Part 26

In the words of a contemporary, "Chartism had received its death-blow. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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. Popular demonstrations occurred at Mannheim, Cassel, Breslau, Koenigsberg 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 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 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 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 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" 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 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 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 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 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.

The German preliminary Parliament of five hundred delegates had met at 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.