On the 4th of November, a congress, composed of the ministers of England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, met at London for the purpose of settling the Belgian question without disturbing the peace of Europe, and it was decided that Prince Leopold of Coburg, the widower of the princess royal of England, a man entirely under British influence, and who had refused the throne of Greece, should accept that of Belgium. Eighteen articles favorable to Belgium were granted to him by the London congress. Scarcely, however, had he reached Brussels, on the 31st July, 1831, than the fetes given upon that occasion were disturbed by the unexpected invasion of Belgium by a numerous and powerful Dutch force. At Hasselt, the Prince of Orange defeated the Belgians under General Daine, and, immediately advancing against Leopold, utterly routed him at Tirlemont, on the 12th August. The threats of France and England, and the appearance of a French army in Belgium, saved Brussels and compelled the Dutch to withdraw. The eighteen articles in favor of Belgium were, on the other hand, replaced by twenty-four others, more favorable to the Dutch, which Leopold was compelled to accept. The king of Holland, however, refusing to accept these twenty-four articles, with which, notwithstanding the concessions therein contained, he was dissatisfied, the Belgian government took advantage of the undecided state of the question not to undertake, for the time being, half of the public debt of Holland, which, by the twenty-four articles, was laid upon Belgium.
Negotiations dragged on their weary length, and protocol after protocol followed in endless succession from London. In 1832, Leopold espoused Louisa, one of the daughters of the king of the French, and was not only finally recognized by the northern powers, but, by means of the intervention of England, being backed by a fleet, and by means of that of France, being backed by an army, compelled Holland to accept of terms of peace. The French troops under Gerard, unassisted by the Belgians and watched by a Prussian army stationed on the Meuse, regularly besieged and took the citadel of Antwerp, on Christmas eve, 1832, gave it up to the Belgians as pertaining to their territory, and evacuated the country. King William, however, again rejecting the twenty-four articles, all the other points, the division of the public debt, the navigation of the Scheldt, and, more than all, the future destiny of the province of Luxemburg, which formed part of the confederated states of Germany, had been declared hereditary in the house of Nassau-Orange, and which, by its geographical position and the character of its inhabitants, was more nearly connected with Belgium, remained for the present unsettled. In 1839, Holland was induced by a fresh demonstration on the part of the great powers to accept the twenty-four articles, against which Belgium in her turn protested on the ground of the procrastination on the part of Holland having rendered her earlier accession to these terms null and void. Belgium was, however, also compelled to yield. By this fresh agreement it was settled that the western part of Luxemburg, which had in the interim fallen away from the German confederation, should be annexed to Belgium, and that Holland (and the German confederation) should receive the eastern part of Limburg in indemnity; and that Belgium, instead of taking upon herself one-half of the public debt of the Netherlands, should annually pay the sum of five million Dutch guldens toward defraying the interest of that debt.
The period of the independence of Belgium, brief as it was, was made use of, particularly under the Nothomb ministry, for the development of great industrial activity, and, more especially, for the creation of a system of railroads, until now without its parallel on the continent. Unfortunately but little was done in favor of the interests of Germany. The French language had already become so prevalent throughout Belgium that, in 1840, the provincial councillors of Ghent were constrained to pass a resolution to the effect that the offices dependent upon them should, at all events, solely be intrusted to persons acquainted with the Flemish dialect, and that their rescripts should be drawn up in that language.—Holland immensely increased her public debt in consequence of her extraordinary exertions. In 1841, the king, William I., voluntarily abdicated the throne and retired into private life, in the enjoyment of an enormous revenue, with a Catholic countess whom he had wedded. He was succeeded by his son, William II.
[Footnote 1: "The Netherlands formed, nevertheless, but a weak bulwark to Germany. Internal disunion, superfluous fortresses, a weak army. On the one side, a witless, wealthy, haughty aristocracy, an influential and ignorant clergy; on the other, civic pride, capelocratic pettiness, Calvinistic brusquerie. The policy pursued by the king was inimical to Germany."—Stein's Letters.]
[Footnote 2: So bitter was the enmity existing between the Belgians and the Dutch that the Dutch lieutenant, Van Speyk, when driven by a storm before Antwerp, blew up his gunboat in the middle of the Scheldt rather than allow it to fall into the hands of the Belgians.]
CCLXVIII. The Swiss Revolution
The restoration of 1814 had replaced the ancient aristocracy more or less on their former footing throughout Switzerland. In this country the greatest tranquillity prevailed; the oppression of the aristocracy was felt, but not so heavily as to be insupportable. Many benefits, as, for instance, the draining of the swampy Linththal by Escher of Zurich, were, moreover, conferred upon the country. Mercenaries were also continually furnished to the king of France, to the pope, and, for some time, to the king of the Netherlands. France, nevertheless, imposed such heavy commercial duties that several of the cantons leagued together for the purpose of taking reprisals. This misunderstanding between Switzerland and France unfortunately did not teach wisdom to the states belonging to the German confederation, and the Rhine was also barricaded with custom-houses, those graves of commerce. The Jesuits settled at Freiburg in the Uechtland, where they founded a large seminary and whence they finally succeeded in expelling Peter Girard, a man of high merit, noted for the liberality of his views on education.[1]
The Paris revolution of July also gave rise to a democratic reaction throughout Switzerland. Berne, by a circular, published September 22, 1830, called upon the other Swiss governments to suppress the revolutionary spirit by force, and, by so doing, fired the train. The government of Zurich wisely opposed the circular and made a voluntary reform. In all the other cantons popular societies sprang up, and, either by violence or by threats, subverted the ancient governments. New constitutions were everywhere granted. The immense majority of the people was in favor of reform, and the aristocracy offered but faint resistance. Little towns or villages became the centre of the movements against the capitals. Fischer, an innkeeper from Merischwanden, seized the city of Aarau; the village of Burgdorf revolutionized the canton of Berne, the village of Murten the canton of Freiburg, the village of Weinfelden the canton of Constance; this example was followed by the peasantry of Solothurn and Vaud; the government of St. Gall imitated that of Zurich.
Basel was also attempted to be revolutionized by Liestal, but the wealthy and haughty citizens, principally at the instigation of the family of Wieland, made head against the peasantry, who were led by one Gutzwyler. The contest that had taken place in Belgium was here reacted on a smaller scale. A dispute concerning privileges commencing between the citizens and the peasantry, bloody excesses ensued and a complete separation was the result. The peasantry, superior in number, asserted their right to send a greater number of deputies to the great council than the cities, and the latter, dreading the danger to which their civic interests would be thereby exposed, obstinately refused to comply. Party rage ran high; the Baselese insulted some of the deputies sent by the peasantry, and the latter, in retaliation, began to blockade the town. Colonel Wieland made some sallies; the federal diet interfered, and the peasantry, being dispersed by the federal troops, revenged themselves during their retreat by plundering the vale of Reigoldswyler, which had remained true to Basel. In Schwyz, the Old-Schwyzers and the inhabitants of the outer circles, who, although for centuries in possession of the rights of citizenship, were still regarded by the former as their vassals, also fell at variance, and the latter demanded equal rights or complete separation. In Neufchatel, Bourguin attempted a revolution against the Prussian party and took the city, but succumbed to the vigorous measures adopted by General Pfuel, 1831.
The conduct of the federal diet, which followed in the footsteps of European policy, and which, by winking at the opposing party and checking that in favor of progression, sought to preserve the balance, but served to increase party spirit. In September, 1831, the Radicals founded at Langenthal, the Schutzverein or protective union, which embraced all the liberal clubs throughout Switzerland and was intended to counteract the impending aristocratic counterrevolution. Men like Schnell of Berne, Troxler the philosopher, etc., stood at its head. They demanded the abolition of the constitution of 1815 as too aristocratic and federal, and the foundation of a new one in a democratic and independent sense for the increase of the external power and unity of Switzerland, and for her internal security from petty aristocratic and local views and intrigues. In March, 1832, Lucerne, Zurich, Berne, Solothurn, St. Gall, Aargau, and Constance formed a Concordat for the mutual maintenance of their democratic constitutions until the completion of the revisal of the confederation. The aristocratic party, Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden (actuated by ancient pride and led by the clergy), Basel, and Neufchatel meanwhile formed the Sarner confederation. In August, the deposed Bernese aristocracy, headed by Major Fischer, made a futile attempt to produce a counter-revolution. In the federal diet, the envoys of the Concordat and the threatening language of the clubs compelled the members to bring a new federal constitution under deliberation, but opinions were too divided, and the constitution projected in 1833 fell to the ground for want of sufficient support. At the moment of this defeat of the liberal party, Alt-Schwyz, led by Abyberg, took up arms, took possession of Küssnacht, and threatened the Concordat, the Baselese at the same time taking the field with one thousand two hundred men and fourteen pieces of ordnance. The people were, however, inimical to their cause; Abyberg fled; the Baselese were encountered by the peasantry in the Hartwald and repulsed with considerable loss. The federal diet demonstrated the greatest energy in order to prevent the Concordat and the Schutzverein from acting in its stead. Schwyz and Basel were occupied with soldiery; the former was compelled to accept a new constitution drawn up with a view of pacifying both parties, the latter to accede to a complete separation between the town and country. The Sarner confederation was dissolved, and all discontented cantons were compelled, under pain of the infliction of martial law, to send envoys to the federal diet. Intrigues, having for object the alienation of the city of Basel, of Neufchatel, and Valais from the confederation, were discovered and frustrated by the diet, not without the approbation of France, the Valais and the road over the Simplon being thereby prevented from falling beneath the influence of Austria.