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
But while these writers were trying to formulate, in a literary
manner, the programme of the Constitutional Liberals, the more fiery
members of that party were anxious to show that they too could do
something in the way of a political movement of a more determined
kind; and it was in the Papal States, again, as the centre of the
worst government of Italy, that this new programme of insurrection was
put forward. A man named Pietro Renzi undertook to formulate the
demands of this section of the party. The petition drawn up by Renzi
went back to the time of Pius VII., to show that hopes of reform had
once been held out, even in the Papal States. It dwelt on the fact
that, from the time of the insurrections of 1821 to the death of Pius
VIII. in 1831, there had been a steady growth of tyranny; that in 1831
the Papal Government would have fallen but for the intervention of
Austria; that, when Gregory XVI. had been restored to his power,
demands had been made for reform in the Papal Government which had
been steadily opposed; that the Pope and Cardinal Albani were now
encouraging robbers and murderers on the ground of the support which
such men gave to the faith. "For eight or ten years past," Renzi
declared, "it had not been the Pope or Rome or the Cardinals who had
been governing the people of the Legations; but a sanguinary faction
of the brutalized populace has been wearing the dress, and performing
the functions of government." Many young men had been driven from the
universities, or shut out from liberal professions, by the influence
of the Jesuits; and the clergy had usurped the control of all
education. The leaders of the new party, therefore, demanded twelve
concessions.--1. A general amnesty for all political offences from
1821 to that time. 2. Publicity of Debate; trial by jury, and
abolition of confiscations and capital punishment for political
offences. 3. That laymen should not be subjected either to the
Inquisition nor any other ecclesiastical tribunal. 4. That political
offences should be tried by the ordinary tribunals. 5. That municipal
councils should be freely elected subject to the approval of the
Sovereign; that these municipal councils should elect the provincial
councils, and the provincial councils the Supreme Council of State. 6.
That the Supreme Council should reside in Rome, superintending the
public funds, and should have a deliberative power in some matters, a
consultative in others. 7. That all offices, civil, military, and
judicial, should be held by laymen. 8. That public instruction, other
than religious, should be taken away from the clergy. 9. That the
censorship of the Press should be only employed in the case of
offences against God, the Catholic Religion, and the Sovereign, and
the private life of citizens. 10. That foreign troops should be
dismissed. 11. That the Civic Guard should be instituted, and
entrusted with the maintenance of the laws and of public order. 12.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account