The truth, however, was now becoming manifest, both in the King's mind

as to the tendency of his ideas, and in the eyes of his ministers as to
the determination now being formed in the palace. By the very statement
of the question it was resolved upon. Guizot and Duchâtel thus expressed
it to the King: "It is for your Majesty to decide. The Cabinet is ready
either to defend to the last the King and conservative policy which we
profess, or to accept without a murmur the King's determination to call
other men to power. At present, more than ever, in order to continue the
struggle successfully, the Cabinet has need of the King's decided
support. As soon as the public should learn, as they inevitably must,
that the King hesitates, the Cabinet would lose all moral influence and
be unable to accomplish their task." The King seemed still in
perplexity, and said he should prefer to abdicate. "You cannot say that,
my dear," replied the Queen, who was present at the interview with the
Dukes of Nemours and Montpensier; "you belong to France, and not to
yourself."

"That is true," said the King, as Louis XVI had formerly said to
Malesherbes; "I am more unfortunate than the ministers, I cannot
resign." The ministers then in King Louis Philippe's Cabinet had not
resigned. The King, having made his decision, said, "It is with the
keenest regret that I separate myself from you, but necessity and the
safety of the monarchy demand this sacrifice. My will gives way; much
time will be needed to regain the ground I am about to lose." There were
tears in many eyes. The King sent for Molé, and Guizot himself announced
to the Chamber of Deputies the change of the Ministry.

There was much of astonishment and sorrow in the parliamentary majority,
always strongly attached to the leaders they had so long followed in
spite of occasional vagaries and good-natured weakness. The imminence of
a great danger engrossed their minds, together with the consciousness of
a great defeat. The anxiety of the Chambers was reechoed in the
Tuileries; and for the last time the ministers assembled there, anxious
at that last moment of their power to maintain order, now everywhere
threatened. Count Molé was laboriously occupied in the formation of a
cabinet. "To think that this resolution was formed in a quarter of an
hour!" exclaimed the King when engaged with Jayr in some administrative
details.

The excitement was great in the palace, but still greater in the
streets, being skilfully kept up by several insurrectionist leaders, and
spontaneously arising among the reckless portion of the populace, who
are easily influenced by revolutionary clamors. Increased by those
assembling from curiosity or idleness, the crowds in the squares and
boulevards assumed alarming proportions. All at once, opposite the
Foreign Office, there was heard, about nine o'clock in the evening, one
of those fatal explosions, whether accidental or premeditated, which
history often records as the origin of great popular risings.

The soldiers, who till then had remained motionless and patient, thought
they were attacked, and fired in their turn. Several persons fell, some
dead, others wounded, and some were knocked down and trodden under foot.
The greatest disorder, caused both by alarm and indignation, broke out
in the whole neighborhood. Then was the moment of action for the keen
and determined insurgents. A cart which happened to be there was
immediately loaded with the corpses and drawn through the streets, from
one newspaper office to another, in the most populous quarters, with
shouts of "Vengeance! To arms! Down with Guizot! The head of Guizot!" By
daybreak Paris was covered with barricades.

Molé having failed in his efforts to form a Cabinet, the King sent for
Thiers. For the last time he claimed the devotion of his old ministers.
"I must have immediately a military chief--an experienced chief," he
said. "I have sent for Bugeaud, but I wish M. Thiers to find him
appointed. Will you grant me this further service?" Duchâtel, and
General Trézel, on the previous evening still Minister of War, signed
without hesitation Marshal Bugeaud's appointment as Commander-in-Chief
of the National Guard and the Army. It was three o'clock in the morning.
"It is somewhat late to set to work," said the Marshal; "but I have
never been beaten, and shall not make a beginning to-morrow. Let me act,
and fire the cannon; there will be some bloodshed, but to-morrow evening
the strength will be on the side of law, and the factious will have had
their account settled."

The day had not yet dawned when the Marshal was reviewing his forces. He
found them demoralized, having for sixty hours remained motionless
before the mob, with their feet in the mud, and their knapsacks on their
backs, allowing the rioters to attack the Municipal Guard, burn the
sentry-boxes, cut down the trees, break the street-lamps, and harangue
the soldiers. They were moreover badly supplied with provisions and
ammunition. The energetic language of their new commander, and the
precise orders which he gave for the march of the columns, inspired the
soldiers with fresh life and courage. The movements indicated had
already begun to be executed, and the troops were taking position; but
the crowds again filled the streets, and at several points the soldiers
were prevented from marching. One of the generals at the head of a
column sent to tell Bugeaud that he was face to face with an enormous
body of men, badly armed, who made no attack upon him, but only shouted,
"Long live reform! Long live the army! Down with Guizot!" "Order them to
disperse," replied the Marshal; "if they do not obey, use force, and act
with resolution."

There was no fighting on either side. The staff were besieged by the
entreaties of a crowd of respectable men, who in terror and
consternation conjured Bugeaud to withdraw the troops because they
excited the anger of the populace, and leave to the National Guard the
duty of appeasing the insurrection. The danger of such counsel was
obvious, and the Marshal paid no attention to it, till Thiers and Odilon
Barrot, who had just accepted office, came to the staff with the same
advice, and it therefore became an order. The Marshal at first refused
the ministers as he had done the citizens, and then the same order was
sent by the King. "I must have a government," the Marshal had recently
said; and, as he was now without the government, which thus relaxed the
resistance agreed upon, he in his turn gave way. His instructions for
retreat were thus given to his officers: "By order of the King and
ministers, you will fall back upon the Tuileries. Make your retreat with
an imposing attitude, and if you are attacked, turn round, take the
offensive, and act according to my instructions given this morning."

Meanwhile the formation of the Ministry was posted up everywhere. A
mixed crowd carried Odilon Barrot in triumph to the Home Office, which
Guizot and Duchâtel had just left. Those round him shouted, "Long live
the father of the people!" but most of the notices posted up were torn.
At the moment when the new ministers were about to leave Bugeaud's staff
on horseback in order to pass through the city, Horace Vernet, the
artist, arrived out of breath. "Don't let M. Thiers go," said he to the
Marshal. "I have just passed through the mob, and they are so furious
against him that I am certain they would cut him in pieces!" Odilon
Barrot presented himself alone to the crowd, but was powerless to calm
the fury he had assisted in unchaining. "Thiers is no longer possible,
and I am scarcely so," said he on his return to the staff. The King on
one occasion showed himself in the court of the Tuileries, when
reviewing several battalions of the National Guard. There were some
shouts of "Long live the King!" but the most numerous were "Long live
reform! Down with Guizot!"

"You have the reform; and M. Guizot is no longer a minister!" said the
King; and on the shouts being again repeated, he returned to the palace.
The palace also was thronged with a confused crowd, animated by various
feelings and agitated by evident fears or secret hopes. Some urged the
King to abdicate in favor of the Comte de Paris; others vigorously
opposed such a relinquishment of power in presence of the insurrection.
The great mind of Queen Marie-Amélie was displayed in all the simplicity
of its heroism. "Mount on horseback, sire," said she, "and I shall give
you my blessing." She had recently urged the King to change his Cabinet;
a very kind message, intrusted for Guizot to one of his most intimate
friends, at the same time proved her regret.

The King sat at his writing-table, agitated and perplexed. He had begun
to write his abdication, when Marshal Bugeaud entered, having just
learned what was taking place in the Tuileries, and excited by the sound
of some shooting which had already begun. "It is too late, sire," said
he; "your abdication would complete the demoralization of the troops.
Your Majesty can hear the shooting. There is nothing left but to fight."
The Queen seconded this advice, and Piscatory and several others were of
the same opinion. The King rose without finishing his writing, and then
other voices were raised to insist upon the King's promise. He sat down
again, wrote and signed his abdication. By this time the troops had
received orders to fall back, and Marshal Gérard took the place of
Bugeaud as commandant-general. The columns were marched toward the
barracks, and there was no detachment around the Palais-Bourbon, where
the same disorder reigned, and the same efforts were made in vain.

The Duchesse d'Orléans presented herself before the Chamber of Deputies
as soon as the abdication of the King was known. The Duc de Nemours
accompanied her, leading the Comte de Paris by the hand; and the Duc de
Chartres, who was weak and ill, was wrapped up in a mantle and leaned on
Ary Scheffer's arm. Before joining the Princess at the gate of the
Chamber the Duc de Nemours had, with his brother the Duc de Montpensier,
seen the King, their father, take his melancholy departure, to escape
the insurrection, against which he could not make up his mind to use
force.

The Duchesse d'Orléans already knew that depriving the King of the crown
was not giving it to her son. Her natural courage, however, and her
maternal affection induced her to make every effort to secure the throne
for the prince of nine years whom the nation had already intrusted to
her keeping. She had seen the Tuileries invaded before leaving that hall
where her husband's portrait by Ingres seemed to preside over her son's
destinies. "It is here one ought to die," she said, when Dupin and
Grammont came to conduct her to the Chamber. Odilon Barret had gone to
bring her, and succeeded in finding her in the Palais-Bourbon. The crowd
showed sympathy for her, and made room respectfully, though she and her
small retinue had difficulty in getting within the palace, every passage
being crowded. The Duchess stood near the tribune holding her two boys
close to her. After Dupin announced the King's abdication, Barrot, after
presenting the legal instrument, asked the Chamber to proclaim at once
the young King and the regency of Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans.

Shouts of protest were heard on several benches. "It is too late!"
exclaimed Lamartine, as he went to the tribune, eager to urge this
difficulty, reject the regency, and demand a provisional government so
that the bloodshed might be stopped. Some others were already mentioning
the word "Republic." The crowd were gradually pouring into the Chamber
from the corriders, and Sauzet, the President, requested strangers to
withdraw, and made a special appeal to the Duchess herself. "Sir, this
is a royal sitting!" she replied; and when her friends urged her, "If I
leave this Chamber, my son will no more return to it." A few minutes
before her arrival, Thiers had entered the Chamber in the greatest
agitation. "The tide is rising, rising, rising!" he said to those who
crowded round him, and then disappeared. Several voices were heard
together in confusion; among the speakers were La Rochejacquelein,
Ledru-Rollin, Marie, and Berryer.

The Duchess had been conducted to a gallery, on account of the threats
of the insurgent battalions, who burst open the doors after General
Gourgaud had in vain tried to stop them. Armand Marrast, one of the
editors of the _National_, after looking at the invaders, said: "These
are the sham public; I shall call the real!" A few minutes afterward
shots were heard in the court of the palace; the posts in the hands of
the National Guard opened before the triumphant mob, who, after sacking
the Tuileries, hurried up against the expiring remnants of the monarchy.
The Duchesse d'Orléans had already twice offered to speak, but her voice
was drowned in the tumult. The newcomers, stained with blood and
blackened with gunpowder, with dishevelled hair and bare arms, climbed
on the benches, stairs, and galleries; and in every part were shouts of
"Down with the regency! Long live the Republic! Turn out the
'Contents'!" Sauzet put on his hat, but a workman knocked it off, and
then the President disappeared.

Several of the Deputies rushed to the gallery, where the Duchess was
still exposed to the looks and threats of the insurgents. "There is
nothing more to be done here, madam," they urged: "we must go to the
President's house, to form a new chamber." She took the arm of Jules de
Lasteyrie; and on her sons being separated from her in the narrow
passages, she showed the greatest anxiety, crying, "My boys! my boys!"
At one time the Comte de Paris was seized by a workman in a blouse; but
one of the National Guard took him out of his hands, and the child was
passed from one to another till he rejoined his mother. No one knew what
had become of the Duc de Chartres; but he was brought to the Invalides,
where the Princess went for refuge; and in the evening, after nightfall,
the mother and sons withdrew from Paris, and soon after from France.
"To-morrow, or ten years hence," said the Duchesse d'Orléans as she left
the Invalides, "a word, a sign will bring me back." Afterward in exile
she frequently said, "When the thought crosses my mind that I may never
again see France, I feel my heart breaking."

Wanderers and fugitives across their kingdom, after kneeling for the
last time beside the tomb of their children at Dreux, and asking the
hospitality of some friends who were still faithful, and without a
single attempt to recover the crown they had lost, King Louis Philippe
and Queen Marie-Amélie at last reached the seacoast, and set sail toward
England, that safe and well-known refuge of unfortunate princes.

Thunderstruck like them, and at their wits' end, the most faithful of
their servants and partisans waited for some sign authorizing them to
protest against the unparalleled surprise to which France had been
subjected. The fugitive King made no protest. His sons quietly followed
him into exile. Those who were serving France abroad learned at the same
time the news of their fall and the rise of a new power, and thought it
their duty to bow to the national will, resolving that not a single drop
of French blood should be shed in their cause.




(1848) REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN GERMANY, C. Edmund Maurice


Popular demonstrations in various parts of Germany in the great
revolutionary year 1848 were no doubt partly due to the outbreaks in
France and elsewhere, but it is also apparent that discontent at home
had been long turning the people toward revolt. The agitation that began
in March--the month following the "February Revolution" and the
declaration of a republic in France--was the work of a patriotic party
that cherished not only aspirations for extending popular rights in the
several States, but also a prophetic desire for German unity.

The Congress of Vienna (1815) attempted to adjust the balance of power
in Europe. Some sort of union for the States was imperatively required
by the general situation, but there was fear of making Germany too
strong. The Congress created the German Confederation, constituted by a
union of independent States, under the hegemony or political headship of
Austria. This confederation (_bund_) lacked strength in the Central
Government, and although it reduced the number of States from more than
three hundred to thirty-nine, it still perpetuated elements of
unwieldiness and discord. At the head of the Austrian Government, as
chief minister of the Emperor Ferdinand I, was Metternich, who for many
years had been the great reactionary leader of Europe. He was compelled
now to face conditions such as, in his long and varied career of
statecraft and diplomacy, he never had confronted. Ferdinand himself,
always a weak ruler, succumbed to the revolution provoked by his
minister, whose downfall was followed by the Emperor's abdication
(December 2, 1848) in favor of his nephew, Francis Joseph, the present
ruler of Austria.

The most interesting of the German struggles of 1848 was that in Saxony.
Robert Blum [Footnote: Blum, born at Cologne in 1807, was a writer and
an agitator, leader of the Liberal party in Saxony. He was executed in
November, 1848.--ED.] was present at a ball in Leipsic when the news
arrived of the French revolution. He at once hastened to consult his
friends; and they agreed to act through the Town Council of Leipsic, and
sketched out the demands that they desired should be laid before the
King. These were: "A reorganization of the constitution of the German
Bund in the spirit and in accordance with the needs of the times, for
which the way is to be prepared by the unfettering of the press, and the
summoning of representatives of all German peoples to the Assembly of
the Bund." The Town Council adopted this address on March 1st, and sent
a deputation with it to Dresden; and, on the 3d, the people gathered to
meet the deputation on its return. The following is the account given by
the son of Robert Blum:

"By anonymous placards on the wall the population of Leipsic was
summoned on the evening of March 3d to meet at the railway station the
deputation returning from Dresden. Since the space was too narrow in
this place, the innumerable mass marched to the market-place, which, as
well as the neighboring streets, they completely filled. In perfect
silence the thousands awaited here the arrival of the deputation, which,
at last, toward nine o'clock, arrived and was greeted with unceasing
applause. Town Councillor Seeburg spoke first of the deep emotion of the
King; after him spoke Biedermann. But the crowd uproariously demanded
Robert Blum.

"At last Blum appeared on the balcony of the Town Council House. His
voice alone controlled the whole market-place, and was even heard in the
neighboring streets. He too sought, by trying to quiet them, to turn
them away from the subject of the address and of the King's answer. But
the people broke uproariously into his speech with the demand, 'The
answer! The answer!' It could no longer be concealed that the petitions
of the town had received harsh rejection. Then came a loud and
passionate murmur. The masses had firmly hoped that the deputation would
bring with them from Dresden the news of the dismissal of the hated
ministers.

"But Blum continued his speech, and they renewed their attention to him.
'In constitutional countries,' said he, 'it is not the King, but the
ministers who are responsible. They, too, bear the responsibility of the
rejection of the Leipsic proposals. The people must press for their
removal.' He added that he would bring forward in the next meeting of
the town representatives the proposal that the King should dismiss the
Ministry, 'which does not possess the confidence of the people.' Amid
shouts of exultation and applause, the appeased assembly dispersed."

Blum was as successful with his colleagues as with the crowd; and the
Town Council now demanded from the King the dismissal of his ministers,
the meeting of the Assembly, and freedom of the press. The King tried to
resist the last of these three proposals, pleading his duty to the Bund.
But even the Bundestag had felt the spirit of the times, and on March
1st had passed a resolution giving leave to every government to abolish
the censorship of the press. The King seemed to yield, and promised to
fulfil all that was wished; but the reactionary party in Dresden had
become alarmed at the action of the men of Leipsic; and so, on March
11th, when the men of Leipsic supposed that all was granted, General von
Carlowitz entered their city at the head of a strong force, and demanded
that the Town Council should abstain from exciting speeches; that the
Elocution Union should give up all political discussion; that the
processions of people should cease; and above all, that the march from
Leipsic to Dresden, which was believed to be then intended, should be
given up.

These demands were met by Blum with an indignant protest. "Five men,"
said he, "who manage the army cannot understand that, though their
bullets may kill men, they cannot make a single hole in the idea that
rules the world." The town councillors of Leipsic were equally firm.
Carlowitz abandoned his attempt as hopeless; and on March 13th the King
summoned a Liberal Ministry which abolished press censorship, granted
publicity of legal proceedings, trial by jury, and a wider basis for the
Saxon Parliament, and promised to assist in the reform of the Bund.

In the mean time the success of the French revolution had awakened new
hopes in Vienna. Soon after the arrival of the news, a placard appeared
on one of the city gates bearing the words: "In a month Prince
Metternich will be overthrown! Long live Constitutional Austria!"
Metternich himself was greatly alarmed, and began to listen to proposals
for extending the power of the Lower Austrian Estates. Yet he still
hoped by talking over and discussing these matters to delay the
execution of reforms till a more favorable turn in affairs should render
them either harmless or unnecessary.

But great as was the alarm caused by the South German risings, and great
as were the hopes which they kindled in the Viennese, the word that was
to give definiteness and importance to the impulses that were stirring
in Vienna could not come from Bavaria or Saxony. Much as they might wish
to connect themselves with a German movement, the Viennese could not get
rid of the fact that they were, for the present, bound up with a
different political system. Nor was it wholly clear that the German
movement was as yet completely successful. The King of Prussia seemed to
be meditating a reactionary policy and had even threatened to despatch
troops to put down the Saxon Liberals; and the King of Hanover also was
disposed to resist the movement for a German Parliament. It was from a
country more closely bound up with the Viennese Government, and yet
enjoying traditions of more deeply rooted liberty, that the utterance
was to come which was eventually to rouse the Viennese to action.

The readiness of the nobles to accept the purely verbal concession
offered by Metternich in the matter of the "Administrators" had shown
Kossuth [Footnote: Louis Kossuth, the famous leader of the Hungarian
insurrection of 1848, was at this time about forty-six years of age. The
sovereignty of Hungary had been in the hands of the Hapsburgs since
1687.--ED.] that there could be no further peace. But he still knew how
and when to strike the blow; and it was not by armed insurrection so
much as by the declaration of a policy that he shook the rule of
Metternich. On March 3d a Conservative member of the Presburg Assembly
brought forward a motion for inquiry into the Austrian bank-notes.
Kossuth answered that the confusion in the affairs of Austrian commerce
produced an evil effect on Hungarian finances; and he showed the need of
an independent Finance Ministry for Hungary. Then he went on to point
out that this same confusion extended to other parts of the monarchy.

"The actual cause of the breaking up of peace in the monarchy, and of
all the evils which may possibly follow from it, lies in the system of
government." He admitted that it was hard for those who had been brought
up under this system to consent to its destruction. "But," he went on,
"the people lasts forever, and we wish also that the country of the
people should last forever. Forever too should last the splendor of that
dynasty whose representatives we reckon as our rulers. In a few days the
men of the past will descend into their graves; but for that scion of
the House of Hapsburg who excites such great hopes, for the Archduke
Francis Joseph, who at his first coming forward earned the love of the
nation--for him there waits the inheritance of a splendid throne which
derives its strength from freedom. Toward a dynasty which bases itself
on the freedoms of its people's enthusiasm will always be roused; for it
is only the freeman who can be faithful from his heart; for a
bureaucracy there can be no enthusiasm."

He then urged that the future of the dynasty depended on the hearty
union between the nations which lived under it. "This union," he said,
"can be brought about only by respecting the nationalities, and by that
bond of constitutionalism which can produce a kindred feeling. The
bureau and the bayonet are miserable bonds." He then went on to
apologize for not examining the difficulties between Hungary and
Croatia. The solution of the difficulties of the empire would, he held,
solve the Croatian question too. If it did not, he promised to consider
that question with sympathy, and examine it in all its details. He
concluded by proposing an address to the Emperor which should point out
that it was the want of constitutional life in the whole empire which
hindered the progress of Hungary; and that, while an independent
government and a separate responsible ministry were absolutely essential
to Hungary, it was also necessary that the Emperor should surround his
throne, in all matters of the Government, with such constitutional
arrangements as were indispensably demanded by the needs of the time.

This utterance has been called the "Baptismal Speech of the Revolution."
Coming as it did directly after the news of the French revolution, it
gave a definiteness to the growing demands for freedom; but it did more
than this. Metternich had cherished a growing hope that the demand for
constitutional government in Vienna might be gradually used to crush out
the independent position of Hungary, by absorbing the Hungarians in a
common Austrian parliament; and he had looked upon a Croatian question
as a means for still further weakening the power of the Hungarian Diet.
Kossuth's speech struck a blow at these hopes by declaring that freedom
for any part of the empire could be obtained only by working for the
freedom of the whole; he swept aside for the moment those national and
provincial jealousies which were the great strength of the Austrian
despotism, and appealed to all the Liberals of the empire to unite
against the system which was oppressing them all. Had Kossuth remained
true to the faith which he proclaimed in this speech, it is within the
limits of probability that the whole Revolution of 1848-1849 might have
had a different result.

The Hungarian chancellor, Mailath, was so alarmed at Kossuth's speech
that he hindered the setting out of the deputation which was to have
presented the address to the Emperor. But he could not prevent the
speech from producing its effect. Although Presburg was only six hours'
journey from Vienna, the route had been made so difficult that the news
of anything done in the Hungarian Diet had hitherto reached Vienna in a
roundabout manner, and had sometimes been a week on its way.

The news of this speech, however, arrived on the very next day; and
Kossuth's friend Pulszky immediately translated it into German and
circulated it among the Viennese. A rumor of its contents had spread
before the actual speech. It was said that Kossuth had declared war
against the system of government, and that he had said state bankruptcy
was inevitable. But as the news became more definite the minds of the
Viennese fixed upon two points--the denunciation of the men of the past,
and the demand for a constitution for Austria. So alarmed did the
Government become at the effect of this speech that they undertook to
answer it in an official paper.

The writer of this answer called attention to the terrible scenes which
he said were being enacted in Paris, which proved according to him that
the only safety for the governed was in rallying round the government.
This utterance naturally excited only contempt and disgust; and the
ever-arriving news of new constitutions granted in Germany swelled the
enthusiasm which had been roused by Kossuth's speech.

The movement still centred in the professors of the University. On March
1st Doctor Loehner had proposed, at one of the meetings of the Reading
and Debating Society, that negotiations should be opened with the
Estates, and that they should be urged to declare their Assembly
permanent, the country in danger, and Metternich a public enemy. This
proposal marked a definite step in constitutional progress. The Estates
of Lower Austria, which met in Vienna, had indeed from time to time
expressed their opinions on certain public grievances; but these
opinions had been generally disregarded by Francis and Metternich; and,
though the latter had of late talked of enlarging the powers of the
Estates, he had evidently intended such words partly as mere talk in
order to delay any efficient action, and partly as a bid against the
concessions which had been made by the King of Prussia. That the leaders
of a popular movement should suggest an appeal to the Estates of Lower
Austria was therefore an unexpected sign of a desire to find any legal
centre for action, however weak in power, and however aristocratic that
centre might be.

Doctor Loehner's proposal, however, does not seem to have been generally
adopted; and, instead of the suggested appeal to the Estates, a
programme of eleven points was circulated by the debating society. When
we consider that the revolution broke out in less than a fortnight after
this petition, we cannot but be struck with the extreme moderation of
the demands now made. Most of the eleven points were concerned with
proposals for the removal either of forms of corruption, or of
restraints on personal liberty, and they were directed chiefly against
those interferences with the life and teaching of the universities which
were causing so much bitterness in Vienna. Such demands for
constitutional reforms as were contained in this programme were
certainly not of an alarming character. The petitioners asked that the
right of election to the Assembly of Estates should be extended to
citizens and peasants; that the deliberative powers of the Estates
should be enlarged; and that the whole empire should be represented in
an assembly, for which, however, the petitioners asked only a
consultative power. Perhaps the three demands in this petition which
would have excited the widest sympathy were those in favor of the
universal arming of the people, the universal right of petition, and the
abolition of the censorship.

The expression of desire for reform now became much more general and
even some members of the Estates prepared an appeal to their colleagues
against the bureaucratic system. But the character and tone of the
utterances of these new reformers somewhat weakened the effect which had
been produced by the bolder complaints of the earlier leaders of the
movement, for while the students of the University and some of their
professors still showed a desire for bold and independent action, the
merchants caught eagerly at the sympathy of the Archduke Francis
Charles, while the booksellers addressed to the Emperor a petition in
which servility passes into blasphemy.

These signs of weakness were no doubt observed by the Government; and it
was not wonderful that, under these circumstances, Metternich and
Kolowrat should have been able to persuade themselves that they could
still play with the Viennese, and put them off with promises which need
never be fulfilled. Archduke Louis alone seems to have foreseen the
coming storm, but was unable to persuade his colleagues to make military
preparations to meet it. In the mean time the movement among the
students was assuming more decided proportions; and their demands
related as usual to the great questions of freedom of speech, freedom of
the press, and freedom of teaching; and to these were added the demand
for popular representation, the justifications for which they drew from
Kossuth's speech of March 3d.

But, while Hungary supplied the model of constitutional government, the
hope for a wider national life connected itself more and more with the
idea of a united Germany. Two days after the delivery of Kossuth's
speech an impulse had been given to this latter feeling by the meeting
at Heidelberg of the leading supporters of German unity; and they had
elected a committee of seven to prepare the way for a constituent
assembly at Frankfort. Of these seven, two came from Baden, one from
Wurtemberg, one from Hesse-Darmstadt, one from Prussia, one from
Bavaria, and one from Frankfort. Thus it will be seen that South Germany
still kept the lead in the movement for German unity; and the president
of the committee was that Izstein, of Baden, who had been known to
Germany chiefly by his ill-timed expulsion from Berlin. But, though this
distribution of power augured ill for the relations between the leaders
of the German movement and the King of Prussia, the meeting at
Heidelberg was not prepared to adopt the complete programme of the Baden
leaders, nor to commit itself to that Republican movement which would
probably have repelled the North German Liberals.

The chief leader of the more moderate party in the meeting was Heinrich
von Gagern, the representative of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Gagern was the son of a former minister of the Grand Duke of Nassau, who
had left that State to take service in Austria, and who had acted with
the Archduke John in planning a popular rising in the Tyrol in 1813.
Heinrich had been trained at a military school in Munich. He had
steadily opposed the policy of Metternich, had done his best to induce
the universities to co-operate in a common German movement, and had
tried to secure internal liberties for Hesse-Darmstadt, while he had
urged his countrymen to look for the model of a free constitution rather
to England and Hungary than to France. During the constitutional
movement of 1848 he had become Prime Minister of Hesse-Darmstadt; and he
seems to have had considerable power of winning popular confidence.
Although he was not able to commit the meeting to a definitely
monarchical policy, he had influence enough to counteract the attempts
of Struve and Hecker to carry a proposal for the proclamation of a
republic; and his influence increased during the later phases of the
movement.

It was obvious that, in the state of Viennese feeling, a movement in
favor of German unity, at once so determined and so moderate in its
character, would give new impulse to the hopes for freedom already
excited by Kossuth's speech; and the action of the reformers now became
more vigorous because the students rather than the professors were
guiding the movement. Some of the latter, and particularly Professor
Hye, were beginning to be alarmed, and were attempting to hold their
pupils in check. This roused the distrust and suspicion of the students;
and it was with great difficulty that Professors Hye and Endlicher could
prevail on the younger leaders of the movement to abstain from action
until the professors had laid before the Emperor the desire of the
university for the removal of Metternich. This deputation waited on the
Emperor on March 12th, but it proved of little avail; and when the
professors returned with the answer that the Emperor would consider
their wishes, the students received them with laughter and resolved to
take the matter into their own hands. The next day was to be the opening
of the Assembly of the Estates of Lower Austria; and the students of
Vienna resolved to march from the University to the Landhaus.

In the great hall of the University, now hidden away in an obscure part
of Vienna but still retaining traces of the paintings which then
decorated it, the students gathered in large numbers on March 13th.
Various rumors of a discouraging kind had been circulated; this and that
leading citizen were mentioned as having been arrested; nay, it was even
said that members of the Estates had themselves been seized, and that
the sitting of the Assembly would not be allowed to take place. To these
rumors were added the warnings of the professors.

Fuester, who had recently preached on the duty of devotion to the cause
of the country, now endeavored, by praises of the Emperor, to check the
desire of the students for immediate action; but he was shouted down.

Hye then appealed to them to wait a few days, in hopes of a further
answer from the Emperor. They answered with a shout that they would not
wait an hour; and then they raised the cry of "Landhaus!" Breaking loose
from all further restraint they set out on their march, and as they went
numbers gathered round them. The people of Vienna had already been
appealed to, by a placard on St. Stephen's Church, to free the good
Emperor Ferdinand from his enemies; and the placard further declared
that he who wished for the rise of Austria must wish for the fall of the
present ministers of state.

The appeal produced its effect; and the crowd grew dense as the students
marched into the narrow Herren Gasse. They passed under the archway
which led into the courtyard of the Landhaus; there, in front of the
very building where the Assembly was sitting, they came to a dead halt;
and, with the strange hesitation which sometimes comes over crowds, no
man seemed to know what was next to be done. Suddenly in the pause which
followed, the words "_Meine Herren_" were heard from a corner of the
crowd. It was evident that some one was trying to address them; and the
students nearest to the speaker hoisted him upon their shoulders. Then
the crowd saw a quiet-looking man, with a round, strong head,
short-cropped hair, and a thick beard. Each man eagerly asked his
neighbor who this could be; and, as the speech proceeded, the news went
round that this was Doctor Fischhof, a man who had been very little
known beyond medical circles and hitherto looked upon as quite outside
political movements. Such was the speaker who now uttered what is still
remembered as the "first free word" in Vienna.

He began by dwelling on the importance of the day and on the need of
"encouraging the men who sit there," pointing to the Landhaus, "by our
appeal to them, of strengthening them by our adherence, and leading them
to the desired end by our coöperation in action. He," exclaimed
Fischhof, "who has no courage on such a day as this is only fit for the
nursery." He then proceeded to dwell at some length on the need for
freedom of the press and trial by jury. Then, catching, as it were, the
note of Kossuth's speech of March 3d, he went on to speak of the
greatness which Austria might attain by combining together "the idealist
Germans, the steady, industrious, and persevering Slavs, the knightly
and enthusiastic Magyars, the clever and sharp-sighted Italians."
Finally he called upon them to demand freedom of the press, freedom of
religion, freedom of teaching and learning, a responsible ministry,
representation of the people, arming of the people, and connection with
Germany.

In the mean time the Estates were sitting within. They had gathered in
unusually large numbers, being persuaded by their President that they
were bound to resist the stream of opinion. Representatives as they were
of the privileged classes, they had little sympathy with the movement
that was going on in Vienna. Nor does it appear that there was anyone
among them who was disposed to play the part of a Confalonieri or
Szechenyi, much less of a Mirabeau or a Lafayette. Many of them had
heard rumors of the coming deputation; but Montecuccoli, their
President, refused to begin the proceedings before the regular hour.
While they were still debating this point they heard the rush of the
crowd outside; then the sudden silence, and then Fischhof's voice.
Several members were seized with a panic and desired to adjourn. Again
Montecuccoli refused to yield, and one of their Liberal members urged
them to take courage from the fact of this deputation to make stronger
demands on the Government.

But before the Assembly could decide to act the crowd outside had taken
sterner measures. The speakers who immediately followed Fischhof had
made little impression; then another doctor, named Goldmark, sprang up
and urged the people to break into the Landhaus. So, before the leaders
of the Estates had decided what action to take, the doors were suddenly
burst open, and Fischhof entered at the head of the crowd. He announced
that he had come to encourage the Estates in their deliberations, and to
ask them to sanction the demands embodied in the petition of the people.
Montecuccoli assured the deputation that the Emperor had already
promised to summon the Provincial Assemblies to Vienna, and that, for
their part, the Estates of Lower Austria were in favor of progress.
"But," he added, "they must have room and opportunity to deliberate."
Fischhof assented to this suggestion, and persuaded his followers to
withdraw to the courtyard. But those who had remained behind had been
seized with a fear of treachery, and a cry arose that Fischhof had been
arrested. Thereupon Fischhof showed himself, with Montecuccoli, on the
balcony; and the President promised that the Estates would send a
deputation of their own to the Emperor to express to him the wishes of
the people. He therefore invited the crowd to choose twelve men, to be
present at the deliberations of the Estates during the drawing up of the
petition. While the election of these twelve was still going on, a
Hungarian student appeared with the German translation of Kossuth's
speech. The Hungarian's voice being too weak to make itself heard, he
handed the speech to a Tyrolese student, who read it to the crowd. The
allusion to the need of a constitution was received with loud applause,
and so also was the expression of the hopes for good from the Archduke
Francis Joseph.

But however much the reading of the speech had encouraged the hopes of
the crowd, it had also given time for the Estates to decide on a course
without waiting for the twelve representatives of the people; and,
before the crowd had heard the end of Kossuth's speech the reading was
interrupted by a message from the Estates announcing the contents of
their proposed petition. The petition had shrunk to the meagre demand
that a report on the condition of the state bank should be laid before
the Estates, and that a committee should be chosen from Provincial
Assemblies to consider timely reforms and to take a share in
legislation.

The feeble character of the proposed compromise roused a storm of scorn
and rage; and a Moravian student tore the message of the Estates into
pieces. The conclusion of Kossuth's speech roused the people to still
further excitement; and, with cries for a free constitution, for union
with Germany, and against alliance with Russia, the crowd once more
broke into the Assembly.

One of the leading students then demanded of Montecuccoli whether this
was the whole of the petition they intended to send to the Emperor.
Montecuccoli answered that the Estates had been so disturbed in their
deliberations that they had not been able to come to a final decision.
But he declared that they desired to lay before the Emperor all the
wishes of the people.

Again the leaders of the crowd repeated, in slightly altered form, the
demands originally formulated by Fischhof. At last, after considerable
discussion, Montecuccoli was preparing to start for the Castle at the
head of the Estates when a regiment of soldiers arrived, but they were
unable to make their way through the crowd, and were even pressed back
out of the Herren Gasse.

The desire now arose for better protection for the people; and a
deputation tried to persuade the burgomaster of Vienna to call out the
City Guard. Czapka, the burgomaster, was, however, a mere tool of the
Government; and he declared that the Archduke Albert, as
Commander-in-Chief of the Army, had alone the power of calling out the
guard. The Archduke Albert was, perhaps next to Louis, the most
unpopular of the royal house. He indignantly refused to listen to any
demands of the people, and, hastening to the spot, rallied the soldiers
and led them to the open space at the corner of the Herren Gasse, which
is known as the "Freyung." The inner circle of Vienna was at this time
surrounded with walls, outside of which were the large suburbs in which
chiefly workmen lived.

The students seem already to have gained some sympathy with the workmen;
and for the previous two years the discontent caused by the sufferings
of the poorer classes had been taking a more directly political turn.
Several of the workmen had pressed in with the students in the morning
into the inner town, and some big men, with rough darned coats and dirty
caps over their ears, were seen clenching their fists for the fight. The
news quickly spread to the suburbs that the soldiers were about to
attack the people. Seizing long poles and any iron tools which came to