Sagan, October 9, 1848.—The post and the Vienna newspapers have failed to reach us since the day before yesterday. Current rumour ascribes this absence of direct news to sanguinary causes which are only too probable at the present time. Every day brings some fresh horrors.[ [164] Last week we heard of the massacre of Count Lamberg at Buda;[ [165] the hanging of poor Eugène Zichy[ [166] who was so happy and so great a favourite at Paris ten years ago; he was hung by these barbarians in the island where robbers are executed. Yesterday we heard of the murder of the Comte de la Tour, Minister of War at Vienna, and of General Brédy.[ [167] The Black and Yellow party is fighting in the streets against the Hungarian party. If the Anarchist party triumphs at Vienna[ [168] it will be all up with Berlin and Breslau where people are living upon a powder-mine.
Sagan, October 25, 1848.—Everything here is in suspense and everything is being settled at Vienna. Hitherto it seems that the loyal army will dictate laws, but we dare not trust to these gleams of hope. In Austria, at any rate, an honourable struggle is in progress, and if failure should come honour will not be lost. As much cannot, unfortunately, be said of Berlin, and even if the side of right should triumph at Vienna will the victory be final? I doubt it and I fear we shall be living for a long time on a volcano.
Sagan, November 4, 1848.—A revolutionary outburst has just taken place at Liegnitz, comparatively close to me. It was necessary to use military force to quell it. At Berlin there is a riot almost every day; audacity and weakness daily increase. Yesterday the Ministry was at last changed: this might indicate a desire to revive energy; I fear that it is too late. The Assembly has been besieged, the Deputies and the Diplomatic Body imprisoned and threatened with hanging; the National Guard has been betrayed by its leader, while Sans Souci has been completely paralysed in the face of these events; and yet people ask if there is still any room for hope.[ [169] The successful measures at Vienna have not succeeded in inspiring Potsdam with any energy, and have greatly exasperated the anarchists who wish to deliver some striking blow to recover their power and to form a centre at Berlin for spreading their influence throughout Germany. The part played by M. Arago, the Minister of the French Republic, during recent days at Berlin, has been extremely ambiguous,[ [170] and any self-respecting Government would have sent him his passports, and lodged an official complaint at Paris. My wishes for Vienna have at length been realised. Windisch-Graetz has shown infinite patience and kindness, and only when the capitulation of the 30th was treacherously violated did he rage as he was bound to do, and as the infamy of the native authorities in Vienna deserved. We are still without details, but the main facts are official and we must regard them as providential. God grant that this may be the starting-point of a new era. Meanwhile anarchy, disorder, the want of repressive measures, and poverty are ruining the provinces. Orators are preaching murder and pillage unpunished to their popular meetings, and the results of these incendiary harangues may soon be expected. Really the state of things is frightful.
Sagan, November 19, 1848.—I think it would be advisable for Austria to add to such determined warriors as Jellachich, Radetzky, and Windisch-Graetz a younger and stronger politician than Wessenberg. It is said that such a man would be found in Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg; he has good friends, and has often been the object of great admiration. I saw him pretty frequently at Naples two years ago, and he showed me much kindness. He was a man of distinguished manner, clever, dignified, and cool, and his opinions and his speech were well weighed; but I do not know him well enough to say whether he will be equal to the heavy task which seems likely to fall upon him. Stadion, who is to share it with him, has been a friend of his youth, and their unanimity may produce fortunate results. I see nothing of the kind in prospect for Prussia, where warriors and writers, men of eloquence and action, appear to be utterly wanting in the present crisis. Every attempt now made is marked by a certain tactlessness which is far from inspiring me with confidence.[ [171] They are sheltering themselves behind Frankfort, and looking there for refuge, support, and protection. It is undignified, and makes no impression upon the enemy, while I think that this bulwark will prove to be futile. We must hope that the army is loyal, but we cannot help recognising that it is without enthusiasm, while its ardour is allowed to cool and disappear. The soldiers who are bivouacking in the streets of Berlin are suffering from the bad weather and are greatly depressed, so persons say who write to me and who are busy distributing soup and beer to support their strength and encourage their loyalty.
Sagan, November 26, 1848.—The last week has been a very difficult time; since Berlin was proclaimed to be in a state of siege all disaffected elements have fallen back upon Silesia; my workmen have been fired upon, and the red flag has been carried about. In fact, the situation looked menacing; but now that thirty thousand troops are sweeping the province we can breathe again, and if I can believe my last letters from Berlin, we are to enter upon a new era. On this subject I admit my incredulity, and I fear that it will not be dispelled for a long time; but the fact remains that disturbances have ceased for the moment, and for so much we ought to be grateful, for the feverish state of tension was becoming unbearable.
The death of Madame de Montjoye has filled the cup of misfortune for poor Queen Marie Amélie, whose only and most intimate confidential friend she was. As a result of drinking poisoned water at Claremont,[ [172] I hear that the King's teeth have become black. Relations between the King and his children are not invariably satisfactory, nor are the children agreed among themselves. Providence is subjecting these émigrés to every kind of hardship; possibly it is an expiation for the vote of the father and the usurpation of the son.
Sagan, December 1, 1848.—To-day the newspapers announce the programme of the new Austrian Cabinet,[ [173] which was very well received at Kremsier and has produced a rise in Austrian stocks. May God give us a strong and clever Cabinet, at any rate in that quarter. The Cabinet which ought to govern in Prussia, and which appeared ready to assume the iron glove, seems to me to show nothing but weakness, while the glove is distinctly rusty. All good Catholics will be greatly moved by the fate of Pius IX. Notwithstanding the fact that with greater zeal than prudence he ran to liberal extremes, he remains the head of our church, the priest of God and a kind man, and his danger should stir our hearts to pity and to fear.[ [174] I hear from Berlin that Herr von Gagern has failed in his proposed object, and that the King was stronger than was thought, for he has thrust aside the show of Imperialism which Gagern had offered him on the condition that for this occasion only he would submit to the laws of the Frankfort Government.[ [175]
Sagan, December 6, 1848.—Rumour here very generally asserts that the worst of the storm has passed. I am by no means sure of the fact; electoral excitement will soon begin when the attempt is made to work the constitution that has been granted, and the results seem very uncertain. Anything, in truth, is better than this state of decay and confusion in which we are here perishing, but though the danger may assume new forms, it will not pass so quickly. The country is certainly becoming somewhat enlightened and growing weary of the state of things which reduces every one to utter misery; some better instincts are asserting themselves. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the King's marriage there was a favourable display of feeling, but too many elements of disaffection are still powerful and the Government cannot make itself respected. In Southern Germany, especially in Bavaria, people still seem to be in love with the proposal for sharing the power among three, particularly since Austria has concentrated her members to form one great monarchy. The old Prince William of Prussia who was nominated as a possible member of the triumvirate, has fallen into a state of mental weakness which would make him incapable of undertaking this task. Moreover, his son, Prince Waldemar, is dying at Münster of a spinal disease; it is a sad business, for he is a distinguished Prince and his death will be a final blow to his poor father. I doubt if the central power will last very long, as the King of Prussia mercifully persists in his refusal to accept the burden. It is said that the Princess of Prussia would have liked to see Herr von Gagern at the head of a new Prussian Cabinet. I do not think that this haughty character would have been willing to take so uncertain a position or to confront a Chamber so little amenable to parliamentary eloquence. In any case the King has rejected all insinuations, direct or indirect. It would indeed have been both foolish and utterly ungrateful on his part to dismiss the only Ministry which has had the courage and the capacity to raise the prestige of the Crown in some small degree and to turn events in the direction of conservatism.
Italy is in a pitiable condition. M. de Broglie will doubtless be deeply grieved at the death of M. Rossi, as it was he who brought M. Rossi to France, introduced him to politics, raised him to the peerage, and finally advanced him to the Embassy at Rome. I saw a great deal of him in the salon of Madame de Broglie, and afterwards at Rome; he seemed to me to be an astute and unpretentious character, less noble but cleverer than Capo d'Istria.[ [176] Their assassination was due to the same cause; both attempted to play the part of Richelieu without due preparation.
Sagan, December 30, 1848.—The calm amid which Napoleon has assumed the chief power in France would tend to show that a desire for order and peace is rising in the country. Rumours are abroad of the abdication of the King of Sardinia and of a new and warlike Sardinian Ministry.[ [177] I hope that Radetzky will bring the rest of Italy to reason as he has done in Lombardy. Windisch-Graetz is before Raab, and it is hoped that he will have no great difficulty in entering the town. Great cold delays his march, and he is also hampered by the necessity of reorganising the civil government in the districts which he occupies.[ [178] Jellachich has been carried away by his impetuosity and captured temporarily by the Hungarians.[ [179] He was rescued by his soldiers. Windisch-Graetz has bitterly reproached him for his blind rashness which might have compromised the fate of the army, and the vital question of the Government. The Archduchess Sophie gave her son, the young Emperor, as a Christmas present a frame containing the portraits of Radetzky, Windisch-Graetz, and Jellachich. It is well to remind Sovereigns by outward signs of the duty of gratitude, which, as a rule, they find somewhat burdensome. And so the disastrous year of 1848 comes to an end! Heaven grant that 1849 may bring some improvement in our lives!