TABLE OF DATES.

1846.April25.Charles Albert defies Austria about the salt-tax.
June15.Election of Pius IX.
July8.King of Denmark asserts his right to absorb Schleswig-Holstein.
"16.Pius IX's. amnesty.
1847.Jan.3.Landtag summoned to Berlin.
July5.Pope grants Civic Guard to Rome.
"14.Clerical conspiracy suppressed in Rome.
"16.Austrian occupation of Ferrara.
"20.Swiss Diet resolves to dissolve Sonderbund.
Sept.1.Unsuccessful rising in Messina.
"12.Meeting of South German Liberals at Offenburg.
"29.Metternich formally expresses his approval of the Sonderbund.
Nov.4.Motion carried at Pesth for taxation of nobles.
"24.Troops of the Swiss Diet occupy Luzern.
Dec.9.Nazari makes his motion for reform in Milan.
"16.Agreement for Austrian troops to evacuate Ferrara.
"27.Ciceruacchio asks the Pope to join the Italian League.
1848.Jan.2 and 3.Smoking riots at Milan.
"12.Sicilian rising begins.
"19.Arrest of Manin and Tommaseo at Venice.
"29.Neapolitan Constitution granted.
Feb.4.Leopold of Tuscany promises Constitution.
"12.Pope appoints first lay Ministers.
"22.Martial law proclaimed in Lombardy.
"27.Meeting at Mannheim to demand German Parliament.
Mar.2.Second Chamber of Baden demands repeal of Carlsbad Decrees. Downfall of Ministry in Bavaria.
"3.Kossuth's speech at Presburg.
"11.First meeting at the Wenzelsbad in Prague.
"13.Rising in Vienna. Workmen's petition in Berlin. Granting of Liberal Ministry by King of Saxony.
"15.Abdication of Metternich.
"16.Students' rising in Pesth. Rising in Berlin. Granting of Constitution by Pope.
"17.Serb meeting at Pesth.
"18 to 22.Five days of Milan.
"22.Rising in Venice.
"23.Manin chosen President of Venetian Republic. Jellaciç made Ban of Croatia. Charles Albert declares war on Austria.
"25.Prussian Assembly opens.
"26.King of Naples deposed by Sicilians.
"31.Meeting of Vor-Parlament at Frankfort.
April2.Bundestag repeals Carlsbad Decrees.
"4.Bundestag authorises Prussia to act for Germany in Schleswig-Holstein.
"8.First battle of Goito.
"11.Palacky refuses to join the Committee of Fifty at Frankfort.
"16.First Baden insurrection.
"29.Papal allocution against the Italian war.
May1.Slavs summoned to meet in Prague.
"3.Mamiani Ministry formed.
"13.Meeting of Serbs at Carlowitz. Provisional Government at Milan declare for fusion.
"15.Coup d'état in Naples. Second rising in Vienna. Meeting of Roumanians at Blasendorf.
"18.First meeting of Constituent Assembly at Frankfort. Flight of Emperor of Austria to Innspruck.
"28.Battle of Curtatone.
"29.Unsuccessful riot in Milan. Completion of vote of fusion.
"30.Slavonic Congress in Prague. Abolition of Transylvanian Parliament. Surrender of Peschiera to Charles Albert.
June2.First encounter between Magyars and Roumanians.
"3.Separate Provisional Government formed in Bohemia.
"11.Hrabowsky's attack on Carlowitz. Fall of Vicenza.
"12 to 18.Rising in Prague.
"19.Ferdinand declares Jellaciç a traitor.
"29.Jellaciç made Dictator by Croatians. Archduke John chosen Administrator of the German Empire.
July4.Venice accepts the fusion with Piedmont.
"22.Kossuth supports vote for sending troops against Italians.
Aug.5.Capitulation of Milan.
"8.Expulsion of Austrians from Bologna.
"11.Restoration of Manin's dictatorship in Venice.
"26.Truce of Malmö signed.
"31.Abolition of feudal dues in Vienna.
Sept.5.Frankfort Assembly condemns the Truce of Malmö.
"9.Jellaciç crosses the Drave.
"11.Meeting of Roumanians to protest against Hungarian conscription.
"16.Frankfort Assembly rescinds its vote about the Truce of Malmö.
"18.Émeute in Frankfort.
"21.The "Struve Putsch."
"25.Official appointment of Lamberg at Buda-Pesth.
"28.Murder of Lamberg.
Oct.3.Jellaciç declared Dictator of Hungary.
"6.Murder of Latour.
"7.Croat army surrenders to the Hungarians. Ferdinand flies to Innspruck.
"8.Kossuth threatens death to those who won't hang out the Hungarian flag.
"10.Auersperg and Jellaciç join forces.
"11.Bohemian deputies meet in Prague.
"18.Puchner's appeal to the Transylvanians.
"21.Hungarian troops cross the Austrian frontier.
"22.First meeting of Kremsier Parliament.
"30.Battle of Schwechat.
Nov.1.Windischgrätz enters Vienna.
"9.Blum shot.
"15.Murder of Rossi. Prussian Assembly votes that no more taxes be paid.
"24.Flight of Pope.
"28.Prussian Assembly decide to leave Berlin. Cavaignac announces intended expedition to Rome.
Dec.2.Abdication of Ferdinand.
"5.Final dissolution of Prussian Parliament.
"13.Address from Forli asking for Constituent Assembly.
"18.Frankfort Parliament abolishes feudal dues.
"31.Hungarian Committee of Defence retreats to Debreczin.
1849.Jan.11.Frankfort Parliament votes for exclusion of Austria from Germany.
"22.Görgei sends Waizen Declaration to Windischgrätz.
Feb.1.Saxons apply for help to Russians.
"6.Re-occupation of Ferrara by Austrian troops.
"8.Flight of Grand Duke from Tuscany.
"9.Proclamation of Roman Republic.
"19.Görgei superseded by Dembinski.
"21.Announcement that the Austrians have crossed the Po.
"26.Opening of Prussian Parliament.
Mar.7.Dissolution of the Kremsier Parliament.
"11.Capture of Hermannstadt by Bem.
"12.Charles Albert declares war on Austria.
"20.Formal announcement of new Austrian Constitution.
"23.Battle of Novara. Abdication of Charles Albert.
"28.Frankfort Parliament decides to offer Crown of Germany to King of Prussia.
"29.Mazzini, Saffi, and Armellini made Triumvirs.
April1.Capture of Brescia by Haynan.
"3.King of Prussia refuses the Crown of Germany.
"14.Declaration of Hungarian Independence.
"17.Final meeting of Sicilian Parliament.
"24.French arrive before Civita Vecchia.
"25.Re-occupation of Pesth by the Hungarians.
"27.Dissolution of Prussian Parliament.
May14.Beginning of third Baden insurrection. King of Prussia recalls Prussian members from Frankfort Parliament.
"15.Neapolitans capture Palermo.
"20.Bologna captured by Austrians.
"26.Proposals of Lesseps accepted by Triumvirs.
"30.Frankfort Parliament resolves to adjourn to Stuttgart.
"31.Oudinot rejects Lesseps' Convention.
June4.Russian proclamation of intended invasion of Hungary.
"13.Ledru Rollin's insurrection in Paris.
"17.First Russian victory in Transylvania.
"18.Final dissolution of German Parliament.
"19.Austrians capture Ancona.
"30.Roman Assembly decides to yield. Prussians surround Rastatt, which is centre of Baden movement.
July3.French enter Rome.
"15.Papal Government restored.
"28.Death of Charles Albert. Hungarian Diet dissolves itself.
Aug.5.Capture of Hermannstadt by Russians.
"11.Görgei made Dictator. Kossuth flies from Hungary.
"13.Görgei surrenders at Vilagos.
"28.Austrians enter Venice.
Sept.26.Klapka surrenders Komorn.

CHAPTER I.
THE TRIUMPH OF DESPOTISM. 1815-1819.

Condition of Europe in 1815.—Metternich's position.—Character of Alexander of Russia.—Metternich's attitude towards religion.—Madame de Krüdener.—The Holy Alliance.—Aspirations of the Germans.—Stein v. Metternich.—Schmalz's pamphlet.—The Rhine Province.—Arndt and Görres.—The Small States of Germany.—Würtemberg.—Weimar.—The Jena demonstration.—The Burschenschaft.—The Wartburg demonstration.—The Murder of Kotzebue.—The Carlsbad decrees.—The Final Act of Vienna.—Metternich's triumph.

In the year 1814 Napoleon Buonaparte ceased to reign over Europe, and, after a very short interregnum, Clement Metternich reigned in his stead. Ever since the fall of Stadion, and the collapse of Austria in 1809, this statesman had exercised the chief influence in Austrian affairs; and, by his skilful diplomacy, the Emperor had been enabled to play a part in Europe which, though neither honourable nor dignified, was eminently calculated to enable that Prince to take a leading position in politics, when the other Powers were exhausted by war, and uncertain of what was to follow. But Francis of Austria, though in agreement with Metternich, was really his hand rather than his head; and thus the crafty Minister easily assumed the real headship of Europe, while professing to be the humble servant of the Emperor of Austria.

The system of the new ruler resembled that of Napoleon in its contempt for the rights of men and of nations; but it was to be varnished over with an appearance of legality, a seeming respect for the rights of kings, and a determination to preserve peace and avoid dramatic sensations, which made it welcome to Europe, after eighteen years of almost incessant wars or rumours of wars. As he looked round upon the countries that had fallen under his rule, the contemplation of the existing state of Europe seemed to promise the new monarch a fairly successful reign. France had been satisfied by the preservation of Alsace and Lorraine, and by the sense that, from having been the focus of revolution, she had now become the corner-stone of legitimacy. England had at first seemed to give pledges to the cause of liberty by her promise of independence to Genoa, and her guarantee of the Sicilian Constitution; but with the help of Castlereagh, whom Metternich described as "that upright and enlightened statesman," the Austrian Government had succeeded in persuading the English to consent to look on quietly while Genoa was absorbed in the Kingdom of Sardinia, and while the Anglo-Sicilian Constitution was destroyed by Ferdinand of Naples; and the English zeal for independence had been happily diverted from the support of constitutions and civic liberties to the championship of the most contemptible of Napoleon's puppets, the King of Saxony.

The King of Prussia, who in 1813 had seemed in danger of becoming the champion of popular rights and German freedom, was now, with his usual feebleness, swaying towards the side of despotism; and any irritation which he may have felt at the opposition to his claim upon Saxony, had been removed by the concession of the Rhine Province.

Among the smaller sovereigns of Europe, the King of Sardinia and the Pope alone showed any signs of rebellion against the new ruler of Europe. The former had objected to the continued occupation of Alessandria by Austrian forces; while the representatives of the Pope had even entered a protest against that vague and dangerous clause in the Treaty of Vienna which gave Austria a right to occupy Ferrara.