A History of Germany from the Earliest Times to the Present Day

by Bayard Taylor

The great battle of Waterloo began on the morning of the 18th of June. Wellington was attacked again and again, and the utmost courage and endurance of his soldiers barely enabled them to hold their ground: the charges of the French were met by an equally determined resistance, but the fate of the battle depended on Blücher's arrival. The latter left a few corps at Wavre, his former position, in order to deceive Grouchy, and pushed forward through rain and across a marshy country to Wellington's relief. At four o'clock in the afternoon Napoleon made a tremendous effort to break the English centre: the endurance of his enemy began to fail, and there were signs of wavering along the English lines when the cry was heard: "The Prussians are coming!" Bülow's corps soon appeared on the French flank, Blücher's army closed in shortly afterwards, and by eight o'clock the French were flying from the field. There were no allied monarchs on hand to arrest the pursuit: Blücher and Wellington followed so rapidly that they stood before Paris within ten days, and Napoleon was left without any alternative but instant surrender. The losses at Waterloo, on both sides, were 50,000 killed and wounded.

This was the end of Napoleon's interference in the history of Europe. All his offers were rejected, he was deserted by the French, and a fortnight afterwards, failing in his plan of escaping to America, he surrendered to the captain of an English frigate off the port of Rochefort. From that moment until his death at St. Helena on the 5th of May, 1821, he was a prisoner and an exile. A new treaty was made between the allied monarchs and the Bourbon dynasty of France: this time the treasures of art and learning were restored to Italy and Germany, an indemnity of 700,000,000 francs was exacted, Savoy was given back to Sardinia, and a little strip of territory, including the fortresses of Saarbrück, Saarlouis and Landau, added to Germany. The attempt of Austria and Prussia to acquire Lorraine and Alsatia was defeated by the cunning of Talleyrand and the opposition of Alexander I. of Russia.

1815. THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA.

The jealousies and dissensions in the Congress of Vienna were hastily arranged during the excitement occasioned by Napoleon's return from Elba, and the members patched together, within three months, a new political map of Europe. There was no talk of restoring the lost kingdom of Poland; Prussia's claim to Saxony (which the king, Frederick Augustus, had fairly forfeited) was defeated by Austria and England; and then, after each of the principal powers had secured whatever was possible, they combined to regulate the affairs of the helpless smaller States. Holland and Belgium were added together, called the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and given to the house of Orange: Switzerland, which had joined the Allies against France, was allowed to remain a republic and received some slight increase of territory; and Lorraine and Alsatia were lost to Germany.

Austria received Lombardy and Venetia, Illyria, Dalmatia, the Tyrol, Salzburg, Galicia and whatever other territory she formerly possessed. Prussia gave up Warsaw to Russia, but kept Posen, recovered Westphalia and the territory on the Lower Rhine, and was enlarged by the annexation of Swedish Pomerania, part of Saxony, and the former archbishoprics of Mayence, Treves and Cologne. East-Friesland was taken from Prussia and given to Hannover, which was made a kingdom: Weimar, Oldenburg and the two Mecklenburgs were made Grand-Duchies, and Bavaria received a new slice of Franconia, including the cities of Würzburg and Bayreuth, as well as all of the former Palatinate lying west of the Rhine. Frankfort, Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck were allowed to remain free cities: the other smaller States were favored in various ways, and only Saxony suffered by the loss of nearly half her territory. Fortunately the priestly rulers were not restored, and the privileges of the free nobles of the Middle Ages not reëstablished. Napoleon, far more justly than Attila, had been "the Scourge of God" to Germany. In crushing rights, he had also crushed a thousand abuses, and although the monarchs who ruled the Congress of Vienna were thoroughly reactionary in their sentiments, they could not help decreeing that what was dead in the political constitution of Germany should remain dead.

1815.

All the German States, however, felt that some form of union was necessary. The people dreamed of a Nation, of a renewal of the old Empire in some better and stronger form; but this was mostly a vague desire on their part, without any practical ideas as to how it should be accomplished. The German ministers at Vienna were divided in their views; and Metternich took advantage of their impatience and excitement to propose a scheme of Confederation which introduced as few changes as possible into the existing state of affairs. It was so drawn up that while it presented the appearance of an organization, it secured the supremacy of Austria, and only united the German States in mutual defence against a foreign foe and in mutual suppression of internal progress. This scheme, hastily prepared, was hastily adopted on the 10th of June, 1815 (before the battle of Waterloo), and controlled the destinies of Germany for nearly fifty years afterwards.

The new Confederation was composed of the Austrian Empire, the Kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Würtemberg and Hannover, the Grand-Duchies of Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Strelitz, Saxe-Weimar and Oldenburg; the Electorate of Hesse-Cassel; the Duchies of Brunswick, Nassau, Saxe-Gotha, Coburg, Meiningen and Hildburghausen, Anhalt-Dessau, Bernburg and Köthen; Denmark, on account of Holstein; the Netherlands, on account of Luxemburg; the four Free Cities; and eleven small principalities,—making a total of thirty-nine States. The Act of Union assured to them equal rights, independent sovereignty, the peaceful settlement of disputes between them, and representation in a General Diet, which was to be held at Frankfort, under the presidency of Austria. All together were required to support a permanent army of 300,000 men for their common defence. One article required each State to introduce a representative form of government. All religions were made equal before the law, the right of emigration was conceded to the people, the navigation of the Rhine was released from taxes, and freedom of the Press was permitted.

1816. THE HOLY ALLIANCE.

Of course, the carrying of these provisions into effect was left entirely to the rulers of the States: the people were not recognized as possessing any political power. Even the "representative government" which was assured did not include the right of suffrage; the King, or Duke, might appoint a legislative body which represented only a class or party, and not the whole population. Moreover, the Diet was prohibited from adopting any new measure, or making any change in the form of the Confederation, except by a unanimous vote. The whole scheme was a remarkable specimen of promise to the ears of the German People, and of disappointment to their hearts and minds.