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
After more to the same effect, and after dwelling at some length on
the need of publicity in national affairs, the petitioners formulate
their demands in eleven points. The first and second of these
are concerned with the equalization of the races and with the
Constitutional development hinted at in the previous petition; but
they also include a proposal for the restoration of the union between
Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, to be effected by an annual meeting in
common of the Estates of the three provinces. The third is concerned
with communal freedom and the condition of the peasantry. The fourth,
fifth, sixth, and seventh relate to those ordinary securities for
civil and religious freedom which were being demanded at this time by
all the nations of Europe. The eighth clause of the petition demands
"the appointment to offices of men who know completely and equally
both the languages of the country." The ninth is concerned with
the popularization of the military service. The tenth with the
redistribution of taxation, especially the abolition of taxes
on articles of consumption; while the eleventh deals with the
equalization of education between German and Bohemian, and the freedom
of teaching at the universities.
The gathering at this first meeting was rather small; but the news of
the movement rapidly spread. On the 12th a meeting of the Town
Councillors was held in the Rath Haus; and, on the 15th, the students
met to draw up a petition of their own. They had soon caught the
excitement of the time; and had been stirred up by a German-Bohemian
named Uffo Horn to take separate action. Guided and restrained by
Gabler, they consented to help in preserving order, and embodied their
petition in eight clauses. In these they not only demanded the
ordinary liberties of teaching for which other universities were
contending, but also pleaded for the right to full instruction both in
Bohemian and German; for the power to visit foreign universities; for
the development of physical education, and for the right to form
unions among the students, after the fashion of those recently
sanctioned by a statute of the Munich University. It is worth noting
that they also demanded that the test of fitness for State service
should be made severer.
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