[196] Georgei had capitulated with twenty-two thousand combatants at Vilagos, where he handed his sword to the Russians. He was given up to the Austrians after a short confinement, at the request of Paskewitch.
[197] An allusion to the blindness of the Crown Prince of Hanover.
[198] The Vienna Cabinet, which was invariably jealous of Prussia's position in Germany, strove by every means to destroy Prussian influence. The Vienna Cabinet worked upon Hanover to withdraw that State from alliance with the King of Prussia, and pointed out that a federal State when confined by the terms of federation, was likely to advance the cause of democracy, and that Prussia by transforming the provisional central power into a permanent institution, would become supreme in Germany.
[199] The Archduke John, who possessed large properties in Styria which he wished to develop, had come to Belgium to examine the iron and steel factories. On October 24 the King of the Belgians met him at Liège, and visited with him Seraing and the establishments of the Vieille Montagne at Angleux. The Archduke had contracted a morganatic marriage with Mlle. Plochel who was made Baroness of Brandhofen; their only son had received the title of Count of Meran.
[200] On October 24 M. Creton had proposed to the National Assembly the abrogation of the laws proscribing the Bourbons. This question aroused a keen debate. Prince Jérôme Napoléon quoted the letters written in 1848 by the sons of Louis Philippe protesting against their banishment and asking permission to return to their native land on recognising the sovereignty of the people. M. Creton's proposal was rejected by 587 votes.
[201] Robert Blum assumed the leadership of the Saxon democracy in 1848. He was sent to the Frankfort Assembly and showed some oratorical talent, but in taking part in the Vienna revolt, he was captured and shot by the Austrians.
[202] The following is the well-known letter to Edgar Ney, which France interpreted as a future programme:
Paris, August 18, 1849.
"My Dear Ney,—The French Republic has not sent an army to Rome to crush Italian liberty, but on the contrary to regularise it by saving it from its own excesses and to give it a solid basis by placing on the pontifical throne the Prince, who was the first to take the lead courageously in all useful reforms.
"I am sorry to learn that the well-meant actions of His Holiness, as well as our measures, have been nullified by passions and hostile influences which wish to base the Pope's return upon proscription and tyranny. Kindly tell the General from me that he should in no case allow any act to be committed under the tricolour flag which could give a wrong meaning to our intervention. I interpret the temporal power of the Pope as follows: a general amnesty, the secularisation of the administration, the Napoleonic code and a Liberal government.