brethren in the Austrian monarchy, which had been 
 prepared by twenty-one members (without the assistance of 
 their president), inviting them to take paii; in a meeting to 
 be held on the 31st JNIay, in the ancient Slavonian city of 
 Pi-ague, of persons enjoying the confidence of their nation, 
 for the purpose of submitting to the attention of the German 
 parliament in Frankfort the interests of the Slavonian na- 
 tion, and of considering what should be their line of conduct 
 amidst the important events of the times, inasmuch as 
 the parUament of Frankfort, by its claim to incorporate 
 into the German kingdom those Austrian coimtries which 
 did not fonn part of Hungary, had threatened to destroy 
 the union and independence of the Slavonian provinces. 
 The National Committee had previously sent a deputation 
 to Vienna to present an address to the emperor against the 
 plan for electing deputies from Bohemia to the Constituent 
 Assembly at Frankfort, the subsequent rejection of which, 
 on the 29th April, had doubtless occasioned the appeal to 
 theii' Slavonian brethren on May 1st. The aversion of the 
 Bohemians to the Germanizing schemes of Vienna, as evinced 
 in their justifiable dissatisfaction at the removal of the 
 minister Ficquelmont and the events of May loth, with 
 their consequences, bore an appearance of legality, and made 
 itself known in. Prague with some apprehension of proba- 
 ble tumults. Out of the National Guard there, a Slavonian 
 battalion was formed under the name of Swornost, with 
 pecuhar marks of distinction. The right of association 
 was perverted to the establishment of clubs, as well of 
 Slavonians as of Germans (called Slavia, Concordia, and 
 so forth), who watched and opposed one another reci- 
 procally. The Club, afterv\'ards celebrated under the title
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 243 
 
 nf Slowanska Lipa (the Slavonian Lime Tree), was insti- 
 tuted at tliat time, and at its general assembly on May 
 24th already amounted to 600 members, and its uimibers 
 daily increased. The streets of Prague were continually 
 the scenes of disorders, of greater or less extent, which, 
 though at fii-st apparently attended only by a crowd of Jews, 
 from motives of cimosity, soon assumed a political charactei\ 
 The pro\-incial chief. Count Thim, became an object of dis- 
 like, because he was suspected of favouring the German more 
 than the Slavonian party, and of favouring the election of 
 deputies to the Frankfort parliament. In the sitting of the 
 ISI'ational Committee of May 23rd he defended himself from 
 these charges, protesting that he had only obeyed the orders 
 received fi-om Vienna, and claiming, on this account, a 
 renewal of the confidence which he had formerly enjoyed 
 from his comitrymen. How strong his desire was to with- 
 draw the adndnistration of the country from the influ- 
 ence of the Vienna ministry, is proved by his having 
 established a provisional government for Bohemia, the exis- 
 tence of which first became known to the Minister of the 
 Interior through the Prague newspapers ; a fact which 
 would appear incredible, il" the minister himself had not 
 . ublished the circumstance in the official part of the 
 Vienna Gazette of June 3rd, 1848, No. 154. (See Appendix, 
 Sup. 4.) 
 
 The members of the provisional government established by 
 the provincial chief of Bohemia on May 30, were Palacky, the 
 historian ; J. U. Dr. Eieger ; BoiTOsch, bookseller and town 
 commissaiy ; Count Albert Nostiz ; J. U. Dr. Brauner ; 
 Coimt Wuliam Wunnbrand ; J. U. Dr. Strobach ; and 
 Herzig, manufacturer in Reichenberg. The political senti- 
 ments of these men, with the exception of the two counts, 
 who did not become parliamentary deputies, were afterwards 
 
 R 2
 
 2H GENESIS OF TlIK 
 
 iutfUigiltly ox2)^V8^^L'd in tlio paiiiiuuentti of Vienna and 
 ICrcmsicr.* 
 
 The opening of the Slavonian Congress, which took phice 
 with great pomp on Jvme 2nd, was calculated still more to 
 increase the national fanaticism. The singing of the old 
 national chiu-ch hymn, " Swaty Waclawe," and numenjus 
 speeches, in which, pai-tly in »sorrow and partly in anger, the 
 late o}>pi'essed state of the Slavonians was described, joined 
 to a representation of the state of Vienna dui-ing the oc- 
 currences of May, occasioned a disjilay wliich enabled a looker- 
 on. to foresee the Aaolent disturbances wliich soon occuiTed. 
 The general in command. Prince Windischgrätz, who was a 
 witness how the government of Mai"ch 13th had, without 
 preparation, opposed a popular tumult in Vienna, adopted 
 the necessaiy military measures of precaution. These were 
 here, as in other places, mistrusted as symptoms of a reac- 
 tionary tendency. On June 7 th, it had been resolved, in an 
 assembly of the people at the Wenzelbad, to petition the em- 
 peror to remove Prince Windischgrätz from Prague, and to 
 send the Archduke Charles Frederick to take the command 
 in Bohemia. Meetings of workmen, especially of cottpn- 
 printers, took place. On the 10th, a gi'eat meeting of the 
 Aula, in the university building (the Carolinum), agi-eed to 
 
 * The "Histürische Politi.sche Blätter," for Catholic Germany, by 
 Phillij).s .and Görres, furnishes, in the 4th part of the 25th volume, some 
 exi)lanaiions of Count Thun'.s actions, in order to prove their moral 
 necessity. "Genesis" quoted merely facts as they were known, with- 
 out judging of the principles and sentiments of the agents. 
 
 It was the curse of that time, that the most honest intentions often 
 missed their true course, because the political whirlwind darkened the 
 horizon. 
 
 On the 13th of June, Count Tliun discovered a way to disclose his 
 intentions, by the resistance which, whilst a prisoner in the Aula 
 in Prague, lie made with courageous disregard of self against the 
 attempts of the mad partisans of Czechism to tempt him to lend his 
 signature towards the furtherance of their schemes of separation.
 
 REVOLUTION IX AUSTRIA. 245 
 
 request the commandant to ^vitladl■aw some troops from a 
 military position, and also a battery of cannon, -with which 
 he threatened the town, by means of a deputation for that 
 purpose, to which request a refusal was returned. On the 
 12th, the division of the Swornost, smging Slavonian popular 
 songs and insulting verses against the commandant, drew up 
 before the house of the general, and paid no attention to 
 the warning of the guard which was posted there, to desist. 
 A shot came from an opposite house, intended for Prince 
 Windischgrätz, who could be seen in his room, and laid his 
 wife, who was standing at his side, dead on the floor. This 
 gave the signal for the combat : the greater part of the Ger- 
 man population of Prague joined the military, and on the 
 evening of the 14th it seemed to be brought to a tei-mina- 
 tion, when, in consequence of a multitude of armed Czechs, 
 who arrived from the coiuitiy during the night, it was again 
 renewed, but soon afterwards ended in the complete sub- 
 mission of the to^vn, the dissolution of the National Com- 
 mittee, many of whose members had taken part in the riot, 
 either in person or by exciting the country people, and also 
 produ.ced the prorogation of the Bohemian Diet (on account 
 of the interruption of the preparatory measures which had 
 been imdertaken by the above-mentioned committee), as well 
 ;is tlie arrest of a great number of the rioters. 
 
 This was the first triumph of lawful authority over insur- 
 rection in that year of commotion, 1848, a result which, in 
 Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Muan, and other unimportant towns, 
 \vas either not attempted or not completed. The uncon- 
 ditional sun-ender of an insiuTectionary town was accom- 
 ])lished by the courage, the discretion, and the firmness of 
 Prince Windischgi-ätz, in Pi'ague ; liis moderation and ti-an- 
 '|uillity of soul could not be disturbed, either })y the deatli of 
 ills beloved wife or by the wounds of his son ; he found re-
 
 24G GENESIS Ol' TUE 
 
 sources in his high vocatiuu, a.s the defender of social order 
 and of indi\'idual freedom which was connected therewith, to 
 restiiiin and curb the rash despotism of fanatical democrats, 
 who threatened to extend their influence over Europe, till on 
 the banks of the Moldau theh' course was stayed. On this 
 account he will not fail to shine in the liLstory of om* age as 
 a great character, notwithstanding that fortune afterwards 
 faithlessly deserted him, in the patliless and houseless stepj^es 
 of a countiy, whose chief cities ^yere compelled in the course 
 of the following winter to submit to his sword.* His services 
 
 * Should we not rather say he turned his back upon fortune 1 In 
 order to solve that question, we are not sufficiently acquainted with 
 the circumstances which caused the recall of the victor of Kapolna anil 
 GödöUö from the chief cüniniand in Hungary, just at that moment, 
 when he had, with his small army, t:iken a centrical position behind the 
 Eäkos, near Pesth ; a position commanding those two important point«, 
 Ofen and the radius of blockading lines round Comom. 
 
 Before sentence is pronounced, tlie rule of law " audiatur et altera 
 pars/' should be observed. According to our knowledge, Prince Win- 
 dischgrätz has not, up to the present, broken silence as regards his 
 Hungarian campaign. He also deserves, beyond doubt, a rich share ot 
 the outpourings of gratitude and admiration of rescued Austria, amidst 
 the ovations wliich Vienna, in the autumn of 1849, most justly offered 
 to the glorious vanquishers of the insun-ection. 
 
 The emperor had mver imdervalued his services. The recall of the 
 prince from the chief command in Hungary was accompanied by a most 
 gracious cabinet letter, in which the emperor granted him temporary 
 leave of absence, expressly reserving for him the chief command over 
 all the troops on this side of the Isonzo. His companions in arms have 
 given to him, the first vanquisher of the insurrection of 1848, a most 
 honourable testimony of their admiration ; inasmuch as the chapter 
 of the order of Maria Tlieresa, composed of them, has of its owti 
 accord, placed the name of Field-marshal Prince Windischgrätz among 
 the heroes deserving the grand cross of that order, though he had not 
 solicited it, and notwithstanding that, according to the statutes of tlie 
 order, it may only be granted — except on the field of battle — in those 
 cases in which those who recommend it are able to prove before the 
 chapter the execution of some warlike feat, which, in accordance with 
 the rules of the order, justifies the claim. The special manner in which 
 Prince Windischgrätz, in 1850, attained to the highest distinction of 
 that order, which is so highly respected by the noble and brave of all 
 nations, seems to us to be the most important acknowledgment of his 
 heroic efforts in behalf of the throne and of social order.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 247 
 
 in suppressing the efforts of the Slavouiaus in Prague to 
 separate themselves from the empire, deserve the greater com- 
 mendation, because his energetic conduct was neither called 
 for nor supported by the ministry at Vienna. That minis- 
 try, after its customary fashion, wished to. subdue this insm-- 
 rection by concüiatoiy measures, and accordingly despatched 
 two commisssaries to Prague, who made their appearance 
 there on the morning of June Mth. 
 
 On the very evening of that day, the troops received orders 
 to withdraw from theii' posts ; at the same time the nume- 
 rous prisoners were set at liberty, and the house of Priace 
 Kinsky, as well as the university building (the Carolitium), 
 was abandoned by the military. On Jime 15th, iu order to 
 appease the rioters, it was announced ojfficially that Priace 
 Windischgratz had determined to resign liis authority, as 
 commandant of Bohemia, into the hands of his majesty, and 
 that, on the restoration of tranquillity, the patrol service 
 would be performed joiutly by the soldiery and the National 
 Guard. If the inhabitants of Prague had been even tempo- 
 rarily content with these concessions, the capital of Bohemia 
 woidd have presented the same spectacle of victorious populai' 
 insurrection which had been afforded by Vienna. It is to be 
 ascribed alone to the continued violence of the rioters, to theii- 
 increasing unreasonable demands, and to their fresh resort to 
 acts of disorder, as well as to the courageous conduct of the 
 two commissaries, who, on June IGth, declared their mission 
 ended, and returned to Vienna, that Prince Windischgratz, 
 on the following day, insisted on the unconditional suiTcnder 
 of the town, and thus achieved the first victory of legiti- 
 mate power over the revolution.* 
 
 * TVie importance of this victory was perceived from the plans of tho 
 rebel chiefs, which were discovered in the course of tiie judicial exami- 
 nations, and at the head of whom the notorious Bakuiiin, who was sub-
 
 248 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 10. lu all jjarts of the emi)iro, Avhere the Slavuniaiis are 
 mixed with other nations, the feelings of excitement whicli 
 originated in the old Slavonian city of Prague could not 
 be without their effect, even if they only evinced themselves 
 by tumults, and, owing to the triumph of the authority 
 of the government in that to^\^l, not by deeds of %'iolence. 
 
 At the same tune, the party who advocated a junction of 
 Austria with Germany, now raised theii* voices louder. 
 
 Classes as well as individuals augi'ily addressed theii' neigh- 
 bours who appeared to possess any privileges, with the excla- 
 mation, " Otes-toi, pour que je iriy onette" and that, too, at 
 the vexy moment when these same people wished to make a 
 compact together about a common constitution, by means of 
 representatives whom they were to elect. 
 
 The prospect for the future was necessarily clouded. It 
 was already sufficiently dark ; for, as school-boys who, free 
 from the restraint of school, testify theii' joy by acts of rude- 
 
 sequently arrested by the Saxon government, exhibited great activity. 
 The division of the Austrian empire into several states, in accordance 
 with the various nationahties, the restoration of Poland being of first 
 consideration, and the estaVilishment of the sovereignty of the people, 
 were the ends in view, for which the struggle Iiad been waged. The 
 darkness in which that widely-ramified conspiracy is enveloped, may 
 perhaps be cleared up, if only the results of the investigation into ano- 
 ther plot should be published, which was also on the point of breaking 
 forth in Prague in 1849. The same chiefs who conducted the plot of 
 1848, figured in that of 1849. Their escape from punishment was 
 owing to the abandonment of the proceedings against them, as decreed 
 by the Emperor Ferdinand, on the recommendation of Dr. Bach, the 
 Minister of Justice. The conspiracy which had been prepared by a 
 society existing in Prague under the name of "Marcomania," for the 
 12th of May, 1849, and which was accidentally discovered only within 
 a few days before it was appointed to break forth, purposed, beyond any 
 doubt, to carry into execution those plans which had been frustrated in 
 1848 by the prudence and courageous resolution of Prince Windisch- 
 grätz. The proceedings against the participators in that second attempt 
 at revolution will consequently, owing to the publicity of the trial, 
 according to the new regulations, greatly remove the veil which still 
 conceals the causes and the tendencies of the movement in Prague during 
 the WTiitsuntide ofl848.
 
 REVOLUTION IX AUSTRIA. 24:9 
 
 ness and violence, so a gi-eat part of tlie citizens of Austria, 
 who, in the words of the dauy press, were happily released 
 from thraldom and degradation, sought to proclaim them- 
 selves as freemen, by evincing a disregard for the laws and for 
 the magistracy, by a contempt for everything that had been 
 ])reviously honoured, and by ignorantly and incompetently 
 thrusting themselves into those spheres of action wliich were 
 partly already occupied by the executive authority, jiartly 
 reserved for the future legislative functionaries. 
 
 The capital was rife with such examples. Here two cor- 
 porations usurped almost all authority ; they consisted of 
 the Committee of the Citizens, National Guards, and Students, 
 and of the Parochial Committee, consistmg of a hundred 
 members, who were chosen by the inhabitants, and which was 
 instituted, after the events of May the 26th, in place of the 
 Town Council that had been created in March. The working 
 classes, who claimed the right of being provided -with 
 employment, a right that had been indh*ectly conceded to 
 them, assumed a fearfid degree of authority. Tlu-ee nations, 
 who could only hope to obtain the accomplishment of their 
 own selfish wishes by weakening the central povv^er of Aus- 
 tria — the Poles, the Italians, and the Hungaiians — by means 
 of numerous emissaries, used every art of persuasion and all 
 the influence of eloquence and gold to keep alive in Vienna 
 perpetual feelings of suspicion, mistrust, and discontent. 
 The clubs of all sorts there existing afforded them zealous and 
 Active assistance. The most darhig of these bodies was the 
 Democratic Union, which held its meetings in the Hotel of 
 the Koman Emperor, and its republican tendencies were so 
 notorious, that it became an object of publicly acknowledged 
 animosity to that section of the inhabitants of Vienna 
 which was favourable to monarchy ; and these feelings of 
 Jiatred, shortly after the opeidng of the Constituent Diet,
 
 250 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 led to deeds of violence, for the suppression of which 
 the National Guard was obliged to interfere. The earnest 
 efforts of these National Guards to imitate the military, their 
 daily firings and field mancBuvres, their boisterous demands 
 for cannon, and theii* entire deportment, particularly that of 
 the Academic Legion, plainly showed that they would not 
 shrink from a contest with the soldiery, if their seducer- 
 should require it. 
 
 A capital in the condition of Vienna at that time, which 
 seemed to be the scene of every discord between different 
 races of people, societies, and individuals, and which found 
 itself in a condition like that which Hobbes describes as 
 " Bellum omnium contra omnes," was clearly not stiited to be 
 the place of meeting for the deputies of a diet, through 
 whose instrumentality an act was to be completed, which 
 would for the first time give to the people a share in the 
 rights of sovereignty, \'iz. the revision of the chartered con- 
 stitution of April 25th. 
 
 11. This important Diet was convoked to meet in Vienna 
 on June 26th, 1848. The election took place pursuant to 
 the provisional election law of May 9th, so far as its enact- 
 ments were applicable to the second chamber, that is, upon 
 the broadest basis (without limiting the right of voting by 
 any census), in two gradations, namely, first by choosing the 
 electors, and afterwards by electing the representatives from 
 them. 
 
 Where any doubt existed on the .subject of the elective 
 enactments, it was to be removed in a way favourable to the 
 popular interests by the Minister of the Interior. The 
 government officials were distinctly ordered, by means of a 
 ministerial letter of June 5th, to abstain from interfeiing in 
 any way with the elections, and to secure to those who were 
 entitled, the full exercise of theii' privilege. On the other
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 251 
 
 liand, the various committees of corporations and the clubs 
 increased their activity in preparing lists of candidates for the 
 representation of the people, according to their own views, and 
 in recommending them to the electors through the columns of 
 the press and in every other way. In consequence of the 
 ministeiial order which had been issued, the official mana- 
 gers of private estates, and the magistrates in the parishes, 
 were quite passive amid the democratic election intrigues 
 which ensued, and did not dare to set up a Conservative 
 on their own side in opposition to a Radical candidate. The 
 owners of property and the members of the pri^dleged pro- 
 vincial Estates, who a few months before were anxiously em- 
 ployed in defending their privileges against every real oi' 
 fancied infringement on the part of the government, were 
 now perfectly indifferent and inattentive in the exercise of 
 their elective rights, and in the use of their moral influence 
 over the electors. The coimtry clergy also, for the most part, 
 maintained a like indifference. Those members of either 
 class who interfered actively in the election, acted not in a 
 conservative but in a revolutionary sense. Neither did any 
 champion stand forth from amongst the other classes of 
 society and boldly propose, either by word or wiiting, the 
 election of moderate and discreet persons. The pr-ess, free 
 and licentious, by means of exaggerated statements, sophisms, 
 lies, and calumnies, excited the agitators against all lawful 
 authority, and their statements remained unopposed and un- 
 contradicted, because there were but few friends of tranquil- 
 lity who possessed the power necessary for that pxirpose, and 
 such as made the attempt had not the means of commanding 
 the attention of the people, for the daily press had ever 
 made a point of exciting instead of tranquillizing the public 
 mind. The destructive party could, therefore, without 
 any opposition, employ every means to influence the
 
 L'.)J CiKXESIS OF THE 
 
 «lections in tlu'ii" own l'a\(mr, oven to tlie employment of 
 threats and bribery ; the exertions of tlic opposite party 
 were weakened, because the subordinate government oUi- 
 <. ials neglected to oppose tlie acti\-ity of their adversaries, 
 partly from fear of being accused of acting in opposition 
 to the commands issued by the IVIinister of the Inteiior 
 on June 5th, and partly because they possessed no adequate 
 resoui'ces for that purpose. Thus, then, the elections 
 for the Constituent Diet were left to the results of chance, 
 or to the exertions of that party whose cliief interests 
 lay rather in the continuation than in the tennination of 
 the revolution. 
 
 12. In the time that elapsed between the preparation for 
 the election and the opening of the Diet, controversies 
 "were continually carried on iipon the question, whether the 
 emperor should return to Vienna and personally assist at the 
 opening, or whether he should authorize his brother (the 
 presumptive heii- to the tlu-one), or some other of the imperial 
 jM'inces, to represent him. On the part of the court, its return 
 to the capital depended on seciu-ities being given against a 
 r(;petition of the events of May ; Avhilst, on the other hand, 
 those who held power in Vienna demanded guarantees for the 
 people against the imputed reactionary designs of the com-t 
 party. The demands of the coiu't were foimded on justice 
 and necessity. But, instead of asking the agitators in Vienna 
 for guarantees in general terms, the sovei'eign ought to have 
 directed the use and employment of all means which his 
 executive power could exert to render a giiarantee from liis 
 .subjects wholly unnecessary. But this was not done. The 
 ])opular leaders, however, wei'e able to settle theii- demand 
 for guarantees, which was destitute of all pretensions to jus- 
 tice, in a more practical manner. They demanded cannon 
 for the Vienna National Cuard, and received from the impe-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 253 
 
 rial arsenal six entire and complete batteries for tlieir use, 
 and along mtli them the means of enforcing whatever they 
 might further demand. 
 
 After long discussions vdtli the ministry, the emperor de- 
 termined to send his imcle, the Archduke John, as his repre- 
 sentative to Vienna. The Minister of Trade and. Agi-icul- 
 tm-e, Baron von Doblhoff, who had returned from InnsbiTick, 
 announced his arrival on June 2 3rd, and the commencement of 
 the representative functions, wliich were undertaken by the 
 Archduke, on the follo'wing day. An imperial proclamation 
 from Iimsbi-uck of Jmie 16th, 1848, announced that the 
 Ai'chduke Jolm was fully authorized, until the emperor 
 should come to Vienna, not only to open the Diet, but 
 also to transact all the duties of government, which requii'ed 
 the imperial assent. (See Appendix, Sup. 5.) 
 
 The day on which these duties of representation com- 
 menced, placed the Austrian empire in a condition of which 
 the history of kingdoms scarcely furnishes an example. For, 
 in addition to the viceroy already appointed for Hungary 
 and Transylvania, a second -siceroy for the other parts of 
 the monarchy, fiu-nished with all the rights of sovereignty, 
 now appeared upon the stage, while the sovereign hbnself 
 remained in the distance, a mere spectator of the scene. It 
 has often happened that sovereigns have allowed them- 
 selves to be temporarily represented by a person enjoying 
 their confidence ; but that in the same state two viceroys, 
 indei)endent of each other, each in a different part of 
 the emph-e, and in a moment of vital conflict between 
 those two parts, shoidd be empowered to exercise all the 
 authority of majesty at the same time, is an event which, 
 within our knowledge, has never yet happened in any king- 
 dom. But that responsible ministers should make this cx- 
 peiinient, by drawing up such a proclamation as Wessenberg
 
 '25i GENESIS OF THE 
 
 and Dobllioff prepared, instead of pex'siiading the emperor 
 to convoke the Diet and the Ministerial Council in the 
 place where circiunstances had compelled him to establish 
 his residence ; this must remain inexplicable, unless we are 
 prepared to admit, that responsibility can only be imposed 
 upon a ministry, when their actions infi-inge the liberties of 
 the people, and not when they threaten to dissolve the 
 empire. If the representatives of foreign powers were in- 
 vited to follow the emperor to the seat of his court, why 
 coiüd not the minister^ also have been summoned thither, 
 and the Diet convoked to meet in the same place 1 The 
 aiTogant claim, so ^dolently defended by the daily press of 
 Vienna, that Vienna alone could be the seat of the central 
 }X)wer and of the Diet, should have undergone a practical 
 contradiction, in place of being admitted. The emperor and 
 the court shoiild have knoAvn this. But by once admitting 
 the maxim of binding himself to constitutional forms, even 
 before the formation of a constitution, and of subjecting his 
 orders to the approval of a ministry, the emperor must have 
 encountered difiiculties in can-ying out a measure of so 
 decided a character, because his ministers, who were subject 
 to the despotism of the Vienna clubs, would not assist in 
 the preparation of the requisite imperial rescript, which is 
 proved by a fact established on the authority of credible 
 ]:)ersons, namely, that the order given to the ministerial 
 president to invite the diplomatic body to follow the court 
 to Innsbruck, was not obeyed by that minister, and there- 
 fore the intended in\"itation wa^s given by the court itself im- 
 mediately to the papal nuncio, who commtmicated the same 
 to the other foreign embassies. Hitherto a constitutional 
 sovereign, in similar cases, was always provided with the 
 means of changing his ministry. An attempt was certainly 
 made to resort to this plan. The Governor of GaUcia, Count
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 255 
 
 Francis Stadion, was summoned to Imisbnick to form a 
 new ministiy. But that highly-gifted and enterprisiag man, 
 wlio was known to be opposed to the domineering rule of the 
 police, as it existed previous to March, and was at the same 
 time an energetic character, who had succeeded, after the 
 events of March, in. subduing throughout Galicia those revo- 
 lutionary aspirations which, originating ia Vienna, threat- 
 ened suddenly to overwhelm all the other provinces, was of 
 i ))iinion, that the moment for his acting with effect as minister 
 had not yet arrived, and the emperor found himself obliged 
 to request the Baron von Pillersdorf, the provisional president 
 of the ministry, who had acted in the interim from May 1 6th, 
 when all the ministers had resigned, to continue to conduct 
 the business of the state, and therefore to abstain from all 
 energetic steps : this was done by means of a cabinet letter 
 addressed to him, from Innsbruck, in gi-acious terms, wliich 
 was afterwards published in the Vienna Gazette. An im- 
 portant question now demands oiu" attention : whether, within 
 the whole ch-cuit of the Austrian monarchy, no other man 
 could be foimd than Count Stadion, possessed of sufficient 
 weight and devotion to the imperial house, and regard for the 
 welfare of the state, to undertake the application of such 
 energetic measures ? The King of Prussia found in Count 
 Brandenburg a man who undertook a task stul more difl3.cult 
 and dangerous. We beheve that Austria was not more desti- 
 tute of noble and firm characters than any other country, and 
 tliat ministers could have been found ready to apply a strong 
 remedy, with the emperor's authority, to subdue the mob- 
 government of the Vienna democracy. The error seems to have 
 been, that no pcx'son could befomid in the court at that critical 
 moment to defend such steps, if they had been even proposed. 
 The two ministers then in Innsbinick could not do so; for one of 
 them. Baron Doblhoflf, was a creature of the Vienna agitators,
 
 256 GENESIS OF TIIK 
 
 and the otluT was an old man, who had become estranged 
 to tlie luonai-chy and to the affairs of state. And thus it 
 liappeuod, that, to the injiuy of the honoiu' of the thi'one and 
 the welfare of the empire, the aiTOgant claim of Vienna, that 
 it islioiild continue to be the seat of authority over the other 
 j)arts of the monarchy, even when it was no longer the abode 
 of the sovereign, received a practical recognition, by the con- 
 vocation of the Diet, and the mission of an imperial viceroy 
 to Vienna. 
 
 13. The Ar'chduke John, on June 25th, announced the 
 commencement of his duties as viceroy by a proclamation, 
 which, though it was not drawn up by any minister, was 
 (doubtless) approved of by the administration. (See Ap- 
 pentlix, Sup. 6.) If we compare this ^proclamation with the 
 one in which the emperor, on May l&th, L848j announced to 
 the world the convocation of a Constituent Assembly, to con- 
 sist of only one chamber, as well as the abolition of any pro- 
 perty qualification for the electors by whom it was to be chosen, 
 we shall feel astonished at the want of harmony between these 
 two imjioi-tant documents, the latter of which should have 
 been a mere extension of the former. The emperor, for in- 
 stance, declared, on May 1 6th, that the constitution of May 
 25th should be preA'iously submitted to the consideration of 
 the Diet, and that to effect the establishment of the constitu- 
 tion in the most certain manner, by the Constituent Assembly, 
 only one chamber was to be elected for the first Diet, and 
 that accordingly there should be no property qualification for 
 the electors. In what sense the ministiy xmderstood the above 
 words wül clearly appear from the before-mentioned letter of 
 the Minister of the Interior to all the provincial governors, 
 dated June 5th, 1848, on the subject of taking the votes, 
 since the following passage occurs therein : — " The task of 
 the Constituent Diet, inimediately after its meeting, v.-ill
 
 REVOLUTION^ IN AUSTRIA. 257 
 
 consist in considering the nature of a constitution to be 
 given to the monai'chy. The results of this deliberation 
 can alone answer the question, whether this Constituent 
 Diet is empowered in any manner, or imder any modifi- 
 cations, to take into its consideration any fui-ther sub- 
 jects of legislation, organic regulations, or impoi-tant ques- 
 tions of administration." The imperial viceroy, who was 
 sent to Vienna to assist at the opening of the Constituent 
 Diet, in liis proclamation of June 25th, 1848, neither 
 mentions the revision of the constitution of Ajn-il 25th, 
 nor adverts to the task of framing a constitution im- 
 mediately, to take ])riority over all other business, but 
 speaks ciunxüatively of the necessity of constructing a new 
 and finn foundation for important changes in e'very branch of 
 legislation, and for providing new resources to satisfy the 
 most pressing demands. Did the constitutional mini.stiy, 
 when in accordance with their duty they considered these 
 expressions of the \'iceroy, overlook theii' inevitable re- 
 sult, namely, the promulgation of the doctrine, that the 
 first Diet, which was to consist only of one chamber, 
 sliould consider itself called upon to act also in a legislative 
 ;iud controlling capacity? Or was it tlieir intention to 
 > iothe this Diet with larger powers than the emperor 
 :iud his ministry had originally intended, as it had been 
 convoked by the empei-or only to consider the constitution 
 of April 25th, and chosen in a manner which seemed well 
 .ulapted for the tranquil attainment of this olyect 1 We 
 -.liall be justified in adopting the latter opinion, if we read 
 tlie speech with which the imperial vicei'oy, four weeks 
 latei-, opened the Diet. Even in this address Irom the 
 tlu-one, which, after parliamentary fashion, must have been 
 ;ulüi)ted in Ministerial Council, and have expressed the sen- 
 timents of the cabinet, there is nothing said of giving priority
 
 258 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 to a revision of tlic constitution, Init a promise is made at 
 a future day to lay before the Diet certain plans and pi'o- 
 posals with respect to the regulations of finance which had 
 become necessai7. (See Appendix, Sup. 7.) Whether it 
 arose fi-om neglect or intention that the orders of the 
 imperial proclamation of May ICth, and the ministerial in- 
 tentions pub fished on June 5th, were departed from, the 
 greater part of the responsibility must fall on the ministers, 
 for the expenditure of time and money, for the hasty destnic- 
 tion of existing institutions without providing other and 
 better ones in their room, for the injury done to the execu- 
 tive power, for the degradation of the spiritual and secular 
 authorities, for enkindfing and encouraging a ci^al war, 
 and, in fine, for all the evil which the Diet, during its 
 seven months' duration, gave birth to by its conduct in 
 interfeiing Avith ever}'t.hing but the objects for which it was 
 convoked. 
 
 1 4. Between the assumption of the viceroyalty by the Arch- 
 duke John and the solemn opening of the Diet, on July 22nd, 
 by him as the representative of the emperor (after seven 
 previous prepai'atory sittings of the representatives of the 
 people), a period of foiu* weeks intervenes, which is remai'k- 
 able for the two following events, one of wliich occuiTcd 
 beyond the dominions of Austria, — viz. the election of the 
 archduke to be the Vicar of the German empire; the other 
 happened in Vienna itself, — viz. the fall of the Pülersdorf 
 ministry. 
 
 The first of these indicated to the Austrian monarchy the 
 consequences which a di\dsion of the central power, had it 
 been of longer diu'ation, must inevitably occasion. The second 
 might have been viewed as a blessing, had it sprung from 
 different caiises and produced different results than were ac- 
 tually the case. The delay of a month in opening the
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 259 
 
 Diet was partly occasioned by procrastiiiatuig the elections 
 in Bohemia (the result of the Prague disturbances), and 
 partly by the choice, in Frankfort, of the archduke, on June 
 29th, to be the irresponsible vicar of Germany. He set out 
 on his journey to Frankfort, to undertake his new office, on 
 July 8th, and returned on the 17th of the same month, to 
 represent the emperor at the fii'st solemn sitting of the Diet 
 in Vienna. 
 
 The day of his departure was the day of the downfall of 
 Pülersdoi-f 's administration. The occasion of this event was 
 afforded by the Committee of the Citizens, National Guards, 
 and Students, who alleged that they had discovered in Baron 
 Pülersdorf tendencies hostUe to freedom, and favourable to 
 the system that had existed before March ; and that in his 
 speech on the election of deputies for the Vienna Diet, 
 he had declared his attachment to the old bureaucratic 
 system. A motion was thereupon made to expel, uncondi- 
 tionally, all supporters of the old system, and to send depu- 
 ties from the committee to the representative of the emperor, 
 petitioning liim to entrust Doblhoff with the formation of a 
 new ministry, in wliich, with the exception of Wessenberg, no 
 member of the subsistmg ministiy should hold a place. This 
 proposal, which was adopted in a sitting of the committee, on 
 Jvily 8th, 1848, by 156 votes against 5, must have convinced 
 Baron Pülersdorf that he had in vain, since the month of 
 March, courted popular favour, that most fickle of all co- 
 quettes, with the most complete devotion, and with the 
 sacrifice of his reputation as a statesman, with the abandon- 
 ment of the honour and safety of the throne and tlie welfare of 
 the monarchy, for he was doomed to see himself sliamefully 
 rejected, at the very moment when he thouglit be had 
 reached the goal. The same party whose favour he had 
 sought, named hi3 ministry the SquiiTcl Ministry, which, 
 
 s2
 
 260 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 from its half-and-half character, had fallen to the ground — a 
 rebuke whicli must have been the more keenly felt, as he was 
 now, indeed, j>rostrate. '' 
 
 Pui-suant to the wish of the united committee, DoblhoÜ" 
 Wi\.s charged -svith the construction of a new ministry. Inmie- 
 diately after the return of the archduke, the proposition of 
 Doblhoff received liis approval. Thereupon Pillersdoif, 
 Sommaruga, and Bauragartner left the ministry ; Doblhoff 
 took charge of the portfolio of the interior ; Dr. Alexander 
 Bach, that of justice ; Theodore Hovnbostl, that of trade ; 
 and Ernest von Schwarzer, tliat of public works ; the other 
 portfolios remained in the same hands as before. The .suj)er- 
 intendence of public instruction was j>rovisionally entrusted 
 to the Minister of the Interior, and the Baron Dr. Feuch- 
 tersieben was made Under Secretary of State ; the Finance 
 jNIinistry also received an Under Secretary of State in the 
 
 * The " Historisclie-Politische Blatter, &c.," in tlie second number of 
 the twenty-fifth volume, look.s upon tlie steps which tlie Democratic 
 Society at Vienna recommended to Archduke John to be taken against 
 Pillersdorf, and wliich that society published in its journal, "The 
 Democrat," of the 17th of July, 1848, as one of the most efficient 
 causes in procuring the removal of that unpopular minister. That 
 journal traces this result in the condescending manner with which the 
 representative of the emperor, on the 8th of July, received at his 
 residence the deputies of the said society (Deutsch, Volkl, Hank, 
 Lobenstein, and Silberstein), on which occasion they .showed to him 
 the necessity of a change of the ministry. It further traces it in the 
 soothing words which the archduke — according to the democrat Silber- 
 stein — i.s said to have exchanged with these deputies. We think it a 
 matter of moral impossibility tliat an archduke of Austria should have 
 attached any importance to the wishes of those emissaries of the 
 Democratic Society. 
 
 If it be supposed, however, that he had really answered in so bene- 
 volent a manner as represented, we should be induced to l)elieve tliat in 
 so doing he merely imitated, in the face of those unruly demagogues, the 
 example of Alexander of Macedonia, who, in order to tame the un- 
 manageable Bucephalus, first pacified him by his caressing hand, and 
 then let him feel, forcibly and ably, the reins and spurs. After the arch- 
 duke's departure from Vienna, the latter task was unfortunately left to 
 be performed by a man who was in no respect an Alexander.
 
 KEVOLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 261 
 
 person of Biiron Von Stift. By this formation of the ministry, 
 only two persons were continued in the service of the state, 
 who had been ministers previous to Maix'h — Kraus, Minister 
 of Finance, and Latoiu", of War ; Wessenberg, the Minister of 
 Foreign Affaii's and President of the Ministerial Council, had 
 lived seventeen years in retirement out of Austria, and the 
 others had never held office. Doblhoff's previous occupa- 
 tions we have already explained. Bach had some reputation 
 as a young advocate, and had displayed great zeal in preparing 
 the events of March, but as soon as he saw the fire which he had 
 occasioned biu-st forth, and all hope of extinguishing it disap- 
 pear, than he is said to have been driven to a state bordering 
 on desjjair. In the Political Central Committee of the National 
 Guards before Api-il 26th, and in the committees that were 
 formed after that date, he labom-ed with boldness and discre- 
 tion in the path of law and order. Hornbostl was a soap-maker, 
 and was celebrated in the Lower Austrian Trades Union as a 
 warm advocate of reform. Schwarzer had commenced a mili- 
 tary career in the artillery^&s the son of an officer in the impe- 
 rial army ; but having obtamed permission to undertake the 
 instruction of an Egyptian, who was residing in Gratz, as 
 an artilleryman, he prolonged his stay there without leave, 
 on which account he was brought to trial, and he subse- 
 quently renounced the militaiy service altogether. He then 
 found employment in editing the Trieste Lloyd's Jcmrncd ; 
 after the events of March he undertook the continuation of 
 the celebrated Vienna paper, which was half official, being 
 edited by the privy councillor Pilat, and was known by the 
 title of ester rPAclil'iche.r JJeobachtar; but as he could not adopt 
 Pilat's views of the government, he soon changed the above 
 for the Allgemeine Oesterreichische Zeitwng, so celebrated for 
 its violent sui»port of the opposition. The Under Seci-etary 
 of State, Feuchtcrsleben, had been vice-director of the
 
 262 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 medico-surgical school in the Univci'sity of Vicmia j the 
 Under Secretaiy of State, Stift, by fortunate speculations on 
 'Change, at the time when his father was surgeon to the 
 Emperor Fi'ancis and a privy councillor, had become rich, 
 antl had many years previously retired from the business of 
 a wliolesale merchant ; he was well known as an active 
 opposition member of the Lower Austrian Estates. Tlie 
 great majority, therefore, of the new cabinet, when it met 
 the parliament, was not chosen from the ranks of the odious 
 Austrian bureaucracy,* and might have escaped the imputa- 
 tion of entertaining any attachment to the old system, even if 
 the hesitating course ot the former administration had been 
 followed by firmer measures. But this could not be expected 
 from a ministry who owed their existence to the supporters 
 of the Vienna agitation and democracy, namely, to the 
 United Committee of the Vienna Citizens, National Guards, 
 and the Academic Legion, established for the preservation 
 of peace and order, and for the defence of the rights of the 
 people. Such a ministry, forced* on the representative of 
 the emperor at the moment of the ojjening of the Diet 
 
 * How surprising ! The very Minister of Finance, who belonged to 
 that bureaucracy, and who, having been nominated by tlie Emperor Fer- 
 dinand, in March, 1848, had (until his already-appointed successor had 
 arrived at maturity) been temporarily tolerated among the ministers of 
 July, — that very minister was, in October, not compelled to escape 
 by flight or concealment from the fury of the populace, like the rest of 
 his colleagues, who had risen either from the ranks of the men of 
 progress among the Estates, or from those of the Hberal speakers in 
 the juridico-political societies, or finally from those men of the day 
 who had distinguished themselves by the soundness and apparent prac- 
 ticability of their principles. Further, in the days of October, he 
 remained, with calmness and courageous determination, at his post, and 
 thus, with self-denial, averted incalculable evils. Here, then, the 
 minister, who up to this hour has been charged, without interruption, 
 with the finances — the bureaucrat, the ancient member of the council of 
 state, the Baron Kraus, — furnishes us with a proof that popular favour 
 suffices not to enable a minister to act and to maintain himself, but 
 that in this respect other qualities are able to secure success.
 
 EEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 263 
 
 by the usui-pers of state power, could not vindicate the 
 authority of which the sovereign had been deprived ; for 
 in the very concession that had been made to this com- 
 mittee, in changing the ministry at their request and in 
 pursuance with their wish, at the very moment when 
 the lawful representatives of the people were assembled and 
 at their posts, immediately upon the opening of their 
 meeting to express their sentiments in a parliamentary 
 manner on the subject of the Pillersdorf administration — 
 in such a concession there was exhibited a new and a 
 successful triumph of usurpation over legality. In fact, 
 the third day, wliich followed the solenm opening of the 
 Diet, proved that that celebrated Committee knew how to 
 value and to take advantage of its triumph ; for on July 25th 
 that body, through its former president, the depmty Fischhoff, 
 presented an address to the Constituent Diet, which he 
 declared to be a programme of its future course of proceed- 
 ing. In this address the committee commenced by stating, 
 that the Diet, in place of the lawful title of Constituent 
 Diet, should of its own accord adopt the title of Sovereign 
 Diet, a title most offensive to imperial majesty. The 
 committee then allude to their own formation on May 
 26th, and to the ministerial announcement of the following 
 day, by which they were recognized as an independent autho- 
 i-ity, convoked for the preservation of order and the safety 
 -f the city and for the protection of the rights of the people. 
 They then inform the assembly of the representatives of the 
 people of Austria that they, up to that hour, are the only 
 tiiie popular authorities, and that they have unanimously 
 resolved to continue as .such untu the Diet shall pro- 
 nounce their dissolution, or until the ministry shall institute 
 some other popidar authority, or shall i*eorganize the present 
 one in such a manner that the jireservation of order, peace,
 
 204 GENESIS OF THK 
 
 and safety may with Confidence be eutnisted to thorn ; 
 finally, tlicy inform tlie Diet that they, as the pro- 
 tectors i)f j)oj)ular rights, will still assist any individual 
 ■who may be injiu-ed iu his rights, with such aid as eveiy 
 citizen could demand from the projjcr authorities under 
 the existing laAvs, for whiclx purpose they would interfere by 
 mediation, and, if necessary, with measures of force. 
 
 How determined the Committee of Safety were to caiTy 
 out tliis plan, and how well they understood how- to secure 
 the means of doing so, may be seen in the care which they 
 took to draw the common people into theh" alliance. On 
 July 30th, with their consent (or, rather, under their ar- 
 rangement), a solemn religious ser\-ice Avas celebrated, ou the 
 Jo-se^ihstadt fortifications, by the notorious priest. Professor 
 Faster, for the benefit of the workmen employed in the pub- 
 lic buildiug.s, " in order to i-eturn thanks for the freedom 
 which had been so hapj)ily obtained, and for the opening 
 of the Diet, and to pray to God for happy results to the 
 same." And thus, even feelings of religion were employed 
 to secure to a revolutionary committee, which had become 
 strong and bold by the weakness of the government, the 
 attachment and the confidence of that class of people, so 
 numerous and so easily led, whose strong arms might have 
 sei'ved as })illars of support to the power of government. 
 
 The revolution in Austria (in the strict sense of the word) 
 was not only brought to a close with the solemn opening of 
 the Constituent Diet, but was even fully completed. It 
 might and ought to have been brought to a close on March 
 loth, for by the imjjerial proclamation of that day, the par- 
 ticipation of the people in the government was declared to 
 be a state maxim. The revolutionary commotions which 
 occiured after March can only be ascribed to those feelings 
 of mistrust generally prevalent, and to tlie consequent
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 265 
 
 doubts, whether the promise of the emperor to convert the 
 absolute monarchy into a constitutional one would be 
 reahzed, doubts which, from selfish motives, were fostered 
 and encouraged by the agitators. Such doubts ought to 
 have vanished on July 22nd, for, upon the soleiun opening 
 of the Diet, the representation of the people, in a popular 
 sense, had become an established fact. A further revolution 
 could only have been possible in two cases ; if, for instance, 
 the constitutional tlrrone shoidd be overtm'ned by the people 
 and replaced by a republic, or if the emi)eror shoiüd entertain 
 a design of reverting to absolutism. Neither of these events 
 happened. The disturbances which took place m Vienna 
 between the opcnmg of the Diet and its adjournment to 
 Kremsier, were not attempts to produce a new revolution in 
 Austria, but were insurrectionary revolts of the iidiabitants 
 of Vienna against the constitutional executive power. If 
 indeed a few persons on those occasions had some republican 
 tendencies in reserve, and if the Diet, moreover, ovei'- 
 stepped its authority by considering itself to be not only 
 a constituent but a sovereign assembly, there was no 
 attempt made, even in the alarming and bloody days of 
 August 23rd, September 13th, October Gth, and the follow- 
 ing, to establish a revolution in a republican sense. The 
 horrors and crimes of those days were, it is true, the x-esult of 
 popular violence let loose by the revolution and by the weak- 
 ness of those who exercised the authority of government ; 
 but they were not a continuation of the I'evolution in Aus- 
 tria. The atrocity of October 6th, in particular, could have 
 been avoided by timely measurt\s of pi-evention ; for it is ;i 
 fact that, in the beginning of October, the murder of Latour 
 was 2)ublicly spoken of, in a numerously-attended meeting of 
 demagogues at the Odcon, as indispensable, to prevent designs 
 of reaction falsely attributed to the court party, of which
 
 266 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 the Minister of War oven received a notification from a 
 retired officer who was present. Even if his oAvn courage 
 ■\voukl not permit liim to adopt measures for his jicrsonal 
 safety, the open threat of such a crime should not have been 
 a secret to the ministry charged with providing for the 
 public protection, and should not have been slighted. The 
 removal of the court to Olmiitz, the summoning of the 
 ministry thither, the subjection of the capital to military 
 authority without any dLscussion, and the adjournment of the 
 parliament to Kremsier, were the fii-st attempts to re-assert 
 the authority of the government after the days of March, 
 which, moreover, had the effect of subduing the popular 
 violence. The President of the Ministiy, Baron von "Wessen- 
 berg, in following the emperor to Olmiitz, and by counter- 
 signing, as the only minister who remained with him, the 
 convocation of the Diet at Kremsier, imparted to that 
 order a legal form, and by this act, previous to his leaving 
 the ministry, nobly expiated the error of his conduct at 
 Innsbruck, by means of which, as we have before remarked, 
 the arrogant pretensions of the capital had been recog- 
 nized.* The excesses of which the Diet was guilty, doubtless 
 
 * At page 8 of the pamphlet, " Fragments on the part I took in the 
 Events of the Years 1848 and 1849," written by Frederic Thiemann, 
 deputy of the Imperial Diet, and pubHshed, a short time back, by 
 Gottlieb Hanse Söhne, at Prague, further information is given 
 relative to the journey of Baron Wessenberg to Ohniitz. The author, 
 after having referred to his conversation, on the 8th of October, with 
 Prince "Windischgrätz, at Prague, and to his having accidentally learned 
 the presence of Baron Wcssenljerg in that town, proceeds thus : — " I 
 went to look for him, and found him in the hotel of the Black Horse, 
 deeply moved, and still under the influence of the frightfiil impressions 
 created by the terrible events at Vienna, which were very near causing 
 the loss of his own life. On my questioning him, what he intended to 
 do, he communicated to me his resolution to proceed to his estates in 
 the Breisgau." 
 
 "1 related to him what I had learnt about the departure of the 
 emperor; I directed his attention to the dangerous and painful condition 
 of the monarch, and I implored him to hasten to his side, in order, as
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 267 
 
 occasioned disorders and dangerous agitations tlirough all 
 portions of the state, but cannot be considered as attacks on 
 the constitvitional monarchy, and consequently not as attempts 
 at revolution. We cannot take into consideration the conduct 
 of individual members of the Diet. According to psycholo- 
 gical rules, these attacks were the necessary consequence ofthat 
 system which, since the month of March, had been adopted 
 by the supporters of the government and had been attended 
 by lamentable consequences, a system of inconsistent sub- 
 mission to those demands which were made upon the ministry 
 by assemblies without any lawful authority, in the name of the 
 Austrian people. What was more natural than that, looking at 
 what such orators and brawlers, who usurped the title of re- 
 presentatives of the peo^^le, had obtained, it should be esteemed 
 a species of honour by their lawful representatives to exercise 
 a similar controlling influence over the executive authority ? 
 But their efforts were not directed to overturn the execu- 
 tive, and therefore were not revolutionary. With just as 
 little reason can the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly 
 in March, 1849, and the proclamation of the second chartered 
 constitution on the 4th of the same month, be considered as 
 a revolution in an absolute sense, since these acts of sove- 
 reign authority did not contemplate depriving the people of 
 all participation in the legislative power and of all control over 
 the administration, but rather sought to establish it more 
 
 responsible minister, to consider and to countersign the measures necessary 
 for the preservation of the empire and of the throne. I also represented to 
 liim that he and tlie miniater I'ach certainly ought not, under the existing 
 circumstances, to resign, as, by so doing, the object of the rebels, as 
 .also the revolution itself, would be furthered. JJaron Wesscnberg felt 
 the weight of these reasons, and merely replied tliat ho tliought it 
 hardly possible to come to an understanding witli Bach. To effect that 
 understanding, I stated my readiness to carry a letter for Each to 
 Vienna. Wessenberg then gave way to my representations, and imme- 
 diately resolved to confer with the commanding general."
 
 2GS GENESIS OK TUE 
 
 raiiidly than the Diet could liavo dune, in the full enjoyment 
 of all constitutional privileges, and to assert at the same time 
 the constitutional rights of the crown. 
 
 And thus we have attained the point where the editor of 
 the Genesis, having described the revolution in Austria in 
 its embi-yo state and at the moment of its birth, and having 
 accompanied it from its yeai's of childhood and ignorance to 
 the full attainment of its majoiity, must surrender the pen to 
 the historian. 
 
 But in order, however, completely to finish the task of 
 the Genesis, it seems to us necessary to subjoin a brief de- 
 scription of the causes which were the origin of the Magyar 
 re\'olution, which has, up to the present moment (August, 
 1849), not been pei-fectly subdued. 
 
 The overthrow of the ancient constitution of the Kstates of 
 Hungary and its dependencies, which had been sworn to by the 
 king, had been brought to a conclusion in the month of March, 
 and it was efiected, not in a revolutionary, but iu a legal 
 manner. By a series of royal resohitions, on the occasion of 
 diffei-ent representations voted by the Presburg parliament, 
 the follo\\ing decrees had l)een made on the subject of the 
 constitution of the country. 
 
 '•' That in future the executive power shall only be 
 exercised by the king, or, in his absence, by the palatine, 
 as vicei'oy, through the instnimentality of an independent 
 Hungarian ministry, eveiy member of which shall transact 
 his official business iu Buda-Pesth, and shall also reside 
 there, with the exception of one member, who shall attend 
 the court ; that the ]>alatiue, during the residence of the king 
 beyond the limits of Hungaiy, shall exercise, independently 
 of the royal consent, all the authority of the king's majesty, 
 with the exception of appointing the chief ecclesiastical dig-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 269 
 
 nitaries and tlie barons of the empire, and of performing 
 some acts of grace, as well as with the exception of sending 
 the army out of Hungary, and granting military com- 
 missions; that the Archduke Stephen is to be personally 
 iiTesponsible ; that, with the royal consent, the nomination 
 of the Ministerial President belongs to him, and that he 
 shall pi-opose the other ministers, subject to the royal ap- 
 probation, and that the ministers may be impeached with 
 respect to matters of their administi'ation by the Lower 
 Table (House), and shall be ti'ied before a court to be selected 
 by the Up2)er Table from their own members, the trial to be 
 conducted publicly, and to the exclusion of the king's pardon, 
 except in cases of a general amnesty." — Art. III. 
 
 " That in future the parliament shall meet annually in 
 Pesth, in a public session ; the laws to be given for the future 
 may be apjiroved by the king, even in the course of the an- 
 nual session ; the election of representatives shall last for thi-ee 
 years ; the appointment of the president of the Table of Mag- 
 nates shall belong to the king; the pi'esident of the second 
 Table shall be elected by the Table of Magnates; the proro- 
 gation, closing, and dissolution of the Diet shall belong to 
 the läng; the last privilege shall be exercised only on con- 
 dition that the meeting of a new Diet shall take place 
 witliin three months after the dissolution." — Art. IV. 
 
 " The Table of Deputies to consist of 377 members, to 
 be chosen by direct election from all pai-ts of Hungary and 
 its dependencies, inclusive of the military boundaries; the 
 active light of election to belong to all native-born subjects, 
 independent, and twenty years old, who are not undergoing 
 punishment (for certain crimes specified), who shall possess in 
 the royal towns, or in the districts provided with regular ma- 
 gistrates, a house or land of the value of 100 guldens, or shall
 
 270 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 possess a quarter of a session* in any other district, or who 
 are domiciliated tradesmen, having continuous employment 
 for one assistant, or ai'c shopkeepers, or manufactiu-ers, or 
 who c;xn prove the possession of a certain annual income of 
 100 guldens (convention money) arising from land or 
 capital ; the passive right of election to belong to all the 
 above-mentioned pei-sons, after their twenty-fourth year, 
 when they can com2)ly with the I'ule of law wliich declares 
 the Hungarian to be exclusively the language of legislation." 
 —Art. V. 
 
 " That all inhabitants shall be equally taxed." — Aii;. VIII. 
 
 " That the burdening of the land with the robot, tenths, 
 and pecuniary payments, as also all landlords' manorial courts, 
 shall be abolished." — Ai-t. IX. 
 
 " Tliat the ' aviticität ' (\'iz., the privilege, according to 
 which the descendants of those to whom originally a free- 
 hold property was granted by the crown, can ever afterwards 
 lay claim to that property, even when it may have passed 
 into other families) be on principle abolished." — Ai-t. XV. 
 
 " That the coimty-congregations be changed into perma- 
 nent committees until the re-organization of the counties." 
 —Art. XVI. 
 
 " That the coimty-restorations (periodical elections of the 
 county magistracy) be suspended until the directions of the 
 next parliament." — Art. XVII. 
 
 " That all received religions, to which also shall belong 
 the United and not-United Greek religions, shall be equally 
 tolerated."— Art. XX. 
 
 " That all preventive censorship shall cease." — Art. XVIII. 
 
 " That a National Guard be es-tabhshed, to superintend 
 
 * The session was an entire peasant's fief, varying in extent according 
 to the qualities of the soil. It comprised fi"om sixteen to forty acres of 
 arable, and from about six to twelve acres of meadow laud. — Ed.
 
 EEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 271 
 
 the security of person and property, as well as of public 
 tranquillity and of internal peace." — Art. XXII. 
 
 " That the national colours and the national arms be once 
 more established in aU theii" ancient legality." — Art. XXI. 
 
 " That in case the Diet, to be shortly held in Tran- 
 sylvania, shall resolve upon the union of that country with 
 Hungary, then that in the first Hungarian Diet which 
 shall be held in Pesth, seats and a right of voting in the 
 Table of Magnates shall be conceded to the Transylvanian 
 regaHsts, and that 69 representatives, to be elected in Tran- 
 sylvania, shall be added to the Table of Deputies." — 
 Ai-t. VII. 
 
 These resolutions contained everything that was neces.saiy 
 to convert the Hungarian constitution, and also the ancient 
 aristocratic constitution of the Estates of Transylvania (in 
 case it should be imited with Hungary), into a representa- 
 tive system, by introducing into it the democratic element, 
 and to dissolve the band between the other portions of the 
 empire and the newly constituted countries. According to 
 the hitherto existing custom, and pursuant to the royal decree 
 of Apiil lltli, 1848, they commenced their operation in the 
 manner expressed in the articles of law of the Hungarian par- 
 liament of the year 1847-48. A review of the expressions 
 in the royal resolutions with which they were legally 
 approved during the sitting of the Diet, even if they should 
 differ from the expressions in the articles of law, is not 
 allowable, because the so-styled "most humble representa- 
 tions " of the Diet, and their consideration by the king, 
 only desei-ve the name of proposals, to which two referees 
 had agreed, but which were subsequently to be drawn up in 
 a valid form by agents on both sides. Commissioners ap- 
 pointed exi)re3sly for that purpose acted as siich agents, 
 at the close of each Hungarian Diet, being fully autho-.
 
 -/^ (.F.XKSIS OK TITK 
 
 rized liy tlio king and by the Estates. Tln-y funiu-d the 
 mixed eominission of ugroeinent, whose (hity it was to lV;iiue 
 the rosühitious, which hud been approved by tlie king, into 
 articles of law, which both parties afterwards adopted and 
 recognized as binding. We allude especially to this trans- 
 action, because, in considering the most important of all 
 the thu-ty-one articles of law of the last Presburg Diet, 
 namely, the tliird, which has reference to the formation of 
 an independent Hungarian responsible ministry, it is not 
 without gi'eat weight, as our readers ^^•ill shoi-tly observe. 
 
 The 11th of April, 1848, was therefore the last day of the 
 existence of the ancient Hmigarian constitution. A new 
 form of government was establislied in its place, without any 
 revolution, but founded on totally different maxims, which, 
 inasmuch as it had in view exclusively the interests of the 
 Magyars, and not their relations to the adjoining territories 
 (Croatia, Slavonia, and the sea district), and then" union with 
 the other jiarts of the em])ire, would have accoi'ded with the 
 demands of the age and might have taken root, inasmuch as it 
 <lid not set out by overturning all subsisting institutions, but, 
 like a gi-aft which is inserted n\)on an old tree, was intended 
 to infuse new sj)ii-it into the ancient system, that had become 
 dear to the Magyar people. But the other races who were 
 to be affected by these jiropo-sed changes, particularly the Sla- 
 vonians, saw that it was the object of the Magj'ars to imite all 
 the other nationalities -with their o^vn, and gi-adually to ex- 
 tinguish them, to wliich end the separation of the Hunga- 
 rian government from the central administration was to 
 serve as a means. This conviction, supported l)y previous 
 experience, soon called forth the mo.st determined opposition 
 into action. 
 
 The Croatian and Slavonian members of the Diet, at the 
 discussions wldch took place before both Tables, did not
 
 REVOLUTION IX AUSTRIA. 273 
 
 raise their voices against these innovations, iDecause the ter- 
 rorism exercised by the Magyar party had destroyed their 
 freedom of voting, and because they hoped that the Crown, 
 moreover, would reject the propositions of the Diet, wdiich 
 could not have any other effect than to divide the empire 
 into two hostile camps. But they never ceased to describe, 
 in the most lively colours, both in their own Slavonian 
 country and in Vienna, the evils which they ajiprehended, 
 and which wei'e inseparable from the proposed alteration 
 of the government in Hungary. Theii" warnings were 
 listened to by their owm nation ; for a provisional Na- 
 tional Committee immediately assembled in Agram, which 
 called together the National Assembly on March 25th, 
 whose demands were carried to the foot of the thi'one by a 
 numerous deputation, as we have ah'eady mentioned in oiu' 
 account of the events that happened diu'ing the latter half 
 of the month of March. The imjierial cabinet was also well 
 aware of the danger that thi-eatened the united monarchy, 
 but they only issued the admonition of the apostoUc king, 
 which is also known to our readers, that the change of the 
 government in Hungary was not in any manner to injure the 
 unity and integrity of the monarchy, and then filled up 
 the office of Ban, which, since the termination of the Diet 
 of 1833-34, had remained vacant, by the a})pointment of 
 Baron Jelacic. 
 
 By the experience of many years, the Croatian s and Sla- 
 vonians had become too well acquainted wdth the objects of 
 the Magyars, to expect any efft^ct fi-om the royal admonition, 
 unless it were supported by effective measures. They strove, 
 therefore, -svith indefatigable zeal, to prepare their measures, 
 under the guidance of their Ban, in order that they 
 should not be taken by surprise, if, in consequence of the 
 clear intentions of the Hungarian ministerial president, 
 
 T
 
 27 t GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 Couiit Louis Batthyany, who was for many year's leader 
 of the Magyar opposition party among the Magnates, 
 and of his inHuential colleague, Kossuth, the most celebrated 
 of the Magyar agitators, the conditions appointed by the 
 king and adopted by the Diet, or the enactments of the 
 Article of Law III. sec. 2G (according to which all the j mis- 
 dictions of the country and of theii* adjoining pro^ inccs were 
 to be maintained unimpaired in theii' previous legal efficiency), 
 were to be abrogated by the ministry at Pesth. In either 
 of these cases they were determined to repel the injustice with 
 force, without desiring the Cro\vn to take an active part in the 
 cause ; but with the expectation that this conduct on their part 
 would not be considered as a rebellion against the king, whose 
 loyal subjects they wei'e determined to remain, dependent on 
 the central administration, and without destroying that con- 
 nection with Hungaiy which had lasted for centuries, and 
 without suffering the country to become subject to Magyar 
 domination. These loyal sentiments, which were shared by 
 the Hungarian dependencies, that had been placed under the 
 influence of the Ban, could not be weU received by the 
 Himgarian ministry, bent as it was on separation. Disputes 
 aoon ai'ose between them, because the Ban disapproved of seve- 
 ral of the measures of the Hungarian mhiistiy, which infringed 
 on the rights of his nation. The ministry accordingly di- 
 rected an imperial cabinet order to the Ban (which was pub- 
 lished in the Pesth Gazette of May 10th, 1848), whereby he was 
 admonished to obey the orders that should reach him from 
 the ministry and the viceroy, within the sphere of his official 
 duty. It was also at the same time notified to the military 
 commander in the kingdom of Hungary, that for the future, 
 the Hungarian ai'my should receive all commands and orders 
 through the Hungarian ministry, and should direct its com-
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 275 
 
 muiiications to the same ministry, wliicli orders were espe- 
 cially extended to tlie military frontier. 
 
 The object of these orders, particularly of the latter, could 
 not escape the attention of the Croatians, who entertaiaed a 
 justifiable mistrust of the authorities at Pesth. They could 
 only find hope in their own efforts ; and accordingly, in the 
 latter half of the month of May, they commenced their pre- 
 parations to obey the commands of the Ban, in case he 
 shotüd call upon them to protect their privileges and their 
 liberty against the attacks of the Magyars, if necessaiy, by 
 force of arms. 
 
 On the other hand, the Himgarians thought they could 
 observe, in the position which the Croatians began to as- 
 sume, symptoms of an agreement with the coui't of Vienna ; 
 although they might have concluded, from their own fanati- 
 cal zeal for their own language and nationality, that another 
 nation, quite as determined and patriotic as themselves, would 
 not remaia idle, if attempts were made by any neighbouriug 
 people to suppress then- liberty and their national language. 
 
 Buda-Pesth, the rival of Vienna in acquiring supreme 
 dominion, was not wilhng to remam behind the latter in 
 making demonstrations against the imperial government. 
 With this object it was intended to display the hostile sen- 
 timents of the people, by announcing an entertainment of 
 cats'-music to be given to the commander of the forces, a 
 high and influential man, and the only person in Hungary 
 who was still directly dependent upon a Vienna ministry. 
 But the intention was defeated, not without bloodshed, by 
 the interference of the military, who were justly infuriated 
 thereat. The withdrawal of the commander from Hungary 
 was the consequence of that well-merited repulse ; a step 
 the more to be deplored, as the anger of the Mag}'^ars on the 
 
 T 2
 
 276 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 one side, and the oj)j>osition of the Croatians on the other, 
 were only the more lU'oiised. 
 
 But the indi\'iduals who exercised the royal authority in 
 Buda-Pesth, were soon aftenvards successful in raising a 
 storm of royal anger against the Ban, who was an object 
 of their suspicions and hatred. They had previously failed 
 in an attempt to force him fi-om the scene of his official 
 efficiency, and to call him to the Mag}-ar metropolis, and also 
 to paralyze liis authority hy despatching to him the F. M. L. 
 Baron Hrabowski, who was the general commanding in Sla- 
 vonia. Jelacic was called to account in a very serious and even 
 rigorous manner by the king, with respect to his conduct 
 as Ban, and ordered for this jnii-jjose to apjDcar without delay 
 at the foot of the throne.' About the middle of June, 
 attended by a numerous deputation, he left Agi-ani, and 
 proceeded to the scat of the com-t at Innsbiaick, whither, 
 also, on the 2nd of June, the Hmigai-ian Ministerial Presi- 
 dent, Count L. Batthyany, hastened, and on the 1 9tli of tlie 
 same month the palatine and imj^enal \-iceroy, the Ai'chduke 
 Stephen, proceeded thither, accompanied by the minister 
 Comit Szeclieny from Buda-Pestli, the Hungarian Minister 
 for Foreign Affairs, Prince Esterhazy, liaving been pre\-iously 
 sent to attend upon the court there. The charges against the 
 Ban were suj^ported by facts, which might, it Is true, not 
 have been strictly in accordance Avith the letter of the 
 3rd Article of Law of the year 1847-48; but the accused 
 proved that they were fully in accordance with the spirit of 
 
 * In the review of the " Genesis," published in the " Historlsche-Poli- 
 tische Blätter, &c.," we are denounced as being too brief in the descrip- 
 tion of this episode. We acknowledge it, and add in No. XV. of the 
 Appendix the imperial decree from Innsbruck of the 29tli of May, 1848, 
 which summons the Ban to the f jot of the throne, as also the two mani- 
 festoes, which, as he, on the lOth of June, had not yet appeared at 
 Innsbruck, were on that day issued against him, and on the 19th of the 
 same month published in the official part of the Viennese Gazette.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 277 
 
 the second section of that law, wliich section points out the 
 condition nnder v.diich it might be dispensed with, and upon 
 the fulfihnent of wliich its validity depends; that the point, 
 therefore, in view, was to miderstand mutually how the 
 fulfilment of that condition could be established, and to 
 inquire what protection should be extended to the Slavonian 
 lands which were united with the crown of Hvuigary, to 
 defend them against the destruction of their nationality by 
 the Magyars. And so the threatening storm passed happily 
 over him, and he indulged the hope that a kindly healing 
 of the differences between Hungaiy and her neighbourmg 
 territories would be effected by the Archduke John, who, at 
 his own request, was authorized by the emperor king to take 
 measm'es for that purpose. Upon his return to Agram on 
 June 28th, 1848, amid the greatest display of joy, he ch-cu- 
 lated through all quarters of the country the news of these 
 gratifying prospects.* 
 
 * We must here relate a fact, confirmed by trustworthy authority. 
 which shows the character of the hero whose name is now universally 
 famous. The publication of the two manifestoes of the 10th of June 
 happened at a time when Jelacic was travelling. The reception 
 he met with at the residence of the court, which was by no means uii- 
 favouraV)le, and the orders which he there received, to arrange, with the 
 assistance of the Archduke John, in an amicable manner, the dispute 
 with the Hungarian ministry, had virtually counteracted the effect of 
 those two manifestoes. One would supjiose that the ministers at 
 InnsViruck would have consequently adopted the natural course of 
 giving to the Ban an explanation of the affair, and also of informing the 
 public. However, this was not done. Jelacic did not know anything 
 of those two manifestoes before his return home, when in Lienz, a small 
 town in the Tyrol, he found them in the Viennese Gazette of the 19th of 
 June, which had accidentally fallen into his hand. His countrymen, 
 who during his absence had learnt the existence of the manifestoes 
 without having equally been informed of their having since become 
 virtually void, suspected that .some violence might have been done to 
 his person, and were prepared to set everything at stake in his defence. 
 He just then re-appeared in Agram, and, without seeming sensible of 
 the unj)leasant occurrence, he immediately employed the whole of his 
 influence to change their anger into enthusiasm for their king and the 
 royal house.
 
 278 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 If the sincere wish of the court to preserve internal hai'- 
 inouy and the comicction of all parts of the monarchy iinim- 
 paii'ed had been supported by the Hungarian authoiities, 
 as willingly as by the Ban, the soil of Hungaiy, which 
 was so blessed by the hand of Nature, would not have had 
 to lament being made the theatre of the heart-breaking 
 spectacle of a struggle between European democracy and 
 anarchy on the one side, and the dominion of law, right, and 
 social order on the other. The upright disposition of the 
 sovereign could not employ the remedy which was required, 
 namely, that of giving authority, by an exercise of resolute 
 determination, to the spirit of the laws, above the mere 
 letter of the same. By the letters-patent issued in Presburg 
 on April 11th, every act of the apostolic king required the 
 co-operation of a responsible Hungarian minister. As that 
 ministry, however, was not appointed by the free choice of 
 the sovereign, like the Viennese ministry, but by the will of 
 the people, expressed by the Diet, the co-operation of any 
 of its members covild not be expected in a royal act, which 
 they could foresee would be hostile to the national feelings, 
 particulai'ly as their responsibility was no fiction, as in the 
 case of the Viennese, for in a short time they had to ap- 
 pear before the Diet, which was already summoned to meet 
 in Pesth on July 2nd, and the law, according to which 
 they might be impeached and tried by the national repre- 
 sentatives, had been approved by the king on April 11th. 
 Under existing circumstances it was impossible to think of 
 dismissing the Hungarian ministry and forming a new one 
 in the interest of the united monarchy. There was, there- 
 fore, no other way left to subdue the Hungarian agitators 
 than an attempt at pacification, by employing a plenipo- 
 tentiary, a plan which had been tried without success in the 
 case of Austrian Italy. TIjc appointment of the Archduke
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 279 
 
 John to undertake the task was the most proper that coiild 
 be made. His call to Frankfort, as German vicar of the 
 realm, interfered, and left the question imdecided, whether 
 the Hungarian-Croatian pacificator would have been more 
 successful in his undertaking than the Italian one had 
 been.* 
 
 The misuccessfal attempt to destroy the power of the Ban, 
 and the continuation on the part of the Croatians and Slavo- 
 nians of their preparations for defence, in which they were 
 joined by the Servians, notwithstanding the threat of F. M. 
 L. Hrabowski, at Karlowitz, to employ force against them, 
 on account of the Servian National Congress having pro- 
 ceeded to the election of a Patriarch and Woywode, served 
 to increase the fiiry and distrust of the Magyars against 
 all who did not submit and do homage to their nation, but 
 more especially against the court, which they accused of 
 faithlessness, for refusing to give free scope to their desire 
 to exercise full sway and uncontrolled dominion over all the 
 nations belonging to the kingdom of Hungary. 
 
 With such dispositions as these, the magnates and the 
 representatives of the people, who had been elected by the 
 the new law, in pursuance of a vmt issued by the pala- 
 tine on May 20th, in the name of the king, met together for 
 the first time in Pesth, on July 2nd, 1848. The adjacent 
 
 * It is said that the archduke, before his departure from Vienna, had, 
 at his residence, a personal interview witli Count Louis Batthyany, tlie 
 president of the Hungarian ministry, and the Ban Baron Jelacic, 
 and stated to each the assurance of his Ijelicf in tlieir loyalty, their 
 attachment to the imperial house, and their patriotism, and, finally, 
 expressed the hope that honourable men, a-s they were, would 
 doubtless come to an agreement witli regard to the means for the 
 termination of so dangerous a conflict. Thus began and ended the 
 attempt at mediation, for, with the president of the Magyar ministry, 
 the word "agreement" was synonymous with the unconditional subjec- 
 tion of Croatia, Slavonia, and the so-called military frontier, under the 
 palatine and governor, Archduke Stephen, and the Magyar ministry.
 
 280 GEN'ESIS OF THE 
 
 countries* sent no niembei's to this Diet. Only a fev;^ 
 magnates known to be partizans of the Magyars attended. 
 The absence of the Croatians and Slavonians was the most 
 prudent stej) wliich they could take under the circumstances, 
 for, with a recollection of what had taken place shortly be- 
 fore, — vh. on May 30th, — at the Diet of Klausenburg, 
 which was to have been the last for the Grand Duchy of 
 Transylvania, they might have foreseen the utter impossi- 
 bility of making their voices audible, not to say theii* votes 
 effectual, in that assembly, if they should attempt to raise 
 them against the pretensions of the Magyars. 
 
 Transylvania, by entering into the union ^\'ith Hungary 
 in the Diet, Avhich had been summoned by the Crown 
 to meet at Klausenburg on May 29 th, had been guilty of 
 political suicide. 
 
 Since the apostolic king had, by the decree of April 11th, 
 sanctioned the seventh article of law of the Presburg 
 Diet of 1847-48, the convocation of the Transylvanian 
 Estates, and the adoption of the Magyar project to imite 
 Transylvania with Hungaiy, had become an indispensable 
 necessity in the catalogue of government parliamentary pro- 
 positions. But the Trausylvanians were by no means 
 bound to accept this proposition. Indeed, immediately upon 
 the publication of the propositions of the Diet, the majo- 
 rity of the Transylvanian population, including the Saxons 
 and the Wallachians, had entered the Lists to oppose them. 
 The former of these, as one of the three nations of the 
 Grand Duchy, possessing an equality of pri%ileges, could offer 
 weighty objections. The latter, although in number they 
 exceeded thi-ee-fourths of the population, were not repre- 
 sented as a nation in the Estates, and were therefore only 
 
 * " Partes aniie.xoe regno Hungarhe," was tlie legal description of Croa- 
 tia and Slavonia, under the ancient Conätitution of the Estates. — Ed.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 281 
 
 eutitled to anuouüce their just mshes against the projects 
 of the Magyars, by means of petitions and representations. 
 But even before the opening of the Diet, the Magyar pai-ty 
 made eveiy exertion, with the governor. Count Teleky, 
 at their head, to prevent or to weaken the opposition 
 against an incorporation with Hungtuy. The plans em- 
 ployed for this purpose were by no means consistent with 
 the claims of true freedom, or of equal justice. On May 2nd, 
 the governor had proceeded to Hermannstadt, in order to 
 restrain the Saxons from offering any opposition, first, by 
 trying the arts of persuasion, and then by inspiring teiTor. 
 He used his exertions to throw obstacles in the way of send- 
 ing a deputation of Wallacliians to the sovereign, to implore 
 the throne to protect theh* nationality, by refusing permis- 
 sion to the Wallachian Bishop Schagiu'a to set out on such a 
 jouniey. The lattei", in pursuance of a resolution adopted at 
 a congi-ess of the Wallachian nation, at Blasendorf, on May 
 ISth, should have headed a deputation which was to proceed 
 to the foot of the throne, and had regularly applied for leave 
 for that pm-pose, which was refused, and he was not even 
 allowed to go to Hermannstadt, the seat of his bishoprick. 
 PubUc demonstrations of all kmds prove that the Saxons and 
 Wallachian«, as well as the Croatians and Slavonians, had 
 penetrated the real intenticjii of the Presburg Diet to ac- 
 complish the subjection of all the races that were not of 
 Magyar oiigin, and to destroy the unity of the crown and 
 the links of the monarchy ; and they were determined to 
 oflfer eveiy resistance to such pi-ojects. How excessively the 
 Hungarian ministry feared such opposition, may be proved 
 by the measiu'es which they adopted to counteract it. For 
 this piu'pose, the ministiy did not consider it sufficient to 
 rely merely upon the military forces of Hungary, but they 
 succeeded in obtaining an imperial order, by virtue of
 
 282 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 which, even all the ti'oops in Transylvania were subjected to 
 the Hunc^-ian jialatine, and this was done even before the 
 decree for carryini; the union of the nations into effect. The 
 cabinet letter containing the order was issued from Inns- 
 bruck on May 29th. 
 
 Under these strong feelings of aversion wliich Avere enter- 
 tained by the great majority of the inhabitants of Transyl- 
 vania towards the union with Hungary, it must appear sur- 
 prising that, immediately after the opening of the Diet, 
 the decree for effecting this important and eventful measure 
 shoidd have passed without decided opposition, if we were 
 not aware that every possible precaution had been pre- 
 viously taken to prevent all opposition in the Diet. It 
 was therefore announced by the governor, durhig his stay 
 in Hermannstadt, to the Saxon university and to the autho- 
 rities on May 3rd, that the question of the union of Hungary 
 and Transylvania might be regarded as settled before-hand, 
 since it would be proclaimed at once by the Diet, through 
 the galleries and amongst the people, and immediately 
 afterwards the Transylvanian Government wotüd dissolve and 
 become practically subject to the Hungarian ministry ; and 
 should the Saxons wish to annex any conditions to the 
 union, he declared that, as governor, he cotdd not be respon- 
 sible for the safety of the Saxon representatives beyond the 
 walls of the Diet. Under such circumstances, the same 
 farce of a Dietal discussion was repeated at Kiausenburg, 
 on the subject of destroying the independent constitu- 
 tion of Tran.sylvania, as the Pr'esburg Diet had enacted 
 at the negotiations for the destruction of the constitution of 
 the Estates in Himgary. In neither of these assemblies could 
 a member act upon his own sentiments, but only as he was 
 allowed by the wires that were pulled from the outside. 
 
 The Decree of Union, which had been passed at Klau-
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA, 283 
 
 senbui'g on May 30tli, was forwarded with such despatch to 
 Innsbruck, for the sovei'eign's asseut, that the governor was 
 able to announce the same to the Estates on June 19th. 
 Pre\iously to this (on June 14th), the Hungarian ministry 
 had given an answer to the Estates of Transylvania on being 
 informed of the Decree of Union, which was of such natm-e as 
 clearly to testify the sentiments and opinions of that minis- 
 try. To the expression of joy at this union was subjoined a 
 declaration, " that they were astonished at the greatness of 
 the proud conviction which they entertained, that being from 
 henceforth united, their common country would no longer 
 be subject either to a cabal, or to a violent blow ; that on 
 the day when these two covmtries, wliich for three hun- 
 dred years had been united, became divided, theii' weakness 
 and humiliation had commenced ; that they had each be- 
 come slaves, and had disappeared from the catalogue of in- 
 dependent nations ; that through their union, their national 
 reconciliation would be published in the sight of Europe, which 
 the ministry might puVilicly declare would subsist for ever." 
 Their animosity towards Austrian supremacy, and their 
 anxiety to shake it off, could not possibly be announced 
 to the world in plainer language, without proclaiming open 
 rebellion, than was declared by this address of the Hun- 
 garian ministry to the Diet of Transylvania. (See Appendix, 
 Sup. 9). 
 
 What opinion the Hungarian ministry itself entertained 
 respecting the sympathy of the greater part of the Transyl- 
 vanian people for Himgary may be read in the nature of 
 the instructions with which the above answer was accompa- 
 nied. They commenced the exercise of their power over the 
 Grand Duchy by omitting to style it by its historical and real 
 uame, and by expressing the necessity of subjecting the 
 territories which had been originally included under the title
 
 284 GENESIS OK THE 
 
 of Transylvania, on acooiint of their great distance from the 
 centre of tlie country, Biida-Pesth, to a royal commissioner, 
 in the pei-son of the Hungiuiun keeper of the crown, Baron 
 Nicholas Vay, for the j)iu'pose of estaljlishing an exceptional 
 government -authority, wliich should be strong enough to op- 
 pose the agitations and insidious animosities that were 
 eveiywhere displayed. The go"V'ernment of Transylvania 
 was confided to this commLssaiy, and the power of estabUsh- 
 ing martial law was entmsted to liim. 
 
 And in this manner the abolition of the name of Transyl- 
 vania from the list of European comitries, the appointment 
 of an exceptional government-authority, and the hand of the 
 executioner, were necessaiy, after a separation of three cen- 
 tui-ies, to keep these fraternal ])eople once more happily 
 united. 
 
 The Hungarian Diet, wliich was ojjened by the pala- 
 tine on July 2nd., 1848, was summoned to consider the 
 pressing measiires which were necessary to be adopted, in 
 consequence of the extraordmary state of the countiy, pm-- 
 suant to the Ai^ticle of Law passed by the Presburg Diet, 
 which had been dissolved by the king on April 11th of the 
 above year. The palatine announced, iai his speech from the 
 thi-one, that such was the nature of his task. When we 
 consider what was stated in that speech, and what was 
 omitted therefrom (see Appendix, Sup. 10), we can once 
 more plainly observe the true designs of the Hungarian 
 ministiy, by whom that speech from the throne was of 
 coui-se prepared. It spoke of the preservation of the in- 
 tegrity of the Hungarian crown ; of maintaining the invio- 
 lable sanctity of the laws ; of the security and welfare of the 
 country ; of the unity and inviolability of the regal crown 
 of Himgar}^ ; of regulating, through the Hungarian Diet 
 whatever the unimpau-ed united interest of the regal thi-one
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTKIA. 285 
 
 and constitutional frtiedoni and the welfare of the comitiy 
 demanded : it declared that the adoption of the laws pro- 
 mulgated by the last Presburg Diet was the free expression, 
 of the royal will, and that the king was determined always 
 to preserve in their integrity, and unimpau-ed, those lav.s 
 which he had approved. But, on the other hand, it 
 did not utter one word about the imperial throne, and 
 the relations of Hungary to the countries united with 
 her by virtue of the Pragmatic Sanction ; not one word 
 about the regulations of the 3rd Article of Law, sec. 2, 
 according to which, the inviolable maintenance of the 
 unity of the crown and the monarchical bond was also as- 
 serted by laws, which were always to be preserved unim- 
 paired ; and, further, not one word upon this point, — that 
 the royal consent was obtained for sanctioning the resolutions 
 of the Presburg Diet only because the Hungarian Estates 
 had pronounced the points of that paragrajih to be a 
 conditio sine quel non. By the silence preserved on the 
 above points, the object of the Magyar rulers, to whom 
 the possession of both talent and power must be conceded, 
 was craftily and safely expressed, to the attainment of which 
 object all the exertions of the pure Magyars were alone 
 directed. 
 
 Thus, in the month of July, 1848, two assemblies of popu- 
 lar representatives held their meetings in the same state, 
 one in Pesth, the other in Vienna, each of which ardently 
 pui'sued their separate designs, and tlie majority of whom 
 sympathized in one point alone, viz. in a feehng of mistrust 
 towards the throne ; and only aided each other in the attain- 
 ment of one object, viz. the subjection of all govex-nment to 
 tlieir own will. 
 
 The Hungarian Diet afforded the ministry, which was 
 responsible to them, a)id wliicli entertained similar views
 
 28G GENESIS OF THE 
 
 with themselves, a strong support against the apostolic 
 king, in all measures the object of wliich -was to explain, in 
 one sense, and give validity to, the 3rd Article of Law of 
 the last Presburg Diet, in order that the complete sepa- 
 ration of Himgaiy and of the incorporated tenitory of 
 Ti-ansylvania from Austria might ensue ; those countries 
 being intended at first to continue under the nominal do- 
 minion of the same sovereign, but which union was only 
 to be preserved until an opportunity ofiered for efiecting a 
 separation. The Austrian Diet, which ought to have been 
 summoned to afford a powerful support from the resources 
 of the Austrian empire to the apostolic king, for the sake of 
 resisting such efforts at separation as were made by the 
 ministry and the Diet in Hungary, completely misunder- 
 stood this high duty which was imposed upon them by the 
 interests of the countries which they represented, and, on the 
 contrary, directed all their exertions to weaken the power 
 of the emperor. 
 
 The emperor was thus prevented from adopting the only 
 measures left for successfully preserving the monarchy from 
 being broken up, to which measxu'es, on that imlucky day 
 when the concession of a separate, independent, and respon- 
 sible ministiy was made to Hungary, the hopes of all per- 
 sons were directed, who wished to preserve unimpaired the 
 unity of the Austrian empire, namely, the firm assertion of 
 the condition on which the acknowledgment of a new 
 form of Hungarian government depended. The Diet of 
 Pesth, aided by the ministry there, used every exertion to 
 strengthen and increase the means which had been prepared 
 by the latter to get rid of that condition. The command of 
 all the Himgarian and Transylvanian troo2)s in the coun- 
 try, a claim which had formerly been asserted successfully 
 for the palatine, was extended to the command of the for-
 
 BEVOLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 287 
 
 tified places and the providing munitions of war, tlie regi- 
 ments were establislied on a war footing, the raising of new 
 Honved battalions was vigorously pursued, and the soldiers 
 were sworn to the constitution. The Himgarian Minister of 
 Finance, who had the control of the whole income of the 
 country, by an artfal plan employed the credit of the state 
 for his owai interests, which were hostile to the views of the 
 monarchy, inasmuch as, with the consent of the palatine, he 
 created a Hungarian paper currency of five and ten gulden 
 notes, the amoxmt of which, it is true, was at first limited, 
 but which, for want of sufficient control, was afterwards 
 increased as occasion required. 
 
 The Magyar leaders, once in possession of the means neces- 
 sary to carry on war, made no secret of their intention to 
 compel the adjoining Slavonian countries, by force of arms, 
 to take part in their plans to promote separation and to fur- 
 ther the Magyar influence. Convinced of the determined op- 
 position they would meet in those quarters, and uncertain of 
 ■victory, since the full power of the Austrian emperor might 
 be opposed to them, they used all the arts of seduction to win 
 over the German population of Austria to their cause. They 
 represented that the intentions of the Ban of Croatia were 
 bent not so much on preserving the unity of the empire and 
 the Slavonian nationality as upon restoring despotism and the 
 subjection of other nations. Aware of the influence which 
 the German parliament in Frankfort then exercised over the 
 Germans in Austria, and particularly over those men by 
 whose hands the power of government in Vienna was 
 practically wielded, they held secret negotiations with this 
 parliament. They thus succeeded in making spies and 
 partisans of the Vienna refonners and German unionists 
 both within and without the Diet, whom they amply pro- 
 vided with money to influence the populace to activitj',
 
 2SS GENESIS OF THE 
 
 whereof the 0th of October affords testimony, on Avliich day 
 the insurrection in Vienna broke out, occasioned by 
 the imperial troops being despatched to Hungar\'. 
 
 The emperor and king, under such circumstances, could 
 have recourse to no other measures tlian those of coer- 
 cion. He and his brother, to whom, as the Agrara Gazette 
 had ah'eady announced, the Ban was directed iuxine<liately 
 to apply in doubtfvd cases, dii-ected their attention beyond 
 all things to prevent a bloody conflict between the Hun- 
 garian troops and those of the Ban. The Ban h(jnour- 
 ably Tised liis influence •sA'ith his people to i-estrain tlieir 
 martial ardour fi'om hasty deeds of violence ; but Avdth 
 respect to the military leWes in the countiy of the ^Magyars, 
 the Austrian Minister of War was the only man who could 
 co-operate for the attainment of this humane puipose ; 
 for, since the unity of the army was still maintained in ac- 
 cordance with the 8th section of the 3rd Ai-ticle of LaAv, 
 pa.s.sed by the Diet of 1847-48, a direct influence over the 
 troops in Hungary and Transylvania Avas reserved to him 
 in some degree, although, next to him, they were obliged to 
 obey the commands of the palatine. That his exertions were 
 often not in imison with those of the Magyar War Minister 
 and Commander in Chief may be explained by the opposite 
 views which they followed, without our attributing, from 
 such contradictions, the suspicion of treason to the Hvmga- 
 rian nation. But the passions of the Hungarians and their 
 Vienna supporters were incapable of taking these calm views. 
 On this account the Minister of War, Count Latour, was 
 slandered, hated, and devoted to death. He himself was 
 awai-e of this, as is sho-\vn by the letter which he AVTote to 
 his son a few days before his mui'der, and which was subse- 
 quently published in the newspapers. 
 
 The memorial presented by the Austrian ministry to the
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 289 
 
 Diet of Pesth, published in the Acts of the Diet, No. GO, 
 on the subject of the union subsisting between Hungary 
 and the other countries of Austria, the imperial mani- 
 festoes of September 22nd and Söth, in consequence of which 
 latter the command of all the troops and armed bodies in 
 Hungary (it does not appear by whose nomination) was un- 
 •dertaken Ijy the Field-marshal Lieutenant Count Francis 
 Lamberg, and the appearance of this commander in the 
 L-haracter of an extraordinary commissioner to restore jaeace, 
 tliree days after his ajjpointment to a seat in the Diet of 
 Pesth ; these circumstances offer the most eloquent proof 
 of the sincere exertions of the emperor-king once more to 
 introduce peace mto the countiy in a legal way by an agree- 
 ment vnth the popular i-epresentatives without bloodshed. 
 "With the cniel murder of the imperial and royal messenger 
 of peace, the gauntlet was thrown down by the Magyars to 
 their king and to the Emperor of Austria at the same 
 moment ; and both duty and honour required that it should 
 be taken up. 
 
 Tliis hasty sketch of the events in Hungary and the 
 countries appertaining to it will serve to explain the origin 
 of the Hungarian revolutionary war. 
 
 When we consider the progi-ess of events in Hungary 
 from their first commencement, there can be no doubt that 
 the concession of an independent Hungarian responsible 
 ministry, which was made to the Diet of Presburg in 
 the latter half of the month of March, and the exercise of 
 executive authority by the Palatine, whenever the king should 
 be absent, through the whole extent of the country, com- 
 bined with the personal irresponsibility of the Archduke 
 Ste))hen, as Palatine, were the sources of all the evil. 
 
 If the question be asked, whether the sovereign, who, in 
 order to save the land from a fearful conflagration, sufrei-ed 
 
 U
 
 290 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 liiniself, from the goodness of his heart, to be prevailed upon 
 to make such coucessions, possessed the right afterwards to 
 ^\^th(h•a^v thorn, we must declare that he unquestionably 
 possessed this right. The change in the old Hungarian con- 
 stitution was effected at Presburg, on April 11 th, 1S48, by 
 means of a compact between the Hungarian king and the 
 nation, represented by the Diet. By virtue of this compact, 
 the nation was bound to the condition clearly set forth in the 
 3rd Article of Law, sect. 2 ; viz. that the unity of the crown, 
 and the connecting links of the monarchy should be mam- 
 tained iinimpaii-ed. But in the practical application of such 
 a concession, the performance of this condition was evidently 
 impossible. A compact depending upon a condition wliich is 
 recognised to be incapable of fulfilment, must, in accordance 
 mth legal principles, be considered as not binding. The com- 
 pact which was made on April 1 1th, 18-18, between the Estates 
 of Hungary and theii* king, on the formation of an independ- 
 ent Hungarian responsible ministry, is, therefore, null and 
 void. The Magyar writers wished to consider and to intro- 
 duce into this question the Pragmatic Sanction, as a decisive 
 authority that, in that charter, the uiaion between Hungary 
 and the other parts of the monarchy was alluded to only in 
 the nature of a mere personal union, satisfied by the identity 
 of the individual as sovereign (as the union between Sweden 
 and Norway has been effected in later times). Without en- 
 tangling ourselves in a controversy about the meaning of the 
 Pragmatic Sanction, and the construction of the words therein 
 used, " indivisibiliter et inseparabiliter,'^ we may venture to 
 assert that the solution of this question of law does not at all 
 depend on the words of the Pragmatic Sanction, because a 
 question which is founded on the basis of a new contract 
 must be decided according to the words of the new contract 
 alone, and not according to the expressions of a former one.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 291 
 
 But in the second section of the 3rd Article of Law, the 
 Pragmatic Sanction is not even mentioned. If it was alluded 
 to iu the representations addressed by the Diet to the king, 
 and in the transactions between liim and the Hungarian 
 Diet, and also in the royal resolutions which ajjpeared in 
 the course of the Diet, these circumstances can have no 
 influence iu the solution of the question of law before 
 us ; because, as appears from what we have before men- 
 tioned, such propositions are only entitled to the value of 
 preliminary observations, which require to be reduced to a 
 legal form by a commission selected for the purpose, before 
 they can acquire the title and force of a convention between 
 the Crown and the Estates. But in the Article of Law 
 drawn up by the select commission, submitted to the 
 king by the Presburg Diet, and approved by the former, 
 no document of any kind is referred to (and tliis omi.s- 
 sion is clearly not without design), but on the contrary, for 
 the sake of greater certainty, a form of expression is intro- 
 duced, in intelligible words, which admit of no doubt, which 
 the negotiating parties during the discussion, by an appeal 
 to the Pragmatic Sanction (and which the Estates, in the 
 introduction to the collection of the thirty-one Ai-ticles of 
 Law of the Diet of 1847-48, again repeated), sought to 
 establish as a conditio sitie qua non — that is, " the unimpaired 
 maintenance of the unity of the throne and the connecting 
 links of the monarchy." Whoever, in this quotation of the 
 paragraph so often allvided to, can only recognise the meaning 
 of a personal union, through the medium of one and the same 
 bearer of both crowns, must either maintain, in the teeth of 
 every principle of justice, that in a contract between two 
 persons, it is lawful for one party, at liis pleasiu'e, to consider 
 the words that impose an obligation upon him as not bind- 
 ing (in this case, for example, the words, " and the conuect- 
 
 u 2
 
 202 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 iiig links of the monarchy "), or he must concede to the Apos- 
 tolic King and the Emjieror of Austria the right to utter the 
 maxim of Louis XIV. — " L'etat, cent moi'' Neither of tliese 
 alternatives "sviU be admitted at the bar of reason and 
 justice. 
 
 In expressing ovu* opinion tliat the 3rd Article of Law, 
 for the maintenance of which the war was commenced in 
 Hungary, depended on an impracticable condition, and there- 
 fore could not justly be enforced, we mvist at the same time 
 acknowledge that both the contracting pai-ties were subject 
 to the charge of having endangered the welfare of the coun- 
 try by entering into an agreement which contained in itself 
 a palpable contradiction, that could be perceived beforehand. 
 The explanation of the manner in wliich the kindness of the 
 sovereign was constrained to such a course will be partly 
 found in the description already given of the events that 
 occurred in the latter half of the month of March. We 
 may add, further, that in the extremely difficult situation in 
 which the kmg at that time found himself, he was anxious, 
 at any price, to avoid the approaching danger of a rup- 
 tiire -with the Presbiu-g Diet, and therefore no attention 
 was paid to that voice in the cabinet, which even then 
 would have preferred such a ruptm-e to the concession of 
 the demands of the Magyars. The himianity of the empe- 
 ror coidd not imagine the possibility of being reduced to 
 the extremity of being compelled to resort to arms against 
 the Hungarian people, who up to that time had been loyally 
 devoted to him ; he rather placed his fidl confidence in the 
 sense of justice, the magnanimity, and the attachment of 
 that people, and cherished the hope, that the Hungarians 
 themselves, so soon as the impracticability of the sti^julated 
 condition had been explained to them, would assist in modi- 
 fying the concession which had been made to them under
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 293 
 
 the pressure of necessity, a concessiou that tended to destroy 
 the unity of the emph*e and their own welfare together. 
 The Archduke John, in the capacity of iaiperial repre- 
 sentative, had ah'eady expressed such a hope in his speech 
 on the opening of the Austrian Diet with the follow- 
 ing words : — " In relation to Hungaiy and its neighbom*- 
 lands, a knowledge of the upright sentiments which actuate 
 its people induces me to expect a satisfactoiy settlement 
 of the questions which are stul in agitation." And this 
 would doubtless have occurred, if it had not been the object 
 of the seducers of the Hungarian people to accompHsh those 
 very ends which the Estates had promised to avoid. But 
 that the confidence of a noble-minded prince should be de- 
 ceived in such a manner; that Ferdinand the Good should 
 experience from the Hungainans nought but hostue sus- 
 picion in return for his confidence, hatred for his kindness, 
 and ingratitude for liis goodness, and should find himself, 
 for these reasons, compelled to abdicate the crown, and that 
 liis brother and presumptive heir to the throne should suffer 
 the same fate, because he had taken part in the resolutions 
 of the sovereign, — all this will fill a disgi'aceful leaf in the 
 liistory of Hungary, for wliich the Magyars, that once noble 
 and high-sphited people, will, on a cahn retrospect of the 
 past, curse those seducers, who succeeded in exciting their 
 warm imaguiations, their fiery blood, and their daring 
 courage, to aid in accompUshing their own interested objects 
 and e.stablisliing their worthless theories ; who employed 
 their unflinching bravery in waging a wicked war against, 
 their king and fellow-citizens, and converted the soil of their 
 inestimably dear country into the theatre of a bloody war, 
 — a war waged not for the Hungarian peo])le, but only 
 through their instnimentaUty, to accomplish by fire and sword 
 the destruction of states, and those social institutions in
 
 294: GENESIS OF THE 
 
 Europe of which they are the supports. Whoever doubts 
 the truth of this assertion may receive its confinnation in 
 that ^Manifesto, which the Hungarian government addressed 
 to the ci\-ilized nations of Europe through their represen- 
 tative in the French Republic, Count Ladislaus Teleki, to 
 which we have ah-eady alluded. This Manifesto sets out 
 vdih declaring " that the war between Austria and Hun- 
 gary was not a contest relating to mere local interests, but 
 was an Em-opean affair; that it was not merely a hostile 
 strusrorle between two governments, but that the most sacred 
 interests were engaged in a conflict against treason, free- 
 dom against despotism, and order and civilization against 
 anarchy and barbarism ; and finally, that society was to be 
 seen defending itself against everytliing that threatened 
 its destruction." The object of the Magyar war, which was 
 not merely of a national, but of an European character, could 
 not have been described more justly or more correctly than 
 in the words of the above Manifesto. We concur in it 
 entirely, but must remark, that in taking a survey of the 
 scene of war, our \'ision beholds the champions arrayed 
 in different colours from those in which they appear to the 
 author of the Manifesto, and portrays the combatants for 
 destruction in the hues of the three-coloured rose, distin- 
 guishing the defenders of social interests by the insignia of 
 the two-coloured rose. In what light our readers may view 
 these colours must depend altogether on the peculiar character 
 of their own vision.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 295 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 What the meaning is, in brief, of this long treatise, is a 
 question which the reader of the Genesis will ask himself, 
 pro\-icled his patience has enabled him to overcome the dry- 
 ness of many of the events which have been therein detailed, 
 as well as the length at wlaich they have been described, and 
 to reach the conclusion. 
 
 A reply to the question wUl be found in the following 
 observations : — 
 
 The revolution in Austria broke out on March 13th, 1848, 
 in spite of, and not, as many persons assert, by reason 
 of, the perseverance of the government in adhering to its 
 system.* 
 
 * This sentence has met with the most violent attacks. We foresaw it. 
 If an elderly lady, who for a long number of years strictly followed the 
 rules to procure a long life, based on the principles of Hippocrates, were 
 suddenly to sink into a state of lethargy, the disciples of old Hippo- 
 crates would wonder how tliis disaster could happen in sjnte of the ob- 
 servance of their master's rules. The disciples of the motlern schools, of 
 a Brown, of a Hahnemann, &c., would, on the contrary, pretend that it 
 happened by reason of a strict adherence to that antiquated syst^n. 
 The first believe that strong doses of medicinal spirit, the latter that 
 nothing but drops of spirit in a hundred-thousandtli-fold state of dilu- 
 tion, would liave preserved the strength .and health of the matron. 
 AVhich of the two contending parties will succeed in inducing the other 
 to acknowledge the justice of its opinion ? We doubt whether either 
 will do so. The matter in dispute will always remain an open question. 
 We shall therefore, also in our case, leave it undecided, and merely ask, 
 if Austria's jjitiful state, in 1848, happened only by reason of its system 
 of guvemment, how is it to be explained that other countries, governed 
 on totally different principles, were plunged into a similar state ?
 
 296 GENESIS OP THE 
 
 Tlic semis of th(^ Revolution were chiefly so\\ti in the years 
 1813 and 181-1, wlien the pi'lnccs evoked the spirit of liberty 
 amongst their people, in order t(j contend against the despot- 
 ism of Napoleon. The recollections of the French revolution 
 of the previous centuiy, together with the philoso])hical doc- 
 trines which preceded and followed that event, had prepared 
 the soil for the reception of this seed. Disagreement amongst 
 the princes ; the ci'aving of some for popularity ; the 
 neglect of jiopular interests by other.s,* and the errors of all 
 j)ai-ties, encouraged the develojnnent of the growing bud ; the 
 French kingdom of the barricades of 1830 matured the flower, 
 and the restoration of the republic in February, 1848, rii)ened 
 the fruit. 
 
 Constitutions weix- no pi'otection against the revolutionary 
 tendencies of the year 1848. 
 
 The Austnan system of government, as it subsisted pre- 
 vious to oNIarch, was the resiilt of the conviction of the 
 Emperor Fi'ancis that it was impossible by any other system 
 to hold together the difierent parts of his kingdom, as they 
 were then circumstanced, and which could not be altered 
 without a revolution ; and thus that system was no inven- 
 tion of ]\letternich's, although he, in common with eveiy 
 other director of the chief executive power in the .state, 
 steadily adhered to it. 
 
 The degradation and slaveiy of the people, the oppression 
 or supremacy of individual races or classes, was no part of 
 
 * Tne review of "Genesis," in tlie ''Historische Politische Blätter," 
 denies the existence of that neglect as regards Germany. We did cot 
 mean to maintain its existence generally and absolutely, we merely 
 ■wished to indicate that several governments in and out of Germany, 
 were, in comparison with others, backward in their care for various sub- 
 jects of moral and material interest to the people ; vh., education, the 
 promotion of industry and commerce, &c. ; and that they consequently, 
 comparatively speaking, incurred the reproach of neglect.
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 297 
 
 tliis system, and was ueitlier ilesii'ed by the imperial family, 
 nor by the Austrian statesmen. 
 
 In carrying out this system, some contradictions occurred 
 in the establishment of certain maxims, whereby the power 
 of offering resistance to the hostile spii-it of the age was 
 weakened. 
 
 The inilers of Austria and theh' counsellors strove sin- 
 cerely to estabhsh and promote the welfare of the people, 
 but not in the manner demanded by the organs of the spuit 
 of the age. 
 
 A gx'eat deal, but not e^'erytlIing, that was established 
 previous to March, might and should have been other and 
 better in Austria than it actually was. 
 
 The principal fault lay in not governing ; the administra- 
 tion fancied they governed, while they merely admiiiistered 
 the state after a petty household system. 
 
 The chief sins of the Austrian government were sins of 
 omission. 
 
 Theii- sources were — want of decision, the result cliiefly 
 of too earnest an anxiety to attain the best ad\'antage 
 that was possible, in place of striving after acknowledged 
 good ; a reluctance to increase the people's Ijurdens ; a com- 
 pliance with the opposition of those who would be compelled 
 to abandon comfortable situations in consequence of improve- 
 ments demanded by the times and by the unwieldy nature 
 of the state machine. 
 
 It was not in the power of any single directoi- of the 
 government, previous to March, to stop these sources of 
 mischief The revolution dried them up ; and therefore the 
 evils, of wliich they were the cause, may for the future be 
 more easily avoided by those who exercise the authority of 
 goverament, than they could have been by theii* predecessors.
 
 298 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 The revolution in Austria was not occasioned by the 
 national fanaticism of the people, but the latter feeling was 
 awakened by the revolution, which sought to use it as a lever 
 to rouse the apathetic masses of the population for the 
 attainment of its own objects. 
 
 The revolution was prepared l)y the Estates and by the 
 Tuoneyed aristocracy in a lion's league with the so-termed 
 intelligent classes, for the furthering of their own indi\idual 
 interests; and the oiitbreak was occasioned by the misgidded 
 masses of the people.* 
 
 The government Avas taken by Rurj^rise by this outbreak ; 
 in depending too much on the attachment of the people, it 
 entertained too slight an apprehension of their falling victims 
 to seduction, and thus became heedless of the danger. 
 
 The revolution was called into existence before March 1 3th, 
 184:8. That day merely removed the veil which had pre- 
 viously concealed it. 
 
 That veil had been previously seen throiigh by the govern- 
 ment, though they afterwards culpably omitted to make 
 timely preparations of defence. 
 
 * The term " Lion's League " (Löwenbündniss) has given offence ; 
 yet the result of that alliance, as now before our eyes, proves the ex- 
 pression to be correct. One of the allies — the aristocracy of the Estates — 
 was hurled down to the Manes of Erebus, The second — the moneyed 
 aristocracy — has lost its influence in the same proportion as it, since 
 1848, has lost its millions. The third ally — intelligence — enjoys the 
 fruits of the victory. In the field of knowledge, the learned make use 
 of the press, without fearing the scissors of the censor. Tlie church, 
 both of the new and the old covenant, and in the first, the Catholic, not 
 less than the acatholic, teaches, commands, and forbids in its sphere, 
 without l)eing any longer subjected to the interference of the State. 
 Individual freedom has, since 1848, been expanded only in the field of 
 intelligence. Our inquiring eye has discovered no augmentation of 
 material interests. The free Austrian citizen after March, as regards 
 residence, trade, and industry, and the enjoyment of pleasure, &c., ap- 
 pears not to be in possession of any greater liberty, than that in which 
 the Austrian subject before !March already rejoiced. Can it thus be any 
 longer doubtful to which of the allies, at the division of the prey, the 
 lion's part devolved ?
 
 KEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 299 
 
 The so-termed acquisitions of March were not the result 
 of a contest, but of a mere piece of jugglery. 
 
 The interruption of the contest in the three days of March 
 was required by circumstances. This interruption was after- 
 wards imputed as a fault to the directors of the govern- 
 ment, even by those who were previously hostile to the 
 government, as soon as they perceived the value of what 
 they had lost, and painfully ndssed what they no longer 
 possessed.* 
 
 * The correctness of this sentence has been doubted even by that party 
 which now boasts and rejoices within the abandoned camp of the defeated 
 party. This circumstance furnishes a proof how little, on the occasion 
 of popular disturbances, mild proceedings are rewarded by gratitude. 
 As long as the movements of the 13th of March bore merely the 
 character of street riots, the authorities would have undoubtedly found 
 no difi&culty in suppressing them, most probably without the shedding 
 of blood. That opportunity was allowed to pass away. Those who, on 
 the morning of the eventful day had been exposed to violence, desired 
 no protection, but rather increased the moral power of the popular 
 agitation, as they publicly acknowledged the justice of the demands of 
 the people by charging themselves with the office of mediators between 
 the people and the government. The feelings which burst forth at 
 Vienna had also found expression in other parts of the empire. Pres- 
 burg, at a no great distance, and Prague, somewhat more remote, had 
 shown themselves quite as adverse to the government as Vienna itself. 
 No armed rebels, indeed, )jut only importunate beggars, appeared before 
 the emperor on the 1.3th of March. The brigand, wlio, in a menacing 
 attitude, with a pistol in his hand, enters your chamber, is met without 
 hesitation, or any fear of censure, by a pistol-shot ; — not so the beggar, 
 who, with humble mien and uncovered head, passes your threshold, and 
 who subse([uently, with effrontery, yet without threats, asks for a gift. 
 If it should 1)6 afterwards discovered that banditti, wlio were concealed 
 outside, entered by stealth the door which had Ijeen opened to the sup- 
 plicant, in order to commit a robbery, the fate of the person robbed will 
 be pitied, but he will not be suspected of weakness or cowardice for 
 not having shot the humble beggar, with liis hat in his hand, and 
 thereby frightened the Ijaiiditti from attacking his house. We saw, on 
 the 13th of March, 1848, tlie Estates of Lower Austria, in tlie imperial 
 castle, in no other character than that of supplicants and mediators. 
 Their intentions aj)]ieared peaceable, their attachment to the imperial 
 house unshaken. Amongst those who had followed them, and wore 
 waiting without, no banditti had as yet been discovered. Was it, 
 therefore, in a moral point of view, possible for the government to resort 
 to force of arms before it had evident proofs of the presence, not only of
 
 300 GENESIS OF TUE 
 
 Tlie revolution, by means of the imperial decree of 
 March 15th, 1S48, might have l)een converted into a re- 
 formation, if the I'esolutions of that decree had been fulfilled 
 with effect, prudence, and determination. 
 
 The free grant of a constitution, on April 2.5th, was an 
 inconsiderate departure from that decree, and a political 
 mistake. 
 
 The recognition of the popular principle first occurred on 
 April 8th, by the overthrow of the constitution of the Estates 
 of Bohemia. 
 
 The power of the democrats was increased thi-ough the 
 arbitrary control exercised over the government by the Vienna 
 Association, which usui-ped the privileges that belonged only 
 to the Austrian representatives of the people. 
 
 It was not the wUl of the Austrian people, but the vnll 
 of those usurpers, which overturned the chartered constitu- 
 tion, and occasioned the introduction of a constituent Diet ; 
 
 supplicants, but also of banditti ruffians ? Might it, in utter defiance 
 of pul)lic opinion at home and abroad, have answered the supplications 
 for reform only with the thunder of cannons ? Was it not its duty to 
 acquaint the people, before it smote them to the ground, of what the 
 imperial decree of the 12th of March, 1848, had already, antecedently 
 to the agitation at Vienna of the 13tli of March, granted to the pro- 
 vincial Estates, and of which the jieople was yet ignorant ? Was it not 
 natural to suppose, looking to the high opinion which the government 
 entertained of the loyalty and the attachment of the Viennese, that the 
 riotous petition of the Kith of March would not have been attempted, 
 if the Viennese had been informed of the emperor's decree,— viz. to 
 take into con.sideration as quickly as possible, with deputies from the 
 Provincial Estates, and, if necessarj', even with the aggregate body of 
 the Estiites, those measures which the existing state of things dictated ? 
 Is it, therefore, in accordance with justice to load the government with 
 reproaches and invectives for having done by its manifesto, on the 
 evening of the 13th of March, what it had omitted to do in the morning 
 of that day (namely, to infonii the people of the resolution taken by the 
 emperor), and for not having employed, without such a preliminary 
 manifesto, the armed force against the defenceless ? 
 
 On calm reflection, the correctness of the above sentence will be 
 acknowledged by every one who is able to comprehend the state of 
 afiaira of that time, and in whose heart the feelings of humanity dwell. .
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 301 
 
 drove the emperor from Vienna; insisted violently on the 
 recognition of the supreme aiithority of the city of Viemia, 
 and the consequent withdrawal of the sovereign from the 
 seat of the central government and of the Diet ; wliich com- 
 pelled the setting up of an absolute imperial viceroy for that 
 portion of the kingdom which formed no part of Hungary, 
 after another had been set up for that latter kingdom at 
 Buda-Pesth; which extorted from the Diet, at the moment 
 of its opening, the appointment of a new administration, 
 and, before the completion of its duties as a constituent 
 Diet, claimed for it the exercise of the executive powei*. 
 
 The lamentable mistakes of the Diet are to be attri- 
 buted to tliis misdii-ection of its destination (viz. a revision 
 of the constitution of April 25th), as well as to the moral 
 and intellectual incapacity of the majority of its members, 
 wliich, again, were not the residts of the election laws alone, 
 but of the apathy with which the more peaceable and intel- 
 ligent portion of the electors were seized at the hour of 
 election. The political reformation whicli was piu'sued in 
 Hungary in a legal mannei', with the royal approbation 
 obtained on April 11th, 1848, boi'e within itself the seeds of 
 the bloody revolution which broke out six months later ; 
 because the king, relying on the loyal dispoisitions of the 
 Magyar representatives, had altered the situation of Hun- 
 gary with respect to the adjacent territories, and to the 
 other parts of the emph-e, subject to an impracticable con- 
 dition, and saw his sincei-e desires to influence the Magj-ars 
 in the adoption of a peaceable equalization of conditions, 
 fnistrated by the exei'tions of their leaders to further tlieir 
 own schemes of separation. The political suicide of Tran- 
 sylvania was not the choice of the majority of the popula- 
 tion, but tlie effect of teiTor. 
 
 The civil war between Hungary and Transylvania broke
 
 302 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 out between the Magyars and the other races who inhabited 
 those countries; namely, the Croatians, Slavonians, and Ser- 
 \-iaxis in the former, and the Saxons and Romanians in the 
 latter country, against the will of the king; and its object was 
 the |)rotection of theh" nationality, which was threatened by 
 the Magyars. 
 
 The Apostolic King and Emperor of Austria first took 
 part in this war when the Magyars threw down the gaunt- 
 let to him. To take up this gauntlet was the king's right, 
 and the emperor's duty, — and his strict duty, because the 
 separate establishment of the kingdom of Hungary, ■with its 
 reformed constitution, could not but lead to the dissolution 
 of the empire, which had now become constitutional. 
 
 The war in Hungary and Transylvania was not merely a 
 struggle for dynastic or national interests, but a combat 
 between order and anarchy, civilization and barbarism, the 
 preservation of society and general destruction. 
 
 The continuation of the Austrian empire in its integrity is 
 due to that powerfiü body wliich alone remained firm, viz. 
 the army ; particularly to the anny of the Italian general, 
 who, preserving his courage, self-dependence, and discretion, 
 even in misfortime, saved that part of the empire ; and also 
 to the general in Bohemia, before whose sword the insurrec- 
 tion in Pi*ague and Vienna gave way ; and to the Ban of 
 Croatia, who first estaVjlished a firm rampai't against the 
 roaring tide of [Magyar tyi-anny. 
 
 These are the \-iews which should render this work ac- 
 ceptable to our contemporaries who ai'e interested in the dis- 
 semination of truth. We have no intention of becoming 
 either the accusers or defenders of the Austrian government 
 and its rulers, either before or after the days of March. But 
 as the painter must represent in his picture both the regular 
 and in-egula) features of the countenance which his pencil
 
 REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 305 
 
 delineates upon the canvass, ti-uly, as they appear to his eyes, 
 even so must the features of those transactions be repre- 
 sented in this work, as they were witnessed by the author. 
 The eyes of all men do not perceive objects in the same 
 manner, and one man may therefore consider a portrait to 
 be an extraordinary i-esemblance, whilst another discovers in 
 it no likeness at all to the original. So will it be with this 
 work. Only let no one do it the injustice of considering 
 it a caricature, painted in a reactionary sphit, in order to 
 forward such views, ßeaction, unless the expression means 
 an effort to re-establish the dominion of authority, of justice, 
 and of law, which are disturbed by every revolution — ^in 
 which sense eveiy U2:)riglit citizen is reactionary — is an 
 impossibility. As steam which has once escaped from the 
 cylinder can never again be compressed into it, so a people 
 can never again be reduced to the condition from which a 
 revolution, once fully accomplished, has delivered them. 
 The people of Austria must therefore continue in possession 
 of the constitutional privileges which were granted to them 
 in the year 1848. But this possession must be secured to 
 them by institutions sufficient to protect them against the 
 schemes of despotism, not only from above, but also from the 
 sides and from below ; for far less insuppoi-table to a peoj^le 
 is a despot with a crown, than despots with a kalpack, with 
 a Swomost cap, with a Swabian hat, or even Avith the red 
 Phrygian bonnet. The entire and very peculiar conglo- 
 meration of races, of which the empire of Austria is composed, 
 requires for such protection the enjoyment of peculiar con- 
 stitutional institutions. 
 
 The unity of the kingdom must be maintained. It exists 
 in substance as long as the union of the different coimtries 
 exists, over which the house of Hapsburg rules. It was 
 described aa an already established fact by the words of the
 
 304 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 Pragmatic Sanction, " indivmbUiter et hiseparabiliter^' in no 
 ambiguous manner, according to the statesmanlike notions 
 of those (lays — it has been jjractically acknowledged by all 
 Europe — only the word was not expressed, which was 
 suitable to the circumstances. But even the word itself 
 was afterwards used in the proclamation, that the Austiian 
 aggi'egate of territones should be styled an emph-e, which 
 took place when the Emperor Francis laid aside the crown of 
 the German empii-e. The proper national meaning of the 
 term, according to the plan of the chancellor of state. 
 Prince Metternich, should have been symbolically explained 
 to the eyes of all the people of Austria and Eiu'ope on the 
 succession of the Emperor Ferdinand to the throne, by the 
 religious ceremony of an imperial coronation. But this 
 statesmanlike plan, like many others, was not earned out. 
 
 But the preservation of the unity of the empire by no 
 means depends upon the uniformity of the internal adminis- 
 tration of its parts, a plan sought to be introduced by the 
 Emperor Joseph II., by confounding the two opposite ideas 
 of government and administration. Tlie revolution of the 
 year 1848 has, it is time, anniliilated the parchment i3ri\i- 
 leges of the Estates in all quarters of the empii-e, but not 
 the character, the habits, and the wants of its different 
 races. By the conditions of the 4th and .5th sections of 
 the Chartered Constitution of March 4th, 1849, the inde- 
 pendence of all the crown lauds within the limits ap- 
 pointed by the constitution was guaranteed, and to each 
 separate race an equality of privileges was secured, united 
 with the maintenance and support of their own nationality 
 aiad language. A revocation of these concessions and assur- 
 ances, particulai'ly in relation to those portions of the em- 
 pire which require to be reconquered, can in a juridical 
 point of view be justified, from the very claim connected
 
 RKV'OLUTIOX IN AUSTRIA. 305 
 
 witli the right of conquest ; but such a course appears poli- 
 tically and morally impossible, because in that event the 
 government can only depend for sujiport on the bayonet, 
 whose power, as the present time teaches us, may produce, 
 it is true, for the moment a decisive effect, but can never 
 anywhere establish, and least of all in a constitutional state, 
 the obedience of the governed in a lasting manner. 
 At present, then, the gi*eat task to accomplish is, — 
 " The security of the unity of the kingdom ; the security 
 of the constitutional rights of each cro^vn land and of each 
 citizen, and also of the crown itself j and the secui-ity of 
 each race, in the spirit of the Chartered Constitution, against 
 every attack, whether it come from above, from below, or 
 from the side." 
 
 From the en-ors of the government and of the governed, 
 which this work does not pretend to have discovered (for they 
 were already known), but merely to have brought to recol- 
 lection, let both parties understand what they should re- 
 frain from doing. What they should do can be explained 
 in a few words. The government should, by their course of 
 conduct, establish a conviction in the minds of theii* sub- 
 jects, that the interests of both are identical; they should 
 frame institutions to check the centrifugal motion of the 
 separate divisions which constitute the united country of 
 Austria, but which at the same time should allow to eacli 
 separate part its own individual natiu-al form and motion, 
 without internipting the steady and i-egular pnrsviit of the 
 common course, determining oj)f'nly and firmly to oppose such 
 interruption, let it come from what quarter it may. The 
 govei-ufd, also, should learn that any distm-bance in tlie 
 motion of the whole, or even in any of its part.s, will bring 
 destraction on themselves, and they should therefore neither 
 inteiTupt the common course nor dispute the form and 
 
 X
 
 306 GENESIS OF THE 
 
 motion of the nciglibouriaig divisions; they .should reverence 
 right, and its expression — the law — as the only bulwark of 
 freedom, and should honom-ably support the government in 
 word and deed in the assertion of its supremacy. By such 
 means >vill the Austrian constitutional empü*e, which has 
 pixssed uninjiu-ed through the storms of revolution, ipickly 
 attain that high point of internal improvement and happi- 
 ness which is suitable to its nature, and assume and esta- 
 blish her right to that position in the state system of 
 Europe to which she is entitled by her geographical posi- 
 tion, the extent of her territory, the noble character of her 
 people, and the eminent qualities of her young ruler. If 
 the government and the governed, with calm zeal and 
 mutual confidence, contribute their exertions to this great 
 and noble object, its attainment must be the successful 
 result of their vmited endeavours.* 
 
 * A year has elapsed since we wrote those words. The government 
 has, in that interval, with gigantic efforts, pushed forward tlie construc- 
 tion of the State-fiibric. WTiat have the government done ? Some have 
 been indifferent spectators ; others have blamed the architectural im- 
 perfections of the fabric, the inevitable consequence of the haste with 
 which it had to be constructed ; others, again, have secretly grudged 
 seeing many of their own illusions dispelled. Such discoveries must 
 doubtless have been painful. We have, in this third edition of 
 Genesis, referred to some things which stand in total contrast to those 
 illusions which in 1848 excited the masses to join in the political agitation. 
 Yet the government is not to be censured for the palpable consequences 
 of former fanaticism. Political enthusiasm must share the fate of any 
 other enthusiasm. It is likewise beguiled by " the sweet belief in beings 
 to which its dreams gave birth ;" with regard to it also, "What once 
 was beauteous and divine, is now the prey of rude reality." No govern- 
 ment can secure what political enthusiasts two years since hoped to 
 acquire. Should divine wrath ever in any country allow the Red 
 Ropublic to rise upon the ruins of another form of government, its illu- 
 sions will appear in a frightful form — dripping vnth blood. As far as we 
 can perceive, the predecessors of those who succeeded to power in 
 Austria after March, have very little reason for envying the latter, as 
 they are not regarded by the people with more favour than themselves. 
 The judgment passed on either does not seem to l>e very just. Tlie pre- 
 sent ministry has to solve the most difficult problem of reconstnicting in
 
 BEVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA. 307 
 
 haste the destroyed fabric of the State, and of reconciling contradictions 
 which, in order to satisfy the claims of the moment, could not be pre- 
 vented from being admitted into the plan of the building. According 
 to that plan, the unitary constitutional empire is to be formed of twenty- 
 separate crown lands, and of ten different races, with due regard for the 
 independence of those crown lands, and the equal rights of those races, 
 as to the preservation and cultivation of their nationality and language. 
 History, as far as we know, has no other instance of such a problem. 
 The boundaries between the securities for the unity of the States on 
 the one hand, and for the independence of each crown land on the 
 other, as also for the equal rights of every race, cannot possibly be 
 drawn distinctfy ; for in every organic structure — and the State is 
 such a structure — everything which operates upon an individual part, 
 operates also more or less on the whole. To secure the well-being 
 of the whole, is the first duty of the government. At present, it 
 acts up to its duty, under the pressure of the desire for separation 
 entertained by some of the constituent parts of the empire,— which 
 desire, suppressed for a short time by the sentiment of unity and 
 the bravery of the victorious army, cannot yet be considered extinct. 
 Is the government to be censured for not gratifying all the wishes 
 of each crown land and race. We would venture to advise the latter, 
 if we may be peimitted to do so, to confine those wishes, — especially at 
 the present moment of a new organization, within the limits of the 
 greatest possible moderation, in order to prevent, on the occasion of 
 constructing the constitutional empire, a repetition of what is said to 
 have happened at the building of the Tower of Babel. The Diets of the 
 crown lands and the general Imperial Diet will, without fail, either 
 destroy the unity of the empire or the constitution itself, nay, perhaps 
 both, if they should allow themselves to be induced, with fanatical zeal, 
 or in an inflexible spirit of theory, and without a due regard to the 
 existing state of affairs, to attempt, in their literal and complete sense, 
 the realization of those concessions which, by the 4th and 5th para- 
 graphs of the imperial constitution of the 4th of March, 1849, have been 
 made to the various provinces of the empire. The honest intentions 
 and zealous efforts of the emperor and his ministers to preserve both 
 the unity and the constitution of the empire, are beyond question. Whe- 
 ther those efforts will be crowned with success, depends on the future 
 representatives of the people. Would that these hints could receive 
 calm consideration at the soon approaching elections for the provincial 
 Diets, as well as at those of a later date for the general Imperial Diet, 
 at the hands of the electors, and subsequently also of the elected. The 
 future fate of the Austrian constitutional empire is in their hands. 
 
 x2
 
 APPENDIX TO GENESIS. 
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS.— I. 
 
 " Most High Decree. 
 
 " We, Ferdinand the First, by the grace of God Emi^eror 
 of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the fifth of the 
 name ; King of Lombardy and Venice, of Dahnatia, Croatia, 
 Slavonia, Galicia, Lodomeria, and Illyria; Archduke of Aus- 
 tiia ; Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Styria, Camiola, Carintliia, 
 Upper and Lower Silesia ; Grand Duke of Transylvania, 
 Margrave of Moravia, Princely Count of Habsburg and 
 Tyrol, &c. «fee, have now adopted such measures as we 
 have deemed necessaiy to satisfy the wishes of our loyal 
 people. 
 
 " The freedom of the press is, by oiu' declaration of the 
 abolition of the censorship, established in the same manner 
 as in all other states where it exists. 
 
 " A National Guard, constituted on the basis of property 
 and intelligence, already discharges its salutary duties. 
 
 " The necessaiy steps have been taken for a convocation of 
 the representatives of all the Provincial Estates, and of the 
 Central Congregations of the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom, 
 in the shortest possible time, in order, witli an increased 
 representation of the citizens, and paying regard to the exist-
 
 310 APPENDIX TO GENESIS. 
 
 ing provincial coiistitutious, to co-operate in tlie constitution 
 of the country which has been determined on by us. 
 
 " Accordingly, we expect with confidence that men's minds 
 be tranquillized, that the studies (of the universities) Avill 
 resume theii' regular course, that trade and peaceful commerce 
 will again revive. 
 
 " We entertain this hope the more, because, having been 
 amongst you to-day, we have convinced ourselves, with feel- 
 ings of emotion, that the loyalty and attachment which for 
 centuries you have uninterruptedly paid to our ancestors, 
 and also to ourselves upon every occasion, inspires you now 
 as heretofore. 
 
 " Given in our imperial residence and capital city of 
 Vienna, March 15th, 1840, and the fourteenth year of our 
 reign. 
 
 " Ferdin.\nd. (L.S.) 
 " Charles Count Von Inzaghi, 
 
 High Chancellor, 
 " Francis Baron Von Pillersdorf, 
 
 Aulic Chancellor. 
 " Joseph Baron Von Weingarten, 
 Aulic Chancellor. 
 "•In obedience to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic 
 Majesty's high express commands : 
 
 " Peter Ritter Von Satzgeber, 
 Imperial and Royal Privy 
 Councillor."
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS. 311 
 
 11. 
 
 "Ministerial Proclamation of May 2Gth and 27 th, 1848. 
 
 " The Ministerial Council, in ordei- to meeb the urgent 
 wishes of the people for the prevention of greater dangers, 
 and at the request of the Academic Legion, has resolved 
 not to insist on the execution of the order to dissolve the 
 Legion, and to unite the same with the National Guard, 
 und expects that the Academic Legion will, of its own 
 accord, propose sureties to render the safety and the return 
 of the emperor possible. 
 
 " PiLLERSDORF, SOMMARUGA, KrAUS, LaTOUR, 
 
 Baumgartner." 
 
 " Vienna, May 26th, 1848." 
 
 "The assurances of the emperor, of May 15th and 16th of 
 this year, continue in their full extension. 
 
 " The Academic Legion continues unaltered. 
 
 " The military mil immediately retire to then* barracks, 
 and the posts at the gates will be maintained jointly by the 
 National Guards, the Academic Legion, and the military, in 
 equal force. 
 
 " PiLLEBSDORF, SOMMARUGA, KrAUS, LaTOUR, 
 BaUMG ARTNER." 
 
 " Vie7ina, May 26th, 1848." 
 
 " The militaiy hereby receives orders immediately to 
 retire. Employment will immediately be provided for the 
 workmen ; wherefore, for the restoration of tranquillity, they 
 must withdi'aw to their pursuits. 
 
 " PiLLERSDORF, BaUMGARTNER, KrAUS," 
 
 '= Vienna, May 26th, 1848."
 
 312 APPENDIX TO GEKESIS. 
 
 " The undei-signed declare that the troops of the garrison 
 have already, pursuant to the orders of theh" commander, 
 retii'ed to theh* bari-acks, and can only be called out at the 
 request of the National Guard, for their support. 
 
 '■ PiLLERSDORJ', LaTOUR." 
 
 " Viemui, May 26th, 1848." 
 
 " The Ministerial Council is sensible of the extraordinary 
 cu'cumstances Avhich have made it a matter of necessity that 
 a committee of citizens, national guards, and students should 
 be formed to watch over the order and safety of the city, 
 and the rights of the people, and publishes the resolutions 
 which that committee adopted on the 26th instant, in the 
 follo%\"ing order : — 
 
 " ' (1.) The posts at the city gates shall be occupied by the 
 National Guai'd, the Civic Guard, and the Academic Legion 
 alone ; but the other posts, by the National and Civic 
 Guard jointly Avdth the military ; the posts in the buildings 
 of the war department, being military posts, shall Ijc occu- 
 pied by the militaiy alone. 
 
 " ' (2.) Only such a military force as is necessary for the 
 serA-ice shall remain here ; all the rest shall, as quickly as 
 possible, Avithdraw. 
 
 " ' (3.) Count Hoyos remains (subject to ala-svful course of 
 proceeding), as a pledge for what has been promised, and as 
 surety for the privileges obtained on May 15th and 16th, 
 under the supeiintendence of the Committee of Citizens. 
 
 " ' (4.) Those who are guilty of the transactions of May 26th 
 shall be brought to public trial. 
 
 " ' (.5.) The ministiy submits to his majesty the urgent 
 request that his majesty ^vill immediately return to Vienna ; 
 or in case the health of hLs majesty shall prevent this course.
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS. 313 
 
 that he will appoint one of the imperial princes as liis repre- 
 sentative.' 
 
 " The ministiy must at the same time in\ite the newly- 
 formed committee to make them acquainted with the nature 
 of the seciuities they may offer his majesty for his personal 
 safety, and for the safety of the imperial family. 
 
 " The same ministry fmther places the whole property of 
 the state, as well as that of the imperial court, all public 
 establishments, collections, institutions, and public corpora- 
 tions, in the capital, under the protection of the people of 
 Vienna, and of the newly-formed committee, and declares 
 the same independent of aU other authority. They must 
 conmiit to the same the full charge of public peace and 
 order, as well as the protection of person and pi'operty. 
 
 " The same ministry must finally announce that they can 
 only continue to discharge the business of the state, wliicli 
 has been temporarily confided to them, until the same is 
 either withdrawn by his majesty, or the ministry shall be 
 deprived of the means of adopting its measures with safety, 
 and discharging them under their own responsibility. 
 " In the name of the Ministerial Council, 
 
 " PlLLERSDORF." 
 
 " VieniM, May 21th, 1848." 
 
 " With the consent of the Ministerial Council, it is de- 
 clared that only the 12th rifle battalion and the infantry 
 regiment Prince Emile, were; intended to march hither, but 
 that the proper ordei's have been since issued, that those 
 two corps, especially the 2nd battalion of the abovenamed 
 I'egiment, which was only intended to supply the place of 
 the regiment Count Nugent, destined for Italy, shall not 
 come hither. 
 
 " Vienna, May 27th, 1848." " Pillersdouf."
 
 314 APPENDIX TO GENESIS. 
 
 III. 
 
 " Imperial Antiounceinent. 
 
 " Dear Baron Vox Pillersdorf, — I believe I owe it to my 
 subjects to inform them, as speedily as possible, of the rea- 
 sons which have determined me to leave my residence. The 
 extraordinary and urgent nature of the circumstances do not 
 permit me to confer \\\i\\ you thereupon in the first instance; 
 I have therefore deemed it right to issue the following mani- 
 festo, and whilst I, at the same time, commission my go- 
 vernor in Tyrol to publish it immediately in that province, 
 and intnist the same commission in respect of my kingdom 
 of Hvmgaiy to the Palatine there resident, 1 dii'ect you to 
 publish the same in the rest of my states. 
 
 " Ferdinand, (m. p.) 
 
 "Innsbruck, 3fay2\st, 1848. 
 
 " Manifesto to my People. 
 
 " The proceedings in Vienna on May 15th impress me 
 with the sad conviction that an anarchical faction, relying 
 lipon the Academical Legion, which has chiefly been led 
 astray by strangers, and some sections of the citizens and 
 National Guards, who have swerved from their accustomed 
 loyalty, have wished to deprive me of all freedom of action, 
 in order by such means to enslave the well-disposed inhabi- 
 tants of my capital and the proAÖnces, which are univer- 
 sally ü'ritated at such individual presumption. Nothing 
 remained except the choice of extricating myself with the 
 assistance of the royal gan-ison, by force, if necessary, or to 
 ^vithdraw for a time to the retirement of some one of those
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS. 315 
 
 pro^dnces which, thanks be to God, have still continued 
 loyal. 
 
 " The choice could not be doubtful. I chose the peaceful 
 and bloodless alternative, and betook myself to that moun- 
 tain land which has at all times proved faithful, where I 
 might readily receive news from that army which is fighting 
 so bravely for its country. 
 
 " The idea is far from my mind of wishing to withdraw, 
 or to curtail, those gifts and their natural consequences, 
 which I bestowed upon my people in the days of March. I 
 shall, on the contrary, ever feel disposed to listen to the 
 just complaints of my people, when made in a lawful man- 
 ner, and to take into accoimt the national and provincial 
 interests; but these must be verified as being general, 
 brought forward in a legal manner, considered by the Diet, 
 and then submitted to me for approbation, and must not 
 be extorted by the armed hands of a few unauthorized 
 individuals. 
 
 " I wished to say thus much for the general satisfaction of 
 
 my people, who have been painfully excited, by my departiu-e 
 
 from Yienna, and also to remind them that I have ever 
 
 been ready, with paternal love, to receive my retiu-ning 
 
 children, even though they should be considered lost. 
 
 " Ferdinand," (m. p.) 
 "Innsbruck, May 20th, 1848." 
 
 The following cabinet letter to the Ministerial Council 
 was at the same time prepared, which, as its contents show, 
 imposed upon them the duty to adopt those measures which 
 the situation of the monarchy and the safety of the tlirone 
 required, to preserve the regular course of business undis- 
 turbed.
 
 316 ArncNPix to oknesis. 
 
 " Dear Bauon Von Pilleksdorf, — The Field-marslial I jou- 
 tonant Count IIovos has just presented the letter addressed 
 to me by the Mhiisterial Council on the evening of the 17th 
 instant. I reply thereto, that the city of Vienna has lately, 
 to their gi'eat jjrejudice, so grossly \iolated the loyalty 
 which they have always formerly evinced towards me and 
 my ancestors, that I find myself compelled to leave them for 
 a time, and not to return before I have become perfectly 
 convinced of the renewal of their former disposition towards 
 me. The Ministerial Council will, as I an-anged previous 
 to my departure, find it theh- duty, in the mean time, to 
 adopt those measures which the situation of the monarchy 
 and the safety of the throne reqixire, in order that the 
 regidar coui^se of business may not be internipted by my 
 temporary change of residence in my states. 
 
 " Ferdixajtd," (m. p.) 
 
 "Imisbruck, May 20th, 1848." 
 
 '• To the Loyal Inliabitants of my Cajyital. 
 
 " The city of Vienna, in the first instance, and soon after- 
 wards the representatives of my entire empire, gratefully 
 acknowledged their conviction that it was to me, in the 
 memorable days of March, a duty of sacred earnestness, and 
 the most satisfactory deed of my life, both to my heart and 
 to the boundless love I bear my people, to meet their 
 wishes by a constitution adapted to the wants of the time, 
 and free in the widest meaning of the word. The happi- 
 ne.ss of my people is also my happiness; and influenced by 
 this feeling alone, on the proposal of my council, I granted 
 the constitution which was announced on April 25th. 
 
 '•' I have not vvished to anticipate by this measui'e the
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS. 317 
 
 demands of the age, the wants of the sepai-ate provinces, or 
 the more influential opinion of my people, which, when 
 announced in a legal manner, ^vill ever confirm me in my 
 determinations. 
 
 " But my con\dction tliat the charter of the constitution, 
 accorded by me, would satisfy general expectations, has been 
 destroyed by the solicitude displayed in the various pro- 
 vinces for the correct apprehension and appreciation of tlieir 
 not unimpoi-tant separate interests, as well as by the events 
 that happened in Vienna on the 15th of May. 
 
 "On this account, on the 16th of May, I raised no ob- 
 jection against declaring tlie next Diet to be a constituent 
 Diet, and establishing a right of voting in accordance 
 therewith. The manner in which I was induced to this 
 course has deeply hurt me. The public voice of all Europe 
 has unanimously pronounced its censm-e thereon in the 
 highest degree. But I am ready firmly to maintain the 
 transaction itself, because it affords a pledge that the con- 
 stitution wliich is to impart moral and material strength 
 to my kingdom will be the effect of public opinion openly 
 expressed, both in its principles and its details, wdth which I 
 am determined to go hand in hand. 
 
 " My most anxious wish, and I am convinced that I shall 
 not express it in vain, is, that it may be possible to open tlie 
 Diet speedily in Vienna, the seat of my government. 
 
 " In order, therefore, that the Diet should be opened there, 
 and not quickly in some other place, it is indispensable that 
 within the walls of Vienna undisturbed and firmly-established 
 peace and order should reign, and that to the deputies from 
 the provinces perfect safety shall be extended and secured 
 for the freedom of their deliberations. 
 
 " I may therefore exj)ect from the inhabitants of Vienna 
 that they wül do eveiything to re-establish la^vful order iu
 
 318 APPENDIX TO GEafESIS. 
 
 every respect. I expect that all personal animosities Nnll 
 cease, and that amongst the inhabitants of Vienna the spiiit 
 of conciliation and peace wdll alone reign. 
 
 " With paternal affection I make these proposals to the 
 \mited population of Vienna, and I calculate on theii* fulfil- 
 ment, since I shall prize the day when, ^\^th the opening of 
 the parliament, I can celebrate my joyful meeting the 
 citizens of Vienna, who have ever been dear to my heart. 
 " Ferdinajsd, (m. p.) 
 " Wessexbekg, (m. p.) ; Doblhoff," (m. p.) 
 
 "Innsbruck, June Srd, 1848." 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Ministerial Proclaination. 
 
 " Thi-ough the ConstitvMonal Gazette of Prague, of May 
 31st, the ministry has learnt that a provisional government 
 has been established in Prague. 
 
 "As soon as this news was confirmed by an official notifi- 
 cation, the ministry found themselves compelled to represent 
 to his majesty the emperor the illegality of such a proceed- 
 ing, in order to prevent the approach of a deputation to 
 procure a recognition of this measure. 
 
 " At the same time, the Minister of the Interior declared, 
 in an order to the Provincial Chief of Bohemia, the whole 
 proceeding to be illegal and void, and called upon him, on his 
 responsibility, to give no encouragement to such a course. 
 At the same time, the following notice was issued to the pro- 
 vincial chiefs : — 
 
 " ' According to intelligence which has arrived to-day, a
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS. 319 
 
 provisional government lias been established in Prague, 
 under the supposition tbat comnivmicatiou with the respon- 
 sible government has been interi-upted by late events, whilst 
 the posture of affairs renders speedy measures necessary, 
 wliich far exceed the power of the existing authorities; and 
 accordingly two members of the responsible Ministerial 
 Coimcü have been forthwith despatched to Innsbruck, in 
 order to procure the imperial consent to this measui-e. 
 
 " 'I find myself compelled to announce to yom* excellency 
 that in a despatch transmitted to the governing presidents 
 in Bohemia I have pronounced such a course to be wholly 
 illegal, uncalled for by any cause, dangerous in its conse- 
 quences, and directly opposed to the views of his majesty, 
 and therefore completely null and void. I therefore call 
 on all governing presidents to pay no regard to such an 
 ulegal coirrse till the decision of his majesty has been 
 obtained, and to pay strict attention to the orders of the 
 ministry, as I hold them responsible for the consequences 
 and injury that have ensued, or may ensue, fi-om such 
 unlawful proceedings ; and this responsibility I extend to 
 all those who may have taken part in then" determination. 
 Finally, I requh-e the governing presidents, in case they shall 
 consider themselves personally bound by the revolution that 
 has been adopted, to surrender their presidency over the 
 pi'ovincial authorities and the government of the country 
 to the existing vice-presidents. I must add to this commu- 
 nication the impressive demand, that in case of similar at- 
 tempts to pursue such unlawful courses, you wiU frustrate 
 every attempt of the kind, and ujjDn your serious respon- 
 sibility will avoid eveiy course wliich in tliis important 
 moment may weaken the integrity of the empire, and pi*e- 
 vent the development of those resoui-ces which the honour, 
 the welfare, and the maintenance of the monarchy indis- 
 pensably require in then* fullest extension.' "
 
 320 iU>PENDIX TO GENESIS. 
 
 " Proclamation. 
 
 " In my manifesto of June 3rd, I expressed the intention 
 of opening, in person, tlio Diet to be held in Vienna. I 
 at that time cherished tlie liope that no obstacle would be 
 offered to my intention, if even the time originally appointed 
 could be adhered to. 
 
 " It is to me, however, a som-ce of soitow, that at this 
 moment, when the convocation of the Constituent Diet 
 can no longer be postponed, my impah-ed health does not 
 allow me to undertake the journey to Vienna. 
 
 " But in order that the opening of the Diet may not be 
 prevented, nor the necessmy prepai-ations imjieded ; and in 
 order paiiiiculai'ly that in this moment, so important for the 
 v»relfare of the state, a strong union of all the organs of 
 government may be effected, I have resolved, with the advice 
 of my ministers, who are here present, to keep my dear 
 brother near my person, in my present place of abode, and to 
 send my deai' uncle, the Archduke John, as my representa- 
 tive, to Vienna. During the time that must elapse before 
 I can follow him to Vienna, I shall not only empower liim 
 to open the Diet, but also to discharge all tlie duties 
 of government that requh"e my decision ; and I am con- 
 vinced that, in intiiisting him with my confidence, this con- 
 fidence will find an echo in the hearts of my people, since, 
 filled with the same dispositions, and governed by the .same 
 love and solicitude for my people, he will, doubtless, during 
 the entire period of his office, act in my spirit. 
 
 " Ferdinaxd, 
 " "VVessenberg, Doblhoff." 
 
 " Innsbruck, June IGth, 1848."
 
 OFFICIAL PAPEKS. 321 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Proclamation. 
 
 " His majesty the emperor lias, in consideration of his 
 still-continuing indisposition, appointed nie his representa- 
 tive. 
 
 " In this character I have to open the Diet in liis 
 name, and untU his return to Vienna, to discharge the busi- 
 ness of'government which belongs to him as constitutional 
 emperor. 
 
 " This confidence of my emperor is sacred to me. I will 
 justify it by fulfilling his warmest and most sincere vrishes, 
 which have for their object to preserve strictly and con- 
 scientiously, to the Austrian people, the freedom and rights 
 that have been secured to them, and to act in the spirit of 
 justice and of mei'cy wherever the imperial word shall decide. 
 
 " The times are serious and decisive for the happiness and 
 the power of Austria. A new and firm foundation has to 
 be laid ; legislation in all its branches needs important 
 changes ; and new resources require to be opened, in order 
 to meet the most pressing emergencies. This important 
 task can only be performed by the united and powerful co- 
 operation of all, and by a general and coui'ageous bearing 
 towards the enemies of our counti;y. 
 
 " With confidence I depend upon this general co-opera- 
 tion ; I depend upon the love of the Austrian people for 
 their emperor and for their beautiful country ; I depend upon 
 their intelligent regard for order and peace, as conditions of 
 real freedom ; and I depend, in fine, upon their confidence 
 in my constant and honourable readiness to dedicate the 
 utmost of my power to the cause of Austria's welfare and 
 tranquillity.
 
 322 APPENDIX TO GENESIS. 
 
 " In their anticipations I feel myself strong, and filled 
 with the best hopes that I shall be enabled to restore back 
 into the hands of my gracious emperor the power which has 
 been confided to me, strengthened by law, peace, and gene- 
 ral prosperity. 
 
 " The Archduke John." 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Gentlemen Representatives, — Commissioned by his 
 majesty, our most gracious constitutional emperor, to open 
 the Constituent Diet, I hereby discharge this gratifying 
 duty ; I welcome you with deep emotions, gentlemen, who 
 are called to complete the great work of the regeneration of 
 our country. 
 
 " The security of the freedom we have obtained for om-- 
 selves and for our posterity demands yoiu' open, independent 
 co-operation for the establishment of the constitution. 
 
 " All the national divisions of the Austrian monarchy are 
 equally dear to the heart of his majesty. The interests of 
 all will find a firm foundation in their cordial brotherly 
 feeling, in the perfect equality of all, and in their sincere 
 attachment to Germany. 
 
 " The heai-t of hLs majesty was filled with sorrow to ob- 
 serve that the full abimdance of all those blessings could 
 not be at once attained, which the wise iise of free institu- 
 tions usually secures to a people. 
 
 " His majesty sympathizes deeply with the grievances of 
 his people.
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS. 323 
 
 " With relation to Hungary and its adjacent territories, 
 those sentiments of justice which distinguish that noble- 
 minded people allow us to expect a peaceful arrangement of 
 those questions which are stul unsettled. 
 
 " The war in Italy is not carried on against the freedom 
 of the Italian people: it has for its earnest object, whilst it 
 fully recognised national claims, to assert the honour of the 
 Austrian ai-ms over the Italian powers, and to protect th« 
 most important interests of the state. 
 
 " Since our benevolent efforts peaceably to settle our un- 
 happy discords have failed, it becomes the duty of onx brave 
 army to exact an honourable peace. 
 
 '• The friendly relations of Austria with aU other powers 
 remain unchanged. 
 
 " Om^ friendly connections with Spain, for a long time 
 interrupted, have been again restored. 
 
 " From the effects of former financial operations, and from 
 the concurrence of extraordinary circumstances, the financial 
 affah's of the kingdom are brought to a condition which de- 
 mands unusual measures, and the ministry will be required, 
 at the first opportunity, to propose the requisite plans, and 
 lay before us the accompanying estimates. 
 
 " In the convocation of representatives, for an especial con- 
 sideration of the public interests, will be found the best 
 security for the moral and physical development of Austria. 
 
 " Gentlemen, his majesty conveys to you and to the enth-e 
 nation his imperial welcome, and offers you the assurance of 
 his cordial attachment. 
 
 " The Constituent Diet is oi^ened." 
 
 y2
 
 324 APPilNDlX TO OENliSlS. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " Sovereign Assembly of our Kealm ! — The joy of the 
 people of Austria on the day of the oj)ening of the Sovereign 
 Assembly lias found a most gratifying echo with the Com- 
 mittee of the Citizens of Vienna, the National Guard, and 
 the Academic Legion. 
 
 " Impressed with the high iniportance of the task under- 
 taken by the Constituent Diet, upon the j)ei-formance 
 of which the fate of the Austrian people depends, the 
 select committee considei-s it a most sacred duty, by means 
 of increased exertions, to take care that the high Assembly 
 may be undisturbed in its sittings. The necessity of accom- 
 plishing this mission, the committee, in conformity with the 
 chai'acter of its institution, believes viill be found in its knoAvn 
 efficiency, and in the cii-cumstances of the present time. 
 
 " History describes it to be a child of the revolution of 
 the ever-memorable 26th of May, the offspring of an agi'ee- 
 ment between the people and the ministry. At that tinie, 
 as the ministerial announcement of May 27th expressly 
 declared, entire respons bility for public order and peace, as 
 well as the protection of person and property, was confided 
 to it, and the whole property of the state, as well as that 
 of the coiui:, and all puVjlic institutions, collections, and cor- 
 porations in the cajiital, was placed under its safeguard ; and 
 it was declared to be an independent authority created for 
 the preservation of order and the protection of the capital, 
 as well as the guardianship of the rights of the people. 
 
 " The opinion of all reflecting and just-thinking peojile ; 
 the numerous addresses and solemn deputations sent to thon 
 from almost eveiy province ; the increasing number of peti- 
 tions which every day an-ived ; but, above all, the restora-
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS. 325 
 
 tion aud preservation of ti'anquillity, in spite of the ceaseless 
 endeavours and intrigues of criminal agitators, afford testi- 
 mony that this body has justified the confidence of the peo- 
 ple, and ably discharged its duty up to the present day. 
 
 " The burden of its serious responsibility has not yet been 
 removed, and it continues to the present hour to be the only 
 real popidar authority. 
 
 " In this capacity it considers itself, above all things, 
 bound solemnly to express hei'eby to the high Assembly its 
 senthnents of deep devotion, and in the following statement, 
 to publish, for general information, its latest resolutions ; 
 })ecause therein those particular points are expressed, which, 
 according to its judgment, point out the sphere of its 
 duties : — 
 
 '■ The committee has unanimously resolved to continue its 
 sittings untU the high Assembly shall announce its dissolu- 
 tion ; or until the ministry shall either establish another 
 popular authority, or shall so reorganize the existing one, 
 that the preservation of order, peace, and security may A\'ith 
 confidence be intrusted to it. 
 
 '•' Until that time, howevei', in the first place, it will use all 
 the means in its power for the preservation of order, peace, 
 aud security ; and in the second, it Avill co-operate with the 
 ministry in theii- efforts, that the authorities, by a popular 
 reconstiiiction which shall possess the confidence of the 
 peo[)lc, shall be strengthened and empowered to undertake 
 the discharge of active duties, and render the dissolution of 
 the committee possible. 
 
 " In order finally to put an end to that arbitrary self- 
 assistance, which endangers order and secm-ity in the highest 
 degi'ee, the committee believes, that in its chai'acter of de- 
 fender of the rights of the people, it is also its duty to afford 
 every individual whose rights are attacked that protection
 
 326 APPE>rDIX TO GENESIS. 
 
 which each citizen, in the existing state of the law, is entitled 
 to demand from the proper authorities ; that for such a 
 purpose the committee ■^nll interfere by mediation, and, if 
 necessary, by force. 
 
 " The committee has in this statement given, in a general 
 manner, a sketch of its fiitui'e duties. 
 
 " In the consciousness of honourably discharging their 
 civic duties, which have been undertaken \vith the confidence 
 of the people, and are inscribed upon their hearts as a com- 
 mand resulting from the necessities of the capital, the com- 
 mittee, for the attainment of its glorious object of embolden- 
 ing the timid and the suppressing all evil-minded agitators, 
 respectfully solicits the approbation of the high Assembly. 
 " The Committee of Vienna Citizens, the ISTa- 
 tional Guard, and the Academic Legion, for 
 the preservation of order and safety, and 
 the maintenance of the rights of the people. 
 " Dr. WuRDA, Secretary, Representative." 
 
 " Vienna, Jvlij loth, 1848." 
 
 IX. 
 
 "Answer to the Assembled Estates of the Diet of Trcmsylvania. 
 
 " The union of Transylvania with Hungary has filled our 
 breasts Avith warm feelings of joy. Intelligence of happier 
 and more important events could not reach us. 
 
 " "We were surprised, not so much by the imexpectedness 
 of our joy, for we had expected Avith full confidence the 
 union of the two sister nations ; but we were astonished by
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS. 327 
 
 the excess of our proud conviction, that this countr}'-, united 
 from henceforth, would no longer remaiu a prey to cabals or 
 violence. 
 
 " We delayed no exertions to procure the sanction of the 
 monai'ch to the articles of vinion. The Ministerial Presi- 
 dent proceeded forthmth, accompanied by a deputation, to 
 our crowned king, to request iirgently the royal word and 
 seal for the union ; and he did not return before, in commu- 
 nicating the monarch's consent to the perfect incorporation 
 of the kingdoms, he could announce that the imperishable 
 foundation-pülars of our futiure greatness had been laid. 
 
 " So long in bygone days as these two nations were united, 
 we were siuTounded by greatness, glory, and national renown; 
 on the day which separated us from each other commenced 
 our weakness, humiliation, and slavery. The might of the 
 conqueror broke against our united endeavours ; separated, 
 we were both slaves, and erased from the list of independent 
 nations. 
 
 " God, the common alliance of blood, and national recol- 
 lections of the past, commanded us to be brothers, and not 
 merely neighbours as we were previously. A neighbour trou- 
 bles himself little about the lot of his neighbour. All of us, 
 inhabitants of Transylvania and Hungary, are alhed. We 
 are brothers who love each other, desire our common wel- 
 fare, and wish to live and are ready to die for each other's 
 good. 
 
 " The union is a new public announcement of this national 
 brotherhood in the face of Em'ope ; that which blood unites 
 and the joys and sorrows of a thousand years sanctifies, that 
 we declare to-day publicly before the world to be eternal. 
 
 " May this bo the first most gloriou-s finiit of our brotherly 
 re-union after tliree hundred years' separation. 
 
 " Even in separation we were united. The princely word
 
 328 Ari'KNUIX TO UKNESIS. 
 
 of our crowuod king has now suuctioued our practical union. 
 Nothing nioro remains than that the blessing of God should 
 crown this union, which is ready, on behalf of the people of 
 e\-erv tougiic and of cveiy creed, to adopt, acknowledge, and 
 practise the sacred principles of fi-eedom, equality, and bro- 
 therly lo\"e. 
 
 '•'Count Louis Batthyaxi, Fkancis Deak, 
 Gabriel Klausal, Louis Kossuth, 
 B. JoHX EöTvös, Bart. Szemere, Laz, 
 Messaros, G. Stephen Szechentti." 
 
 '' Buda-Festh, June Utk, 1848." 
 
 " Speech from the Throne. 
 
 '■ In the name and as the rejiresentative of the exalted 
 pei-sou of our glorious reigning king, Ferdinand V., I hereby 
 open the present Diet. 
 
 " The unusual cux-umstances of the counti'y render it 
 necessaryj without waiting for the conclusion and completion 
 of all those plans and propositions which the responsible 
 ministry of his majesty had to prepare and luring to a con- 
 clusion upon the proposiü and at the command of the late 
 Diet, to convoke the present Diet without delay. 
 
 '•' In Croatia open rebellion exists ; in the proAinces of the 
 Lower Danube armed bodies of rioters have Aiolated the 
 peace of the countiy ; and as it is the most anxious wish of his 
 majesty to avoid a ci^■il war, his majesty is con\"inccd that 
 the assembled representatives of the nation ■will consider it
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS. 329 
 
 as the first and most important object of tlieii' solicitude to 
 adopt e^•ery measure calculated to restore the interrupted 
 peace, to maintain the integrity of the holy Hungarian 
 crown, and to secure the inviolable sanctity of the laws. 
 
 " The defence of the country and the state of the finances 
 will therefore be the principal points to which, under the 
 present extraordinary circumstances, I, acting in the name 
 of liis majesty, particularly dhrect the attention and solici- 
 tude of the national representatives. 
 
 " The responsible ministers of his majesty will announce 
 measui-es adapted to these ch-cumstances. His majesty con- 
 fidently hopes that the representatives of the nation -will 
 introduce speedy and suitable 2)ro2iositions -with relation to 
 all those matters which, in preference to every other con- 
 sideration, the safety and Avelfare of the country demand. 
 
 " With feelings of pain, and the deepest displeasure, has 
 his majesty learned, that although he, who has ever held 
 the happiness of all his subjects, of every countiy, dear to 
 his heart, and only obeyed the impulse of his own will, 
 when, dm-ing the last Diet, upon the request of the loyal 
 Hungarian nation, he sanctioned with his high ro}'al appi'o- 
 bation those laws which were requisite to further the im- 
 provement of the country in accordance with the exigencies 
 of the time; yet evil-minded inciters to sedition have been 
 found, pailicularly in Croatia, and in the provinces of the 
 Lower Danuljc, to excite the inhabitants of those countries 
 against one another, who differ in language and religion, by 
 means of false reports and alarming tales, impelling them, by 
 slanderously asserting that the above-mentioned la^v^s were 
 not the free expression of his majesty's will, \iolently to 
 oppose the dominion of law and of regular authority ; and 
 some have earned their sedition to such an extent as to 
 assert that their opposition is intended to promote the
 
 330 APPENDIX TO GENESIS. 
 
 interests of the exalted royal house, and is exerted with the 
 knowledge and approbation of his majesty. 
 
 " To quiet the mind«, therefore, of all the inhabitants of 
 this country, of every language and religion, I hereby declare, 
 by the special and most gi'acious command of our most 
 illustrious lord and master, and in his most exalted name, 
 and as the representative of his person, that his majesty is 
 fii-mly and immovably determined to protect with his royal 
 power the unity and integi-ity of the Hungarian throne 
 against every attack from abroad and attemj)t at division at 
 home, and firmly to maintain unchanged every law which 
 has been at any time sanctioned by him. And as his 
 majesty, on the one hand, will never allow the freedom of 
 his citizens, which has been secured by the laws, to be 
 \'iolated, so, on the other, his majesty himself, and all the 
 members of his roj'al house, condemn in the strongest 
 manner the daring hardihood of those individuals who 
 venture to assert that any unlawful action, be it of what- 
 ever nature it may, or any disobedience to lawful authority, 
 is compatible with the most high will of his majesty, or has 
 happened for the advantage of his royal house. 
 
 " The imion of Transylvania and Hungary has been sanc- 
 tioned by his majesty with the most cordial and paternal 
 feelings, because his Majesty has thereby fulfilled the anxious 
 ^vishes of his truly beloved Hungarian and Transylvanian 
 people, and also 1^'^cause the territory of two countries now 
 incoi-porated together, by the united development of their 
 matm'ity and power, will thereby become a firmer support of 
 the throne and of freedom. 
 
 " His Majesty's Hungarian ministry ^vill announce what- 
 ever measures, in relation to the details of that union which 
 has already been effected, remain to be considered by the 
 legislative bodies.
 
 OFFICIAL PAPERS. 331 
 
 "With relation to foreign affairs in the Lombardo -Vene- 
 tian kingdom, where the hostile troops of the King of Sar- 
 dinia, and of some other Italian powers, have attacked the 
 army of his majesty, the war has not yet been brought to a 
 termination. With the other foreign powers our friendly 
 relations still continue undistm'bed, of whose continuance 
 his majesty doubts the less, because his majesty has ever 
 made it an object of the greatest solicitude with his govern- 
 ment, to neglect nothing which, without injury to the dig- 
 nity of his royal throne, the safety of his loyal subjects and 
 theii- real interests, may estabhsh a peaceful understanding 
 with foreign powers ; and his majesty hopes, with justice, 
 that as he has ever pursued the principle of neutrality with 
 respect to the interior affairs of other powers, the same 
 neutrality will be observed in an eqiial degree by foreign 
 states. 
 
 " His majesty entertains no doubt that the Diet, ha\dng 
 in \dew the inseparably tinited interests of ' the royal 
 thi'one and of constitutional freedom,' will, without delay, 
 adopt every regulation which the welfare of the country so 
 lu-gently demands. Ajid I discharge the high duty imposed 
 upon me by his majesty, when I assure the Diet and the 
 whole loyal nation, of the gracious favour, and the heart- 
 felt paternal dispositions, of our most illustrious lord and 
 kin"."
 
 RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION 
 
 INSTITUTED EY THE 
 
 IMPERIAL-ROYAL COURT-MARTIAL, 
 
 RESPECTIXC THE 
 
 MURDERERS OF THE MINISTER OF WAR, 
 
 GENERAL FIEI.D-MARSHAL 
 
 THEODOR COUNT BAELET VON LATOUR.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The object of the following pages is not mei'ely to give a 
 liistory of this event, so pregnant ia its consequences, derived 
 from official sources, together with a short sketch of the 
 cii-cumstances attending each individual charge, but also to 
 make known the opinion of the public respecting the origi- 
 nators and chief actors in this crime, their motives, and the 
 means they employed. 
 
 The number of witnesses produced, exceeding a thousand, 
 of all classes, prevents our following their depositions singly ; 
 but such accounts have been selected as are placed beyond 
 doubt by the concurrent testimony, on oath before the court, 
 of numerous credible witnesses. 
 
 The results of the investigation are given in three sections ; 
 the first of which details the course of events in tlie War 
 Office on the 6th of October, 1848 ; the second, the imme- 
 diate actors ; the last, the originators of the murder.
 
 PIEST SECTION, 
 
 EVENTS IN THE WAR-OFFICE ON THE 6tH OF OCTOBER, 1848. 
 
 On the niglit of the 5th and 6th of October, 1848, a depu- 
 tation of the guard of the Faubourgs waited upon the 
 "War Minister with a wiitten request that the Richter 
 battalion of gi-enadiers, which had received an order from 
 the War Minister to proceed the next morning by railroad 
 to Hungary, should be detained at Vienna. The deputation, 
 in their representation, especially insisted on the fact, that 
 the grenadiers belonged to the troops of tlie Germa/n Confedera- 
 tion, and were on good terms with the inhabitants of Vienna. 
 Count Latour referred the deputation to the commanding 
 general, Count Auersperg, who, as might have been fore- 
 seen, declared it to be out of the question to listen to their 
 request. 
 
 The same night the Minister of War was waited upon by 
 the commander of the Academic Legion, Joseph Aigner, and 
 informed that a fraternization had taken place in different 
 public-houses between the troops of the grenadier battalion 
 and the National Guards of the Wieden and Gimipendorf 
 subui'bs, when the grenadiers had been induced to promise 
 to refuse to march, in case they were supported by the 
 National Guards ; that grenadiers and guardsmen of the 
 suburbs had appeared in the so-called Aula in the course of 
 the night, to assure themselves of the support of the students; 
 and that Aigner, unable to restrain the Legion from sup- 
 porting the grenadiers in their incipient insurrection, could 
 only order the well-disposed students-in-law to the rail-
 
 ."^SG INVESTKIATION INTO THE 
 
 road, with a view to frustrate as mucli as possiljle the 
 intentions of the other students. 
 
 To the representations of Aigner, Count Latour only 
 answered, that the order for the departure of the grenadiers 
 must be obeyed ; adding, that he had himself been warned 
 that his life was iu danger from at least twenty different 
 quarters. 
 
 At three o'clock in the morning he despatched his aide-de- 
 camp. Major Baron Box])erg, to the commanding general, 
 Count Auersperg, to inquire what arrangements had been 
 made to insure the departure of the Richter battalion of 
 grenadiers, and at the same time to direct that at least tAvo 
 divisions of cavalry should be called out to assist in enforcing 
 this step. 
 
 Coimt Latour, moreover, informed the Minister of the 
 Interior, Baron Doblhoff, through Major Boxberg and 
 Lieutenant Walz, of the imminent danger of an enieute, 
 with a request that all the means at his disposal should 
 instantly be init in requisition to jirevent a breach of the 
 peace, and that for this ])urpose the National Guards should 
 1)6 called out. 
 
 BaroB. Doblliofi' who was laid up with illness, did not 
 send for his officials imtil an hour afterwards, Avhen he 
 infonned the ^Minister of "War that he doubted whether the 
 National Guards would be inclined to march out before an 
 actual outbreak ; but that he would give the necessary 
 «lirections to their commander-in-chief. 
 
 In consequence of the stormy events on the Tabor Bridge, 
 early on the morning of the Cth of Octobex-, the whole body 
 of ministers gi-adually assembled at the War Office, whither 
 the majority of the generals in active sei'A'ice and the chief 
 officers repah-ed, to place themselves at the disposal of the 
 War ^Minister.
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 337 
 
 Towards nine o'clock in the morning, whilst the com- 
 manding general, Count Anersperg, was still present at the 
 War Office, the melancholy news was brought from the 
 Tabor of the partial destruction of the bridges, and the 
 death of General Bredy. 
 
 One order now rapidly succeeded another, when the 
 commander of the Legion, Aigner, appeared at eleven o'clock 
 at the War Office, Avith the tidings that two companies of 
 the Legion, wliich he had placed for the protection of the 
 station, had been fired upon by the military, and several 
 students had been killed. Major Boxberg was despatched 
 with an order to the Field - marshal - lieutenant Bai'on 
 Csorich, Avho commanded at the Tabor, not to fire until he 
 was actually attacked, and especially to avoid all unnecessary 
 bloodshed. 
 
 The aide-de-camp found the troops at the end of the main 
 street of the Leopoldstadt ; the staff-officers commanding 
 there in the absence of the lieutenant field-marshal, sent by 
 him a request for assistance, having been attacked in the 
 lY-ar by a superior force, and compelled to retreat. 
 
 On their hasty retreat. Major Boxberg saw the first bar- 
 ricades erecting in the city, near the archbishop's palace, at 
 the instigation of the students ; and, in consequence of the 
 information which he earned to the War Minister, the 
 commanding general was empowered at one o'clock p. m., to 
 suppress the rising in the Leopoldstadt by force of arms, and 
 to take possession of the bridges, — an ordei', which was 
 affcerAvards repeated by two officers despatched to him. 
 
 Meanwhile, some members of the Diet, — the Pre,sid<>nt 
 Strobach, Smolka, Fischhof, and others, — partly of their own 
 .iccord, and partly at the invitation of the minister, re})aired 
 to the War Office, to take part in the consultations on tho 
 occuiTcnces of the day. 
 
 z
 
 338 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 After twelve o'clock at noon Ijcgan the sanguinaiy riots 
 in the Stephensplatz, — the immediate i:)relude to those in 
 the War Office. The battalion of the Civic National Guards, 
 ■who were di'awn out to prevent the sounding of the alarm- 
 bells, received a division of students who were bringing two 
 cannon from the city arsenal to the Red Tower gate, with 
 loud symptoms of discontent ; and when the students, pro- 
 voked by this, sought to press upon the City Guard, the 
 commander of the latter ordered them to load, and the 
 students hastily retreated. 
 
 The proletarians, enraged at this, mocked and insulted the 
 Civic National Guards in the grossest manner, and thi'eatened 
 to fetch the guards of the Wieden Suburb to pmiish 
 them. 
 
 In fact, three battalions of the latter shortly aftei'wards 
 made theii' appearance, between whom and the Civic Guards 
 shots were instantly exchanged ; whereupon the latter, forced 
 back into the crowd, partly fled to St. Stephen's chui'ch. 
 
 Thither they were pursued by the Wieden guards joined 
 by the populace and students ; the sacred edifice was pro- 
 faned, and blood was shed upon the very steps of the altar. 
 
 One of the deputies of the Diet, Dr. Fischhof, in the 
 ministerial council, stated that the proclamation to the 
 National Guards, issued with a view to stop this fratricidal 
 contest, proved equally fr-uitless as a former appeal to the 
 inhabitants of Vienna, issued on occasion of the occun-ences 
 at the Tabor. 
 
 Meanwhile, other persons of the lower classes came to the 
 War Office, with the m-gent request for military suppoit for 
 the Civic Guards. 
 
 From the deficiency of troops, and in order not to leave the 
 War Office wholly unprotected, which was only guarded by a 
 company of Deutschmeister Grenadiers, and three companies
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 339 
 
 of pioneers, beside tlie usual troops of the main guard, Count 
 Latour refused at first to listen to this demand. 
 
 Pressed, however, by m-gent entreaties from many sides, 
 and especially by the officers of the National Guard present, 
 not to abandon the faithful Ci\ic Guards, and the critical 
 position of the latter being confirmed by one of the officers 
 on duty on the Stephensplatz, the War Minister, at two 
 o'clock P.M., gave the order to the colonel of the pioneers, 
 to advance to the Stephensplatz "svith his troops and two 
 cannon, to clear the square of the populace in case of need by 
 force of arms, and to liberate the well-affected Civic Guards 
 wlio were shut up in the church ; but then to retui-n imme- 
 diately with the troops for the protection of the War Office. 
 
 After Colonel Schön had vainly tried by addi-esses and 
 long and. repeated summons to induce the stvidents, the 
 guards from the subui'bs, and the armed workmen, to eva- 
 ciiate the Stephensplatz, a discharge of musketry suddenly 
 brought on a colHsion with the excited mob. 
 
 With loud threats the armed populace stormed from all 
 sides upon the colonel and his troops, and the tidings soon 
 reached the War Office, that the pioneers, pressed by the 
 superior force of the infuriated multitude, and the firing 
 from the windows, were forced to retreat across the Graben, 
 whilst in every quarter of the city, barricades, erected rmder 
 the superintendence of students and foreigners, were rising 
 up into immense bulwarks. 
 
 The imminent apprehensions for the War Office were 
 lessened upon the arrival of the Landwehr battalion of 
 Nassau infantry, who entered the city by the Schottenthor ; 
 but almost at the same time, and when Major-General Von 
 Frank, despatched to the Hofplatz, conveyed the order to 
 act on the offensive only in case of an attack, the report of 
 musketry and cannon resounded on the Hof. 
 
 Z2
 
 340 INVESTIGATION INTO Tili: 
 
 Almost at the same time came the aunouncemont that the 
 Nassau battaUon, which was marching through the Bogiier 
 Street to the sujjport of the pioneei's, liad been thrown into 
 confusion by the lire from the windows of all the adjacent 
 houses and tlie pressure of the j)roletarians streaming in 
 masses from the streets, and that the battalion had re- 
 treated. 
 
 It was three o'clock in the afternoon, when, on account of 
 the continually increasing danger, the main guard entered 
 the War Office, and the cliief gate toward the Hof])]atz, 
 which had till then remained open, was closed. 
 
 The gariison of the building, wliich was in this manner 
 secured from without, consisted of 126 men of the second 
 Deutschmeister grenadier company, under the command of 
 Captain Brandmayer and Lieutenant-]\Iajor Carl Baron 
 Gi-ainger, who had been at the storming of the barricades 
 in the Jägerzeil, on the 28th October, 1848, besides thii-ty- 
 one gi'enadiers of the Imperial infantry, regiment No. 1, witli 
 their captain, Wilhelm Baron Von Geusau, and Lieutenant 
 Stanislaus Von Marossany, both of the Duke of Nassau 
 Infantry, No. 15, which formed the main guard ; together 
 with six canjioniers and their corporal, and one of the four 
 cannons that had been saved by the main guard, three 
 baggage- waggons, nine moimted orderlies with their cor- 
 poral of the light-horse regiment. Count Wrbna, No. 6 ; 
 la.stly, twelve mounted orderlies of tlie civic cavaliy, inider 
 their commander. 
 
 The cannon, loaded witli canister-shot, was planted in 
 the larger courtyard of the War Office, pointed towards the 
 closed gate of the square ; on either side of it stood a division 
 of the Deutschmeister Grenadiers, imder Captain Brand- 
 mayer, who had been joined by Captain Adolph Muth, of the 
 2nd Bana frontier regiment, and Lieutenant Basil Brano-
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 341 
 
 waizky, of the Warasdin-Creutzer frontier regiment, who hap- 
 pened to be at the time in the "War Office. 
 
 It was resolved, that in case the chief gate shonld be forced, 
 the gi'enadiers, after discharging the cannon, shonld attack 
 the assailants at the point of the bayonet. 
 
 The rest of these grenadiers, under Lieutenant-Major 
 Baron Grain ger, were partly destined for the defence of the 
 three back gates, which were liastily barricaded, partly for 
 the occupation of the windows of the first story ; whilst 
 thirty-one grenadiers of the main guard, headed by Captain 
 Baron Gensau and Lieutenant Marossany, under Major- 
 General Von Frank, who held the command in the buildiüg, 
 imder the immediate dii-ections of the War Minister, were 
 ordered to defend the landing on the front staircase, namely, 
 that under the entrance to the Hofplatz. 
 
 But a continually-increasing crowd had collected on this 
 square, consisting of guards from the suburbs and armed 
 workmen led by students, who in a manner besieged the 
 liuilding with loud shouts and tumult, in which were mingled 
 cries of death to the War Minister, demanded the opening of 
 the gates, and soon prepared to force them. 
 
 At the time when the chief gate was closed, a student and 
 lieutenant of the Academic Legion, Wilhelm Rausch, appeared 
 among the assembled ministers in the most passionate excite- 
 ment. 
 
 He uttered violent reproaches against the War Minister for 
 the bloodshed that had taken place, which he ascribed to the 
 orders issued by Count Latour. 
 
 The student Rausch it was who had once before, previous 
 to the shutting of the chief gate, come to the War Minister, 
 and obtained from him a promise of the cessation of hostili- 
 ties, on condition that h(^ should pacify the people, wliicli, 
 however, he had failed to do.
 
 342 INVESTIGATIOX INTO THE 
 
 When ivtiuscli came a second time to the War Minister, 
 the latter asked liim what it "was that he really wanted ; on 
 wliich Eausch demanded, in a somewhat softened tone, a 
 written ministerial order for the cessation of hostilities, 
 undertaking in return to guarantee the pacification of the 
 people. 
 
 The assembled coimcil of ministers retired into the adja- 
 cent room, and in a few minutes the ministers returned to tl^e 
 aide-de-camp's apartment, in which Eausch awaited their 
 determination ; when in great haste the following words, 
 dictated by the War ^Minister himself, were written down, 
 and ten or fifteen copies made : — " The firing is everywhere 
 to cease." 
 
 These placards, Avritten on half-sheets of paper, prepared 
 by Coimt Latour, as well as by the minister Baron Wessen- 
 berg, and partly also by Bai'on DobLhoflT, were distributed 
 among those present ; and the next tiling was, to convey them 
 to the knowledge of the revolted populace without endan- 
 geiing the safety of the War Office. 
 
 For this purpose, Rausch, accompanied by Major-General 
 Frank, and several others of those present, went to the chan- 
 cery chamber, on the first stoiy, moimted the parapet of an 
 open -svindow, and endeavoui-ed, climbing round the window- 
 frame, to appease tlie enraged midtitude in the square by 
 reading aloud the written placards, and by the verbal assm*- 
 ance that all hostilities should cease. But his attempts were 
 wholly fruitless : the crowd, who had meanwhile efiected a 
 considerable breach in the gate, uttered -wild cries of, " The 
 gate must be opened ! " whust other voices demanded that the 
 military should leave the buUding ; many, also, the resigna- 
 tion, and some the death of the War Minister. 
 
 The people from below threatened aU who were standing 
 at the window with theh' pikes and other weapons, and
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 343 
 
 pointed muskets at tliem ; wliereupon they retii'ed to the 
 War IVfinister, and annoimced to him the failure of their 
 attempt, and the threatening attitude of the populace. 
 
 A proposal made to the high-sphited count by some of the 
 generals, to fight his way, imder the protection of the grena- 
 diers, to the glacis, or to the nearest baiTacks, was decHned 
 by him solely from the motive of not exposing the other 
 ministers to open danger. 
 
 Ai-rangements were already made in the courtyard, where 
 the bui-sting open of the gate was every instant expected, to 
 discharge the cannon ; and the grenadiers had closed then- 
 ranks, ready for a sortie ; when, at 4 o'clock, just as fresh 
 tidings came of the impossibility of treating with the people, 
 the Minister of War took the fatal resolution to open the 
 gate. 
 
 Doubtless he was influenced by the hope of pacifying the 
 irritated minds of the people, and preventing further blood- 
 shed, by a step evincing such manly confidence. 
 
 For this purpose he himself gave the order to General Von 
 Frank, with these words, " "Well then, open the gate, let the 
 people in, and speak to them ! " 
 
 At the same time he called out twice thi-ough the open 
 window to the grenadiers in the courtyard, " Don't fire ! " 
 and at the same instant, on his second order, the cannon, 
 which was standing in the courtyard ready to be fired, was 
 drawn aside, and pointed away from the gate. 
 
 This step, prompted by such confidence, but so unexpected, 
 operated on the behaviour and the subsequent conduct of the 
 military only with a dispiriting and starthng efiect. 
 
 According to the statement of many eye-witnesses, a 
 sudden feeling of dejection and discouragement seized on the 
 grenadiers. 
 
 The consequence of this step was the more fatal, since the
 
 344 INVESTIGATION INTO TUE 
 
 shortness of the time iliil nut allu\s- of withdrawing tlie 
 soldiers, who were disixji'secl through the passages, and taking 
 up a concentmtod position corresponding to the altered posi- 
 tion of «flail's. 
 
 To Ciiny the order into eflect, Gtneral Von Frank repaired 
 into the courtyard, where in his presence the outer cliief 
 gate, leaxiing to the Hofplatz, was ojiened ; he then hastened 
 to the War Minister, ordering the grenadiei-s in the court- 
 yard to secure the fuut of tlie staircase, and to let no one- 
 advance upon it. 
 
 The insurgents, however, instantly pressed through th(,- 
 opened gate, after di-agging to the ground a grenadier who 
 had opposed their jjassage, and caiT}-ing him off prisoner. 
 'At lu'st they only entei'ed in small numbers, looking cau- 
 tiously about in the first couii; ; but presently, encoui'aged Ijv 
 the immovable attitude of the grcnadiei*s, the armed moI>, 
 many of them intoxicated, pressed onwards into the Wuv 
 Office, the lower rooms of wliich they graduall}- took entire 
 possession of. 
 
 Confused, and not kuoMing what coui'se to follow, in con- 
 sequence of the pacificatory orders that had Ijeen issued, the 
 troops that stul remained ofiered no resistance. 
 
 Captain Baron Geusau, who, with Lieutenant Marossany and 
 thii-ty-one grenadiers of the main guard of imperial infantry, 
 was ordered to occupy the foot of the fii'st staircase, quitted 
 his post, conti-ary to the orders given him, soon after the 
 opening of the gate, and led the grenadiers to the second stoiy, 
 in order thence to reacli the passage conducting to the dwell- 
 ing of the War Minister, und to defend tliis ; he soon, how- 
 ever, retmiied, without any reason, and without executing 
 his object, to the coui-tyard, remained there for about half 
 an horn* in a state of indecision, hemmed in by the masses of 
 jjeople, and lastly betook himself, without any purpose, and
 
 MUKDER OF COUNT LATOUE. 31-5 
 
 heedless of what Avas passing m the War Office, back to the 
 main guard in the square, with his troops, who were them- 
 selves indignant at such conduct. 
 
 On the other hand, the insurgents had meanwhile forced 
 their way amongst the Deutschmeister Grenadiers, called on 
 them with tlu'eats to svirreuder theii" arms and ammunition, 
 and endeavoured, by offers of drink and all kinds of promises, 
 to induce them to desert. 
 
 The Deutschmeister Grenadiers resolutely refused to give 
 up their arras, and very few of them followed the National 
 Guards into the neighbouring public-houses. Subsequently 
 only two grenadiers went over to the mobile guard, and 
 the fraternization proffered by the peoj^le to the militaiy, 
 enticingly and enthusiastically, was accepted by few. 
 
 All order was, however, soon lost among the troops amidst 
 such influences, and without the display of any energy on the 
 part of their leaders ; a perfect confusion ensued, and the 
 troops as well as the officers were ahke helpless. 
 
 The back staircase, in the dii'ection of the bazaar, had Ijcen 
 held for only a short time by the tliii'd division of Deutsch- 
 meister Grenadiers, when these troops were likewise pressed 
 upon and broken, and the ax'med multitude now rushed 
 unopposed up this staircase, as they had before rushed up the 
 other stairs, into the upper apartments, where they Jjcgan the 
 work of destxniction. 
 
 The forcible entrance of the people appeared to have 
 deprived Captain Brandmayer of all presence of mind ; for, 
 after having weakened his small force by sending one detacli- 
 ment to the mam guard, to convey the wounded to the lios- 
 pital, and ordered another portion of the grenadier.s, without 
 any object, to the first story, and thence again down into 
 the courtyard, he and Lieutenant-Major Baron Grainger 
 looked quietly on at the gi'adual dispei'siou of the troops.
 
 346 INVESTIGATION' INTO THE 
 
 3Iauy of these grenadiers retired of their own accord to 
 the barracks, a portion went back to the stables of the War 
 Office, whilst the rest stood, singly or in groups, amongst the 
 crowd in the large coiu-tyard. 
 
 The occurrences which took place nearly at the same time 
 in the upper stoiy, of which we shall speak hereafter, pre- 
 vented General Von Frank's adopting decisive measures 
 against the disturbances iu the courtyard. 
 
 Thence it happened, that Captain Brandmayer sent the 
 order to his troops, in leply to the question, put through 
 their serjeant, as to what was to be done, to go home singly 
 and unnoticed, which order most of them obeyed ; so that 
 soon afterwards, at the time of the mui'der, about forty of the 
 Deutschmeister Grenadiers were dispersed in the two courts 
 among the people, whilst some of the Richter battalion of 
 gi'enadiers, who in the morning had gone over to the people, 
 were also in the crowd. 
 
 This apparent want of discipline, and indifference of the 
 detachment of the guards to the fate of the minister, is how- 
 ever in some manner explained by the fact, that, according 
 both to the information received from the domestics, and 
 from other suppositions, the general belief prevailed, that the 
 War Minister was already in safety, and no longer in the 
 building. 
 
 This opinion was, indeed, purposely spread abroad by the 
 generals, who had tiU then remained with Count Latom-, at 
 the time of their quitting the War Office, after the unhappy 
 minister had declined tlieir further assistance. 
 
 The ministers, who still remained together when the armed 
 crowd poured into the building, being m-ged on many sides 
 to consult their own safety, did not separate until they saw 
 the building in pos.session of the jieople. 
 
 Baron Doblhoff and Hombostl left the building fii'st, and
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 347 
 
 singly, and the latter hastened to the Diet, to state the 
 danger in which his colleague was. 
 
 The ministers Bach, Wessenberg, and Kranss, meanwhile, 
 vainly endeavoiu'ed, and from two different sides, to reach the 
 adjoining church, with the aid of the domestics ; the keys of 
 the doors could not be found, and they dared not break open 
 the doors, as the noise would be sure to attract the people in 
 the adjacent courtyard. 
 
 After this fraitless attempt at escape, the above-mentioned 
 ministers succeeded singly, and partly in disguise, in escaping 
 from the War Office. 
 
 Coimt Latour, after the dismissal of the generals, had gone 
 to his sleejjing-apartment, slipped on the undress coat of his 
 aide-de-camp Captain Niewiadomsky, and hastily put on his 
 valet's hat, in which disgidse he went, accompanied by his 
 aide-de-camp Lieutenant-Major Walz, Captain Count Gon- 
 drecourt, and Major Baron Smola, to the apartment of 
 Captain Niewiadomsky, on the foui'th story, whence they 
 expected to be able to reach the loft of the adjoining 
 church. 
 
 This hope' was, however, frustrated; for the door leading 
 from that dwelling to the church-loft was walled up, and it 
 was not an easy matter to break through it. 
 
 After a further attempt to reach the loft of the War Office 
 was abandoned, from a fear of betrayal by a lad who followed 
 them stealthily, the War Minister was conducted to a hiding- 
 place discovered by Major Baron Smola'. 
 
 This consisted of a small, dark chamber, closed by a glass 
 door, u.sed for the heating of several chimneys, wliich was 
 reached on the right from the main staii-case, in front of the 
 house, by two spacious chancery chambers. * 
 
 Count Latour entered this small room, into wbich a cliair 
 was brought him, and the approacli to the glass door was then
 
 318 INVESTIGATION INTO THK 
 
 i-luj)jH'il by a writing-talilc, jtlaced befoi-o it ; the precaution 
 uIm» was taken to stvew wi'itings on the floor iu lioth 
 thanibiM-.s, in order to make the people believe that these 
 places had already been searched. 
 
 Major Boxberg and Captain Gondrecoiirt remained on 
 the landing near this hiding- i)lacc, to inform the minister 
 of what passed in the building, aiid to guard him. Lieu- 
 tenant-Major Walz and Captain Niewiadomsky went into the 
 second and third stories, to obser\e what passed ; and the 
 latter likewise into the dwelling of the minister ; but Major 
 Baron Smola hastened to the general iu command, Coimt 
 Auersperg, on the glacis, to beg him to send immediate assist- 
 ance in this imminent peril. 
 
 The passage wa.s, howe\er, so impeded by the barricades 
 and crowds in various parts of the city, that they had to go a 
 roundabout way to reach the troops wdio were drawn up on 
 the glacis of the Josephstadt : and as the commanding 
 officer had just then received one of the papers issued by the 
 ministers, ordering the cessation of hostilities, this cii'cum- 
 stauce created a hesitation and delay in sending any imposing 
 force to the hostile pai-t of the city; so that the aid so urgently 
 expected by the Minister of War did not arxive ! 
 
 The insurgents, after gaining possession of the staircase, 
 pressed onwards into the diffei-ent chancery offices, and also 
 into the minister s dwelling, crying out, " Latour must be 
 hung !" 
 
 They burst open the locked dooi's, destroyed stoves, boxes, 
 miiTors, and other furniture, es{)ecially eveiy place or thing 
 where it was imagined the minister naight be concealed ; 
 threw books, writings, and maps, out of the windows into the 
 streets, ftied to do the same with the furniture, in which the 
 guards of the faubourgs were especially active, Avhose frantic 
 conduct was even designated as robber-like by the com-
 
 MURDER OF COUNT L,\TOUR. 349 
 
 mander of the Legion, Aigner, who was riding past in the 
 Seitzer Street. 
 
 Many began pkmdering, and there would doubtless liave 
 been a complete devastation of the building, had not other 
 occurrences soon called off the mob from the woz'k of de- 
 struction, and diverted their activity to a still greater 
 object. 
 
 Several letters found in the study of the War Minister, 
 which were read aloud to the crowd by the students who 
 headed the mob, and interpreted in their sense, contributed 
 not a little to heighten the bloodthirsty hostility of the 
 people, expressed in loud insults and threats against their 
 intended victim. 
 
 The uniforms found there were torn in 2>ieces, and distri- 
 buted to those present ; many papers and letters were 
 carried off in triumph to the Aula by the Academic Legion- 
 aries, who also appropriated the more valuable portion of the 
 booty. 
 
 During this plundering, Major-General Von Frank, in 
 consequence of a violent knocking at the door of the Presi- 
 dent's bureau, was going out into the passage, in undress, 
 when he was stopped by the proletaires, and led off to the 
 city arsenal as a hostage for the War Minister ; but ]Major 
 Schinfller, of the engineer corps, who, to satisfy the urgent 
 impatience of Count Latour for military assistance, hastened 
 aci-oss the staircase in order to survey the square, was seized 
 in the I'oughest manner l>y the insurgents in the courtyard, 
 who demanded Latour, and he was dangerously wounded. 
 
 In the meanwhile a pressing demand was sent by tlu; mem- 
 bers jjresent in the Diet to tlie President Sti-obach, at the 
 War Office, to order the opening of a session, and on the 
 news of the conflict at the War Office a deputation chosen 
 by acclamation, and consisting of the deputies Coldniark,
 
 350 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 BoiTosch, and Prince Ljubomirsky, was despatched for the 
 purpose of obtaining from the ministers a cessation of hos- 
 tilities, and the dismissal of the military from the city. 
 
 This deputation, however, returned to the Diet, when they 
 heard on their way that the fight was already ended. 
 
 When the minister Hornbostl afterwards appeared in 
 the Diet, and in answer to questions put by the deputy Bor- 
 rosch, whether the minister's life was threatened, expressed 
 his serious apprehensions on the subject, a new deputation, 
 chosen on his motion, supjiorted by Borrosch, consisting of the 
 latter. Dr. Goldmark, and the fii'st Vice-president Smolka, was 
 expressly sent to the War Office for the protection of the 
 minister's Hfe. This deputation was on its way voliuitarily 
 joined by the deputies Dr. Fischhof, Sierakowsky, Wien- 
 kowsky, and Zöpfl. 
 
 Proceeding to the War Office Avitli white scarfs and a 
 white flag, borne by Smolka, the deputies found the aide-de- 
 camp Captain Niewiadomsky and the student Bausch, at 
 the foot of the back staii'case, in the midst of the raging 
 populace, and hard pressed. 
 
 Bausch had been shortly before in the company of two 
 National Guard.s, one of whom uttered curses and thi-eats 
 against Count Latour. He had entered the ante-chamber of 
 the latter, and inquired in an urgent manner for the War 
 Minister, to whom he demanded to be immediately conducted. 
 
 Captain Niewiadomsky, who observed a cocked musket in 
 the hand of the guardsman, and heard at the same time the 
 uproar of the multitude in the courtyard, suspected miscliief, 
 and endeavoured to divert the men from their demand of 
 being led to the minister ; at the same time representing to 
 them forcibly the unhappy consequences and disgrace that 
 must follow the murder of the count and the destruction of 
 the building.
 
 MURDER OF COVKT LATOUR. 351 
 
 He succeeded in appeasing their rage, especially that of 
 the student, and he made a kind of agreement with Rausch, 
 that, with a view to pacify the people, the War Office should 
 be occupied by National Guards and Academicians, and 
 cleared of the military. 
 
 When Captaia ISTiewiadomsky had obtained the verbal 
 assent to this from the War Minister, who was hidden in the 
 closet described above, he returned to the student, who was 
 awaiting him in the second story, and they both went down 
 stairs into the courtyard, where Rausch communicated tliis 
 arrangement to those ai'ound. 
 
 The latter appeared to be content ; but others, instigated 
 by well-di'essed people, who were busuy gliding among the 
 crowd, cried out, "We are ourselves National Guards, and 
 wiU occupy the building." 
 
 The aide-de-camp and Rausch were instantly surrounded 
 by the people, dragged roughly about, and the latter was called 
 a traitor ; but Niewiadomsky, on declaring to the crowd, who 
 demanded with outcries, some the resignation, and others 
 the death of Latoui-, that the count was no longer in the 
 building, was declaimed to be a liar, by reason of the paper 
 which had been issued by the War Minister, and distributed 
 shortly before. 
 
 When at length the captain, in answer to the question, 
 where the minister was? put to him with a crowbar at his 
 breast, announced himself as the aide-de-camp of the War 
 ]VIinistei', he was still more harshly pressed, insulted, and 
 was not set free until the arrival of the deputies from the 
 Diet. 
 
 One of the most cold-blooded of the insui-gents, who 
 called on the people incessantly not to let themselves be 
 deceived and not to give way, was, according to a document 
 lying before tis, the ex-lieutenant Carl Unterschill, now a
 
 352 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 fugitive, \v1k) ut ail earlier period — not without liis uwu 
 fault — had resigned his commission and left the army. 
 
 Tliis man rushed into the War OfKce, at the head of the 
 murderous rabble, calling uut amidst the cries of his followers, 
 "Down with him!" — and turning to the mob, "Quiet! 
 the first blow is mine — T was an otiicer myself — he tyi'an- 
 uized o^•er me ! " 
 
 The deputy Borrosch, who had accomi)anied the deputies 
 up to the first steps of the staircase, addressed the people in 
 a fiery speech, as well as afterwards in the courtyard, i)i 
 which he warned them urgently not to disgrace their glori- 
 ous revolution A^th a criminal act, not to be judges where 
 they were the accusers, and, adding the assurance that the 
 events of that day would be strictly investigated, and the 
 ministers be called to an account. His address was interrupted, 
 however, by some cries of death directed against tlie War 
 Minister, and in the excitement of the moment, he threw 
 his hat among the crowd, exclaiming in gi'eat agitation, 
 that they should sooner make liim their victim ; for how- 
 ever opposed he was to the War jNIinister, yet the ]iath to 
 the latter should lie over his (Borrosch's) dead body. 
 
 At the same time the deputy Dr. Goldmark, who was 
 standing close to the speaker, went up to one of the armed 
 gi'oups in the courtyard, in which also the inspector of the 
 building was standing. 
 
 On his a.sking whom they were seeking, the mob answered, 
 " The Minister of War ;" and when the inspector assured 
 them that the count was no longer in the building, the 
 deputy Dr. Goldmark, who had been chosen by the Diet for 
 the protection of the minister's life, hastily replied, addi'ess- 
 ing the crowd, " Don't believe him ; he [Count Latoui*] is still 
 there !" 
 
 On the staircase, meanwhile, the words of the deputy Bor-
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 353 
 
 rosch were interrupted by the repeated cry, " All very fine ; 
 but Latour must be hung ! " whilst, on the contrary, they 
 were not mthout effect on the multitude gathered in the 
 courtyard ; for a great part of them joined Borrosch, who 
 rode olf toward the Stephensplatz, hoping to appease the 
 excitement by his departure, and left the War Office with him. 
 
 Deceived bj- the appearance of a lull of the disturbances, 
 although of short duration, in the building, the "svife of the 
 coachman, Josepha Dudek, who had kept her room from 
 affright, stepped out into the passage before her dwelling, and 
 found it guarded by two students, in the uniform of the 
 Academic Legion, who, with crossed bayonets, held the stair- 
 case of the back passage. 
 
 In reply to her anxious question, what was going on, one 
 of the guards answered, " Nothing, but that Latour must be 
 hung !" and when the woman started, in horror, the student 
 added, in a cold-blooded manner, " He [Latom-] has been sen- 
 tenced by the Diet and the Aula." 
 
 Fresh swarms meanwliile crowded Luto the courtyai'd from 
 the square, and the student Rausch, on the other side, com- 
 ing down the back stairs, encouraged those in the court to 
 follow him, exclaiming, " Gentlemen, Latour is there ;" 
 whereupon they all crowded after him upstairs, exclaiming, 
 " We must have him ! " 
 
 The rest of the deputies, negotiating with the crowds who 
 awaited them, were obliged to retreat to the second story, 
 where they continued urgently to represent to the people 
 that Count Latour, if guilty, would assuredly be judged, and 
 must resign. 
 
 Hastily seizing this word "resign," many of the crowd 
 demanded of the Vice-president Smolka to effect the resigna- 
 tion of Latour ; whilst others, not content with thb, insisted 
 on the minister's death. 
 
 2 A
 
 354 INVESTIGATION INTO TUE 
 
 Smolka now went, acconijuiuied only by Captain Nic^via- 
 tlomsky, and dismissing the deputies Dr. Fischhof and 
 Sierakowsky, to the upper story. 
 
 Of the other members of the deputation, Zöpfl returned, 
 immediately after Borrosch, to the Diet ; Wienkowsky, on 
 the contrary, according to his own statement, on accoimt 
 of a speech urging the people to protect the minister, 
 was carried off by the enraged mob into the neighbouring 
 Seltzer, or Bazaar-coui-t, and then threatened with death. 
 
 Goldmark, after these occurrences in the courtyard, had 
 hastened back to the passage on the first stoiy, where he 
 endeavoured to protect from insult and outrage two Italian 
 standards, which had been taken by the people out of the 
 Council-hall. 
 
 Captain Niewiadomsky, who shortly before had been again 
 assaued by armed •workmen, headed by the student Rausch, 
 in their search for the retreat of the count, led the crowd to 
 a closed oratory leading from the minister's dwelling into 
 the upper part of the chirrch, xmder the pretext that the 
 Minister of War had fled thither. 
 
 He then led Dr. Smolka, who bore the white flag, to the 
 fourth story, and met there, in the passage near the count's 
 hiding-place. Major Baron Boxberg, who meanwliile had 
 annoimced to the War Minister the arrival of the deputation 
 from the Diet, which he had observed from the window, and 
 which had filled him with new hope of a peaceable termina- 
 tion of affairs. 
 
 After Niewiadomsky and Smolka had declared to the 
 major that, in their opinion, there was no other means of 
 safety to the Minister of War than the act of his resignation. 
 Major Boxberg went to the hiding-place of the count, whilst 
 Niewiadomsky led Dr. Smolka in the opposite direction, on 
 the left, to a chancery- chamber commanding a view into tho
 
 >füRDER OP COUNT LATOUR. 355 
 
 square, whicli was about fifty paces distant from the retreat 
 of the minister, and from thence through two other rooms, 
 the staircase-hall, a passage, and several doors. 
 
 Count Latour soon after entered the large chancery-hall, 
 accompanied by Major Boxberg, who had just communicated 
 to him the pi-oposal for his resignation : here Smolka awaited 
 him, when the count declared with resolution, that he feared 
 just as little the daggers of the murderers as he had done the 
 balls in so many battles ; but that, in order to restore peace, 
 he was ready, accoi'ding to the wishes of the people, with 
 the assent of Ms majesty, to give in Ms resignation ; where- 
 upon Smolka gave liim the solemn assurance, that he and 
 the other deputies of the Diet would answer for his safety 
 with honour and life. 
 
 "When Count Latour put the question to Smolka, whether 
 it was necessary to announce Ms resignation in writing, the 
 latter replied in the affirmative ; and the minister wrote 
 with his own hand on a sheet of paper these words : " With 
 the approval of Ms majesty, I resign my office as Minister of 
 War." 
 
 Smolka took tMs paper, signed by the minister, and left 
 Mm, after having vainly endeavoured to persuade the count 
 to omit the reser\'ation " with the approval of Ms majesty," 
 fearing that tliis might give rise to difficulties in dealing 
 with the excited crowds. 
 
 With the firm confidence of having now fulfilled the will 
 of the people, and trasting to the promised protection of the 
 deputies, the War Minister believed that all further danger 
 was now removed, and deemed his longer stay in tlu; dai-k 
 closet unnecessary. 
 
 When, however, in a few minutes the uproar of the un- 
 satisfied multitude resounded through the passages, he fol- 
 lowed, by the advice of Major Boxberg, the latter back into 
 2x2
 
 3ÖG INA'ESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 the pliice of concealment ; whereupon the major again 
 pushed the -Nvriting-table before the door of the apai-tment, 
 and went out into the passage. 
 
 Vice-president Smolka, holding up the paper he had re- 
 ceived, called aloud to the masses of people who had 
 jilready entered the tliii'd story, that the War Älinister had 
 resigned, adding (as Fischhof states), in order fully to quiet 
 them : '' The Chamber will impeach him."' 
 
 Several among the crowd appeared to be satisfied, but 
 others doubted the resignation, and required the paper to be 
 read out to them. 
 
 Hardly did they hear that the act was made dependent on 
 the approval of his majesty, when the stonn bm'st out anew, 
 and cries arose : " The emperor Avill ne^er give his assent to 
 the resignation ; we must do oiu-selves right, and arrest the 
 War Minister." 
 
 Other voices exclaimed, " The scoxmdrel is there — hang 
 him. ! hang him ! " 
 
 It was in fact evident, from the sand freshly-spiinkled 
 upon the writing, that the count was in the building. 
 
 The raging multitude now attacked the mediator, calling 
 on liim to discover the retreat of the count, some A-oice.? 
 demanding his arrest, and others, with tumultuous cries, his 
 death. 
 
 Smolka declared that he would conduct them to the War 
 Minister only on condition that a sufficient number of them 
 solemnly engaged to protect him. 
 
 At Fischhof's demand, twenty to twenty-five armed 
 National Guards and workmen from the crowd now stepped 
 forward, and under the leader.ship of Rausch, took an oath 
 with their upraised fingev.s, by their honour, and vrith. their 
 lives, to protect that of the War Minister; whereupon
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 3.57 
 
 Fischhof gave them tlie renewed assurance that Count 
 Latour would be arraigned before an open court. 
 
 How a part of these guards kept their oaths at the 
 critical moment will be seen hereafter. 
 
 Meanwhile Captain Niewiadomsky, who was guarded by 
 two workmen armed with pikes, and who, it was hoped^ 
 would discover the hiding-place of the minister, contrived to 
 escajje by a side staircase, and, not trusting to the oath just 
 taken by the guards, hastened down to seek help. 
 
 In the passage between the two coui-tyards, he met Cap- 
 tain Brandmayer, of the gi'enadiers, to whom he announced 
 himself in his undi-ess as the aide-de-camp of the War 
 Ministei*, and whom he conjured, in the most sacred manner, 
 to send up some troops to save the life of the minister, which 
 was in such imixdnent peril. 
 
 Brandmayer, whose men were tlispersed in the greatest 
 disorder, shi-ugged his shoulders in an undecided manner. 
 
 Without waiting longer in the building, after this abortive 
 attempt, the tiide-de-camp hastened immediately to the Diet, 
 to procure, if possible, assistance. 
 
 But he had hardly arrived there, and was just calling 
 upon the president Strobach for aid, when the tidings 
 reached him of the fxightful crime which had meanwhile 
 been perpetrated in the War Office. 
 
 On Smolka's suggestion that some of the appointed guard 
 should accompany him upstairs to protect the count, three per- 
 sons stepped forward fi-oni the crowd, — a National Guardsman, 
 a youthful-looking Academician sword in hand, and the gar- 
 dener of Oberdöhling, Michael Neumayer, armed with a 
 pioneer's sabre. 
 
 With these persons, Smolka, Fischhof, and Sierakowsky, 
 leaving behind the rest of the guards, who had swoiu to
 
 .'iSS INVF-STUJATION IXTO THE 
 
 protect the couut, together -with their leader llauach, on 
 the stairease between the thix'd and fourth stories, in order to 
 keep back the people, proceeded through the long ^lassage in 
 the fourth ytory to the chamber where the resignation of th(5 
 minister had been signed, and where ho was stiU expected to 
 be hidden. 
 
 They however found the chamber locked, and after vainly 
 seeking the coimt in the adjacent ante-rooms, they at last 
 met Major Boxberg iu the passage, who, like all the other 
 officei"s that had remained with the War Minister after tho 
 entrance of the insurgents, was in imdress. 
 
 Vice-president Smolka begged him to lead them to the 
 count, declaring that the people were not satisfied with the 
 resignation, and thi-eatened to search and break open every 
 secret hole and corner. 
 
 Smolka further represented to the major that it was better 
 to take the count piisoner, than to give him up to certain 
 death, if he should be found by the people ; adding the 
 assurance, that a special guard had sworn to protect tho 
 minister's life. 
 
 They, the deputies of the Diet, who had guaranteed the 
 count's safety, could only answer for his life, in case he 
 allowed himself to be guai-ded by them. 
 
 Although at first startled by these representations, tho 
 major nevertheless hastened, as evidently not an instant was 
 to be lost, without making any reply, to the place of conceal- 
 ment, in order to acquaint the count with what he had heard. 
 
 The deputies, however, with thek- two companions, the 
 young Academician and the gardener Neumayer, followed 
 him ; and when the War Minister, after the table was 
 removed, stepped out of the chamber, Smolka repeated to 
 bim the urgent necessity of his allowing himself to bo 
 guarded by the people, at the same time assuiing him that
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUB. 359 
 
 he and the other deputies woidd protect him with their owu 
 lives. 
 
 Count Latoui' seemed incHned to accede to this proposal, 
 and only observed, that he might quite as well be watched in 
 the aide-de-camp's apartment of Baron Boxberg, as in that dark 
 hiding-place ; to this the deputies readily assented, and again 
 assured the minister that he had no longer anything to fear. 
 
 Whilst those present were crossüig the passage, and 
 through some of the chambers to the aide-de-camp's room 
 near the well-staircase, Fischhof sent Sierakowsky to the 
 people on the staircase, whose outcries kept drawing nearer, 
 with a view to pacify them by announcing the War Minister's 
 arrest. 
 
 But when the other attendants of the count approached 
 the aide-de-camp's room, some of the foremost of the insur- 
 gents appeared in the passage ; whereupon the mirdster, by 
 the advice of Major Boxberg, stepped through the next door 
 on to a small landing, whilst Fischhof hastened to meet the 
 tumultuous crowd. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, the pretended guards on the chief 
 staircase, between the third and fourth stories, who were left 
 behind to keep back the crowd, partly themselves cherishing 
 the worst intentions, fuUy mistrastful of the removal of 
 the deputies, and goaded on by the impatient mob, who 
 feared to lose their \ictim, went to seek the count, and 
 to prevent his escape. 
 
 The student Rausch therefore left the main staii'case with 
 three of the National Guards, among them Carl Brambosch 
 (who was aftei'wards convicted), and went higher upstairs, 
 searching the passages of the fourth stoiy, where they iii- 
 (juired of the Invalid placed there for the War Minister, 
 Ijroke open the door of a chanceiy-chamber vnth the butt- 
 ends of theh- muskets, and hunted over the whole place.
 
 360 INVESTICATION INTO THE 
 
 After reliuijuishiiig I'lirtluT search, from ignorance of tlic 
 locality, they retui'nod to tlie expectant multituile, and wen; 
 received V)y them with reproaches, insnlt, and threats. 
 They were called black-yellow dogs, who had secreted the 
 War jNIinister, Jind who must be kept as hostages for him. 
 
 The mass of people now rolled onward into the fourth 
 story, pressed into the i)assage, and utteiing wild cries of 
 " Wliere is Latour 1 " i-ushed to the back door, before which 
 two armed attendants of the deputies, an Academician, and 
 the gardener Neumayer, were drawn xij), and beside them 
 Smolka and Major Boxberg. 
 
 Smolka matle only feeble attempts to keep back the in- 
 creasing multitude, who were inflamed with rage and exciting 
 di'ink ; and when the cry arose that Latour must come forth, 
 the two anued guards declared that it was impossible to 
 make a longer stand, and j)roposed to lead the count to a 
 place of safety, whereupon there was a cry from several 
 sides, " To the Arsenal ! To the Arsenal !" 
 
 At this moment the War Minister himself came out of 
 the door of the passage, and addi'essed the following words 
 to the infuriated mob : — " My dear childi'en, I am here. I 
 have not feared balls and bayonets, nor dreaded any daggers, 
 for I am a man of honour, and have a good conscience. You 
 have offered yourselves to watch me ; do so. I suri'ender 
 myself fearlessly into your hands. I will place myself under 
 your guard." 
 
 This addi'ess was answered with a general cry from the 
 savage multitude, " Strike him, hit him ! he is the cause that 
 so many have fallen to-day ! " 
 
 A ch'cle was fonned aromid the count, consisting cliiefly of 
 the above-mentioned guards, under the student Rausch : 
 Fischhof took liim by the arm on one side, and a National 
 Guai'd on the other ; Smolka, Major Boxberg, and Neumayer,
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 361 
 
 followed, and thus the mass moved onward, amidst the tumul- 
 tuous ciy of " Do^Ti with him !" to the next, so-called, well 
 staircase. 
 
 Before reaching this, Major Baron Boxberg was forcibly 
 separated from the minister's side by the pressing multitude. 
 
 Hastening through the passage, he now sought to reach the 
 cliief staircase, and if possible to summon military help in the 
 courtyard, whither also Lieutenant-Major Walz and Captain 
 Count Gondrecourt had ah'eady hastened down. 
 
 The two latter met in the passage between the courts ; 
 Lieutenant-Major Baron Grainger told him in a few words 
 the peril of the War Minister, and were conducted by him to 
 Captain Brandmayei", in the small courtyard, who just then 
 stepped out of the house-inspector's dwelling. 
 
 Upon their virgently entreating liim to collect his men, 
 many of whom were standing about in the two courtyards, 
 to aiford instant help to the War Minister, and at least to 
 attempt to save him, representing that his honoiu' and that 
 of his company was at stake, Captain Brandmayer consulted 
 with his lieutenant-major and the serjeant, and then declared, 
 shrugging liis shoulders, as Captain Niewiadomsky had done 
 before, that it was impossible to save the minister, — their 
 force was too weak ! 
 
 l^icTitenant-Major Walz then turned to some of the grena- 
 diers standing near, but his entreaties and representations all 
 proved fruitless. 
 
 Captain Baron Von Geusau, at that time on the main 
 guard, where his men, with arms in their hands, stood at the 
 bar in front of the guai"d-roora, appears, indeed, on hearing 
 the cry, " We have got him ! " to have made an attempt to 
 force his way tlirough the gate of the square into the court- 
 yard, but was prevented by the dense crowds. 
 
 Whilst the War Minister was being led down, and already
 
 362 lA^TSTIGATIOX INTO THE 
 
 iu the upper rooms of the bviilding, the threats to hang him 
 began to be increasingly loud and general. 
 
 Beside the gardener Neumayer, the student of medicine 
 (now a fugitive) J. Wedel, a member of the Academii; 
 Legion and of the Students' Committee, made himself pro- 
 minent by loud insults and threats against the count. 
 
 Inflamed with thirst for murder, "Wedel struck with his 
 sword-hilt at one of the guards, who was protecting the 
 minister vnth. upraised musket. 
 
 On reaching the lower stories, the defenders of the count 
 were one by one forcibly pushed away from his side ; one 
 in particular of those who endeavoured to take their places 
 was Neumayer, who led the helpless count further down, 
 whilst the crowd following him, furnished with muskets, 
 pikes, and all kinds of weapons, consisting of National Guards, 
 several students, but chiefly of workmen, insulted the War 
 Minister, who was given up to the rage of the populace, with 
 the lowest expressions, and with shouts, demanded his death. 
 Their brutality went so far, that they forced the hat of the 
 grey-headed old general quite on to his face in the most 
 savage manner. 
 
 From the. passage at the foot of the staircase, Count Latour 
 went into the larger courtyard, followed by the crowd, but 
 as yet without any visible wound. 
 
 Meanwhile the cry resounded on all sides in the courtyard, 
 " They are bringing him ! " and a crowd of people collected, 
 mostly armed, rapidly increasing in numbei-s, which met the 
 count as he came out. 
 
 Scarcely had this crowd perceived the War JMinister, when 
 immediately a savage shout broke forth, of " Murder him, — 
 hang him ! " All rushed upon the unhappy count and his 
 attendants, who were presssed together, partly separated, 
 and pushed against the walls, on the left of the exit
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 363 
 
 from the passage, where the multitude stood closely packed 
 together in a confused mass. 
 
 Here several of the murderers piilled out of their pockets, 
 evidently prepared beforehand, thin coi'ds, called rebschnure, 
 a ball of which was flimg in the face of the conductor of the 
 count. 
 
 This is partly explained by the cii'cumstance, that previ- 
 ously, during the seai'ching of the house, a similar cord had 
 been exhibited by an ill-dressed man, who added, " This is for 
 Latour;" as well as by the fact that, some time before the 
 murder, a National Giiardsman of the suburbs in the town 
 arsenal, who was not discovered, had cut off a piece of cord, on 
 heariug the same cry, and hastened with it to the War Office. 
 
 In the pressure against the "War Minister, the brutal and 
 murderous mob first knocked off his hat ; a workman struck 
 him several blows in the face, over the heads of the persons 
 in front, with a cord several times doubled, exclaiming, " With 
 that you will be hung ! " 
 
 Another workman struck him several times in the face 
 with his hand, and a National Guardsman of the suburbs 
 seized the grey-headed count by his hair, and shook him so 
 violently, that he staggered, and with difficulty held himself 
 up by catching the hand of an unknown private individual, 
 who pressed forward to protect him. 
 
 Several of those about the War Minister in vain endea- 
 voured, by representations, entreaties, and efforts, to save 
 him ; they were pushed about in the crowd, flung back by 
 the threatening and murderous horde from the victim, who 
 was now abandoned to the rage of the populace, and by 
 degrees entirely separated from him. 
 
 Dr. Fischhof asserts, that he averted with liis uplifted 
 arm the blow of a hammer aimed at the count's head, when 
 he was himself torn from the minister s side.
 
 3C4 invi:stu;ation ivu) tiii; 
 
 Smolka declares that, iu liis endeavours to save the War 
 ^Minister, he received a blow from the butt-end of a musket, 
 which smashed his watch, — that in the tumult his scarf and 
 flag wore torn from liim, and he wa,s pushed away from the 
 coimt's side, just as he had called out to Sierakowsky to 
 jiacify the people with his powerfiü voice. 
 
 Sierjdvowsky affirms, that, on Smolka's summons, and with 
 the white flag which the latter handed to him, he flung him- 
 self into the raging crowd which was pressing upon the 
 minister, but was forced back into the middle of the court- 
 yard by unknown pei-sons, with the exclamation, " If you are 
 an honest man, have nothing to do with a scoimdrel!" 
 
 Numerous eye-witnesses, principally belonging to the 
 lower classes, mention, without any more precise statement, 
 three or four civilians, some National Guards, and several 
 witnesses, also two or three students, Avho for some time 
 endeavoured to keep otf the pressure fi'om the minister, and 
 to save him. 
 
 It is, however, cei^tain, that Captain Count Gondi'ecourt, 
 who, after his fruitless attempt with Captain Brandmayer, 
 had again forced his way to the count's side, in order to 
 protect him, pushed him against the wall, placed himself 
 wth hLs body before the minLster, and to the last miniite 
 literally covered him in this manner, until he was himself 
 seized b)' the neck by a National Guardsman, and forced 
 away amidst the most frightful threats. 
 
 The firet visible wounds inflicted on the u.nhappy coimt 
 were followed in the courtyard by a stroke with a pioneer's 
 sabre on the head, and this blow was the signal for a mur- 
 derous scene, which in barbarity has scarcely a parallel in 
 modem histor}", and is certainly unsurpassed by any. 
 
 It is impossible to describe accurately the wounds which 
 followed this sabre-stroke, the depositions of the witnesses
 
 MUKDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 365 
 
 and actors not altogether agreeing in tliis respect; a fact 
 wliich is easily explained by the rapidity with "which the 
 attacks followed one another, many simultaneous wounds,, 
 and by the tumultuous perpetration of the murder. 
 
 Nearly at the same instant, the innocent victim of popular 
 rage received a blow with an iron bar on his head, a stroke 
 Avith a hammer on the same part, a thrust with an ii-on pike, 
 and a bayonet-wound, the two latter in the stomach ; on 
 which the minister sank to the earth, whilst on all sides he 
 was beaten, thrust at, wounded, vnth. the butt-ends of 
 muskets, sabres, pikes, iron bars, bayonets, clubs, even with 
 a scythe, just as the clock in the War Office had struck a 
 quarter to four. 
 
 The savage, inhuman multitude pressed on the minister, 
 as he lay upon the ground, mortally wounded, jumped on the- 
 mangled body, and trod upon him with their feet ; when the 
 count still gave signs of Ufe, snatching convulsively with his 
 right hand at a bayonet, with which he was woimded in the 
 flank, to ward it off from him. 
 
 The body, covered with blood, was then dragged by the 
 feet across part of the courtyard, with the head beating 
 against the pavement, amidst the hideous shouts of joy from 
 the raging mob, and the cry of " Hang him ! " He was then 
 dragged back to the wall by the passage, and pulled up to the 
 bars of the middle window in the court, with one of the 
 cords, which were eagerly offered by several persons present. 
 
 Two civic shaq^shooters endeavoured at the same time to 
 raise the body with their bayonets, supported by othera, to 
 the wall. 
 
 The cord, however, which was not strong enough for thi;* 
 weight, snapped in two, and the count fell to the ground ; 
 whereupon a wliitc leather straj) was brought, hung round 
 Ilia nock, and to this was fastened the cord ; and in thw
 
 366 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 manner his body was dragged to another window, in the front 
 corner of the courtyai'd, liis liead continually striking against 
 the stone pavement. 
 
 After the body fell from the window-bars, the dying man 
 had still a rattling in the throat whilst on the ground, and 
 even at the commencement of his being dragged to the comer 
 window, drew a deep breath. 
 
 Many of the maddened crowd endeavoxired even to press 
 forward after this horrible act, in order to heap ill-treatment 
 on the dead body. 
 
 Even women were seen jumping on the body, screaming, 
 stamping on him with their feet, and tiiumphantly exclaim- 
 ing, " Dog, you are done for now !" 
 
 Amid such barbarous scenes the dead body was di'agged by 
 the feet through the arched gate leading to the square, 
 whilst the clothes were pulled off piecemeal, and the mur- 
 derers fought for the shreds. 
 
 Upon several of the National Guards forcing their way in 
 from the square, the cry suddenly arose, " Here come the 
 grenadiers !" whereupon in an instant the cowardly mob fled 
 in affidght, leaving behind the dead body under the gateway, 
 to the back-door ; but presently, emboldened again by the 
 cry that it was only a false alarm, they returned to theii* 
 work of horror, dragged the body to the lamp-post, into the 
 square in front of the War Office, fetched a ladder from a 
 neighbouring house, and hung it by another white leather 
 strap, with a cord attached to it, to the colossal cast-iron 
 lamp-post. 
 
 The corpse was now instantly stripped naked, the veiy 
 body-linen being torn off in pieces, and with eveiy possible 
 atrocity, ill-treated, insulted, mutilated, and finally used as a 
 target by several of the National Guards, in firing off their 
 muskets.
 
 MURDEE OF COUNT LATOUR. 367 
 
 Some persons who expressed compassion and horror at 
 these revolting proceedings were insulted and ill-treated by 
 the populace, and put in peru of their lives. 
 
 It was not till a later hour at night, that any one had the 
 courage to cover the mutilated and naked body with a Hnen 
 cloth. 
 
 A fter midnight it was taken down by one of the National 
 Guards of Penzing, assisted by other guards, and carried to 
 the military hospital, from a feeling of humanity, in spite of 
 the remonstrances of one of the Academic Legion, who de- 
 manded that the body should 1 e left to hang longer on the 
 lamp-post, as an example. 
 
 Whilst the murderers, stiU dripping with blood, immedi- 
 ately after the deed ran to the Aula with wild ciies of joy, 
 to get their blood-money, and there formed triumphant pro- 
 cessions ; many people of both sexes also collected in the 
 courtyard of the War Office, around the pool of blood in 
 front of the second grated window, and dipped their hand- 
 kerchiefs in the blood, taking it up in their hands, and 
 bedaubing their clothes and weapons with it. 
 
 In many parts of the city and the subui-bs, the effects^ 
 remnants of clothes — nay, even portions torn from the body 
 of the victim — were publicly exposed to view, in a boastful 
 manner, distributed, and even formally bought and sold. 
 
 The physicians called in at the examination of the bod}- 
 l>efore the court, declare in their verdict, that the War 
 Minister, Count Latour, was tortured to death in the strictest 
 sense of the word. 
 
 Beside small extravasations of blood, abrasions, and lacerated 
 wounds, forty-three incised wounds were pointed out in the 
 body, partly effected by strokes, partly by thrusts, and partly 
 by shot-wounds. 
 
 Of these wounds thirty-one (namely, ten on the head, one
 
 3G8 IXA'ESTIOATION INTO TUE 
 
 on the ueck, four cm the breast, seven on the bciUy, and 
 nine on the upper and under hmbs) presented distinct 
 signs of the reaction of life ; and consequently these were 
 inflicted upon the imhappy victim of blind popular fury 
 •whilst still alive. 
 
 Of these thirty-one wounds, according to the degrees of 
 their dangerous character, five were, in the opinion of the 
 scientific men, of a seiious nature, five dangerous, and one 
 fatal. 
 
 On the right side of the head especially, the parietal, tem- 
 poral, and frontal bones were shattered into many pieces ; 
 and although tins shattering of the skull was undoubtedly of 
 a fatal character, yet death did not instantly ensue, and in 
 fact the woimded man continued to üve, although in a state 
 of departing consciousness, even when the attempt was made 
 to strangle him on the wmdow-bars in the courtyard, and 
 even at the instant when the cord broke and the body fell to 
 the gi'ound. 
 
 The exact moment of death, which followed tliis attempt 
 at strangulation, cannot precisely be ascertained. 
 
 The smasldng of the skull, however, was very probably 
 the fatal wound, of which the War Minister afterwards 
 died ; but the attempt at strangulation might, as well as 
 the numerous other acts of ill-treatment and torture, have 
 accelerated death, as the dangerous wounds in themselves, 
 especially under mutual influences, and in connection with 
 the serious and light wounds, must have increased the danger 
 of death to the highest degree. 
 
 In conclusion, it was remarked that the fury of the popu- 
 lace, not content with having killed their unliappy ■victim 
 with inhuman barbarity, consummated the atrocity of the 
 act by hewing in pieces the mangled limb.s, to satisfy tlie 
 lust for vengeance of tlie mad jjopidace.
 
 MÜKDEK OF COUNT LATOUß. 369 
 
 SECOND SECTION. 
 
 DIRECT AGENTS CONVICTED OF THE CRIME. 
 
 Amongst the niiiety-nine persons arrested and subjected 
 to examination by the militaiy court on suspicion of having 
 taken an active part in this murdei", eleven were declared 
 guilty, and sentenced. 
 
 The gi'ounds of accusation, ai-ising partly out of their 
 own confessions, and partly from other statements, are 
 extracted and given here in a compressed form. Among 
 the most prominent of these persons is : — 
 
 1. FroMZ WuTigler, a native of Tyss, in the Ellbogen Cir- 
 cle in Bohemia ; forty-six years of age, a Catholic, widower, 
 without children, cohabiting with a girl of loose character ; of 
 late a journeyman smith on the Vienna-Gloggnitz Eailroad, 
 formerly a journeyman and stable-lad ; known also by the 
 nicknames of " Fiakerschmied," and " Fiakerfranz ;" has 
 been twice before punished for the crime of stealing ; is 
 described as being an industrious workman, but rough, 
 quarrelsome, very much given to drink, eccentric, and taking 
 part in every eineute. 
 
 After a long and ob.stinate denial, he made a confession, 
 of which the following is the substance, before the court, 
 and repeated it on different examinations. 
 
 As early as the 13th of March, 1848, the students at 
 Vienna entered into an alliance with the workmen of the 
 Southern Railroad, and frocpu;ntIy vdsited them at their 
 work. 
 
 Tluiy told theia to prepare pikes, ostensibly only for the 
 2b
 
 370 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 protection of the railroad ; and since tliat time tliese work- 
 men were summoned by the Academicians on occasion of 
 eveiy tmnult and cmeutc in the city, for the defence of 
 liberty. 
 
 On such occasions, other Academic Legionists appeared at 
 every instant at the niilway-station, and raised there an 
 alarm, when the whole swarm of aimed workmen were 
 obliged to foUow them, and do what they required. 
 
 If any one of the workmen refused to join them, he was 
 compelled to do so by the rest. 
 
 On the 6th of October, 1848, in the forenoon, two 
 students appeared with a summons to the railway-woi'kmen, 
 to go ai'med to the University-square, at the same time 
 addressing speeches to the men, whicli Wangler did not 
 hear. 
 
 As no one would leave work before noon, two students 
 (unknown to witness) again came to the i*ailway-station, 
 between twelve and one o'clock, with a fresh m-gent sum- 
 mons ; the whole crowd of armed workmen, and among 
 them Wangler, with his pointed iron pike, followed them to 
 the city, to the University-square. 
 
 Numbers of papers, printed with Roman letters, were here 
 distributed among them, the contents of which Wangler did 
 not imderstand, but which he heard called Liberty-tickets 
 (Freiheitszettel) ; these, by the order of the students, they 
 affixed to their caps. 
 
 After this preparation, the cry suddenly arose among the 
 workmen, "Latour must be hung!" and upon the mention 
 of the minister Bach, and the name of a lady of high rank, 
 with a similar view, the whole crowd proceeded from the 
 Aula toward the Hofplatz, with the cry, " To the War 
 Office !" 
 
 The armed crowd stood in front of the War Office until
 
 MURDER OP COUNT LATOUR. 371 
 
 the gate, whicli had been kept locked, was opened, tlirougli 
 which they pom^ed into the courtyard. 
 
 When, at the sight of the "War Älinister being di-agged 
 down the staircase, a general ciy arose in the courtyard, 
 that he must be hung, the witness hkewise forced his way 
 through the crowd, and gave the count a thrust in the upper 
 part of his body with his pike, at a time when the "War 
 Minister was still standing upright, and before he received 
 the blow of the hammer from a smith, which simultaneously 
 \vith many other blows felled him to the ground. 
 
 It is worthy of note, that "Wangler, when shaken during 
 the examination by a powei-ful emotion, and led to make a 
 confession, mentioned in the first moment of the struggle in 
 his mind a blow, which he had inflicted on the count with 
 liis iron pole. 
 
 But hardly had this admission escaped his lips, when, 
 correcting himself, he endeavoured to maintain that he had 
 merely, as he believed, wounded the coimt on the shoidder 
 Avith a thi-ust, in which assertion he adhered until liis con- 
 viction. 
 
 The inspection by the com-t of one of these iron poles of 
 the Gloggnitz Eailway workmen, after Wangler's first 
 examination, and its consequent conviction that the force 
 of a blow inflicted with such a weapon must at least 
 have equalled the blow of a hammer, together with many 
 other circumstances arising out of the case, too long to 
 enumerate here, raised even then a well-founded presump- 
 tion, that it was this blow that shattered the minister's 
 skull. 
 
 Some of tlie eye-witnesses of the deed mention a young, 
 
 small, thick -set workman ; and others, an elderly, tall 
 
 smith, with bristly hair and a sooty face, the fii-.st of 
 
 whom gave the count a blow on the head with his not very 
 
 2 B 2
 
 372 INVESTIGATION INTO TUE 
 
 heavy Immmcr ; moreover, several witnesses, especially Dr. 
 Fisclihof, who w;us standing elose l»y, and as a medical uiau 
 understood the matter, were of c>pinion that this bh)w could 
 not have been fatal. 
 
 On the contrary, the blow given by the smith, who 
 was described as corresponding in personal ajipearance to 
 AVangler, was, according to some witnesses, also inflicted on 
 the head of the War Minister, with a hammer ; according to 
 others, with an iron pole; and with such force, that several 
 of the witnesses could not for a long time dismiss the 
 recollection of the fearful somid which it caused. 
 
 An observer of the horrible scene, who was standing 
 behind the fastened window of one of the rooms in the 
 court, on the first story, heai'd Anth pei-fect distinctness the 
 fatal blow. 
 
 There is no doubt that the fellow \vith the hammer, as 
 well as the older smith, had a hand in the crime, but that 
 tli(5 decisive blow was first given by the latter ; and the 
 opinion, that Wangler was tliis identical smith, received 
 incontestable support, from the deposition of a fresh eye- 
 witness, who did not come foi-Avard until after Wangler's 
 execution, and from the personal description given by him 
 of the chief actor in the scene. 
 
 According to the confession of Wangler, given not wdtli- 
 out resei-ve, wlien the War Minister was di'agged to the 
 lamp-post in the square, and the mob there demanded that 
 he should be hung, he, the accused, pulled off liis jacket, 
 which he gave to Rosina Lang, a girl standing close by ; he 
 then lifted u]i the body from beneath, from which the clothes 
 were pulled off in rags, and thus wnth the help of two other 
 workmen, who were unknown to him, and one of whom was 
 standing on the ladder, jicted the part of hangman. 
 
 After finishing this task, he states tliat he put on liis
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 373 
 
 jacket, pulling down his shirt-sleeves, and, as he himself 
 expressly confesses, addressed the followiiag horrifying speech 
 to the large multitude : — " So then we have done, and now 
 let's go and fetch the minister Bach, and he shall come 
 there" (Wangler pointed to the second arm of the lamp- 
 post, and called on the people three times, with upraised 
 arms, to tell him where the minister Bach dwelt) ; " and 
 there" (pointing to the thii'd arm of the lamp-post) "comes 
 the * ■•' * *." (The accused here mentioned the name of 
 the same high-born lady, whose death had been demanded in 
 the Aula.) 
 
 Thereupon, the accused said, that he hastened with the 
 swarm of murderers to the University-square, where he placed 
 liis pike by the water-basin thei'e, and on this occasion heard 
 other workmen coming from the University say that they 
 had been paid in the Aula for their- share in the murder, 
 and that they were going to a public-house, to refresh them- 
 selves with the money they had received. 
 
 He moreover asserted, that he had himself neither re- 
 ceived nor asked for any money, but that he likewise went 
 from the Aula to a neighbouring public-house, and from 
 thence home. 
 
 On being questioned as to his reasons for what he had 
 done, he, in the outburst of despair, and in the presentiment 
 of the punishment that awaited him, cursed the students, 
 who had seduced him and his comrades, and (as he expressed 
 himself) had completely blinded them ; exclaiming, that^ 
 had it not been for the instigation of the Academicians, it 
 would never have come into his head even to think of the 
 War Minister, who was a perfect stranger to him, much less 
 to do him any harm. 
 
 2. The second actor in the scene, Carl Bramhosch, was a 
 native of Vienna, in Austria, twenty-two years of age, a
 
 374 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 Catholic, uimiarned ; a joui'ueymau goldsmith and a house- 
 painter. When the authorities were on his track, shortly 
 before his an-est, he enrolled himself in the Hoch and 
 Deutschmeister I. R. infantry regiment as a private. 
 
 In his sixteenth year he had undergone a preliminary 
 examination in the Vienna Criniinal Com-t, on the charge 
 of having attempted the murder and robbery of a woman ; 
 but he was soon released, on the removal of the suspicion. 
 
 His companions describe him as light-lieaded, idle, cun- 
 ning, and eccentric on political subjects : he is said to have 
 frequently visited the Aula — the som'ce at that time of ths' 
 corruption of the workmen, and the seduction of the credu- 
 lous citizens. 
 
 The abridged contents of his confessions state the facts, 
 that he, as a National Giiai'd of the Eighth Mariahilf sub- 
 virban district, went, on the 6th of October, 1848, about 
 two o'clock P.M., with a portion of the fifth company, on 
 the alarm being given, into the city, to the bastion of the 
 Sakgries barracks, in order to cover the artillery ; and that 
 from thence, at a little past thx'ee o'clock, he went, at the 
 invitation of, and in company with, the glovemaker's assist- 
 ant and Guardsman jMichael Wilhelm, into the city, to buy 
 tobacco ; where, following the stream of people, he proceeded 
 into the neighbourhood of the War Office, where he met 
 with Wilhelm in the Bazaar-court. 
 
 Just then a man was, from the -window of the fii-st story, 
 addi'essing the large crowd collected in the couiiiyard, con- 
 sisting of all classes, but chiefly of workmen armed with 
 pikes. Brambosch heard only the conclusion of this speech, 
 the pui^port of which, was a summons to proceed to the War 
 Office, and to bring Coimt Latour to account before a 
 general tribunal of the people, for his order to despatch the 
 German troops from Yiemia.
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUK. 375 
 
 Incited by this speeck against tlie War Minister, the 
 whole mass of people, and among the rest Brambosch and 
 Wilhelm, both armed with muskets and bayonets, streamed 
 forth, uttering a cry of, " To the War Office ! " in order to 
 seek the covmt. 
 
 After iii'st penetrating into his dwelling-room, and search- 
 ing every corner where it was thought he might be concealed, 
 even to the veiy book-chests, they went to the corridor 
 OD the staircase, where some voices among the crowd were 
 aheady demanding the death of the coimt. 
 
 Three deputies here in vain attempted to keep back the 
 raging multitude, who were calling out for the War Minister, 
 assuring them that he was no longer in the building. The 
 people obstinately demanded him, and his death ; whereupon, 
 the deputies promised to give the count up to the people, 
 upon the condition that no harm should be done to him, and 
 that he should be led to the Diet. 
 
 Brambosch and Wühebn were among those twenty guards 
 whom Fischhof had called out and made to swear to protect 
 the life of the War Minister, when Fischhof gave them the 
 assurance, as Brambosch asserts, that Count Latour should 
 be brought before an open coui-t. 
 
 Brambosch was also one of those thi'ee guards, who, after- 
 wards, with the student Rausch, at the instigation of the 
 crowd on the stairs between the thii-d and fourth stories, 
 wliich had grown mistrustful of the deputies of the Diet, 
 sought for the War Minister, and who, with this object, pro- 
 ceeded from the stairs to the passages on the fourth story. 
 
 On their retiuTi to the other insiu'gents without succes.s, 
 they were received by the latter with insults and reproaches. 
 
 According to Brambosch's statement, Wilhelm behaved in 
 this instance with especial fury ; so much so, as to point his 
 bayonet at accused's breast, calling him a dog, who secreted
 
 370 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 Latour, and wax bribed by liini ; al)iisiiig him, and adding, 
 that Latour must come out, for ho was a bad man, "wlio de- 
 ceived the people, and wlio must now die. 
 
 In this way, and beset by tlie rest with threats, Bram- 
 bosch says that he himself was worked into a fury against 
 the count ; and that when he, together with the sworn 
 guai'd of protection, led the latter down into the courtyard, 
 and the cry arose there at the sight of the War Minister, of 
 " Hang him ! — kill him !" the accused also inflicted on him 
 several blows with the butt-end of his musket, at the mo- 
 ment when the -victim, with his face covered with blood, 
 stnick by an iron pole or a hammer on the head, and by a 
 pike in the face, sank to the gi-ound. 
 
 Bi^ambosch likewise saw the body drawn up to the window- 
 gi'ating, snatched a narrow strip of linen and a piece of black 
 cloth from one of the people under the gateway of the War 
 Office, where the mob were scrambling for the torn clothes 
 of the murdered man, and then returned to the bastion to 
 the other guards, where he displayed and distributed the 
 pieces. 
 
 He accuses Wühelm of ha\ing, by his instigations, been 
 the sole cause of his misfortunes; adding, that he must ac- 
 cuse him of this in court. 
 
 Dming the tumult in the courtyard, he says that he lost 
 sight of Wühelm, and met liim first again on the bastion, 
 where Wilhelm tried to take him to the arsenal. 
 
 The accused, howevei*, would not that day have anything 
 more to do wdth the affair, ha^ig already had enough. 
 
 Brambosch also states that, on the 8th of October, two 
 days after the murder, he himself heard, in a saloon on the 
 first stoiy of the Aida, a student .say, who was addressing 
 the people and inciting them to take up arms and bo 
 courageous, that on the previous day a smith of the railroad,
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 377 
 
 who had stnick Coimt Latour the blow with a hammer, and 
 whose name the student mentioned, appeared at the Aula to 
 demand liis reward ; but that nothing could be given him, as 
 there was no money left. 
 
 Accused further stated, that he had taken part in the 
 latest October insuiTCction, in so far as being enrolled as a 
 man of trust in his company, the Select Corps, he had joined 
 in the conflict against the impeiial troops in the Brigittenau 
 on the 22nd and 23rd of October, but on the 28th of Octo- 
 ber had drawn several peaceable National Guards of the 
 faubourgs from their homes, by threats, to the defence of 
 the small lines at Marialiilf. 
 
 Bursting into tears, he bewailed his having brought so 
 much grief on his mother, a Frenchwoman, and the wife of 
 a camp-baker, who, according to his statement, had received 
 the cross of the Legion of Honour in the Russian campaign, 
 for having saved Napoleon ; and he envied the fate of his 
 eleven brothers, who had all fallen with arms in their hands 
 in the French service, whilst an ignominious death awaited 
 liim the last ! 
 
 3. TJiomas Jurkovich, the third accomplice, was born at 
 Peruchich, in the circle of the Ottochan second Frontier in- 
 fantiy regiment ; thirty-six years of age, a Catholic, unmar- 
 ried, habitually cohabiting with different servant-girls, the 
 father of two young children ; authorized cravat-maker on 
 the Wieden : he had never before been punished. 
 
 He is described as habitually careless, rude, niggardly, 
 quarrelsome, and at the same time close; addicted to drink, 
 especially when he could obtain it at the cost of others, and 
 passionately given to democratic ideas. 
 
 In his possession was found a collection of seditious papers, 
 as was the case with most of the accused. 
 
 When a journeyman, he used, on tlie slightest occasion, to
 
 378 UrV^ESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 threaten Lis comrades with liis scissoi-s or flat-iron, and from 
 his impetuous and \'iolent behaviour, it was at that time pre- 
 dicted that ho would come to the gallows. 
 
 His confession, made after many examinations, fall of lies 
 and resei-vation, is as follows : — 
 
 On the 6th of October, 1848, at noon, in consequence of 
 alarms, he went as a National Guard of the first company of 
 the seventh circle of the Wieden Faubourg, with his com- 
 pany into the city to the Red Tower Gate, and thence with 
 a camion taken by them from the city arsenal to the bas- 
 tion above the Caroline Gate. 
 
 Outof joy at having escaped unwoimded on the Stephens- 
 platz, where the rear divisions of his battalion had been fired 
 upon by the Ci^dc Guards, he repaired, after two o'clock, 
 from the bastion to a neighbouiing j>ublic-house, and from 
 thence, slightly intoxicated, to the Aida with his bayoneted 
 musket, and then straight to the courtyard, where he forced 
 his way with the rest of the crowd into the coiu-t of the 
 War Office. 
 
 Here he was standing in the throng of people, when the 
 War Minister was brought from the U2:)per stories into th ■ 
 court. 
 
 Seeing the crowd now pressing upon the count with up- 
 lifted weapons, and the universal animosity against him, he 
 himself came to share their rage, and forcing his way through 
 the mass of people, resolved himself to give the War Minis- 
 ter a bayonet-thrust, and had he been able, he would have 
 inflicted several upon him. 
 
 When however he reached the count, the latter was al- 
 ready lying on the gi-oimd ; but the accused did not know 
 whether he still lived or was already dead. 
 
 At the moment when Jm-kovich thrust at the War 
 Minister Avith his bayonet, he slipped down, pressed by the
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 379 
 
 crowd, and without having hit the count, he stepped into a 
 pool of blood on the ground at the count's head, and his 
 right boot and the lower part of his trousers were much 
 stained. 
 
 Then being unable, as he would gladly have done, to give 
 another thrust at the count, he quitted the War Office, 
 taking from a workman at the gate, who was cutting a 
 general's unifonn into pieces and distributing them, one 
 of these pieces, and then hastened exultingly to the Um- 
 versity. 
 
 On his way, at the Lugeck, he heard people among the 
 crowd in the streets crying out, that those who had killed 
 Latour, would receive for it thirty gulden each at the Aula, 
 and that their names woiild be inscribed in a book there. 
 
 His tailoring business having gone badly, he wished to 
 come in for a share of tliis pay, and holding up the spotted 
 cloth, and trusting to the traces of blood visible on him, he 
 cried out, " I had also a hand in it !" whereupon the people 
 lifted him up in their arms with shouts of bravo and exul- 
 tation, and thus carried him about in triumph to the Uni- 
 versity-square. 
 
 But when the other people, fresh come from the War 
 Office, saw him, they cried out, " That is not he, that is 
 iLot the true one : this man deserves no reward !" and there- 
 upon they drove him away, without his getting a kreutzer, 
 whilst the rest of the miu-derers went to the Aula. 
 
 It is a striking fact, on the contrary, that Jurkovich, in his 
 examinations, so often, and mostly of himself, came to speak 
 of the blood-money, and sometimes cursed the expected 
 thirty florins, with a feeHng of bitter contrition, as the cause 
 of his misfortune ; adding, of his own accord, that he was 
 sure he deserved the same i-ewurd as the man with the 
 hammer !
 
 3S0 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 The triuniplial procession of the accused at the Aula is 
 confirmed not only by his own confession, but by many eye- 
 witnesses on oath, who added, that at the thne several of the 
 other nun-derei-s accompanied him, some with bloody weapons, 
 whilst Jurko^-ich, in his National Guard imiform, was the 
 only one earned on the people's shoulders. 
 
 From the Aula, Jurko\dch went, as he further relates in 
 the course of his confession, accompanied by a gi-eat crowd 
 of ]»eople, on to the bastion to his company, where he boasted 
 publicly of his deed, and distributed the pieces of the cloth 
 uniform he had brought with him. 
 
 His look at that time is described by the witnesses as 
 fiightful and revolting. 
 
 He was in the utmost excitement, his eyes rolled, liis hair 
 stood upright ; both hands, liis shirt-sleeves, his right foot, 
 and the lower part of his trousers were saturated with 
 blood, and his whole appearance, literally di'ipping with 
 blood, was so wild and hideous, that most of the guards 
 turned from him with horror and disgust. 
 
 In the evening again, on liis retui'n home from the bastion, 
 Jurkovich again boasted in the open street at the Freihaus, 
 in the Wieden Suburb, of his brave ly in the murder, in 
 the presence of a great concourse of people. 
 
 After the entrance of the imperial troops into the city, 
 Jurkovich, as he himself acknowledged, had no longer a 
 quiet hoTU" ; he was in continual dread of being arrested, 
 made arrangements in liis house to provide against the 
 chance of this, and sought advice of those companions of his 
 among the guards who had seen him, on the Gtli Octobei", 
 on the bastion, whether he had not better fly. He cut off 
 his beard, was all night bathed in perspiration, according to 
 the testimony of his housekeeper, and his sleep was broken 
 by exclamations of anxiety.
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 381 
 
 Wangler, Bramboscli, äs well as most of the other accom- 
 plices, were also tormented by a similar disquiet and dread, 
 and they all took pains to disfigure tlieh- appearance as much 
 as possible, by cuttiug off their beards, to prevent their 
 being recognised. 
 
 4. Franz Kohl, was born in the Eisengrab district and 
 lordship of Gföhl, in Lower Austria ; twenty-two years of 
 age, a CathoHc, unmarried ; a joiu-neyman joiner by trade. 
 
 Nothing came out unfavourable to his previous life and 
 character, but at his house, among numerous effects, were 
 found many democratic street-circiüars and other papers. 
 
 Arrested in consequence of these suspicious circum.stances 
 in his OAvn house, whither he went, on the 12 th October, 
 1848, from Vienna, he stated the following particulars in 
 Ills examination : — 
 
 On the 6th October, 1848, he came into the city in the 
 afternoon, to the Hofplatz, from the Wieden Subm'b, where 
 he was at that time at work, in the employ of a joiner, when 
 a cry was raised by a large concourse of people that Latour 
 was to be hung. 
 
 One National Guardsman of his own suburb (an Hmigarian,. 
 named Joseph Major), was especially active in inciting the 
 people, and drew on the crowd by motioning with his naked 
 sword, and then incited them to force their way into the 
 building. Hereupon the whole swarm, consisting chiefly of 
 guards and armed railway-workmen (the accused amongst 
 the rest), proceeded, with a general cry that Latom- must 
 I !(} foxind, into the War Office, and up the back chief staii'case, 
 into several rooms on the first story, which, it was said, were 
 the apartments of the War Minister. 
 
 Following the exanq)le of the crowd, and in order not to 
 bf laughed at \>y his comrades at home as a coward, Kohl 
 said that he here helped in the search for the count, thinking
 
 383 IJJVESTIGATIOX INTO THE 
 
 that the people would be satisfied with merely taking him 
 prisoner. 
 
 They however only found a field-uniform, with a hat and 
 plume of feathers, which were immediately torn in pieces and 
 distributed, the accused taking a military cross which had 
 been attached to the uniform. 
 
 On heai'ing the ciy, which suddenly burst forth in the 
 courtyai'd, " They have got him : he must be hung !" Kohl 
 hastened down with the rest, and on this occasion took from 
 a workman, whom he mot on the staii'case, an iron two-pronged 
 fork fastened to a wooden haniUe (many of which were taken 
 from the registry-offices in the plunder at that time), in 
 order, as he states, to show his comrades at home that he was 
 present at the scene, and did not want corn-age. 
 
 When the accused went down into the court, the count 
 had just been brought thither, and the crowd nished upon 
 bim in a mass, beating him, and exclaiming, "Only hang 
 him : no pardon !" 
 
 During this scene. Kohl stood, according to his statement, 
 perfectly passive, with the long fork above mentioned, at 
 about twenty paces from the spot where the murder was 
 committed. 
 
 When the victim, according to the general deposition of 
 the bystanders, was already lifeless, and the crowd de- 
 manded his being hung up, in order that they might see 
 him better, Kohl left the place where he had been stand- 
 ing, on being called by a workman near him to lend a hand, 
 and forced his way up to the barred window, the spot of 
 the hanging. 
 
 A workman standing behind here threw them a cord, and 
 there was a call for a knife to cut it with. 
 
 Two men, whose faces the accused could not see, then 
 fastened the body, which was lifted up by the others, with a
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR, 383 
 
 cord to the "window-bars, and Kohl helped, seizing the body 
 with his iron fork, and lifting it up, in which act the fork, as 
 well as the accused's clothes and hat, were soiled with the 
 blood flowing from the count's head. 
 
 This hangman's assistant adds, that the count was at that 
 time still aHve, for he had looked at him closely, with a view 
 to be able to assert the contrary. 
 
 He confessed the enormity of his deed, but said that he 
 had done it only to please the people, and not out of personal 
 animosity towards the minister. 
 
 Kohl declares, that at the instant when the body fell from 
 the Aviudow, he went away from the War Office, and home 
 to the Wieden, taking with him the iron fork, which was sub- 
 sequently found in his house. 
 
 According to the deposition of one of the witnesses, it is, 
 however, highly probable that he, as well as some others of 
 the murderers, went stul earlier — between five and six 
 o'clock — through the Schulenstrasse, past the inn of tlie 
 Golden Duck, where the Central Committee of all the 
 democratic clubs held their meetings on the second story, 
 going in triumph, speechifying, boasting of their deeds, and 
 flourishing their weapons. 
 
 Several other circumstances raise doubts as to the in- 
 tegrity of the confession of this accused ; for another eye- 
 Avitness of the deed asserts, on oath, that he saw a young 
 man, of small stature, liigh-coloured in the face, during the 
 perpetration of the murder, with a fork formed exactly like 
 the one belonging to Kohl, and produced to the witness, and 
 that this young man gave a thrust at the War Minister. 
 
 Witness said that, from his short-sightedness, he could not 
 identify the accused, who was placed before him, to whom 
 that personal description corresponded ; but Kohl had, on 
 the evening of the murder, boasted to another witness,
 
 381 INVEaTIOATION INTO THE 
 
 Ins companion, that he had struck at tlio count with tlie 
 turk thus (lescril)ecl, winch boast he confesses, calling it, 
 liowcver, only an emj)ty brag, and denying the blow or 
 thrust. 
 
 A third witness observed in the courtyard of the War 
 Office, a man, whom he could not distinguish more closely, 
 holding up a bundle of cord on a similar fork, over the 
 heads of the people, to the hangman at the window. 
 
 Lastly, another eye-witness states that he saw the body of 
 the War Minister, when being hung to the lamp-post in 
 the square, lifted up with a similar iron fork by a man who 
 could not be recognised in the crowd. 
 
 The repi'oaches of his mistress, to whom he had confided 
 his participation in the crime, wex'e silenced by Kolil with 
 the excuse that he had acted only to secure liberty. 
 
 5. Johann Johl, bom at Witzelsdorf, in Lower Austria, 
 thirty years of age, a Catholic, unmarried ; journeyman 
 weaver in a manufactory at Gunipendorf : had been at an 
 earlier period of life arrested by the police fur stealing 
 clothes, but was liberated, from the want of sufficient grounds 
 of suspicion. 
 
 His employer gives him a favourable character, and hi» 
 fellow-workmen praise his cheerful temper, but speak of Ids 
 attachment to the anarchist party. 
 
 He himself states that he was a member of the Liberal 
 Club, under the presidency of the notorious Chaisees, in the 
 Wieden Suburb ; also that he had visited the Society of Ger- 
 man Catholics, and likewise the immense assemblage in the 
 Odeon, September, 1848; the object of which was to prepare 
 the outbreak of the 6th October, 1848. 
 
 ßespecting his share in the murder, Johl made the follow- 
 ing confession in the court : — 
 
 On the Gth Octoljer, at one o'clock in the afternoon, ;xt-i he
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 385 
 
 asserts, lie went unarmed and from mere curiosity into the 
 city, -where the tocsin had just soimded, first to the Stephens- 
 platz, when the Civic Guards fired upon guards of the 
 subiu-bs, and then to the University, in order to hear what 
 was said there. 
 
 As the tumult in the Aula was too great to hear anything 
 distinctly — the whole assembly S2:)eaking, one louder than 
 another — he followed a number of students, guards, and 
 armed workmen to the Stephensplatz, where the pioneers 
 fired upon the j^eople, and retired beyond the Graben. 
 
 On this occasion he was a mere spectator, and was slightly 
 wounded on the left sliin by the rebound of a shot. 
 
 Hearing it said that the military were overpowered, and 
 were being disarmed on the Freiung, ctiriosity seized him to 
 go thither ; and thence he proceeded to the War Ofiice, where 
 the tumult was the greatest, in order to see what was going 
 on there. 
 
 He found the court filled -with students, National Guards, 
 and workmen, and just as he reached the side staircase, the 
 people were bringing out the War Minister, upon whom the 
 crowd rushed, in spite of the loud entreaties of two gentle- 
 men, conducting the count on each side, not to ill-use him, 
 the Diet having taken him imder their protection. The 
 crowd, notwithstanding, pressed on, with cries of " Kill liim ! " 
 and beat him with all kinds of weapons ; one of the first 
 blows ^vith a hanimer, inflicted by a sooty-faced smitli, 
 •struck the minister's head. 
 
 Up to that time Johl, as he states, had stood inactive, at 
 fiijout eight or ten paces from the crowd ; but when the 
 count lay to all appearance lifeless- on the gi-ound, and a 
 ^veil-dressed man near the accused drew a bundle of cord from 
 his pocket, and called out for a knife, Johl states that, sur- 
 jirised and without reflection, he pulled his knife out of his 
 
 2c
 
 3S6 INVESTIGATION INTO TUE 
 
 pockot, aiul lianilod it to the man, who ^\ itli it cut oil' a 
 piece ot" the tangled cord, and threw it into the c)-owd >\ ho 
 suri'ounded the jjro.strate count, exclaiming, " Hang liim 
 up !" And that the body was then pulled up Asith that 
 cord to the window-gi-ating, and fastened. 
 
 Accused stated that he also saw the body, fallen from the 
 "SA-iudow, dragged to the squai*e, hung up to the lamp-i^ost, 
 and tired at : he then went to the high bridge, and there 
 remained for some time, during the attack on the arsenal, 
 out of curiosity. 
 
 According to the dejiositions on oath of two of his fellow- 
 workmen, Johl on the contrary boasted afterwards, in the 
 manufactory, of his participation in the deed in handing the 
 knife, not only ^\dth boldness and self-satisfaction, but he 
 even bragged that he had helped to search for the War 
 ]\Iinister in his dwelling, had burst open several doors \vitli 
 his foot, and in doing so had hurt his knee ; and that he had 
 incited the folks, who were busy in the destiniction of the 
 furniture, rather to go and seek out the count. 
 
 He also states that, during the firing at the dead body 
 suspended in the square, he called out to two officers of the 
 main guard close by, who were stupified at the scene, " Look 
 ye, gentlemen, there hangs a count, and 'tis proper to give 
 him a salute of honour." 
 
 Johl confessed that he indulged in these expressions in the 
 maTiufactory; but that in doing so he only repeated what he 
 had heard, and held such language, because the men would 
 not believe that he had been present at the occurrence. 
 
 The accused admitted having shai-ed in the subsequent 
 October revolt ; that he not only helped to defend the 
 Mariahilf lines on the 26th and 28th of October, 1848, but 
 that on the latter day he voluntarily joined a division of 
 workmen proceeding to the Leopoldstadt, and fired several
 
 MURDER OP COUNT LATOUR. 387 
 
 times on tlie advancing military from a window, at the bar- 
 ricades in the Jäger Zeil ; and that on the 30th of October 
 he again took up aims, on the news of the approach of the 
 Hungarians. 
 
 6. Midiael Neurtuiye,r, another accomplice, a native of 
 Loitzendorf, in the kingdom of Bavaria ; has resided since 
 December 1st, 1845, in Austria, is twenty-eight years of age, 
 a Catholic, mamed ; settled in Oberdöbling, where he tended 
 the gardens of several private individuals, and was enrolled 
 in the National Guard of the place, with whom he used to 
 do duty in Vienna also. 
 
 He was the son of a schoolmaster, attended in his youth 
 the Latin classes, and acquired a mental education far sur- 
 passing his condition in Life. 
 
 The accounts of his previous life in Bavaria afford a clue 
 to Neumayer's unbridled passionateness, and in that country, 
 in the year 1826, he underwent a preliminary examination in 
 the Vienna Criminal Court, on account of a public act of 
 violence ; which chai'ge, not coming under the criminal pro- 
 ceedings, was referred to the Police Commissariat at Ober- 
 döbling, and was there dismissed with a short ari-est. 
 
 It came out that ISTeumayer had gi'ossly insulted his 
 employer, on occasion of a repi'oof to his mistress ; had 
 threatened his life, and two days afterwards had waylaid him 
 in the evening in the public way, and pelted his carriage 
 with stones from an ambuscade. 
 
 In the beginning of October, 1848, he was suspected of a 
 burglary and robbeiy, but the Criminal Court found the 
 j^roofs insufficient to proceed further against him. 
 
 A letter wi-itten by Neumayci*, which appears in tlic 
 documents, indicates clearly a discontented spirit, in conse- 
 quence of his low condition, filted with hate and bitterness 
 toward all in high rank. 
 
 2c2
 
 388 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 His It'llow-ludgcrs unanimously asserted that during tlie 
 last year he had been always excited, stormy, and passionately 
 addicted to the tumults existing at that time. 
 
 They describe him as a cunning and malicious man, whose 
 looks, as one of the Avituesses adds, involuntaiily reminds one 
 of the nature of the tiger. 
 
 Those about him were surprised how, with a lamUy of six 
 children, he could have lived so comfortably the last summer, 
 Avhen he seldom got work and generally went sauntering 
 about. 
 
 His behavioiir during the examinations was remarkable; 
 he exliibited au imperturbable quietness and coolness, at the 
 same time assuming an hypocritical air of humbleness and 
 Christian resignation to his fate. 
 
 It deserves especially to be mentioned, that e.ssays by him 
 have appeared in the political " Studenten Courier." 
 
 According to the judicial depositions of Neumayer, he was 
 in the forenoon of the Gth of October, 1848, working in the 
 garden of the Children Hospital, in the Alser Suburb, 
 when he heard the alarm beat, and on the news that a tumiilt 
 had arisen on the Tabor, on account of the departure of a 
 grenadier battalion, he hastened tliither, unarmed, and 
 dressed in his light-gi-ey summer coat and the cap of the 
 National Guard ; the fighting had however ended, and he 
 assisted in ^emo^Tng the dead and wounded. 
 
 Returning to the city, when he reached the Hofplatz, 
 seeing the military in conflict with the guards, he joined the 
 proletarians in the square, and went with them to the cliief 
 guard of the War Office. 
 
 In the guard-room he found ten to fifteen grenadiers and 
 pioneers, who were at first threatened by the people ; but 
 afterwards, when voices were raised for them, and it was said 
 that the soldiers were innocent, and the great personages must
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 389 
 
 be called to account, they were led off piisoners to the city 
 arsenal. 
 
 One of these pioneers, who had applied to the accused for 
 protection, gave the latter his sword at his request, which 
 Neumayer kept in his hand in the subsequent occurrences. 
 
 When the gate of the War Office was opened, upon the 
 clamom- of the increasing multitude, the accused went with the 
 crowd to the first story, where a door was pointed out which 
 it was said Count Latour had entered. 
 
 After repeated knocking at the closed entrance, and the 
 threat of bursting open the door, a gentleman came out (who 
 the accused aftenvards heard was General Von Frank), who, 
 in reply to the inquiry where the War Mhiister was, declared 
 he did not know ; whereupon, on the demand of the people, 
 he was led off prisoner to the city arsenal, whither 
 Neumayer conducted him. 
 
 The accused, however, soon returned to the War Office, just 
 as the deputy Borrosch rode off from thence. 
 
 At this time, and whilst already several cries were heard 
 demanding Latours death, witness states that Rausch, who 
 was standing on the lower steps of the back main staircase, 
 called on the concourse of people to follow him ; whereupon 
 the accused, as he says, followed Rausch to the second story, 
 only for the protection of the count, when the breaking in 
 tlie gates and the devastation of the apartments began. 
 
 Neumayer proceeded to describe the occurrences, above 
 related, on the staii'case of the third story after the count's 
 resignation was brought thither by Smolka, and remarks, 
 that he was one of the twenty guards who undertook, with 
 a solemn oath, the protection of the War Minister, under the 
 leadership of Rausch. 
 
 He went with this young student and the three dejtuties 
 to the hiding-place of the count, and dwells particularly
 
 390 INVESTIGATION INTO TUE 
 
 upon the ciixumstance that, -when Smolka represented to the 
 War INIinister the necessity of liis showing himself to the 
 people, and letting himself be conducted by the guard of 
 protection to the Diet, he (Neumayer) tapped the deputy 
 Sierakowsky on the shoulder, and drew his attention to the 
 danger of leading the count down to the infuriated mob, 
 ad^'ising that the War Minister should rather be under 
 guard in the chamber upstah-s. 
 
 On the other hand, the depositions of the deputies and of 
 Major Baron Boxberg, show that the proposal to guard the 
 count upstairs had been made by themselves, and that the 
 War Minister was -willing to adopt this course, only ex- 
 pressing his wish to be taken to the major's apartment. 
 
 Respecting the subsequent events, Neumayer says as 
 follows : — 
 
 Soon afterwards, when he stationed himself with the yoimg 
 student before the passage door which the count had 
 entered, Rausch approached from the staircase -with his 
 guard of protection, in which several meddling persons had 
 mingled, and in reply to the question " Wliere is he ?" the 
 young student pointed to the door, which Rausch opened, 
 and out of which the coimt stepped, ^viih the expression 
 before stated. 
 
 Accused also states, that with the wish of saving the War 
 Minister, he now opposed the crowd, who wanted to take 
 him downstairs, representing that the count should remain 
 upstairs, as the guard of protection had pledged their word 
 of honovu- for his safety. 
 
 He was however clamoured down by the rest, and the 
 count was led downstairs, whereupon the accused, when after- 
 wards one of the two men who were at the count's side was 
 pushed away, took his place ; that he reproached the fellow 
 for his roughness in forcing the War Minister's hat on to his
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 391 
 
 lace, and tliat the man in return threatened him with his 
 sword. 
 
 In the courtyard the count, with his protectors, was 
 pressed against the window-wall, and ISTeimiayer states that 
 lie kept close to the coimt's right side, whilst another big 
 man was on his left. 
 
 Thereupon, some of the people standing round them, espe- 
 cially two unarmed gentlemen, parried with their arms the 
 lilows aimed at the count on all sides with muskets and 
 pikes ; but the accused did not observe any sabre among 
 tliese weapons. A young, shortset workman, behind the 
 big man on the count's left side, pressed forward, and 
 struck the minister a blow on the head with a hammer 
 from behind, when the count staggered, but soon recovered 
 himself. 
 
 After this blow on the hat of the coimt, the blood forced 
 its way through the head-covering, and accused was sprinkled 
 with it. 
 
 Indignant at the base conduct of the fellow with the 
 hammer, he threatened him with his pioneer's sabre, but 
 presently he observed one of those behind thrusting a 
 pointed iron pole between the people in front, and inflicting 
 a stab in the count's belly ; whereupon the latter sank to the 
 ground, and accused, considering any further efibrt to protect 
 him fruitless, went across the Hofplatz to the Civic Arsenal 
 and thence straight to Dobling. 
 
 Some days afterwards he took liis pioneer's sabre to the 
 Imperial Arsenal, wishing to exchange it for a trailing 
 sword. 
 
 In contradiction, however, to this statement, it was asserted 
 on oath by several eye-witnesses, that the first woimd inflicted 
 on the War Minister when he entered the com-t, was followed 
 by a stroke with a pioneer's sabre on the head.
 
 392 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 Aicle-cio-camp Captain Leopold Count Goudrecourt, who 
 pushed the War ^Minister agaiust the wall for his safer pro- 
 tection, placed liiniself before him, and panied with his hand 
 several thrusts and blows aimed at the latter, especially 
 affirms, that Count Latour -was at that time without any 
 head-covering, and that he, as long as ^vitness stood befoi'e 
 him, received only a sabre-cut on his forehead, from which 
 Captain GoncU'ecourt was covered with blood. 
 
 One of the invalids belonging to the Horse-guard, saw 
 fi'om the passage-window the "War ^Minister, whose hat had 
 been torn off, receive the first wound from a blow on the 
 head, stiitck by a man whom -witness could not distmguish, 
 at the window-wall, ■\\'ith a yellow-handled sabre. 
 
 The third -witness, a magistrate's officer, who was standing 
 at twenty paces from tlie War Minister when he entered the 
 coui-tyard, deposes, that the first stroke was hiilictcd by a 
 pioneer's sabre, wldch was instantly followed by a number of 
 blows and tlu-usts vnth. all kinds of weapons, among which 
 was a hammer. 
 
 Witness was too much stuniied at the scene, to have im- 
 pi'essed on his recollection the appearance of the man mth 
 the pioneer's sabre. 
 
 Another witness, formerly an officer in the Im})erial ser- 
 vice, who came accidentally and miarmed to the scene of the 
 murder, found the War Minister, -without his hat, at the 
 ■window- wall, just when the latter entered the coui-tyard, and 
 placed himself, in order to protect him, at his right side, 
 whilst on the count's left was a large, elegantly-dressed man, 
 and round about several other unanned gentlemen, who were 
 actively engaged in trying to save him ; bat who all were, 
 one by one, forced away. 
 
 One man, who, accoixling to another statement, belonged 
 to the Guards of the Suburb seized the count by the head, and
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 393 
 
 piülecl him with such \-iolence that the unhappy inau stag- 
 gered and held fast by the -svitness's hand. 
 
 The latter saw three blows hit the count, nearly at the 
 same time, — one with a pioneer's sabre, the second vntli an 
 ii'on pole, both on the head, and the third with a hammer, 
 or, as he believes, with a hoe. 
 
 Witness describes the man who inflicted the sabre-cut, 
 and who stood opposite the War Minister, as perfectly cor- 
 responding to the accused in age, statui-e, ajipearance, and 
 dress. 
 
 According to Neumayer's personal representation, he con- 
 firmed this likeness, without being able — as is conceivable — 
 to speak Avith perfect certainty. 
 
 Two other witnesses, both peaceable and trustworthy work- 
 men, were standing at eight to ten paces from the War 
 Minister, and agree in asserting that a man, standing close 
 before him, and whose descrijition perfectly answers to 
 accused, inflicted the first blow on the count's head -svith a 
 pioneer's sabre, exclaiming, " Down with the dog ! " [Nichts, 
 nieder mit dem Hund !) and that thereupon the count, in 
 order to protect himself, seized his head wnih. both his hands. 
 
 Both witnesses remarked the shirt sticking out on the 
 arm which was raised to deal tliis stroke, and upon being 
 confronted with Neiunayer, they confirmed his striking 
 resemblance to the man, but were not able to prove his 
 identity with certainty, as they had been standing beliind 
 the man during the perpetration of the act. 
 
 The accomplice Willielm recognised in the person of 
 Neimiayer the same man with perfect certainty, who, going 
 upon the staircase directly behind the War Minister, insulted 
 him in the most fuiious manner, threatened his life, and 
 kept continually flourishing his pioneer-sabre over his head, 
 as if he would every instant deal a blow with it.
 
 ^Oi INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 Brambosch after liis condemnation also states with cer- 
 tainty, upon Neuniayer being placed before him, that it was 
 he who, after helping to conduct the War Minister down from 
 the fourth story, placed himself before liim in the courtyard, 
 and raised his arm as if to strike a blow at the count Avith 
 his pioneer-sabre. 
 
 Bi-ambosch could not obserA-e, in the tumult that prevailed, 
 whether the sabre-stroke really liit the count ; but says that 
 it is false that jS'eumayer tried to strike the man with the 
 hammer, as he just then turned away from the latter and 
 toward the count. 
 
 The wife of a civil officer, who was produced as a witness, 
 recognised in the accused — not indeed with certainty, but 
 Avith probability — the same man who, during the procession 
 Avith JurkoA-ich in the Aula, flourishing a pioneer-sabre, had 
 exclaimed " This I haA^e won myself ! " and according to the 
 testimony of a Avoman who lived in the same house as Neu- 
 mayer at -Oberdobling, he the same evening exhibited at 
 home the pioneer-sabre he had brought in a triumphant 
 ■ manner, and repeating the same words. 
 
 Several other persons living in the same house, testified 
 that accused returned so sprinkled with blood, that he had 
 instantly to change his clothes ; that he related the War 
 Minister's fate Avith a joyous excitement, adding, that the 
 dog was rightly treated ; boasted of his share in the murder ; 
 that he had ironically mocked at the words of the count, 
 Avhich he repeated to them, "My dear children ;" and when 
 reproached by a Avitness, he had answered, " If you had seen 
 the bloodshed before on the Tabor, you would, like me, have 
 had no pity for him." 
 
 Lastly, it was affirmed by these Avitnesses, that Neumayer 
 afterwards, especially since the entrance of the Imperial 
 troops, had exerted himself zealously to sj)read the belief
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 395 
 
 that at Latour s murder he had been only anxious for liis 
 protection ; and one of the witnesses mentions a man coming 
 once previously to accused's house, looking Hke a student, 
 who some days after the murder had asked for him, saying, 
 " We want him, he must come ! " 
 
 To all these statements accused gave the most obstinate 
 denial, remarking, that he saw he was lost by so many ap- 
 pearances of proof against him, but it was all an error, and 
 that an accidental likeness with one of the agents in the 
 mixrder threatened his destruction ! 
 
 7. Joseph Pavnkausky, another of the agents, was bom at 
 "Vienna in Austria, is thirty-five years old, a Catholic, unmar- 
 ried; a journeyman, and seller of sand. He has been fourteen 
 times before punished judicially, mostly for robbery and ex- 
 cesses ; is known as excessively brutal and given to drink. 
 
 According to his confession, he went on the day of the 
 murder, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, unarmed and without 
 a coat, into a spirit-shop in the city, where he got intoxicated, 
 fell asleep, and did not go to the Graben till the afternoon. 
 
 He states that he was here just putting aside the dead 
 body of a soldier who had been shot, when suddenly a shot 
 was fired from a window in the neighbourhood, whereupon 
 about twenty-five guards and workmen ran together, and 
 rushed with him into the apartments of the first story of the 
 house, from which they thought the shot had been fii'ed. 
 
 In the presence of an affiighted man-sei'vant they ransacked 
 all the chests and cupboards, showed the greatest rage against 
 the unknown person who had fired the shot ; and the accused, 
 who, instead of a weapon, says that he carried in his hands a 
 large stone, does not deny that he uttered threats of killing. 
 
 He went thence to the Hofplatz, where the body of the 
 War Minister was just being dragged by a crowd of men to 
 the lamp-post.
 
 396 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 Ileai'ing the people ciy '• He must be hanged ! " and being 
 worked up to a state of fury by the occurrence with the 
 servant, the accused was led to consent to hang up the body. 
 
 He states that he, in the tii-st place, nioiuited on a stone 
 at the foot of the lamp-post ; but not being able to reach 
 the arm of the post, nor fasten the corpse to it by the cord 
 fastened round the neck, although it was lifted up by others, 
 the body fell from him sideways. 
 
 A ladder wasthen brought, which the accused mounted ; and 
 he then tied fast to the arm of the lamp-post with a white 
 leathern strap, which some one shortly before had slung 
 round the neck of the coimt, the lifeless body of the count, 
 whose head, hanging do^^"n on one side, had been beaten in, 
 and bled copiously from gaping wounds. 
 
 Thereupon Pawikausky, according to his own statement, 
 turned the suspended body round, the face being towards 
 the lamp-post, in order that every one might see it ; he then 
 descended the ladder, and went to the Imperial Arsenal, to 
 see how the afiair would end, from whence, without taking 
 part in the attack, he returned, not till the morning, to the 
 spii-it-shop. 
 
 The statements of the eye-witnesses, several of whom 
 recognised Pawikausky with certainty as the hangman, or, to 
 use their ovm. expression, as the Matador, describe his fright- 
 ful activity at first on the stone, and afterwards on the 
 ladder, and give bi-utal details. 
 
 The accused states that he pulled oif his jacket to hang the 
 body, stripped up his shirt-sleeves, ill-treated the body when 
 standing on the stone -with kicks and blows, because it 
 slipped from his hands, and afterwards on the ladder em- 
 braced it with his bloody hands, insultingly and with coarse 
 expressions, pulled it about by the hair, and spit in the face, 
 tül a shudder ran through the witnesses.
 
 MURDER OF COUXT LATOUR. 397 
 
 At the conclusion lie made a speech, amid shouts of 
 applause from the spectators, like Wangler, a repetition of 
 which human feeling forbids. 
 
 The deposition of an eye-witness belonging to the educated 
 classes is important, and entitled to full credit : he had by 
 chance made liis way through the crowd among the mur- 
 derers in the courtyard of the War Office, where he stood 
 only a few paces distant fi'om the barred window. He 
 recognised with certainty Pa\vikausky, on being confronted 
 ^vith him, as the same man who, at the first strangu- 
 lation, when the count was still alive, drew up the body, 
 and tied it \vith the cord to the window-bars. 
 
 Witness saw the same man, Pawikausky, soon afterwards 
 in the squai'e, acting as hangman at the lamp-post. 
 
 Another equally credible \vitness confirms the identity of 
 the hangman in both cases with the person of Pamkausky, 
 but merely conjecturally, without being able to speak with 
 certainty. 
 
 A third witness thinks, also with probability only, that 
 he observed Pawikausky among the band of murderers in 
 the coui-tyard of the building. 
 
 From the deposition of the servant in the dwelling in the 
 Seitzergasse, into which Pa\vikausky forced his way to seek 
 for the man who fired the shot, it appears that the crowd 
 who rushed in ^vith him was headed by Padovany (after- 
 wards convicted as an insurgent), who exhibited great haste, 
 and went away exclaiming, "We have still more to do!" 
 Whereupon witness saw the whole rabble of people hasten to 
 the War Office. 
 
 He afterwards related to the same servant, who was one 
 of I'awikausky's customers for sand, that he had sli(jt se^•eral 
 soldiers, at the attack on the arsenal, from the roof of an 
 adjoining house ; and when witness reproached liim after
 
 398 INVESTIGATIOX INTO THE 
 
 tlic occupation of the city witli the occurrences of the 6th 
 of October, accused excused lunisclf by saying, that they, 
 the workmen, had been paid in October by Jews, and were 
 employed where they were wanted. 
 
 The accused said, that matters woidd soon begin again, but 
 that witness might be quiet ; nothing more would happen to 
 him, for he (Pawikausky) was now well-disposed, and before, 
 likeAvise, he had only fought for liberty. 
 
 In a similar manner he had expressed himself also against 
 another of his customers, in March, 1849, remarking, that 
 they should again assemble, and fall upon " the big-heads" 
 ■with scythes : so sajdng, the accused pointed to the head, 
 with a motion of his hand, accompanied by a liissing sound. 
 
 Several other eye-witnesses stated, that it was generally 
 known in the Wieden Suburb, where Pawikausky dwelt, 
 that on the Gth of October he sold in the city several pieces 
 of cloth, part of the dress of Count Latour, at ten to thirty 
 kreutzers apiece ; and his friend and comi-ade, who was also 
 examined respecting his participation in this crime, asserts, 
 that Pawikausky confided to him that he had hung up the 
 body of the count, after having first dragged it out from 
 the building. 
 
 Aftei-wards, however, the accused, as his friend testifies, could 
 not bear any talk about the miu'der of the War Minister ; 
 for it seemed to make him anxious and uneasy, and he used, 
 whenever the conversation fell upon this subject, to go away; 
 indeed, he had latterly declared that his life was a burden to 
 him, and that he must give himself up to the authorities, as 
 so many innocent persons were under arrest on his account. 
 All participation exceeding the limits of his confession, 
 especially his presence and co-ojieration in the murder in 
 the War Office, at the first strangulation as well as at the 
 attack on the arsenal, was obstinately denied by the
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 399 
 
 accused ; and it only remains to be mentioned, that in 
 consequence of a wound at the fight on the lines, October 
 28th, 1848, he was laid up in the hospital foi- thirteen weeks. 
 
 8. Jolmnn Fischer, Avas born at St. Georgen, in the county 
 of Presburg, in Hungary ; is tliirty-eight years of age, a 
 Catholic, and unmarried ; he is a joiner in a manufactory 
 in the neighboiu'hood of the Gloggnitz station, the father 
 of two illegitimate children : has never before been under 
 judicial examination, was an industrious workman, but 
 passionate, irritable, very resolute, proud, seldom sober, 
 and feared by every one in his own house for his brutality. 
 
 A prominent feature in his character is his especial pre- 
 dilection for riots, to which he used always to run armed, 
 and with a kind of fanatical inspiration. 
 
 According to liis statement, which was rendered suspicious 
 by his reserve at first, and by his numerous contradictions, he 
 left his dwelling on the day of the murder early in the after- 
 noon, and went first to a neighbouring spirit-shop, afterwards, 
 after two o'clock, unarmed into the city, to the Aula, where 
 he remained inactive for half an hour, and then went to the 
 Seitzergasse. 
 
 Here he states that he took the iron pike of a workman, 
 who went away leaving the weapon beliind him, and pro- 
 ceeded with it to the courtyard of the War Office, where he 
 remained about ten minutes ; that just then a gentleman, who 
 was surrounded by a crowd of workmen and guards exclaim- 
 ing that " Latour must come out, for he was there !" assured 
 the multitude that the count was no longer in the house. 
 
 On being called upon by a National Guard to assist in 
 removing the wounded from the guard-house in the square, 
 the accused says, that lie went to the guard-house, and from 
 thence, as the wounded were already removed, to the Juq)eiial 
 Arsenal, it being said that the peoj)le were going to storm it.
 
 400 INVESTIGATION INTO TUE 
 
 Ha\-ing, liowcvcr, on liis way thither turned back from 
 fear, lie i-emained on the Freiung ; but an hour afterwards, 
 hearing the cry suddenly i-aised that Latour was dead, he 
 lun to the courtyard, whore he saw the body suspended to 
 the lamp-post, and covered it with a linen cloth. 
 
 The people, on hearing a discharge of musketry, thinking 
 that the military were firing, ran off in different directions, 
 and he hastened back to the Fx-eiung, where a man Avas 
 cuttmg to pieces and distributing a sword-belt, declaring it 
 to have been Latour's ; the accused also received a piece, and 
 went with an acquaintance whom he met on the bastion to 
 the arsenal. 
 
 There, without taking part in the attack, he rcinained 
 till nine o'clock, and then went to a wine-cellar in the 
 Graben, and at half-past ten o'clock rctui-ncd home. 
 
 On the other hand, two witnesses recognised the accused as 
 the same man who, on the evening of the murder, exhibited 
 in the above-mentioned -wdne-cellar a pointed, pike-shaped, 
 long, iron pole, bent round at the handle, Avith the boast, 
 that he had killed Count Latour with it, at the same time 
 boldly stating liis name, contlition, and abode ; and on the 
 remark of one of the Avitnesses, that he would receive a 
 rewai'd at the Aula for his deed, he answered, that he knew 
 the way thither. 
 
 A piece of a sword-belt was also exhibited by Fischer on 
 this occa.sion, with the remark, that it had belonged to 
 Latour, and he had sold other gold tassels belonging to it 
 for twenty kreutzers each. 
 
 In a like manner the accused boasted on the bastion to his 
 acquaintances, as likewise in the evening twilight, on his 
 retimi home soon afterwards, to the woman who lived in the 
 same hou.se, and in both places he expressly mentioned his 
 pike, with which he had stabbed the War Minister, adding,
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 401 
 
 to the latter female witness, that he had also assisted at the 
 hanging, and that he should cut off the end of his pike, to 
 keep it as a memorial for his son. 
 
 One of the Deutschmeister Infantry Grenadiers, who, at 
 the time of the murder, was standing in the coui-tyard of 
 the War Office, and who endeavoiu-ed to rush to the aid of 
 the War Minister, but was seized by a National Guard and 
 chnven back into the courtyard, with the words, that he had 
 nothing to do there, descnbes precisely, in his examination 
 before the arrest of the accused, an artisan, exactly corre- 
 sponding to Fischer's person, who, soon after the attack on the 
 count, stepped out of the knot of mmxlerers, and standing 
 close by the witness, wiped with a handkercliief a bloody 
 pointed ii'on weapon, which seemed to the grenadier to be a 
 bayonet, exclaiming, " The only wish of my life, to have his 
 blood, is satisfied : — the villain betrayed my country ! " 
 
 This witness accidentally met Fischer in the antechamber 
 of the court, and hardly had he caught sight of him, when 
 he begged to be examined, and asserted with certainty that 
 Fischer was the workman described by him. 
 
 The above-mentioned accomplice, Brambosch, saw, as soon 
 as he reached the War Office, Fischer standing in the court- 
 yard with an iron pike ; and when Brambosch afterwards 
 turned round to go away, after the blows inflicted with the 
 butt -end of the musket on the War Ministei', he ol)served 
 the accused close in front of him, again in the midst of the 
 crowd of murderers, armed with a weapon, which he this time 
 could not exactly distinguisli, on account of the prevailing 
 tumult, whilst lie confirmed his personal identity with cer- 
 tainty. 
 
 Another witness of the deed recognised, Avithout hesitation, 
 Fischer as — with a great degree of probability — one of those 
 he had seen among the crowd of murderers in the courtyard, 
 
 2d
 
 402 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 actively engaged iu the deed ; and a person sentenced for 
 insurrection l)y the Criuiiual Court considered the accused, 
 although not with perfect certainty, to be tlic same Avork- 
 nian who, with three other proletarians, ültreated with 
 his iron pike a gentleman who was indignant at the strangu- 
 lation on the lamp-post, and who barely saved himself by 
 flight to the neighbouring guai'd-house, where he was obliged 
 to have sui'gical assistance. 
 
 Lastly, several of Fischer's fellow-lodgers confii-med his 
 eager participation in the fight -with the imperial troops 
 duiing the last days of October, and especially the cu'cuni- 
 stance that he, on the 30th of October, when the imperial 
 outposts were already in his suburb, came home in haste, 
 fetched liis musket, and, like a madman, rushed out, saying 
 that he must shoot the military sentinel. In his garret, 
 and under the floor of liis chambei-, six pistols were found 
 concealed, also a considerable number of cartridges, and a 
 piece of the above-mentioned sword-belt, the possession of 
 which he admitted. 
 
 The accused did not confess his thiice boasting of his par- 
 ticipation in the mui'der until after many denials, with the 
 remai-k, that he had only bragged of it, without having 
 been on the spot of the murder. 
 
 He had, however, been told in the street by a woman, 
 that the mvirderers of Count Latoiu- would be well rewarded 
 at the Aula, and he was forced to admit that he did really 
 cut off the end of his iron pike, on the 7th of October, and. 
 kept it as a memorial, but only that he might be able to say 
 years afterwards what had once taken place in Vienna. 
 
 In the last days of October he had marched out only a 
 few times with the National Guards of his district to the 
 hue, and on the 30th of October he had taken his musket out 
 with him, only to deliver it up, but not to shoot the sentinel.
 
 MUKDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 403 
 
 9. Joseph Ilajor, a native of Rosenau, in tlie Gömör 
 county in Hungary, fifty-six years of age, of the Evangelical 
 religion, unmarried ; formerly an apotliecary, recently secre- 
 tary of a landed proprietor in Hungary. Sbice 1841 he 
 has resided at Vienna, in the Wieden Suburb, with an 
 acquaintance, who was a money-brokei', without property or 
 any fixed income : he is described as cautious in his state- 
 ments, but easuy excited and mitable, a Radical, cheerful 
 and kind in his manner, and as having been beloved by 
 the Wieden Guards, whose standard-bearer he was. 
 
 Kohl described and denounced this man as one of the 
 inciters of the people in the events of the 6th of October in 
 the city j stating that, at the time when the mtdtitude in 
 the Hofplatz demanded with outcries the death of the War 
 Minister, he had placed himself m front of the opened door of 
 the War Ofiice, and, flourishing liis sabre, had instigated the 
 people to enter, calling on them to take com^age, to foUow 
 him, and not to be frightened at anything. 
 
 Kohl heard from the bystanders, that the same guardsman 
 had not only shortly before fought very bravely himself on 
 the Graben, but had also fired upon the people in the 
 conflict with the miUtaiy. 
 
 In the War Office, Kohl did not see the accused agaiu until 
 the moment when the count's body fell from the window- 
 srating. 
 
 Major was at that time standing hai'dly five paces off", 
 ;ind spoke with several other guardsmen, without Kohl's 
 ])eing able to overhear their conversation. 
 
 Major himself made the following statements : — 
 
 On the day of the murder he went to the city at two 
 
 o'clock in the afternoon -svith his musket, but without a sabre, 
 
 to .seek the first company of the National Guards of his district, 
 
 and was dra\vn into the fight with the pioneers on the Graben. 
 
 2d2
 
 404 INVESTIGATION IKTO THE 
 
 Ho states that lie there fired several times \ipon tlic 
 imperial trtiops, and incited the people to fight, using ex- 
 clamations -which he must confess with repentance. 
 
 He also admits that he encouraged the multitude in front 
 of the gate of the War Office to advance and enter the 
 building, at a time, indeed, when the death of the War 
 Minister was loudly demanded. 
 
 In the courtyard, when the proletarians and Jews, dressed 
 like students, were ciying out that the count must die, and 
 be hanged, he at first demanded for him a court-martial ; but 
 on being abiised as a black-yellow dog for this, he was seized 
 with the general rage, and joined with the rest in the cry, 
 that Latour must be hung, but without having any kind of 
 personal enmity against the War Minister. 
 
 He states that the students, by representing to them that 
 Count Latour wanted to rob them of theii* liberties, and 
 they must defend these, formally instigated them against 
 him, and ordered them to captm-e the War Office. 
 
 Using a significant simile, Major here said, " The students 
 were the diivers, but they [the people] were the oxen !" 
 
 On the departure of the deputy Borrosch from the War 
 Office, the accused says that he accompanied him through 
 different streets to the Stephensplatz, after which he drank 
 a gla.ss of wine in a public-house close by, and then returned 
 to the War Office, where he spoke with some guards at the 
 time when the body of the count fell from the window-bars. 
 
 He does not exactly remember what he said or did in the 
 courtyard on this occa^^ion, for he was probably intoxicated. 
 
 If he knew the charges brought against him in the court, 
 he would confess them ; but he admits with repentance, that 
 when the body fell from the window-bars, he insulted the 
 count, and cried out -with the rest, that Latour must be 
 hxvas-
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 405 
 
 After having seen tlie body dragged to the square and 
 suspended to the lamp-post, he went to the Civic Arsenal, 
 and from thence, toward nine o'clock, home. 
 
 It must be observed, that Major did not confess liis second 
 presence in the War Office at the i ime of the first strangula- 
 tion until after the deposition of Kohl ; but in subsequent 
 examinations he again retracted his statement, saying that 
 he went from the public-house straight to the City Arsenal, 
 and from thence home, without again entering the War 
 Ofiice ; and, not having yet stood before the court, he, from 
 fear, stated falsely that he had been in the buuding duiing 
 the strangulation. 
 
 The partial retractation of the accused's confession is ex- 
 plained by the circumstance, that he succeeded, wliilst under 
 arrest, in keeping up an intercourse with a friend, who was 
 by no means free from suspicion ; and it must be mentioned, 
 that several facts, confirmed by witnesses, tend to indicate 
 that Major was a paid agent of the Hungarian anarcliist party, 
 for furthering the occurrences of the 6th of October ; whose 
 intrigiies and share in the murder of the War Minister 
 will be seen moi'e closely hei'eafter. The facts here alluded 
 to are, especially, the frequent intercourse of Major with 
 Hungarian advocates and compromised landowners ia Hvm- 
 gary; his continued and active connection with that country 
 in the summer of 1848, whither he went on a furlough 
 gi-anted him by liis captain ; lastly, tlie circumstance, wliich 
 struck one of the witnesses so forcibly, that Major, who 
 made no secret of his poverty, suddenly, in August or 
 September, 1848, was plentifully supplied with money, and 
 paid drinking debts. 
 
 10. Michael Wilhelm is a native of Vienna, in Austria, twenty- 
 two years of age, a Catholic ; unmarried, a journeyman glove- 
 maker: has never before been punished; has the character of
 
 40G INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 au extreme Ratlical, aud ou the court-martial examination of 
 Tiia brother, Viiiceuz Wilhchn, for having concealed arms 
 dm'ing the state of siege under peculiarly incriminating 
 circumstances, he was arrested as compromised in that 
 matter, whence arose his participation in this murder. 
 
 As already related by the accomplice Brambosch, Wilhelm, 
 together Avith him, both belonging to the same company of 
 National Guards, shortly before the murder, forced their way 
 into the "War Office, at the instigation of the public speaker 
 in the Bazaar Court ; and the deposition of "Wilhelm agi-ees 
 perfectly Avith that of Brambosch, up to the time when the 
 latter, with Bausch, and the two other guards, returned from 
 the finiitless search for the "War Minister in the passages of 
 the fourth story, to the impatient crowd on the staircase. 
 
 It is well known that Brambosch accused Wilhelm of 
 being, on that occasion, one of the most violent instigators 
 against the count ; that he demanded aloud his death ; and, 
 in his rage, even presented his bayonet at Brambosch's breast, 
 accusing him of concealing Latour ; from which circumstance 
 Brambosch also points him out as the sole author of his 
 nodsfortune, as he was first thrown by him into that state of 
 imbridled rage against the count, which led to his participa- 
 tion in the mui'der. 
 
 Brambosch repeated tliis himself to Wuhelm, before the 
 court, in a distinct manner, without any passion ; nay, after 
 being told the fate that awaited him, in the language of 
 reconciliation. 
 
 It was first, on being thus confronted, that Wuhelm con- 
 fessed all the circumstances connected with his instijratin"- 
 the people, and sought an excuse in the example of the rest, 
 and the general enmity against the War Minister, asserting 
 that he had not thought it woidd come to a real murder. 
 
 With regard to his later conduct, Wilhelm says, that
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 407 
 
 ■when the count was led downstairs into the courtyard, he 
 went behind liiin ; but that just as the attack on the 
 minister began, he returned to the bastion, A^dthout taking 
 part in it. 
 
 He declares it to be uutrae, that he took part in the 
 subsecpent attack on the imf)erial arsenal, or sought to 
 persuade Brambosch to this. 
 
 11. Wilhelm Bausch, the last of the convicted men, was born 
 at Sonneberg, in the Leitmeritz Circle, in Bohemia ; is twenty- 
 four years of age, a Catholic, unmarried ; a student in tech- 
 nology, in his third annual course, and lieutenant in the 
 Academic Legion, hitherto iri'eproachable in his conduct, and 
 having the character of a quiet, industrious, well-conducted, 
 and domestic young man ; who, although carried away by 
 the general enthusiasm for the March events, nevertheless 
 hated the excesses of revolution. 
 
 Without assistance from home, he supported himself by 
 private teaching and as a copyist ; and in the summer, 1848, 
 received also, upon liis petition, an aid of fifty florins from 
 his majesty the Emperor Ferdinand. 
 
 On the examination, he manifested an easily- susceptible 
 spirit for every impression, without passing the limits of 
 modesty. 
 
 The student, by whose share in the occurrences in the 
 AVar Office their fatal termination was not a little furthered, 
 states as follows : — 
 
 He had come on the morning of that day to the Poly- 
 technic Institute, where his fellow-students disclosed to liim 
 that the j)lan was arx'anged not to allow the German troops 
 to depart ; that the day before, a fraternization had taken 
 place between the Grenadiers and the National Guards in 
 different public-houses, at which the former had given the 
 promise not to depart, if they were supported by the Guards.
 
 40S IXVESTIGATIOX INTO TUE 
 
 Hereupon tlic accused, after putting on liis unifoi-m, re- 
 ]nüred to the University, where, towards eleven o'clock in the 
 forenoon, a crowd of students, guaixls, and workmen called 
 on liim to be their leader, and under Ids command marched 
 towards Leopoldstadt ; but on theii- way thither, this troop, 
 at the order of the commander of the Academic Legion, 
 Aiguer, who came riding, and met them at the city gate, 
 tui'ned I'ound, and went back to the Aula. 
 
 Rausch here joined another di^ision of students, who, 
 under the command of the wc^ll-known Wutschel (still a 
 fugitive), wei-e going to the I'aihvay-station in the Prater, 
 where he states that he remained for three-quarters of an 
 hour inactive, out of mere curiosity ; but that, on a voUey 
 fired by the military upon the students, he took to flight, 
 and returned to the city. 
 
 Without again returning to the Aida, he says that he 
 wandered about for some time in the streets ; and at about 
 half-past two o'clock went to the Hof, where the pioneers 
 were standing. 
 
 In answer to a question here put to a general, whether 
 there were no means of putting a stop to hostilities, the 
 latter advised him to go to the War JNIinister ; he thereupon 
 sought the latter, and received from him a promise of the 
 cessation of hostilities, on condition that he should fii'st 
 pacify the people, with whom the firing had commenced. 
 
 In this, however-, he did not succeed, in spite of his re- 
 pi'csentations to the multitude in the square ; for the people 
 cried out in gi-eat bitterness, that the War Minister must be 
 called to account for the blood that had been shed ; and the 
 accused also heard himself reproached with being in league 
 with Latoui'. 
 
 He confesses it was tiiie, that on his retui-n to the War 
 Office on occasion of the issuing the wi'itten ministerial
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 409 
 
 order for the cessation of hostilities, beiug excited by hearing 
 the firing of cannon in the squai'e, and liis ill reception by 
 the people, he had behaved passionately, and called out to the 
 minister in a tone of repi'oach, " This is the consequence of 
 3^our orders, — I cannot answer for any further excesses ! " 
 He also admits that one of the bystanders advised him to 
 moderate himself; but he denies having seized the War 
 Minister by the breast, as one of the witnesses had deposed, 
 and at the utmost admits it as possible that he might have 
 involuntarily seized liim by the button or by his coat, a 
 common habit he had when excited. 
 
 With regard to the cii'cumstance, confirmed by two wit- 
 nesses, that he demanded at that time the opening of the 
 locked gates, endeavouring to silence the anxiety expressed 
 by the War Minister against this step by pledging his word 
 of honour to prevent the forcible entrance of the people, if 
 the gate was only opened, — Rausch remarks evasively, that 
 he recollects there was some question about the opening of 
 the gates, but he does not know exactly whether he himself 
 opoke of this, and is much more of the opinion that another 
 of the bystanders made that demand. 
 
 After describing his attempt at the window of the 
 chanceiy-ch amber on the first story, to pacify the people 
 by exhibiting the placard, he fiu'ther states, that, after a 
 second vain attempt to appease the storm, the people being 
 already infuriated to madness, he returned to the dwelling of 
 the War INIinister, accompanied by a National Guard, who 
 joined him in the square, in order to represent to the count 
 the extreme danger he was in, and to propose some means 
 of conciliation ; such as the resignation of his office. 
 
 On this occasion the aide-de-camp met liim in the dwelling- 
 house, and remarked, how frightful it would be if Count 
 Latoui" were to be given up to the justice of the populace,
 
 no INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 and he urged Rausch to co-operate with liim in attempting 
 to save the count, which accused was instantly ready to do. 
 
 Thereupon they came to the agi'eement. respecting whicli 
 the assertion of the accused and the statement of the aide- 
 de-camp diffei" — that the "War Minister was to give in his 
 resignation, wliich Niewiadomsky was to take in MTiting to 
 the latter. 
 
 Eausch remarks, that the confidence which the aide-de- 
 camp showed him on this occasion, had been a spur to him 
 to throw himself into danger in order to save the minister, 
 
 A further inducement to him to take part in the occur- 
 rences, he asserts, was the report that a student had dragged 
 a general out of the water on the Tabor ; Rausch says he 
 AWshed to do a similar act for the War ^Minister. 
 
 On the announcement of the measure agreed upon below 
 in the coiutyard, where he was declared a traitor, and the 
 wiitten paper a mere rag, and where he and the aide-de-camp 
 got into the thickest crowd, Eausch heard the first death- 
 cries against Latour. 
 
 At first he gave evasive answers, and professed ignorance ; 
 but the multitude growing more and more stormy, and 
 reproaching him with knowing the hiding-place of the 
 coimt, as he had been previously in intercoui'se with him — 
 and when the people even threatened to kill liim, he called 
 out, thinking that the War Minister must have escaped in 
 the mean time. Count Latour was upstairs, and they ought 
 themselves to go up and satisfy themselves ! 
 
 On the contraiy, it is to be remarked, that not only 
 Neumayer, but also another man, who had undergone a 
 previous examination on suspicion of participation in the 
 guilt, corroborated the fact of Rausch having called on the 
 people on the staiix-ase to follow him, as Latour was above- 
 stairs, asserting, that they had not obsei-ved that Rausch
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 411 
 
 was at that time in any position of compulsion or 
 anxiety. 
 
 Both witnesses recognise him as the same student, and 
 they assert that they followed liim only on his summons; 
 nay, one of them declares, that Rausch was one of those 
 students who, in the War Minister's study, read aloud the 
 letters seized there to the people, exclaiming, " See here 
 Latour's knavery ! " It is further deposed by many witnesses, 
 that just at the time when Raiisch called on the people to 
 follow liim, there was a momentary quiet in the War Ofiice. 
 
 Rausch, however, in his defence continues, that he, in 
 company -with guards and workmen, went into the second 
 story ; that there was a general cry that he nuist bring out 
 the count to them ; and that, seeing himself in the power of 
 the people, feai-ing the worst for Latour, and thinking it 
 better for the latter to be taken prisoner, than to fall into 
 the hands of the people, he at last gave the promise to help 
 them to seek the count. 
 
 They thus came into the count's antechamber, where they 
 found the aide-de-camp, who, on being asked for Latoui-, 
 led them to the church, and told them that the count had 
 escaped through it. 
 
 The accused attempted to give a positive denial to the 
 charge, that he had been among the otlier students on the 
 reading of the letters in the count's study. 
 
 It appears from the statements of Captain Niewiadomsky, 
 that Rausch, on occasion of their last meeting, had, calling 
 him by his name, begged him to jJubUsh the whole proceed- 
 ings in a. newspaper, as he feared to be killed by the jieople 
 as a traitor. 
 
 From the church, the accused says that he went to tho 
 staii-case in the third story, just when the people, after the 
 rejection of the minister's resignation, were some of them
 
 412 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 demanding his imprisonment, and others his death ; and 
 adds, tliat he liimself was tlie leader of those twenty guards 
 who took the solemn oath to defend the count. 
 
 With regard to the subsequent search for the minister in 
 the passages of the foin-th stoiy, with Brambosch and the 
 two other guards, — on which INIajor Baron Boxberg mentions 
 the significant circumstance, that Rausch met him, at the head 
 of three guards, with a dra^^'Tl sword, and asked him where 
 the minister Bach was ; and that, on Ids answering that ho 
 did not know (for wldch Bausch required the major's word 
 of honoiu-), Rausch remarks, that he was then really seeking 
 Fischhof in the passages, that the latter might lead him to 
 the count. 
 
 He adds, that he has some indistinct recollection that a 
 person met him, who stated himself to be an officer, and 
 that they had some talk about a word of honour. 
 
 AVliat he asked that gentleman he does not know, and 
 believes that he inquired rather for Latour than for the 
 minister Bach ; but he would not deny the possibility, from 
 his excessive confusion at the time, of his haAing asked for 
 Babh. 
 
 Accused is perfectly ignorant of their having on this 
 occasion, as an in^■alid asserted, broken into and searched a 
 chancery-chamber ; on the contraiy, it is time that, on 
 their return to the staircase, they were received with, 
 reproaches. 
 
 "V\nien, lastly, Fisclihof came ^\-ith the news that Latour 
 had been found, accused says that he followed liim with the 
 guard of protection across the passage to a door, before 
 which they saw the War Minister standing, whereupon they 
 conducted him downstairs. 
 
 Rausch states that he at the same tune vainly attempted 
 to push the War Minister sideways into a chamber.
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 413 
 
 Whilst tliey were going downstairs, a fresh mass of people 
 met them, uttering threats of hanging the count ; and the 
 acc-used, having placed liimself opposite to these people, and 
 spoken strongly for the protection of the minister, he says 
 that they forced him away from the staii-case, dragged him 
 into the passage on the second story, called him a black- 
 yellow traitor, seized on his sash, and made signs of hanging 
 him with it ; from wliich danger he was freed by the arrival 
 of the National Guard Ernst Koch, — a circumstance which 
 the latter confirms. 
 
 Thereupon, the accused says that he went, accompanied 
 by Koch, to the civic arsenal, where he had fomentations, 
 being very unwell, from the effects of deadly anxiety and 
 fear. 
 
 According to the depositions of several other eye-wit- 
 nesses, Rausch nxshed, disordered in mind and in the highest 
 excitement, into the adjacent room in the arsenal, exclaim- 
 ing, " May God not punish me — he is now hanging, and I 
 am guilty of it ! " 
 
 He related, that, at the moment when the people wanted 
 to press into the "War Office, to murder Latour, he concluded 
 the agreement ^vith the leaders of the crowd, in order to 
 save the minister, to enter vnth. them, and seek the latter, 
 on condition that his life was spared. 
 
 At this statement Rausch beat his hand on his brow, and 
 exclaimed, " Oh, that I had not told the people that the 
 count was in the house ! " He behaved like one in despair-, 
 and begged tho.se present, in case he should be attacked for 
 the murder in the public prints, to save his honour, a.s he 
 was placed by that event in a false light, but in reality was 
 wholly innocent of it. 
 
 He asserts, that he knew nothing of any plot against the 
 count's life, and had no anticipation of so frightful an issue ;
 
 •ili INVESTIGATIOK INTO TUE 
 
 that be had thought nothing more was intended than the 
 demolition of the building, and, at most, the ill-treatment of 
 the minister ; but that he, on the eontraiy, stimulated by- 
 ambition, had aimed at preventiog this, stepping in as a 
 mediator, and distinguishing himself; for his whole beha- 
 \-iour, from the time of liis first appearance in the War 
 Ofiicc, showed the intention and piu'pose only of putting a 
 stop to the bloodshed, to effect a pacification and con- 
 ciliation. 
 
 He added, that he had engaged in these occun-ences like 
 a lever, without his fault ; but he wished, haAÖng fallen into 
 the power of the people (as he expresses it), to reconcile the 
 two parties; and it was only his danger and fear of passing 
 for a traitor to the 2)eople, that induced him afterwards to 
 assist in seeking for the coimt. 
 
 By the sentence of the court-maitial of March 14, 1849, 
 Wangler, Brambosch, Jiirko\ich, Kohl, and Johl, foimd 
 guilty of participation in the mm-der of the K,. I. General 
 and Austrian Minister of "War Count Baillet de Latour, — 
 which crime is aggravated in the cases of Brambosch and 
 Johl by theh' share in the insiu-rection, ai-e doomed, the 
 three first to death by hanging ; but Kohl and Johl, in 
 consideration of the probability, that at the time when they 
 took part in the ciimc they believed the victim to have been 
 already actually dead, are sentenced each to twenty years' 
 fortress-labour in heavy irons ; further, by the subsequent 
 decree of the court-martial of July 9, 1848, Neumayer, 
 Pawikaiisky, and Fischer, convicted of a share in the murder, 
 with the aggi-avation of pubhc acts of violence by Pawi- 
 kausky, and by Fischer of a concealment of arms during the 
 state of siege, in defiance of strict legal prohibition, from 
 imperfect proofs fm-nished by concurrent circumstances — are 
 sentenced, Neumayer and Pa^vikausky to twenty years', and
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 415 
 
 Fiscliei" to fifteen years' fortress-labour, in heavy irons, 
 Pawikausky likewise to fast one day in every week : fur- 
 ther. Major, Wilhelm, and Rausch, for their participation in 
 the murder, are condemned, the first to ten years', the second 
 to eight years' fortress-labour, in heavy irons : and Rausch to 
 six years' fortress arrest, in irons : and these sentences to be 
 carried into execution. 
 
 There still remains the brief notice of the results of the 
 investigation into the circumstance which appeared in the 
 acts, that both at the strangulation in the courtyard, and 
 at that in the square, a white military belt was employed, 
 both of which belts the actors in the scene afterwards appa- 
 rently joined together. 
 
 One of these belts, which was brought to the hospital 
 with the dead body, was, according to distinct information, 
 taken from a subaltern officer of the Duke of Nassau 
 infantry regiment on the 6th of October ; the other appears 
 to have belonged to the grenadier who deserted at the 
 Tabor from Baron Hess's infantry, who, it appears, was killed 
 in a subsequent conflict in the ranks of the insurgents.
 
 410 IKVESTIGATION IN'TO THE 
 
 THIRD SECTION. 
 
 THE ASSASSINATION : ITS ORIGINATORS AND PROMOTERS. 
 
 The mob wliicli entered the Wax Office on the afternoon 
 of the Gth October consisted of a motley mixture of persons 
 of all ranks and classes of society. Still, among these it is 
 easy to point out those classes wliich were distinguished by 
 their activity and their numbers, and which took a prominent 
 part in the perpetration of the crime. 
 
 Tliese classes are : the members of the Academical Legion, 
 who led on, and who dii'ected the assaiüt ; the National Guards 
 of the suburbs, and especially of the suburb of Wieden ; and 
 the labourers, and among these chiefly the navigators of 
 the Southern Railway. 
 
 The judicial inquiry has proved, beyond the possibility of 
 a doubt, that the assassination of the Secretary at War was 
 deliberately planned, and that in the " Aula " in particular 
 it had been prepared and formally announced. To these 
 facts we have the concurrent testimony of the mtnesses, and 
 of the criminals themselves. 
 
 It will, however, prove satisfactoiy further to substantiate 
 the fact by a summary of the evidence which bears upon tliis 
 point of the insurrection. 
 
 On the 4th October, 1848, at 9 o'clock a.m., a very re- 
 spectable ■ttdtness entered the low(>r arcade of the New Uni- 
 versity building. He was led by curiosity, having, as he 
 passed, heard the \aolent outcries of many persons assembled 
 on the premises.
 
 MURDER OF COL'XT LATOUR. 417 
 
 On entering, he saw a crowd of National Guards, labourers, 
 and students, with red caps and " Ziegenhain " cudgels. 
 
 Several of the students made inflammatory orations. They 
 atldressed themselves to the labourers, and attempted to 
 induce them to assist in the impending assault upon the War 
 Office, and to bring their friends and comrades with them for 
 the same purpose. The speakers protested that the laboiurers 
 alone could manage to preserve the liberty of the country. 
 They added, that the functionaries of the Government ought 
 to be hanged, and that Latour, the greatest foe to freedom, 
 ought to be the first to whom they (the labourers) should 
 av.ard that doom. 
 
 The witness rej^orted these facts at once to the Secretary 
 at War, and on the morning of the 6th October, when he 
 (the witness) left the War Office, he saw several groups of 
 well-dressed civilians fraternizing with the Archduke Lud- 
 wig's gi-enadiers, and imploring them to stand by the people, 
 and, in case of a conflict, not to fire upon their brethren. 
 
 We have already stated in the fii'st chapter, that half a)i 
 hour before the crime was perpetrated, a student boldly 
 announced in the Aula, that Latour had been condemned 
 by the Diet. 
 
 Another student, and to all appearance an Hungarian, 
 declared, eight days before the perpetration of the deed, that 
 Latour must needs die. He said this publicly, in a chop- 
 house in the Schultergasse. And at noon, on the 6th Oc- 
 tober, the same student protested in the same house that 
 '■' this was Latour's last day." On the following morning he 
 boasted of the accuracy of his prediction. 
 
 Immediatt»ly after the termination of tlie contest at 
 the Tabor, a student proceeded from thence to the city, and 
 addressed the crowd which had collected at the entrance to 
 the Prater, with the words, "By half-past four o'clock, 
 
 2 E
 
 nS INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 Latour must be hanged !" It ajipears from the evidence of 
 numerous witnesses, that the assassination of the Secretary at 
 War was publicly announced among the mob at the Tabor on 
 the morning of the Gth October, and that it was said, "When 
 we have done here, we must go back to the town, and Latoiu- 
 is the first who ought to be hanged." 
 
 A member of the Central Democratic Committee, too, 
 mentioned the contemplated murder, at a private party, a few 
 horn's before its perj:)etration, and just before the crime was 
 committed several students were seen hastening into the 
 War Office, calling out and declai'ing that such an act had 
 been resolved upon. 
 
 A mob, led by an engineer in the unifonn of the Acade- 
 mical Legion, forced an entrance into the shop of a gunsmith, 
 in the Bognergasse, opposite to the War Office. They took 
 muskets, pistols, and swords, to the value of 4,345 florins, and, 
 thus armed, they iiished into the War Office. 
 
 If it be considered that the Secretary at War received no 
 less than five intimations and warnings of the fate which was 
 in store for him, it becomes CAadent, that his death by the 
 hands of assassins had in a manner become a public secret, in 
 the city as weU as in the suburbs. 
 
 Nor ought it to be forgotten, that various persons brought 
 ropes to the War Office, and that diu'ing the assault, when- 
 ever the zeal of the mob seemed to slacken, well-dressed 
 persons were found to rouse the popular, fury by caUing out 
 that the Secretary at War ought to be hanged. All these 
 facts prove that the crime was deliberately prepared and 
 planned, and it is moreover worthy of notice, that the very 
 preamble to the last will and testament of the victim, plainly 
 expresses a foreboding of his wi-etched fate ; for it shows that 
 Latour was fully aware of the danger of his position, and 
 the abandoned wickedne&s of that party against which he
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 419 
 
 stood up for order and riglit, to the sacrifice even of liis own 
 life. 
 
 Besides mentioning tlie perseverance of the engineer 
 Rausch in the search after the Count Latour, the mur- 
 derous zeal of the students, who inflamed the minds of the 
 labourers and National Guards, and the impatience of the 
 student Wedel, who " longed to get at him," several mem- 
 bers of the Academical Legion have been identified amidst 
 the crowd of assassins which thronged the coiu'tyard. 
 
 One of these students forced an inactive spectator to arm 
 himself with a cudgel, and another student, rushing forth 
 from the circle of bandits, boasted, in a loud voice, that he, 
 •' too, had struck a blow at Latour." 
 
 Students were seen with the spoils of the War Office, viz., 
 sword-belts and pieces of gold lace, &c., in their hands, which, 
 they distributed among the people as tokens of victory. 
 
 On the evening of the 6th October, six members of the 
 Academical Legion were seen standing under the gateway of 
 the house 155, City, where they divided the plunder of the 
 War Office, viz., a shagreen case, a watch, sundry maps, &c. ; 
 and Edward Merlitschek, the adjutant of Wutschel (who has 
 since been sentenced for riot), was in possession of a sword 
 which he obtained during the sacking, and which he used to 
 designate as his " Latour sword." Another member of the 
 Academical Legion, who received his death-wound at the time 
 of the assaidt upon the arsenal, presented to his mistress a 
 fragment of the star of the order which Count Latour 
 wore, and which fragment, at a later period, was given np 
 to the court-martial. 
 
 A crowd of students pierced Count Latour's uniform, &c., 
 
 with bayonets ; and holding them aloft, canied them to 
 
 the Aula. The papers, &c., found in the count's apartment 
 
 were likewise conveyed to the university buUding, when 
 
 2e 2
 
 420 INYKSTIGATION INTO TUE 
 
 they were given in charge of Habrowsky, the president of 
 the committee of students. 
 
 Near the Aula, too, a torn piece of the murdered man's 
 sliirt was offered for sale at the piice of two kreiitzei-s ; and 
 everj-Avhere, in the coffee-houses and on the barricades, the 
 students procUiimed the perpetration of the crime with 
 cheers and other signal manifestations of i>leasiu'e. 
 
 It was at the instigation of two students that sevei'al 
 persons were ill treated and ari'ested for having expressed 
 their disapprobation of tlic stripping of the corpse, as it hung 
 at the lamp-post. One young man had a newspaper, " The 
 German Eagle,' affixed to the bleeding body; and these 
 degenerate young men prevented even the cutting down of 
 the hacked and mutilated body. 
 
 The blood of the ^dctim was still reeking on the pavement 
 when the student proposed another crime, Anz., the assaiilt 
 upon the arsenal. Torches were lit and distributed among 
 the people, and the notorious Dr. Becher was instmcted b}' 
 the commander of the Aula to attract the population of the 
 coimtry by rockets and other fiery signals from the tower of 
 St. Stephen. 
 
 On the morning of the crime, the emissaries of the Aula 
 made theii* appearance in the workshops of the Gloggnitz 
 railway, in the factories, and among the navigators of the 
 " Wiener Berg," for the pm^jose of collecting the labom-ers, 
 and drawing them into the city. Many laboiirers refused 
 to accompany them, but they returned in the afternoon of 
 the same day, with di'ums and maii^ial music, and having 
 armed the labourei-s with spears, poles, and cudgels, they 
 conducted them into the city, when they were drawn uj) 
 around the university building. Led by the students, part 
 of this misguided mob was afterwards sent into the various 
 streets around the Aula, where they constructed bairicades,
 
 ÜIURDEU OF COUNT LATOUR. 421 
 
 wliile those wliich remained near tlie university were told 
 in so many words, that they ought to defend liberty by 
 murder and assassination. Nor did the tempters forget to 
 designate three persons who were to be the first victims of 
 the misguided passions of the populace. It was then that 
 the crowd of assassins hastened to the War Office, and when 
 the crime was committed, they were seen flourishing their 
 bloody weapons on their way back to the Aula, where they 
 were paid for the work they had done on that day. And 
 one of them, -with his reeking spear, entered the board-room 
 of the committee of students, recounting the details of 
 the crime, and describing the manner in wliich he had 
 pierced Latour's thi-oat, and loudly asking, with unequalled 
 effi'ontery, whether he had done the trick " in the right 
 
 way 
 
 V 
 
 Nor are Wangler and Major the only persons who accuse 
 the students as the originators and promoters of their 
 misfortunes. The same complaint has been uttered by 
 sundry others of the prisoners ; and one of the accomplices 
 (whom it was, however, impossible to convict) cursed the 
 students, with great vehemence, for having seduced and 
 tempted him. He said, " While they squandered the money 
 wliich they got from Hungary, they have driven us poor 
 labourers into death and desperation ! " 
 
 After reading the evidence of Wangler and Jurkovich, 
 and the statements made by Brambosch, Pawikausky, and 
 Fischer, there can be no doubt that the assassins were ])aid 
 by the Aula; and from the examination of another prisoner 
 it appears that a reward of five florins was given for a 
 cannon, which was captured at the Tabor, and taken to the 
 Aula. 
 
 The deputy Borrosch, too, expressed his belief that Count 
 'Latour had been miu'dered by hired assassins. He pointed
 
 422 INVESTIUATIOX IKTO THE 
 
 out the btiikiug simiJarity between this crime aud that to 
 ■which Count Lamberg fell a victiui at Pesth, and he dweU 
 ou the dogged perseverance with Avhich the crowd, of about 
 fifty or sixty persons, in its attack upon Latour, broke 
 thi'ough the ranks of the guards who protected him. 
 
 Tliis deputy expresses Ids opinion, that the people of the 
 lower classes eannot be thought infected with poKtical fana- 
 ticism. The people at lai-ge are indeed open to the feeling 
 of HATRED ; but even this feeling requires a large crowd 
 to produce : many persons must co-operate and excite one 
 another, and this did not happen in Latom-'s case ; for 
 !Mr. Borrosch had addi'essed the people at the War Office, 
 calmed their passion, and taken them to the place of St. 
 Stephen. Scarcely twenty persons remained behind. 
 
 It is consequently evident, that the Aula was the 
 mo^TDg centre of this crime, and its action produced the 
 coiTesponding action of all the accessories to this fatal 
 deed. 
 
 The young men who piu'sued their studies at Vienna, and 
 who foiTued the bulk of the Academical Legion, were mixed 
 up vrith a mass of heterogeneous and, for the gi-eater part, 
 impure elements. Clerks, Hthographers, house-painters, 
 barbers, writers, and actors of great arrogance and no 
 talent ; tramping adventurers, and the scum of foreign 
 countries, — spiiitual paupers — men whom no change could 
 deprive of blessings which they did not possess, and whom 
 every change might sei^ve — these had made their way into 
 the Academical Legion, and by their \iolence and reckless- 
 ness, they lorded it over its councils, and directed its action. 
 To these we must add the members of the various demo- 
 cratic associations, to whom agitation was a trade, and who 
 at last succeeded in lowering the students of Vienna to the 
 level of the prajtorians of the revolution.
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 423 
 
 The superintendence of the associations of labourers by 
 students, and especially by engineers, and the plan of sending 
 agents to the factories and workshops, served to organize the 
 labourers, and to keep them in a perpetual state of excite- 
 ment and dependence upon the Legion. Hence the readiness 
 with which these men assembled at the orders of the Aula, 
 thus contributing to its importance, and stimulating its arro- 
 gance. The well-disposed among the workmen were awed 
 by the terrorism of their fanatic companions; many were 
 compelled to join the tumultuous processions, and to perpe- 
 ti'ate crimes which they, in their hearts, abhorred. 
 
 Co-operating with the students, thei'e were clubs of dema- 
 gogues displaying their fatal activity and instilling the 
 poison of theh- depraved doctrines into the minds of the 
 population. They addressed themselves to the lowly and 
 the ignorant, and it is to them we trace that excitement 
 which bordered upon madness, which has been shown by the 
 ÜSTational Guards of the suburbs, but especially of the subm'b 
 of Wieden, where Tausenau and Chaises established theii- 
 head-quarters. 
 
 Lost alike to progress and improvement, they preached a 
 crusade against the powers that be, and under the specious 
 promise of a golden age, they advised the overthi-ow of all 
 existing laws and conditions of society, hatred against 
 property and possessions ; for their ideal of a political society 
 was the illegal reign of the strong hand. These were the men 
 who sought for luxmy in the general misery, and who make it 
 difficult to say which was greater, the credulity of the crowd 
 or the effi-ontery of its prophets. 
 
 The nearest and most feasible object of the leaders of the 
 Radical party was the institution of a republic on the iiiins of 
 the dismembered monarchy. This is shown by the results of 
 the closest inquiry, by their own statements, and by the pro-
 
 424 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 testations of their printed publicatious. But it is an error to 
 believe that the iutroductiou of a republican form of govern- 
 ment would ha\x' satisfied tliem, or that it "would have teraii- 
 nated the revolution. No ! very few indeed of the leaders 
 were dupes and enthusiastic, or really believed that their 
 boasted reiniblic woidd tend to improve the condition and 
 secure the welfare of the people. The majoiity of the men 
 who guided the movement were impelled by nearer and more 
 practical motives. Theh- object was more Avicked and less 
 ■\-isionary. 
 
 They agitated for a republic, as the most fitting arena for 
 their selfijsh passions, and they prized that form of govern- 
 ment, inasmuch as it favom-ed their interest, theii- lust of 
 dominion, theh- greed, or their vanity. If they should have 
 been disappointed in their expectations, they would have 
 overthrown the republic as they overthrew the monarchy; 
 for Revolution was the only means which coidd ever invest 
 them with a short-lived imj^ortance. 
 
 Middling wiiters, who looked upon political agitation as 
 ofiering the most profitable career ; men of gi'eat ambition 
 and no merit, — ^l)old of front, strong of lungs, and quick of 
 tongue ; worthless subalterns and would-be ministers ; the 
 avaricious, greedy, and iron-fisted, who looked upon the revo- 
 lution and the general misery as a source of jirofit ; spend- 
 thrifts, who, having run tln-ough their fortunes, felt a desire to 
 defray the expenses of their disgraceful career by means of the 
 public purse ; adventurers, and men of tainted character : such 
 is the Hst of those who presumed to overthrow the fabric of 
 the state, and to amuse the misguided crowd Avith their j^han- 
 tasmagorias of popular sovereignty and republican blessed- 
 ness. 
 
 Several of these men had the candour to confess that they 
 carried matters to the last extreme, because they had reason
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 42i7 
 
 to fear that they would be hanged. It is wortliy of veinark 
 that the usher of the Central Committee of all the democratic 
 associations has stated, that these gentlemen, on their own 
 showing, appeared to him a set of great egotists, who sought 
 to overthrow the government, because they wished them- 
 selves to govern. 
 
 The tools and champions of the movement were veiy 
 much of the same stamp as the masters ; agitation was to 
 them neither more nor less than a profitable trade, and an 
 easy means of gaining their livelihood. To take an instance 
 out of many, we state the case of two Jewish captains of the 
 garde mobile, who were captured after the conquest of the 
 city, and who, when a,sked for an account of themselves, 
 stated that they were " Börsianer," or stock-brokers. When 
 asked how they had been induced to enter their militaiy 
 career, they both candidly confessed, that the suspension of 
 mercantile operations having interfered with their usual 
 occupation, they bad thought proper to accept of an offer of a 
 captaincy, with a pay of 6 florins per diem. 
 
 The germs of that most temble of all despotisms, the 
 despotism of the mob, were clearly visible on the 6th October ; 
 hut from that day forward they developed themselves with 
 an alarming energy. 
 
 The judicial inquiry ha.s shoAvn, that even before the 
 murder was committed, various persons of all classes were, 
 under the most ridiculous pretences (as, for instance, on 
 account of their dress), seized in the streets, ill-treated, and 
 incarcerated in the Aula or in the Civic Arsenal. In the 
 presence of the terrible events in the War Office, indifference 
 and inactivity were considered as a ciime, and in the course 
 of the following days it was an act of signal courage for an 
 honest man to show Ids face in the streets. Even the do- 
 mestic hearth offered no protection, for many instances ai'O
 
 42G INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 on record of peaceable and even of decrepit and aged people, 
 ■who were forcibly arrested by the armed mob, and pressoil 
 into the service of the revolution. It is a gross mistake tu 
 believe that the liigher and wealthier classes of the popula- 
 tion alone emigi-ated from Vienna. On the contrary, people 
 who had nothing wliich they could call their own, fled (in 
 spite of the assui'ance of the Diet that Vienna was tranquil) 
 from their homes, to escape from the arbitrary dictates of 
 brute strength, and from the dangers of a city, in which a 
 word or a look sufficed to arouse the \Tiidictive spirit of the 
 populace. 
 
 Already was the reign of terror preparing ; the heads of 
 parties were already commencing the contest for the reins of 
 government ; lists of prosciiptions were making ; a crowd of 
 "victims from the veiy ranks of the Radicals were destined to 
 share the fate of the Secretary at War, and nothing remained 
 of liberty but the mere shadow, when the tottering fabric of 
 the state was sustained by the ai-ms of the loyal ai-my. 
 
 But more effective even than the clubs, for the pui-poses of 
 the revolutionists, was the press. This mighty engine was in 
 the hands of selfish and venal partisans, who used it for the 
 pm-pose of murder and destixiction, and the poison of a hellish 
 doctrine was circulated by a host of publications. It took 
 effect ; and in the very lowest classes, esj^ecially, it produced a 
 brutabzation of mind, of which it is next to impossible to 
 form any adequate idea. 
 
 The rude and ignorant were told, that dependence on legal 
 power was oppression and slavery ; that property interfered 
 ■svith their welfare ; that they ought to take their fortune into 
 theii- own hands ; that they were entitled to oppose, and that 
 they had a right to make armed resistance. 
 
 Such teacliing soon induced them to become familiar even 
 w4th Clime.
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 427 
 
 On the other hand, the heentious liberty of the press, vntli 
 a mere nominal press-law, opened a wide breach to an irrup- 
 tion of private malice and calumny; licentious and egotistical 
 wi'iters had it in their power to defame any chai-acter, and 
 (as will be shown presently) to di-aw public animosity upon 
 the devoted heads of their antagonists. Nor was there a 
 remedy. The power of the state was paralyzed by teiTorism, 
 and actions for libel could not be thought of 
 
 The diaries and other Aviitings found in the possession of 
 several culprits, display a confusion of ideas wliich borders 
 upon insanity. Yoimg men, and indeed mere boys, tutored 
 by this street literature, showed a precocity of depravity, 
 which awakens pity for the lot of their pai'ents. 
 
 An artisan of the subui-b of Wieden, when arrested, and 
 when part of his own bloodthirsty letter was read to him, 
 fell on his knees, and protested, with sobs and lamentations, 
 that he had been maddened by the reading of the street 
 newspapers; that he had at last come to doubt his own 
 existence, &c. «kc. 
 
 The navigators of the Southern Railway, who in the month 
 of March were animated with the best spirit, were not proof 
 against the seduction of the communistic newspaper. Ihey 
 became disoi'derly, rebellious, and, at length, they actually 
 terrorized their overseers. One of the foremen, who disturbed 
 them in a serenade of " rough music," came to be a special 
 object of their hatred. They entered his house and demo- 
 lished his furniture, and when he entered the workshop, they 
 seized him, and endeavoiu'ed to fling him into the fiirnace. 
 He was at length rescued by the intervention of some other 
 men. 
 
 A variety of similar instances of cnielty and barbarism 
 are recorded in the acts of the inquiry into the riots of the 
 21st and 23rd of Aucfust, 1848.
 
 428 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 Inflanmiatoiy [»ubiications wei-e I'uuiul in tlie posi^ession of 
 almost all the accessories to the murder. Some had larifc 
 bundles of these papers, and the influence of these publi- 
 cations is so manifest, that we may say these men fell 
 victims to the liberty of the press. And let it be remem- 
 bered that all these instances refer to one inquiiy, and to 
 only one crime of the many, which were committed in tlnit 
 fatal time. 
 
 As if following up a pre-concocted plan, Ave behold in 
 Aug\i8t, and still more in September, the Aula, the clubs, and 
 the Radical press directing theii- attacks and aspersions vnth 
 stul increasing vehemence against the Secretary at War. 
 Theh" accusations become daily more "S'iolent, and betray a 
 desire to make Count Latour an object of public animosity. 
 
 As the fatal day ajiproaches, the language of the dema- 
 gogues grows more clear and distinct. No longer do they 
 speak of overtlu'OAving the cabinet or Latour. No ! they 
 designate him as the victim — as one doomed to death — and 
 thus they attempt to foist their disgi*aceful revenge upon the 
 people at large. 
 
 The Constitution newspaper, of the 4th October, repri- 
 mands the people and the Diet. It jirotests that Coimt 
 Latour ought not to be allowed to continue at large ; and the 
 Stiulentine Courier, of the same date,* publishes a song, "a la 
 kinterne," in v/hich the assassination of the aristocracy is 
 recommended as a sacred duty. 
 
 But that the real gist of the question might be a secret to 
 no man, the Wiener Krahelder pubHshed, with the motto : "A 
 few days before the Borrosch and Löhner Cabinet," the figures 
 of thi-ee members of the actual ministiy, suspended from a 
 
 * M. Oscar Falke, the editor of this publication, has been prosecuted 
 Tor various swindling transactions which be committed in the canton of 
 Keufchatel. Wairants were out for his apprehension.
 
 MUEDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 429 
 
 gallows ; Count Latour was one of the tlu-ee niinistei's. Tliis, 
 then, Avas the progi'amme of the 6th October, and tliis pub- 
 lication was openly sold in the streets of Vienna. 
 
 That this fatal seed fell on a fruitful sou is clearly shown 
 by the example of Joseph Bartholomew Stapf, a foreman of 
 the navigators, in the Brlinndelfeld, who has since been con- 
 demned for riot and i-ebellion. A few days before the 
 murder, this man read to his fellow-labourers an infamous 
 libel against the Secretary at War, and on one of the labour- 
 ei's asking whether no rope or bullet could be found for 
 Latoiu-, he produced his purse, saying " that tliis was money, 
 and though a rope for Latour might cost as much as one 
 florin, he would hnd the money to pay for it ; that Latour 
 ought to be hanged, and that some bold fellow could easily 
 be found who woidd tie him up for a hundred ducats." 
 
 At midnight, on the Gth October, the same Joseph Stapf 
 repaired from the Arsenal, where it is supposed he com- 
 mitted arson, and led the assault to the " Hof," and placing 
 himself in front of Latoiu-'s body as it hung on the lamp- 
 post, he cried out : " So you see, my fine fellows, things have, 
 after all, turned out according to my -ndsh !" 
 
 In the face of these facts the cliief of the assassins pre- 
 sumed to speak of popiüar hatred to wliich the Secretary at 
 "War fell a victim. And yet it is notorious that several of 
 the condemned culpi-its have protested that, had it not been 
 for the ceaseless agitations against Latour, they would never 
 have thought of him, much less would they have hurt him. 
 Certain it is, that one-half of the agitation which was set on 
 foot against the Secretary at War, woidd have sufficed to 
 devote the most popular of the party chiefs of that time to 
 the same fate. 
 
 The scenes and facts which we have recorded are a general 
 explanation of tlie event of tlie Gth October and partly of
 
 430 IXVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 the assassination of the minister; for they testify to tlie 
 existence of a party, which, in intimate coiTespondence \ni\i 
 similar pai-ties abroad, and especially in Gennany, and em- 
 boldened by the events of the 15th and 26th of May, and of 
 the 23rd August and 13th September, 1848, watched its 
 opportunity and snatched at every pretence for fresh riots, 
 partly because the revolution had come to be a vital prin- 
 ciple of its imnatiu'al position, and partly in the hope of 
 compassing, by any means, however bad they might be, their 
 object, ^•iz., the dissolution of the monarchy. 
 
 It is qviite natm-al that tliis party, supported as it was by 
 the Left of the Diet, the chiefs of the democratic clubs, and the 
 leaders of the Axüa, should strain every nerve to overthroAv 
 the existing cabinet, whose energetic opposition against its 
 intrigues it had reason to fear ; and it is not less natm'al 
 that its attacks should have been specially directed against 
 the Secretaiy at War, for he was the chief of the army, and 
 it was he who, in the sitting of the Diet of the 1 3th Sep- 
 tember, directed public attention to the intrigues of the 
 Aida. Nor can it be wondered at, if we consider the stores 
 of inflammatoiy matter in the minds of men, that the sense- 
 less and fatuous multitude was so easily goaded on to 
 rebellion, and even to mm-der. This is proved by contem- 
 poraneous events ia foreign countries, and by the demon- 
 strations against the Count Montecuccoli and Baron Doblhof 
 and others at Vienna. 
 
 On the other hand, it cannot be denied that there were 
 many who desired the overthrow of the government, l)ut 
 who were not prepai-ed to sanction the assassination of Count 
 Latour ; and that others, although willing to accept of the 
 result of the crime, cannot, fi'om a legal point of view, be 
 con.sidered as its accessories. In the eyes of the judge, the 
 promoters of the assassination are confined to a narrow
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 431 
 
 sphere, and even of them, the names of many are still liid 
 in obscurity. But though in this respect the law may com- 
 mand caution and reserve, thei'e is no reason why we should 
 ileal tenderly with the real promoters and instigators of the 
 crime. 
 
 In tracing a crime home to its perpetrators, the question 
 naturally arises, " Who could profit by the deed ?" It is a 
 useful question ; but never was it more useful than in the 
 present instance. 
 
 The state of public aflfairs in Himgary was the imjnediate 
 cause of the event of the 6th October, and the faction which 
 had usurped the government of that coiintry, may safely 
 boast of having, within eight days, directed the poniards of 
 lured assassins against two men, whose only crime was, that 
 they were obstacles in the way of the insane lust of dominion 
 of a man who knew how to dazzle the misguided multitude 
 with a show of patriotism, and who, if need be, would not 
 have hesitated to cut his way to the dictatorsliip through the 
 corpses of his own adherents. 
 
 It is a remarkable feature in the public life of this poHtical 
 actor, that he promotes liis selfish objects by exciting the 
 lowest passions of humanity, and that the calculations for his 
 plans are based upon the avarice, sensuality, egotism, — in 
 short, upon the vices of mankind. Kossuth owes liis suc- 
 cesses rather to the judicious practice of this jDrinciple, than 
 to his hypocrisy and his oratorical talents. 
 
 As a proof of this assertion, we remind our readers of the 
 events (in September, 1848) at Buda and Pesth, where 
 enormous sums were expended to bribe the garrison. 
 
 The inroad and the rapid advance of the Ban of Croatia, 
 threatened the most serious dangers to Kossuth's party. 
 
 A deputation which, on the 7th September, was sent from 
 Pesth to the Emperor, with the most outi'ageous demands,
 
 432 ]NYEST10ATI0\ INTO TUK 
 
 failed to accomplish its object. On the 19th of the same 
 month, another attempt was maile with a second deputation, 
 which obtained the co-operation of the Austrian Diet for the 
 pi'omotion of certain illegal and dangerous objects. 
 
 This attempt, too, proved abortive, and the danger became 
 more imminent. 
 
 On the 22nd and 25th of September the two royal mani- 
 festoes were published. They convinced Kossuth and his 
 jiartisaiis that the Emperor and his govcrament were 
 determined energetically to oppose their intrigues. 
 
 Field-Mai'shal Lieutenant the Coimt Lamberg, a royal 
 commissioner, anived at Buda, and the Ban of Croatia, who 
 threatened the city, was preparing to stifle the rebellion in 
 its cradle. 
 
 To paralyze his antagonists by terror, to sjiread confusion 
 among their ranks, it was thought fit to have recourse to 
 " sarong deeds ;" and the motto of the master, not " to shrink 
 from the assistance even of hell," was now canied into 
 j)ractice. 
 
 On the 28th September, Count Lamberg fell under the 
 daggers of hired assassins; but his death wrought no change 
 in the situation of the parties, for the Emperor's manifest(j, 
 of the 3rd October, appointed the Ban of Croatia in Lamberg's 
 place. It was then that the Hungarian conspirators tui'ned 
 to their brethren and allies at Vienna. They were worthy 
 of the confidence thus reposed in them. 
 
 The connection between the agitators of Hungary and 
 those of Vienna commenced in August, 1848. On the 
 5th September the first Hungarian deputation received the 
 formal promises of the Aula. The students supported the 
 creation of a free 0017)8 for Hungary, and some of them pro- 
 ceeded to Pesth, where one student took part in the assassina- 
 tion of Count Lamberg.
 
 • MURDKr. OF COX-NT LATOUK, 433 
 
 Tlie demagogues of Vienna were meanwhile preparing to 
 strike a decisive blow ; they gained over part of the National 
 Guard ; the leaders of the democratic associations formed a 
 Central Committee, and, as though on the eve of a battle, they 
 held a secret council of war on the 5th October. 
 
 On the following morning the march of the Richter Grena- 
 diers became the longed-for signal for a revolt, and the Secre- 
 tary at AVar fell as the second victim of Kossuth's policy. 
 
 The intercepted correspondence between the Ban and the 
 Secretary at "War, of wliich Szemere sent 600 copies to 
 Vienna, wliich were distributed among the deputies who 
 had been gained over to the Hungarian party, furnished the 
 Diet, as well as the demagogues of the clubs and the Aula, 
 with a welcome excuse for interpellations, orations, and 
 inflammatory articles, by which they still further excited 
 that hatred and animosity, which the ralers at Pesth wished 
 to attend upon the devoted head of Count Latour. 
 
 Even Schütte, the i-epublican, admits that the secret 
 causes of the Vienna revolution of October ai'e most in- 
 comprehensible, and, indeed, it must appear inexplicable to 
 every man of candid mind, that, considering the notoi'iety 
 and the scandal of the Hungarian question, the Kadical pi'ess 
 should have dared so grossly to impose upon the public, and 
 to adopt a tone of language which amounted to treason. 
 
 But as to the motives which prompted this inexplicable 
 conduct on the part of the Vienna press, they are most 
 plainly shown by the correspondence and the minutes of 
 the transactions of the Hungarian Cabinet, and of several 
 chiefs of factions. 
 
 A letter of the 2nd August, 1848, which Kossuth (then 
 Minister of Finance) addressed to the Under Secretaiy of 
 State for Foreign Affairs, Francis Pulszky (then at Vienna), 
 instructs Mr. Pulszky to pay 400 floiins per quarter to 
 
 2f
 
 434 INVESTIGATION INTO THE • 
 
 those persons wlio advocate the interests of Hungaiy iii the 
 Vienna periodical press ; and in a letter dated of the 17th 
 September, the President of the Cabinet, Count Batthyany, 
 informs the said Mr. Pulszky, that if he wanted a coni^le of 
 thousand of florins to gain the sympathies of the Viennese 
 for Hungary, he (the said Mr. Pulszky) ought to draw 
 upon N. the banker, for any amount he required for the said 
 purpose. 
 
 And it appears from Mr. Pulszky 's official cash-book, that, 
 referring to the above-mentioned letter, he drew upon the 
 coimt to the amount of 2,828 florins. From the same cash- 
 book it appeal's, that before and after the 6th of October, 
 sundry sums of 500, 1,000, and 2,000 florins were paid to 
 various Himgarian agents at Vienna, as well as to sundry 
 periodical writers and editors of newspapers ; the sums are 
 entered, with the dates of payment and the names of the 
 Ijarties who received them ; and it is expressly stated, that 
 such siuns were paid " for advocating the Himgarian interest 
 in the press." 
 
 Among the items in the same cash-book, we find travel- 
 ling expenses for students ; fees paid to editors for consulta- 
 tions ; and travelling expenses for th« Hungarian guards 
 Avho deserted fi-om Vienna. And now let it be con- 
 sidered, that the total of the expenses of the Hungarian 
 ministerial chancellery, under Mr. Pulszky's dii-ection, 
 amounted in September (we quote fi'om J\Ir. Pulszky's own 
 books) to 92,810 floiins, and in October to 41,477 florins, 
 and that in September we may take ofi" a sum of 12,000 
 florins, which was for regular and hona fide expenses, while 
 for October, the regular expenses amounted to 5,756 
 florins, while the remainder of the simis above quoted 
 were expended in the purchase of weapons, and other revo- 
 lutionaiy outlays. Let it also be remembered, that in
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 435 
 
 his letter of the 11th October, Kossuth authomed Pulszky 
 to devote the whole of liis cash in haud, and, if need be, 
 the proceeds of a loan, which he was instructed to raise, 
 to the promotion of the interests of Hungary ; and that 
 as late as the 10th December, 1848, the sum of 10,000 
 florins is credited to the Magyar agency at Vienna. These 
 considerations convince us that the Himgarian Committee 
 of Defence took the most effectual means to revive the 
 sympathies of the Viennese for Hungary. According to 
 the candid confession of the Radical papers, these sjrmpathies 
 had considerably cooled. Even an influential member 
 of the opposition in the Diet declared that " it was im- 
 possible to say that no one had taken money or money's 
 worth;" and the above revelations go far to amplify that 
 admission. 
 
 But that the Hungai-ian party, co-oj)erating with its 
 Viennese allies, took part in the execution of the details, is 
 sufficiently proved by vainous notes and memoranda which 
 were foimd in the possession of Mr. Pulszky 's secretary at 
 Vienna. One of these docimients records the payment of 
 eight florins to each of fifteen gi-enadiers of the Battalion 
 Bichter, who deserted to the people at the Tabor, The 
 total of the sum which these men x'eceived was 120 florins. 
 To this we may add, the quarterly salaries to the Vienna 
 Radical press ; the wages which were paid at the Aula for a 
 cannon which was taken at the Tabor ; a subsidy of thirty 
 florins for the assassin Jurkovich ; and by so doing we obtain 
 an official quotation of the prices of the glorious deeds of 
 the Gth of October. Tho wages of " an incendiary at the 
 arsenal" have not yet transpired, for the corresponding 
 column in the record has been left a blank. 
 
 Mr. Pulszky's secretary, to whom we adverted aljove, 
 boasts in a letter which he addressed to Paul Nyaiy (dated 
 2f 2
 
 436 IXVESTIGATION IMG TUE 
 
 Oth October, 1848), that lie had succeoded, with some 
 trouble niid much danger, to foment a mutiny among part 
 of the troops, which, on the Gth October, were to march 
 fi'ora Vienna to Presburg; and that in consequence of this 
 manoeuvre the people had defeated a signal scheme of the 
 reactionary party, wliile '• Nemesis" had at length overtakcii 
 Latour. 
 
 In his examination, the ■«Titer of the above letter de- 
 signates his chief, Pulszky, a,s a leader of the Vienna move- 
 ment, who had frequently ordered him to pay sums of 
 money to students, &c. He also admits that he carried on 
 an intercourse with Feuneberg (who received money), ■with 
 the Committee of Students, and with the editors of the 
 lladical papers. 
 
 It appears, moreover, from official documents, that on the 
 5t\i July, 1848, the Secretary at War, Count Latour, in- 
 formed the Hungarian Cabinet, that he had thought pro])ei- 
 to pro"side the military chest at Agram -wdth a sum of 
 100,000 florins. He demanded that the Hungarian Cabinet 
 should repay that sum, and that for the future, an annual 
 allowance should be made for the keep of the Croatian 
 troops. The Hungarian Cabinet refused to comply with 
 tliis demand. 
 
 This circumstance explains the nugatoiy character of the 
 accusations wliich, at a later period, were made against 
 Latoiu'. 
 
 In a note of the 18th September, Count Batthyany in- 
 structs Mr. Pulszky to proceed to Count Latour, and to 
 demand his immediate compliance with certain extravagant 
 demands respecting the troops, lest the Hungarian Cabinet 
 should be compelled to have recourse to " other means."' And 
 on the 30th August, Kossuth informs Pulszky that a certahi 
 member of the Austrian Diet was pi'epared to impeach the
 
 MURDER OF COUXT LATOUR. 437 
 
 aggressive policy which the Grovernment had adopted against 
 Hiingaiy, but that he wanted dates, facts, and other materials. 
 Kossuth communicates some of these dates. 
 
 The very member of the Austrian Diet, who served Kossuth 
 with such signal readiness and zeal, was adjured on the 6th 
 October by Adjutant Niewiadomski, who afterwards ad- 
 dressed M. Strohbach himself, to aid Count Latour, who was 
 then being murdered by the mob. His entreaties were of 
 course disregarded. 
 
 The said member states, that he suffered at the time from 
 a spasmodic attack in the heart, and that he cannot re- 
 member that such a demand was made to him. It is, how- 
 ever, satisfactory to know, that the spasm, if any, must have 
 been of veiy short duration ; for the said deputy was almost 
 immediately afterwards able to take a very prominent 
 part in the debate on the assaasination of the Secretary at 
 War. 
 
 It appears from official documents, that on the 4th Sep- 
 tember the Austrian Cabinet complained to that of Hungary 
 about the recruiting for an Hungarian free corps, which 
 Meszaros caused to be carried on in the capital ; and on the 
 13tli September the Austrian Cabinet demands that the 
 licentious conduct of the Hungarian agent shall be restricted, 
 lest the recruits might be employed to revolutionize the 
 capital. 
 
 A collective note of the Austrian ministers (dated 29th 
 June) shows that the organs of the Hungarian Government 
 then, as at a later period, were repeatedly but vainly invited to 
 consent to an arrangement of the vai-ious interests in the spirit 
 of the Pragmatic Sanction, and divers documents prove the 
 activity of the Hungarian agents in Vienna as well as in 
 foreign countries. 
 
 The papers found at Pesth furnish us with farther re^"ela-
 
 438 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 tions concerning the intimate connection between the Hun- 
 garian and Austrian demagogues. 
 
 With the motto, " The gi'eater the need, the nearer the 
 help !" we have a printed proclamation, signed by Paul 
 Hajiiik, the chief of the police. It informs the Hungaiians 
 of the Viennese events, and the death of the Secretary at 
 War, and it lays great stress on the fact that " Himgary " 
 was a popular ciy in Vienna. 
 
 Alexander Niczky, a Government commissioner, announce- 
 from Oedenburg (dated Gth October), the events of Vienna . 
 which, he Ls pleased to say, are veiy favourable for Himgarw 
 He adds, that the Viennese friends of the Hungarians, and tlu- 
 deserters from the grenadiers, had routed the " black-yellows." 
 
 Ladislaus Csany, VTiting to Kossuth, on the 7th and 8tl; 
 October, states that he had sent three couriers to Pesth, -with 
 veiy good news from Vienna. He declared, that at lengtli 
 darkness had been succeeded by light ; that the enemies of 
 Hungaiy had found obstacles in their path, of the existence 
 of which they had never dreamed ; that every effort ought 
 to be made still more to humble them ; and that rapid and 
 energetic measures ought to be adopted by the Hungarian 
 Cabinet. He (Csany) was glad that he had done his best to 
 rouse the " Aula," and he added, that he inclosed Pulszky & 
 report of the events at Vienna. 
 
 Pulszky's report is dated from Oedenbvu'g, of the 7th 
 October, and it commences by stating, that the democratic 
 Hungarian pax"ty had obtained a complete \ictoiy. After 
 recording the events of the day, and making especial mention 
 of the Aula, he concludes by stating that he left Vienna at 
 night, after the attack on the arsenal, and that, accompanied 
 by Louis Batthyany, he was hastening to the camp at Vidos, 
 to fetch the troops ; for that it was absolutely necessaxy to 
 attack Jellacic. 
 
 I
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 439 
 
 On the 9th October, we have a letter from. Csany, at 
 Altenburg, to his friend Kossuth, informing him that the 
 Vienna Aula had sent a plenipotentiary to him (Csany), and 
 that he was preparing to send the said plenipotentiary to 
 Pesth. He adds, that the zeal of the Academic Legion was 
 quite refreshing to behold, that the Vienna Democratic Club 
 reHed on assistance to Germany, and that the Legion, as well 
 as the club, ought to be tenderly dealt with. He also adds, 
 that Pulszky has informed him, from Oedenburg, that Bat- 
 thyany, too, was of opinion, that JeUacic ought to be driven 
 to Vienna, and that he (Csany) was despatching directions 
 to that effect. He (Csany) thought it his dntj to allude 
 to several persons of rank in Hungary, who were seriously 
 compromised by certain letters wliich were found among the 
 papers of Latour. He states, that M. Tausenau refused to 
 communicate the original copies of these letters to all who 
 were not of the very elite (vertrauteste manner), and that 
 he (Csany) would consequently send his signet-ring, as a 
 token that the letters might safely be shown. 
 
 Csany also adds a written account of the Viennese events, 
 according to the statement of Dr. Eeiuer, the plenipotentiaiy 
 of the Aula, whose travelling expenses were paid by Pulszky. 
 The said account states, that Tausenau, when informed that 
 troops were about to be sent from Vienna into Hungary, 
 consulted with the leaders of the Aula, and resolved, at any 
 risk, to prevent the troops from marching. Various means 
 were taken to effect this purpose, and the mistresses (mädchen) 
 of the grenadiers in particular were bribed to induce their 
 lovers to remain. It is further stated, that negotiations were 
 carried on between the Aula and the grenadiers ; that the 
 latter declared, that they could not in common decency 
 refuse to obey the order to march ; and that they suggested 
 the propriety of the students and the people proceeding
 
 440 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 to the railroad and destroying the rails. This i)lan was 
 linally adopted. When the troops, excited by bribes of 
 money and wine, commenced their march, they were addressed 
 by the National Guards of the suburbs, and the mob at large, 
 who besought them to remain at Vienna. 
 
 They were further moved and inspired by the tears and 
 entreaties of theii- mistresses (mUdchen), Avho accompanied 
 theh" march. When they arrived at the station, they were 
 addressed by Willner, a student, who besought them to 
 remain, and who, addressing General Bredy, insisted on the 
 retiu-n of the troops. But when the General, regardless of his 
 menaces, gave the word of command for the troops to march, 
 he (the General), Lieutenant-Colonel Klein, and a major, 
 were shot dead on the spot. 
 
 The report, in its description of the conflict in the city 
 (previous to the miu-der), states that the deputy Goldmark 
 proposed to storm the arsenal, and to arrest Latour. It is 
 further stated that the insurrection of the Aula was promoted 
 by Lieutenant Kuchenbäcker, who protested that 14,000 
 German soldiers were prepared to join the rebellion. 
 
 The evidence taken at this stage of the proceedings con- 
 firms all the above details respecting the tampering with the 
 grenadiers by means of money, wine, and venal women, as 
 Avell as the distribution of printed biUs, entreating the 
 soldiers to desert ; the intrigues of a certain member of the 
 Left in the Diet, the appearance (in the night of the 5th) of 
 several grenachers in the Aula ; the intrigues of the engineers 
 among the National Guards of the Wieden, for the purpose of 
 retaining the soldiers, and the events on the march and at 
 the Tabor. 
 
 Nor ought it to be forgotten that several members of the 
 Diet employed the most dishonourable means for their party 
 purposes. M. Kudlich, a deputy, who assisted Tausenau in
 
 MUKDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 441 
 
 exciting the people and the troops by speeches, wine, and 
 promises, pledged, in addressing the commander of the grena- 
 diers, his honour for what he knew to be an untruth. He 
 asserted that he was sent by the Diet to ^^ublish their resolu- 
 tion, that the march should not take place. And M. ]\Iax 
 Joseph Gritzner, a deputy, engaged Lieutenant-Colonel Klein 
 in a conversation, and thus diverted his attention from the 
 proceedings of the mob, while he motioned to the populace 
 beliind him to make a rush upon, and to capture tlic 
 artillery. 
 
 At a later peiiod, on the loth October, when M. Kudlich 
 sought to assemble tlie Landsturm at Königstätteu, he pro- 
 tested that the events of the Gth of October had been 
 contiived for the purpose of helping the Hungarians out of 
 their scrape. 
 
 This attempt, too, to organize the Landsturm in Austria, 
 had its origin in Kossuth's instn;ctions, as is shown by his 
 cori'espondence with his agents at Vienna, viz., Pulszky, 
 Stephen Gorove, L. Czematovy, and others. 
 
 If, in addition to these facts, we consider his ^persevering in- 
 fluence (as shown by the same correspondence) in determining 
 the resistance of the Viennese against the Emperor's troops ; if 
 it be considered that Kossuth, writing from Presbitrg (30th 
 October) to the Committee of Defence, protests, that in the 
 battle of Schwechat Hungary had paid the debt due to the 
 Viennese, and that in another letter (3i-d November) he 
 expresses a hope that the Aula (as Bern had informed liim) 
 would join his army ; if it be further considered, that ou 
 the 3rd October he instiiicted his commLssioner, M. Sebastian 
 Vukovich, to seize Latour's property in the counties of 
 Temes and Torontal, because it was " Latour who caused 
 the war in Hungai'y ;" and if we consider, lastly, that ou 
 the evening of the Gth October, and immediately after the
 
 442 IN'\'ESTIGAT10K INTO THE 
 
 miu-der, the committee of the democrats and students sent a 
 jietition to the Diet, praying for an amnesty for the mur- 
 derers of Latoiu', the repeal of the manifesto of the 3rd Oct., 
 and the dismissal of the Ban from all his offices ; and if it be 
 considered, that the Left of the Diet presumed to embody 
 this petition in an address to the Emperor, we say, if all 
 these facts are well weighed, they must remove every shadow 
 of a doubt as to the predominating influence which Kossuth's 
 faction had on the assassination of the Secretary at War. 
 
 "We have, moreover, the evidence of the criminals and of 
 the witnesses. RaiLsch, who is accused of taking part in 
 the crime, affirms that after the murder, the students gene- 
 rally designated Tausenau as having assisted Piüszky in 
 causing the events of the 6th October. The students informed 
 Eausch that Tausenau had collected Latour's papers, and 
 that he had taken them to the Aula, and that he had, more- 
 over (previous to the murder), excited the labourers witli 
 wine, speeches, and money. Eausch adds, that the fanaticism 
 of the students could never have gone to such length, had not 
 the Radical deputies done their utmost to promote it. Pro- 
 fessor Fiister, in particular, is named, as a man whose glow- 
 ing orations (which Rausch believes to have been prompted 
 by impvire means) served to goad the students on to the 
 maddest acts of excitement. 
 
 Eausch, moreover, designates the Messrs. Goldmark, Vio- 
 land, Kudlich, and Fischhof, and others, as the persons who, 
 during the siege of 'Vienna, supported the defence by their 
 inflammatory speeches. 
 
 It appears, also, from the evidence of a foreman of the 
 labourers, that Pulszky, who used to attend the sittings of 
 the Democratic Club in the hotel " Zur Ente," distributed 
 large suras of money among the labourers, to induce them to 
 be in readiness whenever they might be wanted. The same
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 443 
 
 witness states, that it was Pulszky who fii'st stai'ted the 
 plan of the garde mobile. 
 
 M. Aigner, the commander of the Academical Legion, ex- 
 pressed his opinion that the assassination of Latour had been 
 caused by the Hungarians, and especially by Tausenau, 
 Chaises,. and Pulszky. Tliis, he said, was the opinion of all 
 the students. 
 
 Habrowsky, too, the president of the Committee of Stu- 
 dents, who at a later period went frequently into the camp 
 of the Hungarians, is designated as having co-operated to- 
 wards the events of the 6th October, for the benefit of the 
 Hungarians. 
 
 When the witness (viz. Aigner) met Tausenau and Chaises 
 in the Students' Committee after the 6th October, he was 
 extremely disgusted, and insisted on theii- expulsion. In sup- 
 port of his view as to the originators of the assassmation, 
 this witness states, that eight days previously, two Hun- 
 garians, one of whom he afterwards remarked as adjutant to 
 Bem, came to him at night, and asked him to send two 
 companies of students to the frontier between Hungary and 
 Moravia, where they were to fight against Hurban. Witness 
 refixsed to comply with this request, and he reported the 
 case to the minister Baron Dobblhof. He is moreover of 
 opinion that the Hungarians caused the events of the 13 th 
 September ; and here it may not be amiss to state, that 
 among Pulszky 's papers a note was found from Habrowsky, 
 which contained the laconic statement that "everytliing was 
 being provided for." 
 
 Another influential member of the Academical Legion 
 affirms, from his own knowledge and conviction, that Tau- 
 senau frequently conversed with Pulszky, and that, l>y the 
 favour of Habrowsky, Pulszky, Chaises, and Dr. Becher were 
 allo\s'ed to attend tlie secret sittings of the Committee of
 
 444 investu;atk)n into the 
 
 Students. This wiruoss believes tluit TauseiKUi, Chaises, 
 and perhaps Silbersteiu, were the only persons who were 
 awai'e of, and who directed, the plot against the life of Count 
 Latoiu', while public opinion fixes the same charge upon the 
 democrats. Dr. Schütte, Becher, L. Eckardt, aiul Dr. G. 
 Frank. 
 
 A few days after the death of Latour, this witness saw 
 Tausenau taking the i)apers of the Secretary at War, tied up 
 in a handkerchief, from the Students' Committee-room to 
 Ms own house. Sevei-al of the papers were afterwards pub- 
 lished in the Radicale, edited by Becher. Witness also 
 heard Dr. Schütte boastmg of liis correspondence with Kos- 
 suth, who had pledged his word to assert the democratic 
 piinciple in Hungary, after the termination of the contest. 
 And lastly, this -witness deposes that Fenneberg and Kuchen- 
 bäcker offered to join the Legion on the Gth October, and 
 that they were accepted. This last statement is confii-med 
 by Fenneberg's own pamphlet, containing an account of the 
 events of the Gth October. In this work the author can- 
 didly admits, if it had been possible to cajiture ]\I. Bach, the 
 minister, on that fatal day, that he would have shared the 
 fate of Latour. 
 
 It appears, from the depositions of a waiter to the Central 
 Democratic Club (this club was, according to Dr. Schütte, 
 the centre of the October movement), that immediately after 
 the murder, several of the assassins made theh* appearance at 
 the club ; that they reported the event ; that the democrats 
 applauded them, and had much secret conversation with 
 them; and that afterwards several of the assassins were men- 
 tioned as acquaintances by the members of the Democratic 
 Cliib. 
 
 One of the two %äce-presidents of the Committee of Stu- 
 dents aflirms that that Committee was gi'adually influenced.
 
 MUßDEK OF COUXT LATOUR. 445 
 
 and at length altogether dii-ected, by the Democratic Club, and 
 particiüarly by Tausenau, Becher, Jellinek, and Schütte, and 
 that the motions and proposals of these persons were generally 
 discussed in the secret sittings of the committee. The same 
 "witness states that the said club, by transferring its sittings 
 to the hotel " Ziu* Ente," managed to intrude upon the 
 Legion, and that several of its members were finally elected 
 as members of the Committee of Students. He adds, that 
 there can be no doubt of the fact that Tausenau and Ms 
 friends used their influence in favour of the Hvingarians, and 
 that Chaises and Jellinek sought to efiect a fusion between 
 the Democratic Club and the Committee of Students. And 
 further, that immediately after the news of the murder 
 reached the committee, Löwenstein proposed to storm the 
 arsenal, and that Fenneberg, Kuchenbäcker, and Hauk 
 oflered to lead the assault. 
 
 He also states that, in the course of the day, Goldmark, 
 Ftister, and Yioland made their appearance in the committee ; 
 that Goldmark urged the students to expel the troops from 
 the town, and that Faster informed them of the advance of 
 the Ban to Wieselburg ; but that he protested that the-re was 
 no reason to fear the Ban, because he was conquered, and a 
 fugitive. 
 
 A few days after the murder, the manager of Enrich and 
 Klopf's printing-house told ^vitness that he had been in- 
 structed to discontinue the printing of Latours papers, and 
 that he had been ordered to return them to Habrowsky. 
 
 Another witness, who was veiy candid in his confession 
 (he was an engineer, and member of the Students' Com- 
 mittee), states that Tausenau, Chaises, Habrowsky, Lüwen- 
 stein, and Eckardt were bribed by the Hungarian party. In 
 the case of Habrowsky, lie proves this assertion. He .states 
 also that, after the Gth Octobov. even persons of Radical
 
 446 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 principles, such as Wwtschel for instance, expressed their 
 horror and disgxist of these persons to their verj' faces ; and 
 that, as the murderers of Latour, they were not allowed to 
 remain in the committee. And also that of these persons it 
 had been generally known tliat they had promoted the crime, 
 and approved of its perpetration. After Latours death, it 
 was often discussed in the Students' Committee whether or not 
 the papers of the Secretary at War ought not to be taken away 
 from Tausenau. The same witness reveals sundry important 
 facts concerning Goldmark, and he proves that this person 
 was subsidized by Pidszky, who paid him for liis agitation 
 in favoiu' of Hungaiy. Goldmark influenced tlie Students' 
 Committee, and he represented it in the Diet. It was he 
 who prompted the students to violent resolutions, which he 
 liimself scrupled to agitate in public ; such as the organization 
 of the Landsturm, the appeal to the Hungarians, &c. 
 
 During the siege of the town, this mtness and his friend 
 Wanitschke (who has been arrested, and who testified to the 
 truth of the following statements) were engaged by Goldmark 
 to proceed to Prag-ue, for the purpose of exciting the Slavonian 
 clubs and the poj^ulace of that city against the Government. 
 Goldmark gave them sixty floiins towards their travelling 
 expenses, and also a passjiort, which was signed by Fischhof, 
 and impressed ■svith the seal of the Diet. He made them 
 promise to report theii- success to liim. Having pledged 
 their word to this efifect, the two students took the money, 
 but considering that it was rather a small sum for an Hun- 
 garian subsidy, they applied to the Students' Committee, and 
 eventually received another sum of forty florins. They did 
 not however proceed to Prague, but remained at Vienna ; 
 for they had reason to believe that the commission was 
 dangerous. 
 
 Anch'eas Schumachei*, a public waiter, who has .siuce been
 
 MURDER OF COUNT I^iTOUR. 447 
 
 sentenced, states that on tlie morning of the 6tli October lie 
 came to the Aula, "where he found 300 students under the 
 command of Wutschel. None of them knew what was to be 
 «lone ; but of a sudden Goldmark made his appearance. 
 He inspected the detachment, and confronting witness 
 (Schumacher), he seemed as if about to make an important 
 communication ; but stopping himself suddenly, he said : 
 " Never mind ! — I dare say you will know your own business 
 best when you are out there !" And on witness's question, 
 Where ? Mr. Goldmark repUed, "At the Tabor." 
 
 In the afternoon Schimaacher watched the doings of the 
 Aula. Everything was in commotion. At half-past 2 p.m., 
 a large mob of armed navigators proceeded up the Bäcker- 
 strasse. One of the students joined them, took the lead, 
 and marched them away. The contest commenced imme- 
 <liately afterwards. 
 
 Schumacher protests that Goldmark and Fischhof were 
 the chief leaders of the University and of the Vienna Demo- 
 crats ; that they aimed at the destniction of Austria ; that 
 they co-operated with Kossuth ; and that to them the revo- 
 lution of October was but a means for an end. He protests 
 that Kossuth went for something even in the movement of 
 March. 
 
 Two officers of the Vienna National Guard state that, on 
 the afternoon of the 6th October, Goldmark addressed them 
 on St. Michael's Place. He said things went on well, and if 
 the National Guard held out, they would get the better of the 
 troops in less than a quarter of an hour. He likewise 
 accused the witnesses of idhng about. 
 
 A member of the association of Vienna Democrats deposes 
 that this association was in constant correspondence with 
 similar societies in Frankfort, Munich, and Gratz, and that 
 it tended to convert the states of Europe into a federal
 
 448 iNvt>iTiaATiox into Tin: 
 
 republic, after the ilofL-at and ovortlirow of the dynasties. 
 As the chiefs of this association he designates Tausenau, 
 Becher, and otliers ; and as loaders of the October revohitioii, 
 lie quotes Goldniark, Fiistor, Fischliof, and Kudlich ; and the 
 agents Bern, Schütte, Bhuii, FriJbel, and Gritzner. 
 
 In the case of a final victory, it was resolved to establish 
 a pro^isional government from the members of the extreme 
 Left ; Goklmark, Fischhof, Violnnd, Faster, and Fröbel were 
 designated as presidents. 
 
 He states that Goldmark and Fischhof were the cause of 
 the bloodshed after tlie capitulation. For when Habrowsky 
 returned from the Hungarian camp, and informed them that 
 Kossuth would attack the Imperialists, these two persons, 
 accompanied by Blum and Fröbel, ascended the tower of St. 
 Stephen, and on tlieir descent tliey infonned the crowd that 
 the Hungarians were fighting bravely, and that Vienna 
 ought to hold out ; whereupon the populace, uttering savage 
 shouts, resumed the arms, which the majority had already 
 resigned. 
 
 Respecting the proposed presidency of Jastinia Fröbel, the 
 Gassen Caitung, of the 26th September, contains an article 
 which explains the confidence which that person enjoyed. 
 
 This article states how this amiable man takes liis leave 
 fi'om his friends, the democrats, and, as though foreseeing 
 that important events would occur dui'ing his absence, he, 
 after exjjressing his joy at the late alliance with the Mag- 
 yars, and recommending the greatest centralization of the 
 Vienna Radical associations, concludes his oration by pro- 
 testing, " that the real revolution was yet to come ; that 
 Mtherto it had been a child's l)lay ; that the time was at 
 hand when a few lives would go for nothing ; and that he 
 hoped the Vienna democrats would not be idle in that time." 
 "We need scarcely say that this speech was violently cheered.
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 449 
 
 Dr. Albert Trampusch, a member of the Frankfort parlia- 
 ment, who has since received his sentence, expresses his 
 oj)inion that the Vienna movement was not general, but that 
 it originated with Tausenau and his set, and that Tausenau 
 was a despicable person, who cansed riots for money, never 
 once caring what harm he might do. The said witness also 
 states that Pulszky had frequent interviews with Tausenau, 
 Chaisees, and Becher, and sometimes with Blum, and that it 
 was Pulszky who distributed the money to the students. It 
 was impossible to quote the sums ; but the fact had been 
 generally believed and canvassed. 
 
 Dr. ]j. Fränkel, too, who was tried by court-martial, ex- 
 pressed his conviction that the October movement was caused 
 by the Hungarians. He states that in September, an Hun- 
 garian deputation, led by Balogh, entered the Vienna De- 
 mocratic Association, and that Balogh, in an inflammatoiy 
 oration, urged the necessity of a co-operation between the 
 democrats of Hungary and Vienna. His words took effect, 
 and Eckardt and others were sent to Pesth. And further ; 
 that when the second Hungarian deputation to the Diet 
 arrived at Vienna, Balogh again addressed the democratic 
 associations, and the treaty of alliance was further confirmed. 
 
 Fränkel, too, was present when, on the 5th October, in 
 the " Sperl Hotel," in the Leopoldstadt suburb, Tausenau 
 was publicly accused of being paid by the Hungarians. On 
 this occasion, a person of the name of Tillenberg told Tau- 
 senau, he (Tilltmberg) knew that he (Tausmiau) had received 
 2,000 florins in a letter from Pesth ; and Tausenau, when 
 called upon for his answer, protested that tliLs was not a 
 place for explanations. After this, witness left the room; 
 on the following day he was told by some friends who 
 remained, that Eckardt ijroj)Osed to prevent the march of the 
 grenadiers, and that divers democrats, then and there assem- 
 
 2ö
 
 i50 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 bled, proceeded to the Gunipeiulorf barracks to assure the 
 grenadiers of the assistance of the National Guards. As a 
 means of gaining the sympathies of the people, these demo- 
 crats took with them a woman who was taught to curse, 
 howl, and lament in a verv shocking manner, with many 
 loud protests that her brother, a soldier, was being flogged to 
 death in the barracks, because he and his comrades refused 
 to march against the Hungarians. 
 
 In the Democratic Association, too, Fränkel heard Tause- 
 nau protesting that Latour and Bach ought to be hanged ; for 
 which he stated liis reasons at some length. Fränkel says, 
 that in tliis manner the mass of the democrats were made 
 familiar with the idea of political murders ; and he also 
 believes that sundry members of the Diet had a hand 
 in the plot, but especially Goldmark and Fiister, of whom 
 Fränkel was told, by various jieisons, that early on the 6th 
 October, they came to the Aula to arrange the proceedings 
 of the day. He says that Goldmark and Fischhof were the 
 most intimate friends of Tausenau, and that they had always 
 been with him and with Violand, Becher, and Frank. 
 
 To enable our readers to form a correct opimon of the 
 connection which Balogh, an Hungarian deputy, and after- 
 wards major of the Honved, entertained with the agitators 
 at Vienna, we ought to state, that, according to the records 
 of the court-mai-tial at Pesth, the miu-derers of Count Lam- 
 bei'g were traced home to Balogh, George Kolosy,and Kossuth. 
 The.'^e three persons excited the Hungarian Parliament on 
 and before the 28th September, 1848, by protesting that 
 Count Lamberg was guilty of high treason; and by these 
 protests they gave him up to the assassins, while a person 
 named Danes (an ex-usher at the school for the blind, 
 dismissed for seduction of youth, and profligacy), who it is 
 thought was an agent of Kossuth, addressed the people out
 
 MÜUDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 451 
 
 of doors, and entreated tliem to " kill the dog." Upon tliis^ 
 the populace, like so many maniacs, rushed to the Pen^ 
 sioners' House, took scythes, and executed Kossuth's verdict 
 and sentence on the spot. 
 
 Kolosy, the chief criminal, confessed, that afterwards at 
 Komorn, Balogh had asked him to set his mind at ease on 
 Lamberg's account, for that he (Kolosy) was not the cause 
 of Lamberg's death, since Kossuth had instructed him 
 (Balogh) to provide that the count should never leave the 
 cities of Buda and Pesth. Balogh added, that on recei\'ing 
 thqge instructions, he had immediately taken measures to 
 arrest the count in the hotel at which he had put up. 
 
 In short, there is such a striking similarity between the 
 assassinations of the Counts Latour and Lamberg, in all 
 that regards arrangement, execution, and means, that this 
 similarity alone makes one believe that, in either case, it 
 was the same hand which directed the murderer's blade. 
 
 A credible person heard, on the 13th September, Falke 
 Biichheim addressing the populace near the Aula, and pro- 
 posing to seize and to hang the two ministers, Latour and 
 Bach. The same person declares on liis oath, that on the 
 5th October (as we stated), Fränkel assembled the democrats 
 at the " Sperl Hotel," and he adds, that the meeting 
 commenced at eight p.m., and that Tausenau, Jellinek, 
 L'^wenstein, and Deutsch were present. On the following 
 afternoon, the witness was at the Aula, and heard Tausenau 
 and Chaisces calling upon the po[)uIace to hang the Count 
 Latour. Upon this, they all nished to the War Office. 
 The same witness describes the jjrocession of the assassins, 
 and the delivery of the murderous weapons, and of a jjacket 
 containing Latour's papers. He records the cheers and 
 exultations, es})ecially those of Tausenau, Fennebcrg, Gold- 
 mark, Füster, Violaud, and Fiister, who cried out, tliat 
 2g2
 
 452 INA'ESTIGATION INTO TUE 
 
 this was what they had wished for; that the Hungarians 
 would rejoice, and that the affair was worth more than a 
 million. The assassins were received with violent cheers, 
 and a secret sitting of the Students' Committee was held, 
 which Avas attended by Tausenau, Fenneberg, and severaJ 
 Hungarians. 
 
 The siime witness proceeded afterwards to the j)lace of 
 St. Stephen, where he found a deputy of the Left in the 
 act of fraternizing with the people. He seemed but too 
 happy to be cheered. A member of the mob showed him a 
 bloody rag, saying, " Father, I have struck home at LatoHir ; 
 here is a piece of bis shirt. Was I right ?" And the deputy 
 replied, " Bravo, my child ! you were quite right !" 
 
 As to Fi ster, it is affirmed by a kitchen-maid that lived 
 near the University building, that at 5.30 p.m. the professor 
 had received a troop of murderers with the words, " Bravo, 
 my children !" 
 
 Another witness of quality, whom curiosity had drawn to 
 the Aula, describes the appearance of a young labourer who 
 was armed with a hammer, and who made a violent speech, 
 expressive of his desire for Latour's death. This man 
 likewise rushed upon a prisoner, and desired his instant 
 assassination. Witness saw the same labourer accompanying 
 Fiister as a volunteer, and, at a later period, he recognised 
 liim again as one of the murderers. He walked by the side 
 of Jurkorich, and flouiishing his hammer, he exclaimed, 
 " We have done for Latour ! " 
 
 From another source it appears, that Fiister's confidential 
 messenger (a labourer from the Brundelfeld) declared, on 
 the evening of the 6th October, that the professor would 
 move heaven and earth to induce the Diet either to procure 
 or to grant an amnesty for the events of the day. The pub- 
 lic street-bills said as much. Fiister, too, is one of the two
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 453 
 
 deputies whom Adjutant Niewiadomski entreated to save 
 Latour, to which entreaties Fiister replied, that he would 
 not meddle in the affair. That priest, when examined, 
 showed a marvellous composure. He said he was happy 
 that he had not complied with the request to save the life 
 of a fellow-creature ; for, exasperated as the people were, he 
 could not, he said, prevent the crime, and his endeavours 
 would certainly, so he thought, have been rewarded with 
 that ingratitude which fell to his share on foi'mer occasions. 
 
 Such are Füster's statements. But different are the 
 accounts which we have from other witnesses respecting 
 this field-priest of the Legion, academical preacher, and 
 professor of theology. This man, who passed his leisure 
 hours in making ball-cartridges for his jnipils, took a pro- 
 minent part in all earlier street rows and storm petitions ; 
 he and his pupils influenced the labourers in the Prater 
 on the 23rd and 25th of August ; and on the 26th Septem- 
 ber he addressed an inflammatory oration to the students, 
 and lavished his most violent abuse upon Latour and Bach. 
 He was intimately acquainted with Pulszky, Schütte, and 
 other Hungarian and foreign agents. In October he con- 
 certed almost daily with labourers, perjured soldiers, and 
 insurgent students ; and to those who were loudest and 
 most vehement in their declarations and protests, he made 
 presents of two or three silver " zwanzieger." Besides, he 
 frequently had secret consultations with Becher, Jellinek, 
 Löwenstein, Deutsch, and other persons. 
 
 Early on the 6th October he was seen leaving the Stu- 
 dents' Committee with a troop of armed youths. He shook 
 hands with those that were proceeding to tlie Tabor, and he 
 wished them good speed. He was afterwards seen at the 
 Tabor, and the students say that early that morning he urged 
 the grenadiers at Gumpendorf to resist the order to march.
 
 454 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 while, a fcw hours afterwards, at the Tabor, he excited his 
 "dear boys," the students, and directed them to aim at 
 General Bredy. 
 
 A certain witness heard Fiister at midnight and during 
 the assault upon the arsenal, addressing the incendiaries on 
 the bastions, and extolling " this victorious day as the most 
 glorious in history ;" and a milliner deposes that on the 
 morning of the 7 th October, she saw Mr. Faster in St. 
 Stephen's Place, quarrelling with a student about the events 
 of the day before. These events, it ajipeared, fell short of 
 the professor's expectations, and witness heard plainly, that 
 the student, in answer to his recriminations, protested that 
 they (the students) had twice committed arson. 
 
 Fiister's later deeds are worthy of this conduct. He 
 joined Violand, Kudlich, Gritzner, Fenneberg, Blum, and 
 Bem in their endeavours to sustain the defence by speeches, 
 ad\ice, hopes of Hungarian help, arrangements for summon- 
 ing the Landsturm, lighting of the barricades, opening of 
 windows, ringing the tocsin, and even by taking the sword 
 and proceeding to the field. He was one of the most active 
 and dangerous agitators of the revolutionary party, and he 
 was evidently intent upon gaining the favour and confidence 
 of youth, by the most disgraceful means of seduction, for the 
 purpose of forming them into a prajtorian guard for the 
 accomplishment of his selfish purposes. 
 
 In the first series of his evidence he calls himself the 
 scapegoat of the Legion. He regrets that ever since August 
 the Legion has, by the ultra-democrats, been misled into 
 false measures, but that he (Fiister) had been inactive 
 duinng that time, although he might, now and then, have 
 paid a visit to the barricades, but merely from curiosity, and 
 because he was fond of large crowds. He boasts, moreover, 
 of having in July refused to listen to an Hungarian who
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 465 
 
 came to him with certain proposals. He would not .state 
 what these proposals were. 
 
 As for Tausenau, we have some characteristic features of 
 him, as recorded in the evidence of one of his confidential 
 friends. This friend describes a secret sitting, which was 
 held * in Chaisee's apartments in the hotel " Zur Ente." 
 The persons present were, Tausenau, Chaisees, Schütte, 
 Becher, Jellinek, Eckard t, Habrowsky, Fenneberg, Uuter- 
 schild, and an Hungarian, whom witness took for Csarnatoug. 
 
 The proceedings were opened by Tausenau, who informed 
 the assembly that it was absolutely necessary for them to act 
 oflFensively, and to prepare for further acts of popular justice; 
 and after having abused the common council, " in which there 
 are but five persons on whom we can rely," he proceeded: "Since 
 we found it so easy to get rid of Latour, I am sure we shall 
 deal much more easily with the others. I demand only the 
 heads, and the rest of my list as hostages. In this I have 
 my own plan, and I'll communicate it by bits. But, gentle- 
 men ! no lukewarmness ! — no half-measures ! If we don't 
 hang them, they will certainly hang us. On the 6th Octo- 
 ber, already I remarked something like lukewarmness, dis- 
 obedience, and cowardice !" 
 
 On the following day, Tausenau and Chaisees talked to the 
 witness in private. Tausenau told him that they must needs 
 outstrip the plans of the " reaction ;" and that he proposed 
 to protect the town by means of four companies of labourers, 
 which would bear the name of the " democratic corjis." Of 
 this corps witness was offered the conmiand, and Chaisees 
 was to act as purser. He also gave witness a list of names, 
 adding, that the persons whose names had been marked with 
 a cross, ought to be hanged ; and he jjroinised to fiii-nish 
 eight trusty men for tlie purpo.s(i of executing the said per- 
 * On the 8th October.
 
 466 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 sons. Several of tlic j)ersons so doomed were named by 
 witness at the trial. On this occasion, Tausenau confessed 
 that he had caused Latour to be hanged, to intimidate the 
 " reaction" and the troops, but that the aflair had fallen short 
 of his expectations, since it had been his original intention 
 to " sti-ike them all at one blow." 
 
 On the 1 2th October, the same witness had a conversation 
 with Kudhch, whom he met at Messenhanser's head- quarters. 
 Kudlich regi'etted that Tausenau and Chaisees had induced 
 him to assist them in the murder of Latour. 
 
 On another occasion, witness was told bj Kudlich and 
 Fiister that Tausenau had got them into a sci'ape by the 
 murder. Kudlich said : " I am losing my popularity ;" and 
 Fiister remarked, "the few have spoiled the whole affair." 
 Goldmark, who joined them, agreed with Kudlich, who j^ro- 
 tested, those three persons ought to have been given up to 
 the people, and if not those three, then none at all. By 
 these words he alluded to Latour, Mr. Bach, and the Arch- 
 duchess Sophia. 
 
 The above is a summary of the evidence respecting Tau- 
 senau and his set, as deposed before the court-martial. But 
 the Vienna Criminal Court, too, has amassed a bulk of e\\- 
 dence, which, in itself, would be enough to inculpate Tause- 
 nau of treason, and active co-operation to the murder of the 
 Secretaiy at War. 
 
 Numerous witnesses, whose evidence was taken by the 
 Criminal Court, prove that Charles Tausenau, M.D., ^'ice- 
 president of the Association of the Friends of the People, 
 and president of the Democratic Central Committee, an 
 ambitious but profligate and dissolute person, entered into an 
 intimate alliance with the Hungarian democrats; and that 
 the assassination of Count Latour resulted from this alliance. 
 His connection with the Hungarians is especially shown by
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 457 
 
 the event of the torch serenade, which the Vienna democrats, 
 on the 19 th September, brought to the Hungarian deputa- 
 tion, at the Frankfort Plotel, and by the events of the supper, 
 which followed this demonstration, the expenses of which 
 were paid by the Hungarian deputy Balogh, with a sum of 
 forty-three florins. 
 
 Tausenau, who took the chair at the supper, used the most 
 revolting expressions in his attempts to demonsti'ate the 
 necessity of an annihilation of the dynasty of the Camarula, 
 and especially of the ministers, whom he designated as traitors 
 and rascals. So disgtisting was liis language, that several of 
 the persons present left the room. He also cast the most 
 violent and filthy aspersions on the Pragmatic Sanction, 
 which he mentioned as a " wretched piece of musty parch- 
 ment." He said, that the aspirations of Hungary ought to be 
 supported, its power increased, while Austria ought to be 
 humbled, and that the democrats would do their part to- 
 wards that object. All obstacles ought to be rutlilessly 
 removed, and all existing institutions ought to be over- 
 thrown. 
 
 Chaisces, Balogh, and Violand, spoke in the same spirit. 
 Violand promised that the Left of the Frankfoii; ParUament 
 would support Tausenau's views, and that he corresponded 
 with Frankfort. 
 
 Nor ought it to be forgotten, that Count L. Batthyany, 
 the Hungaiian premier, who lived in the same hotel, quitted 
 Vienna in the night of the 5th October; that Tausenau, 
 Gritzner, and Hafner, frequently conversed with him, and 
 with the Hungarian deputy Tzirmay ; and that the Hunga- 
 rians, previous to their departure, exchanged their black 
 feathers for purple cockades. 
 
 But far more important in the preparations of the murdtu-, 
 are Tausenau's speeches at the democratic meetings in the
 
 458 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 Odeon Hall, on the lOtli, 24tli, and 30th September. There, 
 in the presence of from 4,000 to 1 0,000 persons, he publicly, 
 unblusliingly, and with a kind of frenzy, called for the death 
 of the wretched Secretary at War. Several witnesses deitosed 
 that they shuddered on hearing him, and that they left the 
 place in horror and disgust, while others believed that the 
 speaker was mad. One of them felt it his duty to warn 
 Count Ijatour, and this warning caused an inquiiy against 
 Tausenau, the course of which was interrupted by the events 
 of the 6th October. 
 
 At the Odeon meeting, on the 24th September, Dr. Schütte 
 inculcated the necessity of imposing taxes upon the rich and 
 wealthy, and Jellinek advocated a republic. Willner, alias 
 the King of the Labourers, praised the glorious deeds of the 
 Peasant War, and addressing the peasants then and there 
 assembled, he desired that they should imitate so bright an 
 example for liberty's sake, wliile Chaisee's denouncing the 
 aristocracy and the " reaction," sought to induce the labourers 
 to make a revolution. 
 
 After these preliminaries, Tausenau ascended the tribune. 
 He accused the Government of oppressing freedom in Hun- 
 gary ; he alluded to the recent murder of Lichnowsky and 
 Anerswald, at Frankfort; and he mentioned these atroci- 
 ties with a certain complacency ; and, turning to the affairs 
 of Austria, he pointed out that there, too, the popular cause 
 was opposed by Latour, Bach, Jellacic, Windischgiätz, and 
 Eadetzky ; and that these obstacles ought to be removed at 
 any price. He exhorted the people to prepare for the con- 
 test, and he concluded by exclaiming, " These dogs must all be 
 hanged!" alluding especially to Latour, whom, foaming with 
 rage, he called an aristocrat, and whom he addi'essed, as though 
 present, with the most disgusting invectives. The National 
 Guards, students, peasants, and labourex'S, who listened to
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR 459 
 
 this speech, drowned its conclusion in deafening cheers, and 
 the cry, " Down with Latour ! " 
 
 These facts are confirmed by the culprit Johl, who has 
 since been sentenced. 
 
 The meeting of the 30th September consisted of from 
 3,000 to 4,000 National Guards and students. Tausenau 
 introduced himself to them in his quality of president of the 
 Central Democratic Association, and he said that he would 
 answer to the expectations of his electors. Alluding next to 
 the last sitting of the Diet, and to Mr. Borrosch's motion 
 on the intercepted correspondence between the Ban and 
 Latour, whom he vilely abused, he stated that the Secretary 
 at War had allowed the Ban 280,000 florins for the keep of 
 the Croatian troops, and, slapping his pockets, he exclaimed, 
 with un{)aralleled effrontery, " This, gentlemen, is our own 
 money ; it is money from our own purse ! " He next called 
 Latour a traitor to the people and to freedom, and shouted 
 most violently, " Damn this aristocrat ! Down with this 
 aristocrat !" In the course of his speech he repeated these 
 exclamations, and the cry was taken up by the infatuated 
 mob. 
 
 The very women were entreated by Tausenau to assist in 
 the constraction of barricades. 
 
 A witness to whom all credit is due, and who attended 
 four Odeon meetings, deposes that he cannot recollect all the 
 speeches of Tausenau, although he remembers that they were 
 all calculated to excite animosity against Latour. Neverthe- 
 less, he protests, that he can never forget the manner in 
 which this agitator liissed like a hyaena (such is the witness's 
 expression) the following words: "You will sec, one fine 
 morning, not only Latour will be dead, but other distin- 
 guished ladies and gentlemen will be dead — stark dead — and 
 stone dead ! " And, by his oratory tricks, he induced the
 
 460 INVESTIGATION INTO THE 
 
 •whole meeting of 10,0U0 pei'sous to break out into a Lorrible 
 and far-somiding death-whoop against Latour. 
 
 When the intercepted letters of the Secretary at War were 
 published in the lladical j)apers, Tausenau read these lettera 
 to the Odeon meeting, and by these means he produced an 
 unfavourable impression against the count. 
 
 In the first half of October, Tausenau said, in a conversa- 
 tion with a female witness, that it was he who had caused the 
 events of the 6th, and on witness lamenting the death of 
 
 Count Latour, Tausenau protested tliat the b r was not 
 
 worthy of compassion ; he had justly been hanged, and if the 
 people's cause conquei'ed, the fellow wovdd not be the last 
 whom they hanged. 
 
 Another witness states that at noon on the 6th October 
 he saw a large crowd at the guard-house near the War 
 Office. He also saw that a member of the Legion seized the 
 officer on duty, saying : " Are you for the people ? speak 
 out, and sheath your sword." The officer was then sur- 
 rounded and protected by several bystanders, and another 
 member of the Legion called out : " Now, do be reasonable, 
 Tausenau !" 
 
 It appears from the evidence of other persons that, in the 
 latter half of October, Tausenau left Vienna, and that he 
 had a large sum of money in his possession ; that at Pres- 
 burg he consulted vnih Kossuth and Csany ; that he sent an 
 engineer to Vienna with a message to Messenhauser ; and 
 that after the battle of Schwechat, he accompanied Kossuth 
 to Pesth. At Pesth he lived in the same house with 
 L. Hank, and spent large sums of money. Unterschüd 
 sent him for letters from Vienna ; Kossuth gave liim liis 
 fullest confidence, and called frequently to see him ; and he 
 was very intimate with Pulszky, Balogh, and Madaran. He 
 went to all the clubs, made inflammatory speeches, and by
 
 MURDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 461 
 
 Pulszky's mediation he kept up a correspondence with 
 M. Engelmann, the president of the Democratic Association 
 at Breslau. After the battle of Raab he received 1,000 
 florins from Pulszky, and with this sum he proceeded to 
 Breslau, for the purpose of revolutionizing that city. Rea- 
 sons, however, which have not transpired, induced him to 
 leave Breslau on the 12th March, 1849. He went to Paris. 
 
 In one of his speeches, held at Pesth, he said : " They 
 accuse us of having caused the death of Latour. I swear, by 
 the ashes of my murdered brethren, that such an idea never 
 entered my head. The hatred of the people pursued him, 
 for they knew him ; and to make him known to the people, 
 this, I protest, was our most sacred duty." 
 
 It need scarcely be mentioned that the evidence against 
 the originators of the murder was obtained gradually, and in 
 the course of a lengthened inquiry. This circumstance 
 explains why certain members of the Diet were enabled to 
 make their escape at a time when the authorities were not, 
 in law, justified in procuring theii- arrest. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 Whoever considers the results of this statement, which 
 we have compiled from official sourc(;s, must feel convinced 
 that the murder of the Secretary at War, Count Latour, was 
 well considered, j^lanned, and prepared, and that the crime 
 was perj)etrated for the purpose of removing a man from his 
 sphere of action, whose intelligence, intrepidity, and consti- 
 tutionalism, secured him the respect of his .sovereign, the 
 confidence of the army, and the affection of all loyal citizens, 
 and who, by his manly defence of his political priuci])lcH, had
 
 462 INVESTIGATION INTO TUE 
 
 become odious to an ill-favoured and ill-matcbed popular 
 representation. 
 
 At a time when the secret associations of Europe, relying 
 on their own strength, came forth from the night of mys- 
 tery, to work by the most disgraceful means the overthrow 
 of all, and even of the constitutional governments of Europe, 
 to construct on the ruins of states, their chimeras of a 
 German, Gallic, or Slavonic republic ; at a time when these 
 men came forward to captivate the rude and unintellectual 
 masses of the people, by inflaming their desire for the pro- 
 perty of the rich, by estranging them from the blessings of 
 religion, and by annihilating the most sacred bonds of 
 nature : at such a time it was natural that the anarchists, 
 acting upon their old principle, that the means are sanctified 
 by the end, sought to remove every man whose energy and 
 principles they had reason to fear, thereby terrorizing the 
 government and their adherents. 
 
 The forcible separation of Hungary and Upper Italy frora 
 Austria was resolved upon by the revolutionary committee, 
 for the purpose of isolating the latter country, and of thus 
 consigning it to the torrent of the re])ublican movement. 
 These were the tendencies which Count Latour unmasked and 
 opposed. His patriotism was his crime, and the members of 
 the opposition of the Austrian Diet, and the venal advocates 
 of the Magyar insurrection, gave him up to an infatuated 
 people, whom they assured that he was a traitor to their 
 dearest interests. 
 
 The friends of this victim of the party of destruction 
 remember that when Count Lamberg left Vienna to proceed 
 on his mission for the pacification of Hungary, Count Latour 
 addressed him with a foreboding of the fate which was in store 
 for him, saying : " It is not likely that we shall meet again, but 
 duty and honour command us to resign ourselves to our fate."
 
 MUKDER OF COUNT LATOUR. 463 
 
 The events at Pesth and Vienna show the truth of this 
 prediction. Already had the bloodthii'sty hydra of Eacli- 
 calism struck the firstborn of its hatred at Frankfort as well 
 as at Rome. 
 
 It is beyond our present task to prove, from a mass of 
 official documents, the progressive connection of these horrors 
 of our own days with various earlier attempts against the 
 Uves of legal servants of the state, and even of cro\vned 
 heads. Still, it is worthy of remark, that all the attempts to 
 assassinate the last constitutional king of France were fos- 
 tered in the lap of these secret societies to which we have 
 alluded, and that the final overthrow of that ])rince became 
 the signal for a well-organized insurrection of all the Kadical 
 associations of Europe, and that it was meant to be, so to 
 say, the blast from the trumpet of death for all the champions 
 of social order. 
 
 It may indeed appear miraculous that the leaders of the 
 propaganda succeeded in imposing upon the good sense and 
 the natural discernment of the loyal citizens of Vienna, whose 
 patriotism, in the years 1800, 1805, and 1809, is upon 
 record. And certain it is, that they and their descendants 
 will shudder to think that Ferdinand, the benevolent, the 
 generous donor of the form of government which his sub- 
 jects desired, has twice been comijelled to fly from their 
 city, and that his energetic Minister of War, who loved 
 progres.s, but who opposed the dissolution of Austria, was 
 most disgracefully and cruelly murdered, amidst the armed 
 and once loyal citizens of the Austnan ca2)ital.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 AdManoplb, treaty of, lis. 
 
 Albert, Archduke, xv. 
 
 ,, ,, (son of Archduke 
 
 Charles), Ixriii, 133, 144 
 
 Alexander, emperor of Eussia, xxsiv, 
 xxxTÜi, Iviii. 
 
 Alps, campaign of the, xxix. 
 
 Alvinzi, General, xxiii. 
 
 Appony, Count, 75, 77. 
 
 Arad, last acts of the Hungarian govern- 
 ment at, cxxiii ; surrender of the fort- 
 ress, cxxiv ; executions at, cxxvi. 
 
 Areola, battle of, xxiii. 
 
 Arsenal, civic, of Vienna plundered, seii. 
 
 Aspern, battle of, xliii. 
 
 Auersperg, Count, xcii, xciv. 
 
 Augereuxi, Marshal, xxxvii, lii. 
 
 Aulic Council, faults of the, xxviii, xxx, 
 xxxvi, xxxvii, xlii. 
 
 Austerlitz, battle of, xxxix. 
 
 Austrian government machinery, 19. 
 
 ,, system of government, Iv, 38-57 ; 
 portrayed by Niebuhr, Ivii ; regarded 
 with aversion by the middle and privi- 
 leged classes, CO. 
 
 Bach, Dr. minister of justice, 248«, 2iO, 
 361. 
 
 Bagration, Russian general, xxxix. 
 
 Balloons, attempt to bombard Venice by 
 means of, Ixxxviii. 
 
 Bankruptcy, Austrian state in 1811,xlvii. 
 
 Basle, treaty of, xix. 
 
 Batthyany, Count Louis, prime minister 
 of Hungary, Ixx, Ixiii, 274, 270 ; exe- 
 cuted, cvii. 
 
 ,, Count Casimir, cxxiv. 
 
 Baumgartner, minister of public works, 
 217, 260. 
 
 Bavaria sides with France, ixv ; terri- 
 tories ceded to her by Austria, xxxix, 
 xlv. 
 
 Beaulieu, General, xiii. 
 
 Bellegarde, General, xxviii. 
 
 Bem, General, xevi, xcix, cxi, cxiv, civ. 
 
 Bfrna''otte, Marshal, afterwards king of 
 Sweden, xiiv, xxvii, xxxv, xlix. 
 
 Black I'orest, the, xxiv, xxxvi. 
 
 ]?lucher. Marshal, xhx-liv. 
 
 Blum, Robert, executed, xcix. 
 
 Bohemia, revolution in, Ixix ; estates of, 
 HO ; provisional government of, 2tl. 
 
 2 
 
 Bologna, Ix. 
 
 Bombardment of Prague, Isix. 
 
 ,, of Vienna, xc-xcix. 
 
 ,, of Venice, Ixxviicx. 
 
 Bonaparte, General, hi'? Italian campaign 
 of 179ii, xxii, xxiv ; of 1800, xxxi ; de- 
 clared emperor, xxxv. See Napoleon. 
 
 Branyiszko Pass,tho,stormedby (jluyon's 
 Hungarians, cix. 
 
 Brescia, massacre of, Ixxxvi. 
 
 Tirunswick, duke of, xiv, xvii. 
 
 Bubna, General, li, Iviii. 
 
 Buda, siege and storm of, cxix. 
 
 Camarilla, the, 173. 
 
 Campo Formio, peace of, xxv. 
 
 Canning, Sir Stratford, cxxvi. 
 
 Carpathians, Görgei's retreat over the, 
 cviii, cxxil. 
 
 Catherine, empress of Russia, xix. 
 
 Catholicism in Austria, 38, 41. 
 
 Charles Albert, king of Sarilinia, invades 
 Lombardy, Ixxxii ; is defeated, and 
 cajiitulates at Milan, Ixxxiv ; again de- 
 clares war, is defeated at Ji'ovara, and 
 abdicates, Ixxxvi. 
 
 Charles, Archduke, xvii, xviii ; campaign 
 of the Rhine in 1790, xxiii; in 179i), 
 xxviii; superseded in his command, 
 xxxi ; minister of war, xli ; campaign 
 of 1809, xlii-xlv ; oli'ered the sove- 
 reignty of the Low Countries, 183. 
 
 Charter, Austrian, of March, 1819, cxxvi. 
 
 Chatillon, conference of, lii. 
 
 Chaumcml, treaty of, Iv. 
 
 Choteli, CdUMt, governor of Bohemia, 81 . 
 
 CiNalpine l.cpulilic, xxiii. 
 
 Clairfait, General, xviii, xxi. 
 
 Coalition against France — first, xv ; se- 
 cond, xxviii; third, xxxv. 
 
 Coburg, Prince, ivi, xviii. 
 
 Cond<5 and Valenciennes seized by Aus- 
 tria, xvi. 
 
 Confederation, German, Iv, Ivi. 
 „ of Ihc Rliiiic, xl. 
 
 Cracow, erected into a ri'public, Ixii ; 
 annexed to Austria, Ixiii. 
 
 Croatia, revolt of, against the Hungarian 
 government, Ixxi; savage cruellies of 
 the Croats, Ixxii. 
 
 Custine, General, xvii. 
 
 Czoric, General, (,viii, cxiv. 
 
 II
 
 4GG 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Damjanic, ünngarian colonel, cix, ciii, 
 cxiii. 
 
 Davidovieh, Gpncral, xxiii. 
 
 Dotireczin, Hunjiariiin goTemment re- 
 moved to, cvi. 
 
 Dembinski, General, Hungarian com- 
 mander-in-chief, cxi ; superseded, cxii. 
 
 Doblholl", Baron, minister of trade and 
 commerce, xciii, 217, 239, 253, 259, 
 260. 
 
 Dumourier, General, liT-xvi. 
 
 Elchihgbn', battle of, xxxvi. 
 
 England allied with Austria against 
 
 France, see Coalition; in the Syrian 
 
 expedition, Ixii. 
 Esshngen, battle of Aspern and, xliii. 
 Esterhazy, Prince, 276. 
 Eugene Beauharnois, Prince, xliii, xljv. 
 
 Faster, demagogue of Prague, 181, 185. 
 
 Ferdinand I., emperor of Austria, Ixi, 
 18; takes measures for establishing a 
 constitution, Ixviii ; escapes to Inn- 
 spruck, Ixviii, 230; appoints his uncle 
 John as his representative in Vienna, 
 Ixviii, 253 ; ratifies a ne^v constitution 
 for Hungary, Ixx ; palters with his 
 Hungarian sutgects, Ixxi, Ixxii, Ixxiii, 
 cxi: returns toSchonbrunn, sei; retires 
 to Olmütz, xciii; assumes an uncom- 
 promising attitude, xcv ; abdicates, ci. 
 
 Ferdinand, Archduke, xxxvi, xliv. 
 
 Ferrara, Austrian occupation of, Ixr, 63. 
 
 Fouehtersleb.n, Baron, 260, 261. 
 
 Ficquelmont, Count, Ixxxiii, 169, 170, 
 208 n, 212. 
 
 Flanders, invaded by the French in 1792, 
 xiii ; wrested from Austria, xviü; 
 ceded, xxv. 
 
 France, first war with the republic of, 
 xiii ; incipient dismemberment of, xvi ; 
 second war with the republic of, xxvii ; 
 first war with the empire of, xxxv ; 
 second, xli ; third, xlviii. 
 
 Francis Charles, Archduke, father of 
 the Emperor Francis Joseph, ei, 207. 
 
 Francis I., emperor of Germany, xiii, 
 xiv, xviii ; assumes the title of emperor 
 of Austria, xxxv ; abdicates the impe- 
 rial crown of Germany, xl ; his death, 
 Ix; characteristic traits, Ixi, 11-13; 
 general discontent in the latter part of 
 his reign, 10. 
 
 Francis Joseph, Archduke, afterwards 
 emperor, 119, 150, 203, 208 ; his acces- 
 sion and inaugural proclamation, ci. 
 
 Fröschweiler, battle of, xviii. 
 
 Galicia, acquired by Austria, xx ; in- 
 surrection of, Ixii, 61. 
 
 Gödöllö, battle of, cxiii. 
 
 Gorgei, Hungarian general, xcvii ; com- 
 mander of the army of the Danube, 
 cv ; his proclamation at Waitzen, cviii ; 
 retreats over the Carpathians, ib. ; de- 
 
 feats the Anstrians in five successive 
 batlies and drives them over the fron- 
 tier, cxiii-cxv ; neglects to improve 
 this opportunity, cxviii ; his hatred of 
 Kossuth, cxx ; defends Komorn, cxxi ; 
 hissecond retreat over theCarpathians, 
 exxii ; his equivocal conduct, ih. ; ob- 
 tains the dictatorship and makes an 
 unconditional surrender, cxxiv. 
 
 Götz, General, cxiv ; killed, ib. 
 
 Guyon, Count, storms the Branyiszko 
 Pass, cviii. 
 
 Hammerstein', General, cviii. 
 
 Hartig, Count, l.iO, 212 n. 
 
 Haspinger, Tyrolese leader, xliv, xlvi. 
 
 Haugwitz, Prussian minister, xxxviii. 
 
 Haynau, General, Ixjxvi, ixxxvii, cxix, 
 cxx. 
 
 Heller, General, xiii, xlix. 
 
 Hoche, General, svii, xxiv. 
 
 Hofer, Tyrolese leader, xliv; his death, 
 xlvi. 
 
 Hohenlinden, battle of, xxxii. 
 
 Holy Alliance, Iv, 16. 
 
 Hornbostel, Austrian minister, xciii, 260, 
 261, 2(52 n. 
 
 Hotze, General, xxviii, ixx. 
 
 Houehard, General, xvii. 
 
 Hoyos, Count, IW, 221. 
 
 Hrabowski, General, 276, 279. 
 
 Hungary, the diet illegally suspended for 
 fourteen years, opened in 1925, 14; 
 constitution of 1848, Ixx, 179, 268; bad 
 faith of the Austrian government, Ixxi, 
 Ixxii, xcv; atrocities of the civil war, 
 Ixxiii ; Lamberg oppointed civil and 
 military governor, ib. ; first invasion 
 under Jellachich, xci ; rights of Hun- 
 gary in relation to the crown, cii-civ; 
 second invasion, civ ; paper money, 
 cv ; declaration of independence, cxvi; 
 third invasion, cxix. 
 
 Jeliachich, ban of Croatia, Ixxi-lxxiii, 
 xci, xciv, civ, cv. 
 
 .Jemappes, battle of, xv. 
 
 John, Archduke, xxxi, xxxvii, xliii, Ixviii, 
 253, 256, 258, 277. 
 
 Josika, Baron, court-chancellor of Tran- 
 sylvania, 78. 
 
 Jourdan, General, xviii, xxdi, xxiii, ixviii. 
 
 KAiSEBSLAriERX, battle of, rvii, xviii. 
 
 Kapolna, battle of, cxi. 
 
 Klapka, General, bis enumeration of the 
 Hungarian forces, civ ; defeats Schlick, 
 ex ; defeats .Jellachich, cxiii ; his de- 
 fence of Komorn, cxxiv. 
 
 Kolowrath, Count, Austrian minister of 
 the interior, 50, 82, 169, 207. 
 
 Komorn, capitulation of, cxxv. 
 
 Korsakoff, General, xxx. 
 
 Kossuth, Louis, Hungarian minister of 
 finance, Ixx, Ixxiii, xcvii ; president of 
 the Committee of Defence, cv, cvi, cxi,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 467 
 
 civi; governor of Hungary, cxvii, 
 cxix, cxx. 
 
 Kraus, Austrian minister, xciii, 171, 261. 
 
 Kray, Marshal, xriii, xxix, xxxi. 
 
 Kremsier, diet opened at, xcix ; dis- 
 solved, cxxvi. 
 
 Kübek, Baron, Austrian minister, 100, 
 102, 169, 171, 207. 
 
 Kutusoff, General, xxxviii, xxxix. 
 
 Laibach, congress of, Iviii. 
 
 Lamberg, Count, 289 ; murdered, Ixiiii. 
 
 Latour, General, xxiii, xxiv. 
 
 „ Count, ministerof war, Ixxii,212, 
 
 261 ; murdered, exii ; investigation 
 
 respecting his murder, 33.5. 
 Lefebvre, Marshal, xliv, xlvi. 
 Lehrbach, Austrian minister, xxviii. 
 Ligny, battle of, Uii. 
 Loano, battle of, ixi. 
 Lodi, battle of, ib. 
 Lombardy under the rule of Austria, 
 
 Ixxiii, 62 ; military outrages in, Ixxvi, 
 Louis, Archduke, 168, 169, 173, 207. 
 Lower Austria, Estates of, 93, 159. 
 
 „ Trades Union of, 108. 
 
 Luneville, peace of, xxxii. 
 
 Mack, surrender of General, xxxvi. 
 
 Magnano, battle of, xxix. 
 
 Maniu, Daniele, president of the repub- 
 lic of Venice, lixv, Ixxxi, Ixxxvii. 
 
 Mannheim, xxi, xxx. 
 
 Mantua, taken by Bonaparte, xxiii ; in- 
 vested by Charles Albert, Ixxiiii. 
 
 Marengo, battle of, xxxi. 
 
 Maria Louisa, Archduchess, married to 
 Napoleon, xlvi ; gives birth to a son, 
 xlvii ; created duchess of Parma, liv. 
 
 Marinovich, murder of Colonel, Ixxx. 
 
 Martinez, president of the Vienna Com- 
 mittee of Safety, 174. 
 
 Massena, Marshal, xxviii, xxxi. 
 
 Melas, General, xxx, xxxi. 
 
 Messenhauser, revolutionary command- 
 ant of Vienna, xcvi ; shot, xcix. 
 
 Metternich, Prince, Austrian prime min- 
 ister, xlvi, xlviii, xlix, Iviii ; his cle- 
 mency, Ixi ; resigns office, Ixviii, 111 ; 
 erroneous estimate of his influence 
 over Francis I., 13 ; his consciousness 
 of the defects of the Austrian state 
 machinery, 37 ; his anticipations of 
 the revolution, 121. "The Metternich 
 system," gee Austrian system of go- 
 vernment. 
 
 Milan, expulsion of the Auatrians from, 
 Ixxvii. 
 
 Minto, Lord, Italian mission of, Ixvi. 
 
 Mollendorf, General, xviii. 
 
 Monteciiculi, Count, 129 », 1.59, 174. 
 
 Moreau, General, xxii, xxiii ; his retreat 
 through the Black Forest, xxiv ; de- 
 feats Archduke John at Uohcnlinden, 
 xxxii. 
 
 Morocco, war between Austria and, lix. 
 
 Murat, Prince, afterwards king of Naples, 
 xxxix ; shot, liv. 
 
 Napoleon takes Vienna, in 1805, xxxix ; 
 
 in 1809, xlü ; marries Maria Louisa, 
 
 xlvi ; invades Russia, xlvii ; abdicates, 
 
 liii ; dies in captivity, Uv. 
 Nagy Sarlo, battle of, cxv. 
 New Szony, battle of, cxv. 
 Niebuhr on the actual state of Europe, 
 
 Ivii. 
 Novi, battle of, xxix. 
 
 Palatine of Hungary, Archduke Ste- 
 phen, Ixx-lxxii, 76, 77, 156, 181. 
 
 Palfy, Count, Ixxix, Ixxx. 
 
 Palmerstou, Lord, Ixvi, Ixxxiii. 
 
 Paris, treaty of, liii. 
 
 Parsdorf, armistice of, xxxi. 
 
 Paskievitch, Prince, cxx, cxxii. 
 
 Paul I., emperor of Russia, xxviii. 
 
 Perczel, Hungarian general, cv, cix. 
 
 Pichegru, General, xvii, xviii. 
 
 PiUersdorf, Baron, Austrian minister of 
 the interior, Ixviii, Ixxxvii, 169-174, 200, 
 210, 211, 213, 214, 2.55, 259, 260. 
 
 Poland, partition of, xix-ixi. 
 
 Police, Austrian, Ivii, Ixii, Ixxviii, 9. 
 
 Prague bombarded, Ixix. 
 
 Presburg, peace of, xxxix. 
 
 Prussia, in alliance with Austria against 
 France in 1792-4, xiv ; her defection in 
 1794, xix ; aggrandized by favour of 
 France and Russia, xxxiv ; assumes a 
 neutral position, xxxv ; prepares to 
 abandon it, xxvii; chastised by France, 
 takes her revenge, xlix-liv. 
 
 Quasdanowich, General, xxii. 
 
 Ra7)etzki, Marshal, Ixxvi ; his expulsion 
 and retreat from Milan, Ixxvii ; halts 
 at Verona, Lxxxii, 65 n ; drives Charles 
 Albert out of Lombardy, Ixxxiv ; de« 
 feats him again at Novara, Ixxxvi ; 
 summons Venice to surrender, Ixxxvii ; 
 grants it favourable terms, xc. 
 
 Rainer, Archduke, Ixxvi. 
 
 Rastadt, convention of, xxv ; murder of 
 French envoys at, xxvii. 
 
 Reichenbach, treaty of, xlviii. 
 
 Reuss, Prince, xlix. 
 
 Rhine, confederation of the, iixiv, il, 
 xli. 
 
 Robot, the, abolished in Hungary, Ixi ; 
 in Bohemia, 184, 186. 
 
 Russia, allied with Austria against France, 
 xxviii, XXXV ; with France against Aus- 
 tria, xli ; invaded by Napoleon, xlvii ; 
 co-operates in his overthrow, xlix-liv ; 
 her intervention in Hungary, cxiv, cxi. 
 
 SciiWAiiTZENDBBO, Princo, xxxii, xlvi, 
 xlvii, xlix. 
 
 ,, Prince Felix, Austrian 
 
 prime minister, xcix.
 
 468 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Sohwarzpr, Austriiin minister, 260, 2(51. 
 
 Schlick, General, civ, ex. 
 
 Schwechat, buttle of, xcvi. 
 
 Sonima CnmpaK"», buttle of, Ixxxiv. 
 
 Sommaruga, Baron, Austrian minister, 
 171, 2tiO. 
 
 Soult, Marshal, xxxvi. 
 
 Spechbacher, Tyrolese leader, iliv, xlvi. 
 
 Stadion, Count Rudolph, 115. 
 
 ,, Count Francis, governor of Ga- 
 licia, 144, 171, 255 ; imperial minister, 
 xcix. 
 
 Stift, Baron, 261, 262. 
 
 Suwarroff, Marshal, xx, xxviii-ixx. 
 
 Switzerland, subdued by the French, 
 xxvii ; campaijrn of, in 1799, xiviii, xxx. 
 
 Syria, aflairs of, in 1839, Ixi ; joint expe- 
 dition of England and Austria, Ixii. 
 
 Szecheuv, Count, Hungarian minister, 
 276. 
 
 Szemere, Hungarian minister, cxi, cxxiv. 
 
 Taape, Count, Austrian minister, 169, 
 
 207. 
 Teleki, Count, 189. 
 Temesvar, battle of, cxxiii. 
 Thugut, Austrian prime minister, xxviii. 
 Thun, Count Leo, Ixix, cxxxii, 241, 243. 
 Tournay, battle of, xviii. 
 Transylvania, Estates of, union of, with 
 
 Hunpary, Ixs, 14, 16 ; Bem's campaign 
 
 in, cxiv. 
 Troppau, congress of, Iviii. 
 Tyrol, xxT, xxvii, xxxix, xlii, xliv, xlv, 
 
 xlvi. 
 
 Ulm, surrender of, xxivi. 
 
 VAt,MT, battle of, xiv. 
 Verona, Ixxxii, Ixxxiii. 
 
 ,, congress of, Iviii, lii. 
 Venicej annexed to Austria, xxv ; ceded. 
 
 xl ; restored to her, liv ; the Austr 
 expelled from, Ixxix ; siege and 
 render of, Ixxvii-xc. 
 
 Vetter, General, Hungarian comraani 
 in-chief, cxii. 
 
 Vienna taken by Napoleon, in II 
 xxxix; in 1809, xlii; its rampi 
 blown up, xlv ; revolution of It 
 Ixxiii, 12S-162 ; Diet opened in, 
 anarchy, revolt, and bombardmc 
 xc-xcix. 
 
 Vienna, peace of, xlv. 
 
 „ first congress of, liii. 
 ,, second congress of, Iviii. 
 
 Vilagos, surrender of, cxiiv. 
 
 Wagbam, battle of, xliv. 
 Waterloo, battle of, liii. 
 Wattigny, battle of, xvii. 
 Weiden, General, Ixxxii, exv. 
 Wenzelbad, Czech committee of the, 1 
 
 202, 241. 
 Wernek, General, xviii. 
 Wessenberg, Baron, 239, 253, 259, 2 
 
 266. 
 Wessenberg, lines of, stormed, xvii. 
 Windischgratz, Prince, bombards Prag 
 
 Ixix ; bombards Vienna, xcvi ; inva( 
 
 Hungary, cix ; is defeated and 
 
 called, cxiii. 
 Wohlgemuth, Gener.al, cxv. 
 Worth, battle of, xviii. 
 Wurniser, General Count, Austrian co 
 
 mander on the Upper Hhine. xvi, s 
 
 xxi ; in Italy, xxii, xxiii, xxviii. 
 
 York, duke of, xvi, xxx. 
 York, General, xlvii. 
 
 Zanini, General, 171, 212. 
 2ichy, Count, Ixxx. 
 Znaym, armistice of, xlv. 
 
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 A. WILLISS PEOPLE I HAVE MET.* 
 
 5. IRVING'S SUCCESSORS OF MAHOMET.* 
 
 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.* 
 
 SKETCH-BOOK.* 
 
 TALES OF A TRAVELLER.* 
 
 TCUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 
 
 CONQUESTS OF GRANADA AND SPAIN. 2 XvU* 
 
 LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 2 Vols.» 
 
 COMPANIONS OF COLUMBUS.* 
 15 St, 16. TAYLOR'S EL DORADO; or, I'lclurcs of tlie Gold Re;;iou. 2 Vol«. 
 17. IRVINGS ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE.* 
 
 KNICKERBOCKER.* 
 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 
 
 
 10 &. 11. 
 
 12 St. 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 — TALES OF THE ALHAMBRA.* 
 
 — CONQUEST OF FLORIDA.* 
 
 — ABBOTSFORD AND NEWSTEAD. 
 
 — SALMAGUNDI.' 
 
 — BRACEBRIDGE HALL.* 
 
 — ASTORIA {I'ortriiil of the Jullior). 3 Vols, in 1. 
 
 18. - 
 
 19. - 
 
 20. ~ 
 . 21. - 
 
 M 22.- 
 
 "^ 24. - 
 
 '^'■'^ 25. LAMARTINES GENEVIEVE; or, The Hisiüij of a SeiTaiitGui. Translated by '^yVV-' 
 
 '' ^ A. 11. SculiLE.* Eiy(y^'^ 
 
 ' 26. MAYOS BERBER ; or, llie Jlount.niiicer of the Alias. A Talc of Morocco. $;<?,cl'.v 
 
 27. WILLISS LIFE HERE AND THERE; or, Sketclies of Society and Adventure.» 
 ..^ 28. GUIZOT'S LIFE OF MONK, «itli Appeiidi.\ and iV//m^* 
 c^?"S 29. THE CAPE AND THE KAFFIRS: A Diary of Kive Years' Resideace, with 
 ^ Advice to Kniigr:\nts. liy II. WAlU). Plate and Map of the Scat of Wtr. 3*. 
 
 30. V;iLLISS HURRY-GRAPHS; or, Sketche» of Scenery, Celebrities, and Society, (t)<^"^/;lV 
 
 taken Irani Life * E^^s'SJI 
 
 31. HAWTHORNE'S HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES. A Tlomance. ^8^/'^ 
 
 32. LONDON AND ITS ENVIRONS; wiih Historical and Deicriptive Sketch of the --='•"' 
 
 Great K.xhibition. Hy CYKl .S RKDDING. Numerous J Uuairalions. 2*. 
 
 33. LAMARTINE'S STONEMASON OF SAINT POINT.* 
 
 34. GUIZOTS MONKS CONTEMPORARIES. A iSeries of Biographic Studies on 
 
 the Knglisli Revolution. Porlrutl of ßdivard I^rd Clmtnäon. 
 
 35. HAWTHORNE'S TWICE-TOLD TALES. 
 
 35. Tlic same, Second Series. 
 
 ,T 37. SNOW IMAGE, and other Talcs. 
 
 "■;^ 33. SCARLET LETTER. 
 
 ;• 39. EMERSON S ORATIONS AND LECTURES. 
 
 40. UNCLE TOMS CABIN; or. Life among the Lowly; with Introductory Eemarks 
 by the KEY. J. SHERMAN. ' 
 
 , ;]; 41. THE V.'HITE SLAVE. A new picture of American Jlave Life, 
 ''(% 42. DAYS OF BATTLE; or, Quairc Bras .-ind Waterleo, By an EXGLl.'^HWOMAN, 
 ,5 resident at Bruss^is hi June, ISU, (author of Rome iu the Miucteenth Century). 
 
 6 e 
 
 gi>NC
 
 /y/\</iv< 
 
 
 
 
 MILTON'S POETICAL VVORKS, "itl. J.ifc and No'tej by De. Stubbing; ami l)r 
 
 Oliani.iiigs kuuy on Milton. Froiitispiite. 'is. Gi. 
 NEW JOE MILLER, a Selection of Modern Jcsti. Witticismg, Proll Tules, &e. ".t. OJ. 
 OSSIANS POEMS, with Digsertations by Uaci'iiekson and Dr. Blair. ' Froiuftp. ?,s. 
 POPES HOMERS ILIAD. Kssay on Homer. Xotei and J^myfl. Fronlispicce. Zs. 
 
 ODYS-3EY, (uniform). Fronlispiect. S#, 
 
 SCOTTS POETICAL WORKS, M.d Life, in „„r rolnme. FoH. and FrontUp. Ss.Cd. 
 ^^yjl^lJJ^^.^^'^^'^^^'^^ °^ ■'""^ WORKS OF GOD. FronCi,,'. $,. 
 r. ,^,„.,., ...^ jSEASONS. Witji bij CinUc of Indolence, 4 beauliful iroodeuts. 2*. 
 THE AMBER WITCH. 2 toI«. in 1. it. id. 
 
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