Lola Montez : $b An adventuress of the 'fortiesD'Auvergne, Edmund B. (Edmund Basil)
History
Lola Montez : $b An adventuress of the 'forties
D'Auvergne, Edmund B. (Edmund Basil)
Montez, Lola, 1818-1861
Louis was not a Liberal of the Manchester School. His sympathy with
freedom and progress was genuine, and he loyally observed the provisions
of a not very democratic constitution. But there can be no doubt that he
believed rather in government for the people than by the people. In the
particular instance he was abundantly justified, for in general
enlightenment he was several centuries ahead of his subjects. Five years
after his succession to the throne, his good resolutions were rudely
shattered by the Revolution of July. Why that event should have arrested
him in the path of progress it is not easy to divine, for Charles X. lost
his crown through obstinately opposing, not by stimulating, Liberal
tendencies. In the Revolution the reactionary or Ultramontane party of
Bavaria saw their chance, however, and gained the King's ear. They dwelt
on the natural alliance of throne and altar, and the identity of
liberalism in religion with liberalism in politics. Only in a religious
people, they argued, could a king place his trust. Secure of royal
protection and encouragement, friars, nuns, and ecclesiastics of all kinds
came flocking into Bavaria. Monasteries, convents, and church schools
threatened to become as numerous as they are now in England. Some made
light of this black-robed invasion, and attributed it to the King's
well-known fondness for the mediaeval and the picturesque. But a real
change had come over Louis. Germany was seething with discontent, and
revolution was in the air. The King remembered the fate of his godfather,
and decided to take the side of reaction. The censorship of the Press was
again enforced. Those who were found guilty of _lese-majeste_ were
condemned to make a public apology to the King's portrait or statue--an
almost Gilbertian penalty. Soldiers, Protestants and Catholic, were alike
ordered to kneel when the Host was carried past. Repressive laws were
enacted against the Lutherans and Calvinists, and Germany seemed on the
point of passing once more under the sway of Rome. Louis had lost his
head. A few clod-hoppers brawling over their beer appeared to him an
attempt at revolution. It justified him in closing the university and
calling out the reserves. He established a star-chamber at Landshut, where
anonymous accusations were entertained and every accusation entailed
conviction. The Jesuits were supposed to have inspired this policy. The
rumour was probably true in substance. The children of Loyala are not
allowed to do evil that good may come, or to indulge in verbal
equivocations, as their enemies allege; but it is their aim to bring the
whole world into real and sincere submission to the Roman Church, and to
achieve that end they have certainly not hesitated to sacrifice political
and social ideals dear to all the rest of mankind. The Jesuit is a
Christian produced to his utmost logical extremity. Naturally, the order
is very unpopular with people who like to profess Christianity without any
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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