XXVII. 1832. CHAP. that Germany could avoid being drawn into the quarrel, for the King of the Netherlands had appealed, as Grandduke of Luxembourg, to the Diet of Frankfort to protect him in his rights to that duchy, which formed part of the Confederacy. In truth, Europe then stood on the verge of a general war, and nothing but the dread of the united power of France and England, and the financial embarrassment which had been bequeathed to all nations by the unparalleled exertions of the last conflict, prevented it from breaking out. But though these causes averted hostilities even at the eleventh hour, when every hostile preparation had been made, they did not avert the consequences of the crisis to the cause of constitutional freedom in Germany; and those consequences were great and lasting. 48. measures of against the Press. Not content with taking the most stringent measures Stringent against the liberty of the press in her own territories, the Diet Austria took advantage of the general consternation to propose, and had influence enough in the Diet to carry, various measures which in a manner extinguished freedom of thought and expression throughout the Confederacy. The fermentation of men's minds, especially in the lesser states, where representative assemblies were established and a certain degree of liberty of the press existed, was such that it was evident that, if it went on, a civil war or breaking up of the Confederacy would inevitably ensue. In this crisis the measures of the Diet, under the guidance of Metternich, were vigorous and decisive. Not content with simply demanding, as it had done in the preceding year, the execution by the separate sovereigns of the decree against the licentiousness of the press and popular assemblages, it went a step farther, and, by a March 2, resolution on March 2, suppressed of its own authority three leading journals on the liberal side,-viz. the German Tribune and Messenger of the West, which were published in Rhenish Bavaria, and the Wings of Time at Frankfort. This decree was accompanied by another, 1832. which interdicted the editors of and writers in them from CHAP. XXVII. engaging in any similar undertaking. This was shortly 1832. June 28, 1832. after followed by decrees of the Diet on the 28th June and 5th July, which in a manner extinguished the con- July 5, stitutional liberties of Germany. By them it was declared -1. The states of the Confederacy are not bound to sanction the decrees of the chambers in particular states, except in so far as they are in harmony with the principles of the Confederacy. 2. Any refusal by the chambers to raise or sanction taxes in a particular state is to be held as an act of rebellion, which the Confederacy is bound to suppress by force. 3. The internal legislation of particular states is not to be permitted to run counter to the general objects of the Confederacy, or thwart the execution. of the decrees of the Diet. 4. A commission shall be nominated by the Diet to last for six years, with power to watch over the proceedings of the chambers and enforce de la 226 obedience to this resolution.* The confederated govern- la Diète, ments engage to adopt and support measures calculated June 28, to prevent any attack upon the Confederacy in the assem- Hist. xv. bly of its estates. 6. The Diet alone has the right to Hist.) interpret the Federal Act and the Final Act of Vienna.1 1 Protocole Séance de 1832; Ann. 165. (Doc. July 5 of the By another resolution, passed on July 5, the intro- 49. duction was prohibited, in all the states of the Confe- Decree of deracy, of every foreign periodical publication, containing Diet. less than twenty pages, printed in German in any foreign country; all political associations were interdicted, as well as popular fêtes not consecrated by usage, without the consent of the constituted authorities; all political speeches at such meetings, though authorised, were absolutely prohibited, as were the bearing of any colours not belonging to the nation of the person wearing them, and all planting of trees of liberty; a great many minute and rigorous enactments were decreed regarding the professors This commission was composed of M. de Munch, minister of Austria, de Naglos of Prussia, de Manteuffel of Saxony, of de Trott of Würtemberg, and Pechlin of Denmark for Holstein.-Ann. Hist., xv. 339, note. XXVII. 1832. July 19, 1832. 1 Protocole CHAP. and students of universities from whom so much danger was apprehended; finally, every government of the Confederacy engaged to exercise the most rigorous surveillance over its own subjects and strangers within its bounds, and engaged mutually to give up political offenders who might take refuge within their bounds from the neighbouring states. By another resolution of the Diet, on the 19th July, two journals in the grand-duchy of (Doc. Hist.) Baden were suppressed, and with them expired the last remnants of the liberty of the press in Germany.1 de la Séance du 5, et 19 Juil let, 1832; Ann. Hist. xv. 176. 50. sensation these de crees over Europe. These decisive resolutions of the German Diet created Immense an immense sensation in western Europe, and gave rise produced by to the most acrimonious debates and vehement condemnation both in the liberal journals and the legislative assemblies of France and England. "These decrees," it was said in both, "consummate the labours of the congresses of Laybach, of Troppau, and of Carlsbad strip the Germans of all the guarantees of liberty provided for them in the organic act of the Confederacy, violate the constitutions established by common accord between governments and the people, and sap the foundation of representative governments, by placing the national assemblies under a special and foreign surveillance, and denying them the right to refuse to vote taxes or of controlling their expenditure." Multitudes of petitions were presented from the free towns and liberal constituencies in the lesser states of Germany against these decrees, but in vain. They remained the standing law of the Confederacy, and being supported by 300,000 armed men, resistance to them was out of the question. The impassioned declamations on the subject in the English parliament and French chambers only confirmed the cabinets of Vienna and Berlin in their resolu3 Ann. Hist. tion to persevere in the measures of repression which 341; Ann. they had adopted, for they regarded them as the two 375, 378. great revolutionary powers;2 and from the violence of their language against these decrees, they took the mea xv. 340, Reg., 1832, XXVII. sure of the opinion they entertained of the effect they CHAP. 1832. 51. Frankfort, cupation by April 3, These decrees were followed soon after by another measure, which indicated still more decisively the deter- Riot in mination of the military powers of Germany to put down and its octhe revolutionary attempts which originated in its lesser the Ausstates and free cities. On April 3, 1833, when the trians. minds of the liberal party were violently agitated by 1833. the sudden dissolution of the chambers in Hesse-Cassel and Würtemberg, which had just taken place, a riot of a very serious kind broke out in Frankfort-on-theMaine, which soon assumed the character of an insurrection. There could be nothing very formidable in such a movement in a little republic not containing above 80,000 inhabitants; but it assumed a very different aspect when it was recollected that it was the seat of the meetings of the Diet, and entertained relations with the disaffected in all parts of Germany. The tumult was put down by the unaided forces of the magistrates, though not without difficulty, for the insurgents fought with great courage and desperation, and many lives were lost on both sides. It appeared, however, from the examination of the prisoners taken, that the conspiracy had extensive ramifications in other parts of the Confederacy, especially "What have we to do with Austria, that old, musty, worm-eaten hollow trunk? It will be dashed to the ground by the worms of time, and in the storm will crush all those who sought shelter beneath its boughs. What advantage can absolute Prussia offer to constitutional Bavaria, that treacherous cane which pierces through the hand that thinks by leaning on it to find support? How can Prussia protect the rights of Bavaria, that red-hot Moloch, to which, with treacherous madness, a father must offer up his own child? What protection would be to us that iron colossus with feet of clay? Oh king! thy people adjures thee aloud, close not the unhappy alliance with these absolute powers-drive the tempter back; trifle not with the affections of the Bavarians; quit not thy people in the hour of trial and of danger, that thou mayest not, when too late, have to repent thee of having thrust them off; that when hereafter thou shalt feel the bitterness of being the vassal slave of foreigners, thy people may not turn away from thee when thou shalt crave their aid, and say, Seek help from whom thou hast more confided in than in thy Bavarian people."-Address of Rhenish Bavaria, July 18, 1832; Ann. Reg. 1832, 378. VOL. V. D 1833. CHAP. among the students in the universities; and, during the XXVII. fight, a body of strangers, armed, approached the gates, and endeavoured to force an entrance. Their object was to get possession of the federal treasure, of the archives of the Diet, and then, as from the seat of power, to proclaim a republic, one and indivisible, embracing all Germany. The Diet, which was sitting at the time, deeming the stroke levelled at the Confederacy itself, invoked the aid of its military force, which was promptly accorded. Next day a battalion from the garrison of Mayence entered the town, and they were followed on the next day by two thousand more, who permanently occupied the city. At the same time, a commission was appointed to examine into the revolt, and its ramifications in other parts of Germany, composed of deputies chosen by Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Würtemberg, and Hesse, and they com xvi. 381, 1 Ann. Hist. menced their labours; but the inquiry soon became so extensive that no report was obtained till the following year.1 383. 52. sovereigns gratz. Sept. 9, 1833. So great was the alarm excited by this insurrection at the Congress of seat of the federal government, that it led, in a subsequent at München- part of the same year, to a congress of sovereigns. The King of Prussia met the Emperor of Austria on August 14 at Theresienstadt, in Bohemia, and the Emperor of Russia in the following month joined them at Münchengratz, in the same province. At this conference it was agreed to assemble a congress in the succeeding year, to take into consideration the state of the Germanic Confederacy, and the difficulties which seemed to render incompatible, for any length of time, the existence of representative constitutions in any of the states with monarchical institutions in the others. In the mean time, the sovereigns agreed to a treaty, signed on January 4, by which, "in considexvi. 385, ration of the interest which they all had in the preserJan. 4,1834; vation of the existing order and tranquillity in the Polish (Doc. Hist.) provinces,2 they agreed mutually to deliver up persons Jan. 4, 1834. 2 Ann. Hist. 387; treaty, Ibid., 145. accused of sedition or treasonable practices in any of them |