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 148 AUSTRIA ment, the real cause being probably the assur- ance given by Russia that in any case she would adhere to those of the four points which involved the special interests of Austria. The emperor of the French, who formerly had been anxious to secure the friendship of Austria on any terms, began to look toward Russia, and eagerly seized the first opportunity of concluding peace (1856). During the war the work of central- ization had been carried on by the Austrian government with apparent success. By the con- cordat with the holy see (1855) Austria gave back to the Roman Catholic clergy all the priv- ileges and influence which had been wrested from them since the time of Joseph II. By stimulating public enterprise and promoting the material interests of all classes of the popu- lation, the government was earnestly endeavor- ing to make the people forget the events of 1848 and 1849. The military rule was somewhat re- laxed, and a general amnesty was proclaimed for political offences. The progress of internal reforms was soon again interrupted by foreign complications. At the beginning of 1859 the Austrian statesmen learned from some omi- nous words addressed on new year's day by the French emperor to Baron Hubner that Oavour had succeeded in gaining over Louis Napoleon to the designs of Victor Emanuel, and that they must be prepared for a war not only against Sar- dinia but against France. In this new complica- tion the sympathies of Prussia and the other German states were strongly enlisted in favor of Austria, and even England and Russia showed a readiness to shield her from the impend- ing danger. The diplomatic efforts of the neu- tral powers were, however, thwarted by an ultimatum which Austria hastened to address to Sardinia. This ultimatum not being ac- cepted, Austria declared war, and appointed one of her most incompetent generals, Count Gyulay, commander-in-chief. The hope of the Austrians that they could overpower the Sar- dinian army before the French could come to its aid was not fulfilled. The Sardinian terri- ritory, which Count Gyulay had invaded on April 29, had soon to be evacuated. The vic- tory of the united French and Sardinian ar- mies at Magenta, June 4, compelled the Aus- trians to abandon also Lombardy and to retire upon their famous quadrilateral, Mantua, Ve- rona, Peschiera, and Legnago. After a second defeat at Solferino, June 24, the Austrians deemed it best to make peace with Louis Na- poleon. An offer of Prussia to take up arms as an ally of Austria, in defence of the treaties of 1815, was regarded as unacceptable because Prussia insisted on having in this case the chief command of all the non- Austrian German con- tingents. Austria consented in the preliminary peace of Villafranca (July 11), and in the de- finitive peace of Zurich (Nov. 10), to the cession of Lombardy. Napoleon, to whom the cession was made, transferred it in the peace of Zurich to Sardinia. The promises made by Sardinia that the dethroned dynasties of Tuscany, Mo- dena, and Parma should be restored, and that the Italian states should form a confederation into which Austria should be admitted on ac- count of Venetia, were never fulfilled. The disastrous issue of the war was followed by new convulsions in the interior. Public opin- ion seemed generally to be agreed that the empire was in an untenable condition, and that sweeping reforms were needed. The min- isters of foreign affairs and of the interior, Count Buol-Schauenstein and Bach, who were regarded as the chief representatives of the ruling policy, had to resign, but no other changes of importance were made. The finan- cial troubles again made themselves felt, and a new loan of 200,000,000 fl., which was to be raised by a national subscription, proved a com- plete failure. A first attempt to reorganize the administration of the empire was made by the imperial patent of March 5, 1860, which gave to the Reichsrath a limited right of coop- eration in the legislation and in the control of the finances. When the Reichsrath, the number of whose members had been increased, met in June, its majority agreed with the new minister of the interior, Count Goluchowski, in advising the abandonment of the centralizing and the adoption of a federalistic policy. The emperor fulfilled this wish by the publication of the im- perial diploma of Oct. 20, 1860 (the October- Hiplom), which conferred upon the diets of the several crown lands the right of legislation on all affairs save those expressly reserved for the Reichsrath. The latter class embraced only the finances of the empire, and the foreign, war, and commercial affairs. The Reichsrath was in future to consist of 100 members elected by the provincial diets, and of the members appointed by the emperor. The novel consti- tution which Austria was to receive by this diploma failed to be acceptable to any party. To the Poles of Galicia and the Czechs of Bo- hemia, who demanded complete autonomy, it did not go far enough in the direction of fed- eralism. Hungary insisted on the unconditional restoration of its constitution. The German liberals demanded, on the one hand, a more popular composition of the Reichsrath, and on the other, a greater centralization, as the ex- cessive rights conferred upon the crown lands must in the natural course of development lead to a dissolution of the empire. Their argu- ments made an impression upon the court ; Count Goluchowski was dismissed in Decem- ber, 1860, and succeeded by Schmerling, who in 1848, as minister of the German empire during the regency of the archduke John, had acquired the reputation of an able and liberal statesman. The imperial patent of Feb. 26, 1861 (the Februar-Fatent), which soon follow- ed the appointment of Schmerling, resumed the work of welding all the discordant provinces of the polyglot empire into a strongly consolidated, truly constitutional monarchy. The Reichsrath, which received all the usual rights of parlia- ments, was to consist of a Herrenhaus or house