1848

THE long seething discontent of the lower classes in Italy, fomented by the national aspirations of such radical leaders as Mazzini and Manin, had reached its culmination by this time. The centenary of the expulsion of the Austrians from Genoa had just been celebrated with such enthusiasm throughout central Italy that Austria was forewarned of the storm that was Revolution in Palermo about to burst. Metternich wrote to Apponyi, "The world is very sick. The general condition of Europe is dangerous." Communications passed between the patriots in northern Italy and the opponents of the Bourbon government in Sicily. On January 12, the people of Palermo rose in revolt. The government troops were driven from the city. Palermo was bombarded and fighting continued for a full fortnight. In the end the insurgents were victorious, and a provisional government was established. Other towns in Sicily followed suit. On January 27, revolutionary riots broke out in Naples. Threatened by revolution throughout his dominions, King Ferdinand Neapolitan constitution granted II. of Naples and Sicily, like his grandfather, made haste to proclaim a popular constitution. A Liberal Ministry was called in on January 29. The city of Messina was still in full insurrection when the standard of revolt was raised in northern Italy. In order to deprive the Austrian Government of one of its chief financial supports, the patriotic societies of Italy Anti-Austrian riots at Milan formed a resolution to abstain from the use of tobacco, on which the government had a monopoly. On the following Sunday, Austrian officers, smoking in the streets of Milan, were attacked by the populace. The troops had to be called to arms, and blood was shed on both sides. Similar outbreaks followed in Padua and elsewhere. Radetzky, the Austrian Northern Italy aflame commander-in-chief, proclaimed martial law. On February 15, the people rose in Tuscany, and compelled their grandduke to proclaim a constitution. In March the insurrectionary movement spread from Lombardy to Piedmont. The republic of Venice was proclaimed. The King of Sardinia declared himself in sympathy with the liberation of Venice from Austrian rule. For a while Pope Pio Nono showed similar leanings. On March 15, the Nationalists of Rome Revolt at Rome declared against the Pope. The National Guards joined in the movement. The Papal troops had to be called out to put down the revolt by force of arms. The hordes of Roman lazzaroni or beggars profited by the confusion to commit hideous crimes. The Pope created a high council and Chamber of Deputies with privileges of limited legislation, the Pope retaining his full veto power on whatever they might decree. But on April 29, after the Jesuits had been expelled from Sardinia, Pio Nono turned his back on these reforms, and returned to the conservative policy of his immediate predecessors in Rome bombarded the chair of St. Peter. His definite refusal to declare against Austria provoked another insurrection at Rome. This time the revolt grew to such proportions that the city had to be subjected to bombardment by artillery.

In the meanwhile a revolution of far more serious proportions had broken Spread of the revolution out at Paris. Successful from the start, the contagion of its example had spread from France to most of the various principalities of Germany, to Austria, Bohemia and Hungary, and thence to almost every quarter in Europe. Few other events afford so striking an illustration of the modern cosmopolitan spirit that had arisen in Europe during the first half of the Nineteenth Century. The great revolutions of England, of America and of France, in previous times, affected the rest of humanity only long after their occurrence. The overthrow of Charles X. in 1830 gave rise to more or less abortive revolutions in Belgium, Italy and Poland, as well as some of the smaller German States. But the French February revolution of 1848 Democratic governments spared spread instantly to all the civilized communities of the world, except Switzerland, Great Britain, and the United States of North America. The exemption of these three countries, where alone true democratic forms of government prevailed, was in itself a revelation of the general discontent of European peoples. Other explanations in plenty have been given, every one of which contained its measure of truth. To Polish refugees the upheavals of this year have been in part attributed. The rise of the new national spirit in literature was revealed in Italy and Germany as well as among the Magyars, Slavs and Greeks. The apparently epidemic character of the movement found another explanation in the improved means of transit and communication, and the great development of the public press.

In the countries untouched by revolution internal progress kept pace with the continued spread of civilization. In Switzerland, the expulsion of the Jesuits resulted in the attempted secession of the seven Catholic cantons. Changes in Switzerland This was frustrated by General Dufour's prompt occupation of Freibourg and Luzerne. The so-called Sonderbund of the seceding cantons was dissolved. In place of the former union of sovereign cantons, the Swiss republic was now reconstituted after the model of the United States of North America, as a union of States with a central federal government at Berne. The Swiss army, postal system and finances were put under federal control and a national coinage was established. The separate interest of the cantons found representation in the Stænderat, while the Swiss people at large were represented in the Nationalrath, the members of which were elected from districts apportioned among the cantons according to equal numbers of population.

The people of England, though the stirring events on the Continent were England unaffected brought home to them by so many eminent refugees seeking shelter in their land, held the issues at stake too well settled by their own great revolution of 1649 to find a sufficient incentive for another such movement. The popularity of the young Queen doubtless contributed its share to the stability of the government. The renewed demonstrations of the Chartists in London were merely co-incident with the revolutionary demonstrations abroad. Still the influence of contemporaneous events in Insurrection in Tipperary Europe was strong enough to frighten Parliament into passing an act which made the utterance of seditious speeches a felony. A popular insurrection in Tipperary, Ireland, was made the pretext for once more suspending the habeas corpus act in Ireland. By the end of July the revolt was put down. Its leaders, John Mitchell, O'Brien and others were apprehended and tried in court for high treason. They were sentenced to death, but the Queen mitigated their sentences to transportation. A calming effect on Ireland Queen Victoria in Ireland was produced by the personal visit of the young Queen and her royal consort to Ireland. When she held her court at Dublin in midsummer, the most poignant causes for discontent were lost sight of amid wild demonstrations of apparently universal loyalty. A constitution on home rule principles was proclaimed in West Australia. In South Africa, Sir Harry Smith, the Orange River territory annexed to England Governor of Cape Colony, after his successful termination of a fourth war with the Kaffirs, proclaimed the authority of Great Britain over the Orange River territory. The Boer settlers there under the leadership of Pretorius found themselves unable to maintain their independence. The adjoining lands of the Basutos were declared under British protectorate.

Early in the year, Lord Dalhousie had relieved Lord Hardinge as Governor-General of India. Up to that time the British occupation of the Punjab had continued without material change. Now a new fiscal system was to be introduced there to settle up the arrears of Viceroy Mulraj of Multan. In April, Vance Agnew, a British commissioner, with a military escort of three hundred men, arrived at Multan to occupy the citadel as Massacre of Multan surety for these arrears. The British officers were admitted to the city, but as they emerged from the citadel they were attacked, and all the Englishmen were massacred. Mulraj called upon the Sikhs to rise against the English. A force of seven thousand British troops were sent against Multan. When they reached the city all the native troops turned against them. The Punjab up in arms whole of the Punjab revolted and a holy war was proclaimed against England. Lord Dalhousie rose to the occasion. As he left Bengal to go to the front he delivered a characteristic speech containing the historic declaration: "Unwarned by precedent, uninfluenced by example, the Sikh nation have called for war. On my word, sirs, they shall have it with vengeance!" The Sikhs and Afghans join revolt Sikh garrisons of Peshawar joined in the revolt, which was quickly taken up by the Afghans. George Lawrence, the British Resident there, was carried off as a prisoner. In the fort of Attock, Captain Herbert held out for a while, but in the end was forced to succumb. The first general engagement between Lord Gough and Sagr Singh at Ramluggar, late in the year, resulted in a drawn battle. On both sides reinforcements were hurried up wherewith to wage the coming year's campaign.

From England, during this time, two more expeditions had been sent out in search of Sir John Franklin. The first of these was commanded by Sir James More Arctic expeditions Ross, the famous Antarctic explorer. The second expedition, while discovering no trace of Franklin, claimed that it had discovered the long sought for Northwest Passage. The science of astronomy lost one of its most distinguished representatives in England by the death of Caroline Herschel, the sister of the famous discoverer of Uranus. Besides her the necrology of the year in England included the two authors, Isaac d'Israeli, the father of Lord Beaconsfield, and Captain Frederick Marryat, the romancer of the Death of George Stephenson sea; Lord Alexander Ashburton, the framer of the Canadian boundary treaty that commemorates his name, and George Stephenson, the inventor of the first practicable locomotive. Stephenson began life as a pit-engine boy at twopence a day near Newcastle-on-Tyne. Having risen to the grade of engineman, he was employed in the collieries of Lord Ravensworth improving the wagon way and railway planes under ground. In 1814 he completed a locomotive steam-engine, which was successfully tried on the Killingworth Railway. The locomotive "Rocket," constructed by Stephenson and his son Robert, which won the premium of five hundred pounds in 1829, offered by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, ushered in the greatest mechanical revolution since the invention of the steam-engine by Watt. After this Stephenson became a locomotive builder on a large scale and Stephenson's career acquired enormous wealth. Another invention standing to the credit of Stephenson was one of the earliest safety lamps, but a committee which investigated the subject accorded to Sir Humphry Davy the priority of this invention. During this year Sir Austin Henry Layard published the results of his original researches of Nineveh and its remains. Macaulay printed the first two volumes of his "History of England," while Matthew Arnold brought out his "Strayed Reveller" and other poems. Elizabeth Gaskell published "Mary Barton."

Of the various expeditions undertaken in search of Sir John Franklin, the most noteworthy perhaps was Dr. John Rae's overland journey through the northwestern territory of America from the Mackenzie to the Copper Mine River. This opened up a vast tract of country to adventurous Canadians. Another lasting benefit was conferred upon Upper Canada by the reorganization of the public school system of Ontario.

On the part of the United States the war with Mexico was brought to a Peace with Mexico close. The President of the Mexican Congress assumed provisional authority, and, on February 2, that body at Guadaloupe Hidalgo concluded peace with the United States. With slight amendments the treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10, and by the Mexican Congress at Queratero Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo on the 30th of May. President Polk, on July 4 following, finally proclaimed peace. The Americans under the terms of the treaty evacuated Mexico within three months, paid Mexico $3,000,000 immediately, and $12,000,000 in three annual instalments, and assumed debts of $3,500,000 due from Mexico to American citizens. These payments were made in consideration of new American expansion accessions of territory which gave to the United States not only Texas, but Arizona, New Mexico and California. The war had cost the United States approximately $25,000,000 and 25,000 men.

While these negotiations were under way, Colonel Sutter had begun the erection of a mill at Colonna on the American branch of the Sacramento River. In January one Marshall, who was engaged in digging a race-way for Gold found in California the mill for Colonel Sutter, found a metal which he had not seen before, and, on testing it in the fire, found that it was gold. The "finds" were sent to Sacramento and tested, with the result that they were declared to be pure gold. The mint at Philadelphia also declared the metal to be gold, and the President referred to the fact in his annual message to Congress.

Then the gold seekers poured into California. They arrived in multitudes from all parts of America and other countries—thousands tracking across the plains and mountains with ox-teams and on foot, and other thousands Influx of Gold Seekers crossing the Isthmus with scarcely less difficulty, while around the Horn a steady procession of ships passed up the coast of South America and Mexico to the new El Dorado. In two years the population of California increased 100,000, and still the hordes of gold seekers came.

Wisconsin, the thirtieth State, was admitted May 29. It had been one of the first districts to receive the visits of the fur traders and the French missionaries, who went thither in 1639.

John Quincy Adams was overtaken by death in the midst of his career. On Death of John Quincy Adams February 21 he entered the House and took his seat. Suddenly he fell to the floor, stricken with apoplexy. As he was carried to the Speaker's room and was laid on a lounge, he feebly murmured: "This is the last of earth. I am content." He died on February 23.

John Quincy Adams's long career is unique in American history. At the age of eleven he accompanied his father on a diplomatic mission to Europe, and early acquired a knowledge of French and German. When barely fourteen he went to St. Petersburg as private secretary to the American Minister, Dana. At sixteen Adams served as one of the secretaries of the American His diplomatic career Plenipotentiaries during the negotiations resulting in the treaty of peace and independence of 1783. At the age of twenty-seven he was appointed Minister to Holland by President Washington, and afterward was Minister to Berlin and Commissioner to Sweden. After serving for some years in the United States Senate he was sent, in 1809, as Minister to Russia, where he remained till 1815. Then he was transferred to London, where he resided till 1817, when he became Secretary of State. His career as President of the United States and his subsequent Congressional life was honorable in the extreme. Yet Adams's biographer, Morse, has aptly said: "Never did a Morse on Adams man of pure life and just purposes have fewer friends or more enemies.... If he could ever have gathered even a small personal following, his character and abilities would have insured him a brilliant and prolonged success; but for a man of his calibre and influence, we see him as one of the most lonely and desolate of the great men of history."

During this year James Russell Lowell published his "Bigelow Papers," a James Russell Lowell humorous satire on the Mexican war in Yankee dialect, the "Indian Summer Reverie," and "A Fable for Critics."

On April 8, Gaetano Donizetti—who together with Rossini and Bellini formed Death of Donizetti the brilliant triumvirate of Italian composers in the first half of the Nineteenth Century—died in his native town of Bergamo. Donizetti composed his first opera, "Enrico di Borgogna," in 1819, while serving as a soldier in Venice. Three other operas followed quickly. His fourth, "Zoraide di Granada," was such a success that he was exempted from further military Early operas service in 1822. During the following six years he wrote no less than twenty-three operas, many of which were cheap imitations of Rossini. In 1880, stung by the success of Bellini, he wrote "Anna Bolena," which inaugurated his second more original period, which included "Lucrecia Borgia" and the immensely popular "Lucia di Lammermoor." The prohibition of his opera "Poliecto," while he was serving as a director of the Naples Conservatory, so exasperated Donizetti that he betook himself to Paris in 1838. There he brought out the "Daughter of the Regiment" and "La Favorita." After a few years he went to Vienna, where his "Linda di Chamounix," sung in 1842, achieved an immense success. Having returned to Prolific compositions Italy he was stricken with paralysis from overwork in 1845. He never recovered. Besides more than threescore of operas, Donizetti composed seven masses, twelve string quartets, and a host of songs, cantatas and vespers, as well as pianoforte music.

Another figure of world-wide renown was lost by the death of the French Death of Chateaubriand poet François René de Chateaubriand. Born at château Combourg in 1768, the scion of one of the noblest families of France, he received a careful education at château Combourg. Roaming about on the sea-shore and in the famous forest of Brezilien, the youth received his earliest impressions of the grandeurs of nature. Shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolution he was sent to Paris, where he received a commission in the royal army. It was then he published his first poem, "L'Amour de la New world inspirations Campagne," in the Almanach des Muses. Dissatisfied with the revolutionary turn of affairs, he resigned his commission in 1790, and journeyed to North America. There he travelled extensively, seeking poetic inspiration from the wilderness and the primitive customs of the Indians. After the downfall of King Louis XVI. and the French nobility, Chateaubriand hastily returned to France and joined the army of émigrés under Prince Condé. At the siege of Thionville he was wounded and went to England. By "Essay on Revolutions"the time Chateaubriand recovered he found himself in abject poverty, and had to spend his days in bed for lack of fuel. In England, he wrote his "Essai sur les Révolutions," in which he compared the recent rising in France to that of the English Commonwealth. On the fall of the Directorate he returned to "Atala" France, and became one of the editors of Fontaine's "Mercure de France." At the opening of the Nineteenth Century he published "Atala," an episode of his epic poem "Les Natchez," treating of the suicide of an Indian virgin, "Réné" who sought death rather than violate a solemn vow of chastity given to her mother. In 1802 appeared the second episode, "Réné," a subjective story treating of the hapless love of a sister for her brother, full of a French form of maladie du monde akin to Goethe's Weltschmerz in the "Sorrows "Genius of Christianity" of Werther." During the same year, Chateaubriand brought out his famous "Genius of Christianity, or the Beauties of the Christian Religion," which achieved an immense success. It won the approbation even of Napoleon, who appointed Chateaubriand to diplomatic posts at Rome and Vallis. The execution of the Duc d'Enghien was so horrifying to Chateaubriand that he forthwith resigned his appointments. After extensive travels through "The Last of the Abencerrages" Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land, Chateaubriand went to Spain, where he found inspiration at the Alhambra to write "Le dernier des Abencerrages." There, too, he wrote his story of "The Martyrs, or the Triumph of the Christian Religion," brought out in Paris in 1809. Less successful was his tragedy "Moses." In "The monarchy under the Charter" 1810, Chateaubriand published the famous political pamphlet "La Monarchie selon la Charte," which was made the basis of the subsequent royal constitution of France. On the restoration of the Bourbons he wrote another political pamphlet, directed against Bonaparte, which sent him into exile together with Louis XVIII. during the Hundred Days. On the return of Louis XVIII. he was made a member of State, a peer of France, and member of the French Academy. In 1820 he was sent as ambassador to Berlin and then to London, from where he was recalled into the Cabinet. Crowded The poet's political career out of the Cabinet by Villèle, he became one of the leaders of the opposition. In 1828, he went on another diplomatic mission to Rome. The rest of his life was uneventful. Shortly before his death he brought out his complete works, including his latest "Etudes Historiques." A posthumous work was his "Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe," containing the famous comparison between the characters of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.

In the French Chambers, early in February, a great debate had been held on the Reform Bill. Guizot, the Prime Minister, held firm in his opposition to Paris reform banquet all the proposed reforms. It was now proposed to hold the reform banquet, that had repeatedly been prohibited and postponed, on February 22. The banquet was once more interdicted, and it was announced that any unlawful assemblage would be dispersed by force. Thereupon the banquet was abandoned. The evening papers declared that the deputies of the opposition had agreed to abstain from the proposed manifestation. A manifesto Ministry impeached published by the "Journal National" was the cause of a noisy demonstration in the streets of the 12th Arrondissement. The National Guards were called out. On the same day fifty-two deputies of the Left laid before the Chambers a bill of impeachment against the Ministry. The King and his advisers were in a state of blind security.

On the morning of the eventful 22d of February, the Parisian populace congregated by thousands near the Madeleine and the Rue Royale, shouting Street demonstrations "Vive la réforme; à bas les ministres!" and singing the "Marseillaise." No troops made their appearance; but encounters occurred at several points between the mob and the municipal guards. Still the day passed over without serious hostilities. On the next day, the National Guards of Paris were called out. Their cry, as they marched through the different quarters of the city, was "Vive la réforme!" This emboldened the leaders of the revolutionists. The members of the secret societies flew to arms; and in the skirmishes which followed between the populace and the regular troops, National Guard disaffected the National Guard everywhere interfered in favor of the former. Thus confronted, officers and soldiers hesitated to commit a general assault upon their fellow citizens. They allowed themselves to be reduced to inaction. The insurrection thus triumphed almost without actual strife.

The King at length became acquainted with the true situation. In the afternoon of the 23d, Guizot Fall of Guizot's Ministry tendered his resignation, which was promptly accepted, and published as an act of satisfaction on the part of the King to the demands of the people. Count Molé was charged with the formation of a new Ministry. It was now generally expected that tranquillity would be at once restored. But late at night the detachment of troops posted at the Office of Foreign Affairs was attacked by a band of rioters. The commanding officer ordered them to fire, and several persons in the crowd were shot Barricades erected down. Their dead bodies were paraded through the city. This spectacle raised the indignation of the multitude to the highest pitch. Fresh barricades were erected in all the most populous quarters of the city, and the soldiers, stupefied and panic-struck, renounced all further opposition to the revolt. The King now named Marshal Bugeaud to the supreme command of the whole military force at Paris. Molé having declined the task of constructing a Ministry, the King summoned Thiers to the head of affairs. Thiers' manifesto This statesman, in conjunction with Odillon-Barrot, immediately issued a proclamation announcing their appointment as Ministers, and stating that orders had been given to the troops to withdraw and abandon the contest. This gave the last blow to the monarchy of Louis Philippe. Marshal Bugeaud The last stroke resigned his command. The soldiers quitted their ranks, giving up arms and ammunition to the insurgents. The National Guard openly joined the masses of the people and marched with them upon the Tuileries. The catastrophe was now inevitable. Louis Philippe, feeling that all Louis Philippe succumbs was lost, signed an act of abdication in favor of his grandson the Comte de Paris, and withdrew to St. Cloud.

An attempt was made to obtain the recognition of the Duchess of Orleans as regent, and thus to preserve the throne to the heir of Louis Philippe, according to the terms of his abdication. The Duchess went to the Chamber of Deputies, holding by the hand her sons the Comte de Paris and the Duc de Mob invades the Chamber Chartres. They took their seats in front of the tribune. More than one member spoke earnestly in favor of the regency. In the midst of the debate the Chamber was invaded by a tumultuous throng of armed men. One of them was Arnold Böcklin, the Swiss artist, who subsequently rose to highest rank among the painters of the Nineteenth Century. Marie, a violent Republican, ascending the tribune, announced that the first duty of the Legislature was to appoint a strong provisional government capable of re-establishing public confidence and order. Cremieux, Ledru-Rollin and Lamartine in turn insisted on a new government and constitution to be sanctioned by the sovereign people. The proposition was hailed with tumultuous acclamations. The Duchess of Orleans and her children retired precipitately.

The Republicans remained masters of the field. A provisional government was Provisional Government formed forthwith nominated. It included the poet Lamartine, Ledru-Rollin, Garnier-Pagès and Arago. While the mob was searching the Hôtel de Ville these men conferred in a small out-of-the-way chamber behind locked doors. Louis Blanc, the great socialistic writer, and one Albert, a locksmith, were added to the provisional government. Every half hour Lamartine had to confront some new crowd of rioters preferring fresh claims. The confusion lasted several days. Throughout this time more barricades were thrown up, Fulsome promises until the government gained a breathing space by a promise to distribute one million francs among the laboring men. Louis Blanc and Ledru-Rollin signed another decree whereby they pledged the government to furnish every Frenchman with work. With the help of National Guardsmen, and an organized body of students, Caussidière, the new police prefect, succeeded at last in keeping the mob out of the Hôtel de Ville and the Palais Bourbon. On Proclamation of French Republic February 27, the Republic was formally proclaimed from the Place de la Bastille. The barricades were levelled and the crowds that had surged through the streets of Paris gradually dispersed. Throughout France the Republic was accepted without serious opposition.

For a while it was feared that Louis Philippe's sons in Algiers, the Duke d'Aumale and Prince de Joinville, who commanded the French army and navy, disposing of more than a hundred thousand men, might make a stroke on their father's behalf. This hope of the Royalists was doomed to disappointment. Flight of royal family Both princes resigned their command, to be succeeded by General Cavignac, who took charge of the forces in the name of the French Republic. The other members of the dynasty accomplished their escape from France amid many curious adventures. After leaving Paris the party separated so as to avoid suspicion. Louis Philippe and the Queen with a few attendants fled to Honfleur, where they lay for nearly a week in concealment. At length the packet steamer "Express" was placed at their disposal by the British Government. On March 4, Louis Philippe, having assumed the name of William Smith, landed at Newhaven in Sussex. With the Queen he proceeded to Claremont, a country-seat belonging to his son-in-law, King Leopold of Belgium. The Duke of Montpensier with the Duchess of Nemours fled to Belgium, as did the Duchess of Orleans.

The French Revolution gave quickening impulse to the Chartist movement in English Chartists encouraged England. Feargus O'Connor had been returned at the General Election of 1847 as member for Nottingham. He threw himself into a renewal of the agitation with all the strength and vigor of a madman. A National Convention was summoned, and it was determined that another monster petition should be carried to the House of Commons, to be followed by a procession of half a Inflammatory speeches million persons. The idea got abroad that a revolution might break out in London on the presentation of the petition. Ernest Jones had exclaimed on Kensington Common, "Never fear the vile men of the law; the police, the troops, sympathize with you. Down with the Ministry! Dissolve the Parliament! The Charter, and no surrender!" At the National Convention, Vernon declared: "If a few hundreds do fall on each side, they will only be the casualties in a mighty movement." On April 10 a great demonstration was to be held on Kensington Common. In anticipation, special constables to the number of 170,000 were sworn in to keep the peace; troops were quartered in the houses of the main thoroughfares; two thousand stands of arms were supplied to the officials of the General Post-Office; the Custom House, Bank, Exchange, and other public buildings were similarly equipped; London ready for revolution the Admiralty was garrisoned by a body of marines, and the Tower guns were mounted. On the eventful morning, London assumed a military guise such as it had never worn before. Traffic was suspended along the streets for fear that the vehicles should be employed, as in France, in the construction of barricades. Finally a proclamation was issued warning people against collecting for disorderly purposes. The military arrangements were in the Rioters discouraged hands of the Duke of Wellington. Owing to these thorough precautions the threatened mass meeting collapsed. The procession was never held. The whole affair was covered with ridicule. The "monster petition" was found to contain not six million signatures as was alleged, but only 1,975,469, and many of these proved to be fictitious, whole sheets being found to be in the same handwriting, and containing such names as Victoria Rex, Prince Albert, Punch, and so forth.

In the words of a contemporary, "Chartism had received its death-blow. Collapse of Chartism O'Brien, Vincent, and others endeavored to revive it, but in vain. Its members fell off in disappointment and allied themselves with reformers of greater moderation, and Feargus O'Connor, who for ten years had madly spent his force and energy in carrying forward the movement, gave it up in despair. Everything he had touched had proved a failure. From being an End of Feargus O'Connor object of terror, Chartism had become an object of ridicule. O'Connor took the matter so much to heart that he soon became an inmate of a lunatic asylum, and never recovered his reason."

All Italy now, from the southern shores of Sicily to the Alps, was in a blaze of insurrection. Venice, Piedmont and Lombardy were in arms. Charles Albert, the King of Sardinia, put himself at the head of the movement in Progress of Italian Revolution northern Italy. From all parts of Italy volunteers crowded to his banners. In defiance of the Pope's orders a compact body of these volunteers marched from Rome. Radetzky, the Austrian commander, a veteran of all the Austrian wars since the outbreak of the French Revolution, had long prepared for this struggle by formidable fortifications at Verona. When Milan revolted Austrians driven northward and the Austrian Vice-Governor, O'Donnell, was captured, Radetzky evacuated the city at the approach of Charles Albert's army from Piedmont. His outlying garrison was cut off by the Italians. Preferring the loss of Milan to a possible annihilation of the army, Radetzky fell back upon Verona. On the banks of the Adige, about twenty-five miles east of the Mincio, he rapidly concentrated all available forces, while the Italians threw up intrenchments on the Mincio. There, with the armies of Piedmont and Lombardy in front of him and the revolutionary forces of Venice behind him, Radetzky seeks refuge Radetzky stubbornly held his ground. Nothing remained to Austria on Italian ground but Verona and the neighboring fortresses on the Adige and Mincio.

The Austrian Empire itself, by this time, was shaken to its foundations. When the news of the February Revolution in Paris reached Austria the Magyar Diet was in session in Hungary. The success of the revolutionists in Kossuth's appeal France inflamed the Liberal leaders in Hungary. Casting aside all reserve, Kossuth declared in the Diet: "From the charnel house of the Viennese system a poison-laden atmosphere steals over us. It would paralyze our nerves and pin us down when we might soar. The future of Hungary can never be secured while Austria maintains a system of government in direct antagonism to every constitutional principle. Our task is to found a happier future on the brotherhood of all the races in Austria. For a union Magyar Constitution proclaimed enforced by bayonets and police spies let us substitute the enduring bond of a free constitution!" On March 3, the Hungarian Lower House triumphantly passed a resolution to that effect. The cry for a liberal constitution was instantly taken up in the other dominions of Austria. It so happened that the Provincial Estates of Lower Austria were to meet about this time. It was planned that an address embodying demands similar to those of Hungary should be forwarded to the Emperor by this assembly. The political agitation in Vienna became feverish. The students indulged in noisy demonstrations. Rumors of the impending repudiation of the paper currency Stocks fall in Vienna and of State bankruptcy made matters worse. A sharp decline in stocks showed Metternich that a public catastrophe was near at hand.

On March 13, the Provincial Diet met. Dense crowds surged about the Diet Hall. The students marched around in procession. Street orators harangued the crowds. The tumult was at its height when a slip of paper was let down Viennese Diet stormed from one of the windows of the hall, stating that the Diet was inclining to half measures. An announcement to this effect was received with a roar of fury. The mob overran the guards and burst into the Diet Hall. All debate was stopped, and the leading members of the Estates were forced to head a deputation to the Emperor's palace to exact a hearing. All the approaches to the palace were choked with people. Street fighting had already begun. Detachments of soldiers were hurried to the palace and to the Diet Hall. From the roof and windows of the Diet Hall missiles were hurled upon the soldiery. The interior of the Hall was demolished. The soldiers now fired a Fighting in the street volley and cleared the Hall with their bayonets. Blood flowed freely and many were killed. The sound of the shots was received by the crowds around the palace with howls of rage. The whole city was in an uproar. Barricades were thrown up and the gunsmith shops were sacked. At the palace, where the Emperor himself remained invisible, Metternich and his assembled Council received the deputation in state. The Council urged the aged Prime Minister to grant the demanded concession. At length he withdrew into an Imperial palace invaded adjoining chamber to draft an order annulling the censorship of the press. While he was thus engaged the cry was raised, "Down with Metternich!" The deputies in the Council Chamber peremptorily demanded his dismissal. When the old statesman returned he found himself abandoned even by his colleagues. Downfall of Metternich Metternich realized that the end had come. He made a brief farewell speech, marked by all the dignity and self-possession of his greatest days, and left the Council Chamber to announce his resignation to the Emperor.

The news of Metternich's downfall was received with deafening cheers. His personality was so closely identified with all that was most hateful in Quiet restored Austrian politics that the mere announcement of his resignation sufficed to quell the popular tumult. On the night of March 14, Metternich contrived to escape from Vienna unobserved, and fled across the frontier. On the same day a National Guard was established in Vienna, and was supplied with arms taken from the government arsenal. The Viennese outbreak gave irresistible force to the national movement in Hungary. Now the Chamber of Magnates, which had hitherto opposed the demands of the Lower House, adopted the same by a unanimous vote. On March 15, a deputation was despatched to Vienna to Hungarian demands demand from the Emperor not only a liberal constitution, but a separate Ministry, absolute freedom of the press, trial by jury, equality of religion, and a free public-school system. The Hungarians, with Kossuth in the lead, were received in triumph in Vienna. They paraded through the streets, and were greeted by Emperor Ferdinand in person. He consented to Kossuth in Vienna everything and issued an imperial rescript, promising a liberal constitution to the rest of Austria as well. The light-hearted Viennese indulged in indescribable jubilations. On March 18, the Emperor drove through the city. Somebody put a revolutionary banner into his hands. The black, red and gold ensign of united Germany was hoisted over the tower of Demonstrations of enthusiasm St. Stephen. In an intoxication of joy the people took the horses from the imperial carriage and drew it triumphantly through the streets. The regular troops around the imperial palace were superseded by the new National Guards.

By this time the same storm of revolution was sweeping over Germany. Germany in a ferment Popular demonstrations occurred at Mannheim, Cassel, Breslau, Kœnigsberg and along the Rhine region in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Aix-la-Chapelle. A popular convention at Heidelberg, on March 5, had resolved upon a national assembly to be held at Frankfort-on-the-Main by the end of March. Elections for this assembly were being held throughout Germany. The long-desired union of Germany was at last to be accomplished. On March 14, King Prussian Assembly convoked Frederick William of Prussia convoked the Prussian Assembly for April 27, to deliberate upon Prussia's part in the proposed German union. Then came the news of the events in Vienna. Crowds gathered in the streets excitedly discussing the events of the day. Attempts on the part of the police to disperse them led to threatening encounters. Under the stress of alarming King of Prussia cowed bulletins from Vienna, the King issued a rescript on March 18, in which he not only convoked the Prussian Assembly for the earlier date of April 2, but himself proposed such reforms as constitutional government, liberty of speech, liberty of the press, and the reconstitution of the Germanic Federation as a national union of states—a realization in brief of all the most ardent ideals of the German Liberals. Now the popular agitators proposed a monster demonstration to thank the King for his concessions. Shortly after noon, on March 18, the processions converged upon the palace. Immense crowds filled the streets. The appearance of the King upon the balcony was greeted with cheers. King Frederick William tried to speak but could not make himself heard. The troops set out to clear the palace grounds. Angry shouts arose for the withdrawal of the soldiery. In the Revolt in Berlin confusion two shots were fired. A panic ensued: "We are betrayed," cried the leaders, and called the people to arms. The troops of the garrison charged into the rioters. Barricades were thrown up, and here and there church bells rang the tocsin. From three in the afternoon until early the next morning, fighting continued in the streets. The entire garrison of Prince William's part Berlin was called out and with the help of the bright moonlight succeeded in clearing one street after another. Prince William, the future German Emperor, gained unenviable notoriety by his zeal. At two in the morning the King gave orders to stop firing. He issued a proclamation: "To my dear people of Berlin," the mild tone of which only betrayed his weakness. On the following day all the troops were withdrawn and ordered out of the city. Prince William likewise left Berlin in deep chagrin and departed for England. His palace had to be protected from the fury of the people by placards pronouncing it the property of the nation. Once more the rioters appeared before the royal palace with the bodies of some of their slain. The King convoked a new Ministry and consented to substitute armed citizens and students for his royal guards. A general amnesty was proclaimed. On March 21, the King agreed to adopt "the sacred colors of the German Empire" King of Prussia submissive for those of Prussia. After the manner of the weak Emperor of Austria, he rode through the streets of Berlin wearing a tricolor sash. Not satisfied with this, the revolutionists, on March 22, paraded before the palace with the open biers of 187 men that had been killed during the riots. Standing on his balcony with bared head, King Frederick William reviewed the ghastly procession. In a manifesto published at the close of the day he declared: "Germany is in ferment within and exposed from without to danger from more than one side. Deliverance from this danger can come only from the most Royal promises intimate union of the German princes and people under a single leadership. I take this leadership upon me for the hour of peril. I have to-day assumed the old German colors, and placed myself and my people under the venerable banner of the German Empire. Prussia is henceforth merged into Germany." Thus Frederick William, by word and acts, which he afterward described as a comedy, directly encouraged the imperial aspirations of liberal Germany. The passage of his address in which he spoke of external dangers threatening Germany came true sooner than was expected. King Christian VIII. of Denmark had died early in the year. The fear of revolution at Copenhagen drove his son Frederick VII., the last of the Oldenburg line, to prick the war bubble blown by his father. On March 22, he called the leaders of the Eider-Dane party—the party which regarded the Eider as the boundary of the Danish dominions, thus converting Schleswig into a Danish Rising of Schleswig-Holstein province—to take the reins of government. The people of Schleswig and Holstein protested. The King was checkmated at Kiel by the appointment of a provisional government. The troops joined the people, and the insurrection spread over the whole province. The struggle then began. Volunteers from all parts of Germany rushed to the northern frontier. The German Bundestag admitted a representative of the threatened Duchies, and intrusted Prussia with their defence. An attempt was made to organize a German fleet. General Wrangel was placed in command of the Prussian forces despatched toward Reverse at Bau Denmark. Before he could arrive, the untrained volunteer army of Schleswig-Holsteiners suffered defeat at Bau. A corps of students from the University of Kiel was all but annihilated.

An attempted rising of the Poles, in the Prussian province of Posen and at Cracow, was quickly suppressed. As soon as the news of the revolution in Paris reached Russia, the absolute ruler of that vast empire mobilized his armies, "so that, if circumstances should demand it, the tide of Anarchy Russia stems revolution could be dammed." After the abortive revolt at Cracow, Czar Nicholas issued an imperial manifesto, closing with a quotation from Isaiah: "Listen, ye heathen, and submit, for with us is God." When the spirit of revolt spread to Moldavia and Wallachia, Emperor Nicholas without further ado despatched a Russian army corps across the Pruth. The Sultan of Turkey was prevailed upon to do the same. Russian and Turkish troops occupied Jassy and Bucharest during the summer.

OPENING OF THE OPERA Painted by Edouard Detaille Copyright by M. Knoedler & Co.

The German preliminary Parliament of five hundred delegates had met at Frankfort Vor-Parlament Frankfort in April. It lasted but five days. The Republicans found themselves outnumbered, when they submitted their scheme for a national constitution. Repulsed in this, the Liberals proposed that they should continue in session until the real National Parliament should meet, thus extending their function beyond the limits of a mere constituent assembly. Outvoted in this, the leaders of the extreme Republicans resorted to armed revolt. Assisted by Polish refugees and men from France, they raised the Revolution in Baden red flag in Baden. Friedrich Hecker, a popular orator and representative of Baden, headed the movement. George Herwegh, the poet, took charge of the refugees from Switzerland and a group of German operatives recently returned from France. A provisional government was declared in the lake district of Baden. The Parliamentary majority of Frankfort, on breaking up, left behind a committee of fifty to prepare the draft of a constitution. The Bundestag meeting at the same time called for military measures against the insurgents. From three sides troops advanced into Baden. A Bavarian detachment marched from Lindau, Swabian troops came from the Black Forest, while from the north Hessian forces were led by General von Gagern, a General Gagern shot brother of the new Prime Minister of Hesse. On April 19, Von Gagern encountered the revolutionists under Hecker at Kandern. While haranguing the insurgents, he was shot from his horse. The troops charged the insurgents with the bayonet and dispersed them in less than an hour. Four days later the revolutionary intrenchments at Freiburg were stormed. On the 27th, Herwegh's corps of 1,000 refugees was dispersed by General Miller. Hecker fled to America. The other leaders likewise made good their escape. Flight of rebels On April 29 they issued a manifesto at Strasburg: "An overwhelming number of imported bestial mercenaries have crushed Republican aspirations in Baden, and have once more subjected the people to the hateful tyranny of princes."

The unexpected outbreak of revolution in Vienna and Hungary had inspired the Italians to rebel against Austrian rule with new confidence. On March 30, Pio Nono at Rome issued a proclamation to the people of Italy, in which he said: "The events which have followed one another with such astounding rapidity during the last two months are not the work of man. Woe to him The cause of Italy who, in this storm that shatters cedars as well as oaks, hears not the voice of the Lord." Under the command of General Durando, a band of Crociati, or crusaders, marched from Rome against the Austrians. Count Balbo was placed in command of the Piedmontese army. To the remonstrances of the British Ambassador at Turin, King Charles Albert replied that he must either march against Austria or lose his crown. England, indeed, was emphatic in its disapproval of the Italian national movement. In the pages of the "Edinburgh Review," Sir Archibald Allison, the court historian, wrote: "It is utterly repugnant to the first principles of English policy, and to every page in English history, to lend encouragement to the separation of nationalities from other empires." The new republican Other Powers hostile government in France, on its part, had no desire to see a strong Italian national State spring up on its southern frontier. Lamartine, the French Foreign Minister, declined Charles Albert's request to sanction his military occupation of Lombardy. A strong French army of observation was concentrated on the Italian frontier in the Alps. Germany, which in later years was destined to become the strongest ally of Italy, was still so bound up with Austria that when Arnold Ruge in the Frankfort Parliament dared to express a wish for the victory of Italian arms against Austria, a great storm of indignation broke out in Germany. As a last resort, Charles Albert, on April 6, proposed an offensive and defensive alliance to Switzerland, but the little republic wisely declined to emerge from its Italy isolated traditional neutrality. It was then that the Italians raised the defiant cry: "Italia fara de se" (Italy will fight her own battles). When the hard beset Austrian Government, in a confidential communication of Minister Wessendberg to Count Casati, showed itself inclined to yield Lombardy upon payment of Lombardy's share in the Austrian national debt, the proposition was curtly declined.

It was a fatal move. The course of Italy, as Dante once sang, seemed like that of "a ship without stars in a wild storm." Affairs took a wrong turn in Naples. There a new popular Parliament had just been elected, which was about to meet, when there were some final difficulties between the King and his Liberal Ministers over the exact wording of the oath of allegiance. The Set-back at Naples excitable Neapolitan populace forthwith became unmanageable. The Swiss Guards, who had long been the butt of the people, put down the revolt without mercy. Once more King Ferdinand was master. He hastened to dismiss his Cabinet and dissolved the Parliament before it could come to order. Orders were sent to General Pepe, who had marched to the front in northern Italy with 14,000 men, to return at once. General Pepe, who had already Neapolitan forces recalled reached Bologna and had entered hostilities under Charles Albert's command, declined to obey the orders of his sovereign. His rank and file trooped back to Naples. Only fifteen hundred Neapolitan volunteers remained with Pepe at the front. A number of the officers who returned felt their disgrace so keenly that they committed suicide. The Neapolitan fleet, which had already succeeded in raising the Austrian blockade of Venice, was likewise ordered home. A more serious blow to the cause of Italy was Pio Pio Nono's allocution Nono's apparent change of front. On April 29, without previous consultation with his new Ministry, the Pope issued the famous "Allocution," in which he declared that he had despatched his troops northward only for the defence of the Papal dominions, and that it was far from his intentions to join with the other Italian princes and peoples in the war against Austria. The Papal Ministry immediately handed in its resignation. The Municipal Council of Rome called upon the Pope to abstain from interference with his army. General Durando, commanding the Papal troops at the front, had already yielded to their entreaties by crossing the Po. Now he threw in his lot with Charles Albert. Pio Nono sent a confidential messenger to Naples to arrange for an asylum there, in case the people should turn against him at Rome.

Charles Albert on the Mincio lost three precious weeks. His army now Garibaldi numbered nearly one hundred thousand men, only sixty thousand of whom were trained soldiers. About this time he was joined by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who had just returned from the revolutionary battlefields of South America, whither he had been driven an exile from Charles Albert's own dominions. He was received with honor, and was put in charge of a volunteer corps which he had raised at Milan. The Austrian commander profited by the delay of his opponents to place his army between the strong fortresses of Verona, Mantua, Legnano and Peschiera, and to draw reinforcements from the Tyrol, Battle of Goito until the situation in Austria itself became so threatening that no further aid could be given him. In truth, the fate of the Austrian empire now rested on the aged shoulders of Radetzky. On April 8, the Sardinian army, in a sharp engagement at Goito, effected the passage of the Mincio. The Austrians lost one thousand men. Siege was now laid to Peschiera. A Tuscan division moved on Mantua, while the bulk of Charles Albert's army cut off Cortatone Verona from the roads to the Tyrol. Radetzky was driven to take the offensive. In a fight at Cortatone he defeated the Tuscans, but within twenty-four hours the Austrian garrison of Peschiera was brought to the point of capitulation. The Italians took two thousand one hundred and fifty Surrender of Peschiera men. On May 6, Charles Albert made an attempt to drive the Austrians out of their positions in front of Verona. Repulsed at Santa Lucia, he was forced to fall back on the Mincio. Under the influence of the peace party, the Austrian Emperor now directed Radetzky to offer an armistice to the Italians. Simultaneously with this, Austrian reinforcements cut their way through to Verona. Radetzky sent Prince Felix Schwarzenberg to Innsbruck to implore the Emperor for permission to continue the combat. This was reluctantly given. Fearing another reversal of his orders, Radetzky forthwith Radetzky firm threw his army into Venetia. General Durando and his Papal army were shut up in Vicenza, and compelled to capitulate. The capture of Vicenza was followed by that of all the Venetian mainland east of the Adige.

The republic of St. Mark sought shelter under the royal Ægis of Piedmont. Manin, the liberator of Venice, resigned his presidency and went into retirement. Charles Albert now moved on Mantua, leaving half his army at Peschiera and further north. Radetzky instantly threw himself on the weakly Custozza guarded centre of the long Sardinian line. Charles Albert sought too late to rejoin his northern detachments. At Custozza, on July 25, he suffered a signal defeat. While he was thrown back over the Mincio the northern divisions were also overcome. Charles Albert retreated to Milan closely followed by Radetzky. He declared himself unable to hold the city. The Fall of Milan people rose against him. On the night of August 5, he escaped with difficulty, protected by General La Marmora and a few guards. Milan capitulated on the following day. When the Austrians made their triumphant entry, half of the population left their homes to emigrate to Piedmont and Switzerland. On August 9, an armistice was arranged at Vigevano. Venice Truce of Vigevano refused to accept it, and detaching itself once more from Sardinia, restored Manin to power. Garibaldi with his volunteers likewise held aloof and carried the fight into the northern mountains. From there he was eventually dislodged by D'Aspre and crossed the frontier into Switzerland.

The picturesque scenes of the revolutionary struggle in Italy have been perpetuated by Denis-Auguste-Marie Raffet, a pupil of Charlot and of Gros, Raffet's battle scenes who had already distinguished himself by his lithographs of the brief Belgian war of 1832, and by his Russian and Oriental sketches made while travelling with Prince Demidov. The motley uniforms of the volunteers of Garibaldi, the Swiss Papal Guards and the Austrian, Piedmontese and French troops, as well as the picturesque costumes of the Italian peasantry, afforded a great scope for Raffet's brush. One of the most characteristic specimens of Raffet's art during this period is his well-known picture of "The Evening of the Battle of Novara."

The success of Radetzky restored a measure of confidence in Austria. The Emperor and his court, who had sought refuge at Innsbruck, consented to return to Vienna. There the promised elections had been held, and an Austrian court returns assembly representing all the provinces of the Empire, excepting Hungary and Italy, had met in the third week of July. With the armies of Radetzky and Windischgrätz within call, the Emperor and his Ministry assumed a bolder front toward the Magyars. The concessions exacted by Hungary in April had raised that kingdom almost to the position of an independent state. Under its separate management of the Hungarian army, Austria found it difficult even to use her Magyar troops at the front in Italy. The Magyars showed the same haughty spirit toward the Austrian Serbs, Slavs and Croatians. After Hungary's successful emancipation in March, the Serbs of southern Hungary demanded from Kossuth the restoration of their own local autonomy. The Magyars insisted on maintaining their ascendency, and decreed that only the Magyar language should be the language of the state. Slavic race feeling was kindled to sudden hatred. The Croatian national committee Jellacic ban of Croatia at Agram, that had assumed charge of affairs after the catastrophe in March, elected Jellacic, the colonel of the first Croatian regiment, Ban of Croatia. The appointment was confirmed at Vienna, even before formal notification had reached the Emperor. On assuming office, Jellacic caused all Magyar officials to be driven out of the country, and broke off all relations with the Hungarian government at Pesth. Batthyany, the Hungarian Premier, hastened to Vienna, and obtained the disavowal of Jellacic. No attention was paid to this at Agram. Now, General Hrabovsky, commanding the Croats and Serbs secede from Magyars troops in the southern provinces, received orders from Pesth to suspend Jellacic from office and bring him to trial for high treason. In the meanwhile the Serbs, meeting in Congress at Carlowitz on the Lower Danube, proclaimed home rule, elected a Voiovode of their own and authorized him to enter into intimate relations with their fellow Slavs in Croatia. This was in the middle of May. Vienna during these same days was in a continual uproar. Early in May a report that the Austrian Ambassador at London had given a formal reception to Prince Metternich upon his arrival in England caused an outbreak of popular wrath in Riots in Vienna Vienna. A mob surrounded the house of Count Ficquelmont, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and compelled him to resign his office. Detachments of troops patrolled the streets at night. On May 15, the people revolted against this measure before the Palace, and compelled Minister Pillersdorf to sign an order for the withdrawal of the troops. The Emperor and his family fled to the Tyrol. At Innsbruck, where he was received with great demonstrations of loyalty, the Emperor issued a rescript in which he declined to return to his capital or to open the national assembly until order should be restored. In Croatia, on hearing of Hrabovsky's orders, the Palatine was burned in effigy. Batthyany hastened to Innsbruck to turn this Slavic affront to the crown to account. By Jellacic disavowed assuring to the Emperor the support of Hungary's troops against the Italians, Batthyany obtained the Emperor's signature to an emphatic condemnation of Jellacic and his suspension from office. Jellacic then set out for Innsbruck, accompanied by a large deputation of Croats and Serbs. On the day that he arrived at Innsbruck, Batthyany at Pesth published the text of the Emperor's orders against the Ban. Still Jellacic held his ground. He regained the Emperor's favor by issuing an address to the Croatian soldiers serving in Italy, enjoining them to stand by the colors no matter what reports reached them from home. He was permitted to return to Croatia and to resume his government at Agram. As soon as he reached home, he declared himself the champion of Austrian unity, and assumed Civil War in Hungary dictatorial powers. Civil war broke out in Lower Hungary. General Hrabovsky, when he attempted to occupy Carlowitz, encountered serious opposition. He was attacked with such vehemence, by the Serbs led by Stratimirovic, that he had to beat a retreat. The Hungarian Diet at Pesth called for a levy of 200,000 men to crush the Slavic rebellion. In the face of a letter from the Emperor, condemning the resistance offered to the Hungarian government by the Slavs, Kossuth charged the Austrian Court with instigating the civil war. Evidence was brought forward to show that the Minister of War at Vienna was encouraging Austrian officers to join the insurrection. Such was the situation in Austria at midsummer. A characteristic comment on this apparently sudden disintegration of the Austrian Empire at this time was furnished by Prince Metternich to his fellow refugee, François Pierre Guizot, the fallen Prime Minister of Metternich's comment France. "During the catastrophes of 1848," writes Guizot, in his "Mémoires pour servir a l'Histoire de mon Temps," "meeting Prince Metternich at London one day, I said to him: 'Explain to me the causes of your revolution in Austria. I know why and how things happened in Paris; but in Austria, under your government, I cannot understand.' He replied with a smile of mingled pride and sadness: 'I have sometimes ruled Europe, but Austria never.'"

At Frankfort, during this interval, the national parliament of Germany was convened on May 18. The event was celebrated throughout Germany with The Frankfort Parliament the ringing of bells and bonfires at night. In truth, the assembly was such that Germany might well be proud of it. Of the 586 delegates, more than a hundred were university professors and scholars of eminence. Among them were such men as Arndt, the poet, Gervinus and Dahlberg, the historians, with others of like note. A promising unity of ideals seemed to prevail. Heinrich von Gagern, a man of high character and parliamentary experience, was elected chairman by a majority of 305 out of 397 votes. It was his John of Austria elected leader proposal to create a central executive in the person of a Reichsverweser. Archduke John of Austria, one of the most popular of German princes, was elected to this office by an overwhelming majority of 436 votes. The Archduke, who was then presiding over the new Austrian Assembly at Vienna, accepted the honor. By the time the German Bundestag adjourned, on July 13, everything seemed full of promise. The minor German States formally acknowledged the new Reichsverweser. King Frederick William of Prussia invited him, together with many members of the Frankfort Parliament, to the Cologne Cathedral festival on August 14. There the King pledged the Archduke at a public banquet: "May he give us," declared the King, "united Prussia discredited and free German peoples; may he give us united and free sovereigns." A few days later an event occurred which opened the eyes of the Germans to Prussia's real part in the destinies of Germany. This was the armistice of Malmö, concluded on August 26, between Denmark and Prussia. The early German victories at Dannewirk and Oversee had borne no fruit. The Danes were masters of the sea, and mercilessly ravaged the German coasts, unprotected by any navy. As King Frederick William remarked, it was like a fight between a hound and a fish. The Danes took innumerable prizes and crippled the commerce of the Hanseatic cities. General Wrangel thereupon exacted a contribution of 2,000,000 thalers in Jutland. For every fisherman's hut that the Danish fleet might injure on the German coast, he Foreign Powers intervene threatened to lay a Danish village in ashes. The foreign Powers objected to such ruthless campaigning. The Scandinavian States intervened on behalf of Denmark. Emperor Nicholas of Russia, who regarded the Schleswig-Holstein movement as an unjustifiable rebellion, came to their support. Lord Palmerston, who had once proposed to end the quarrel by simply cutting the disputed territory in two, according to the preferences of the inhabitants, now threw in the weight of England with the other Powers. Prussia was Truce of Malmö constrained to withdraw her army. According to the provisions of the seven months' truce forced upon Prussia at Malmö in Sweden, all prisoners were to be returned, the Schleswig-Holstein army was to be disbanded, while a temporary government of the duchies was to be administered by representatives of Denmark and Prussia. All Germany was in an uproar. The Frankfort Parliament repudiated the armistice by 238 against 221 votes. The new-formed German Ministry resigned. Prof. Dahlmann, one of the protagonists of the Schleswig-Holstein movement, was commissioned to form a new Ministry. Frankfort Parliament powerless His efforts resulted only in failure. The conviction grew that the German Parliament was powerless. Presently the Parliament revoked its own decision, approving the armistice by 258 over 236 votes. After all, it was plain that the most momentous German question of the day had been settled independently of united Germany by Prussia standing alone. In South Germany the revolutionists were once more called to arms.

The new republican government of France had been kept far too busy by the logical consequences of its revolutionary measures to take any active part The French Republic in the international settlement of the Schleswig-Holstein question. The majority of the provisional government were moderate republicans, representing the bourgeoisie, or middle class, rather than the workmen, but associated with them were such radicals as Louis Blanc, Ledru-Rollin and Albert, a locksmith. During the first few days of the installation they undertook to guarantee employment to every citizen. It proved a gigantic National workshops engagement. The mere distribution of idle workmen among the various industries in which they were employed called for a new branch of the administration. The task outgrew all expectations. Within four weeks the number of applicants for government work rose from 140 to 65,000. Under the stimulus of government competition, a series of labor strikes were declared against private factories and establishments. The scheme, as then attempted, grew utterly unmanageable. As Fyffe has said in his chapter on this subject: "If, instead of a group of benevolent theorists, the Fyffe's judgment experiment of 1848 had had for its authors a company of millionaires anxious to dispel all hope that mankind might ever rise to a higher order than that of unrestricted competition of man against man, it could not have been conducted under more fatal conditions."

The elections of April 23 gave the moderate element a handsome majority. An Radicals outvoted attempt to change the elections was frustrated by the National Guard. Strengthened by this manifestation of popular approval, Lamartine and his colleagues got rid of their radical associates in the Cabinet. The excluded radicals now planned a new revolution. On May 15, simultaneously with the renewed riots in Vienna, an attempt was made to overthrow the government. On the pretext of presenting a petition on behalf of Poland, a mob invaded Another attempted revolution the Chambers and dissolved the Assembly. A provisional government was installed at the Hôtel de Ville. The government supporters rallied the National Guard. The leaders at the Hôtel de Ville were taken captive. The Palais Bourbon was cleared, and the Deputies were reconvened in their assembly hall. Encouraged by this success, the government resolved to rid itself of the incubus of the national workshops, after a variety of schemes National workshop abolished with this purpose in view had been brought forward in the Assembly. The government cut the Gordian knot by a violent stroke. On June 21, an edict was issued that all beneficiaries of the public workshops between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five must enlist in the army or cease to receive support from the State.

At this time more than a hundred thousand destitute men had flocked to the national workshops. They rose as of one accord. The rising of June 23 was Paris up in arms the most formidable yet experienced in Paris. The number of the workmen alone exceeded that of several army corps. The unity of grievances and interests gave them an esprit de corps similar to that of an army. The whole eastern part of Paris was barricaded like a fortified camp. Instead of a mere revolt, the government found itself entering upon a civil war. General Cavaignac, the Minister of War, was placed in supreme command, the executive commission resigning its powers. He summoned all available troops into the capital. Regardless of private interests, Paris was treated as a great battlefield in which the enemy was to be attacked in a mass and dislodged from all his main lines. The barricades were battered down with field and siege artillery. Four days and nights the fight lasted. Whole Archbishop killed houses and blocks in which the insurgents had found a lodgment had to be demolished. On the third day the Archbishop of Paris was struck by a bullet while trying to stop the bloodshed. On both sides the fight was waged with inexcusable savagery. The National Guard, with a few exceptions, fought side by side with the regular troops. The workmen, threatened with the loss End of bloodshed of their subsistence, fought with the courage of despair. At the point of the bayonet they were at last driven into the northeastern quarter of the city. There, plied with grape and canister from every direction, they were brought to the point of surrender.

After this hard-won victory, the government did not hesitate to transport without trial the whole mass of prisoners taken alive. A policy of reaction Cavaignac set in. The government workshops and other concessions to socialism were abandoned. General Cavaignac, at the direction of the Assembly, retained his dictatorial powers until a new Constitution could be drafted. It seemed as if Cavaignac was marked to become the permanent ruler of France, but his own rigid republicanism stood in his way. It was at this time that Prince Louis Napoleon once more came into prominence. When he first made his reappearance in Paris he was requested to leave by the Provisional Louis Napoleon Government. Retiring to England, he awaited developments, while his friends and supporters agitated in his behalf. During the supplementary elections he was nominated for the Chambers by four districts at once, and, despite the government's efforts, he obtained a fourfold election. A vote of the Assembly declared the election valid. With unwonted self-command the Prince declined to take his seat, on the ground that it might embarrass the government in its difficult situation. His letter to the president of the Assembly ended with the significant declaration that if duties should be imposed upon him by the will of the people he would know how to fulfil them.

Three months later, in the midst of the debates on the constitution, while Cavaignac was still in power, Louis Napoleon was re-elected to the Assembly—this time by five departments. His hour had come. From this moment he was a recognized aspirant for power. The great name of his uncle shed its glory upon him. The new constitution of the Republic provided that France spellbound a President with executive powers should be elected by a direct vote of all citizens. Louis Napoleon at once became a candidate. In an address to the people he declared that he would devote himself without stint to the maintenance of the Republic. In well-worded generalities something was promised to all the classes and parties of France. The other candidates were Cavaignac and Lamartine. Out of seven millions of votes cast in this election, five million went to Louis Napoleon. The mere glamour of an imperial name cast a new spell over France.

In the midst of these stirring events in Paris, Frederick Chopin, the piano Death of Chopin composer, died on October 17. Born at Jelisovaya-Volia in Poland, he received his early musical education at Warsaw. At the age of nine he played a pianoforte concerto with improvisations in public. His first compositions were Polish dances. In his fifteenth year he published a rondo and a fantasie. Having perfected himself as a pianist, he set out on a concert tour through Vienna, Munich, Paris and London. After his first appearance in Vienna, the foremost musical critic there wrote of him: "From the outset Chopin took place in the front rank of masters. The perfect delicacy of his touch, his indescribable mechanical dexterity, the melancholy tints in his style of shading, and the rare clearness of his delivery are in him qualities which bear the stamp of genius. He must be regarded as one of the most remarkable meteors The pianist's career blazing on the musical horizon." In Paris he gave a concert at Pleyel's house. His reception was such that he gave up all idea of proceeding further and made Paris his home for life. He was welcomed to the intimacy of men like Liszt, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Bellini, Balzac and Heine. As one after another of his unique compositions for the piano appeared, he took rank as the foremost composer for that instrument. On the publication of his preludes and new Polish dances, Schumann wrote of Chopin: "He is and ever will be the most daring and proud poetic spirit of the time."

In 1836, Chopin met Madame Dudevant, better known as the celebrated Chopin and Georges Sand novelist Georges Sand. Their attachment was mutual. For her he wrote some of his most inspired pieces. They spent the winter of 1838-39 together on the Island of Majorca, where Georges Sand nursed Chopin through a severe attack of bronchitis. Of this episode, which had its profound effect on Chopin's music, Georges Sand has left an unengaging record in the novel "Lucreticia Floriani," published shortly afterward, and another in her "Histoire de ma Vie." Chopin returned from Majorca broken in health. He was supplanted in Georges Sand's affections by Alfred de Musset. During the season of 1848-49 he gave concerts in London, whence he returned to Paris only to die. He was buried at Père la Chaise, between Bellini and Cherubini's graves.

In Italy, after the armistice between the Austrians and the Piedmontese, matters went from bad to worse. In Sicily, a National Parliament had met Sicilian elections and put Ruggiero Settimo at the head of affairs by a unanimous vote. King Ferdinand and the House of Bourbon were declared to have forfeited the crown of Sicily forever. Elections were ordered to call another Prince to the vacant throne. England, interested as ever in Sicilian affairs, impressed upon the Sicilian leaders the urgency of an early settlement. The elections were held in haste. On July 12, at two in the morning, the vote was announced in Parliament. The Duke of Genoa, Albert Amadeus of Savoy, Charles Albert's second son, was elected King. The British and French warships in Sicilian waters fired a royal salute. For Charles Albert this only meant fresh embarrassment. In case of acceptance, he was sure to be King of Sardinia wary involved in war with Naples in the south, as well as with Austria in the north. When the Sicilian deputies submitted their proposition in Piedmont, on August 27, they obtained no definite reply.

Meanwhile King Ferdinand of Naples gathered his forces to win back Sicily. In the north the cause of Italy was on the wane. Francis V. was reinstated as Duke of Modena, with the help of Austrian arms. On his return in August he granted an amnesty, from the benefits of which "only those who had taken part in the revolution" were to be excluded. Austrian troops under Count Thurn likewise occupied the Duchy of Parma, the Duke remaining in Germany. In Tuscany, the Archduke found it difficult to maintain himself at Florence. His principality was overrun by radical refugees. A revolutionary junta at Leghorn threatened to proclaim the republic unless the Duke of Venice steadfast Tuscany should appoint a governor in sympathy with their ideas. In his extremity the Duke sent them Montanelli, a political dreamer, who proclaimed Jesus Christ as the father of democracy. At Venice the Republic of St. Mark, under Manin's able leadership, still held its own. Austria's occupation of Ferrara and the Romagna brought new embarrassment to the Pope. Baron Von Welden, the Austrian general, made matters worse in the Romagna by his threatening language: "Woe to those who dare to oppose me!" Formal protests were made in vain by Pope Pio Nono and the diplomatic representatives of France and England. The Papal Ministry of Mamiani Riots at Bologna resigned. The Roman Radicals, under the leadership of Prince Canino, a Bonaparte, clamored for war, and some Austrian officers dared to show themselves in Bologna. They were attacked in the streets and murdered by the mob. Fighting began around Bologna. Too late the Austrians consented to relieve the Pope from this embarrassment by withdrawing their troops from his dominions. The Pope's new Minister, Count Pellegrino Rossi, an Rossi, Papal Minister unusually able and forceful man who had once acted as an envoy for Louis Philippe, was denounced as a Frenchman and an enemy to Italy.

In September, King Ferdinand of Naples, having got rid of his Parliament, launched his forces upon Sicily. General Filangieri, with 12,000 men, was sent against Messina. There the Neapolitan garrison still held the citadel—all that remained to Bombardment of Messina Ferdinand of his Sicilian kingdom. Three days before Filangieri landed, the gunners in the citadel began to bombard the helpless town lying beneath them. Half of the city was laid in ruins. The foreign warships in the harbor were filled with refugees. It was this outrage that gave to King Ferdinand the nickname of "King Bomba." The inhabitants remained steadfast. When Filangieri effected his landing, the fight was carried on with ferocity. The fall of the city was followed by barbarous excesses. For three days incendiary fires raged in the hapless town. At last the foreign admirals, Parker and Baudin, put a stop to the horrors, "as against all canons of civilized nations." An armistice was established between the Neapolitans and the Sicilians. King Ferdinand's dogged resistance to the remonstrances of the French and English Ambassadors was strengthened by the latest event in Rome.

On November 15, as the Roman Chambers were about to be opened, Prime Assassination of Rossi Minister Rossi was assassinated as he left his carriage to enter the Chambers. It was the signal for a new revolt. The delegates in the Hall of Chambers sought safety in flight. The National Guards made common cause with the insurgents. A howling mob beset the Quirinal. But for the resolute stand of the Pope's Swiss mercenaries, the palace would have been stormed. As bullets penetrated the walls of the Pope's ante-chamber, Pio Nono exclaimed: "Has Heaven no lightning?" For a while the Pope was practically a prisoner in his palace, while the Prince of Panino and Sterbini, the Flight of Pio Nono President of the Circolo Popolare, ruled Rome. At last, on the night of November 24, Pio Nono, in the disguise of a groom, escaped from Rome, seated on the box of the carriage of the Bavarian Ambassador, Count Spaur. He fled to Naples. From the Neapolitan fortress Gaeta he sent a letter to his "dearest son," the Emperor of Austria, imploring his help against the Republic of Rome.

At Frankfort, the ratification of the armistice of Malmö by the German Parliament had aroused the Radicals to fury. On September 17, the day after the second vote on this matter, a mass meeting was called at Frankfort. One delegate, Zitz, proposed the abolition of the Parliament; another, Ludwig Simon, declared the time had come to discuss all further questions from Revolt in Frankfort behind barricades. The Municipal Senate of Frankfort, taking alarm, ordered out the city troops and appealed for help to Prussia. On the morrow fighting began in the streets of Frankfort. Barricades had been erected overnight, and all day long the insurgents held their ground. It was known that a Prussian column was approaching. Prince Lichnovsky and General Von Auerswald, two leaders of the Conservative majority in the Parliament, rashly undertook to meet the Prussian troops halfway. At the gates of Frankfort both men were seized by the insurgents and were lynched by the mob. Shortly before midnight the Prussian troops arrived and soon overran the barricades with their bayonets. On the following day the city was under military rule.

In other parts of South Germany revolution had broken out anew. The Prince South Germany restive of Sigmaringen was driven from his little domain, which was proclaimed a republic. Insurgent expeditions were organized in Wurtemberg and Baden. There Karl Blind and Gustav Struve made another attempt on Freiburg. At Staufen, on September 24, they were beaten back by regular troops under General Hoffmann and fled toward Switzerland. Struve himself was captured near the frontier. On the same day the German Cabinet at Frankfort was reinstated. Still the ill success of popular government in Germany brought the Parliament into lasting disrepute.

The reaction was first felt at Berlin. There the return of General Wrangel's troops from Denmark was followed by friction between the soldiers and the democratic agitators in the streets. A resolution was passed in the popular Parliament of Prussia that all officers out of sympathy with Reaction in Berlin democratic government should be encouraged to leave the army. The failure of the Minister of War to act on this suggestion was followed by his downfall. Having succeeded in this, the parliamentary majority next passed a vote to eliminate the words "by the grace of God" from the titles of the King. Toward the end of October a national convention of democrats met at Berlin, and held its sessions amid tumultuous scenes in the streets. In exasperation, the King dissolved the Cabinet that had been forced upon him, Brandenburg Prime Minister and commissioned Count Brandenburg, a natural son of Frederick William II., to form another. It included Major-General von Strotha, Minister of War, and Otto von Manteuffel, Minister of the Interior. The Parliament sent a deputation to remonstrate with the King. One of the delegates, Jacoby, as the King terminated the audience, called after him: "Behold the chief misfortune of kings, that they will not listen to the truth!" Immediately after this King Frederick William IV. prorogued the Parliament to the town of Brandenburg. The majority of the delegates declined to adjourn. The Cabinet Ministers, followed by the members that had been outvoted, left the hall. On November 15, the remaining Parliament issued a proclamation to the Prussian Parliament dissolved people to withhold all further payment of taxes. General Wrangel posted his troops throughout Berlin. The Municipal Guards of Berlin were dissolved. An attempt on the part of the Parliament to meet again was easily frustrated. The taxes were collected as before. When the Parliamentary minority came to order at Brandenburg their sessions were dissolved by royal order. On his own initiative, King Frederick William IV. now proclaimed a constitution. The Chambers, provisions for which were contained in this royal constitution, were to meet at Berlin on February 24, 1849. Such was the end of the People's Parliament in Prussia.

WAGNER AND LISZT Painted by W. Beckmann

About the same time Robert Blum, one of the radical Parliamentarians of Frankfort, was shot in Austria. Together with Froebel, he had been despatched to Vienna by the Parliamentary minority in Frankfort with messages of sympathy for the popular cause in Austria. To offset this, the majority sent two delegates to the Emperor to offer the Parliament's good services for mediation with his rebellious subjects. They were coolly received.

All Austria was in a state of civil war. After the example of the Slavs in Servia and Croatia, the Czechs of Bohemia rose at Prague. Austrian-German Slav Congress of Prague authority there collapsed. A National Guard was organized, and a popular Assembly convened. In midsummer a Congress of Slavs from all parts of Austria met at Prague. Popular excitement rose to a threatening pitch. On the day that the Panslavistic Congress broke up, barricades were erected and fighting began in the streets of Prague. The wife of Count Windischgrätz, the military commandant, was killed by a bullet. Windischgrätz, after withdrawing his troops, threatened to bombard the city Bohemian revolt suppressed unless the barricades were removed. This was not done. Windischgrätz then took the city by storm. Military law was proclaimed. This success, like that of Radetzky's arms in Italy, gave new hope to the Austrian Emperor. He pronounced his veto on Hungary's military measures against Croatia. A hundred delegates from the Magyar Diet at Pesth posted to Vienna to exact from the Emperor the fulfilment of his promises to Hungary. On September 9, the Emperor received them at his palace with renewed assurances that he Ferdinand's duplicity would keep his plighted word. A few hours afterward the official "Gazette" published a letter over the Emperor's signature, expressing his full approval of Jellacic's measures in Croatia. This was all Jellacic had been waiting for. On September 11, he crossed the Drave with his Croatians and marched upon Pesth. Archduke Stephen, the Hungarian Palatine, took command of the Magyar army and went to the front. At Lake Balaton he requested a Archduke Stephen withdraws conference with Jellacic. The Ban paid no attention to it. Realizing the secret support given to Jellacic by the Crown, Archduke Stephen resigned his command in Hungary. The Emperor now appointed General Lamberg at Vienna to the supreme command over the military forces of Hungary as well as Croatia. At the same time the Austrian Cabinet submitted a memorial suggesting that the laws establishing Hungarian autonomy be declared null Kossuth in power and void. On the publication of this memorial in Pesth, Batthyany's Ministry resigned. Kossuth openly proposed war with Austria. When Lamberg arrived at Pesth, Kossuth prevailed upon the Diet to withhold its ratification of Lamberg's appointment. Should Lamberg attempt to resume his military command Kossuth demanded that he should be outlawed as a traitor. Murder of General Lamberg As General Lamberg crossed the bridge at Budapesth he was recognized by the populace. A cry was raised that he meant to seize the citadel and bombard the town. He was dragged from his carriage and torn to pieces by the mob. His body was dragged through the streets, and finally strung up before one of the government buildings. A few days later, Count Zichy, one of the Magyar magnates, was court-martialled by order of Arthur Goergey, the Count Zichy shot Hungarian Honved leader, for entering into a correspondence with Jellacic, and was shot.

On the receipt of this news, Emperor Ferdinand declared the Hungarian Parliament dissolved, and pronounced all its acts null and void. Jellacic Imperial rescript repudiated was appointed representative of Austria in Hungary with command of all the forces. The Magyar Diet repudiated the Emperor's manifesto as a breach of the constitution, and pronounced Jellacic a traitor. Jellacic's forces were checked by the Hungarian army in their advance upon Pesth. General Latour, the Austrian Minister of War, ordered a division of troops at Vienna to go Troops mutiny in Vienna to the support of Jellacic. The Magyar sympathizers at Vienna raised a fearful uproar. As the troops were marching out of the city several battalions were prevailed upon to mutiny. The Hungarian flag was hoisted above the Cathedral of St. Stephen. The National Guard joined the mutiny. Other battalions of the line were driven out of the city. The guards at the arsenal capitulated. Vienna was at the mercy of the insurgents. The Flight of Emperor Emperor, who had sought refuge at Schœnbrunn, left his palace at four on the morning of October 1, and fled to Olmütz.

As soon as the news of these events reached Jellacic he evacuated his threatened positions on the banks of the Raab and marched for Vienna. Jellacic marches on Vienna Windischgrätz, with his garrison, set out from Prague. Revolutionists of all races flocked into Vienna. Among them were the German delegates Froebel and Blum, and the Polish general, Bem. The Hungarians pursued Jellacic no further than their frontier. The regiments expelled from Vienna, under the command of Count Auersperg, joined forces with Jellacic. The insurgents at Vienna manned their fortifications as well as they could, and called upon the people throughout Austria to take up arms. Emperor Ferdinand, at Olmütz, offset this by an imperial proclamation to his people in which he guaranteed all peasant rights. Prince Windischgrätz was created a field marshal, with full command over all the forces in the empire, except those under Radetzky in Italy. Windischgrätz took immediate steps to effect a Windischgrätz moves from Bohemia junction with Jellacic by seizing the bridges at Krems and Stein. In vain did the delegates from Frankfort, who now appeared upon the scene, present their offer of intervention. Windischgrätz would not listen to them. On October 23, the Austrian army, 80,000 strong, appeared before Vienna. The defence of the city had been intrusted to Captain Messenhauser, an officer of the regular army, and to General Bem. Robert Blum, the German Parliamentarian, fought in the ranks. While Windischgrätz was wasting his time in parleys, an army of 18,000 Hungarians crossed the frontier and threatened Jellacic's rear. On October 28, twenty-four hours after the time fixed in Windischgrätz's last ultimatum, he began his assault on the city. Assault on Vienna In the course of an all-day fight the troops succeeded in taking the suburbs. The scenes of that night were frightful. The troops bivouacked on the ramparts. The following Sunday was spent in further parleys. Already the terms of capitulation had been settled, when Messenhauser, from the top of the church of St. Stephen, made out the approaching columns of the Hungarians. The news of their arrival was signalled to the city by a column of Arrival of Hungarians smoke rising from the top of the tower. All negotiations for surrender were dropped. The Hungarians attacked Jellacic on the banks of the Schwechat, within a few leagues of the capital. The boom of their artillery could be plainly heard in Vienna. In a frenzy of enthusiasm the Viennese resumed the struggle. A corps of students attempted a sortie. Unfortunately Battle of the Schwechat for them, the engagement on the banks of the Schwechat turned against the Hungarians. Shortly after noon they gave way all along the line and fell back toward Hungary. On the ramparts of Vienna the hopeless fight of a few thousand civilians against an army of 90,000 men was continued until nightfall. At six in the evening the troops broke into the city.

On the following day, November 1, Prince Windischgrätz declared Vienna Fall of Vienna under military law. All arms had to be delivered within forty-eight hours. Arrests and courts-martial followed in profusion. Robert Blum was one of the first to be shot. His colleague, Froebel, owed his life to a political pamphlet signed with his name, in which he had defended the interests of Austria against those of a united Germany. A new Ministry was installed, Stadion's Ministry under the leadership of the notorious Prince Felix Schwarzenberg and Count Stadion. They announced their programme to be the maintenance of a strong central government and the integrity of the Austrian Empire, with quick suppression of the civil war in Hungary. A new Reichsrath was convoked at the village of Kremsier, near Olmütz. On December 2, it was announced that Emperor Ferdinand had resolved to abdicate his throne. His brother, Abdication of Ferdinand Archduke Francis Charles, renounced the succession. The Archduke's son, Francis Joseph, a youth of eighteen, was declared by a family council to have attained his majority. In virtue of this he ascended the throne as Emperor.

The Hungarian Diet, on learning of this transfer of the crown, refused to Francis Joseph, Emperor acknowledge Francis Joseph as King of Hungary. The whole nation was summoned to arms. The command of the army was given to Goergey. His first serious problem was a rising of the Roumanians in Transylvania against Magyar rule. The Roumanian peasants committed all conceivable atrocities. When they raised the standard of the Empire, the Austrian commander, General Puchner, espoused their cause. Transylvania was lost to Hungary. The Roumanians led by Puchner co-operated with Jellacic's forces in The war in Hungary Croatia, and moved on Hungary from that quarter. On December 15, the main Austrian army, under Windischgrätz, crossed over the River Leitha and invaded Hungary. Goergey declared from the first that Pesth would have to be abandoned. Kossuth's frantic efforts to prevent this only served to hamper Goergey's able campaign. One line after another had to be abandoned. At last, toward the close of the year, Kossuth and his Magyar Diet were compelled to evacuate Pesth. The Hungarian army fell back over the River Theiss, upon the fortress of Comorn, and the mountainous regions of northern Hungary. Kossuth's government was established at Debreczin.