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
Dr. Löhner'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
chiefly directed 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 only asked a consultative power. Perhaps the three
demands in this petition which would have excited the widest sympathy
were those in favour 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 performed. 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 meantime 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 now added the
demand for popular representation, the justifications for which they
drew from Kossuth's speech of March 3.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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