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
The revolutionary enthusiasm of the students was further whetted by
the events which were taking place in Galicia. That unfortunate
province had been so hampered by the effects of the abortive movement
of 1846, that it had not been able to join in the March insurrection
of the rest of Southern Europe. But by the beginning of April even the
Galicians had taken heart; and they sent a deputation to the Emperor
asking for a State recognition of the Polish language, a separate army
for Galicia, and the concession of the different liberties which were
then being demanded throughout the Empire. Even the Preparatory
Parliament of Frankfort had passed a resolution in favour of the
reconstitution of Poland; and the students of Vienna were prepared to
be far more generous in their recognition of Galicia's claim to a
share in Polish independence, than the Frankfort Parliament had been
in its attitude towards Posen. So alarming did the movement appear to
the Austrian Governor of Galicia, that he forbade any emigrants to
return to his province unless they could prove that they had been born
there. The Galicians rose in indignation, and imprisoned the Governor;
but he was set free, and, after a sharp struggle, the insurrection
was suppressed.
But, if their Polish sympathies tended to rouse the revolutionary
fervour of the Viennese students, their anger, on the other hand, was
kindled by the growing tendency of the rich merchants to abandon the
position which they had taken up in March, to accept the April
Constitution, and to fall into more peaceable methods of action. Even
the Reading and Debating Club, which had been the first centre of the
Liberal movement, was now the object of hostile demonstrations on the
part of the students. The Students' Committee had been strengthened by
the adhesion of many of the National Guard, and had received the name
of the Central Committee; Hoyos, the commander of the National Guard,
was alarmed at this sign of revolutionary feeling, and forbade his
subordinates to take part in any political movement. The Central
Committee entreated him to withdraw this prohibition, to which Hoyos
answered that he would withdraw his prohibition if the Central
Committee would dissolve itself. The Committee met to consider this
proposal; but, while they were still sitting, a report arrived that
the soldiers and the National Guard had been called out to put them
down by force. The truth appeared to be, that the soldiers had been
called out to suppress a supposed attack by the workmen; but that,
finding that no such attack was intended, the military leaders seemed
disposed to turn their hostility against the University. Thereupon the
students at once rose and marched to the Castle. It seems that their
exact object was at first uncertain; but on someone demanding of them
their intentions, Dr. Giskra, one of their leaders, answered with, a
shout, "Wir wollen eine Kammer" (we want a single Chamber.) The cry
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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