[166] When Hungary was in a state of insurrection, the insurgents seized Count Eugène Zichy, accused him of communicating with the Austrian Army and of distributing copies of the emperor's proclamation. He was tried before a court presided over by Georgei and was condemned to death and shot in the island of Czepel and not hung, as the first rumour related.
[167] General Brédy was killed at Vienna on October 6, 1848, during the struggle between the people and the National Guard in the suburb of Leopoldstadt, a few hours before the insurgents seized the residence of the Minister of War.
[168] By the Black and Yellow party is meant the Imperial party, the members of which wore these colours.
[169] On October 16 a further and bloodthirsty outbreak took place at Berlin, ending in a collision between the National Guard and the workmen. The result was to revive the agitation which had prevailed in this town with short intermissions since the month of March.
[170] M. Arago, the French Minister, showed himself to the crowd which was cheering him before his residence. He uttered a few words in French and held out his hand to the people who were nearest to him.
[171] A new Ministry, of which Count Brandenburg was President and Herr von Manteuffel was Minister of the Interior, had been appointed at Berlin on November 8. Its very first administrative act ended in a defeat: an ordinance of the King countersigned by the Count of Brandenburg transferred the National Assembly to the town of Brandenburg; the Assembly decided against this transference by a vast majority, and as the Government could not continue amid this increasing anarchy, it resolved upon vigorous action. On November 10 a considerable number of troops were drafted into the capital and occupied the entrance to the Assembly room. The Assembly protested against this violence, and an ordinance of the King then declared the civil guard disbanded; another ordinance issued on the 12th proclaimed Berlin to be in a state of siege. General Wrangel commanded the military forces and every measure was taken to avoid a collision.
[172] In November 1848 the whole of the Royal Family had suffered from poisoning in consequence of the leaden pipes through which the water was carried.
[173] The Austrian Diet had been sitting since November 15 at Kremsier in Moravia, in the beautiful castle of the Archbishops of Olmütz. The new Ministry was composed as follows: Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs; Stadion, Minister of the Interior; Krauss, Financial Minister; Bach, Legal Minister; Gordon, Minister of War; Bruck, Minister of Commerce; Thinnfeld, Minister of Agriculture; Kulmer, unattached.
[174] The Pope had given his subjects a constitution on March 14, and after changing his Ministry several times he had at length decided on December 15 to appoint as his Prime Minister, Pellegrino Rossi, formerly French Ambassador to His Holiness and a personal friend of M. Guizot. Rossi undertook to establish a regular parliamentary government in the Papal States, relying upon the middle classes and intervening between the parties in opposition. He was not given the time to carry out his proposals: on November 15, as he was going to a Cabinet Council, he was stabbed in the throat by a militiaman and fell dead. This deed was a signal for a republican rising. The Pope confined himself to appointing a new Minister who was out of sympathy with the people, upon which the mob and the troops made their way to the Quirinal and ordered the Pope to change his Ministers. Pius IX., who was supported by the diplomatic body, declined to accede, and popular exasperation then reached its height. A desperate struggle broke out between the people and the guards, and the bullets even reached the interior of the palace. Eventually the Pope yielded under protest and consented to accept as his Ministers Sterbini, Galletti, Mamiani, and the Abbé Rosmini. But on November 25, dressed as an ordinary Abbé, he left Rome and sought the protection of the King of Naples at Gaeta, from which town he sent a protest to the Romans against recent events.
[175] Herr von Gagern, who had undertaken to draw up a constitution for the Empire at Frankfort and to settle the central power upon a permanent basis, had come to Berlin to examine the situation and to learn whether the King of Prussia would be inclined to place himself at the head of the German Empire in the event of a rupture between Austria and Germany. The King absolutely declined this proposal, which was afterwards brought before him once more with more official authority in March 1849.