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
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 1, 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 Leipzig; and so, on March 11, when the men of Leipzig 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 Leipzig 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 Leipzig were equally firm. Carlowitz abandoned
his attempt as hopeless; and on March 13 the King summoned a Liberal
Ministry, who abolished the censorship of the Press, 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 meantime 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 executions of reforms till a more favourable turn in
affairs should render them either harmless or unnecessary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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