Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/638

 482 General History of Europe form and who had become the leader of those who fought all tendencies toward democracy and constitutional government. 853. Liberal Thought in Germany suppressed. The attacks upon the freedom of the press, and especially the interference with the liberty of teaching in the universities, which were already beginning to pride themselves on their scholarship and science, scandalized such progressive spirits as Germany possessed. Yet no successful protest was raised, and Germany as a whole ac- quiesced for a generation in Metternich's system of discouraging reform of all kinds. 854. The Southern German States receive Constitutions ( 1818-1820). Nevertheless, important progress was made in south- ern Germany. As early as 1818 the king of Bavaria granted his people a constitution, in which he stated their rights and admitted them to a share in the government by establishing a parliament. His example was followed within two years by the rulers of Baden, Wurtemberg, and Hesse. IV. REVOLUTIONARY TENDENCIES IN ITALY AND SPAIN, 1820-1821; LATIN-AMERICA 855. Italy "a Geographical Expression" in 1820. Italy was at this time what Metternich called only "a geographical expres- sion" ; it had no political unity whatever. Lombardy and Venetia, in the northern part, were in the hands of Austria, and Parma, Modena, and Tuscany belonged to members of the Austrian family. In the south the considerable kingdom of the Two Sicilies was ruled over by a branch of the Spanish Bourbons, while the Papal States cut through the center of the peninsula northward to the Po. There seemed to be no hope of making Italy into a united nation. 856. Revolutionary Movements in Italy (i82o-i82i). The downfall of Napoleon left Italy seemingly in a worse state than that in which he had found it. The hold of Austria was strength- ened by her acquisition of Venice. The petty despots of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany, reseated on their thrones by the Congress