The new republican government of France had been kept far too busy by the logical consequences of its revolutionary measures to take any active part The French Republic in the international settlement of the Schleswig-Holstein question. The majority of the provisional government were moderate republicans, representing the bourgeoisie, or middle class, rather than the workmen, but associated with them were such radicals as Louis Blanc, Ledru-Rollin and Albert, a locksmith. During the first few days of the installation they undertook to guarantee employment to every citizen. It proved a gigantic National workshops engagement. The mere distribution of idle workmen among the various industries in which they were employed called for a new branch of the administration. The task outgrew all expectations. Within four weeks the number of applicants for government work rose from 140 to 65,000. Under the stimulus of government competition, a series of labor strikes were declared against private factories and establishments. The scheme, as then attempted, grew utterly unmanageable. As Fyffe has said in his chapter on this subject: "If, instead of a group of benevolent theorists, the Fyffe's judgment experiment of 1848 had had for its authors a company of millionaires anxious to dispel all hope that mankind might ever rise to a higher order than that of unrestricted competition of man against man, it could not have been conducted under more fatal conditions."
The elections of April 23 gave the moderate element a handsome majority. An Radicals outvoted attempt to change the elections was frustrated by the National Guard. Strengthened by this manifestation of popular approval, Lamartine and his colleagues got rid of their radical associates in the Cabinet. The excluded radicals now planned a new revolution. On May 15, simultaneously with the renewed riots in Vienna, an attempt was made to overthrow the government. On the pretext of presenting a petition on behalf of Poland, a mob invaded Another attempted revolution the Chambers and dissolved the Assembly. A provisional government was installed at the Hôtel de Ville. The government supporters rallied the National Guard. The leaders at the Hôtel de Ville were taken captive. The Palais Bourbon was cleared, and the Deputies were reconvened in their assembly hall. Encouraged by this success, the government resolved to rid itself of the incubus of the national workshops, after a variety of schemes National workshop abolished with this purpose in view had been brought forward in the Assembly. The government cut the Gordian knot by a violent stroke. On June 21, an edict was issued that all beneficiaries of the public workshops between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five must enlist in the army or cease to receive support from the State.
At this time more than a hundred thousand destitute men had flocked to the national workshops. They rose as of one accord. The rising of June 23 was Paris up in arms the most formidable yet experienced in Paris. The number of the workmen alone exceeded that of several army corps. The unity of grievances and interests gave them an esprit de corps similar to that of an army. The whole eastern part of Paris was barricaded like a fortified camp. Instead of a mere revolt, the government found itself entering upon a civil war. General Cavaignac, the Minister of War, was placed in supreme command, the executive commission resigning its powers. He summoned all available troops into the capital. Regardless of private interests, Paris was treated as a great battlefield in which the enemy was to be attacked in a mass and dislodged from all his main lines. The barricades were battered down with field and siege artillery. Four days and nights the fight lasted. Whole Archbishop killed houses and blocks in which the insurgents had found a lodgment had to be demolished. On the third day the Archbishop of Paris was struck by a bullet while trying to stop the bloodshed. On both sides the fight was waged with inexcusable savagery. The National Guard, with a few exceptions, fought side by side with the regular troops. The workmen, threatened with the loss End of bloodshed of their subsistence, fought with the courage of despair. At the point of the bayonet they were at last driven into the northeastern quarter of the city. There, plied with grape and canister from every direction, they were brought to the point of surrender.
After this hard-won victory, the government did not hesitate to transport without trial the whole mass of prisoners taken alive. A policy of reaction Cavaignac set in. The government workshops and other concessions to socialism were abandoned. General Cavaignac, at the direction of the Assembly, retained his dictatorial powers until a new Constitution could be drafted. It seemed as if Cavaignac was marked to become the permanent ruler of France, but his own rigid republicanism stood in his way. It was at this time that Prince Louis Napoleon once more came into prominence. When he first made his reappearance in Paris he was requested to leave by the Provisional Louis Napoleon Government. Retiring to England, he awaited developments, while his friends and supporters agitated in his behalf. During the supplementary elections he was nominated for the Chambers by four districts at once, and, despite the government's efforts, he obtained a fourfold election. A vote of the Assembly declared the election valid. With unwonted self-command the Prince declined to take his seat, on the ground that it might embarrass the government in its difficult situation. His letter to the president of the Assembly ended with the significant declaration that if duties should be imposed upon him by the will of the people he would know how to fulfil them.
Three months later, in the midst of the debates on the constitution, while Cavaignac was still in power, Louis Napoleon was re-elected to the Assembly—this time by five departments. His hour had come. From this moment he was a recognized aspirant for power. The great name of his uncle shed its glory upon him. The new constitution of the Republic provided that France spellbound a President with executive powers should be elected by a direct vote of all citizens. Louis Napoleon at once became a candidate. In an address to the people he declared that he would devote himself without stint to the maintenance of the Republic. In well-worded generalities something was promised to all the classes and parties of France. The other candidates were Cavaignac and Lamartine. Out of seven millions of votes cast in this election, five million went to Louis Napoleon. The mere glamour of an imperial name cast a new spell over France.
In the midst of these stirring events in Paris, Frederick Chopin, the piano Death of Chopin composer, died on October 17. Born at Jelisovaya-Volia in Poland, he received his early musical education at Warsaw. At the age of nine he played a pianoforte concerto with improvisations in public. His first compositions were Polish dances. In his fifteenth year he published a rondo and a fantasie. Having perfected himself as a pianist, he set out on a concert tour through Vienna, Munich, Paris and London. After his first appearance in Vienna, the foremost musical critic there wrote of him: "From the outset Chopin took place in the front rank of masters. The perfect delicacy of his touch, his indescribable mechanical dexterity, the melancholy tints in his style of shading, and the rare clearness of his delivery are in him qualities which bear the stamp of genius. He must be regarded as one of the most remarkable meteors The pianist's career blazing on the musical horizon." In Paris he gave a concert at Pleyel's house. His reception was such that he gave up all idea of proceeding further and made Paris his home for life. He was welcomed to the intimacy of men like Liszt, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Bellini, Balzac and Heine. As one after another of his unique compositions for the piano appeared, he took rank as the foremost composer for that instrument. On the publication of his preludes and new Polish dances, Schumann wrote of Chopin: "He is and ever will be the most daring and proud poetic spirit of the time."
In 1836, Chopin met Madame Dudevant, better known as the celebrated Chopin and Georges Sand novelist Georges Sand. Their attachment was mutual. For her he wrote some of his most inspired pieces. They spent the winter of 1838-39 together on the Island of Majorca, where Georges Sand nursed Chopin through a severe attack of bronchitis. Of this episode, which had its profound effect on Chopin's music, Georges Sand has left an unengaging record in the novel "Lucreticia Floriani," published shortly afterward, and another in her "Histoire de ma Vie." Chopin returned from Majorca broken in health. He was supplanted in Georges Sand's affections by Alfred de Musset. During the season of 1848-49 he gave concerts in London, whence he returned to Paris only to die. He was buried at Père la Chaise, between Bellini and Cherubini's graves.
In Italy, after the armistice between the Austrians and the Piedmontese, matters went from bad to worse. In Sicily, a National Parliament had met Sicilian elections and put Ruggiero Settimo at the head of affairs by a unanimous vote. King Ferdinand and the House of Bourbon were declared to have forfeited the crown of Sicily forever. Elections were ordered to call another Prince to the vacant throne. England, interested as ever in Sicilian affairs, impressed upon the Sicilian leaders the urgency of an early settlement. The elections were held in haste. On July 12, at two in the morning, the vote was announced in Parliament. The Duke of Genoa, Albert Amadeus of Savoy, Charles Albert's second son, was elected King. The British and French warships in Sicilian waters fired a royal salute. For Charles Albert this only meant fresh embarrassment. In case of acceptance, he was sure to be King of Sardinia wary involved in war with Naples in the south, as well as with Austria in the north. When the Sicilian deputies submitted their proposition in Piedmont, on August 27, they obtained no definite reply.
Meanwhile King Ferdinand of Naples gathered his forces to win back Sicily. In the north the cause of Italy was on the wane. Francis V. was reinstated as Duke of Modena, with the help of Austrian arms. On his return in August he granted an amnesty, from the benefits of which "only those who had taken part in the revolution" were to be excluded. Austrian troops under Count Thurn likewise occupied the Duchy of Parma, the Duke remaining in Germany. In Tuscany, the Archduke found it difficult to maintain himself at Florence. His principality was overrun by radical refugees. A revolutionary junta at Leghorn threatened to proclaim the republic unless the Duke of Venice steadfast Tuscany should appoint a governor in sympathy with their ideas. In his extremity the Duke sent them Montanelli, a political dreamer, who proclaimed Jesus Christ as the father of democracy. At Venice the Republic of St. Mark, under Manin's able leadership, still held its own. Austria's occupation of Ferrara and the Romagna brought new embarrassment to the Pope. Baron Von Welden, the Austrian general, made matters worse in the Romagna by his threatening language: "Woe to those who dare to oppose me!" Formal protests were made in vain by Pope Pio Nono and the diplomatic representatives of France and England. The Papal Ministry of Mamiani Riots at Bologna resigned. The Roman Radicals, under the leadership of Prince Canino, a Bonaparte, clamored for war, and some Austrian officers dared to show themselves in Bologna. They were attacked in the streets and murdered by the mob. Fighting began around Bologna. Too late the Austrians consented to relieve the Pope from this embarrassment by withdrawing their troops from his dominions. The Pope's new Minister, Count Pellegrino Rossi, an Rossi, Papal Minister unusually able and forceful man who had once acted as an envoy for Louis Philippe, was denounced as a Frenchman and an enemy to Italy.
In September, King Ferdinand of Naples, having got rid of his Parliament, launched his forces upon Sicily. General Filangieri, with 12,000 men, was sent against Messina. There the Neapolitan garrison still held the citadel—all that remained to Bombardment of Messina Ferdinand of his Sicilian kingdom. Three days before Filangieri landed, the gunners in the citadel began to bombard the helpless town lying beneath them. Half of the city was laid in ruins. The foreign warships in the harbor were filled with refugees. It was this outrage that gave to King Ferdinand the nickname of "King Bomba." The inhabitants remained steadfast. When Filangieri effected his landing, the fight was carried on with ferocity. The fall of the city was followed by barbarous excesses. For three days incendiary fires raged in the hapless town. At last the foreign admirals, Parker and Baudin, put a stop to the horrors, "as against all canons of civilized nations." An armistice was established between the Neapolitans and the Sicilians. King Ferdinand's dogged resistance to the remonstrances of the French and English Ambassadors was strengthened by the latest event in Rome.