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
In Venice, too, the same kinds of demonstrations of popular feeling
took place during January and February which had shown themselves in
Milan. Whenever German music was performed in public all the Italians
left the place. Men went about in black gloves; women refused to
appear in gala costume at public ceremonies; and even those who went
to the theatre attended there not so much for the sake of the
performance as to applaud passages about a betrayed country, or to get
up cheers for the Neapolitan Constitution.
Such was the state of feeling when, on March 16, a boat arrived from
Trieste, bringing news from Vienna. The chief informant brought
with him the fragments of a portrait of Metternich which had been
torn to pieces as a symbol of his fall. Then the Venetians rose and
demanded the release of Manin and Tommaseo. The Governor referred the
petitioners to the criminal court; but the crowd resolved to take
matters into their own hands, and broke into the prison to rescue the
two leaders. Manin, however, refused to leave the prison until the
president of the tribunal had signed the order for his release. The
president readily complied with this request; and Manin and Tommaseo
were carried home on the shoulders of the people. The Venetians then
proceeded to attack the fortress; the Croat soldiers rushed out to
repel them, and succeeded in driving them back. But the next day there
was a new gathering in the streets. Palffy, the Military Governor of
Venice, appealed to Manin to preserve order; but Manin replied that he
could only do so if a civic guard were granted, and if the soldiers
were recalled to their barracks. The head of the police remonstrated
against the proposal for the Civic Guard, and asked that it should, at
any rate, be placed under his authority. Thereupon Manin seized his gun
and said that if the police interfered with the Civic Guard he would
himself head a revolt. Palffy was a Hungarian, and so was Zichy, the
Civil Governor of Venice; and neither of them were disposed to push
matters to extremities. Although, therefore, Palffy was at first
inclined to make difficulties, and to appeal to the Governor of
Lombardy for orders, he yielded at last, and the municipal authorities
began to organize the Civic Guard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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