The Revolutionary Movement of 1848-9 in Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany: With Some Examination of the Previous Thirty-three YearsMaurice, C. Edmund (Charles Edmund)
History
The Revolutionary Movement of 1848-9 in Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany: With Some Examination of the Previous Thirty-three Years
Maurice, C. Edmund (Charles Edmund)
Europe -- History -- 1848-1849; Revolutions -- Europe
While Baden was striking the keynote of German unity, the other small
States of Germany were preparing to take it up. In Würtemberg the
Ministers had grown, in latter days, somewhat tyrannical; and, when
the citizens gathered in Stuttgart to demand freedom of the Press and
a German Parliament, the President of the Council advised the King to
summon troops to his aid. But the King was more Liberal than his
Ministers; he consented to call to office a Liberal Ministry; and the
Chamber which was now formed speedily decreed the abolition of feudal
dues. In Bavaria the power exercised by Lola Montez over the King had
long been distasteful to the sterner reformers. She had attempted,
indeed, to pay court to the Liberals; but she had given such offence
to some of the students of Munich as to provoke a riot which led to
the closing of the University. The nobles and Jesuits would now have
gladly sacrificed the King's favourite to the people; but the Baden
rising had fired the Bavarian Liberals with a desire for much greater
reforms. Their hatred of the Jesuits quickened their zeal; for that
body was supposed to divide with Lola Montez the conscience of the
King. Animated by these various causes of indignation, the Bavarian
Liberals were ready enough for action; and on the news of the Baden
movement they broke into the arsenal at Munich, provided themselves
with arms, and demanded a German Parliament. The King consented to
summon, at any rate, a Bavarian Parliament for the present; but,
unable to fall in readily with the popular movement, and resenting the
opposition to his favourite, he abdicated a few weeks later in favour
of his son. The spark, once lighted in the South, spread among the
smaller States of Germany. In Hesse Cassel the Elector tried to offer
some opposition; but the citizens of Hanau marched upon Cassel and
compelled the Elector to yield. In Hesse Darmstadt the Grand Duke
yielded more readily, under the influence of his Minister, Heinrich
von Gagern. In Nassau the movement received additional interest from
the seizure by the victorious people of the Johannisberg, which
belonged to Metternich.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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