Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/527

Rh 3chles- .vig-HoI- stein. iiistria ml the iistoms nion. ’olitical eaction. POLITICAL REACTION.] Prussian scheme was in like manner resisted by Austria. Thus, from the sheer inability of the assembled ministers to devise a plan on which all could agree, Prussia and the states that had joined her in the Union were compelled to recognize the Frankfort diet. From the 12th June 1851 its sittings went on as if nothing had occurred since it was dispersed. This wretched ﬁasco was hardly less satisfactory to the majority of Germans than the manner in which the national» claims in Schleswig-Holstei n were maintained. The armistice of Malmoe having expired in March 1849, the war with Denmark was resumed. A considerable army was de- spatched against the Danes by the Frankfort Government, but on the 10th July an armistice was signed at Berlin for six months, and a year afterwards Prussia concluded peace. The inhabitants of the duchies, however, continued the war. During the interview at Olmiitz between Count Manteuffel and Prince Schwarzenberg it was agreed that, like the affairs of Hesse—Cassel, those of Schleswig-Holstein should be submitted to the decision of all German states, but that, in the meantime, Prussia and Austria should act together. By the intervention of Austrian troops peace was restored; and when, early in 1852, the Government of Denmark, in providing a constitution for the whole monarchy, 1 promised to appoint separate ministers for Schleswig and Holstein, and to do equal justice to the German and the Danish populations, the two powers declared themselves satisﬁed, and the Austrian forces were with- drawn. The diet also, after some delay, professed to be content with this arrangement. While it was (liscussing the subject, a conference of the European powers met in London, and settled that Frederick VII. of Denmark should be succeeded by Christian, duke of Gliieksburg, and t‘1at the duchies should be indissolubly united to the Dan- ish monarchy. Austria and Prussia accepted the protocol setting forth these results, but it was not signed by the diet. In all these later events the first place had been taken by Austria. The temporary dissolution of the customs union in 1851 gave her an opportunity of trying to extend her inﬂuence; she demanded that a union‘ should be formed of which she slionld be the leading nieinber. A congress of all German states, with the exception of Prussia and one or two states which sympathized with her, was held in Vienna; and it was followed by several other congresses favourable to Austrian pretensions. Prussia, however, being here on strong ground, refused to give way; and not only was the customs union restored in accordance with her wishes, but Austria concluded with her in .1853 a treaty of commerce which embodied some important concessions. _ Germany had now fairly entered a period which, although it did not last very long, was, in some respects, as humiliat- ing_ as any in her history. The popular movement, from which great things had been ho'pe:l, had on some occasions almost touched its goal ; and, as might have been expected, a reaction set in, which the princes knew how to turn to the fullest advaiit:ige. The Austrian Government, after the subjection of Hungary, withdrew every concession it liad made under pressure, and establislied a thorough des- potism, trainpling upon the rights of the individual nation- alities, and forcing all its subjects into a common political mould. In I’r'.issia the parliament, summoned by the king on the 5th December 1848, met early in the following year. Although the deiiioci'ats had declined to vote, it was not conservative enough for the court, and not till the 31st January 1850 was an understanding arrived at respecting the constitution. The system thus established was repeatedly revised, and always ‘ itli the same object—— to reduce to a niininium the power of the national repre- sentatives, and to exalt and extend that of the Govei'iiinent. GERMANY At the same time the ministry persecuted the press, and 1849-55 509 allowed hardly a whisper of discontent to pass unpunished. The smaller states followed with alacrity in the steps of the two leading powers. The liberal ministries of 1848 were dismissed, the constitutions were changed or abolished, and new chambers we-re elected under a severely restricted suffrage. Had the battle been fairly fought out between the Governments and the people, the latter would still have triumphed ; but the former had now, in the Frankfort diet, a mightier instrument than ever against freedom. What it could do was seen too clearly from the case of Hesse- Cassel. After the settlement of Olmiitz, federal troops occupied that country, and federal execution was carried out with shameful harshness. Martial law was everywhere proclaimed; officers, and all classes of officials who had incurred the displeasure of the Government, were subjected to arbitrary penalties; and such was the misery of the people that multitudes of them were compelled to emigrate. The constitution having been destroyed by the bund, the elector proclaimed one of his own making; but even the chamber elected under the provisions of this despotic scheme could not tolerate his hateful tyranny, and there were incessant disputes between it and the Government. The bund interfered in a like spirit in Hanover, although with less disastrous results, after the accession of George V. in 1851. For the whole of Germany this was emphati- cally the period of petty despotism; and not only from Hesse but from all parts of the country there was a vast stream of emigration, mainly to the New Vorld. The outbreak of the Crimean war profoundly moved the Ci-imean German nation. The sympathies of Austria were necessarily will‘- with the Western powers, and in Prussia the majority of the people took the same side ; but the Prussian Govern- ment, which was at this time completely under the control of Russia, gave its moral support to the czar. It did, indeed, assent to a treaty—afterwards signed on behalf of the bund——b_v which Prussia and Austria guaranteed each other, but it resolutely opposed the mobilization of the confederate army. The Prussian people were keenly irritated by the cordial relations between their court and the most despotic power in Europe. They felt that they were thus most unjustly separated from the main stream of Vestern progress. During the Crimean war the political reaction continued with unabated force. In Prussia the Government appeared resolved to make up for its temporary submission to the popular will by the utmost violence on which it could ven- ture. A general election took place in the autumn of 1855, and so harshly was the expression of opinion restrained that a chamber was returned with scarcely a single liberal ele- ient of serious importance. The feudalists called for a. still further revision of the constitution, and urged that even the reforms effected by Stein should be undone. In Bavaria a chamber elected about the same time as that of Prussia was rather less docile; but the Government shared to the full the absolutist tendencies of the day, and ener- getically coinbated the party which stood up for law and the constitution. The Hanoverian government, backed by the Frankfort diet, was still more successful in its warfare with the moderate reformers whom it was pleased to treat as revolutionists; and in Austria the feiidalists so coiii— pletely gained the upper hand that on the 18th August 18-35 the Government signed a concordat, by which the state virtually submitted itself to the control of the church. The German people seemed to have lost both the power and the will to assert their rights ; but in reality they were deeply dissatisﬁed. And it was clear to impartial observers that, in the event of any great strain upon the power of the Goveriiineiits, the absolutist system would break down. The ﬁrst symptom that the reaction had attained its